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Introducing our project - SUMMER OF '76

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SUMMER OF '76

WWW.SummerOf76Movie.com

We are proud and pleased to introduce our feature, SUMMER OF '76. We are just getting off the ground and a cast and crew search is currently in progress. We already have secured some locations and some crew members. We are in discussions with some A list talent and a couple of Rock Icons that we hope to attach to this project. So far we have had nothing but very positive feedback from everyone that we have approached.

The site will give you a lot of the details. But I will say that SUMMER OF '76 isn't another stoner comedy or really isn't a stoner movie at all. This is so much more then that, and more then the synopsis even reveals. Yes the story surrounds three stoner friends, and that is who they were back in the summer of 1976, but it is not the underlying plot nor is it gratuitous. This is the very true coming of age story of three friends who all wanted to escape the confines of small town living, each for different reasons. As the synopsis does say... "Sometimes truth is stranger then fiction"... this is certainly one of those cases. The story is told as it happened... it has adventure, thrills, comedy, drama. The story begins in the small working class town of Sunbury Pennsylvania, and chronicles events leading up to the cross country roller coaster of an adventure, and eventually ends up in Los Angeles California where the story climaxes. Please take a look and feel free to give us your comment either here or on the site comments page. Thanks!

Thomas Koveleskie
Director and Co Writer
SUMMER OF '76
 
I went through it. It looks promising and impressive. Any Nevada shooting by any chance? Especially in Reno?
 
hunteq said:
I went through it. It looks promising and impressive. Any Nevada shooting by any chance? Especially in Reno?
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Thanks for taking a look and the kind words. Yes there will be Nevada shooting. A couple of scenes take place there. Definitely a lot of shooting in that SW area of the country... Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California are all location candidates. We will be of course choosing the most visual locations that fit into the story. I am contemplating the edge of the Bonneville Salt flat for one particular scene. We are also trying to come up with a way to recreate a shot on Fremont street circa 1976. The picture on the website homepage is authentic and is from 1976. We will probably have to go in the studio and composite what we need.
 
Hi this is Maria Maneos the Production Designer for SUMMER OF'76. Just wanted to post an update for our project. Right now everyone on the production team is wearing a few hats... Over the weekend Thomas Koveleskie who is our Director and Co Writer (and now also wearing the producers hat) had a meeting with the Borough officials of Northumberland, PA. This quaint historic town has opened up it's doors to us for shooting and has graciously offered us any Borough locations for shooting. They also will be helping us put together a re-enactment of the 1976 4th of July Parade that was part of Americas Bicentennial celebration complete with vintage floats, colonial dressed people, horses etc etc. We will be shooting the parade on a historic street where time has stood still... This street hasn't changed since it was built in the 1800's. They also offered us the usage of a helicopter for our aerials for just the cost of fuel. One of the board members is also a member of a 1000+ classic car club in central PA and they are offering the use of their cars to us FREE of charge. This means that we can fill the streets with cars from 1976 and below. We especially have a need for a group of muscle cars for a few scenes. What they are willing to do for us is absolutely HUGE and unbelievable... Northumberland sits adjacent to Sunbury, PA where we will also be shooting scenes. Way to go Thomas!


If anyone knows of a very talented and experienced producer that wants to come on board a fantastic project... send them our way... Thomas is looking for some help. So far everyone that we have reached out to has provided us with tremendous support and resources. Hopefully we will be announcing a few more key team members this week as well.
 
We are pleased to announce that Jay Costa has joined the team as Music Supervisor - Jay Costa lives in Los Angeles, California. Jay is the owner of Half Full Music Supervision and Licensing, LLC.which has most recently supervised the music for such films as "Beyond the Basement Door" produced by Ten Wings Films and "Deference and Bridges" produced by Churchill Pictures. Jay has also assisted in song clearance for the Vacationeer Productions film "Planet World". Previously Jay held the position of Song Plugger/ Admin. Assistant for the music library company Musicsupervisor.com. He was also the Industry Outreach Consultant for Access Film Music Ltd. Jay runs the online video blog www.tiame.net which covers the happenings of the music and film scenes. Jay is truly passionate about contributing to the aesthetics of a film through music supervision. Welcome aboard Jay!
 
We were asked if we would share the trial and tribulations of getting our project into production. Hi Tom here. As the director (and right now the main producer for our project) I wanted to start sharing some of my thoughts on the process and the story right from the get go. I'll talk about the business side later as well. But I want to first talk about developing an idea into a story and then the story into a great screenplay. In my case it was a true story based on an adventure that I was part way back in 1976. That made me an expert with the subject material and was a good start. I always felt that our story was worthy of being made into a movie. But that was just my opinion and I thought many times "what if I am wrong?" That was my first step and it should be yours... Do you really have a story that is worth of telling and will it really appeal to an audience? Who will that audience be and why? It is also very important to know your market and target audience. More on that later. We all have stories and experiences in life, but are they noteworthy and interesting enough to make a good screenplay and movie? This is the bottom line. Everything that you do during the film making process will ultimately boil down to a defining moment in the editing room. Did you really have a good story and concept to work with? I don't think anyone will disagree with this very basic premise, it doesn't make a difference whether it is a student film or one that you are making for theatrical release. It's all about a good story first and foremost.
 
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Summer of '76 announces the casting Casey Dubois to the lead role as Kove. Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Casey is an accomplished and very talented actor who has been acting since the age of 7 and has appeared in 23 Television and Feature Film projects. Casey started his acting career in 2000 and has had roles in many major motion pictures including Snakes on a Plane with Samual L. Jackson and Julianna Margulies, The Final Cut with Robin Williams and Mira Sorvino, and Are We There Yet? with Ice Cube and Nia Long. Casey has also appeared in such notable Television shows as Stephen Kings Dead Zone, Stargate Atlantis, The Days and most recently The Haunting Hour: The Series as Josh. Casey is skilled in Improvisation, voiceover, performs his own stunts and is an all around athlete that plays many sports. He is also an experienced Music Mix DJ. You can learn more about Casey at his IMDB page http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0239386/

www.SummerOf76Movie.com
 
Summer of '76 announces the casting of Jessica DiGiovanni to a featured role in the movie. Jessica will be making her Off-Broadway debut this December with MTC in Molly Smith-Metzlers play Close Up Space, opposite David Hyde Pierce. She also is a "Certifier" on the show Certified for the Music Choice Channel, which will be running till the end of 2011. Film and TV credits: The Sitter (Dir. David Gordon Green), What Would You Do? (ABC Primetime News), Celebrity Ghost Stories (Biography Channel), Little Pink Balloon (Dir. Lacy Wittman), Dreams of a Petrified Head (Dir. Dan Ouelette), Amy (Dir. R.P. Patnaik), The Collector (Dir. Ezequiel Arribas), and more. Theater credits: Training Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler (Cherry Lane Theatre), Fool for Love (Under St. Marks), Marion Bridge (Director's Co. dir: Laila Robins), and more. She can also be seen in commercials for Comedy Central, MTV and Flatrate Moving currently running on both coasts. Her voice can be heard in ads for Samsung, Starbucks, DSW, Mitsubishi, and more. Training: Fordham College at Lincoln Center, Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) and LAMDA. She currently resides in NYC. Jessica's official website www.jessicadigiovanni.com and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3693977/

www.SummerOf76Movie.com
 
Looks cool. There's only one thing that's really, really bugging me: The girl on the poster looks way too modern. Low-rise jeans like that didn't really exist in '76, and it's totally throwing off the entire look of the poster and website. It makes it look entirely too modern. Honestly, a lot of the poster looks too modern, but that in particular is just killing it for me.

Other than that, though, it looks like it'll be an awesome project!
 
cameronchapman said:
Looks cool. There's only one thing that's really, really bugging me: The girl on the poster looks way too modern. Low-rise jeans like that didn't really exist in '76, and it's totally throwing off the entire look of the poster and website. It makes it look entirely too modern. Honestly, a lot of the poster looks too modern, but that in particular is just killing it for me.

Other than that, though, it looks like it'll be an awesome project!
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The website and poster is intended for concept and promo purposes right now and will eventually have actual cast members on the poster.

Actually low rise type jeans sure did exist in 1976, many of my hippie and earth mama girl friends wore them with big belts and cropped tanks or tube tops just like the girl on the website. Also Fremont street, Las Vegas on the website and poster is the actual photo taken in 1976... can't get anymore original than that. It seems there is a lot of misconceptions about the varied styles in that time period. I graduated High School in 1975 and lived the life... I am very familiar first hand what was and wasn't. Most people just think of Tye Dye shirts and flower children... but that wasn't the case... Thanks for your input.
 
sorry, im gonna call you on that fashion thing... she looks modern, the hair, the shirt etc.. dont debate, just take it in.. even if we are wrong, the PERCEPTION is that its too modern.. maybe its just the quality of the photo that is not giving the FEEL your promoting is all.. it doestn matter why we feel its too modern.. that said..

please kill that page load music.. or give me a way to turn it off, I close your site becuase it wont stop!
 
SUMMER OF '76 said:
The website and poster is intended for concept and promo purposes right now and will eventually have actual cast members on the poster.

Actually low rise type jeans sure did exist in 1976, many of my hippie and earth mama girl friends wore them with big belts and cropped tanks or tube tops just like the girl on the website. Also Fremont street, Las Vegas on the website and poster is the actual photo taken in 1976... can't get anymore original than that. It seems there is a lot of misconceptions about the varied styles in that time period. I graduated High School in 1975 and lived the life... I am very familiar first hand what was and wasn't. Most people just think of Tye Dye shirts and flower children... but that wasn't the case... Thanks for your input.
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There were hip-huggers, but they weren't low-rise like the jeans in the poster (those are more like ultra-low-rise). Either way, the woman looks too modern. The Vegas image is the only part of it that looks authentic. The big thing is the rest of it is too crisp and clean. Photos, unless they were very high end professional photos, generally didn't look like that in the 70s. The colors were more muted, the images were softer overall, and generally grainier than what you've got there. I love vintage photography, so I've spent a lot of time looking at photos from that era.

And either way, if you're using the poster for concept and promo purposes, shouldn't it be the best you can possibly make it?

(Also, I don't think of flower children when I think of '76, I think of Dazed and Confused, which was set in that exact year and had fantastic costumes...)
 
wheatgrinder said:
sorry, im gonna call you on that fashion thing... she looks modern, the hair, the shirt etc.. dont debate, just take it in.. even if we are wrong, the PERCEPTION is that its too modern.. maybe its just the quality of the photo that is not giving the FEEL your promoting is all.. it doestn matter why we feel its too modern.. that said..

please kill that page load music.. or give me a way to turn it off, I close your site becuase it wont stop!
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Hi this is Maria, I'm the production designer on the project. Take this with the good spirit in which it is intended. We're not here to debate you, Cameron or anyone else... Tom took the time to politely address your unsolicited critiques. So far we have garnered a lot of interest and compliments on the project and site from many industry professionals i.e. distributors, sales agents, studios, actors and actresses. The teaser site is serving it's purpose quite well. Tom already stated it will be revamped with the actual cast members. The blond model we currently have will be replaced by actress Jessica DiGiovanni. Sorry you don't like the music or the feel of the site, you're in the minority. You can just click the speaker icon and mute the music if you don't wish to hear it while checking out the site.

I came on board this project because it has a fantastic script and it will have fantastic period accurate costuming, props, locations, cars etc.

Isn't it great that Casey Dubois and Jessica DiGiovanni are on board the project! We're thrilled to have them! Tom is working very hard to assemble an awesome cast.
 
thanks Maria,
Everyone here wants you to succeeded. Our criticism is very likely in the minority, but this minority are OBSESSED with film and image and hence are looking at this in ways that others might now.

As production designer you will have a great time with this project I bet! But your not the DP and who ever this is, is missing something important.

Right now "nostalgia" is hot and this project has that going for it, however, that fashion trend has a look and feel that your poster does not. You need to hit all the iconoclastic points to sell nostalgia. Check out this teaser for the look that says 76 all over it.

http://vimeo.com/28080780

You'll note the colors, the wash, etc. This may not even be SET in 76 but is says "70's" way louder than you poster.

Hope that helps
 
wheatgrinder said:
thanks Maria,
Everyone here wants you to succeeded. Our criticism is very likely in the minority, but this minority are OBSESSED with film and image and hence are looking at this in ways that others might now.

As production designer you will have a great time with this project I bet! But your not the DP and who ever this is, is missing something important.

Right now "nostalgia" is hot and this project has that going for it, however, that fashion trend has a look and feel that your poster does not. You need to hit all the iconoclastic points to sell nostalgia. Check out this teaser for the look that says 76 all over it.

http://vimeo.com/28080780

You'll note the colors, the wash, etc. This may not even be SET in 76 but is says "70's" way louder than you poster.

Hope that helps
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I agree completely with Wheat. You should listen to his advice.
 
also, the music thing.. if your answer is that a visitor should chose between leaving you page on the screen, or turning off the entire sound from their computer, including their own music playback.... the user is going to pick closing your page. If thats what you want, thats what you'll get.
 
wheatgrinder said:
also, the music thing.. if your answer is that a visitor should chose between leaving you page on the screen, or turning off the entire sound from their computer, including their own music playback.... the user is going to pick closing your page. If thats what you want, thats what you'll get.
Click to expand...


This is Tom the director and producer of the project... I disabled the music track on the site so it doesn't potentially bother anyone else. What we actually have been getting is a lot of visitors and a lot of page views. You are the first person to complain to us about the music track on our site. Our project is steeped in music and will be a big part of the movie, the track was supposed to be representative of that fact... there is a scene where we will hopefully be using a cleared Pink Floyd track.

And for the sake of the young people who may not know that girls did indeed wear low rising hip huggers back in 1976... We changed the models jeans on the poster and website to fit "the perception" of what young people might have about the styles back then.

Thanks for the feedback.


www.SummerOf76Movie.com
 
Hmm.

Have you hired a sound designer yet? A dated movie like this requires the utmost detail in sounds and ambiences from that era.. Just a heads up.
 
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