Staff.
Tommy Honey - Director
Tommy Honey has a background in education and creative management. He has taught in...
John Reid - Head tutor
John Reid is the Head Tutor and manages the delivery of the curriculum. This include...
Alison Langdon - Programme Co-ordinator
Alison Langdon is the Programme Co-ordinator responsible for co-ordinating the visit...
Jessica Charlton - Technician
Jessica Charlton is the Technician responsible for managing the technical aspects of...
Adèle Chapman - Receptionist/ Administrator
Adèle Chapman is the Receptionist/Administrator responsible for the operational sup...
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About Film School News.
13/06/07
FILM SCHOOL GETS FUTURE IN FOCUS
Reprinted courtesy of the Dominion Post
A few days at Helm's Deep encouraged one man to pursue a film career.
When Tim Butters took a few unofficial days off school in his sixth form year to be an orc in Lord of the Rings, he never imagined that in a few years he'd be the director of photography on a film at the New Zealand Film and Television School.
Mr Butters, 22, had long been interested in film and had studied film and television at secondary school. However, his interest in his studies didn't stop him from signing up as an extra on LOTR when a friend suggested he might like to come along. And besides, for a 16-year-old, the money was very nice, thanks.
He appeared as both an orc and as a Gondorian soldier, filming scenes at the Horokiwi Quarry in Hutt Valley. Much of the short film Mr Butters is working on – Narcolepsy, written by classmate Barry Carter – is set in Hutt Valley and he has been passing the quarry every day en route to location, which has brought back a few memories.
"Being an extra was great fun," he says. "But I've learned I'm much more interested in making movies than being in them."
Each Film School intake is assigned a crew number, with Mr Butters' class being Crew 13. He hopes it will be lucky for him.
"It's definitely camera and lighting I'm aiming for," he says. "When I graduate next month, I'm going to go out there and get in touch with everyone I've met on the course, and try like crazy to get work, even if it's unpaid at first."
Students spend most of their final semester working on what the school calls the "grad films" – three short films that are written, pre-produced and filmed by the students on an Arriflex SRII film camera, before being edited and screened at a graduation ceremony at the Paramount Cinema.
The Film School was started by the Wellington film industry and the tutors are working professionals who come into the school as their schedules permit. More than 50 people teach during the year-long course so Crew 13 will already have the beginnings of a network to tap into by the time they graduate this month.
Mr Butters' classmates aspire to many different jobs in the film industry and are all looking forward to working in the real world.
"One of the actors told us we worked as well as any professional crew," Rebekah Sherratt says, "but even though it's as close as we can get to the real thing, I can't wait for my first job."
Ms Sherratt got a buzz out of art directing one of the short films, and is aiming for a job in an art department when she graduates. Other crew members have aspirations for departments as diverse as continuity, sound recording , assistant directing and post production.