Producers make cut in regionals

"Six out of the team of nine spent the whole weekend at EIT." Tessa Tylee, programme coordinator

A team of EIT Screen students pulled off fast and furious as entrants in HP48Hours, touted as “New Zealand’s largest guerrilla film-making”.

The EIT team rose to the weekend challenge, which set a topic for teams taking part from all around the country and required them to complete their movies within 48 hours.

Working with “back from the dead” as their topic, the Screen Production students pulled it off with two hours to spare.

“That’s quite a feat,” says programme co- ordinator Tessa Tylee. “Many teams don’t even finish the competition.”

“Six out of the team of nine spent the whole weekend at EIT, sleeping in the Screen Production rooms. Another classmate brought them hot pizza on Saturday night, which was her way of being involved.”

Of the 22 east coast entries, 10 made the cut as regional finalists. That included the EIT team, named ‘Pete’ after tutor Peter Janes. Some of the students travelled to Gisborne for the regional judging and although their team didn’t make the nationals, they returned home with several awards.

The team won best use of a shadow (one of the extra requirements for the film) and best score, which was produced by Paul Marsters. They were also nominated for best editing (Jordan Wood), best cinematography ( Mitchell Knights) and best acting (Luke Chapman).

Jordan found it good to see what he could deal with – “I wasn’t sure if I could get through it and I did.”

As a first-year Screen Production student, Mitchell says to be thrown into operating the camera was a great experience.

While the weekend of filming was, as promised, a furiously fast challenge, Tessa says the students found it a fun learning experience.

The competition had brought them together as a group, and they are now keen to enter again next year.