Paul Brandon

Videographer

You’ve filmed each of the winning houses for Home of the Year. What stood out to you most about these projects?

I think for me what stands out the most is the seamless use of different combinations of materials and colours that come together to create spaces that make you feel a range of emotions – rested, safe, relaxed, joyful, intrigued.

Filming (mostly) architecture fills your days. What is it you enjoy most about capturing the essence of spaces?

As a videographer I’m very aware of compositions. Whether it’s walking around a city or out in nature, I’m always seeing different crops in my mind’s eye. Making sure each composition is well balanced and framed through strong lines or using depth of field, and integrating how movement works with those frames. With architecture, I really enjoy telling the story of a home through these compositions, marrying them with other shots that slowly reveal a bigger picture to tell the whole story.

In your spare time, you’re often found creating your own architectural structures out of sand (and making quite the name for yourself in this space). Tell us more.

It almost happened by accident and started as what is now a yearly tradition with my brother Jared at Mount Maunganui entering the sandcastle competition on Boxing Day. This year, our entry received a lot of interest from different new outlets. It stood two metres tall, and incorporated staircases, windows, doors, and turrets. Since then, we entered another competition at Mangawhai and won that one too! We’ve put the prize money towards buying a new set of tools from America. We’re now looking at our next competition, and perhaps an Instagram presence for our work! I think there’s a nice synergy with my work filming architecture and that has helped with lines and balance in the sandcastle realm – who would have thought? Watch this space.