Dunedin startup gets global reach
OLIVER Compton and Millie Cossou quip they are two peas in a pod.
Partners in life and work, the young couple run their startup business, Infinitum Studios, from a small ‘‘pod’’ in flexible workspace provider Regus.
From downtown Dunedin, they have had a global reach, with their drone footage of Six60 concerts featuring recently on Good Morning Britain, hosted by Piers Morgan, and BBC News.
It was exciting for the pair, who took the disruption caused by Covid19 last year to reassess where they were heading and create their own opportunities.
The pandemic was also inadvertently responsible for their media exposure, as English media highlighted to audiences of millions that New Zealanders were still able to enjoy a hot summer and the odd concert.
Infinitum started out doing content creation about two and ahalf years ago but later repositioned itself as a cinema drone and aerial cinematography specialist.
The pair wanted to bring to market something that had not been done before; they also had to go through the process of being certified through the Civil Aviation Authority.
Mr Compton (24) was previously an aircraft engineer who decided he had a different idea of what he wanted life to be like.
He moved to the United States for three months and, on his return, started ‘‘coldcalling’’ and the business went from there.
He met Ms Cossou (22) while they were doing video work for BMW, and the pair had been together for two years.
Although launching the business was a big risk, Mr Compton said he always tended to trust his instinct to know what the ‘‘right thing’’ was.
Mr Compton acknowledged it had not been an easy road — he was still doing other jobs, including farm work, to pay the bills — and they were still very much at the beginning of their journey.
The Six60 work was their biggest job yet and involved producing livestream footage on a 100ft (30.5m) screen behind the stage, which was a New Zealand first, they said.
Flying drones at events was risky but technology had reached a point where the risk was mitigated enough to do it safely, Mr Compton said.
They were in the business for the ‘‘long term’’, so a proven safety track record was crucial. While it might appear they were flying the drone over the crowd, that was not the case, as they did not have the crowd’s permission to do that.
Mr Compton was the pilot, controlling the drone, while Ms Cossou was the camera operator. A friend from Christchurch was the spotter.
The couple expected Dunedin to get a lot of film work over the next 12 months — Covid19dependent — and they were hoping to capitalise on international companies being attracted to the area.
Not all opportunities were about money; often they were about experiences and building relationships, Mr Compton said.
In the film and television industry, it was often about ‘‘who you know’’ — networking and knowing the ‘‘right people’’.
For networking, they were very grateful to both Regus area manager Phillipa Smith and Jason Lindsay, from Petridish, for the opportunities provided.
Being based at Regus and able to talk to those behind other Dunedin businesses had been integral as a base platform for Infinitum to grow, Mr Compton said.