StopPress sits down with Flying Fish’s managing director and executive producer James Moore and executive producer Samantha Attenborough to chat about technology, the exciting year ahead and moving into the long-format realm.
Browsing: production
New Zealand, Aotearoa, Middle Earth, Land of the Long White Cloud. What about Land of the Creatives? Erin McKenzie talks to Flux Animation, ToyBox and Augusto and finds out how our location in the South Pacific is no barrier to local production companies working around the world.
As part of StopPress’ Production Month, directors from Flying Fish answer questions about inspiration, career highlights and the format of film.
There’s never been a better time to be making great video content.
As part of StopPress’ Production Month, seven directors from Curious Film answer questions about inspiration, career highlights and the format of film.
There’s never been a better time to be making great video content.
NZ Story has announced the first eight production companies selected for the ‘Creative Collective’, a pre-qualified supplier list for local businesses looking to share their message globally. We talk to director Rebecca Smith about the selection process and what it means for the production companies involved.
NZ Story, the government organisation charged with enhancing New Zealand’s reputation as a business hub, has posted an ‘Invitation to Qualify’ (ITQ) on the government’s tender services website in a bid to attract interest from production companies.
Motion Sickness Studio launched a unique start-up initiative last week called ‘MSS Startups’, geared towards younger prospective clients, which will see the studio trading its services for equity, a move founder Sam Stuchbury says was a pretty natural step to take. Here’s a look at the new service and how it all works.
First coming to prominence with guerrilla advertising campaigns and video jockeys for electronic musicians, projection mapping is now an oft-used method to promote products from major companies such as Porsche, Sony and Nike. Artistic collective, Skullmapping, however, are taking it to a whole new level.
FCB head of studio Simon Pengelly runs one of the largest agency studios in New Zealand. And despite having a schedule with very few gaps, he recently took a few minutes to chat to Creative Store founder Louise Lawton about what his high-pressure role entails.
Stem Creative has released the first three episodes of its six-part satirical web series called Agency, just a few short months after the creators came up with the idea. And the result is a humorous look at the trials and tribulations of the advertising industry through the eyes of three “hapless but genuine and enthusiastic marketing wannabes” at a small creative marketing agency in Wellington.
Brands are now beginning to realise the true value of good content and how it can be used to increase sales/exposure/PR, says Robett Hollis. But now the big brands have a very big problem and a very big decision to make.
Recent market research has forecast the economic impact of drone technology in the USA alone to be $82 billion dollars by 2025 and it’s predicted that 80 percent of the commercial market for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) will eventually be for agricultural uses. Given our reliance on that sector, and our history of agricultural innovation, New Zealand stands to benefit from this development. But Callaghan Innovation is also hoping to drive its use in the film and screen industry through an innovation competition.
The creative process is difficult enough to explain, let alone visualise. Yet, this is exactly what 8com director Michael Humphrey has attempted to do in a video promoting and exhibition of artist Dick Frizzell’s work.
According to Google’s statistics, more than a million advertisers are using Google platforms to advertise. And with the proliferation of video over the last few years, YouTube is increasingly becoming a vehicle that brands use to spread their messages. The problem, however, is most of these one million advertisers are small businesses, which simply don’t have the budget to invest in production companies or advertising agencies to produce content for the channel. Quite often this sees businesses with little other option but to develop amateur videos that do not belong in the public domain. One company that has identified this gap in the market and is now offering brands with cheaper video alternatives is Tandem Studios.
Airbnb has made some quality ads in its time, with everything from the charming and inventive crowd-sourced film Hollywood & Vines to the rather enticing spot for its recent—and slightly controversial—rebrand. And now it’s made another stunner with the help of Kiwi animation house Cirkus.
Attitude Pictures has been telling the stories of New Zealanders living with disabilities, recovering from injuries and dealing with health problems since 1992 and broadcasting on TVNZ since 2005. It brought those stories into the real world in 2008 with the creation of the Attitude Awards and, around one year ago, it moved online and into the world of live streaming when it launched its website Attitude Live. Producer Dan Buckingham and managing director Denis Harvey share their thoughts on running a successful niche media group, how it intends to make a profit and why corporates should get involved.
Industry happenings at Eleven PR, Hypermedia, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, The Sweet Shop, MediaR, Zomato.
As traditional boundaries around production and advertising start to blur, some of the more progressive companies are doing much more than just filming pretty pictures. Motion Sickness Studio, which kicked into gear in Dunedin around 18 months ago, could be placed in that category. And now it’s moved north to try and get a slice of the content creation market in Auckland. Co-founder Sam Stuchbury sits down for a chat.
It’s not unusual for commercial directors to pursue other interests to keep the creative fires burning. But doing a TV series is fairly rare, says Robber’s Dog’s Chris Dudman, who helped write, direct and edit TV3’s new critically-acclaimed drama Harry.
Flying Fish has signed up to co-produce Orphans & Kingdoms, a feature film from Paolo Rotondo (writer/director) and Fraser Brown (producer) that’s scheduled to shoot in June this year.
He was up on stage a few months back collecting a trophy for best production company at the AXIS awards. But George Mackenzie, who spent three years with The Sweet Shop, most recently as managing director for NZ/Asia/MENA, has decided to try his hand elsewhere and will join Robber’s Dog as managing director.
Kiwi director Taika Waititi is currently trying to drum up some cash in order to get Boy shown in the US. And, after being nominated for an Oscar, directing a couple of Flight of the Conchords episodes and starring in The Green Lantern, his star keeps rising, as evidenced by this big musical number he directed for NBC that showed before its superbowl coverage.
Once again, CAANZ and The Sweet Shop are set to send two young Kiwi creatives off to Thailand as part of its sponsorship of the Adfest Lotus Award. And another two Kiwis who have already shown their creative chops, the hot-to-trot directing collective Special Problems, have just signed up with The Sweet Shop for commercial and branded content work worldwide.
It’s tough out there in production land at the moment. But there’s a new boy on the block and it’s name is RedYeti.
Auckland-based artist agency International Rescue is now representing animators in addition to its list of photographers and illustrators. And co-director Rob Finn says the move will not only allow clients to save costs and time by working directly with animators, but it will also offer access to a wider range of animation styles because the work of the 17 existing illustrators can also be animated.
They’re the producer and director duo responsible for DairyNZ’s ‘Other Countries’, the NZBlood campaign, Fisher & Paykel’s ‘Lost My Sock’ and L&P ‘Tourism Paeroa’. And after doing the business with Automatic Films, Mike Oldershaw and Johnny Blick have decided to form their own production company called Waitemata Films.
Broadcast programme maker Screentime has rebranded its corporate television arm as Screentime Communications, referencing the fact that its non-broadcast business is providing a growing portion of the company’s turnover.