3 days ago
Training next generation filmmakers in Wellywood
arts movies 2:30 pm today
This week I put on a suit. No ordinary suit. A motion capture suit, in the studios of the Victoria University of Wellington Miramar Creative Centre. It's next door to the likes of Weta Digital and Park Road Post, enabling a new generation of filmmakers to learn within the cutting edge environment that gave Wellywood its nickname. I have to say - moving on the performance capture stage, I'm not exactly Andy-Serkis-as-Gollum level - but its quite the out-of-body experience. I got to be a fearsome Genghis Khan on a grand opera house stage. Miramar Creative Centre was established by Jamie Selkirk, co Founder of Weta and the Roxy Cinema and Oscar-winning editor of Lord of the Rings. The centre is one of a number of initiatives around the country looking to grow film education industry. For example, the University of Canterbury is now partnering with Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animation to provide stop motion animation education through its academy.. Yet, the film industry is also facing uncertain, challenging times. Joining Culture 101: Miramar Creative Centre director Raqi Syed, a lecturer, and visual effects and lighting director. She worked with Disney Animation on classics like Tangled and, with Weta Digital, Avatar, Planet of the Apes and the Hobbit films. With her is Jun Huang, a recent masters graduate at Miramar who has established his own animation studio Dozeface. You can watch Dozeface's 'Weekly bedtime stories for overstimulated minds' on Youtube.
