Film & television day a success

An excellent effort was turned on at Christchurch School of Broadcasting yesterday. Great talks and panels on a variety of subjects. The highlight for me was the SDGNZ workshop on directing led by Jonathan Brough.

What the film crew ate

Over 4 weeks on site at Ellerslie...

420 cookies, a 3k g chocolate mudcake, 120 chocolate bars, 36 l fruit juice, 2 ginger loaves, 1 chocolate cranberry cake, 70 Turkish rolls, 1 kg honey smoked turkey, 1 kg Mediterranean chicken loaf, 1 kg smoked chicken, 13 kg salad, 1 kg manuka smoked ham, 28 pots of good coffee, 2 kg dried apricots, 2 lemon cakes, 3 kg sliced cheese.

I'm surprised anyone did any work after eating that lot!

I had to make fanatastical promises to get Tracy to devulge that commercially sensitive information :)

Canterbury Community Trust donates $7,000

The Canterbury Community Trust has donated $7,000 to Bush Telly for sound and lighting equipment.

Gear that will be bought includes at least one additional radio microphone set and a LCD multiple camera monitor to help raise the quality of filming of future conservation interviews.

Now that the dust has settled

Things are finally settling down after the hectic month on site at the Ellerslie International Flower Show. The packout and gear cleaning took a week, everything was coated in dust!

Meeting of Bush Telly supporters to plan 2010 Ellerslie entry

A planning meeting for next years film set is being held at Environment Canterbury from 2pm - 4pm on Wednesday April 8. Sponsors, film crew, and people wanting to help are welcome to attend.

The venue is the Waiau Theatrette, Environment Canterbury 58 Kilmore St.

The meeting will view some of the first edited interviews, discuss what could be improved, and come up with a plan.

Contact Mike Peters 03-9800902 for more information.

South Island Film & Television Day

A day of workshops and seminars for film and television professionals, students and enthusiasts will be held at NZ Broadcasting School in Christchurch on Monday, March 30, 2009.

Presented by: NZ Broadcasting School in association with Script to Screen, NZWG, NZ Film Commission, SDGNZ, Screen Canterbury, Ngā Aho Whakaari, WIFT NZ

For more information contact Richard Bell
03 940 7561

Its a wrap

On the last day of the show, Di Robertson recorded interviews with the crew and 4 interviews with guests.

The crew interviews will be used for the "Making of Bush Telly" documentary.

Tracy (Photographer Denise Bester)

Milly (Photographer Deise Bester)

Paul (Photographer Denise Bester)

Di and Di (Photographer Di Carter)

Mike Bowie sets up his weta motels (Photographer Di Carter)

First day of filming in the can

The first five interviews were filmed yesterday. Gemma Bradfield from ECAN and Tom Fraser from Landcare Research were the interviewers.

From left; Mike (Bush Telly) Tara Atkinson (Orana Wildlife Park), Gemma (ECAN) getting ready for interview (Photographer Denise Bester).

Milly filming (Photographer Denise Bester)

Christchurch-based Bush Telly wins Ellerslie’s Supreme Award

A rustic shed where the threat to New Zealand’s native biodiversity will be discussed “over a cup of tea and a bit of cake” during the next five days of the Ellerslie International Flower Show has won the Show’s Supreme Award.

The exhibit has also won the Supreme Award for Design Excellence.

The Convenor of Judges Penny Cliffin says the garden excels in many areas. “It evokes an emotional response; it is educational, entertaining and unique with a strong conservation message.”

She says it is also whimsical, engaging and inspirational with wide appeal. “The team have handled a large four-part design so cleverly and with great attention to detail. It creates an intriguing journey which unfolds many different elements and experiences.”

Bush Telly, the Christchurch-based natural media unit of the New Zealand Ecological Restoration network (NZERN), will record 40 interviews on various conservation topics during Ellerslie to be released next month on YouTube, Google Video and DVD.

The interviews will be “a yarn with real people involved in saving New Zealand’s native plants and animals” in the Hort Galore Marquee, in the exhibit’s shed, adjoining nursery or down by the stream. Visitors to Ellerslie will be the live audience for the interviews.

http://www.ellerslieflowershow.co.nz/

Official launch

Dr Bryan Jenkins, CEO of Environment Canterbury, did the honours at the midday launch function today. His filmed address will be used as the introduction for the DVD. A gold medal was awarded to Bush Telly during the opening.

Brief interviews were recorded with the invited guests attending.

Tracy provided a big chocolate cake and fruit juices with crew members bringing a plate.

Lights, camera, action

As the completion deadline approached, the props arrived and lights turned on.

We finished with 5 minutes to spare!

Paint brush anyone?

A team of volunteer painters spent a total of 40 hours painting the film set. Tracy Peters, Hannah West, Milly Keefe and Manda Keefe made up the team.

They had to work off a painted 1:20 scale model to mix up their own paints. I wanted the effect of warm sepia tones inside the shed, which was achieved with timber stains that would look good under soft light, and cool worn looking exterior autumn tones that would not overpower the native bush. Dry brush was the main technique used by the painters.

Resene kindly donated $1500 of paints.

Stream feature completed

The pumps were successfully fired up today and the stream is now happily bubbling away. A big thank you to Peter, Engineer at Waterdynamics for carefully getting everything to work.

DoC ranger Anita Spencer plans to release Bullies into the stream.