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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Your Big Break Short Films

C

Craig Parkes

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5 Short films were made as part of an international competition set up by Tourism New Zealand - they were shot on Red Ones (supplied I believe by Rocket Rentals - Scott Webster on the forums).

Each film maker had to submit their three minute script, then out of the more than 1000 entries the five chosen film makers were flown to Queenstown, New Zealand to shoot their short. The short had to be on the subject matter: 100% Pure New Zealand, The Youngest Country On Earth. They had a week of preproduction, 2 days to shoot, and a week of post at Park Road Post.

They are up at http://www.your-big-break.com/

The winner picked by Peter Jackson will be screened in the US on IFC ahead of the Independent Spirit Awards

Local kiwi boys Rajneel Singh and Tim Mclachlan were two New Zealand finalists who did us proud with their entries - I have been working with these guys for ages and they are real up and coming talents of NZ Film who finally, as the competition name states, got their big break.

Their films are Blank Spaces (Rajneel Singh), and Frosty Man and the BMX Kid (Tim Mclachlan)

I feel all the entries are great, and of course, all look amazing as they were shot on RED.

I hope you guys can take the time to take a look and maybe post some feedback, I know all the contestants would be stoked to have such a worldwide community of film makers checking out their work.
 
Thanks for the nice comments Joe! Just to clarify for those reading I am not related to the competition in any way, other than having worked with both the finalists from Auckland through their low budget days.

Really keen for any other comments on all the films, I think they are great examples of how RED ONE is changing the landscape of film making (I think there is no way, given the budget these guys had, that the same films could have been achieved on 35mm film with the same crews involved. Maybe individually with a lot of favors and a lot of prep time, but for 5 of them to all get to shoot their films in such a short space of time would probably have been deemed to risky for a company to sponsor when the medium of recording is as costly as film)
 
I had a feeling it was shot on Red. The images looked amazing. But of course, they were all complemented with an amazing script and great screen direction.

My personal favorite is Blank Spaces. Its very clever. I also liked Something Special. It was very unexpected.
 
Rocket Rentals was privileged to work with Catherine Madigan from Exposure in providing the equipment for Your Big Break.

The shorts were shot on Red #409, Ultra Primes and the Duclos 11-16mm Tokina Zoom.
An Optimo 24-290 was brought in for 'Working Day'

3cP color management system was used on location for the DOP's to assist with setting the look as they didn't have the opportunity to attend the grade at Park Road Post.

A few behind the scenes shots attached.

Scott Webster
Rocket Rentals NZ
 

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Raj had very nice things to say about his experience with 3cP color management as a director, and very happy with his overall experience shooting on RED!
 
Yeah, I'm rooting for "Working Day".

"Blank Spaces" (even though it deviated from the original entry's synopsis), was something that I really enjoyed.

I am still surprised that "Something Special" was chosen as one one of the finalists, but the judges must've seen something in the entry that they liked.

If you surround yourself with a host of professionals and $100,000 for a 3 minute film, your results are most likely gonna be pretty. :)
 
Craig Parkes said:
5 Short films were made as part of an international competition set up by Tourism New Zealand - they were shot on Red Ones (supplied I believe by Rocket Rentals - Scott Webster on the forums).

Each film maker had to submit their three minute script, then out of the more than 1000 entries the five chosen film makers were flown to Queenstown, New Zealand to shoot their short. The short had to be on the subject matter: 100% Pure New Zealand, The Youngest Country On Earth. They had a week of preproduction, 2 days to shoot, and a week of post at Park Road Post.

They are up at http://www.your-big-break.com/

The winner picked by Peter Jackson will be screened in the US on IFC ahead of the Independent Spirit Awards

Local kiwi boys Rajneel Singh and Tim Mclachlan were two New Zealand finalists who did us proud with their entries - I have been working with these guys for ages and they are real up and coming talents of NZ Film who finally, as the competition name states, got their big break.

Their films are Blank Spaces (Rajneel Singh), and Frosty Man and the BMX Kid (Tim Mclachlan)

I feel all the entries are great, and of course, all look amazing as they were shot on RED.

I hope you guys can take the time to take a look and maybe post some feedback, I know all the contestants would be stoked to have such a worldwide community of film makers checking out their work.
Click to expand...

TWO WEEKS to shoot?

Well for a short film, thats a pretty astonishing amount of shooting time.

R.
 
Ruairi Robinson said:
TWO WEEKS to shoot?

Well for a short film, thats a pretty astonishing amount of shooting time.

R.
Click to expand...

They had a week of preproduction
2 days to shoot
and a week of post at Park Road Post.

And I think you will find that both in pre and post they weren't full days but hours as HOD's and post talent became available to them.

You will find with Queenstown a lot of their actual shoot days would of been tied up with the logistics of location moves. On their side was daylight saving is active in NZ.
 
Scott Webster said:
They had a week of preproduction
2 days to shoot
and a week of post at Park Road Post.

And I think you will find that both in pre and post they weren't full days but hours as HOD's and post talent became available to them.

You will find with Queenstown a lot of their actual shoot days would of been tied up with the logistics of location moves. On their side was daylight saving is active in NZ.
Click to expand...

Oops, read in haste. Long day.

R.
 
Just as an update to this, the winner has been announced and it's Andres Borghi's "Working Day" - Awesome for this great young Argentinian film maker.

Peter Jackson said "The standard of all five films was very high. Any of them deserve to win, but it came down to personal choice. (Working Day) stood out as a fresh and original piece of storytelling. This was an extremely accomplished piece and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Andres' future work."

So great news for Andres and hopefully he, and all the rest of the contestants, get to really make the most out of having these films on their reels and the experience of making them leads them on to bigger and brighter things!
 
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