Regent 3 Cinemas, Masterton. PHOTO/FILE
JADE DAVIES
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Two Wairarapa College students watched their first short film along with the community on the big screen last month having been selected to take part in the Wairarapa Film Festival.
Luca Neilsen and Daniel Johnston-Kanavatoa did everything from scripting and acting to writing music and producing to turn their idea into a short thriller-drama.
The Year 13 students created ‘Milk Stains’ as part of their media studies class, and their final product was chosen by their teacher, Richard Wallis, to feature in the film festival at the end of May.
“Milk Stains is about a milkman and how he gets confused through a series of events pertaining to a hidden meaning about his memory loss,” Neilsen said.
“We did our own iterations of the script and merged them together to make the film,” Johnston-Kanavatoa said.
“I designed all the music for the film, so I researched what sounds implied different emotions and took that into consideration.”
The students said they conducted a pre-visualisation of the film [a run-through with no props] before filming and editing the final version.
They said filming took about four weeks, and the result lasted five and a half minutes.
Overall, the students said the process was not what they expected.
“There were lots of different things to take into consideration, lots of planning, and a lot of steps in the process that make you respect films more,” Neilsen said.
Both students said they were nervous about their work hitting the big screen.
“Whenever you create something, you will always see issues after it is done,” Neilsen said.
Festival director Jane Ross said she was “very happy” to be able to support local rangatahi with their filmmaking goals and aspirations.
“Wairarapa Film Festival is all about celebrating local film and filmmaking,” she said.
“I am proud to be able to curate and present films from emerging and veteran filmmakers.
“Everyone has a story and a starting point and if we as a community can nurture our storytellers and support their journey then I feel we are doing something meaningful and worthwhile.”
