Short course takes students to Middle Earth

Our Screen Tools short course for international students is currently underway during the inter-semester break.

Students from Canada, Mexico, the United States and Hong Kong were drawn to the four-week screen production course in Media, Film and Television for the opportunity to work with director and actor John Callen — as well as the chance to explore Middle Earth.

As a respite from their first two weeks of intensive production work, the students went ‘on a journey’ to East Farthing (Hobbiton), for a customised tour of the Shire.

As well as having fun using their own Lord of the Rings knowledge, the students were captivated by Hobbit actor John’s behind-the-scenes stories of working with Peter Jackson. After a banquet lunch in Bilbo’s 111^th birthday party marquee, the students interviewed John in front of the Green Dragon Inn about his role as the dwarf Oin.

Asked to evaluate the day, Jose Perez De Leon Carmona, a student from Mexico studying at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, said he loved the unique field trip. “It was great to be there with John to have some insight into how the actors worked in the Hobbiton set.”

The students also visited Weta Workshop in Wellington for a prosthetics, blood and chainmail master class, and were treated to a tour of Stone Street Studios, containing two vast sound stages and green screen facilities used for major international film productions, as well as Peter Jackson’s Tolkien trilogies.

The real highlight of the trip was an insiders tour of the state-of-the-art post production facilities at Park Road Post. Here they were granted privileged access to the audio engineering, colour grading and foley production suites to speak with internationally-recognised post production specialists about their skills in their respective crafts.

Screen Tools is an intensive workshop-style production class.

Taught in the television studio, students learn creative and technical skills from drama scripting, directing and producing, through to fast-turnaround studio and field production and digital editing.

Industry professionals including a script editor, cinematographer and network drama commissioner help the students as they develop their scripts within an authentic industry context.

Margaret Henley, the co-convenor of the course, said that “the enthusiastic response of our first batch of Screen Tools international students has been fantastic."

"The timeframe of the course is very demanding, but the students gelled as a group from day one and are making the most of what the course and tutor John Callen has to offer.”

At the end of the course the students will have produced a serial drama to showcase their skills and provide them with a stepping stone into the television industry or postgraduate screen programmes.

Mauricio, also of Simon Fraser University, reflected that “the course is inspiring and very motivating — we are really getting inside the industry working with John and the industry guests.”

Guillermo, of San Diego State University, loved the way that the course was "very intensive, hands-on and it gives us a look into how the industry works and the standards expected.”

The course concludes on Friday with a screening lunch and farewell with tutors, technicians and invited guests who all helped to make this course happen.

Based on the glowing feedback from the current group of students, and ongoing international enquiries, the Faculty of Arts plans to run the course again in 2017.

Find out more about Screen Tools