Internships and prizes

We have an Annual Internship in Script Development with South Pacific Pictures (Whale Rider, Shortland Street, Outrageous Fortune) which you can apply for as a MA student on our program. This gives students interested in writing and script development a chance to work closely with the SPP development department on a range of projects they currently have in development and production.

For the last two years we have also been able to offer students a very successful internship with the New Zealand Film Commission in the Short Film Marketing Department. This gave the selected students a chance to grow their knowledge of festival release strategy, films sales contracting and marketing approaches. It was also an excellent chance for the students involved to meet and work alongside all the staff of the New Zealand Film Commission and gain insight into their various programs. We hope to run this again on an annual basis.

The Geoff Evans Prize for Excellence in Screen Production is sponsored by Images Sound and Post Production, one of New Zealand’s leading post-production facilities based in Auckland. The named prize acknowledges Geoff Evan's creative and technical contribution to the film industry over many decades.

The main purpose of the prize is to enable a Masters student enrolled in Screen Production to utilise professional post-production services, provided by Images & Sound, to improve the production quality of his or her film. The prize is worth $7500

Based on the student’s final marks we nominate the top three films from the Masters year. The team at Images decides on the winner.

The winner of the 2012 Geoff Evans Memorial Award for Excellence in Screen Production is Chantelle Burgoyne for her film "Tatau."

"I am very humbled and grateful to be the 2012 recipient of the Geoff Evans Memorial Prize. My dramatic short film Tatau explores Samoan masculinity through the tradition of tattoing. It also has a lead character who is going blind. The film relies on fading ink, obscured images, heightened sounds, and blurring vision to reveal the character and to advance his story. I look forward to a professional post-production process with the team at Images & Sound that will not only enhance these sonic and textural aspects of my film, but also offer an invaluable learning experience for myself as a young filmmaker." - Chantelle Burgoyne.

Previous winners:

Our 2011 winner of the Geoff Evans Prize is Gabrielle Blackwood whose short drama is called Grave Digger.

"I'm indeed honoured to be the recipient of the award which has certainly challenged me to maintain high standards. A special thank you to Anna, Melanie and the rest of the team at Images & Sound who have been generous and accommodating particularly while working long distance. May this award continue to be an inspiration to others in the film arena." - Gabrielle Blackwood.

The inaugural winner of the Geoff Evans Prize for Excellence in Screen Production in 2010 is Dena Kennedy, for her film Peter’s Hat.

"Many thanks to Grant Baker and the team at Images for this incredible opportunity. Working with the world-class professionals in the post production facilities at Images is a truly a privilege and an honour." - Dena Kennedy.

Every year, two screenwriting majors, upon completion of their MA degree, are selected for an internship by the Head of Development at South Pacific Pictures, New Zealand’s largest and most prolific film and television production company. The internship offers an opportunity to demystify the process of ‘script development’ whether it is writing coverage, story-lining, rewrites and polishes, or negotiating ways in which budget and casting affect changes in scripts. Previous interns have found this ‘real-life’ experience invaluable in their endeavour to find their place as writers in the creative industries.

Interns:
2012: Blair Soper & Benjamin Teh
2011: Zanna Gillispie & Luke Hedley
2010: Esther Cahill-Chiaroni

“Razor Films was producing a documentary about the photographer W.H.T. Partington and the Maori he photographed around the Whanganui River in the late 1800. Vanessa Alexander, the Director of Screen Production at The University of Auckland, put me forward to intern on the project and I was taken on as their camera assistant.”

“It was 10 shoot days on the Whanganui River. We worked with a digital camera with a lens mount, so it was my job to take care of the lenses and to help with lens changes throughout the shoot days. In the evenings I was in charge of transferring the shot data from the camera cards to two hard drives, which we used to store the shot footage on.

Working with a professional documentary team, and a world-class Director of Photography was a great experience. Over the 10 days at the river I learned a lot about the process of documentary and the demands of working in a small crew. I became friends with the other crew members and got useful advice on sound, camera work and on directing. This was an excellent opportunity and will help me as a director when I come to make my major project. “ – Bea Madach, MA student

“The New Zealand Film Commission seemed like an intimidating place to undertake an internship, but one in which I will forever feel grateful for, as it unveiled the mystery of financing films in New Zealand. The mere controversy surrounding the Commission in itself gave way to an interesting research essay, and allowed me to develop my own personal opinion on Government Arts funding. Part of the internship involved working in Short Film Sales and Marketing, reading scripts funded by EPs, attending screenings and participating in development committees. Most importantly I was able to put faces to the names in charge of our film industry's future. “ – Nikki Castle, MA student