Simon gives Technology and expert advice to benefit film students.
Simon Hunter, Director of the New York Film Academy Australia, will share his vision for creating a new industry for up and coming filmmakers using the latest technology at the Gold Coast Indie Film & TV Night on Wednesday, April 17, 2013.
Guests attending the event at the Gold Coast Arts centre will hear Simon speak about his successful filming of a feature film project using the Canon 5D camera.
Simon said the film, called The Custodian, was an 82-minute feature shot with the Canon 5D camera and a crew of 20 at Toowoomba in Queensland over 12 days.
The project had personal significance for Simon, who said it was the culmination of years of intuitive speculation that had prompted him to teach students to be proactive in achieving their goals to produce a film project.
“Since my days at Bond University as Head of the Film School between 2006 and 2008 I have been telling students not to wait for an opportunity – not to wait for permission to take a shot at making their own feature film,” said Simon.
“I would say – just do it!”
Simon added that this advice was initially based on encouraging students on a creative level having worked both in Australia and Hollywood for years as an established screenwriter.
Through his own experience, which included what Simon calls ‘war stories’, writing a number of scripts for high profile TV and movie executives and being well paid, yet not always seeing the end result go to air or grace the silver screen, he wanted to dispel the myth that you could not create your own opportunities in the TV and film industry.
Simon said with the release of the Canon 5D camera in 2008 – a stills camera with a video format, he was even more confident up and coming filmmakers could realise their dreams with this new technology.
Applying this technology with another element of success Simon believed to be an important Hollywood-style component of filmmaking – combining familiarity with originality to produce a highly marketable product as in Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, and individual skill and talent meant the sky was the limit.
Yet, it would take another five years before Simon would take the challenge himself to prove his theory.
“I was having lunch with a friend on the Sunshine Coast in 2011 and told him that I kept preaching it, but had not done it myself,” said Simon. “It kept bothering me!”
So when the opportunity arose to create a film project with the Canon 5D Simon took the challenge.
“It was a not-for-profit project that will see profits go to Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital’s Paediatric Unit.”
Simon said the success of the film project also demonstrated to his students the potential to create a new industry.
“Using the 5D Camera has the advantage of creating their own film projects and tapping into the Apple TV and iTunes market,” he said.
By creating this new industry up and coming filmmakers would have a huge opportunity for exposure and gaining some financial rewards.
Don’t miss the opportunity to hear more about The Custodian film project and Simon Hunter’s work in the film industry and as Director of the NY Film academy Australia at the GC Indie Film and TV Network on April 17th and booking at the Arts Centre 55884000
Interview by Hush Hush Biz reporter Melissa Szalai
