ScreenTalk

Acclaimed Director of Photography Leon Narbey has had a hand in many of New Zealand’s best known films. He directed the feature film, Illustrious Energy, in 1987, and has been the DOP on other major film projects such as Desperate Remedies; The Price of Milk; and the smash hit Whale Rider. His most recent films were the Topp Twins doco Untouchable Girls and Samoan language feature The Orator.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Narbey talks about:

• How directing Illustrious Energy was one of his greatest achievements
• Resisting attempts to shoot the film in a studio
• The challenges of filming Desperate Remedies in a wharf shed
• Chaos caused by the number of sets that had to be built
• The difficulties of creating realistic whales on the set of Whale Rider
• Taking a long ‘organic’ approach to filming Rain of the Children with director Vincent Ward
• Working in freezing conditions on the set of Dean Spanley

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence

Cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh is the eye behind some of the most iconic images in New Zealand film.

His first job in the industry was as a “general assistant” on Middle Age Spread. From there he worked as a gaffer on films including Smash Palace, Goodbye Pork Pie and Came A Hot Friday, before becoming a fully-fledged cinematographer, learning much of what he knows from his mentor, Alun Bollinger, who operated the camera for him on The Piano.

Since shooting The Piano, Dryburgh has been working overseas (he shot Bridget Jones’ Diary, and the Martin Scorsese-directed pilot of Boardwalk Empire), returning only to film In My Father’s Den in 2004.

In this ScreenTalk interview shot at his home in Brooklyn, New York, Dryburgh talks about:

• Making his first film with the help of Lenny Lipton’s book Independent Film Making
• The challenges of lighting a night shoot on Queen Street; and using film stock ordinarily reserved for news reporters
• Meeting Jane Campion on the set of Queen Street
• Learning about method acting as a young gaffer on Smash Palace
• Being put in charge of lighting on Vigil under “über-prepared” director Vincent Ward
• Getting creative with a “mass of messy light” on Alison Maclean’s short film Kitchen Sink
• The reaction that Kitchen Sink gets overseas
• Reuniting with Campion for An Angel At My Table
• Using “good, old-fashioned trick photography” on An Angel At My Table; and how they made Janet Frame’s red hair “pop” on-screen
• His thoughts on the “wonderful conundrum” that is Jane Campion
• How he knew The Piano was going to be something special
• Getting the call from Lee Tamahori to shoot Once Were Warriors
• Why In My Father’s Den was one of the easiest films he has ever been involved with
• The advantage of being a Kiwi on American film sets

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Cinematographer Warrick ‘Waka’ Attewell is something of a legend in the Kiwi film industry. From landmark 70s TV series Tangata Whenua, he has gone on to climb mountains with Sir Ed; shoot commercials, shorts and six and a half features – including the acclaimed Starlight Hotel – plus direct Ian Mune doco In the Shadow of King Lear. These days he is also known as a commentator on screen matters, who often says the things others are too scared to say.

In this ScreenTalk interview we’ve picked out a few highlights from the three decades Attewell has been in the game.

Attewell talks about:

• the cinematographer’s role, in taking viewers into a different world
• the watershed experience of being caught between cultures, while helping make landmark series Tangata Whenua
• working with the late Barry Barclay on Tangata Whenua, and Barclay’s second feature Te Rua (on which Attewell shared cinematography duties with the late Rory O’Shea)
• conquering frozen cameras for hit doco All the Way Up There, which chronicles a disabled climber’s dream of topping Mount Ruapehu
• the challenge of capturing Central Otago on film, while shooting road movie Starlight Hotel – whose look The LA Times compared to screen classic Days of Heaven

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence

Credits: Direction and Interview – Ian Pryor.  Camera and Editing – Alex Backhouse