More film success for Massey graduate

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mnarticle=more-film-success-for-massey-graduate-13-06-2008

More film success for Massey graduate

Sam Kelly and Bonnie Slater recieving the prize.Bonnie Slater hopes winning the top prize for the third successive year in the Wellington 48HOURS film competition will lead to a feature film in the near future.

Ms Slater, a graduate of Massey’s School of English and Media Studies, produced the film Darlene which won best film at the sold out awards ceremony in Wellington’s Embassy Theatre.

The film also won best script, best cinematography, best use of a prop and most perfect moment awards.

The 48HOURS filmmaking competition gives 600 teams across New Zealand just 48 hours to make a film from idea to completion. Each team is randomly allocated a genre and must include a given character, line of dialogue and prop in the film.

Ms Slater’s team was given the juvenile delinquent genre to work with. She says they drew on films from the early 1960s as inspiration.

“The films of James Dean are the first that come to mind when you think of this genre, but we didn’t want to limit ourselves to adolescent characters. Darlene tells the story of a young thief who becomes infatuated with an older man she has robbed in the past, it’s a coming of age story.”

Ms Slater says her team, Smashing Pants, is hoping to win the national final where more than $60,000 in prizes is up for grabs.

“We’re currently developing a feature that will definitely make people sit up and notice. Winning the nationals would be a genuine leg-up to getting our film made.”

The team’s success in the competition over the past three years has industry people keen to help.

“If this is what we can do in 48 hours with limited equipment and no budget, imagine what we could do with more time and a budget,” she says.

Ms Slater works as a freelance television and has worked on shows such as Sensing Murder, Mitre 10 Dream Home and Location, Location, Location.

She says completing a BA in Media Studies at Massey University gave her skills a theoretical base.

“I then went on to the New Zealand Film and Television School and learned the practical side of the industry.”

The national final of the 48HOURS film competition is being screened on C4 on 3 July.

ENDS

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