Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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Malcolm Moore, an experienced sound recordist, and Mike Rathbone, who had had
over three years’ experience in camera work at the National Film Unit. The quality of
these and other collaborators was a tribute to the persuasiveness of the student
filmmakers, although in this early phase of the new film industry there was a great deal
of voluntary labour. (The tradition of professionals helping student filmmakers
continues to some extent even today.)
Since the finished length of the film was nearly double that originally envisaged, the
number of crew who actually worked on the film had to be expanded from the original
proposal. White and Ward were fortunate in securing the services of Alun Bollinger as
the film’s DOP. Bollinger had trained with the NZBC, and had wide experience of
working as cameraman, gaffer or DOP on a number of documentaries and dramas, as
well as working on feature films such as The God Boy (Murray Reece, 1976) and
Sleeping Dogs (Roger Donaldson, 1977). 346 He was assisted by Michael Rathbone as
2 nd cameraman, and assistant cameramen Alister Barry and Barry Thomas, both of
whom had worked in film and television for several years. As sound recordist,
Malcolm Moore worked with Don Reynolds and Wayne Borden, both experienced
technicians. Brian Shennan of the National Film Unit was employed as dubbing mixer.
In addition, Geoff Murphy, who had an already well-established reputation in film,
assisted with sound and filled the role of assistant director, while Gwen Kaiser assisted
with costume and wardrobe on the film. The film’s music was adapted by John
Cousins, a talented composer, who lectured at the Canterbury University School of
Music. 347
White states that their reasons for wanting to use such a high-level professional crew
were that its “presence would compensate for our relative inexperience at working to
demanding schedules and coping with the inevitable stresses that develop on a sizable
production”. 348 There was an additional reason: “Merely from a producer’s point-ofview,
the use of such people also added weight to any proposal submitted to prospective
investors”. He adds that while he and Ward were “only interested in working with
people whose talent we respected”, there were a number of other considerations to take
into account, such as whether a prospective crew-member had had previous experience
346 Bollinger was assistant to the DOP Michael Seresin on Sleeping Dogs.
347 McDonnell, "The Translation of New Zealand Fiction into Film," 130.
348 White, "Production of a Film Drama," 10.