Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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audience “might adversely affect the life style of Puhi and Niki”, and he put off signing
a contract with Television One. 500 The film was eventually screened on New Zealand
television, but only after Puhi’s death.
After the loss of the footage from the initial shoot, another shoot had to be re-scheduled
in early November. This time Alun Bollinger was cameraman and his “low-key
approach improved matters enormously”. There were still however, problems with
using the cumbersome camera equipment in such a limited space and it was difficult to
get good coverage of a scene because of the necessity of using superspeed prime
lenses. 501 After a week the old lady began to tire, and for this reason, the remainder of
the shoot was cancelled. Eventually, Ward realised that “the only way to keep her in
good spirits was to film less than one week in every seven”. 502 He would send the crew
home and stay on to help her with her chores. As a result, the film that he had thought
would take six weeks to shoot dragged on for months, but worse than the tedium of
menial tasks to be completed, and the waiting-around, was
the constant feeling of being an outsider, a Pakeha […]. I was an individual
operating outside the community and none of my previous experience equipped
me to deal with the situation. Generally the community tolerated me. They
were often friendly, but then I’d feel an undercurrent of criticism and suspicion
and knew I had made another mistake, although I rarely discovered what it
was. 503
A further film shoot was scheduled for November 24, 1978 – February 3, 1979, but
because Puhi and Niki had temporarily moved to sleeping in the meeting-house while a
block of lavatories was being built at the marae, Ward decided that there was little to
film and postponed the shoot. He waited for two and a half months for circumstances to
change, but eventually became discouraged and again postponed the shoot. During this
time, however: “Two things had been achieved, firstly I knew the people of the area
500
Ward, “A Documented Account of the Making of In Spring One Plants Alone,” Section on
Production: 3-13 October 1978.
501
Ward, “A Documented Account of the Making of In Spring One Plants Alone,” Section on
Production: 1-12 November 1978.
502
Ward, Edge of the Earth: Stories and Images from the Antipodes 19.
503
Ward, Edge of the Earth: Stories and Images from the Antipodes 20.