Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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Ward’s very early films and was pleased to discover that they had the camera original
and the sound negatives of Ma Olsen and the negative A and B rolls of Samir, a short
film made with Timothy White while Ward was at Ilam. Unfortunately neither of these
films was in a state to be viewed, and it may be some time before the financial resources
are found to restore them to a form in which they can be readily accessed. Another
valuable source of primary research material was Roger Horrocks, who provided me
with unpublished material such as his correspondence with Ward regarding the draft
scripts of Vigil and several versions of the draft scripts themselves which gave me
insight into Ward’s approach to scriptwriting.
There is a shortage of secondary sources that give an overview of Ward’s work, but I
found his own book Edge of the Earth: Stories and Images from the Antipodes to be an
invaluable source of information, both in documenting the process of making three of
his films and in articulating his interests and aims. 68 Although Lawrence Jones’s
Barbed Wire and Mirrors: Essays on New Zealand Prose does not mention Ward, this
book was useful in situating Ward’s films in the context of a New Zealand literary
tradition – offering some categories that could be adapted from literature to film. 69 The
Anxious Images catalogue gave me ideas for relating Ward’s work to a New Zealand
tradition of painting. 70 Jonathan Rayner’s chapter entitled “Paradise and
Pandemonium: the Landscapes of Vincent Ward” in New Zealand – A Pastoral
Paradise? gave me an insight into the way in which the subjective treatment of
landscape in Ward’s films – from Vigil to What Dreams May Come - extends beyond
national geographical boundaries to match the films’ broader concerns. 71
A number of reviews and articles have been written on individual films and these were
helpful in reaching an understanding of the response to Ward’s work both overseas and
in New Zealand. Stan Jones’s study of the reception of New Zealand film in Germany,
Projecting a Nation: New Zealand Film and its Reception in Germany included
interesting insights into the way some of Ward’s films were reviewed and interpreted by
68
Vincent Ward, Edge of the Earth: Stories and Images from the Antipodes (Auckland: Heinemann Reed,
1990).
69
Lawrence Jones, Barbed Wire and Mirrors: Essays on New Zealand Prose (Dunedin: University of
Otago Press, 1990).
70
Anxious Images: Aspects of Recent New Zealand Art (Exhibition Catalogue), (Auckland: Auckland
City Art Gallery, 1984).
71
Jonathan Rayner, "Paradise and Pandemonium," New Zealand - a Pastoral Paradise?, eds. Ian Conrich
and David Woods, Studies in New Zealand Culture, No 6 (Nottingham: Kakapo Books, 2000).