Film Auckland - a location initiative for overseas filmmakers

Enterprise Waitakere, Waitakere City Council and Auckland City have announced Film Auckland - a location marketing and production servicing partnership to promote and coordinate Auckland as a film location for local and overseas filmmakers.

Film Auckland will support the film sector through film friendly logistics, international location marketing and collaboration with other film industry entities throughout New Zealand.

As part of the package to entice overseas producers multimedia company Zoomslide Media approached Enterprise Waitakere and Auckland City to look at the possibility of making a DVD show-reel of Auckland’s film locations and show off the depth of talent in the local film industry.

Enterprise Waitakere and Auckland City have independently supported film crews wanting to film in their areas for well over a decade. People within their film facilitation teams have long envisioned a coordinated regional initiative that would make it easy for overseas producers to contact a one stop shop.

Zoomslide's concept of a DVD was timely and now Location Auckland & Waitakere - a film location DVD guide for international filmmakers is now ready to launch.

Zoomslide realised it had to be simple, entertaining and viewer friendly - easy to navigate - showing not only the best in locations but also acting, direction, production design and post production effects.

Location Auckland & Waitakere director Mark Summerville says,

'”We all knew that the Location Auckland & Waitakere DVD had to stand up with the best DVDs overseas quality wise. Especially when its intended audience is the top 2000 producers around the world.

DVD was the best medium to choose for the two hour show-reel, it allows viewers to dip in and see what they want without wading through material they're not interested in.”

The DVD crosses the complete broad spectrum of filmmaking with show-reels from the West Coast, Urban Auckland and Outer Auckland. Each show-reel includes movie clips, short films, music videos, television commercials and an aerial recce of each area.

“We shot interviews with key industry people representing the various film arenas and searched through masses of archived productions to choose the best quality work.

We were spoilt for choice there is so much good work shot around Auckland. It was more the need to hold back and keep it simple because DVD allows for such an in-depth viewer experience” says Mr Summerville

Following a welcome and introduction by Cliff Curtis, viewers choose from the interviews of well-known film producers, directors and production designers who tell us why Auckland is such a great place to film and what film infrastructure is here ready to service overseas productions.

Film Auckland will distribute two thousand copies of Location Auckland and Waitakere through international film festivals and film location expos.

This multi-zone NTSC DVD can be used in any region around the world. The other user friendly aspects of DVD are it's portability and durability, these and the high production values of Location Auckland & Waitakere give Film Auckland the confidence that their message should stick in the minds of overseas producers.

This DVD will also be made available to local production companies to use as a resource when dealing with overseas enquiries.

Location Auckland & Waitakere will be launched and Film Auckland will be introduced at The Civic’s Wintergarden on the 24 September.

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