A reflective suspense film about a paranoid school cleaner has taken out the ‘Best Film’ prize in the Cut! NZ Secondary Schools Short Video Competition for 2009 – ‘The Cleaner’, directed by Seung-woo Hong from Nelson College. After deciding at the last minute to fly up to attend the ceremony, Seung-woo was happy to discover that his carry-on luggage for the return trip would include an iMac, Final Cut Express, a Ricoh digital camera and a Wintec Bachelor of Media Arts first-year study grant.
Tamar Dorfliger at the Cut! awards ceremony
All the finalist films can now be viewed on the Cut! website. The awards were judged by Renee Casserly, Richard Swainson and Tamar Dorfliger. The group said that ‘The Cleaner’ stood out for its strong soundscape, suspenseful atmosphere and creative visual storytelling and construction. Dorfliger, a Bachelor of Media Arts graduate now working for tvCentral and tvRotorua, said the film also showed a great attention to detail and a convincing performance from the central character.
The Runner-Up Best Film also hailed from the South Island, with romance-thriller ‘53’ (directed by Ben Childs, from Middleton Grange School, Christchurch) filling the second place spot. The judges enjoyed the film’s strong naturalistic performances, clever construction and tight editing. This is this team’s second success in the Cut! competition, after winning the ‘Best Original Score’ prize in 2007 for their pop mockumentary ‘Bounce it, Bounce it, Bounce it’.
'Best Hamilton Film' winner Brad Griffiths, with Hamilton Councillor Glenda Saunders. The prize was sponsored by Hamilton.
Homeschooled student Brad Griffiths won Hamilton’s inaugural ‘Best Hamilton Film’ award, with his fast-paced futuristic thriller ‘Without Pay’, and also picked up ‘Best Editing’. Another local success was Hamilton Girls’ High School student Tégan Hall, who got 1st equal in ‘Best Director’ for her experimental work ‘Dreamland’. Other big winners included Sebastian Solberg (St Kentigern College), who picked up ‘Best Cinematography’ and ‘Best Documentary’ for ‘Nepal’, and Isaiah Tour (Papatotoe High School) who won ‘Best Script’, ‘Best Animation’ and ‘Best Original Score’ for the quirky ‘Spore’.
Awards were also presented for special effects, best performance (full results below) and Top School effort within the competition, which went to perennial top performers Gisborne Boys’ High School. The main prizes were presented by Sharon Bolderson from Auckland’s A2Z Technologies.
Judge Tamar Dorfliger with winning director Seung-woo Hong
Winner of the Audience Favourite award was ‘Spore’ from Papatoetoe High School, closely followed by zombie-ninja film ‘Exhuman’ (Upper Hutt College) and ‘53’ (Middleton Grange School). All ten finalists received certificates for themselves and their schools, plus a bag containing goodies and gifts from sponsors.
Gail Pittaway, Media Arts lecturer and MC for Sunday’s awards ceremony, said Cut! 2009 had been an incredibly impressive event, showcasing skilled and passionate work from some really talented students. “The programme will be a collector’s item one day, for all the names of the rising stars it contains. The prizes were also superb and the level of sponsorship very generous. It was a thrill to have been part of!’
Cut! is proudly presented by Wintec and the School of Media Arts, with support from A2Z Technologies, Lapshop, Hamilton, Ricoh, Auteur House, Focal Press and Elsevier.
Winner details:
Best Film – iMac with Final Cut Express for the school, with Ricoh digital camera and USB sticks for the director and team
Winner: The Cleaner (Seung-woo Hong, Nelson College, Nelson)
Runner-Up Best Film – Lapshop. Viewsonic VA2026W 20″ widescreen monitor + webcam & LaCie itsakey USB stick.
Winner: 53 (Ben Childs, Middleton Grange School, Christchurch)
Best Documentary – Focal Press/Elsevier $50 book voucher + iPod
Winner: Nepal (Sebastian Solberg, St Kentigern College, Auckland)
Best Director – Wintec Bachelor of Media Arts first year study grant to the value of $1500, and Skycity movie passes
Winners 1st equal – Tégan Hall (Dreamland) and Seung-woo Hong (The Cleaner)
Best Hamilton Film – $500 worth of Dick Smith Electronics vouchers
Winner: Without Pay (Brad Griffiths, The Correspondence School, Hamilton)
(Nominees – Dreamland (Hamilton Girls’ High School), Without Pay and Defying Gravity (Hillcrest High School)
Best Editing – 2 x Neo editing software packages from A2Z Technologies, valued at $450.00 RRP & 2 x packs of writeable DVDs (one for school, one for editor)
Winner: Without Pay (Brad Griffiths, The Correspondence School, Hamilton)
Best Cinematographer – Focal Press/Elsevier $50 book voucher & Ricoh digital camera.
Winner: Nepal (Sebastian Solberg, St Kentigern College, Auckland)
Best Script – Focal Press/Elsevier $50 book voucher + itsakey USB
Winner: Spore (Isaiah Tour, Papatoetoe High School, Papatoetoe)
Best Animation – Focal Press/Elsevier $50 book voucher + robot USB from Lapshop
Winner: Spore (Isaiah Tour, Papatoetoe High School, Papatoetoe)
Best Performance – webcam + lego USB from Lapshop
Winner: Ben Childs (from 53, Middleton Grange School, Christchurch)
Best Original Score – Free 6 hour recording session in the Wintec Commercial Music recording studio + Sennheiser headphones
Winner: Spore (Isaiah Tour, Papatoetoe High School, Papatoetoe)
Best Special FX – Lapshop prize pack
Winner: When Others Sleep (Eugene Lee, Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School,
Christchurch)
Top Cut! School – Wintec one-day Filmmaking Workshop for a class – to be selected from STAR courses offered, or negotiated with Moving Image lecturers. Winner: Gisborne Boys’ High.
Finalists in 2009 were:
Without Pay – Brad Griffiths, The Correspondence School, Hamilton
Whanau – Gisborne Boys High (‘Gissy Boys’), Gisborne
Where Others Sleep – Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School,
Christchurch
53 – Middleton Grange School, Christchurch
The Cleaner – Nelson College, Nelson
Die Nacht – Auckland Grammar School, Auckland
Exhuman – Upper Hutt College, Upper Hutt
Dreamland – Hamilton Girls’ High School, Hamilton
Nepal – St Kentigern College, Auckland
Spore – Papatoetoe High School, Papatoetoe
For more information, contact Dawn Tuffery on dawn.tuffery@wintec.ac.nz or 0274947999.
