Media Arts Induction
About 400 students attended the Media Arts Induction day, held on the 11th of February. The day included a welcome and waiata, staff introductions, course overviews, a big barbeque lunch and live music by local band Trigger Theory.
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New STAR course has first outing
Media Arts launched a number of new STAR (Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource)/Taster courses for secondary school students this year, with areas including Short Film Production, Patternmaking and Grading, and Screenwriting. Hillcrest High School senior students became the first to try out the 'Introduction to Adobe Illustrator' course on February 12th and 13th, learning initial techniques and strategies for using the industry-standard software. Tutor Luke McConnell said the 2-day course teaches students to develop and improve their skills in Illustrator, and use it in conjunction with programs such as Photoshop. |
Wintec films and art at Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival
 This year Wintec is part of the Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival, supporting the 6 film screenings (including a drive-in movie), the chalk art workshop and the cooking demonstrations.
Each feature film screening will be preceded by a short film made by Media Arts students, offering audiences an opportunity to sample the local filmmaking talent.
All Wintec students and staff can attend the Wintec-sponsored events at the Summer Festival for free by showing their ID card.
Here are the dates the student films will be shown:
- Friday 20th Feb - Almost Average (to screen before Sione's Wedding)
- Saturday 21st Feb - The Long Dream (to screen before Twilight Samurai)
- Sunday 22nd Feb - Goofballs (to screen before Thunder Road)
- Friday 27th Feb - Music videos BASS and Trigger Theory's As You Fall (to screen before It Came From the Swamp)
- Friday 27th Feb - Dr Shazam and his Lovely Assistant (to screen before Night Bus)
- Saturday 28th Feb - Shepherds of Doom (to screen before Black Sheep)
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Trigger Theory video hits TV
A music video made by Bachelor of Media Arts students is on rotate on C4 and Juice TV. Trigger Theory's 'As We Fall' video was made by Moving Image students Bevan Jones (director), Floyd Moratti, Sophie Dewstow-Wright, with help from band members and fellow BMA students, Joe Thompson and Ian Collins (Commercial Music).
'As We Fall' is currently on rotation at C4's Select Live show, 4 - 6pm weekdays, and fans can text 'S135' to 4440 during that time to vote for it to be played. Trigger Theory played live at Media Arts Induction (pictured). The band is planning to move to Australia this year, and will play their final NZ show on March 6th at Otumoetai Primary Hall.
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Graduate film at top European festivals
 Michelle Savill's post-graduate film 'Betty Banned Sweets' was recently shown at for two prestigious festivals - the Rotterdam Film Festival and the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in France.
Michelle wrote, directed and produced the film, a 15 minute tragic-comedy about a young man who dreams of escaping to South America, while studying towards her Bachelor of Media Arts (Honours) degree at Wintec in 2007.
The film was selected for the Melbourne International Film Festival last year and Michelle is delighted that it was also picked up by the two European festivals. Michelle currently works in Wellington for noted New Zealand film-maker Gaylene Preston, and has another short film in pre-production.
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First show of '09 opens at Ramp
 '500' by Canterbury- based artist Brenda Nightingale is on at Wintec's Ramp Gallery from the 24 February - 13 March 2009, with the opening event on Tuesday 24 February at 5.30 pm.
Nightingale installs a sequence of portraits deftly and patiently realised in watercolour.
The fragility and poignancy of these 20-somethings emerges through Nightingale's thoughtful and expertly realised observations.
Showing concurrently on Ledge is work by fellow Cantabrian Stacey Turner, who explores the graphic possibilities of illustrating the marks and movements of the brushstroke.
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International Students enjoy Media Arts Taster Course
A group of students from Korea's Kyung Hee University recently spent 5 weeks learning English in Wintec's summer school program. During this time, they were able to select taster courses featuring different areas of study for one afternoon a week. The students selecting the Media Arts taster course focused on stop-motion animation, successfully designing visuals, painting backgrounds, modeling characters, building sets and animating for their short films. The animations were then screened for an audience during the final week. The students enjoyed the opportunity to experiment with stop-motion, and each received a DVD of their films to take home to Korea.
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Music production tutor to head teaching network
Media Arts music production tutor Bjorn Arntsen has been chosen to head the new Asia Pacific DigiDesign teaching network, established recently at the Digidesign Pro Tools summit in San Francisco. The network aims to exchange ideas about the use of the software, as well as teaching tools and tips, and forge links between institutions.
Pro Tools is the most widely used music production tool in the world, covering the creation, recording, mixing and mastering of music. Wintec music graduates earn both the Bachelor degree qualification and Pro Tools certification, meaning international accreditation and recognition on the Digidesign website. Bjorn believes this is a bonus for Media Arts' music students. "The accreditation combined with a Wintec degree really does open the doors to such a wide range of jobs".
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