Graduate Profiles

Jennie Winter

Moving Image Pathway

Jennie Winter is passionate about her job. She works at 3 Foot 6 Ltd, the studio responsible for the miniature work being filmed for "The Lord of the Rings".

"I Graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Media Arts as a Moving Image major and have since worked in both film and television. Having spent 7 years in television, which included producing and directing a live to air lifestyle magazine show on Prime TV, I'm now really enjoying working full time in a film environment, the atmosphere is amazing. Hundreds of passionate people all working towards a common goal, to complete the trilogy!

3 Foot 6 Ltd is the miniatures unit for Lord of the Rings and we're responsible for making and filming models, for example the black gates, seen in the film. This involves working closely as a team to make sure every intricate detail in each individual shot looks realistic. My responsibilities includes putting together bash comps, which involves combining the live action footage with miniature shots, converting film to video (telecine), film handling, setting up the video split on set, editing together demos to show Peter Jackson and maintenance of our computers.

I also help run the projector in Peter Jackson's personal cinema where the team gets together every morning with our Director of Photography, Alex Funke to study the rushes (previous day's footage).

My Media Arts degree taught me how to think creatively and gave me a good understanding of various roles within the film industry. With the number of film projects to complete as students I got plenty of experience in all areas. With organization being a key factor I loved having a deadline to work towards, having to constantly come up with creative ideas and then make those ideas a reality was fantastic. It was a very exciting time.

On Lord of the Rings we're working 11-12 hour days 6 days a week which can be a bit taxing at times but, I love it. Seeing the finished film, I'm sure, will make it all worthwhile."