Matt Kinsman - 2012 - My films this year, breaks and plans

2012

2012 was an exciting time for me. My course finished this year in March, And I had lots to do when we resumed classes in January, My wife quit her job and moved up here with me and shared our student studio, so instead of returning to christchurch I could stay in Auckland as that's where the film business is anyways. As soon as my course finished we moved out of the city centre to the suburbs.

2011 had been fun, we had shot ads, news pieces, short films and did lots of written work. Now the final project for the start of 2012 was to film our end of course film which had to be 15 minutes in length. While I was still getting my script approved I practiced shooting with the camera, the result of this being ‘Phonecall’, which was supposed to be an action thriller, however, busy as I was I never got to finish shooting the plotholes so, as a result I could share with Nazim and Victoria my talent for this piece, I made a quick edit of the footage I had. And then left it alone for another time.   

I met Victoria through starnow after looking through her profile when she applied for a role in King Style back in 2011 but I didn’t use her then as it was shot in Christchurch and not here in Auckland. To date she has now been in my film company logo, Phonecall and Timefish. Phonecall was shot at Parnell parks which were close to my place on Beach Road.

Phonecall haste edit (2012)

Timefish (2012)

For my final project  I had written a piece about a hit man who carried his conscience literally. However, my Teacher wouldn’t approve it in time so I wrote this quick small piece about a time travelling fish who gets a deadbeat writer into all sorts of trouble when assassins from the future come after the fish. Nazim helped me as camera operator and costar, and I also had good appearances from Victoria as my girlfriend, Chris as my nemesis and my wife who did the voice for the time travelling fish begrudgingly. My hair is soo short for this which sucked but at the time outside of my course I was shooting Emperor as a soldier so I had to have the buzzcut.

I tried Parkour for the first time, I’d like to practice properly once I have access to a gym and some mats as i only did basic rolls and I also learnt alot about time management from doing this project and overall I’m happy with the result, as a bonus I did another nunchaku fight scene, though I’d really like to sit down and design a proper one as I intend to do with Inevitable (2013). I still intend to shoot my original course ending piece though as it was much better and less rushed. Sometime later this year hopefully.

Outtakes of Timefish (2012)

Behind the fight scenes of Timefish (2012)

Footchase practice for Timefish (2012)

The Lighter (2012) dir. Nazim Khan (for SAE)

For Nazims End of Year project I offered to help him with camerawork as he did with my project so we could help each other out, however on the day of the shooting the actor he had marked out for the lead decided to do a no show, so with the clothes I was wearing (shorts, why would I do a film in my home clothes?) we started shooting. This film also starred Lee who had previously appeared in my first project Everyone’s a Loser when it comes to love. It was shot day for night and outside the Auckland Art Gallery so was quite fun shooting in public, and I learnt alot about camera shooting again from Nazim’s method. (uses a boom for sound, I never used a boom for mine, too much equipment though the sound quality is better) All in all, it turned out well :)

Thirsty (2012) dir Saari Santosh (for NCBT school)

With school over I didn’t have access to a camera anymore so really haven’t done much film work outside of school, Nazim’s friend was studying at a different film school and she needed an actor so Nazim asked me and I thought it would be a good idea to get more experience, this is the result of their efforts, there school seemed to have more equipment than ours and the dolly was a much bigger difference to my ‘walk with camera sideways’ approach ;) 

Professional Works (2012)

2012 was a bigger year for me professionally, right up until I finished my course, After that I went job hunting for a proper job. My biggest role this year was landing the role of a 1940's Amercian soldier extra on the set of Emperor, a Hollywood film which was shot here in Auckland from February to April 2012. I got to work alongside big Hollywood names like Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones. 

Watching how Peter Webber directed the film also taught me alot of how I should do my own feature films. I also made heaps of contacts through the other extra's who did bootcamp with me, which I hope to make use of when I shoot Chase at the end of this year. Also, for my 16 days of 8-12+ hour shifts I also made enough to buy myself a car, so no more buses and trains for me and something to remember the film by :)

 Other work I got to do was basic background work in a couple of Shortland St episodes and a bartender at Mexico restaurant in Nothing Trivial.

so 2013?

Who knows what 2013 holds? I have planned to do some acting/stunt courses this year, finish shooting/editing and releasing Chase, my first full length feature which should be available on DVD for stores and online, I want to shoot a web series, A pilot for a series for TV, and at the end of the year start work on Inevitable my bloody action thriller. It all depends on cash and good fortune. Stay in touch :)