Whizz-kids needed for the movie industry

Johannes Konigstorfer, a visual effects producer from Photon, wants to take on 12 cadets a year. Picture / Greg Bowker

As New Zealand develops a reputation as a centre for state-of-the-art computer-generated visual effects, a leading Auckland company is unable to find the staff it needs.

Photon is finishing work on its first project and is on the hunt for Kiwi artistic talent.

Visual effects producer Johannes Konigstorfer said the company wanted to start a cadetship to bring local talent into the industry.

"I'm a great believer we could do it," said Konigstorfer. He thinks New Zealand has people with the right skills, but they're already employed.

Konigstorfer has to search worldwide for talent, importing artists from Holland, the US and Britain.

He would prefer to hire Kiwis.

"Ideally, yeah - simply for cost reasons. I have to fly them [foreign artists] here, I have to pay to put them up for at least two weeks."

Konigstorfer said New Zealand design students needed to get closer to the film industry.

"Everybody has the same [demo] DVD with a robot shooting somebody up.

"It's much better to put somebody on a real show and give them an end-credit because then they can get a job. Find some talented people, bring them in, push them in and say, 'okay, this is the show, do it'."

Konigstorfer will be approaching universities and colleges with his proposals.

Initially he would like to take on about 12 cadets but aims to host up to 50 cadets each year. They would be assigned to work part-time on projects as part of their studies.

The company's first project, American-funded television series Hercules, is due for completion next month after 10 months in production.

Konigstorfer would not disclose Photon's next project but said New Zealand was now an attractive choice for production companies worldwide.

Productions with a budget of $15 million that spend at least 70 per cent of it in New Zealand qualify for a GST refund worth millions.

The cost of visual effects for modern film and television encourages the use of New Zealand effects companies to reach this threshold.

And good special effects are a must-have for any action film that hopes to do well at the box office.

Konigstorfer says low-budget - a relative term in the movie world - films can be made to look like $20 million movies for an outlay of only $2 million on visual effects.

There are other New Zealand visual effects houses but Konigstorfer said Wellington-based Weta, of Lord of the Rings fame, and Photon were in the world's top 10.

And New Zealand's reputation was growing.

"Weta is the king, undoubtedly so, but as it attracts people and productions here, if they can't do it they have another option - they have us. Before it was Weta or nothing."

Konigstorfer said technology was not the limiting factor, only imagination.

"We haven't hit the wall yet - whatever you can visualise, we can realise; it's not a problem."

He talks excitedly about the recent visual effects-laden science fiction film release Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

"Everything was shot against a blue screen. There's nothing real," he said.

"I think that's where the future is - virtual reality sets."

Photon New Zealand was set up last May, although its Australian parent company is 14 years old.

Most of its 30 staff do 3D design or 2D composition work, bringing together film and effects.

Talent quest

Photon is importing artists for visual effects from Europe because it can't find local ones.

The company is proposing a cadet scheme that would employ design students part-time.

New Zealand has a growing reputation for digital visual effects.

Work is being attracted to New Zealand by a special tax exemption.