Movie dreams coming to life

The film career ambitions of two Makoura College students have taken a tighter focus.

Henry Sinclair, 17, and Tom Feringa, 16, have shared a fascination since childhood with film production and directing.

Last week, the pair began work on a Toi Wairarapa music video project alongside a crew of fellow secondary students from throughout the region under veteran cinematographer Ed Davis, who has shot music videos for bands such as The Black Seeds and Jordan Luck.

The aim of the project is to enhance the film-making skill sets of students keen to study the craft or work in the industry.

Sinclair started making movies when he was 7, using VHS video tape, stop motion and Lego. Several years later, he began filming first-person shooters using a gaming console and, at 12, began creating special effects for film soundtracks using a computer.

He discovered Feringa shared his passion for film-making a couple of years later.

Feringa, who is with the Makoura College Military Service Academy, had been shooting "black op" films using prop weapons and uniforms that he was uploading to YouTube.

The pair then established SINFER Films, a creative partnership and film and multimedia enterprise that boasts business cards, T-shirts, and YouTube and Facebook accounts.

Sinclair said he and Feringa were investing every spare minute and cent into their film ambitions and were using a high-end gaming PC for "gun muzzle flashes and colour correction", and video editing, design and promotion.

Sinclair said film-making was not a study topic at college and "shadowing Ed Davis" through the Toi Wairarapa project offered vital experience in the field.

He and Feringa also had filmed at the Gunslingers Ball in Carterton last month and had completed still photography at a powhiri.

Sir Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies had ignited his passion for film and Feringa had shared the same industry focus after watching Black Hawk Down.

Sinclair visited special effects and digital wizards Weta Workshop in Wellington this year and met Lord of the Rings producer Jamie Selkirk.

"My dream is to be a director. It's not an easy industry to get into but it's something I'm spending all my money and time on. I am very determined."