Behind the Scenes of a Bigger Picture

NZ is known for its technical and design led innovation, less known perhaps is that many idea-based opportunities exist in the screen production industry. Nicci Lock looks at Grow Wellington’s research and development initiative Callaghan Innovation and talks to some of those paving the way for other technicians.

With several thousand contractors needing consistent work to maintain an edge until the next big show hits town, the TV and film industry is a tricky one to be in – down times will always happen and technicians need to find ways to mitigate them. It is not realistic to expect that NZ, given its size, can support more than two film projects per year per region of a large enough nature to literally employ thousands.

The outcry from screen production crew that hit the headlines late last year around the lack of competitiveness for fee-for-service productions highlighted several issues, most notably the dependency the NZ screen industry has on consistent location-based filming projects. Of course, given how the sector is made up (several large companies, a few smaller companies, and the majority of independent contractors), it is of no surprise.

Incentives for large offshore projects are mandatory to remain globally competitive and to sustain what is a highly integral part of our sector in the medium term, but there is now further opportunity to leverage the new incentives. The new incentives are to be applied in a fashion that will enable our sector to retain and exploit its creative IP, and we need a solid long-term plan to make this work best. The most vulnerable and key part of it all is our technical capability and talent. Without our technicians and their IP, we lose our majority workforce and our competitive advantage along with it.

Each of us needs to evaluate and analyze what we consider to be our skilled contribution, how we can safeguard this, improve it, invest in it, and then commercialize it. Our skills and the stuff we create have got to become monetized, spun out for other uses around the world.

A platform, or a pipeline, that gives techs access to the resources, tools, knowledge, and people to do this is essential. Screen techs are generally not experts in commercialization and siloed ideas are not usually realized.

Aside from the obvious notoriety NZ has with regard to beautiful locations and blockbuster VFX, the technology and craft we are so proud of and awarded for has put NZ on the map as the place to come to create fictitious worlds, their creativity unrestricted by technology. We have a veritable creative and tech sandpit. If we don’t yet have a solution, then we will make one that we can solve whatever the need is at that time. We iterate.

Innovation

NZ is known for its technical and design-led innovation. Innovation means modernisation, improvement, originality, and iteration. It has allowed us to stand out in the global crowd with a reputation for all sorts of things in every sector – woollen clothing, wastewater technology, skincare, medical devices, VFX, sound and accounting software, marine energy generation, breast screening technology, and the world’s first iPhone app. But what can we do with this after the initial need has been met? Simply put, when the projects are not rolling into town, there is still a way to pay the mortgage and contribute to the NZ economy in a quantifiable way.

Tucked away on the fifth floor of the Grow Wellington office are two guys making a difference to the NZ screen sector and to the future potential of technicians. Matt Carrere holds a Master’s Degree in engineering and project management, and Simon Tuohy is a NZ patent attorney who holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in biochemistry. Their job is to develop businesses, with a focus on technological exports. In other words, to turn ideas into global businesses, their products and technology sold or licensed to other countries. They assess projects, products, and technology to determine their possible commercial success, regardless of the industry in which they originated. As regional partners, these two administer the Callaghan Innovation (CI) pipeline. This is part of a nationwide network of organisations like Grow Wellington, helping businesses access information, funding, training, and business development services. CI administers more than $140m per year in business research and development (R&D) funding through programmes designed to help accelerate innovation by firms in NZ.

Two veritable rocket scientists in suits, they and their government counterparts, have great applied knowledge and awareness of the needs of the innovation ecosystem. In other words, will the concept or product work beyond a film set? Who will buy it, how will it be sold, and for how much? What’s lying on the dockway floor that could be explored and will it work outside of making an Avatar or_ Lord of the Rings?_

They understand why this stuff gets invented on our film sets and that they are an important part of how our sector can build more robust businesses in other areas of our industry. The technology and products coming out of the screen sector have an advantage – there is lots of market validation and proof of concept already present. If it was used on a film set and solved a problem or created a new way of doing things, then it’s proven. But does it have a use beyond the film set and if so, how else can it be applied and who else might need it or an iteration of it?

There are parallels drawn between the screen, defence, and medical sectors. Many technologies and products designed for each are then applied in others with a bit of a tweak.

The CI pipeline is useful both for encouraging and funding more research and development but also for uncovering ideas and products that can translate as solutions for problems in new markets.

There are many stories (a couple follow below) of technicians reinventing the wheel, where to do so takes a product you believe in, the right people in your team, and a desire to take it to the world.

In the words of Dr. Seuss, “Oh the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winningest winner of all!”

Tom Kluyskens – 3D printing

Civil electromechanical engineer gone rogue, Tom Kluyskens enjoyed a frivolous yet forming 10-year career in digital visual effects for high-grossing movies. He can claim to have digitally killed Gollum by simulating the lava he fell into. Tom has taken visual effects software technology, combined it with web technology, and applied it to physical engineering, industrial design, and digital fabrication (3D printing).

MatterMachine narrows the gap between designer, manufacturer, and consumer, or between artist and audience, through elaborate digital tools and interfaces that stem from the high-end digital graphics world, and tests those tools through daring physical production projects.

Tom says: “MatterMachine is a very general purpose, very complex product. We’re now looking at a few killer market entry points for a simplified version of what we have. Good customers have allowed us to bootstrap over the past two years, but it’s now clear that we’ll need investment to scale properly, so we’re starting efforts in that direction. Matt and Simon really seem to grasp the importance of what we’re doing. As for the grant process, it is really just about making a sound business case. It forced us to do that. And once we did, the application went through smoothly. Quite prosaic. Not much drama or story there. A business plan is a business plan. You gotta do it, and for us, the grant was a reason to review ours, and solidify a roadmap."

Technicians should pair up with non-technical people with business experience right off the bat, and have a focused vision that transcends the technical product. Keep your product simple at first, iterate quickly, dare to fail and change course. Don’t start without a good indication of an existing market for your product, but try not to be burdened by demanding customers too early on.”

Lance Lones – Online Platform for Filmmakers

Lance Lones exited VFX at Weta Digital and started with company Film Convert in 2010 and now has eHoncho. Film Convert gives digital camera footage the color and grain of your favorite film stocks. eHoncho is an online collaboration platform created for filmmakers by filmmakers that revolutionizes the way content is made and funded.

Lance says: “The beauty with this ability to do daring technology-based ventures, is that it allows us to shift the film and screen industry here in Wellington away from just a fee-for-service model, to a model where we own the intellectual property rights of our technologies and content. I think in the long run, this is massively more sustainable than relying on essentially one or two producers to bring big budget productions here. It takes the pricing power away from the studios, and puts it back in the hands of New Zealanders, which can’t be a bad thing."

"Although both of these new ventures are quite perilous, having the sort of environment that allows us to take these bold risks is vital to New Zealand prospering in the future. I think that organisations like Grow Wellington and Government interventions such as TechNZ and now Callaghan have been pivotal in building this environment where risk-taking is tolerated and even encouraged. One of the real unexpected and amazing things that I’ve also found through this journey in Wellington, is the vibrancy of the environment here for new technologies and startups. There’s this great optimistic view that you can do anything, which I don’t think I expected to find here in New Zealand."

For folks who are interested in this type of grant, my one bit of advice with respect to approaching these projects would be to have a very clear vision on what your ultimate product is. That being said, as we learned more about the actual scope of the problem—it is research and development after all—we shifted our model just a bit, and happily found the staff at the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, who were doing the administration of our grant at the time, were quite flexible and helpful in guiding us through our particular changes.

Though I’m not directly working on the big budget productions that we’re all aware of, I’m currently building my next new technology product, FilmHoncho.com, a cloud-based collaboration tool for filmmakers, which eHoncho will launch next month.

Kayne Horsham – Injection Moulding System

Kayne Horsham invented the unique and simple technology to make the lightweight chainmail used on the set of Lord of the Rings and now many other films around the world, including The Hobbit. The last 15 years has seen his company morph dramatically with among others, a patent for an injection moulding system. It is a far cry from the art department on Hercules and Xena in the 1990s.

Kayne says: “If you compile a sound commercially focused R&D plan with ‘go-kill points’, measurable success, a realistic budget, demonstrate the level of technical stretch required, and underwrite this with your own ability to fund it without grants to grow internal capability by employing New Zealanders and with a focus to commercialise and export as a result, then you will likely be supported.

If you can’t pull this together, then maybe it’s not an investable opportunity, or maybe you aren’t the right person to develop and front the proposal. Find someone who is that person.

Following the R&D application process did help solidify our commercial objectives, clearly identify the competitors (or potential threats to our brand), properly assess and forecast the budget needed for the venture, stay focused on key objectives in your messaging, and most importantly resourcing it properly without reliance on Government grants to complete the proposal. See it as a bonus.

If it’s not worth doing without a grant, then it’s not worth doing with one.

Kaynemaile has over 50 invention patent claims fully awarded in 80% of the world’s economic regions without infringement or opposition (a five-year process), so this robust global examination process assisted in clearly defining that I had indeed ‘invented a platform technology which was a novel and original method of manufacture with commercial potential’.”

Nicci Lock is a writer and screen projects manager with a background in producing sound, animation, live action and VFX for commercials, TV and film. Her company Exes and Associates works with vanguard individuals and companies, to create alchemy – mixing storytelling with new and existing digital technologies.