New Zealand's Film Lure

Imagine the film industry with no computers, emails, mobile phones, texts, video splits, or coffee machines. Better yet, imagine it functioning well, says production sound mixer Mike Westgate.

Having worked in the UK television industry for five years, I was accustomed to good technology and working on a wide variety of live and recorded programs. Along with a union that defined not only working conditions but pay rates as well.

Studio boom operating was my skill as radio mics were not then as viable as today. I guess my move to NZ in 1975 proved to be a pioneer experience with colour TV in its infancy and no film industry evident.

VidCom was my ‘importer’ and I happily slaved there for three years. It was the first video/production house in NZ and the twelfth in the world. Ampex tape machines using 2-inch tape and rotary heads were our mainstay and we had NZ’s only hand-held colour camera. It was an Ikegami that enabled us to shoot on location in conjunction with an Ampex quad machine in a custom-built Land Cruiser which towed a generator for power and lighting. Our post-production suite had a Grass Valley video switcher plus an Ampex HS-100 slow-motion disk, a bit like a huge hard drive the size of a monster pizza. We were also equipped with a Rank-Cintel film scanner which enabled us to service film transfers to tape thus allowing tape editing and the addition of titles as required.

Some of my early duties involved the standards conversion of US programs for NZ consumption. It was achieved overnight by playing material, feeding it by landline to Warkworth, where they had a standards converter. Then recording the output back in at VidCom in real time. It used the technology out of hours and supported our turnover. My audio suite was fairly simple with an English mixing desk, a four-track Scully recorder, and a basic turntable, but at least a Neumann U87 in the voice booth.

I worked on thousands of commercials, my sound, the sound of others, music tracks, and even post-syncing voices and replacing sound effects of US and Australian commercials. We also serviced several international live satellite events too. Interestingly, agency creatives and producers were skilled, often middle-aged but decisive, knowing what they wanted—and more importantly, what they didn’t want.

I worked hard at location recording, post-production design and mixing. I even produced radio commercials for agencies, doing casting, recording, music choice, sound effects, and the station dubs to be sent all over the country. I needed to set myself up with equipment to service what was to follow.

Sadly, a great hurdle burdened the industry until 1985 when the Labour Government released the economy’s protective shackles, and we gained an open market. Prior to this, purchasing or importing equipment was like a Charles Dickens story. A visit to the customs department was the first step to apply for a classification. A microphone and recorder case made in Australia was what I needed. Large tomes of classification were thumbed through for reference. There were questions to answer, and then it was off to achieve an import license. It was like living in a Soviet regime!

Meanwhile, shooting with some film cameras required a sync cable as the camera generated a nominal 50Hz signal that the sound recorder captured to achieve sync. Radio mics were soon on the horizon—large, pretty good, but at a cost of $1,000. [Ed: almost $6,400 in today’s money!]

My first feature, Smash Palace, used them with good effect. The film achieved local success and fame for Roger Donaldson and Bruno Lawrence. Working conditions were reasonable; most crew were housed at a ski lodge, and heads of department were in caravans at the Ohakune caravan park. I had the caravan next to Roger—Bruno used to wake us with his saxophone playing on Sundays.

Sound requirements were simple in those days with no time code, video split, or headphone feeds. So a kit consisting of a recorder, three microphones, a boom, two radio mics, plus a six-channel mixer that I had designed and built myself, was it. Documentary work was busy with 16mm film dominant, and subjects very varied: a troupe of Jamaican and African performers visiting maraes, gangs, prisons; goat farming and gorse clearing were among my filming experiences during my first four years of freelancing.

There was also pine tree growing, planting, felling, pulping, and paper production; metal corrosion prevention, cathodic protection, and bridge painting; a women’s workshop with clowning, face painting, and naked mud wrestling; a large-scale music festival named Nambassa; a two-week Royal Tour with Prince Charles for the BBC; and large vessel salvages in Queensland and Papua New Guinea, living on the ships. There was all sorts.

Those years were serviced by a small group of experienced, dedicated professionals who knew their craft, owned their equipment, and were determined to achieve the best as they saw it. They were exciting years full of challenge and surprises as the film industry continued to grow, and American productions realized that NZ had both scenery, skills, and crews with a positive and friendly attitude.