Remembering John Day

John Day passed away on 7 January 2015, while travelling in India. John will be remembered by many for his humour, infectious laugh, kindness, and creativity. His first job in the industry as a cameraman was in 1968, at NZBC. He then went on to freelance in the late 1970s and worked on a trio of movies as focus puller including Beyond Reasonable Doubt and Goodbye Pork Pie. He worked as camera operator on The Scarecrow, Desperate Remedies, and all three Lord of the Rings movies. Many will remember John as a pioneer in the early days of commercial production houses setting up Matte-Box Films in 1980 with Trish Downie. It was through Matte-Box Films that John produced and directed many award-winning commercials and music videos. Including the innovative effects-laden video for Peking Man exploring visual options which were only beginning to be used in the 1980s. In 1988 he co-directed the Herbs documentary The Power of Music – Te Kaha o Te Waiata with Lee Tamahori. It remains an iconic part of NZ music documentary history. Aside from his commercials and documentary work, John also directed a number of television programmes. In 1990 Matte-Box Films merged with Flying Fish, and John directed his first feature _The Returning. _He will be sadly missed by many.