Ruby Cumming

How long have you been in the industry and how did you get started?

I started out through internships while studying film at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT). I was an art department assistant on a short film called The Keeper (formerly The Jub Jub Bird), and a runner on a couple of music videos and a TVC. I graduated at the end of last year, and went into an internship at SIT TV Productions. This is full-time work for me at the moment.

Why did you choose film/TV as a career?

I always enjoyed being involved in theatre productions, both on and offstage. At high school I got the chance to direct a piece for the Shakespeare festival, which was brilliant for me. I grew up in Whangarei with some friends who were always making these ridiculous short films, but I didn’t realise people did this for a living in NZ until I did a ‘careers quiz’ at school which suggested that working in film or television would be a good role for me. I thought “hang on, you can actually do that?”

What has working experience taught you that study didn’t?

It teaches you to be flexible and to be open minded. Most of the people on a set have worked as all kinds of things unrelated to film at some stage, and it seems to all help. Also, it’s good to have more than one string to your bow. My tutor in first year was from a Hollywood background and that influenced a lot of what we learned. There was a huge focus on feature films. Then you go out and find that people are working on all sorts of things – docos, webisodes, music videos, stills shoots. There are a lot of people out there who are making good content, and you don’t want to get locked into an idea of, “Oh, I only make this type of thing”.

Are you able to make a living in the industry? Do you work outside of it at all?

At this stage, I am in a pretty good situation where I am employed by a small production company as a camera operator/editor – so that’s my bread and butter. It works really well for me as they let me take time off to do other projects. For example, I was able to take time off to do a Fresh Shorts internship at the New Zealand Film Commission earlier in the year, and to go and do some props work up in Queenstown.

What have you learnt about your department as a whole? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your department?

In conversation with art directors who have been in the game for a while, we’ve talked about how everything seems to be moving into a digital realm these days. This is a massive shift for a department that has been about creating a physical environment to serve the story. So, the scale of the art department seems be changing, but there is definitely still a need for good design. My day job is in a very small production company so we do get a chance to try out every role. So, even though I am working as a ‘camera operator’, I like to incorporate my love of the art department into my work when I can.

How easy or hard is it as a newbie in the industry? What are attitudes of other crew like to you?

With so many capable crew already looking for work, a newbie film school graduate is probably going to get passed over for a familiar name with a solid body of work behind them. People have been really great and welcoming though. One of the highlights of my year was going up to Auckland for the Big Screen Symposium. It was hugely inspiring to meet so many talented and friendly people. I am looking forward to going up there within the next year. It can be hard to live in Invercargill while trying to work in the film industry. I have been building my skills and body of work by art directing student films when I’m not working, and I have been working with some really amazing students coming out of the Southern Institute of Technology. We have some great people down here – keep an eye out for Electric Shoelace.

What strengths do you think the NZ industry has? What could contribute to a more sustainable industry?

Obviously the NZ industry has strength in the form of our beautiful scenery, and in the skills and experience of our crew. We’re pretty resourceful, but I definitely agree with John Barnett in his article in The New Zealand Herald (online 12 November 2013) in that we need to be developing more creative and innovative producers.