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Graeme Cowley: Having an eye on the film industry...

06 Nov 2017
Graeme Cowley is a cinematographer with an impressive line-up of features to his credit including Smash Palace, Utu, and Carry Me Back.

Graeme Cowley is a cinematographer with an impressive line-up of features to his credit including Smash PalaceUtu, and Carry Me Back (which he also produced). Cowley also set up pioneering equipment hire company Film Facilities with Nigel Hutchinson, to bolster the range of camera equipment available to independent filmmakers. He was a prime mover behind the restoration of UtuUtu Redux.

In this ScreenTalk, Cowley talks about:

  • Spending time in prison while filming an episode of Winners and Losers
  • Observing the professionalism on the set of breakthrough Kiwi movie Sleeping Dogs
  • The challenges of attaching Cowley and his camera to a fast-moving mini for Goodbye Pork Pie
  • Scheduling to capture optimal light on classic movie Smash Palace
  • Shooting in the cold, the forest, and the darkness for Māori Western Utu
  • Bringing the first Steadicam and HMI lights into New Zealand for the film 

This video was first uploaded on 12 October 2017, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

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