Human Traces - Internship

I started the year working as an intern on a professional film shoot. I worked on a test/teaser shoot for a feature film called Human Traces and fulfilled the role of Production Assistant/Production Runner. The test/teaser shoot was filmed in the Catlins at Slope Point which is the southernmost point of the South Island of New Zealand. It was a three day shoot which was used as a test run but also to create a trailer for the feature film that will be shot later in the year.

Overactive Imagination is the name of the production company that is producing Human Traces. Nadia Maxwell is the Producer for the project and she has many years experience working as a Producer and a Production Manager in both New Zealand and the UK. She has worked across many different genres such as short films, documentaries, factual series and television commercials which have aired on TVNZ, TV3, National Geographic, FilmFour (Channel 4 UK) and Al Jazeera International channels.

Nic Gorman is the Writer and Director of Human Traces. He has worked in creative industries for over fifteen years in theatre, fiction writing and film. Nic has gained many awards and nominations for his films and scripts and has had success in receiving funding for the development of scripts from the New Zealand Film Commission including receiving development funding for the Human Traces script.

Nadia produced a short film that was written and co-directed by Nic called Here Be Monsters which was the winner of Best Short Film, 2013 Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards, in competition Best International Short, Fantasia Film Festival 2014. Nadia and Nic have put the same team that worked on Here Be Monsters to make Human Traces.

Human Traces is a psychological thriller set on a sub antarctic island and the Catlins' landscape came close to that of a sub antarctic island without spending loads of money to get an entire crew, cast and equipment to an actual sub antarctic island.

Slope Point, Catlins, NZ

Slope Point, Catlins, NZ

My role as Production Assistant was to assist the Producer (Nadia Maxwell) with any jobs that she needed my assistance with, so that she was able to get other important jobs done. I helped with pre-production as well as helping out with production jobs during the shoot. I assisted with making contact lists, putting information into call sheets, sending cast and crew e-mails with important information or to get information from them, shopping for unit supplies and also for production supplies such as stationery, hard drives and any other items that were required. I also helped to create a production booklet and sourcing items such as RTs (handheld radios/walkie talkies), a portaloo, an ezy up tent and few other unit requirements such as coffee urns and hot water urns.

As Production Runner, I helped pick up rental vehicles, picked up crew members from the airport and was a driver of vehicles whenever I was needed. When on set, I was in charge of unit which meant making sure that the cast and crew were getting plenty of water and snacks and if required I would lend a hand wherever I was needed. I assisted the art department on the second shoot day to create one of the props needed. Some of the other running jobs I did were transporting cast and crew from accomodation to set and back, running the Data Wrangler back to unit base offload footage and on the first day of shooting I had to get a hard drive to the courier to send off.

After the last shoot day, I assisted with getting cast and crew to the airport and with the packdown of the hut at Slope Point that was used as the film set. I was also responsible for returning hired and borrowed items and rental vehicles as well as general clean up of rubbish and stuff that was left at the accomodation and filming location.

I enjoyed working with the crew on this film as they were like one big family. They just worked together without any issues and got the job done. They were all down to earth people and treated me with just as much respect as they did with any of the other crew or cast members. I learned a lot from Nadia about pre-production and she taught me quite a few things like how to make a production booklet, how to deal with petty cash and how to complete call sheets. I feel I significantly developed and strengthened my skills as a part of a production team and learned valuable lessons as well as learned what a real industry Producer is required to do. All in all my time as an intern on this shoot was a brilliant experience that showed me how a real industry crew and shoot is organised and carried out. I enjoyed every step of it and I am keen to apply to finish my internship hours on the feature shoot of Human Traces.