getting staunched out by some cows near Tunnel Gully, Wellington 5th May 2013

shot on Brooklyn Hill, Wellington 4th May 2013

I just got a Canon 40D mod’d to capture InfraRed, original image ex the camera below

shot in Pukerua Bay, 25th February 2013

> I caught a bus into town the other night, on my way out for dinner & when I got off I walked past 3 bus stops & as I walked I counted the people waiting, who were hunched over their smart phones. I don’t know when the next bus was due but there was exactly ten people, and every one of them was staring intently into their teeny tiny little glowing screen… I am pretty sure I could have been a ten foot tall hallucination and they wouldn’t have noticed… I felt sorry for them & in hindsight wish I could have sent them this link to read while they waited for their bus… And this one

> “Flying has changed my life”

> Good advice about copyright infringement from an attorney

> If you’ve seen the excellent films Old Boy, or Thirst, or Sympathy for Lady Venegance then Park Chan-Wook will be a familiar name to you, but there is one film I hadn’t seen by him and it intrigued me as apparently it was a short film shot using an iPhone 4… Thankfully someone has uploaded it to youtube, who knows how long it will stay there but if you have an interest in his work then check out Night Fishing

61Hz tone shot at 60 fps via petapixel

Patti Smith: Advice to the young from Louisiana Channel on Vimeo.

> How many books do you read at a time? Are you a serial monogamist reader? I have to confess I am a chronic parallel reader – I must have at least 20 books on the go at any one time….. and I just added this one to the list – Cutting Rhythms: Shaping the Film Edit

SCREENGRAB from Willie Witte on Vimeo.

> An interesting read/experiment: a year without internet

Nga Reo O Te Whenua – Voices of the Land is a documentary film that is currently being shot here in New Zealand by highly esteemed documentary maker and ethnomusicologist Paul Wolframm, and he needs your help so please bear with me as I explain a little about the project.

I first met Paul prior to working on the film MISTER PIP, as I knew my work would involve a field trip to Papua New Guinea and I was very keen to talk to someone who had spent time there. A friend who works with Paul at Victoria University introduced us & Paul was very generous with invaluable advice, and not too much later I got to see one of Pauls feature length documentaries that he filmed in Papua New Guinea: STORI TUMBUNA: ANCESTORS’ TALES, which is such a great film! It is incredibly engaging, but the pay off of the film is pure genius and I cannot reveal it without spoiling your potential viewing. So I strongly suggest you check it out! But it is his next project that I wanted to discuss.

Below is the opening 6 minutes of “Nga Reo O Te Whenua: Voices of the Land”, which to quote Paul is a feature documentary “about Richard Nunns and Horomona Horo and their shared journey of acoustic discovery in the resonant landscapes of Aotearoa (New Zealand). The film explores the public and personal journeys of these two extraordinary musicians as they reflect on the revival of taonga puoro (traditional Maori instruments) and the place of these instruments in the culture and landscape of modern Aotearoa.

Nga Reo O Te Whenua – Trailer from Paul Wolffram on Vimeo.

These opening scenes were shot in Ngarua Caves, Takaka and Karamea Beach in Feburary 2013, and Paul has the next stage of production scheduled and planned but needs some financial help to achieve it, which is where you come in. If you’d like to help make this project happen, and be rewarded for your contribution please do check out the PLEDGE ME page for the project. (Pledge Me is a bit like a local version of Kickstarter) Rewards include a CD of Richard Nunns exquisite music, a copy of the final film on DVD and even the option of attending the New Zealand premiere!

And in terms of full disclosure, I am onboard to work on the film once it reaches post production. A good friend & talented local soundie Bernard Blackburn is the production recordist for the project and along with recording the performances has also been capturing beautiful ambiences which I will be working with a lot once I start on the film. But don’t worry, you aren’t contributing to my pay – by contributing to the Pledge Me fund raiser you are directly helping make sure the shoot of this vital project happens.