Film fans set up Hamilton Shootout

Hamilton's Richard O'Brien tribute is certain to be included in the films .

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=3571438

9 June 2004
By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - Australia's six-year-old 24-hour video production competition is moving across the Tasman in September, bringing about 1000 film-makers to the city that gave birth to the Rocky Horror Show.

For one frantic day, 100 or more crews will pound around Hamilton, weaving story-lines around five places or structures they must include in videos that will be judged the following day.

The statue of Rocky Horror character Riff Raff that the city council is erecting in honour of Richard O'Brien, the former Hamilton boy who created the iconic 1970s stage and screen hit, will almost certainly be among the compulsory images .

Rocky Horror, and the infinitely bigger The Lord of the Rings, would be pushed hard, said Mark Westerby, the Hamilton actor and events manager who is taking Shootout beyond Australia for the first time.

"As soon as I saw the concept of Shootout I thought, great," he said. "The timing was perfect and New Zealand's really coming up in the film world now."

Australian Shootout director Kristi Street said she had always thought that New Zealand would be a fantastic place to run the event, which began in Newcastle, north of Sydney, and now also runs annually under franchise in Geelong in Victoria and Toowoomba in Queensland.

The competition is now also moving to the United States, with a Shootout planned for Boulder, Colorado.

Shootouts are open to anyone with a video camera, and usually attract both professional and amateur film-makers.

Westerby said the Hamilton event had already gained strong interest in Australia. "Because of the structure of the event it pits everyone on a level playing field, to a certain extent," he said.

"There are a lot of professional film-makers who see it as a really good opportunity to hone their skills.

"Because they're kind of technically disabled by having only 24 hours to make it work, it's like back to basics for them."

Crews are given a list of five images they had to work into their movies at 8.55pm on the Friday night, and have to hand in the finished product at 9pm the next day.

Awards are made at a screening of the 10 best films on the Sunday night.

"It's just a crazy weekend," Street said.

The Hamilton Shootout will be held from September 17-19.

Speed video Shootout is a 24-hour video production competition that started in Australia six years ago. Crews get a list of five images they must include in their videos at 8.55pm on Friday.
By 9 pm on Saturday they hand in the finished product. Sunday night is for the awards ceremony.