Imran
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Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honours majoring in Cinematic Arts
Hometown: Auckland
What drew you to UC鈥檚 Digital Screen degree?
I was the social media person for my high school and I really enjoyed it. I听was making videos and learning how to use all these programmes, and I听just fell in love with the process. I saw an ad for UC鈥檚 Digital Screen听degree, and I thought 鈥渉ey, that鈥檚 cool 鈥 I could go into this鈥.
What I like about making films is the making itself. I want to be able to听make art that touches on other people's feelings in the same way that I听feel when I watch movies or read books.
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What sets UC鈥檚 programme apart?
It鈥檚 more geared towards the industry. It teaches you the skills and how to听use the equipment, but it also teaches you about the industry itself and听shows you what it鈥檚 really like.
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What have been some highlights of your studies so far?
The projects that we've been able to do.听I鈥檝e seen my peers make films from all different genres, whether it be horror or a documentary or a rom com. I think that creative freedom really enables us to produce awesome work.
It鈥檚 amazing that we get to do these projects as students, and there鈥檚 no limit to what we can do.听They don鈥檛 give us a creative block 鈥 they let us flourish and do what we want.
Can you share a memorable project you鈥檝e worked on?
It would have to be our main capstone project in our second year. It was a short ten-minute film, but there was one day of shooting where everything went wrong for us. What I really enjoyed about that was the experience of it all. In the industry, there are going to be times where things don鈥檛 go smoothly, and you just have to go with the flow. Experiencing the challenges and setbacks helps you prepare for an actual industry shoot.
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What sort of facilities and equipment do you enjoy using?
We have access to a lot of facilities. I like the Mac studio computers and听all the industry apps that we get to use. It helps tremendously with our听learning. You can even branch out to different things. I'm a Cinematic Arts听major and I usually use DaVinci and Avid, but I can try out things in听Reaper, Nuke, Blender, and heaps of other programmes.
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What is your cohort like?
The Digital Screen community is welcoming and collaborative. Everyone听mingles together, no matter what you鈥檙e specialising in. The collaborative听nature of our assignments allows us to branch out to different majors.
For example, if I need to do sound for one of my films, I can just go over to听the sound majors and be like, 鈥淗ey, I need help鈥. It's a very inviting听environment and everyone feels like they know each other.
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Have you had a chance to connect with industry professionals?
Some of our facilities are actually used by industry people and companies听that shoot here. As students, we sometimes have the opportunity to intern听for them. It's a cool experience that you don't really see anywhere else.
I've definitely been building my own network, not just with students, but听also with more experienced industry people like our lecturers or the听technicians. They have years of experience that we get to connect with.听One of my lecturers, for example, is an industry professional. He's worked听as a Director of Photography for feature films.
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Did you live in the halls?
I lived in University Hall during my first year. Moving from Auckland听without really knowing anyone here, the hall was great because there was听a lot of community around and it was really easy to make friends. The听halls are one of the best places to establish a good friend group, and I still听have mates from the halls 鈥 I鈥檓 even living with some of them now.
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What鈥檚 it like being a student in Christchurch?
I like that UC really feels like a campus, like those American ones you see听in movies. It's very walkable and surrounded by nature. When it comes to听springtime, the flowers and trees that blossom look amazing. Especially all听the cherry blossoms around Hagley Park. It鈥檚 really beautiful here.
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Have you seen yourself grow since starting at UC?
I have seen myself grow 100% both physically and mentally from my first听year. I've also grown a lot as a filmmaker, and that's all to do with the help听that I get from our lecturers and my peers. I feel like they've pushed me to听strive to do better, to match to their level.
