John and Mei and Currin News
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An Auckland ad director is raving about Wakefield as a film location, saying he and his team were welcomed with open arms on their late-May shoot.
Look out for 11 local faces in a new Four Square ad series screening in the South Island from early July.
Four Square Group manager Alan Smith said the community had embraced the concept, committing to seven "long days and nights" of shooting at Wakefield Four Square, owned and operated by Stuart and Jacqui Hore. The series was dreamed up by Christchurch advertising agency Wilson Ideation and Auckland-based Anarchy Productions.
Anarchy's Glenn Jameson called the ads "a mini mini-series". He found the town by searching every one of the 72 Four Squares in the South Island on Google Street View, working from the bottom up, and when he hit Wakefield, he knew he'd found the right one. "I could have saved myself some time by starting at the top of the south," he joked.
"The whole of Wakefield was like a movie set."
He said it was "an extraordinary experience". "I have to say that of all the productions I've ever worked on, this was just amazing.
"The whole of Wakefield came to the party. They really looked after us; nobody said no to anything. I've never been on a set or location where we had so many laughs."
Mr Jameson said he wanted to make the series as authentic as possible. "I wanted to play out the flavour that a small-town community has. By the end of it you're really going to get a sense of who Wakefield is."
The production team had expected to return to Auckland with about nine usable ads. They left with 12, plus a Christmas special.
Three Auckland actors played the lead roles, with the rest going to Nelson or Wakefield locals Doug Brooks, Anna Burns, Stuart Goff, Brenda Halliwell, mother and daughter team Bryony Klink and Liliana Klink-Lloyd, Bunty Ladley, Simon Ladley, Andrew Lane, Rosie Leverett, Amy Roach, and Dan Shallcrass, many of whom played themselves.
Mr Jameson said the close-knit nature of the region was remarkable. Mrs Ladley, who made "the perfect grandmother", was Mr Ladley's aunt. Mr Brooks, a drama teacher at Waimea College, gave a few acting tips to Mr Ladley, who in turn had taught Mr Brooks firefighting skills several years ago.
"Simon taught Doug to be a fireman, Doug taught Simon how to act. That's the sort of kismet that has been in this project from the time it started," Mr Jameson said. "The connections are ridiculous."
The actors, many of whom were in front of cameras for the first time, also enjoyed the experience. Miss Klink said filming was "super cool" and she was sad when it was over. "[It] was an opportunity to get to know people who live in your community on a deeper level. There was this great camaraderie going on."
Mrs Ladley, who played ‘Mrs H.', said she had learned a lot. "I know about farming, but I didn't know anything about that sphere of life and I thoroughly enjoyed my participation," she said. "They did a lot for Wakefield and included a lot of people."
Wakefield vet Brenda Halliwell, who played herself, said she was nervous beforehand, but quickly felt relaxed. "It was completely out of my comfort zone.
"I've never done any acting so it was very new."
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