Film student Adam Browne is on his way to achieving his long-term goal – to become an auteur, writing and directing movies that convey his personal vision.
Having completed EIT’s Diploma in Video and ElectronIc Media last year, the former William Colenso College student is now studying for his Bachelor of Digital Media (Film) at Invercargill’s Southern Institute of Technology.
While Adam considers himself reasonably strong at language, he has always been innately visual – “if I have an idea I see it visually first”.
So he’s drawn to film as a visual medium to express himself. He particularly loves classic movies such as Chinatown, Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Easy Rider and he recently completed an SIT assignment on Taxidriver, a psychological thriller which cemented Martin Scorsese’s reputation as an auteur filmmaker after its release in 1976.
As a seventh former, however, he was undecided about where he wanted to head his life. He heard about EIT’s diploma from another student and, after checking out the facilities, equipment and lecturers, felt the two-year programme was right for him.
“I looked at study courses offered elsewhere and decided this was the best option. And it was local.”
Lecturer Claire McCormick recalls Adam as the “resident film encyclopedia” in his class.
“He’s a film buff,” she says. “So if I couldn’t quite remember some detail about a movie or who an actor was, he was always on the page.”
Adam, in turn, is enthusiastic about his lecturers, and says they were among the aspects he most enjoyed about studying at EIT.
“They are really great at what they do and they push you to do your best. The diploma studies are hands-on and they are with you every step of the way. It’s not like at uni where you can get lost in the numbers and if you fail it’s your problem and not theirs.”
At SIT, he is the only one of his classmates to have completed a diploma programme. Claire says the EIT qualification gives him the practical knowledge as a grounding for academic study.
Adam’s ambition is to be directing and writing movie scripts by the time he is in mid-thirties. He’s already working out possible options for furthering his career once he completes his degree. They include working for James Cameron on the Avatar series, gaining experience in sets and operating a camera in the television industry in Auckland and working in Europe’s burgeoning film scene.
In the meantime, however, the 21-year-old from Tamatea says he’s really enjoying studying at SIT and living in Invercargill.
“I feel I can be more creative in a more isolated environment than among a lot of people in a large urban centre.”