(DYNAMIC THEME MUSIC) Welcome to Dream Catchers, a series about New Zealanders living in the United Kingdom. I'm Hilary Timmins. This is a series that will enthral and inspire us as we meet some of those Kiwis living their dreams and taking a little piece of New Zealand to the rest of the world. Captions by June Yeow. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018 This is the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, otherwise known as BAFTA. Though the academy was founded initially in 1947, it wasn't until 1976 when the doors to its new headquarters in Piccadilly opened that it became known as BAFTA, with the objective to support, develop and promote the art forms of moving image. The annual BAFTA Awards ceremony has become a precursor to the Oscars, acknowledging those in the industry for their outstanding creative achievement. Over the years, many New Zealanders have made their mark on the British film industry, including Working Title's Tim Bevan, whose films Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral have gone on to become cult classics. Finola Dwyer ` producer of An Education and Brooklyn, cinematographer Michael Seresin and BAFTA-winning production designer Andrew McAlpine. Andrew's work spans the decades, from well known titles such as Flubber, Aeon Flux, The Beach and Me Before You to The Piano, for which he received his BAFTA. (LIGHT MUSIC TINKLES) It is wonderful to think that your peers in industry have recognised all the hard work. This is a little present that was given to us on wrap of The Piano. I give them the vision for the movie. So I bring the vision off the page, and, you know, that vision has to be complementary to what they're thinking. So this is a game of seduction ` this is a game of politics. This is a situation of being able to be sure that your imprint that they've employed you for can be gotten on to the camera form. These are all ferns in different forms. And they're something that inspired me, and we had books of these in The Piano. And then you start to see it around here. So it's a seminal part of thinking. Part of being a production designer is mining down deeper and deeper and deeper all the time, so that you have got a deep and strong knowledge as to what the questions that will be asked of you, because they will be asked of you. People want to know ` the actors or the directors or the DOP ` what is the reasoning behind? And you'd better know what that is. And to do that, you've gotta do research. So depending on the script ` if it's a period script, I might go to the V&A, I might go to the BM. I might be doing a film which is a contemporary film. I've got a movie coming up called Me Before You. I went back historically, went back looking into the whole design of wheelchairs on that one, because it's about a chap who is in a wheelchair, and his wheelchair was the top end of what you get in wheelchairs today. I didn't know what the top end of a wheelchair could be until I knew what the history of a wheelchair is. So I've got a library here. My wife is also a production designer. Between us we have something like 2500 books. Andrew's wife is Gemma Jackson, the production designer on Game of Thrones. And the library is a source of inspiration to them both. It's one of the things Gemma and I talk about a little bit. Occasionally, a script will come through and you'll go to the... look at all the books, and you don't know what you're looking for, particularly. And then you start looking, and then it starts igniting. This is a fabulous one on the '60s. It's my bible on the '60s, cos it's got everything from cars to hats to ties to furniture to buildings to cycles. The structural qualities of nature have always been a source of inspiration to Andrew, something he attributes growing up in Patumahoe, near Auckland. Fall of the hills, the proximity of water to the coast, Clarkes Beach and all that around there was elementary in my education of my mind. So this is a flowering maple, and in Aeon Flux, there had to be a wall through which Charlize Theron had to appear through a wall, go actually through in a library, like this, actually, and there was this benign looking design on the wall which then twisted into leaves. And I was using this as an influence. Imagination can only be actualised if you know the technology of how to get it. I start drawing at that point. I do very freelance drawing. I do big drawings, then I start going to the computer and I work with either myself or I work with other people who will start actualising this into if it's a castle or whatever the requirement is. You have to be very informed on, in my case, in architecture, on pattern cutting, on colour form, on lighting, on the whole use of technology within the industry. And so it goes on. And the ability to be able to sell the dream, because it's one thing of having dreams; it is another thing of actualising it all. Andrew studied art under the legendary artist Colin McCahon at Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts. But preferring to work more collaboratively, he went into the theatre design world, both in New Zealand and in the UK, where amongst other things, he became a mask maker. And as an early pioneer of holography and rock music videos, the transition into movies was a natural progression. I happened to work with a lot of women directors ` Jodie Foster, Nora Ephron and Jane Campion. It goes on and on and on. I just finished with Thea Sharrock, and so... I don't know why that is, but it's interesting because there's not a lot of women directing in our industry, but I like what they often want to say. So I'm quite often looking for those stories that maybe those directors are telling. And his advice to a would-be future production designer? Just get a pad and draw. Just draw whatever ` people, draw flowers, draw pavement, draw trucks, draw whatever. I was obsessed with drawing trucks when I was a kid. I used to draw, draw, draw, draw, trucks, trucks, trucks, trucks and cars and just pages and pages and pages of trucks. Just draw every day. Golden Globe and Emmy nominated sound designer Blair Jollands coincidentally also grew up in Patumahoe, the same town south of Auckland as Andrew McAlpine. Nominated for a BAFTA craft award for his work in the award-winning television series Fortitude, his other television credits include Poldark, Bleak House and Tutankhamun. Sound design is enhancing a picture with sound so that it looks and sounds and feels larger-than-life. Perhaps there's something disguised in the sound that the viewer won't really be able to pick out, which makes them think about something or it gives them an experience. This is a good example. At the moment, I'm working on Fortitude, and the second series is all about the blood aurora in the Arctic. So I did a bit of research and found out that the blood aurora does have a sound, and it sounds a bit like radio interference and also like dawn chorus birds. So I went out and found some birds. This is the raw sound. (BIRDS CHIRP) (CHIRPING MORPHS INTO STATIC) and then you can hear the birds to start with, and then start putting in some feedback, some basic delays, and then progress that... what's the next one... (HIGH-PITCHED WHINING PLAYS) ...by using some software and applications, putting that through some filters and just getting deeper into the sound, basically messing it up and creating something that is disguised. Because we don't actually want it to sound like birds. We want to have that hint where it comes from. And finally, this is what... (LOUD WHIRRING MUSIC) this is what` mixed with some electricity, some static electricity... (JARRING MIXTURE OF SOUNDS PLAYS) There's only a certain frequency, spectrum that a viewer can take in, and also their ears and their brain can only take in a certain amount of information. They have to listen to the dialogue and all sorts of things. So you have to be very bold and simple with that. # ...set fire to burning man. # And while sound design is composition of effects, Blair also does more traditional composition for television and films. This is a song which I had which didn't get on to my last album. It wasn't quite ready. Nathan Haines, who's playing saxophone in it... so it was just sitting there in the vault of songs to be used one day. And then I started working on this film, and this scene came about where we needed some music, and I thought, 'That song could be great.' But I was singing on it originally. I thought, 'Well, actually, let's try another singer.' So A great singer friend I've got here in London ` Iraina Mancini ` I love her name too ` She's got a great voice. And so she's singing it, and it just totally works for the scene. As a musician, Blair has released several albums and received praise from unexpected quarters. Like getting an email from David Bowie, from hearing my music and saying he really like the sounds, to working with Boy George when he heard my music and I put out some records on his label. These are my heroes. So just coming over here and getting to actually work with them ` not Bowie, unfortunately ` I have the nod from the God. That's enough. Definitely with music, I think the isolation of New Zealand and its geographical position, I might not have had that influence of all those Pacific Island rhythms and all those musics and blues and all those international, kind of, world music which, growing up in New Zealand, I think exposed to a lot of that sort of music. Soaking all that up, it just moulds your background and your musical soul, and I think music chose me as it does many people. Coming up ` we meet a kiwi fashion designer who is always in vogue. * (UPBEAT MUSIC) (APPLAUSE) New Zealander Emilia Wickstead's rise through the fashion ranks has been nothing short of phenomenal. Here she is once again at London Fashion Week. She is one of the most anticipated shows this season. London Fashion Week is the hottest ticket in the heart of London every February and September, with the cream of British designers attracting international buyers, retailers and media. The event generates millions of pounds to the United Kingdom's economy. A regular on the catwalk since she launched her own design brand at just 23 years of age, Emilia's shows attract a huge media following and packed press galleries. It's always scary. Nerve wracking because you're putting yourself out there and you don't know what's going to come back at you, and I think, yes, you're opening the doors to your world and your vision and what you think women should be wearing. I love the idea that whoever is my woman in wearing my clothes ` that she'll walk into a room and be noticed. I would describe her as being a most modern woman in her circle. She's sophisticated, she is very confident, she is intelligent and smart, and you sort of want to be her as a person as much as you want to wear what she is wearing. So whether she gets her inspiration? Books, old film, I mean, I raid vintage stores. I can see someone in the street wearing something or I can read something a look at a piece of art and that brings about a colour palette for the next season, so lots of different things can contribute to a collection. Emilia is the daughter of acclaimed New Zealand fashion designer Angela Wickstead. Angela now has a successful homewares business in London and has been a hands-on mentor and inspiration for Emilia. It was a wonderful where time after school I would often go to her showroom or her workroom or different periods when she had shops and, yeah, I think I definitely gained a lot from having done that and being in her environment of what she was doing. And then we did a full circle where I started my business and she really helped me in huge, huge ways with everything that I was doing. And I could never have had my business without her being a big part of it. I think I grew up in an environment that made me feel confident and like I could really achieve anything. And I truly do think that there is something about New Zealand that does that. I mean, you almost feel like anything is possible and there is a great work ethic. Something Emilia has no shortage of. Since I was 16, I've been doing internships. So I did internships at advertising agencies, internships at interior decorating companies, in artists' studios, and then I worked in sales constantly, so I think all those things put together sort of help you out when you go to start a business or go to start your own brand. Moving to Milan as a teenager with her mother, Emilia arrived in London to study fashion design and marketing at the prestigious Central Saint Martins. And on graduating, her boyfriend, now husband, encouraged her to go out on her own. And using his first bonus from banking in 2008, Emilia founded her empire in their living room, eventually getting a story in English Vogue. I called up magazines myself and spoke to an editor, Sarah Harris, who's still a really really good friend today, and I pretended to be my assistant, Layla, and I asked her if she could have a look at my collection and could she look at it while I was on the phone lying to her, and look at my website that I built. She obviously quite liked it, she gave us half a page in Vogue. And that was a huge moment, because all of a sudden, what I had created through friends and family, all of a sudden then became something that everyone would see when looking in a publication, in a magazine like Vogue. And so all of this different type of client base ` a Vogue client base ` started shopping in my living room. Now rarely out of Vogue, Emilia's brand has gone from strength to strength. With a new store on Sloane Street, she has an A-list fan base, including influential fashion commentator Alexa Chung, and her outfits have graced the frames of some of the United Kingdom's most high profile women, including the Duchess of Cambridge. I think she's a great brand ambassador for British designers. And it goes without saying is such a privilege to dress her. So what now for our most famous fashion export? We've just hired a CEO, which was the biggest dream that I had for my business. Just so lovely to work alongside someone that is as passionate about your business as you are. And I've never had that before, so when you are a one-man band and you have your own business, that can be quite terrifying and tricky, so it's wonderful to have a partner and to be working together. I really hoping that we'll see huge growth, and I really hope that means more collaborations with retailers, which is very exciting because it means that the Emilia Wickstead collection doesn't just have to be what's on the catwalk. And to see anybody wearing my clothing and looking great is my biggest highlight every day. It's a huge achievement just to see that. Stroll down any London High Street, and you'll see a plumage of famous fashion houses ` Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, J Crew, Guess and Topshop ` all internationally recognised brands and just a handful of the many clients working with New Zealand textile designer Anna Grieve. Fabric, pattern and texture is as important to fashion as cut, and often the first thing that catches our eye. Te Awamutu-born Anna originally trained as a photographer before travelling to London when her interest in textiles was sparked on a foundation year art course. Based in Shoreditch, she has a studio space at a trendy Rochelle School. Anna set up her own textile design business, Mr Grieves Originals, in 2013 After a pep talk back in New Zealand from her dad. He was asking me exactly what I was doing with my life it where it was all going. And he gave me quite a stern talking to as to where he thought I should be going and pushing me forward, so I had that rolling around the back of my mind. First year, I did absolutely nothing of work. But it's given a really good solid base for the business. So it's something to hopefully grow from. So I have quite a few people freelancing for me, and I have two people full-time working for me, and I have an agent out in the US as well. So a small team getting bigger. I specialise in woven textiles, so that is actually the construct of a fabric. So it's weaving. Print is printing a pattern or a graphic on top of the textile ` an already constructed piece of fabric. And embroidery is stitching on to and knit is the same as weaving ` you are constructing the fabric from yarn. You have to have a good sense of colour, I think, to work within the textile industry. An understanding of drape, I guess, of fit ` I mean, for me, particularly, for fashion ` how something is going to translate on to the body. So I take the key ideas for the season ` the bits of it that I think are going to be really important, which are colour ` building colour palettes ` yarn and specifically what sort of typical elements of weaving that I would like to introduce into my collection, different weave structures, as well as pattern. I'll then design my collections. I design into certain brands' collections every season. So they all come to me or I go to them at the start of the season and we will look through their mood boards and the feeling that they have. They would have travelled to a certain destination for an inspiration trip. We'll go through garments and colour and anything that they've picked up in their travels, and then they will also go through my collection, and we'll pull out for a pattern in print, and then I take their colour palette away and I design a collection for them from all that information. And then the other way that I work is I go to trade shows twice a year in Paris and twice a year in New York, one here in London, and then I'm selling directly, really, to brands and on appointment as well. So I use a digital software to develop the collection. And then it's just printed on paper. I mean, as you can see from the designs behind, it does sort of look like it's fabric, though. And then they will take the design and it will be given to their mill, whether they are based on the world, and then the design is reproduced from that, so it's reproduced from a piece of paper, and that's thousands and thousands and thousands of metres of yardage, often. I do have a loom down in my studio, and we weave samples for that. That's a small sample of what a woven fabric will be, but it's much more focused for higher end price points. They are a lot more technical, a lot more involvement in terms of weave structures and pattern in them. Anna did that her textile design degree at Central Saint Martins. Regarded as one of the world's most acclaimed art schools, she would return to the college to teach. That was such a highlight, being asked to go in and to teach. So lovely to give something back to the course that I studied on. Really really nice. And just to see the students develop. So inspiration for me comes from a lot of the travel that I'm doing, the cities that I'm visiting and` what I'm seeing on the street ` people wearing ` whilst I'm there. Galleries, shops that I'm exploring, and often inspiration just comes through colour. Just thinking about the west to east coast of New Zealand and the colour of these beaches ` it's the density of colour and the density of texture that you get in that New Zealand bush ` you don't really see anywhere else in the world. And seeing the tip of the mountain and just all that beautiful green farmland and being really really inspired by it. Now with an expanding client base of luxury and high street brands, how does it feel for Anna when she sees someone wearing one of her fabrics? I remember the first time it happened to me ` I was in the tube in London, and I was with my friend. And it was a shirt ` a guy in a men's shirt. And I was like 'Oh my goodness. That's one of my shirts for Jack Wills.' And my friend went up and was like, 'Oh, I've gotta tell you this thing...' And I was so embarrassed. I jumped off the tube and kind of ran away. But, yeah, no, that is nice, especially when someone is looking good in it. (LAUGHS) Captions by June Yeow. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018