POW Studios

04/04/2024

Lovely to work with you Honeymoon Films.
POW Credits: Gareth Evans - Colourist, Antonis Voutsinos - Senior Online Editor & Kyle Awa - Online Editor.

28/11/2023

POW people loved working on this engaging series.

19/11/2023

The incredible Animated Feature "I Am What I Am" is having a rare on-shore showing in Auckland at Hoyts Mission Bay tomorrow (Tuesday 21st) at 7pm as part of the NZ Chinese Film Festival. We were privileged to create the soundtrack for this luscious project, the animation is just jaw-dropping. Head along and check it out.

雄狮少年 I am What I am Director: Sun Haipeng Running Time: 104 mins Ah Kuen lives alone in the city. By chance, he is encour...

07/11/2023

Kia ora, mālō, 你好

We are casting an imaginative children’s animated series based in Aotearoa.

We’re looking for voice talent for the following roles:
Māori girl aged 9 - 13 (Must have moderate Te Reo Māori ability)
Samoan girl aged 9 - 13 (Must have moderate Samoan language ability)
Chinese boy aged 9 - 13 (Must have moderate Cantonese language ability)

Recording will be done over 3 days in Wellington in late January 2024. Talent must live locally or have the ability to travel to Wellington for the recording.

All roles are paid.

Please register your / your young persons interest in auditioning for these roles with the following details:
- Talent first and last name
- Age
- Location
- Parent / caregivers first and last name
- Role you are interested in

Email [email protected] or send a text on 022 171 9278

You will receive a response to your email or text with an audition script. You will need the ability to record a tape of the script and send that back to us. A video or voice memo phone recording is absolutely fine. If you don’t have access to the technology to make a video or voice memo, you can still register your interest and we can support you to audition.

Please note there is no payment for auditioning.

Ngā mihi nui - please share far and wide ❤

You will receive a response to your email or text with an audition script. You will need the ability to record a tape of the script and send that back to us. A video or voice memo phone recording is absolutely fine. If you don’t have access to the technology to make a video or voice memo, you can ...

27/10/2023

Huge congratulations to Todd Karehana and Piata Gardiner-Hoskins on the BEST EXPERIMENTAL AUDIO award for 'The River' at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. We were proud to partner with Todd and Piata on this groundbreaking audio series with our amazing POW Studios team across both Production and Post roles. Big applause to Matthew Lambourn - Sound Designer, Yong-Le Chong - Re-Recording Mixer, George Palmer - Dialogue Recorder and Editor and Marie Silberstein - Production Manager and Post Producer.

13/07/2023

POW packing a bit of punch!

Here's a preview of our further collaboration with Yi Animation on Sound Design and Mix for I Am What I Am 2.

Sound Design and Mix POW Studios Copyright YI Animation Guangzhou

27/06/2023

An amazing effort from Christina Leef, Maarie Mareikura-Ellery and the Ara Taiohi team on their vital Library of Stories kaupapa. The POW Studios team were privileged to support the post production of this podcast series.

Library of Stories houses the stories of tāngata Māori who serve taiohi around Aotearoa. Library of Stories takes us into their ao to learn more about the people and places they descend from and are integral to who they are. We also learn more about their mahi in youth development and their aspirations for whānau ora and rangatiratanga.

Ara Taiohi website - Library of Stories: https://arataiohi.org.nz/library-of-stories/
Library of Stories on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/5DM0U3vEBTLh1CH1WoumPT?si=09742a95452a431f&nd=1

Image credit: Mele Tau'alupe

11/06/2023

We're thrilled to see Director Katherine McRae and Producer Migiwa Ozawa Pacific Mother Film win FOUR BESTS at Doc Edge Film Festival!! Best NZ Feature, Best NZ Director, Best NZ Cinematography and Best NZ Editing ... and a chance to qualify for an Oscar. 🤩🤩🤩

POW's post-production partnership with UMI Films was end-to-end sound and picture from ingest to DCP output - with Ethan Thomson - Post Supervision, Katie Parkinson - Colourist, Visual Effects - Tim Hamilton, Kyle Awa - Assistant Picture Editing, Yong-Le Chong - Sound Designer. & Re-Recording Mixer, Nakhia - Titles & Credits Graphics and John McKay - Executive Producer for POW & Supervising Sound Editor. Thanks to Gareth Evans of Photon Post Production Limited for Visual Consultancy and Technical Picture Support

A fabulous result for a beautiful and emotional film - CONGRATS to POW and PRODUCERS Katherine McRae, Migiwa Ozawa, Shin Yamaguchi, Alex Reed, and Karin Williams. 🤩🤩🤩🤩

https://docedge.nz/doc-edge-awards-2023-winners/

18/03/2023

06/03/2023

Robin Greenberg is making a feature doco on the talented photographer and Wellington icon, Grant Sheehan. Our very own Kyle Awa is editing the project, his first feature! Please support this incredible mahi thorugh the kickstarter. We're so keen to watch it on the big screen.

A film on innovative New Zealand photographer and publisher Grant Sheehan and his creative Artificial Intelligence (AI) explorations.

11/12/2022

11/12/2022

SO STOKED to have had the unique opportunity to host extra special guest 'Avatar' Composer Simon Franglen in discussion with Screen Music & Sound Guild of New Zealand and Ewan Clark Music, at POW Studios recently.

Simon Franglen, is the acclaimed composer of the massively anticipated Avatar: The Way of Water - 2022 - finally out on 16 December!

Simon talked about his incredible career working on blockbusters such as 'Titanic', 'Seven', 'The Amazing Spider-Man' and 'The Magnificent Seven''. He's collaborated with Hollywood royalty such as James Horner, Thomas Newman and Alan Silvestri.

We heard about his career journey and how he ended up writing the music for Avatar: The Way of Water in Aotearoa, and how that has impacted his music.

Great to have Simon interviewed by Ewan , who's also an award-winning film composer and orchestrator, and a scholar and educator in film music studies.

24/11/2022

Exciting! Our NORI team started work on a new animation project! 😉 POW's Head of Story Jane Waddell, Nori's Grand Park Peter Hambleton and POW Sound Post Production team. Looking forward to it!💕

22/11/2022

Great Night in Auckland with PASC showing our collaboration with Yi Animation, “I Am What I Am”. Film was well received from an appreciative audience.

20/11/2022

Another Win!!!👏Congratulations Tim! 🥳🥳🥳 Wins Best Production Design and Special Mention Best Sound Design at the 48Hours 2022!

Our fantastic VFX Artist and Picture Editor Tim Hamilton wins with his film National Hero, Disqualified Tim - Deep.

With an awesome team effort, Sound Designer George Palmer, Colourist / Production Designer Katie Parkinson and Music Composer Liam Reid also did a really good job for the film!
Well done POW guys! We are proud of you!

VF48HOURS GRAND FINALIST 2022National Hero, Disqualified Tim - Deep (Wellington)A man dives deep into a submerged city where a monster lurks.Winner Best Prod...

20/11/2022

Calling our AUCKLAND Friends, Film Buffs & all Lovers of Lion Dancing!

******* HERE'S YOUR INVITATION *******

POW Studios and the Pan-Asian Screen Collective invites you to an EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE SCREENING. This is a rare opportunity to see the animated feature film I Am What I Am.

Hollywood Variety described this film as a 'ridiculously satisfying underdog sports story' and this is your one-off chance to see it!

*** PLEASE RSVP on link below ***

22 November 2022
6:00pm-8:00pm
Academy Cinemas
44 Lorne St, Auckland CBD

The film is the result of POW Studios' creative partnership with Director Haipeng Sun, Producer Miao Zhang, and Yi Animation who are based in Guangzhou China.

*** PLEASE RSVP now on the link below, and we'll see you there! https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ec086d902f204fbbbf2203df88fa98e8

15/11/2022

Terrific to see our talented VFX Artist and Picture Editor, Tim Hamilton, profiled by André Chumko on Stuff!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/130421019/filmmaker-tim-hamilton-on-how-tiktok-is-democratising-art

13/11/2022

Congratulations to Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School and its program Toi Film whose work was celebrated at the Embassy Theatre Wellington this week.

We love supporting emerging talent and the growth of our local film industry and it was fabulous to see the short films we've worked on together premiered alongside other student work.

POW did the Audio & Picture Post for Freedom Fighter, a film by Tusi Tamasese and produced by Catherine Fitzgerald for Blueskin Films. POW also did the Audio for Cetology, a film by Catherine Bisley produced by Aaron Watson for Sabertooth Films.

07/11/2022

Sound, in film and television, is as creative as it is technical, and what works for a blockbuster will be different for an arthouse film.

With WIFT NZ and the Screen Music & Sound Guild of New Zealand, we hosted an expert panel who shared their insights from decades of creative and technical experience in sound and dialogue editing. Our stars were:

• Polly McKinnon - multi-award-winning sound editor and supervisor who has been a key team member on three Academy Award winning soundtracks. She is a founding member of SMSG and is its co-chair.

• Melanie Graham - sound designer, sound effects editor and sound editor on numerous TV series, short films and features, including TV series Mystic and The New Legends of Monkey, Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, and the local feature films Daffodils and Savage.

• Stefanie Ng - freelance sound editor, who has worked in post-production sound on The Hobbit trilogy, Christian Rivers’ Mortal Engines, and Amazon’s Rings of Power series.

It was fabulous hearing their thoughts on how sound shapes and carries the tone of a film; how directors think in creative and sonic ways, and how producers efficiently fit sound into the production workflow, and so much more!

Our very own Marie Silberstein, Head of Development & Production, POW Studios, was our moderator for the evening.

30/10/2022

The first of Sir Peter Jackson’s LOTR blockbusters, Fellowship of the Ring was released 21 years ago this year..

LOTR changed the lives of the music and sound creatives involved, impacting their careers and making them some of the most awarded screen creatives in Aotearoa’s film industry.

We celebrated this amazing legacy with the Screen Music & Sound Guild of New Zealand at POW Studios this week. We were treated to terrific tales, hilarious recounts, scurrilous stories, and many drops of sage industry advice thrown into the mix.

Such a fun night! Thank you to the super talented panel for sharing your brilliant reflections:

Plan 9’s Janet Roddick, David Donaldson, Steve Roche, Music Editors (APRA Silver Scroll winner), David Long, Music Editor (APRA Silver Scroll winner), and our very own Jason Canovas, Dialogue Editor (Academy award nominee, MPSE Golden Reel Award winner) and John McKay, Sound Effects Editor & POW CEO.

18/10/2022

Congratulations and thanks to Lane Street Studios! It was fabulous for our CEO John McKay to be at the opening with so many other film luminaries, and to have the privilege to speak.

John urged film companies to jump on the bandwagon and work together through Create Wellington, WellingtonNZ and central government to promote Wellington's film industry.

There is such a rich ecosystem of film talent here, when we combine our creative genius on promotional activity, more opportunities will emerge for everyone.

16/10/2022

Source / File The Kiwis have named four players who featured in the NRL grand final in a strong team for Monday's world cup opener against Lebanon in...

06/10/2022

Meet Nakhia, who is just back from Mongolia!

We are delighted to have Nakhia back on our team after what was supposed to be a short trip home to Mongolia in 2019 just before COVID hit. With New Zealand’s borders closed she couldn’t return until this week!

Nakhia previously worked with us as an intern and as an assistant sound editor after completing her degree in Media Arts (Film) at Waikato Institute of Technology.

Despite her career in New Zealand being interrupted by the pandemic, Nakhia took the opportunity to hone her skills while she was home.

“I tried to use my time properly, keeping myself busy and practicing the skills I’d learned at POW and from working with Catherine Fitzgerald, while also trying to help the kids at home,” she says.

She pushed herself right out of her comfort zone to deliver a project of major educational and cultural significance to fellow Mongolians.

Over a year and a half she collected audio of elders telling their traditional stories in an effort to help preserve and share the Mongolian culture and language for generations to come.

Her project received major in-kind support from famous Mongolian poets and other cultural leaders, with journalists and media networks sharing the stories. With their help she has created a treasured national resource that has been provided freely to schools to support children’s language education.

Never one to sit on her laurels, Nakhia is now eager to get right back into living her dream, working with picture and sound here in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

Welcome back to Aotearoa Nakhia. We are lucky to have you!

29/09/2022

Last night we celebrated 8 years of POW Studios with our fabulous POW team, our industry partners, family and friends.

We were stoked to be able to treat everyone to a special private screening of our Chinese creative partner Yi Animation’s fabulous movie I Am What I Am (which is not available yet to wider NZ audiences). We’re so proud of the work we do together and are looking ahead to doing a third feature film with them in 2023.

With lion dancing one of the central themes of the film it was awesome to have a live lion dance performance from Aaron Lee and the Wellington Chinese Cultural Centre to lead us all into the cinema. Fortuitously our celebration has also been part of New Zealand Chinese Language Week and New Zealand acknowledging 50 years of doing business with China.

Huge thanks to our shareholders CEO John McKay, sound design super star Matthew Lambourn, and dialogue genius Jason Canovas, and Brian Steele. Since we kicked off as POW Studios we’ve finished 52 episode series, 6 New Zealand feature films, 4 RNZ ballets with VFX, numerous TV and Web shows and more, and we feel like we’ve graduated as a company.

We’ve grown into an all-purpose studio capable of finishing films and live events with expert sound and picture post-production.

Thanks to the POW team and to all our guests, partners and friends, and those who couldn’t be there with us last night, for helping to make the last 8 years such a success.

Thanks to Ciaran Jack at Obvious Brand Partners for the brilliant pics.

27/09/2022

Meet our incredibly talented storyteller in sound Yong-Le Chong!

Yong-Le is a Malaysia-born sound editor and re-recording mixer of Chinese descent who works out of our studios in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. He began his sound post journey in Aotearoa as an assistant sound editor on the remake of Pork Pie in 2016. Since then, he has worked on various New Zealand projects from feature films such as Coming Home In The Dark, and Savage, to TV series such as Wellington Paranormal and The Dead Lands. He has recently directed a couple of short documentaries for Te Papa, as part of the Chinese Languages in Aotearoa project, highlighting the different Chinese languages spoken here in Aotearoa.

It was spotting POW Studios’ work in China that prompted Yong-Le to contact POW Studios CEO, John McKay, for an interview, thinking that he could put his language skills to good advantage.

Yong-Le speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien and Te Reo Māori, and this ability with languages has been critical to his biggest career highlight so far, and a project that has been close to his heart, working as Re-Recording Mixer and Sound Editor on I Am What I Am.

I Am What I Am is an animated feature film with Yi Animation where a young Cantonese village boy must overcome self-doubt, ridicule and classism to realise his dream of competing in the Guangzhou Lion Dancing Championship.

“Working on a film that is reflective of my own culture and being able to see such things on the big screen is a really proud moment for me."

In the final mix stages, Yong-Le's language skills and cultural understanding bridged the gap between POW and Yi Animation, being able to instantaneously understand the director's notes, while mixing remotely proved to be advantageous towards finishing the film.

It wasn’t just the language skills that were important, but the cultural and geographical aspects too.

“I Am What I Am is set mainly in the rural outskirts of Guangdong where I whakapapa to, where my grandparents are from. Five years ago I went on a pilgrimage back to our ancestral village with my family. I came back with recordings of background chatter, the ambience of everyday village life, and nature sounds of rural Guangdong, which have been used in the movie to give it the sense of realism of a rural Chinese village.”

While his personal connection made the film important to Yong-Le right from the start, he believes anyone from the Chinese diaspora around the world will resonate with the movie. Lion dancing is close to people’s hearts and is a cultural treasure that takes them back to their roots.

Growing up in Penang, Malaysia, Yong-Le’s interest in sound was first piqued by watching special features in DVD’s and seeing how the foley or sound effects were recorded and created. He learnt violin and piano but found his niche in sound post-production, completing a Recording Arts Degree encompassing music production and sound post production at Full Sail University, Florida, USA.

From a big family who began migrating to New Zealand in the 1980’s, Yong-Le’s dream to work in film here was also inspired by the hype of LOTR and King Kong.

Now, here at POW, we're privileged to have such a talented multi-faceted creative as part of our team. Congrats Yong-Le on all your many achievements thus far!

23/09/2022

Director James Ashcroft's 'Coming Home in the Dark' is rated by Dexerto amongst the 21 best Netflix horror movies this month.

Filmed on Wellington's Coast, the tension is visceral with John Gibson's score and POW Studios' soundscape giving the chilling plot harrowing intensity.

Staring Daniel Gillies, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell and Matthias Luafutu the film is an adaptation of Owen Marshall’s award-winning 1995 short story.

It’s the tale of a school teacher who is forced to confront a brutal act from his past when a pair of ruthless drifters takes him and his family on a nightmare road-trip.

Written by Eli Kent, it is produced by Mike Minogue, Catherine Fitzgerald and Desray Armstrong.

https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/best-horror-movies-to-stream-on-netflix-right-now-top-scary-movies-in-the-uk-and-us-1871740/

14/09/2022

Have a listen to our intrepid Creative Director, Matthew Lambourn, recording vintage sounds for a new Animation Project from Sun and Thunder & Pukeko Pictures at Avalon Studios Ltd.

https://vimeo.com/749004442

Stay tuned!

30/08/2022

This short film of the stage ballet Inklings is about to make its Canadian Premiere at the 2022 Fall for Dance North Festival.

Having worked with Choreographer Loughlan Prior over the last 3 years on his stage ballet projects, POW's Marie Silberstein was asked to join in on his film project with Ballet Unleashed as Line Producer, and with POW Studios as Post Production partner.

https://www.balletunleashed.com/inklings

InklingsA new choreographic work by Loughlan Prior The latest project commissioned from Ballet Unleashed embraces a new creation by award-winning choreographer and filmmaker Loughlan Prior. Developing as a signature amongst his diverse works, Prior’s creativity is matched by the intelligence of hi...