From Ashburton To The World

From Ashburton to the world, New Zealand wunderkind Laura Sargisson chats with Supernormal about the ins and outs of her rise to the ranks of ‘first call’ commercial directors.

“I always remind myself how lucky we are to be doing this as a job and to make sure the people involved are having a great experience and feel welcome." 

SN:
Tell us about that viewfinder.

Laura:
Found it on eBay, it’s a vintage director’s viewfinder and it had all these stickers all over it like a director had been previously using it. It’s very old but it’s gorgeous. Anyway, I took off the stickers, and it said, “Ed Folger, New York.” And so I looked him up and it turns out he had a career spanning two decades in TV and film in New York and LA, as one of the youngest members ever of the Director’s Guild in America. Ed worked as assistant director with legends, such as Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola - I mean, this could’ve been on The Godfather or Star Wars?! Anyway, I think it’s a good omen…

SN:
What did you discover when you were young? Was there a film or a period of time where you thought, “Yeah, maybe I’ll get into film?”

Laura:
Growing up in Ashburton with my two older brothers and older sister and I was the baby. We really bonded over watching films growing up. We all had our own VHS tapes of films that we loved and watched on repeat. I loved Babe and Wizard of Oz and my brothers had Rocky, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Jurassic Park…

“I went there just wanting to capture cinematic shots but left learning that story is king – the footage could look terrible but if the story is there it is always going to captivate people.”

SN:
Which Wizard Of Oz?

Laura:
The OG one from 1939 – wow that makes me sound old. And actually, looking back at it now, we loved ads too. We loved watching the commercials in between shows, and we all had our favourites. Mine was Toyota’s Bugger, the dog.

I remember if there was a new ad on TV, we would critique it, but I definitely didn’t think I would get into making commercials because I’d never met anyone in the advertising industry. I didn’t even know that was a job.

We are all very creative - my brother’s and sister are amazing artists so I was very influenced by them and went to Art School in Dunedin. There was one lecturer there who was a DOP and I’d never seen a documentary shot in such a beautiful and cinematic way and I was just so taken by it. From that moment I thought I wanted to be a DOP. She encouraged me to do my masters in documentary filmmaking at Otago University and that’s where it all started. I learned the traditional style of filmmaking, and they were heavily focused on teaching story. I went there just wanting to capture cinematic shots but left learning that story is king – the footage could look terrible but if the story is there it is always going to captivate people...

"This opportunity was huge for me – and was
the job that solidified that I had found what
I want to do for the rest of my life."

After graduating I moved to Auckland where I was creating commercials directly for clients and for advertising agencies. I think that’s the biggest thing that I’m glad I did - I think it’s really important for a young director to learn all the steps along the way. Getting out there, hustling for work, producing, shooting everything yourself, editing, and crafting the story. I obviously made mistakes, but also made a lot of great work from hours and hours and late nights trying different things in my own time.

In my early days of being a director I had some amazing opportunities given by people who saw potential and gave me a chance. James Mok and Pip Mayne were at FCB at the time, and awarded me this job with the Ministry of Health and it was to film this series of videos on young teens sharing their very sensitive and personal stories on how they suffer from depression and anxiety and what they do to manage it.

This opportunity was huge for me – and was the job that solidified that I had found what I want to do for the rest of my life. It kind of went from there.

SN:
We talked about building a great environment on set and how you do it when you have to start from scratch every time.

Laura:
Most of the time you have your crew you love to work with so that’s a great foundation to start from. The talent really feed off those good vibes and comradery you have on set. I’m all about affirmations, encouragement and collaborative environment for my crew and the talent. I always remind myself how lucky we are to be doing this as a job and to make sure the people involves are having a great experience and feel welcome.

“To be honest, I didn’t have a camera as a
kid or anything like that. My family are really
artistic, we have bold personalities and we
are storytellers. We loved films, we loved ads
without consciously realising it, I feel like this
role just found me.”

SN:
Looking back now, to when you were younger, what stories or visual influences led you down the path you've followed?

Laura:
To be honest, I didn’t have a camera as a kid or anything like that. My family are really artistic, we have bold personalities and we are storytellers. We loved films, we loved ads without consciously realising it, I feel like this role just found me.

SN:
You’ve talked about your favourite ads. Were there films or TV shows that stuck with you as well?

Laura:
Its kind of like asking what’s your favourite song? It’s the impossible question! I mean I really love Wes Anderson films. I love the Grand Budapest Hotel, but my favourite is The Darjeeling Limited. Perfect in every way. The soundtracks, the acting, production design, the relationship between the brothers is amazing.

SN:
And what would you say your style is?

Laura:
I suppose my style is just continually evolving. I love to film documentary style shot in a cinematic way and to find raw and even imperfect moments in performances. I try to inject a moments that I know people will connect to. With the Women’s ICC Cricket World Cup Campaign I asked my fiancé, George, as he is a professional cricket player what he did as a kid that showed his love or passion for the game. He explained how as a young boy he would sleep with his brand new cricket bat, and make signs out of his Mum's sheets to take to the cricket matches. And so I added that in there. I love that – adding in finer details that tell a bigger story in a scene.