From Enel Digital Contest to Avatar

An amazing experience in New Zealand narrated by the winner of one of the prizes of the competition for film makers promoted by Enel and Future Film Festival, dedicated to sustainable energy themes

A story that starts in the Italian university and ends up in a cult movie, also including a short film. This is the experience, similar to a fairy-tale, that occurred to Alessandro Gobbetti, the winner of one of the prizes awarded by Enel Digital Contest (the international competition for young video makers promoted by Enel and by the Associazione Amici del Future Film Festival), and his friend, work colleague and adventure companion, Alessandro Costa. After Gobbetti won the contest chaired by Paolo Sorrentino, the two young men found themselves suddenly hurled into the production of Avatar, the 3D masterpiece by James Cameron.

With "Imagination", a short film about dreaming a new energy, Alessandro Gobbetti - together with the Consulate General and the Agency for Economic Development (NZTE) of New Zealand - won the 2009 edition "special prize for the best animated and/or special effects short film". The award included a brief informational visit at Weta, the Wellington-based company specialized in special digital effects, which counts the brilliant director Peter Jackson among its founders. This company became specially popular worldwide a few years ago after it signed movies like the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, or - just to name a few - I, Robot, King Kong, the sequel to The Fantastic Four and The Chronicles of Narnia, until the recent District 9 and Loving Bones.

"I left with my workmate, Alessandro Costa. I was supposed to do a training session at the Weta - says Alessandro Gobbetti - which could last from a few days to two months. Since everyone was very engaged in making Avatar, we got organized with camcorders, cameras and tripods, so as not to waste time and film a documentary which would include the locations where movies and interviews are usually filmed. We had a couple of meetings with these guys at Weta, who saw that we were active and involved. Four days later we received an e-mail with a really surprising offer: an employment contract for Avatar ".

"Matt Aitken, the Zealander juror of Enel Digital Contest 2009, one of the supervisors of the special effects of Weta - says Marcello Hinxman-Allegra, European Business Development Manager for the creative industries of the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) - had already participated in other Future Film Festival initiatives. The company offered a short training course to Alessandro Gobbetti, adding it to the prize visit to New Zealand. Due to their excellent training - Hinxman-Allegro goes on to say - the young animator and his friend were able to catch the attention of an expert and of the organization. "

Thus, within a few days, and after a stay at the Los Angeles Gnomon School, a prestigious visual effects school, the two Italian students moved from architectural studies to the production of the most successful movie in the history of cinema, says Alessandro Costa. "Architecture and digital movies are much closer than anyone could think, he explains. The film industry needs architects, because the creation of landscapes requires a vision of natural and inhabited areas that requires a good knowledge of this field”.

"These were six months of hard work and true learning - adds the Enel Digital Contest winner - in which we applied our studies on the field."

An invaluable experience, to be performed courageously and being aware of one’s capabilities.

"An advice I would give - adds Alessandro Costa - is to avoid staying by all means in Italy, where digital moviemaking has limited possibilities. The world is at everyone’s reach. It must also be said that Italians are viewed very positively at WETA. We have the know-how and the technical culture, a comprehensive vision that cultures of other countries don’t own, because they tend to be specific. Our viewpoint is open and this helps us to solve problems; I used to see this as a negative trait, and only there I understood how much it is appreciated”.

Alessandro Costa is now completing his architectural thesis in Venice, then he will start planning his next training course in digital moviemaking, perhaps going back to New Zealand. "A country with terrific landscapes - he says - another world, almost prehistoric, with great wildlife parks, which we only managed to visit at the end of our stay." After his experience at Weta, Alessandro Gobbetti flew to Los Angeles to improve his skills in this field.
This can be described as a very real fable with a digital frame.