Member Spotlight: Will Giles

What/who inspired you to start working in film?

I had a brain injury when I was 23 and had to leave my current job in architecture. I was pretty lost on what to do after I recovered, and a family friend who was an art director at the time asked me if I wanted to get into set design. I didn’t even know that was a thing. It really opened up a lot of opportunities for me creatively.

What part of your job gives you the most satisfaction?

I love that no two days are the same, every day is some crazy design brief and you’ve got to think quick and make it happen.

How do you see technology (AI, VFX, sustainability) shaping the future of our industry?

AI is definitely on the rise, especially when it comes to the early stages of production design. I’ve found a lot more people come to me with AI concept art. But the development that we put into it afterward is where the magic happens, all the refining and development to turn a concept into a real-life set build takes real human skill. I do think AI has taken a chunk of work away from graphic designers and concept artists, particularly in the early exploratory phase where they used to try and test design solutions. But it hasn’t replaced the deeper creative thinking, it’s just compressed the timeline.

How does working in Aotearoa compare to other places you’ve worked?

I just finished the classic move to London stint and just arrived back in NZ. The UK was pretty tough to break into, there was a lot of gatekeeping of jobs. A lot of Kiwi film workers in the UK were left out of work. It was, however, an awesome time to meet other Kiwis overseas and work on our own passion projects whenever we got the chance, real character-building stuff. But it’s good to be home working in the industry again alongside epic NZ crews.

Favourite filming location in NZ?

Call me biased as a South Cantabrian, but filming on location in the South is second to none. I would love to be based down there more often.

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