Published May 30. 2012 - 11 years ago
Updated or edited Oct 11. 2023

Hatch Q&A

We posed a series of questions to Nick Reygaert, the filmmaker behind the fabulous video Hatch, which shows a row of different "hatches" around the world. Hear about (video) gear, tight schedules and future plans.

Nick filming - In Tasmania
Filming in Tasmania
Nick Reygaert

The New Zealand production company Gin Clear Media has recently released Hatch, a new video about hatches in all forms all over the world. We confronted Nick Reygaert, the prime force behind the Gin Clear videos, with a few questions regarding the production, the gear (video gear!) and fishing. He replied: "I have a spare few minutes so I will answer as best I can".

1) How do you ever manage to scrape together the money and time for these epic journeys?

Lots of planning goes into our film trips, we have to be very organized as we are in full time production 40 weeks of the year so everything needs to slot in neatly.

2) How have the reactions been when The Hatch has been screened at the Rise Festival and elsewhere?

Overall the crowds at the RISE Film Festival have loved HATCH, it was filmed and edited in 2K (slightly larger than HD) and we are able to screen in cinemas in 2K so the crowds really got to see HATCH in its full glory. A version of HATCH is also screening at FT3 which is the big film tour in the US, from feedback the folks over there have also been blown away by the visuals.

3) I have noticed that you have produced "commercial" videos, marketing material like the Ponoi video. Tell us about that project.

Yes, we have been taking on a few select commercial jobs lately. It was always a dream of mine to fish the Ponoi River so to be asked by the Ponoi River Company to make a film about the camp and the river was a real honor. It is such an amazing salmon river, I have never seen so many Atlantic salmon in one river - it is almost unreal. The highlight for me was swinging dry flies. There are so many fish in the river that we could often raise a number of fish in a short session. This meant that I was able to film salmon hitting the dry fly in super slow-motion for some pretty spectacular footage.


Ponoi video

3) You invested in some new and top notch video gear for this video. Tell us about working with the Red cameras.

The film making world is changing very rapidly. Red Digital Cinema are pioneering the way in terms of resolution and frame rates. A large portion of the films being shot in Hollywood are using Red Cameras so they really are at the very top of the tree in terms of quality. Having said that, they have been designed as studio cameras - they are big, heavy, power hungry machines that chew up hard drive space at an incredible rate - not really perfectly suited to remote back country.
But the crispness of picture they deliver is really what sold me on the cameras and then we just had to find ways around the limitations. It wasn't easy, but to me film making is about calculated risk taking and when I watch HATCH I know that all those risks were worth it.

Setting up - Getting ready for shooting a sequence
Setting up
Nick Reygaert

4) Back in April you wrote to me: "...we begin shooting on the next film in about 5 days". What's in the pipeline? That expensive camera gear has to work, doesn't it?

The new film is called PREDATOR and is the follow up to HATCH. We are shooting PREDATOR on a Red Epic-X which is delivering the most mind-blowing visuals. The film will be in same style as HATCH but this time we scour the globe for the most awesome predators you can catch on a fly rod.

5) Do you ever get time to fish yourself?

I do. For me it's part of the creative process. If I get stuck for an idea or film, I look towards nature for inspiration and I usually find that the best stories happen right in front of me when I'm on banks of a river or wading a flat. It's my job to find the best way to get those experiences up onto the screen.
Well that is what I tell myself.
Maybe I just like to fish as well!

Filming in Slovenia - On the bank of a Slovenian chalk stream
In Slovenia
Luka Hojnik
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