by Trin Tongsiri
The documentary that helped land Jasmin Naish a place at Bond University is called For the Love of Sheep but her film tastes are more Silence of the Lambs.
Ms Naish won the Best Achievement in Documentary category at the 2021 Bond University Film and Television Awards (BUFTA) with her short film about animal rights protesters and primary producers. She secured an Excellence Scholarship to attend Bond and is studying film and television.
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The West Australian was inspired to make For the Love of Sheep while still at high school after helping out on a family friend's farm.
“Some farmers are struggling with mental health because of their isolation and I wanted to explore that with a temporally protest of veganism and how extreme that could be,” she said.
“Some people are too extreme on how they portray farm life, so I wanted to show that it is not as violent as people claim it to be.
“There is always work to do and it is not easy to be a farmer.”
Ms Naish credits the psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin for sparking her dream to become a film director.
The film, directed by Lynne Ramsay, explores the story of single mother dealing with her troublesome child who goes on to do unspeakable things.
“(Films like that) make you feel dread and that intrigues me. It is a special thing to make people feel deeply,” Ms Naish said.
“I used to create heaps of music videos and horror films and show them to my class. I love when I see the reaction of everyone, and I love to see how film affects people emotionally.
“I used to do a lot of oil paintings because I love curating looks of an image, but I felt like film is a good collaboration between portraying something visually and through a story.”
Ms Naish has been gaining film industry experience working with Jaggi Entertainment as part of an internship organised by Bond University.
The production company has produced Australian movies such as The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay (2022), Romance at the Vineyard (2023) and Netflix series Dive Club.
“I am a production assistant and I help with communication between the crew,” Ms Naish said.
“I help with press kits for films which will be released - so making media packages and sending them to companies that will distribute the film.”
Jasmin helped with the production of films such as Love is in the Air (2023), When Love Springs (2023), and American Outlaws (2023).
“For Love is in the Air, I assisted with copyright brands that I have to tag and make sure that brands won’t claim money from the film,” she said.
“I made press kits for When Love Springs and I made a snip of contents for American Outlaws that is previewed in streaming services.”
Ms Naish said her proudest achievement at Bond is her graduation project, a psychological-thriller film called Lacerat.
“I just finished it and we have to pitch it to a panel of producers, and they allow some films to go through (to production),” she said.
“I got through the pitching stages, and we also have peer voting.
“Only a limited number of films can be written and directed by students each semester, and mine has been approved to play in the Bond University film competition.”
Ms Naish said her filmmaking was improving rapidly as she nears graduation.
“I definitely have a greater knowledge on how to capture audience attention and shoot the film more efficiently,” she said.
“We learn to shoot different types of shot to fit with the purpose of the film and get the emotions out of the characters in the scene. Also how to take audiences on an emotional roller-coaster.”