Ben Anderson
Capturing wrestling on video has always been an incredibly important part of the art form. At first, those videos were used for VHS releases, then came DVDs, then VOD & now most recently live streaming. In the past, the way these shows were captured was very amateurish but over the past 5 or so years the level of production quality has gone through the roof. Here in Australia Ben Anderson has been 1 of the people working tirelessly behind the scenes to take Australian wrestling, particular Pro Wrestling Australia (PWA) & Newcastle Pro Wrestling (Newy Pro) to that next level with the introduction of highly cinematic promo videos & high-end live streaming.
Speaking to Pario recently Ben reflected on how he came to find his passion for filmmaking & wrestling, the process of elevating the video production of PWA & Newy Pro, & finally his dream projects for the future.
In terms of finding his passion initially, Ben said it all began with YouTube, some Lego & a simple still camera. "I only had a stills camera when I was quite young so I had to figure out how to make videos with what I had," explained Ben. "I loved my wrestling so I combined my interests & made some stop motion wrestling matches using Lego figures & it all took off from there."
Following on from those stop motion days Ben initially thought he would pursue 3D animation but quickly came to realise that videography was his true love when he directed a short film for a school project. Having discovered this love of being on set with real people Ben immediately decided he didn't have a plan B, he was simply going to land in the world of film as his career.
With that in mind, Ben ventured off to the Australian Film, Television & Radio School to hone his craft. During his time at film school, Ben had a semester focusing on documentary filmmaking, so naturally, as a long time wrestling fan, he knew exactly what his documentary should cover.
"The documentary wasn't just for me, it was also for ABC iView so there were real stakes at play," said Ben. "It is a genuinely beautiful documentary. I'm so glad we did it because it was a bit of a love letter to Australian wrestling."
Little did Ben know at the time but that documentary would then act as his gateway into a bigger role with PWA as a member of the PWA Studios video production company.
Under the PWA Studios banner, Ben & Jax Jordan have helped elevate the production levels of PWA to new heights with the introduction of cinematic short films as match promos. Ultimately though for Ben the biggest, and "most stressful", change was the introduction of live streaming.
"After doing promos for a while I got the most stressful message I'd ever received & it was just one sentence, 'do you know how to live stream?'" recalled Ben. Before continuing. "We had 3 months to figure it out... I know that we got a lot wrong in those first few shows but I think we've got it figured out now."
Looking back on his time with PWA now Ben describes the entire experience as a big "pinch myself" moment, "in particular there was a moment when I was hanging out with Mat Diamond & I realised this would have killed me if I was 12."
In terms of favourite pieces of content, he has produced in wrestling Ben pinpoints the Matty Wahlberg documentary series, Kingsley's The Crow-inspired promo & Jack Bonza's snow promo.
In regards to future dream projects, Ben has just 1 in mind.
"When the time is right I am destined to do a feature-length documentary on Madison Eagles... What an absolute legend she is, how we wouldn't exist without her."
Keep up with Ben on social media at: @BenAndersonFilms
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