When Prime Minister John Key walked in the door of Shotover Camera Systems late last year, general manager Brad Hurndell reckons he wasn't expecting to find what he encountered in Queenstown.
Staff were working on high-performance aerial camera systems for the motion picture and broadcast industries, surrounded by movie posters on the walls.
Those blockbuster movies - the likes of The Hobbit, X-Men, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Guardians of the Galaxy and Transformers - all used the company's technology to capture aerial footage.
''We're not an everyday consumer product. For people that know what it is and need to use it, we're the best in the world,'' Mr Hurndell said.
Shotover Camera Systems, which developed the world's first gyro-stabilised camera system for shooting aerial footage in ultra high-definition, was founded by John Coyle in Queenstown 2009.
Mr Hurndell, who has been with the business since its inception, said developing a prototype took about 18 months and, from there, the K1 system was launched. The F1, a smaller system, was recently released.
In 2012, the business was acquired by California-based Helinet Aviation Services, an international provider of aviation services to the broadcasting, government, law enforcement, medical, motion-picture and transportation industries.
Engineering facilities were retained in Queenstown where 22 staff now worked. The investors brought a customer-focused point of view to the company, Mr Hurndell said.
Previously an aircraft technician, who then gained an engineering degree at Canterbury University, Mr Hurndell was drawn to the business as it was highly technical, challenging and ''different''.
''I'm challenged and interested in really tricky engineering problems. This seemed to fit that criteria,'' he said.
It remained a challenging role, working for a fantastic company in an amazing location, which came with a great lifestyle. Many of the parts required were made in New Zealand, while others were bought from ''all over the world''.
The products were assembled and tested in Queenstown before being shipped out.
Local helicopter companies and the television and film industry had been very supportive of the business.
It was very easy to test equipment and the resort was also a great location for giving customers demonstrations.
The only drawback had been finding the right premises, as Queenstown was not really a manufacturing hub. When it came to staff, getting the right people could be challenging.
When it was a smaller company, no-one knew about it but, as it got bigger, he was hoping that people would seek it out for employment.
As far as having a profile, the company had been largely under the radar. It had been very busy focusing on growth and that took a lot of hours and effort, leaving little time for self-promotion.
But its support of the local economy was ''pretty cool'' and it was ''pretty committed'' to being in Queenstown for the foreseeable future, he said.
Several new products were being worked on, the exact direction of which had not been determined, but the potential of that would mean another step forward for the company.
There was a focus on K1 and F1 and continuing to innovate and develop them.
While there was some competition in various markets the company entered, the tide was ''definitely shifting'' and Shotover Camera Systems was becoming the preferred system globally. That was exciting and the future was `looking fantastic'', he said.
