Two of us: Dylan Parker and James Norton

Aerodynamic: Dylan Parker (left) with James Norton. Photo: Steven Siewert

Marketing specialist Dylan Parker, 27 , and landscape architect James Norton, 29, met at a paper plane competition in 2008. It was the start of a journey that inspired the film Paper Planes.

James Norton: We have both been fascinated with paper planes since we were kids. There is nothing like that feeling of seeing it get caught on an updraft and soar above your eyes. A passion for paper planes are hereditary. You take that family design down with you, the one that Dad showed you. The most common is the classic, thin-tipped, wide-wing version.

I met Dylan in 2008 at a paper plane competition at the University of Canberra, where we were both studying. He had a suitcase full of paper plane shapes of every variety. I had never been to a proper contest before, but there was Dylan with a suitcase, with [padded sections] moulded to the shape of his planes.

There were the flat ones that spend the most time in the air and the short bullet-shaped ones that fly like javelins. The designs were incredible. I just looked at him and the planes and I thought, "That guy is just like me, he likes planes just as much as I do and he is totally willing to cop all the shit that comes with it." It was love at first flight.

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While we were throwing at the university everyone was looking at us like we were freaks in a "Why are you taking this so seriously?" kind of way.

We had only just got to know each other when Dylan got sick. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had to go back to Newcastle to be with his mum [former NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker] and dad.

He was in hospital for weeks with a golf ball-sized brain tumour they thought might be cancerous.

We still weren't that close as we had only really just met, but we kept in touch through Facebook. I thought it was best to give him some space with his family.

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Two of us: Dylan Parker and James Norton