Talking about Documentary

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, VR and AR artist Marc-O-Matic began exploring the Crypto Art and NFT space, expanding his work into blockchain and metaverse platforms and eventually creating virtual worlds, animated artworks and digital wearables for an emerging decentralised economy. Two years on his work has earned over $1 million USD from NFTs – Non-Fungible Tokens – and is featured across some of the most notable NFT marketplaces including Super Rare, Makers Place, Decentraland, and festivals in the US like Art Basel Miami and NFT NYC.

In our first Inside ACMI X podcast, Marc-O-Matic talks about his practice and his own beginnings in this emerging space and offers practical advice for artists looking to make a living on the blockchain.

Inside ACMI X
https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/inside-acmi-x-pocast

ACMI X
Website: https://www.acmi.net.au/acmi-x/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/acmiXstudio

Marc-O-Matic
Website: https://www.marcomatic.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marc0matic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mr.marcomatic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcomatic/

Inside ACMI X podcast

Making and selling NFTs with artist Marc-O-Matic

In this episode, we discuss mentorship and storytelling in the screen industry with Denise Eriksen, co-founder of Media Mentors. Using her wealth of experience and knowledge of all things broadcasting, Denise helps creative practitioners find their way into the industry.

About Denise Eriksen
Denise has worked as a Journalist, Producer and Executive Producer around the world. She has been Head of Factual and Head of Current Affairs at the ABC; Head of Production and Development at SBS; and made programs for Seven, Nine, Ten and Foxtel over her lengthy career. She has trained TV professionals in many genres in Australia and around the world.

Mentoring and storytelling with Denise Eriksen

Mentorship and storytelling with Denise Eriksen

Writer, director and star of 'The Drover's Wife: The Legend of MollyJohnson', Leah Purcell, spoke to us about her thoroughly researched, Blak feminist retelling of Henry Lawson's classic text.

Read the full transcript of the talk and an introduction to the film by Bryan Andy
https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/leah-purcell-on-reclaiming-the-drovers-wife-with-the-legend-of-molly-johnson/

The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson – Leah Purcell in conversation with Bryan Andy

This episode is for fans of non-fiction.

Our guest, Natasha Gadd, is a writer/director and the Creative Director and CEO for the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC). In this episode, Natasha describes her creative process, industry trends and the documentaries she enjoys watching.

In 2005, Natasha co-founded Daybreak Films, a Melbourne based production company. She wrote and directed her debut feature documentary, Words From the City , nominated for five AFI Awards. Her follow up feature, Murundak: Songs of Freedom received the Grand Prix – FIFO, Best Documentary – Valladolid International Film Festival and the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. Natasha has made a series of half hour arts documentaries including Weather and Muscle for which she received an Australian Directors Guild Best Director award.

Non-fiction storytelling with Natasha Gadd

Dilan Gunawardana holds a master's degree in Communication and Media Studies from Monash University. He plans, creates and curates online content at ACMI in Melbourne.
[image caption]: "The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) Melbourne, Australia" by ^ Johnny is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
[music caption]: Piano March by Jason Shaw. Released under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0. Music by audionautix.com.

Pages Beyond podcast, episode 2: an interview with ACMI's digital editor

In this talk we explore the creative, technical, cultural and collaborative practice of creating VR from personal histories for this moving new work.

A Thin Black Line is an immersive VR experience that follows one family in the aftermath of the bombing of Darwin in 1942, when half the population fled believing a Japanese invasion was imminent. Among them was Indigenous filmmaker Douglas Watkin’s mother, just five-years old at the time.

Director Douglas Watkin, VRTOV's VR director Oscar Raby, artist Vernon Ah Kee and lead 3D artist Kalonica Quigley shared behind-the-scenes footage and early drawings from their unique journey bringing oral storytelling to digital life through graphic and game design.

See A Thin Black Line free from 3 March in the Untold Australia VR Showcase in our permanent exhibition Screen Worlds.

About The Speakers

Douglas Watkin
Brisbane-based Indigenous filmmaker Douglas Watkin was born in Cairns, Far North Queensland. His broadcasting and filmmaking career began in television doing small news reports and producing various corporate videos, and has progressed to feature films, broadcast series and multimedia works for a range of clients and audiences. Douglas has been actively working in the film and television industry for over twenty years, including producing and directing multiple series for ABC and NiTV.

Oscar Raby
Oscar Raby is an award-winning multimedia artist and Creative Director of independent digital production studio VRTOV. His Virtual Reality documentary Assent (2013), about the Chilean dictatorship, has been exhibited world-wide including screening at Sundance New Frontier, IDFA DocLab and Sheffield Doc/Fest where it received the Audience Choice Award for Cross-platform.

Kalonica Quigley
Kalonica is a 3D Artist and Game Developer who has developed award-winning games with small teams and independently. She currently works as Lead 3D Artist at VRTOV, an independent studio that crafts virtual reality experiences at the borderline of film and games.

Vernon Ah Kee
Born in Far North Queensland and currently living in Brisbane, Vernon is a member of the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji and Gugu Yimithirr peoples.

Vernon’s multi-faceted practice includes works that range from large-scale drawings of his ancestors to hard-hitting text-based works and installations. In his work Ah Kee fuses the history and language of colonisation with contemporary black/white political issues in an ongoing investigation of race, colour and politics. Through clever puns and plays on words and objects Ah Kee fuses the history and language of colonisation with contemporary black/white political issues to expose degrees of underlying racism in Australian society.

ACMI Conversations: A Thin Black Line

In an ever-changing media landscape, and with audiences savvy and cynical about advertising, brands are looking for more subtle ways to draw their customers in. Enter the documentary filmmaker. Does this offer an exciting new source of finance for documentary or is it a sell out? Is it still possible to make authentic stories within this form? Who has creative control in this environment? Why do brands give money to filmmakers and what do they want in return?

This session brings together a world-class panel of award-winning filmmakers, producers and broadcasters to share their first-hand experiences making documentary content for brands and the mechanics of building successful partnerships to do so. They will explore how brand funded content works, why they do it, how it is different to working within traditional funding pathways, and what the deals look like. Between them, our panel has made everything from online content to television to feature films, financed by brands. They will share the realities, the pitfalls and the opportunities of this new financial option in our documentary producing toolbox.

AIDC 2018: Brand + Filmmaker = Story

VCR (Four Tet Remix)

The xx - VCR (Four Tet remix)

COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
Meet the producer and creative director at the heart of one of the world's most enduring and celebrated documentary collectives.

For over 50 years, Gordon Quinn and Kartemquin Films have been at the forefront of documentary making in the US, not only embracing but also epitomising collaborative practices, championing new voices, and leading the way in the fight for independent media. All of these resonate with current discussions, both locally and globally around democracy and social justice, as well as AIDC 2020’s theme of collective intelligence.

Join Gordon in conversation as he discusses the essential role of documentary in a fair and just society through some of his key works from Inquiring Nuns and Last Pullman Car to Hoop Dreams, The Trials of Muhammad Ali, Minding the Gap and 63Boycott. Talking through his 50-plus years of experience, Gordon will expand on how to sustain documentary making amidst constant assaults on truth, and finding new ways to regenerate the form and industry. He’ll also discuss the expanding role of the producer in nurturing new talent and promoting and enabling diverse voices to tap into hyper-local stories that also reverberate with global audiences. This session promises to be both thought-provoking and inspiring.

AIDC2020 - Masters of Producing: Gordon Quinn of Kartemquin Films

COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
Is Australian press freedom an endangered species? What can be done to prevent the media being portrayed as the enemy of the people?

Australia has some of the most draconian anti-media laws of all Western countries. Police raids on journalists, national security laws that criminalise journalistic activities, attacks on whistleblowers, archaic defamation laws and restricted access to information have stifled the ability of journalists to hold power to account.

Investigative journalism is under threat globally and increasingly in countries where democracies have historically prevailed. At a time when attacks on press freedom around the world are on the rise, the risks faced by news, journalism and documentary are very real. But what can be done to stem the growing culture of secrecy and counter the epidemic of fake news, disinformation and manipulation that is eroding public discourse and democracy?

Join a distinguished panel of news, documentary and investigative journalists including ABC News’ Gaven Morris, filmmaker Yaara Bou Melhem and University of Queensland’s Professor Peter Greste to discuss the threat posed to press freedom. This session is a timely discussion of why public interest journalism should be protected and how the industry can help educate the public about their right to know before Australian journalists are labelled the enemy of the people.

AIDC2020 - The War on Press Freedom (and What to do About It)

CRAFT
Meet the key people behind hit ABC shows that have delivered real world impact, and find out what’s next in 2020.

Commissioning distinctive TV that has a real-world impact on Australians and their communities is a major goal of ABC’s Factual and Documentary teams. The ABC has been leading the way with this form of programming through acclaimed series such as Old People’s Home for 4 Year Old’s, Employable Me, Don’t Stop The Music, Love On The Spectrum and War On Waste. In 2020, the ABC is presenting two major climate-themed series with Fight for Planet A: The Climate Challenge exploring how we can all help reduce both our individual and collective carbon emissions and Big Weather (and how to survive it) offering insight and practical advice on how to survive and thrive in a time of increasing extreme weather events. We will also see Shaun Micallef return to our screens as he delves into the nation’s relationship with alcohol, with Shaun Micallef’s On The Sauce.

All of these shows demonstrate the importance of content that not only informs and entertains but has the power to connect the nation and drive real-world awareness and change.

In this session you will hear insights from key people on these shows, both in front of and behind the camera as well as the ABC’s Impact Producer. All have been pivotal in developing and delivering TV with a social purpose that resonates with audiences across all platforms.

This session features Craig Reucassel, Debbie Cuell, Karina Holden and Teri Calder and will be moderated by Stephen Oliver.

AIDC2020 - Real World Impact: TV with Social Purpose

CRAFT
Leading factual producers reveal how they tackled projects of scale … and scale doesn’t always mean big budget. 

Leading factual producers discuss and demystify the oft-used term ‘scale’.
From giant crews, fixed rigs and far-flung locations, to leading a tiny team shooting across a long timeframe – scale calls for precise decision making in the development process and in designing your production model.
 
What are the different production approaches that can be scaled to get the most out of the story and budget? Do you go big, long, lean, broad or deep to best access your story? How can you invert your production approach on the same story material?
 
Debbie Cuell, Jocelyn Little and Ben Ulm’s careers embody the full spectrum of scale, from big blue-chip to lean ob-doc. They will dissect making recent and upcoming series Ed Stafford: First Man Out, Old People’s Home for 4 Year-Olds, One Born Every Minute, Who Gets to Stay in Australia and Wild City. 
 
Moderator Sarah Thornton (Network Ten) springboards this conversation from a Network commissioning perspective. Scale used to mean big budget but what does it mean in the current factual market?

AIDC2020 - Niche to Broad, Big to Lean: Concepts of Scale in Factual

CRAFT
Director Jen Peedom discusses her story-focused approach to documentary writing, from pre-production through to editing.



What does it mean to ‘write’ a documentary?

For BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa, Mountain), writing — and re-writing — defines each step of the filmmaking process. Emphasising the difference between covering an issue and telling an emotional story, this session will explore lessons borrowed from drama storytelling in shaping Jen’s compelling on-screen characters and journeys: encompassing thoughtful planning in research and pre-production, course-correction through principal shooting and interviews, and an openness to challenging feedback throughout editing.

Further points of discussion for this session include the differences between writing historical and unfolding stories, writing observational documentaries (when the outcome of a situation is unknown at the outset), and incorporating additional editorial tools (such as graphics and cards) at the editing stage for clarity.

AIDC2020 - Upskill: Writing Documentary, Shaping Story with Jen Peedom

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ACMI Conversations: A Thin Black Line

ACMIOnline

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