ACMI Stories & Ideas

This episode is for anyone fascinated by celebrity culture. Sarah Scales is a PhD Candidate at Swinburne University researching the theory of parasocial relationships and breakups and the negotiation process fans experience following a celebrity scandal. The cinema is her greatest passion in life, and she is fascinated by why and how audiences engage with the content they do, and the effects media can have on people. An ACMI X resident, she is currently working with company Media Mentors. You can find Sarah on Twitter at @sarahscales

This episode is for deep thinking comedy lovers. Our guest is Emile Zile, an artist, filmmaker and performer who talks to us about his darkly comic practice – the critical re-use and re-encoding of media broadcasts, communication protocols and online platforms. His work reflects a distributed humanity, a yearning for transcendence and the limits of language. Building on a background of live and single-channel video, his work uses site-specific performance, portraiture and filmmaking to capture the traces of humanity within an accelerating digital culture.

For our season finale, we interview new-media artist, PHD candidate and Lecturer at RMIT University, Tyler Payne. Tyler's work focuses on the genre of self-portraiture in photography and video to investigate womens' embodiment through the lens of gendered advertising. She interrogates the impact that social media platforms such as Instagram have on women and their ability to visualise and share images of themselves. Using a combination of video, still photography and electro-bricolage, Tyler investigates "the oppressive nature of the platform and the damages inherent in fitness and celebrity culture". During our talk we discuss her primary research subject, Kim Kardashian.

This episode is for creatives juggling multiple passions. Meet our next guest on Inside ACMI X, Jacob Leaney, who has found a way to make music and games by combining the two. Jacob is the founder of Things for Humans, the pop-music video game studio behind Video World. In this episode, Jacob shares his experience as a game developer, songwriter and producer. He is currently working on Halloween’s Valentine, the sequel to Video World. Video World was showcased for Big Games Night In as part of Melbourne International Games Week (2–10 Oct 2021). Watch Jacob's introduction to the game: https://youtu.be/oge6sV1zzkM

In this episode of Inside ACMI X, we talk to resident Julian Wilton, Creative Director at Massive Monster Games Studio, about his experience making games with a focus on their new game, Cult of the Lamb, soon to be released. Australian Game Developer Award winner Julian Wilton is an animator, illustrator, digital designer. He shipped his first console game before leaving university and is based in Melbourne, Australia, where he is completing a residency at ACMI X, working as the Creative Director at Massive Monster indie game development studio. Julian works closely with Massive Monster to develop Web, Mobile, Desktop & Console Games including their previous game The Adventure Pals.

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/

This week on Inside ACMI X, we’re talking to Emma Parker and Chris Leaver from experiential training company Isonomic, to explore how they’re using Mixed Reality technologies to upskill the Australian workforce. Isonomic is a cutting edge immersive Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality company made up of talented developers, game designers and 3D artists who transform complex training into state-of-the-art immersive training in Microsoft’s HoloLens. Emma is Isonomic’s founder and CEO, and she has worked as a transformation and change expert for over 20 years, consulting in major blue-chip environments. Chris handles production and delivery. He is a visual effects artist, producer and sculptor.

In this episode, we invited filmmaker, author and co-founder of Lean Filmmaking Kylie Eddy to discuss how she has re-imagined the development, production and distribution of independent films – and how she is challenging conventional wisdom with new ways of working. Last year, Kylie and her collaborator and brother David Eddy released their new book, 'The Art of Lean Filmmaking: An unconventional guide to creating feature films'. In November 2021, they wrapped up a six-week online Lean Filmmaking academy.

This fortnight, we're talking to writer and narrative designer, and ACMI X resident, Alexander Swords. Alexander made the switch from writing for film to writing for videogames, and he now advocates for the power of interactive narrative and the need for diverse future storytellers. His work explores emotional games, games for change and the adaptation and evolution of stories moving to new mediums. His book, Forest Paths Method for Narrative Design (2020), provides an accessible and collaborative approach to writing and narrative design for interactive and non-interactive storytelling. It is now used internationally to develop, research and educate in the fields of videogames and screenwriting. In this episode, we discuss the intersection of videogames and film, focusing on development, production, distribution and technology. This chat explores ways practitioners across both industries already are and can continue to take advantage of opportunities within these artistic forms.

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.