Projects

Current Projects

Doctoral Thesis in animation studies

It’s been a long journey as I have undertaken this research on a part-time basis to allow for a full-time workload. The thesis was submitted to schedule in November 2023, and I am currently under examination. For those unfamiliar with the process, examination means an external expert panel is reading the work and will provide feedback to suggest whether the work is in good shape, and I am able to have the doctorate conferred. It’s hard to say how long the process will take, but I’d expect to have further news by mid-2024.

Animation project SALE! A tradigital animated short.

SALE! Presents modern convenience in a singing and dancing format. Character animation and linear storytelling are usually outside the scope of what interests me, so it’s perhaps best for me to suggest that this won’t be a very ‘normative’ work when it’s completed.

Recently Completed Projects

The Turning (2022)

The Turning was a tranSTURM installation exhibition at Gallery Lane Cove in Sydney from March 7 to April 2, 2022. It is based on Rainer Maria Rilke’s The Sonnets to Orpheus as translated by Stephen Miller. The Sonnets form an extended eulogy, a meditation on death through a naturalist framework. Each member of tranSTURM formed different relationships with The Sonnets, creating a conversation through the artworks that meditate on Rilke’s work, and on the relationship each member has with the concept of ‘turning’ as described by Rilke.

For Gallery Lane Cove, which is situated near the Lane Cove river, we engaged in placemaking by capturing footage of the river and mangroves, and integrating this into the animation. In the image to the right, you can see I have turned the river into a book, to connect the river in Rilke’s Sonnets to the site of the exhibition.

All tranSTURM projects are collaborative productions. Myself and fellow animator Rachael Priddel led the animation projected through various sculptural works, supported by animation extant in the linguistic catalogue of tranSTURM, which we refer to as ‘assets’. These assets speak to ecosystems and forms of life, movement, and activities that all speak to a separation between organic and digital worlds drifting further and further apart.

The full tranSTURM team for this project therefore extends to all animators engaged over time in the building of our asset library, which constantly evolves and expands as we devise new works that respond both to individual installation themes and collective meditations on our digital ecology. This includes Holger Deuter and Jason Benedek.

The sound for the project was composed by Roger Mills. Creative leadership and production management team as always are Chris Bowman, Anita Kelly, and Mike Day. A full listing of tranSTURM collaborators is available on the tranSTURM website.

Marylka Project

I was involved in Australian-based research and location activities on the Marylka Project, which is headed by Professor Kenji Kanno, Tokyo University of Science. The project documents an escape route used by refugees during the Second World War, facilitated by Chihune Sugihara, who authorised transit visas allowing for travel to Japan. You can find out all about the project on the Marylka Project Website.

The Marylka Project is funded by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 17K02041 / 18KK0031.

Where but into the sea? 「海でなくてどこに」


Where but into the Sea?「海でなくてどこに」is a Japan-based documentary project directed by Osawa Mirai. It is a property derived of research for the Marylka Project, and exists as a research output that can have a broader reach in terms of non-academic, multi-lingual, and multi-national audiences. My contributions to the film were at first to assist with on-the-ground operations in Sydney, but I was eventually asked to create animation for the film as well. The animated sequence is designed to posthumously enact a memory of one of the interview subjects. The sequence was requested with a short turnaround and very challenging constraints regarding budget. I therefore worked to create a sequence that would be efficient, and relied on compositing techniques that sped up the animation process. This led me to make use of animated ‘boils’ and colour zoning in Toon Boom.

The colour zoning, applied to simple drawings, creates a warmth and movement that implies a much more intensive animation process. The compositing technique means that actual drawing can be freehand, rapid, and without care for precision. It is an effective technique to create efficiencies without losing aesthetic appeal.

The colour zone process allows compositing to be linked to palette values. This allowed for a fast ‘boiled’ drawn texture to fill, shade, and bring animation to otherwise static images. Given the timeline and budget of the work requested, and the style required for a memory sequence, the work was a response that allowed for effective design and implementation for a broad set of story images to match voiceover. The resulting boiled sequences show a warmth that looks like time was spent on the project, without significant outlay.

Other stuff

There are a LOT of projects I’ve completed over the years. But I’m incredibly busy. So I will have to list these later.

Consider this site a bit of a work in progress as I’m pretty time poor. In time I will get a back catalogue sorted, but for now, visit my ORCID page to see my project history.