Consulting

Clients I have provided strategic and cross-media design advice to include, but are not limited to (can’t reveal some just yet), the following:

Details of some consulting contributions:

Pemberton Films [2008]
Sonya Pemberton, one of Australia’s leading science directors and executive producers commissioned me to consult on the development of a ’serious alternate reality game’. I worked with herself, producer Keren Flavell of OMG.tv, filmmaker and digital producer Carla Drago and Dan Thorsland, new media producer from Martins Design to develop the concept for their Australian Film Council funding.

Sense Worldwide [2007]
Senseworldwide is a company that ‘provides contextual research and concept development services to Blue Chip and Fortune 500 clients across many different sectors and categories’. I was consulted (as an interviewee) for a commissioned report they were developing for a client on ’21st Century Stories and Storytelling’.

Mobile Pictures [2007]
Film and TVC director Kimble Rendall of Killer Bald Men commissioned me to provide some reports on the current state of the mobile content industry in Australia and worldwide, and strategic advice for movement in this area for his new company Mobile Pictures. I also provided strategic advice on some of his own projects. I was then called in again for a pitch to take on the worldwide communications for the Copenhagen Climate Council (CCC). The CCC has been set up with the following mission:

COPENHAGEN CLIMATE COUNCIL is a global initiative founded by leaders from business, science and civil society. They join forces to work for a successful new protocol at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 to replace the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Their aim is to engage the global public and influence global decision makers to make the UN Summit in 2009 the most ambitious and successful global Summit of our time.

From the local and global climate change initiatives I had studied, it was clear to me that ‘global climate change’ had been highly politicised and primarily targeted people through ‘fear-driven’ and accusatory campaigns that demanded the same action from people. My key recommendation (among others) was for a ‘tiered’ approach that targeted different interests with different content. I cannot give details of the approaches pitched, but I will say that the approaches enable a freedom to engage in the overall topic in a manner that resonnates with the individual. The aim is to honour the complexity of the issue with a system that acknowledges the complexity of perspectives. Of course, the various approaches are designed to raise global awareness of the CCC mission as well.

Outcomes:

  • Kimble Rendall was invited to present at the Copenhagen Climate Council Press Conference (which included Sir Richard Branson) and the ideas were very well received.
  • The next stage is the production, which I was meant to continue being involved in, but have had to withdraw from temporarily while I finish my PhD. (I know! But I’ve got to finish my PhD.) I’ll keep you posted on news of this project though!

KimbleatCCC
[Photograph of Kimble Rendall at the CCC Press Conference by Marie Rosenkrantz Gjedsted, sourced from CCC]

Australian Literature Board [2007]
Australian Literature Board Director Josie Emery and Project Manager There Fingleton approached me to discuss the development of their ‘Story of the Future’ project, which is now described as:

The Story of the Future is a strategic initiative that aims to develop Australian writing and narratives for digital media. It gives participants - especially writers - skills in digital media and cross art-form collaboration and support the development of commercially adaptable digital, interactive and multiplatform projects driven by Australia’s rising generation of creative writers.

My recommendations included:

  • To be inclusive of all artforms (not just digital) and communicate key strategies for combining them;
  • To also service print writers by including cross-media projects that combine print with TV, film, mobile and the Net;
  • To include separate online marketing sessions for writers;
  • That commercially viable projects can be reached through innovation rather than imitation. That innovation could be facilitated through various approaches such as having expert practitioners in fringe artforms present and mentor, that the core changes to contemporary cultures (audiences and practitioners) be communicated to enable creative implementations, and ongoing practice-oriented workshops.

Outcomes:

  • I was asked to be a speaker, MC and Chair (including participate in the selection and preparation of the speakers) for ‘Story of the Future’ events held in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.
  • I was invited to present at the ‘Story of the Future’ event held in Tasmania as the head of the Tasmainia Film Board MCed.
  • I was invited to be a speaker for the special ‘Publishing the Story of the Future’ event held for Australian Publishing industry leaders.

C4 Communications [2007]
I was actually called in to help form a team that were pitching to C4 Communications, who in turn were pitching to the Australian communications company Telstra. But since the team didn’t create an identity I’ve put C4 down as the client. Since the project is on hold I cannot divulge any detail, except to say that my advice involved ways the core Telstra brand could be communicated and experienced with specially commissioned new media arts projects. That is all I can say.

dLux Media Arts [2007]

As a board member for the Australian new media arts organisation dLux Media Arts from 06-07, I provided insights into contemporary multi-platform practices, changes to commerce and art alliances and cultural changes in light of new and integrated technology platforms. I contributed ideas about dLux’s potential involvement with the online virtual world Second Life (SL). dLux wanted a presence in the world but had limited resources and knowledge of the area. It was important too, that dLux didn’t impose themselves onto the active SL art community. I was also aware, due to my active involvement with artists and SL art and performance reviews, that the area needed critical discussion. In short, what I garnered was needed was a project that addressed the following:

  • Facilitated dLux acclimitising to SL and finding out the SL art communities
  • Raised awareness of SL art and performance to the general art and performance communities and beyond
  • Raised awareness of dLux Media Arts both to the SL art and performance communities and the general art and performance communities (both worldwide)
  • Contributed to the critical development of the SL art and performance community beyond media hype
  • dLux Media Arts made a genuine contribution to the communities in SL
  • dLux Media Arts was associated with cutting-edge, interesting and fun activities
  • The project had to be accessible to SL newcomers whilst also addressing SL veterans

The Solution?: Curated SL art and performance discussion tours. Existing SL tours (at the time) were real world tours where a guide would project onto a screen their movements through SL. Or, inside-SL tours were not guided. SL residents could gain SL notecards that provided links to art venues they could attend on their own time, or they could purchase a ‘magic carpet’ or some vehicle and fly around a pre-configured location in a particular area. The dLux Pony Club is a guided, live tour where people inside SL tour (but it was also projected into a gallery space for the opening). Everyone moves together to locations and discusses the works, with (when possible) the artists meeting us to describe give a talk.

Technical Logistics: Since many newcomers would attend the tour, it was important that the group could move around with the least amount of skills needed. We also wanted to have the tour go to different locations in SL, rather than just tour around one space. But vehicles cannot be teleported. I commissioned expert SL vehicle designer Cubey Terra to create the tour objects. The director of dLux, David Cranswick, really wanted ponies so Cubey created ponies that are attachments. The tour system includes a tour scheduler that people can click on to receive ponies and be notified of the next tour. Once on their ponies, the tour guide issues landmarks to all the participants at once. When the tour guide flies, all the ponies fly with the guide, and when they teleport, the pony stays with them.

Outcomes:

  • The dLux Pony Club was launched during the d/Art/2007 Festival, with simultaneous realworld participants in the gallery space. Four tours (with Malcolm Smith as the tour guide) were held during the festival, including an ‘After Dark’ tour of the night life in SL.
  • During the August 2007 special discussion on empyre about SL (in which I was a guest), I recommended a special empyre tour was enacted. This special tour was curated by Adam Ramona (Adam Nash), Angrybeth Shortbread (Annabeth Robinson), Chris Dodds, Lythe Witte (Christy Dena), Man Michinaga (Patrick Lichty), Rubiayat Shatner (James Morgan), Bella Bouchard (Kathy Cleland), Marina Regina (Melinda Rackham), Ricardo Paravane (Ricardo Peach) and Doesi Beck (Stephen Doesinger).
  • Current status: Before leaving dLux, I recommended that guest artists are invited to curate future tours. It is currently on hold but I hope more tours will happen soon. :)
dpctour dpcflying

[Screenshots by Lythe Witte/Christy Dena, 2007]

Instinct Entertainment [2007]
David Redman of feature film production company Instinct Entertainment approached me to offer advice on two projects of theirs. One was ideas for their thriller film in development (at the time), Torn, and the other was an idea for an online filmmaking community portal, D.I.M.E.. Since the feature film was already written and about to go into production, and the company was not that familiar with websites, I recommended podcasts they could do leading up to the release. I recommended diegetic podcasts that prefigure the story of the film. for DIME, the Digital Instinct Movie Experience, I gave recommendations for topics that would be of interest to a variety of communities, techniques for utilising online technologies and existing social networking sites, and website content and experience design. Due to limited resources and a short learning curve, Instinct went with a ‘making-of’ podcast on the flash-controlled DIME site. The podcasts were created by the trainees who were part of the DIME training course (ie: working on the Torn film and writing an assignment). I think that the company, which has amazing resources at its finger tips, has the potential to explore some interesting areas in the future.