Bio

When I first met Matthew Salleh in 2006, I was in my final year of study, whilst he was heading towards the first year milestone with his fledgling film company, Urtext Film Productions.  My first experience on an Urtext set was as an extra, decked out in biohazard clothing, complete with blue gloves and gas mask.  The film was ‘The Man Who Poisoned the Sun’, one of Urtext’s earliest shorts.  The next time I came on set I was taking continuity notes.  A month or two down the track, with a new film underway (the award winning ‘Hole in the Water’), I was 1st Assistant Director.  This was the role I would stick with during my first few years with the company.

As well as running a tight ship on set, I helped run the venue known as ‘Urtext Studios’, playing host to all manner of music gigs, art exhibitions, theatre shows and the monthly fundraisers needed to keep the place afloat.

In 2009 I threw my hat in the producing ring for the first time, with a music video for The Beards track ‘If Your Dad Doesn’t Have A Beard, You’ve Got Two Mums’ (which has become a hit on YouTube), coming of age short film ’15/Love’ (nominated for 8 South Australian Screen Awards), and the first stages of adventure film ‘Aurora’.

Late 2009 saw Urtext move from the ballroom on Grenfell Street to a new office on Gilles Street, and with the shift came a change in focus.  Moving away from large scale films, we started taking on fast turnaround, small crew projects, often working alongside advertising agencies such as Clemenger BBDO, Jamshop and OBM Advertising (Melbourne).  With the recent developments in camera technology, we are able to produce beautiful images with minimal equipment, crew and time.

Matt and I have been careful to maintain a balance between our commercial work and our personal projects.  In 2010 we commenced work on our long-term online project ‘Portrait Mode’ (portraitmode.org), which features short, uncut excerpts from interviews with people from all walks of life.  ‘Portrait Mode’ was the recipient of the Innovation in Digital Media Award at the 2011 South Australian Screen Awards.  At these awards we also took out Best Production Design (‘Aurora’) and I was declared the Emerging Producer for 2011.

Our most recent release is the 34 minute epic ‘Aurora’.  Launched on August 1st, 2011, at the Piccadilly Cinema, we took the unusual step of releasing the film simultaneously online, in its entirety, for free (aurorathefilm.com).  We aim to have the film viewed by the public and industry heavyweights alike, and will be maintaining this online campaign alongside the traditional method of touring the festival circuit.

In the second half of 2011, I will be producing two short films (Directed by Matthew), alongside my regular commercial producing work.