The Powerhouse have grown their wonderful Brisbane Comedy Festival exponentially over the past few years. For 2016 we reused some of last year’s footage to showcase the superb lineup the team has brought to Brisbane.

The Powerhouse have grown their wonderful Brisbane Comedy Festival exponentially over the past few years. For 2016 we reused some of last year’s footage to showcase the superb lineup the team has brought to Brisbane.
An homage to one of Australia’s best-ever music videos. TISM’s “Thunderbirds Are Coming Out“.
Pete from Hey Geronimo has directed all of their varied works. He asked me to be DoP for his planned remake, and solve the not-insignificant problem of having a camera smoothly traverse 85m with precise timing, and without a large budget.
I’ve loved working with WAAX as they thrash their way through the early years of their careers. After the robotic glitch explosion of Wisdom Teeth and the strange mirror-world of I For An Eye, we wanted to do something simple, visceral and effective for the launch of their Holy Sick EP and tour.
Hence, a live music video, recorded in a single, sweat-drenched take at their home ground of Black Bear Lodge in Fortitude Valley.
The Brisbane Powerhouse festival of burlesque, circus, cabaret, music and food. All kinds of fun to shoot, and this piece was edited and online less than 24 hours later:
Working with digital cinema and motion-control has given me an appreciation for Cine Lenses With Gearing On Them. Working in a reality where things cost money keeps me appreciating Stills Lenses With No Gearing But With Less Numbers On The Price Tag. Adding gears to stills lenses has traditionally required relatively expensive/invasive modifications, or compromised solutions involving bolts, cable ties, or other fiddly things.
Last year I figured out how to generate arbitrarily-sized gears for my selection of lenses, changing the internal diameter of each gear by 0.5mm at a time until they fit each lens perfectly.
All the while thinking, “if someone went through this process for a wide range of diameters and shared the designs, everyone’s lenses will get better, forever!”
I’ve been filming various events and promos with Brisbane Powerhouse for much of 2015, all the while colluding with them to combine the huge breadth of footage I was capturing into a TV ad which showcases the Powerhouse as a whole.
We dubbed this project the Destination Trailer. It’s part of their Discover Brisbane Powerhouse campaign, which launched in November 2015.
The piece distilled months of filming into precisely 20 seconds, because Television. To include some more awesome stuff we’ve also produced an extended “Director’s Cut” for web.
I’ve been collaborating with Industrial Arc Photography for a number of years, and one of our favourite clients to work with is Airbus Australia. Perhaps it’s because they’re super lovely, professional people. Maybe it’s the incredible toys.
Airbus brought their updated EC145 helicopter for a tour around Australia, and wanted some “Australian” looking footage to show the world. Enter the Sydney Harbour, Opera House, and a little Surf Life Saving for good measure.
I shot aerial footage from another helicopter, hanging out the passenger door with my DJI Ronin gimbal, while 2nd shooter Liam spent the afternoon on a super-yacht sailing around Sydney Harbour. Tough gig.
Following up WAAX’s Wisdom Teeth video, we needed a clip which would deliver their fresh new lineup to the world, while giving plenty of focus to Marie’s ferocious presence.
After having a lovely time working together on visuals for Ball Park Music, Sam Cromack asked me to help him create a world for the debut single from his solo project, My Own Pet Radio.
Combining 3D printed characters, robotic controlled animation and a twee black and white aesthetic, this shoot was just as much fun as you’d expect.
Tim Shiel composed the award-winning soundtrack to mobile application Duet, a mesmerising, minimalist, and wonderfully difficult game.
Brisbane orchestral composer Ryan Walsh found himself thoroughly addicted to Duet and decided that he’d make things much worse by arranging the soundtrack for a 16 piece orchestra.
Tim asked if I’d be interested in putting together live visuals for the show. We met up in Melbourne, planned out the storyline of the set and how we’d translate the 2D, minimalist visuals of the game into something immersive.
Then I spent a couple of weeks building 3D versions of the game, and making those simple rotating Red/Blue balls into an epic journey through space, building weird mechanical cityscapes and crashing suns into planets.
For the show I did live visuals and also programmed lights via Ableton Live, creating a rather special, immersive 45 minute experience. It was performed for a rapt audience on 15th May, 2015. Here’s a 15-minute section from the middle of the show, with my visuals overlaid in some sections to get a proper feel for the animation style: