Storytelling

It’s a real thrill to find the perfect way to tell a story. Below is a selection of stories I have created for clients such as SBS, ABC, Museum Victoria, VicHealth, University of South Australia and Melbourne Planetarium. Each began with varying degrees of development - some had audio edited from podcasts, some had existing illustrations, some I developed from script stage through to finished film. If you have a story you’d like to see in animation, I’d be delighted to hear from you.

ABC IVIEW

Stargazing for Beginners

This project begun as a full dome experience at the Melbourne Planetarium and was then adapted to become six short episodes for ABC’s iView to coincide Brian Cox visiting Australia to break a stargazing world record for most people watching the skies at the same time!

Client: ABC iView
Role: Animation development
Credits: Story and audio by Camilla Hannan, produced by Sally Chesher, Animation by Isobel Knowles
Story: Camilla Hannan explores the sounds and stories of space with anecdotes from scientists, traditional stories from several corners of the world, poems and galactic field recordings. The series investigates the personal connection with have to the stars and is visualised in cut paper and digital animation by Isobel Knowles.

Lorimer Mosely and Dave Moen

Tame the Beast

The brief was to find a visually interesting way to communicate the ideas behind new thinking around persistent pain. We developed the character of an overprotective guard dog who needs to be trained and tamed. The video has circulated widely around health professionals both in Australia and globally.

Client: Memo Studio
Role: Story Development, Director, Lead Animator
Funded by: University of South Australia, Form
Website: www.tamethebeast.org
Credits: Concept by Lorimer Mosely and Dave Moen, Narration by Lorimer Mosely, Story Development and animation by Isobel Knowels & Rebecca Hayes, Music and sound by Jeremy Dower, Art Direction by Sam Chisholm

SBS

Chinese Straight

SBS approached me to visualise one of their audio pieces from their series ‘True Stories’. The podcast had been developed with narration, music and sound design. I came on board to create a digital blog-style story with a combination of still illustration and three animated segments. You can see the full blog here .

Client: SBS
Role: Animation development and production / Illustration
Credits: Story and narration by Maxine Beneba Clarke, music by James Cecil, produced by Kylie Bolton
Story: “The play ground pecking order made Lord of the Flies seem like tea-party play. Among the girls, it was Looking for Alibrandi meets Hating Alison Ashley meets Puberty Blues. Not an easy place for a book-geek black girl like me. Every even girl was an Allison, Kylie, Kelly. I was Maxine.”

MONASH UNIVERSITY

HOSPO DRINKING CULTURES

As part of VicHealth’s Men’s Risky Drinking Initiative, Hospo drinking cultures seeks to amplify changes to drinking cultures amongst hospitality workers through a series of short animated documentaries. From a pool of forty people interviewed for the VicHealth research. I re-interviewed five subjects that represented a diverse cross-section of the sector all with passionate interest in creating cultural change in the industry. I developed five compelling animations which are now primarily being used in educational institutions but are available publicly on a purpose built website.

Client: Monash University
Role: Writer/Director/Lead animator
Deliverables: 5 interview films, 5 short edits, illustrations for website
Website: hospodrinkingcultures.org.au
Funded by: Vic Health
Credits: Produced by Lucy Hayes, Illustration by Juliet Rowe, Colouring by Dion Shields, Sound and Music by Robert Healey, Story editing by Glen Maw, Motion Graphic by Benjamin Portas
Story: Martin, Jamie, Paul, Emmanuel and Thiago share personal anecdotes about the culture of drinking amongst their peers in hospitality. From high-end restaurants to regional pubs and even in hospitality school, these men have observed behaviour and culture they’d like to see changed.

MUSEUMS VICTORIA

Tiddalik

I worked with artist John Patten’s drawings to bring this Gunai Kurnai version of the famous traditional Aboriginal story of Tiddalik to life for the Children’s Gallery at the Melbourne Museum. I storyboarded the narrative and John drew scenes and characters which I then adapted for animation. The story is delivered in an interactive touch panel with animated holding frames and a button to advance encouraging kids to be more active listeners.

Client: Museums Victoria
Role: Director/ Animator
Deliverables: Circular film with looping pauses and for interactive storytelling
Funded by: Museums Victoria
Credits: Produced by Kate Philips, Illustration by John Patten, Narration by Uncle Herb Patten, Sound and Music by James Cecil.

MELBOURNE CRICKET CLUB

DANCING ON THE WAVES

For the opening of the new Sports Museum at the MCG I created a short biographical story about world champion surfer Layne Beachley. I researched and wrote a five minute script which Layne herself narrated for the film. The story is installed on a touch screen in the Sports Hall of Fame.

Client: Melbourne Cricket Club
Role: Writer/Director/Illustrator/Lead animator
Deliverables: Film with holding loop for museum display
Installed: Melbourne Sports Hall of Fame
Credits: Produced by Rathicca Chiandra, Narration by Layne Beachley, Sound Design by Michelle Macklem, Music by Lehmann B. Smith, Narration Engineering by Gus Franklin at Electric Dreams
Story: Layne Beachley tells us about her secret to her unbeatable success. It wasn’t all fun and games but through her love of her sport she overcame many adversities and showed the world what she could accomplish.