Screen Australia announces multi-platform funding round
Screen Australia, the Australian screen funding body has announced the support of 14 multi-platform projects.
Among the projects is an app based on ABC kids show DirtGirlWorld as well as a film noir motion comic, interactive documentary and augmented reality app.
The projects, are supported through the Digital Ignition funds and Multi-platform Production, formerly titled All Media Production.
The funds supports digital and small screen narrative content in both linear and non linear forms.
Between the two programs, 89 applications were received with 27 applications for Multi-platform production and 62 for Digital Ignition.
In a statement, Screen Australia’s chief executive Ruth Harley said: “We’re thrilled with the volume and quality of applications we received as awareness grows of our support for content creators to capitalise on the fast-moving digital landscape.”
“We have both new talent and established players collaborating and telling stories through interactive documentary, games, web series, apps and multi-platform television.”
Of the 14 titles, nine come from the Digital Ignition fund and five from the Multi-platform Production
Multi-platform production
DIRTGIRLWORLD INTERACTIVE GARDEN APP
mememe Productions/Tequila
Interactive app for touch screen devices
Producer/Writer Cate McQuillen
Director Pete Gately
Marketplace ABC, BBC, CBC (for the TV series)
Synopsis Based on the successful animated TV series, this app offers a range of fun activities for kids to encourage them to spend time in their garden nurturing their own veggie patch.
ARMELLO
League of Geeks
Game for touch screen devices
Writer/Producer/Director Trent Kusters
Marketplace Surprise Attack
Synopsis A digital card and board game for iPad, featuring a rich and visual game narrative pitched as Game of Thrones meets Kung Fu Panda in which players compete to become ruler of the Kingdom of Armello, playing as anthropomorphised animals from different ‘clans’. It will be distributed for free via digital distribution with revenue arising from in-app purchases.
FIGARO PHO INTERACTIVE ADVENTURES
Chocolate Liberation Front
Games for touch screen devices & PCs
Producers Frank Verheggen, Dan Fill
Online Producer Chris Sullivan
Writer Matthew Phipps
Marketplace ABC Commercial
Synopsis A suite of three games aimed at 8–12-year-olds designed to capitalise on the release of the 39 x 8-minute animated ABC TV series. The games will be in the side-scrolling platform genre, available for touch screen mobile devices, as well as a lite-version to be played online.
THE PAPER FOX
Torsion Fork Studio
Interactive animation for touch screen devices
Producer Joe Tabor
Writer/Director Jeremy Kool
Co-writer Amanda Kool
Marketplace Bento Box Interactive
Synopsis An interactive adventure book for iPad and Android tablets. Not simply an interactive story, The Paper Fox is a ‘My First Adventure Game’ for young players. A charming story with integrated games that will suit a young audience; the humour and unique art style will engage children and adults alike.
TIME TREMORS
The People’s Republic of Animation/Xenophile Media
Multi-platform TV series
Producers Sam White, Patrick Crowe
Writer Dennis Foon
Creative Director Alex Mayhew
Marketplace ABC, CBC
Synopsis A 7 x 3-minute live-action TV series with a Harry Potter-esque narrative that sends viewers online on a virtual treasure hunt looking for valuable artefacts through web and mobile platforms. An Australia/Canada co-production.
Digital Ignition
BOTTERSNIKES AND GUMBLES
The Playroom and Omnilab Media/Ambience/Mighty Nice
App for touch screen devices
Executive Producer Patrick Edgerton
Transmedia Producer/Director Cora Spear
Creative Director David Webster
Head of Animation Darren Price
Synopsis Taken from the classic Australian children’s books written by SA Wakefield, Bottersnikes and Gumbles brings to life the hilarious animated stories about the evil Bottersnikes and their attempts to enslave the innocent Gumbles in their home in the dry Australian bush.
ELEANOR’S QUEST
Robot Circus
App for touch screen devices
Producer/Writer Nick Hagger
Director Kevin Chan
Synopsis A ‘living book’; different every time the reader opens it, dependent on a variety of real-world factors including time and date, weather, and proximity to key events. Eleanor is an eight-year-old girl living in a picturesque coastal town called Seeker’s Bay. Every day her mum gives her a chore to do that puts her into contact with the town’s cast of residents. Every read expands on the stories that bind the community, ultimately strung together by a historical mystery as to how the bay got its name.
THE EVENTIDE
Loud and Clear Creative
Game for touch screen devices
Producer Joel Beath
Creative Director Keith Walsh
Creative Technologist Ben Beath
Synopsis A world exists just beneath the surface of our own where two factions of elemental energy beings are fighting an unseen war. As the Earth’s original inhabitants, the Eventide have grown weary of the human race destroying the planet. The bad guys, known as the Habitites, want to wipe out humans, but the good Eventide stand in their way. Children can now connect with their own personal Eventide, learn their ways, and over the course of an involved narrative, can connect with their society through gameplay, and help them in the ongoing war.
FENG SHUI MASTER
Many Monkeys Development
Touchable electronic computer game
Producer/Director Matt Ditton
Art Director Kevin McGrath
Synopsis In the flow of life, only a true master can control the balance of energy. In Feng Shui Master you keep the forces of life in balance. As the groundskeeper you maintain the harmony of your village as you learn to master the mischievous elements around you. Feng Shui Master is a deceptively sophisticated game that marries thoughtful narrative with unique gameplay.
THE FLOODS FAMILY FILES
Essential Media and Entertainment
App for touch screen devices
Producers Carmel Travers, Sean Bell
Writers David Witt, Colin Thompson
Director Steve Trenbirth
Art Director Deane Taylor
Creative Director Damian Stocks
Synopsis Based on a series of brilliant, rude, funny and scary novels by author Colin Thompson, The Floods Family Files is an app that will combine storytelling, animation, music and interaction for the delight of audiences on a global platform. An animated family feature film is also being developed.
GRANVILLE STATION
Elevator Entertainment
Interactive documentary
Producer Kylee Ingram
Director Sally Aitkin
Synopsis Through the eyes of two Australian filmmakers, this online experience will allow locals and outsiders alike to connect with the intersecting lives of the men, women and children who live, work and commute from Sydney’s Granville Station. Users take a virtual, or perhaps even real, ride on the train – meeting a diverse array of characters along the way and both learning and creating the story of Granville.
HARRY BUTTERFLY
Electric Yak
Motion comic
Producer/Director David Gurney
Writers Matt Costello, Victoria Madden
Synopsis An original ‘film noir’ story about a reluctant and dishevelled gumshoe that happens to have butterfly wings and a life span of just one day. Every day a new Harry emerges from a cocoon in his office to begrudgingly pick up the story. The darkly humorous narrative carries across six chapters and throws a femme fatale, a case and a whole bag of archetypal and murderous antagonists at Harry, all in the lead-up to the trial of a crime boss. Users will be able to help play detective and influence the outcome of the story.
THE MYSTERIOUS LIFE OF MARTHA GRIMSTONE
Two Bulls and The Grimstones
App for touch screen devices
Producer Roe Ritchie
Writer/Experience Designer Asphyxia
Director James Kane
Synopsis Based on The Grimstones, a series of books and live shows from author Asphyxia, The Mysterious Life of Martha Grimstone is a gothic fairytale about a girl who reads dreams, a baby boy with three legs, a mother who sews garments lined with warmth and joy, and a grandfather who heals people with his magic concoctions.
RINGBALIN
Goodmorningbeautiful Films
Interactive documentary
Writer/Director/Producer Ben Pederick
Producer/Writer Jocelyn Pederick
Producer Julia de Roeper
Web & App Developer Katalyst
Synopsis Each year a group of Indigenous people from several different nations come together for a ceremony (‘Ringbalin’) in the form of a pilgrimage down the Murray River from Queensland to the Coorong. The purpose was to strengthen Indigenous culture and raise awareness of the environmental stress on the river system. Ringbalin will turn this ceremony, filled with Indigenous stories, song and dance, into an interactive documentary that gives users the experience of a virtual journey in the company of the pilgrims.
