Short Films
A threatened species in Australia due to human disturbances and loss of habitat (1’15”)
A tiny film giving dumped furniture a second life. 2D animation over live action backgrounds from streets in my suburb.(1’30”)
A fish sings about the ‘joy’ of garbage in the ocean. An animated cut out style to a retro ‘follow the bouncing ball’ sing-a-long. (4′)
A film about battling sleeplessness and an easily disturbed overactive mind at night, expressed through sand animation.
A satirical look at the empty promises of overdevelopment in the city and suburbs. Screened In Competition at Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival.(5′)
Two people give their accounts to the police about their attraction to gambling and chance and their recent encounters. Stop Motion animation. Post Production investment from the Australian Film Commission. AFI Award Nomination for Best Animation 2004. (11’30”)
A red-backed spider is kicked out of home and tormented by the human world- then sets out on a course of revenge. Production funded through the Australian Film Commission. Won Dendy Award, Sydney Film Festival for Best Animation. (7’30”)
My student film made at Swinburne School of Film and Television in 1988, (before the film school relocated to Victorian College of the Arts) . Won AFI award for Best Animation in 1989, Dendy Award at Sydney Film Festival for Best Animation and Longford Award at the St Kilda Film Festival in 1989. (7′)
Collaborations and Contributions
Animation for Steven Tran’s Exhibition ‘Bolder’ at Footscray Community Arts Centre (2022)–
Click on the arrow to play.
Steven is an artist in residence participating in the ArtLife programme for artists with disability. I animated seven of his drawings. The example above is called ‘Spiral’. These were incorporated into an augmented reality experience at the gallery. CLICK on the arrow to play.
Animation for Owen McCaffrey’s Book for the State Emergency Service (SES)
Click on the arrow to play.
Owen is an artist with ASD (autism spectrum disorder). He is a prolific drawer of all his favourite popular animation characters drawn in his own style. In this example, he made a book for the SES after he joined as a volunteer. I have assisted him with a collection of other animations and two self-published books. You can find his books here: https://au.blurb.com/b/11102726
These are two very simple segments to assist illustrating two important indigenous totem stories for John Wayne Parsons, an amazing singer and storyteller with family from Moa Island in the Torres Strait and Queensland. The story of Maroon refers to the creation of Mt Maroon and the sand lizard Yuggara. The story of Gelam refers to a story about a mum and her son hunting in Moa and eventually the creation of Mer (Murray Island). These animations do not have sound as they were projected behind a live performance.
Animated promotion for the VCA School of Film and Television’s 50th Anniversary. Each staff member created their own contribution. In this one I collaborated with Paul Fletcher who made the audio.
Contribution to student and staff project co-ordinated by Paul Fletcher at VCA Film and Television for Melbourne Zoo. This segment is about loss of habitat for the endangered
Contribution to a collaborative animation with Paul Fletcher and Tom Fraser for composer Katy Abbott
Animation and live-action contribution response to Richard Frankland’s song
CHALK ON SLATE PLAY
Music Video,’Chalk on Slate’ for Melbourne band Tarmac Adam
A collaboration led by Andy Hook (2D) with Matt Mc Cullough compositing and vfx. Part of a series called 4-Minute Wonders sponsored by Film Victoria and ABC.
Going Way Back
The work below includes my student film from Swinburne School of Film and Television in 1988 and other project work that I created at Oddball Animation, a primarily stop motion animation studio making tv commercials. Anthony Lucas and Paul Gehrig were my very talented partners.
Robert Stephenson 