QUT Alumni, 31 August, 2022
Having worked as freelance content creators for a few years, QUT alumni Genevieve Larin and Tony Walsh decided that the next natural step in their professional development was to form their own company.
They wanted to create a brand that stood for bold creative, cathartic storytelling and disruptive production practices and create a company that embraced technological change and told stories that resonated with people - and thus, Stranger Films was born.
What's been your favourite video to produce and why?
In the commercial space, the projects where we are approached directly by a client because of work they’ve seen of ours, where they have a problem but don’t yet have a solution, where we’re given creative freedom (and the budget) to experiment and create something distinct and inspired.
Tony: One of my favourite projects was Castle, a promotional piece for an artist in the NFT/crypto space, where he approached us and said, “make me something cool”.
I replied, “Are you familiar with the phrase ‘tech-noir’?” So we really threw ourselves into that one.
Genevieve: One of my favourite projects was creating a recruitment video for Carers Queensland. Our brief was to create a video that would demonstrate what Carers Queensland does and to attract the right people for the role of Local Area Coordinator. We followed participants in their everyday lives to create an authentic visual narrative that would resonate with audiences.
The final product has been nominated for awards, and the Carers Queensland CEO’s feedback was, “this just made my rough and tumble, ex-tradie husband cry!”
It was an absolute pleasure to work with real participants and to tell their stories.
Lastly, we can’t go past the BMW Group and QUT’s Design Academy’s video. It’s not every day you get to hang out with your friends and point industrial-grade lasers at a BMW M8.
What skills are essential to your work?
There are a lot of skills that are essential to working in film production. You never know what you’ll be filming next. It’s important to be able to creatively problem solve and adapt to changing situations and requirements. Film is also an expensive and complex medium with a lot of moving parts that impact the final product, so being able to work collaboratively and think strategically about the resources available to you is key.
What's one piece of advice that you would give to aspiring filmmakers or creative business owners?
To filmmakers: You’re going to spend a long time making what you think is garbage – and that’s ok. Because your tastes of what’s good and your expectations are probably way up here (gestures dramatically high). Still, by comparison, your ability and technical skill start way down here (motions low).
Filmmaking takes ages and is very difficult, so your tastes and expectations will always outpace your ability for a long time. But don’t be disheartened, because eventually you’ll make something and watch it and say, “wow, that’s not entirely terrible”. Parts of it will be terrible or mediocre, but other aspects will probably be good. And once you do that, you realise it’s just a ratio that gradually gets a little better every time, and then it’s just a matter of consistency and patience.
What is one innovation in your industry or elsewhere that you think will be the 'next big thing'?
We’re in a time when innovation is outpacing the market’s capacity to keep up. As a result, many incredible tech companies are coming out with filmmaking technology augmenting our crew’s practical skills. Things like LiDAR-assisted focus, AI footage collation and media generation, and drones with autopilot programs help us tell stories in more exciting and dynamic ways.
But if I were to consider the most tangible and impactful, it would likely be Virtual Production. Studios now utilise huge seamless LED screens connected to computer systems running Unreal Engine or another instead of a traditional green or blue screen virtual environment generator. They can even tether the ‘in-game’ camera in the virtual space to your cinema camera in the real world to accurately replicate and shift the perspective on those screens. This means we can have photorealistic rendered backgrounds applied in-camera, in real-time, that the actors can see, which also helps light the scene.
These screens are primarily used for high-end, high-concept productions, particularly in science fiction and fantasy, but as the cost comes down, we’ll see these used across all genres and levels of filmmaking. I think it is terrific that QUT has invested in this technology and is using this as part of research and creative projects. For example, you can see it demonstrated in the first part of the QUT BFA: Animation video we created.
How did your QUT degree equip you for your career?
What separated QUT from other degrees was its grounding in a practical, industry-focused approach that understood that filmmaking is both an art and a business. As a result, while our creative sides were constantly being challenged, QUT promoted a continuous focus on skills that would allow you to survive in the industry as a practitioner.
It not only gave us practical knowledge in screen production but also how to package and sell those skills – development, pitching, collaboration, project management and ensuring that we 'met the brief' was baked into the course for every major creative project.
The focus on entrepreneurialism and connections to industry gave us the confidence to say "we can do this ourselves" and walk our own path as freelancers, eventually leading to us starting our agency rather than joining someone else's.
Stranger Films work with QUT students. Why was maintaining this connection important to you?
Stranger Films has strong ties to QUT, both as a client and as a place of learning and teaching. I (Tony) was a tutor there for two years, and we are often invited back to talk about the industry with the students.
We think it’s important to foster a culture of mentorship in the screen industry, as it can often be quite a closed space without clear pathways of progression. We also think it’s important to share knowledge to help the local industry to grow.
What's the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Don’t make a fallback plan for your career. That way, you’ll have no choice but to succeed.
Stranger Films is a proud event supporter of the QUT Business Leaders’ Forum.