About

Technologist, filmmaker, author, scholar, industry commentator, artist and educator. Mike Jones’ interest and expertise in cinematic media spans an enormous diversity of arenas, from Technical Production to Cinema Theory, from Writing to Education. What this broad palette brings to his work is a holistic perspective that informs theory from practice and teaching from making.

Production
Mike’s media production knowledge and experience covers the breadth of forms and roles; camera, sound and direction through all areas of post-production and editing. His production work has taken in film, video, motion graphics, 3D and animation, broadcast, video art projects, live-events and interactive forms, streaming and online media, both fiction and documentary spheres, along with photography, radio and music.

Writing
With more than 250 published articles, essays and reviews in print Mike has been prolific in exploring a host of topics, issues and ideas related to media production in the digital age. He is senior writer for AusCam magazine and feature columnist for Digital Media Net on-line. Over the past 10 years he has written for a host of professional and consumer magazine titles on technology, video production and photography including T3, PixelMag, IF, Videocamera and DigitalCameraEssentials as well as monthly feature columns for the journals Metro and Australian ScreenEd. Between shorter articles Mike has penned 3 books including ‘Viewfinder: an introduction to movies and visual media in the digital age’ and ‘Digital Grassroots: a practical guide to digital video’.

Away from cinema and technology Mike has written a number of published works of short fiction and poetry as well as essays covering topics as diverse as philosophy, politics and sociology. Mike is a produced and award winning playwright and former editor for the Australian National Playwright’s Centre.

Technology
Mike’s work, in both practice and theoretical spheres, revolves around a central hub of the relationship between technology and media aesthetics. As a journalist and filmmaker he has used, reviewed and abused virtually every digital creation software tool on the market and, from a deep base of technical knowledge, written extensively about the conceptual and philosophical relationship between creative process and creative applications. Much of these writings and explorations can be read here on his professional DMN blog digitalbasin.net

Mike has been involved in the development, beta testing, consultancy and practical implementation of a range digital software tools including both in-house custom applications and commercial products. Most recently this has focused on contributing to the open-source Celtx screenwriting and production management system.

Theory and Research
Fueled by a comprehensive knowledge of technical processes involved in the production of moving image media, Mike has in recent years focused on developing a spectrum of theoretical frameworks to analyze and understand the aesthetic changes cinema is going through in the 21st century. This work has engaged with topics such as the impact of surround sound, video gaming, motion graphics, digital colour-grading, 3D animation, machinima, compositing and the virtual camera on how we see and perceive the cinema. Mike’s research articles on these topics have been published in a number of journals and resources including Animation, Metro and BraintrustDV. Long a devotee of ‘Show DONT Tell’, Mike has also created the on-line video channel ThinkingCinemaic.blip.tv to present short hybrid videos engaging new cinematic ideas. This includes the popular GameProbe series that explores cinema aesthetics in contemporary computer and video games

Mike holds an under-graduate degree in Creative Arts from the University of Wollongong, a Masters degree in New Media from the University of NSW, and currently he is deep in the trenches of PhD research study, also at the University of NSW, exploring new paradigms of cinematic space and visual aesthetics.

Lectures and Presentations
This diversity of work in production, writing, education and theory leads Mike to make regular appearances at conferences and seminars to present publicly on a range of contemporary topics. In recent years Mike has been invited to lecture and speak at conferences in the UK, US and Europe including the Virtuality conference in Turin, the Cinema and Technology conference in the UK and the Los Angeles Screenwriters conference. More locally Mike has presented on topics as diverse as gaming, cinema space and pre-production process at institutions such as the Australian Film TV and Radio School, the University of Technology, Sydney, the University of NSW and Queensland University of Technology. A significant number of these talks and lectures can be downloaded as podcasts from this site.

Teaching and Education
From a base of producing and writing about cinema and media, Mike’s key focus is on education and the teaching of cinematic and digital media processes, craft and literacy. Mike has taught a wide variety of courses and subjects, both practical and theoretical, at institutions and schools such as the University of NSW, AFTRS and the International Film School, Sydney. Mike was formely the manager of the Vectorlab digital media studios at Australia’s largest museum, the Powerhouse. Here he designed and implemented a vast array of courses and training programs on all facets of digital production. Whilst in this role at the Powerhouse Mike was also involved in developing and contributing to major museum exhibitions on the history of popular music and television and was the co-ordinator of the highly successful Screenspeak seminar series on media studies presented in association with the NSW English teachers Association.

Mike has been involved in the development of key education resources related to cinema and digital media including Wireless to Web - winner of the 2005 ATOM award for best education website - and Soundbyte.org - which won the 2003 national Eureka Science Prize for Outstanding Communications Technology and a NSW State Premier's Award for online production in 2004. In 2007 Mike was presented with the Professional Teachers Council of NSW Outstanding Service Award.

Currently
Mike is now serving as Head of Technological Arts at the International Film School, Sydney where he is endevouring to teach and design new curriculum to inspire and engage student filmmakers and media artists focused on everything future cinema can be.

On-line Presence
www.digitalbasin.net
thinkingcinematic.blip.tv
www.ifssproduction.net

On-line Articles
Keeping the old school happy: Innovation and market share
Do it yourself colour grading
So what is the Editors job?
www.viewmagazine.tv/global
Going one better: RED editing and what Vegas 9 has under the hood
Cross-Platform Production - Mac, Bootcamp, Cineform
DI-4k - Going one better with Intermediate workflow part 1
DI-4k - Going one better with Intermediate workflow part 2
Solid state done right? Sony EX1 part 1
Solid state done right? Sony EX1 part 2
Re-Thinking the Browser: Review of Flock
Going Tapeless
Cinematic Metadata
Machinima and the filmmaker’s virtual immersion
Celtx Pre-Production software part 1
Celtx Pre-Production software part 2
Your TV is lying to you
The Myth of Intuitive Software
Holistic Thinking - Integrated Making
Screenwriting Self-Help
DNG, Lightroom and getting in the RAW
Poetry in Motion
Creation, Re-Creation and Education
Xena and SDI Uncompressed
Letting the digital pony have its head
Getting intimate with Cineform intermediate part 1
Getting intimate with Cineform intermediate part 2
Under the hood of Vegas
Value service over software
A Beginners guide to HD
Mechanical I: Camera Technology and Our Visual Language
Zero budget adventure in HDV
Integrated delivery - DivX and Stage6
Small screen epic: video for the PSP
Museum as Media
From Game Player to Game Maker without a line of code