About

Sometime soon, the ever-exploding possibilities of games technologies and game-play will reduce the linear video of traditional documentary storytelling to the same role as the film trailer – i.e., a small advertisement for the main event.

Serious Games (virtual worlds, immersive environments) will completely re-configure the landscapes of factual content with a richness, complexity, and depth not possible with linear video. The ways in which information and factual content of all kinds are communicated, acquired, and shared is about to be transformed.

XMediaLab "Serious Games" at the Sydney Film Festival is a partnership with the ABC TV and Screen Australia initiative linking documentary filmmakers and games developers  to produce new modes of factual productions: don’t make a documentary, make a game!

XMediaLab "Serious Games" Keynote Conference Day:

Hear from the world’s leading “Serious Games” and “Documentary” experts:
 

• Noah Falstein - President, The Inspiracy (San Francisco)
• Ondi Timoner - Director of Multiple Internationally Award Winning Documentaries DIG! and WE LIVE IN PUBLIC Director/Producer, Interloper Films (Los Angeles)
• Ian Bogost - Founding Partner, Persuasive Games; Associate Professor at Georgia Tech (Atlanta)
• Lee Sheldon - Video Game Writer & Designer; Professor at Indiana University (Indianapolis)
• Michel Mol - Director of Innovation and New Media, Netherlands Public Broadcasting (Amsterdam)
• Joshua Harris - Internet Pioneer, Artist (Los Angeles, Sidamo)
• Courtney Gibson - Executive Head of Content Creation, ABC TV (Sydney)
• Dr. Yusuf Pisan - Assoc. Professor and Director of Games Studio, University of Technology (Sydney)
• Mandy Salomon - Senior Researcher, Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre (Melbourne)
• Stephen Sewell - Multi-award winning Writer (The Boys, The Blind Giant is Dancing); Director (Sydney)
• David Hewitt - Creative Director, Tantalus Interactive (Melbourne)
• Alana Valentine - Multi-award winning Writer (Parramatta Girls, Run Rabbit Run) (Sydney)
• Keren Flavell - Co-Founder, Treet TV (Melbourne)
• David S Vadiveloo - Director, Writer, Producer, Community Prophets (Melbourne)
• Morgan Jaffit - Head, The Impossible Changing Brain Foundation (Brisbane)
• Cath Godfrey - General Manager, Higher Education and Media Divisions McGraw-Hill Australia/New Zealand (Sydney)
• Robert J. Spencer - Founder, Interzone (Perth)

The Keynote Conference Day will showcase the perspectives of each of the International Mentors and invited Australian industry experts and academic researchers.

The Keynote Conference Day is available for General Admission.

Who Should Attend?

If you are a digital media professional, documentary maker, games developer, interaction designer, screenwriter, researcher, academic, or educational professional of any kind, this is the one day you need to attend!

No time-wasting boring discussions, just densely-packed, information rich, clear and helpful, set piece keynotes from serious games and documentary luminaries!!

Update Yourself in A Day!
 

The Mentors

XMediaLab has access to a superb roster of the some of the world’s leading digital media practitioners, innovators, and power-brokers. International Mentors and Speakers at XMediaLab Sydney "Serious Games" include:

Noah Falstein

President, The Inspiracy (San Francisco)
 
Noah Falstein is one the gaming world’s pre-eminent authorities.

Ondi Timoner

Twice Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary (Los Angeles)

 
Ondi Timoner is an American film director, producer and editor. She is the only director to win a Sundance grand jury award twice in the prestigious festival's history for her two documentaries DIG! and We Live in Public.

Lee Sheldon

Games Designer, Author, Professor at Indianna University (Indianna)
 
Lee Sheldon has written and designed over 20 video games including a successful recent series based on Agatha Christie novels. Other titles include the award-winning The Riddle of Master Lu, Dark Side of the Moon, and Wild Wild West: The Steel Assassin, and the early ARG (Alternate Reality Game), The Light Files.

Ian Bogost

Founding Partner, Persuasive Games; Associate Professor at Georgia Tech (Atlanta)

Dr. Ian Bogost is a videogame designer, critic, and researcher. He is Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC, and a Board Member at Open Texture.

Joshua Harris

Internet Pioneer, Artist (Los Angeles, Sidamo)

Joshua M. Harris is an Internet Pioneer, Entrepreneur and Professional Artist.

In 1986 Joshua founded the world’s first Internet market research company, Jupiter Communications.  Jupiter Communications went public in 1988 and was subsequently merged and sold.

Michel Mol

Director of Innovation and New Media, Netherlands Public Broadcasting (NPB) (Amsterdam)

Michel is responsible for the leading innovation of the broadcasters, including “future proofings”, its TV, radio and digital activities.

Dr Yusuf Pisan

Assoc. Professor and Director of Games Studio, University of Technology (Sydney)
 
Dr Yusuf Pisan received his PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Northwestern University, USA.

Mandy Salomon

Senior Researcher, Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre (Melbourne)

Based at Swinburne University of Technology, Mandy is a senior researcher for the Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre.

Stephen Sewell

Multi-award winning Writer (The Boys, The Blind Giant is Dancing); Director (Sydney)

Well-known for his film and theatre work, including his AFI Award winning script of The Boys as well as plays such as The Blind Giant is Dancing, The Secret Death of Salvador Dali (Best Show of the Adelaide Fringe, 2001) and  Myth Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America – A Drama in 30 Scenes (Playbox Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia, June-July 2003; The Orange Tree Theatre, London 2004), Sewell is one of the most awarded and experienced writers in Australia.

David Hewitt

Creative Director, Tantalus Interactive (Melbourne)

David Hewitt is Creative Director at Tantalus Interactive, one of the world’s leading independent videogame development studios.

Alana Valentine

Multi-award winning Writer (Parramatta Girls, Run Rabbit Run) (Sydney)

Alana Valentine's writing has been nominated for a NSW Premier's Literary Award and a prestigious three Helpmann Awards, including best New Australian Work and Best Play, for Parramatta Girls.

Keren Flavell

Co-founder and Executive Producer, Treet.TV (Melbourne)

Keren Flavell is an award-winning interactive digital media producer with 14 years experience in producing content online, with a focus on entertainment and music.

David S Vadiveloo

Director, Writer, Producer, Community Prophets (Melbourne)

David Vadiveloo is a recipient of multiple awards for his works in documentary, drama, interactive media and as a human rights lawyer.

Morgan Jaffit

Head, The Impossible Changing Brain Foundation (Brisbane)

Morgan Jaffit is the head of The Impossible Changing Brain Foundation,an independent game developer focused on creating innovative titles for niche audiences. He has been designing games all his life.

Cath Godfrey

General Manager, Higher Education and Media Divisions, McGraw-Hill Australia/New Zealand (Sydney)
 
Cath Godfrey, General Manager of the Higher Education and Medical Divisions at McGraw-Hill Australia and New Zealand, has been in higher educational and professional publishing for 16 years.

Courtney Gibson

Executive Head of Content Creation, ABC TV (Sydney)
 
Since 2007 Courtney Gibson has been Executive Head of Content Creation at ABC TV, the broadcast and online partner in Australia's first Serious Games Production Initiative.

Robert J. Spencer

Founder, Interzone (Perth)
 
Founder of several Australian game studios, Robert J. Spencer (aka Rj) is a game industry veteran with a wide range of strategic, sales and business development experience.

The Lab

XMediaLab is proud to be partnering with ABC TV and Screen Australia in the Serious Games Production Initiative!

ABC TV is seeking ideas for games that address issues that may be in the field of society and culture, health, relationships, history, science, politics, or the environment.

The game will explore this idea/topic in an imaginative, creative, entertaining and innovative way, with a strong game dynamic and solid underlying educative aspect.

Three teams will be selected to attend XMediaLab "Serious Games" as part of the Sydney Film Festival June 12-14th.

The event will feature some of the world's outstanding Serious Games professionals as keynote speakers and who will mentor the selected teams.

The three finalist teams will each receive $15,000 for developing their idea, and the winning team will receive $325,000 for full development.

About The Lab

XMediaLab is a uniquely exciting creative event for digital media professionals.

XMediaLab consists of a one-day Keynote Conference that showcases all the Mentors as Speakers. The Lab itself is an intensive two-day creative ideas and business matching environment for the selected participants who get to work directly on their own project ideas with a range of the world's best digital media experts, and build business opportunities with other Lab participants.

The XMediaLab experience increases the chances of getting your project idea to market and achieving commercial success. You also enter into an impeccable international network of digital media stars with their superb expertise and high-value international contacts.

The environment of the Lab allows participating companies and teams to schedule their own unique Lab experience by selecting for themselves which Mentors they choose to spend their one-on-one time with.

It's a form of elite personal consultation with a range of the world's outstanding digital media people about your own project ideas. And you make friends with the international stars.

Previous project teams have ranged from independent start-ups which have gone on to win awards at MIPCOM in Cannes, UNESCO in New York, AIMIA in Australia; to Lonely Planet; ABC’s Rage and The Chaser; Disney Internet Group from Tokyo; Zuji.com; India’s biggest games and animation company; and world leading Virtual Worlds platform.  Project teams have come from the UK, Hong Kong, China, Australia, Japan, Germany, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and New Zealand.

The "X" in X|Media|Lab stands for: Cross Platform, Cross Disciplinary, and Cross Cultural.

Previous Lab participants have been laudatory in their praise for this unique experience. Typical comments include:
 

Getting There

Keynote Conference Day: The Ivy Room, 320-330 George Street, Sydney

The Lab: Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

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