Press Kit

In a world filled with beautiful music, Vernon always seems to strike the wrong note.

Imagine a world where a band of tiny musicians follow you and play a soundtrack for your life – communicating your emotions, fears and hopes. In this world lives elderly Vernon; a lonely man whose crippling shyness causes his orchestral musicians to perform terribly out of tune.

When Vernon and his little band fall for their new next door neighbour and her classical ensemble, they find themselves presented with perhaps their last chance at happiness - a chance to strike a chord and play in harmony. But first they must confront their stage fright.

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Born sometime in the latter half of the 20th century, Mikey Hill emerged from suburban anonymity to triumphantly pen the cover for his primary school annual publication.

Despite occasionally looking sideways, he's never looked back.

Several indelible incidents later, Hill passed an animation course and threw himself into the world of independent animation filmmaking.

The Orchestra is Mikey’s third hand animated short film - each more elaborately time-consuming than the last. His two previous films, Norbert (2007) and The Not-So-Great Eugene Green (2009), have screened at festivals near and far, and have garnered several shiny awards.

Melanie is a multi-award winning producer with an Honours degree in Screen Studies from Flinders University inAdelaide, and a Graduate Diploma in Narrative Filmmaking from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.

Her short live action, documentary and animation films, including Dugong, Lessons From The Night, The Not-So-Great Eugene Green, Fatso and Polo’s Robot have won numerous awards and have screened at highly regarded international festivals like Sundance, Aspen Shortsfest, Karlovy Vary, Silverdocs, Los Angeles, Stuttgart and Edinburgh International Film Festivals.

None of this pays the bills, so she has a day job as a line producer and post production supervisor on Australian television programs.

Jamie is a multi-instrumentalist and award winning composer. He has composed music for Australia’s leading orchestras, collaborated with many of the country’s most successful artists as well as written soundtracks to a number of award winning short film and TV projects.

Jamie achieved First Class Honours in Composition at Adelaide University. His flair for orchestral composition and his unique skills as an arranger soon saw him working with leading Australian orchestras and collaborating with artists such as the Hilltop Hoods and The Whitlams.

The Orchestra is Messenger’s second Screen Australia funded animation working with director Mikey Hill and producer Melanie Brunt.

Hailing from Melbourne, Jennifer is a New York-based screenwriter and copywriter. She graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Creative Writing from La Trobe University.

Jennifer worked as a script adviser on The Not-So-Great Eugene Green, co-wrote The Orchestra with Mikey Hill, and can lay claim to thinking up all the bits that make you feel emotions.

She is currently writing a short dark comedic script named Wagyu, and is also developing a futuristic thriller feature script.

Directed by
Mikey Hill

Written by
Mikey Hill
Jennifer Smith

Edited by
Mikey Hill

Produced by
Melanie Brunt

Lead Animators
Andrew Bowler
Mikey Hill
Peter Lowey

Lead Background Artist
Jason Pamment

Original Music Composed by
Jamie Messenger

Sound Design by
Markus Kellow

Animators
Jayden Dowler
Maik Hempel
Mark Ingram
Darcy Woodbridge

Animation Assistants
Jin Chong
Laura Eldar
Matthew Koh
Vanessa Law
Brigette Liberto
Brendan Lyall
Sophie McPike
James Neilson
Aggelos Papantoniou
Namira Primandari
Andy Saw

Effects Animators
Laura Eldar
Rachel Tan

Background Character Animators
Yen Ang
Andrew Brown
Yan Cao
Jin Chong
Ned Curwood-Hyde
Christina Driver
Seb Fowler
Mike Greaney
Jessica Harris
Dan Kerr
Matthew Koh
Nick Kuan
Alice Lai
Vanessa Law
Brigette Liberto
Hung Lin
Lindy Lou
Kate Luckhurst
Christopher Marks
Alexandra McCloud
Johnny McPherson
Sophie McPike
James Neilson
Jackie Nguyen
Anna Nicholson
Ben Ommundson
Aggelos Papantoniou
Nishanth Sanjay
Nick Simpson
Sarah Talbot
Shannon Talbot
Rachel Toh
Leon Truong
Juven Ven

Inbetween & Cleanup Artists
Zac Dyson
Laura Eldar
Anthony Ferraro
Sam Huf
Emsen Jhone
Dan Kerr
Georgia Kriss
Alice Lai
Vanessa Law
Brigette Liberto
Kate Luckhurst
Brendan Lyall
Nikhil Markale
James Neilson
Vivienne Ng
Jackie Nguyen
Anna Nicholson
Krys Pham
Andy Saw
Kelly Thornton
Leon Truong
Juven Ven
Vito Vivodka

Colourists
Yan Cao
Sean Carter
Bonita Colles
Ned Curwood-Hyde
Christina Driver
Laura Eldar
Nadia Elhelou
Anthony Ferraro
Patricia Garcia
Sophie Hayes
Max Hiscock
Sam Huf
Emsen Jhone
Devon Kong
Hung Lin
Christopher Marks
Johnny McPherson
Anna Nicholson
Sarah Talbot
Shannon Talbot
Kelly Thornton
Ian Travis
Vivien Tsang
Michael Welst
Joyce Wong
Mofei Yang

Assistant Background Artist
Jarrod Prince

3D Background Modelling
Andrew Bowler
Joe Toole

3D Prop Modelling
Andrew Bowler
Edison Lau
Tommy Lee
Andy Saw
Sumanjit Singh
Vito Vivodka

Lead 3D Animator
Brendan Lyall

3D Animation Assistants
Ned Curwood-Hyde
Emsen Johne
Tommy Lee
Angela Pinilla
Alastair Richardson

Lead Compositors
Jamie Clennett
Juan Chacon Olier
Mikey Hill
Sumanjit Singh

Compositing Assistants
Hung Lin
James Neilson
Sam Huf
Anna Nicholson
Chloe Pierce
Aggelos Papantoniou
Andrew Czausov

Vernon’s Musicians
Trumpet Kelly O’Donohue
French Horn Toby Frost
Trombone Jayden Scarlett
Tuba Adam V Richards
Percussion Ben Burt & Jamie Messenger

Doreen’s Musicians
Clarinet Peter Taylor
Flute Sam Hennesy
Harp Carolyn Burgess
Violin Belinda Gehlert
Cello Brihony Tailor

Outside World Musicians
Tenor Saxophone Damon Stone
Percussion Ben Burt
Bagpipes John Houghton
All Other Instruments Jamie Messenger
Male Vocals Jamie Messenger & Damon Stone
Soprano Kirilie Blythman

Sound Re-Recording Mix by
Doron Kipen

Audio Post Facility
Music and Effects

Facility Liaison
Julianne Deeb

Pre-mix & Foley
Markus Kellow

Additional Foley
William Gardner

Vocal Acting
Kate Cawley
Mikey Hill
John Power
Markus Kellow
Tim Kellow

Title Design
Chris Edser
Jonathan Reyes

Mastering
DDP Studios

Accountants
Anthony Nagle & Co

Insurance
Midland Insurance Brokers

Legals
Shaun Miller

Special Thanks
RMIT AIM Studio
Jeremy Parker, John Power, Kate Cawley
Screen Australia
Mike Cowap, Christopher Sharp, Nerida Moore, Nicole Dade
The Hill Family
Lindsay Cox, Scott Dixon, Maya Toone, Toby Welch, Robin Welch
Ben Grogan, Ripley Grogan, Fletcher Grogan
Natasha Bates, Madeline Lambert, Shelimar Karajan

Developed and Financed with the Assistance of
Screen Australia

© 2015 Screen Australia & Feather Films Pty Ltd

Melanie Brunt | Feather Films Pty Ltd
Email | melanie@featherfilms.com.au
Telephone | +61438680068
Website | featherfilms.com.au