A Brief History
| Year | Event | Duration |
| 2003 | September 19th, DMFilms is founded. Logo is created. | |
| 2004 | The short film The Dead of Night is completed. Although mostly filmed in one night during 2000, it wasn't edited until 2004. Despite the $50 budget, using copyrighted music and having minimal production values, it is still the first film to be released under the DMFilms banner. | 13 minutes |
| 2004 | The short film Jedi Heritage is filmed which is promoted as a "drama set in the Star Wars universe" to highlight its dramatic, less action orientated, storyline. | |
2005 |
Darren is interviewed on Channel 31's Short Film Show about his experience directing Jedi Heritage. | |
| 2005 | Jedi Heritage is completed. It is submitted for online hosting to theforce.net but is rejected, it eventually gets an online release through the milneyfilms website. | 28 minutes |
| 2005 | 1st corporate video for Toyota Australia is filmed and completed IT Systems - The Toyota Way. This is the first of a number of corporate videos that Darren would be asked to make for Toyota. | 11 minutes |
| 2005 | The short film ALONE is
filmed and completed. It is submitted to MUFF but is
rejected without even being watched and does not become a
finalist in the 4th Angry Film Festival. Feeling
despondent from these rejections, Darren turns his back
on film festivals and opts not to enter them in future
unless there is a viable reason to do so. ALONE is Darren's first fully independent film production featuring all original material. |
11.5 minutes |
| 2005 | www.dmfilms.net is launched. | |
2005 |
Darren is approached by the director of the Australian Centre of Performing Arts to teach a non certified course on Film Directing. The course is unable to proceed as the minimum number of registrants is short by three people. | |
| 2006 | 2nd corporate video for Toyota filmed and completed tJunction Showroom Direct. | 5 minutes |
| 2006 | The short film The Psychology of Killing is filmed. | |
| 2006 | 3rd corporate video for Toyota filmed and completed The Boardroom of the Future. | 4.5 minutes |
| 2006 | 4th corporate video for Toyota filmed and completed Showroom Direct Training v1.0. | 50 minutes |
| 2006 | August 31st, DMFilms is registered as an official business and receives its ABN number. | |
| 2006 | Darren is interviewed by a 3rd year RMIT film student regarding film directing. | |
| 2006 | 1st wedding video filmed and edited. This is for Dean and Julie Edwards. | 1 hour + 4 minute music video |
| 2006 | The Tropfest film Continuity is filmed and completed. It is submitted into the competition with the view that it could do well based on its original concept rather than on production values or budget, but it does not make the short list. | 6 minutes |
| 2007 | Darren is interviewed by a Deakin University film student regarding film directing. | |
| 2007 | The short film The Psychology of Killing is completed after 15 months of post production (one month for every minute of screen time). It is submitted to the Electric Shorts film festival - which is run by a film making friend of Darren's - but is rejected. This leads Darren to promote himself as "the film maker every festival rejects". | 15 minutes |
| 2007 | The short film Reality Check is filmed. | |
| 2007 | Darren conducts a two day training session called "An Introduction to Creating Corporate and Product Videos" for Viaarena. Viaarena mention to Darren that they wish to fly him to Thailand to teach their worldwide affiliates how to create their own videos but Darren declines the offer - though is very flattered by it. | |
| 2007 | A TVC for Kissphotos glamour studio is filmed and edited by Darren - 6 versions of the commercial are created of which the final choice was screened on the Arena Channel. | 30 seconds each |
| 2008 | The short film Reality Check is completed. | 14 minutes |
| 2008 | Darren edits the showreel for actress Sarah Breen which is then presented to a talent agent as a referral for further showreel editing work. | |
| 2008 | 2nd wedding video filmed and edited. This is for Axel and Robyne Conrad. | 53 minutes |
| 2008 | Darren creates his film making showreel and releases it on YouTube with the link to the DMFilms website. It receives 2,200 views within the first month and gets a five star rating. | 7 minutes |
| 2008 | Continuity and Reality Check are released on YouTube under the DMFilmsOnline label and both receive five star ratings. | |
| 2008 | Darren edits 3 x lawn bowls educational videos called How to be a Skip for the secretary of the Ashburton Bowls Club. | Various |
2009 |
Darren's unofficial "second"
short film Skyforce: The Movie is re
edited and officially finished. Originally commencing
production in 2000 less than a month after The Dead of
Night, it was edited in haste in 2001 for a local film
festival but never released. The film is recut and re
mixed by Darren as per his original vision and DVD copies
are finally given to the cast and crew. Although technically a DMFilms production, it is not promoted as such as it was made before DMFilms was founded in 2003. |
21 minutes |
| 2009 | The short film Flair: The Psychology of Killing Revisited is filmed and completed and is entered into the 2010 St Kilda Film Festival but does not become a finallist. | 15.5 minutes |
| 2009 | The short film Oneself is filmed and completed within a single week. It is released on YouTube and receives a five star rating. | 5 minutes |
2009 |
The short film Oneself Two is filmed and completed. It is released on YouTube and receives a five star rating. | 7 minutes |
| 2010 | The short film Oneself Three is filmed and completed. It is released on YouTube and receives a five star rating. | 6 minutes |
2010 |
Darren commences pre production on Red, his last short film. The film is expected to take two years to complete and will be Darren's biggest and most expensive short film production. | |
2010 |
Darren edits the Victorian Railways Industry Centenary DVD, featuring a number of photos from the VRI's archives. | Various |
2011 |
The short film Red is filmed. | |
2012 |
The short film Red is completed and in the process brings Darren's short film making "career" to a close. This now paves the way for him to move into feature film arena. | 12.5 minutes |
2012 |
5th corporate video made for Toyota, a tribute piece for a retiring staff member which Darren edited. | 15 minutes |
2012 |
Darren publically announces his plan to make a feature film called The Psychology of Killing and sets a timeline of May 2017 to complete the production. He creates a teaser trailer which is released on You Tube along with a new website. | |
2012 |
6th corporate video made for Toyota, an introduction and tutorial on how to use the new Canon Uniflow printing (aka Follow Me Printing) solution | 4.5 minutes |
2013 |
7th corporate video made for Toyota, an instructional piece on how to use the new On Demand video conference solution | 3.5 minutes |
2013 |
Although
Darren had intended to make a feature film based on The
Psychology of Killing, the reality of how
difficult and expensive the task would be, combined with
the likelihood it would never receive any form of
distribution (based on scenarios from Darren's
professional film making peers), prompts Darren to
abandon the project. As the film was intended to be his
last ever production, this effectively brings the film
making side of DMFilms to a close. Darren, however,
continues to work on other productions when required. In the 10 years DMFilms was in operation, Darren made: 10 short films, 7 corporate videos, 2 wedding videos and 1 TV commercial, so it was a pretty good run. |
|
2015 |
Despite accepting the film wouldn't be made, Darren completes writing the feature film screenplay The Psychology of Killing as a personal project and for a sense of self achievement. | |
2016 |
Darren directs and edits his first ever music video. Like the Sun by local artist Kevin Walton is unique in that the target audience is for the hearing impaired. Moreover, the video is destined to be shown in the USA as the sign language used is for an American audience. | 3 minutes |
2016 |
Darren finally decides to release some of his more dramatic films online. Both The Psychology of Killing and Flair: The Psychology of Killing Revisited are uploaded to YouTube | |
2017 |
Darren commences work on numerous corporate videos for Toyota Australia. These productions include animated training videos, live action videos promoting new technology, workplace relations videos, and videos featuring interviews of senior management. | Various |
2018 |
Darren launches LCA Productions as his professional production company to replace DMFilms - mainly because many people couldn't pronounce the name properly, often saying "DMF Films". | |
2019 |
Under the guise of LCA Productions, Darren produces Sci-Fi Zone, an online talk show webseries which is filmed in an actual comic book store. Although not progressing beyond one season, 25 episodes are produced and released. | Various |
2020 |
After two years LCA Productions closes and DMFilms is re established as Darren's 'de facto' production company | |
2020 |
The special video The Rise of Skywalker - From a Certain Point of View is filmed and completed within 24 hours using the Oneself filming process. Although it is effectively a DMFilms production it isn't promoted as such | 14.5 minutes |
2020 |
The special video The Phantom Nerd Revealed is filmed and completed. With friends visiting Darren's house one night, it is made for a bit of fun and is shot in less than two hours and completed the following day. Although it is effectively a DMFilms production it isn't promoted as such | 3.5 minutes |
2020 |
The special video Cooking for Nerds is filmed and completed. Made purely as a bit of fun - even though an actual meal is cooked on screen - the video is promoted as a possible new DMFilms 'TV series' just to gauge the audiences reaction. In reality Darren considers the video to be a joke with no plans to take the show any further. | 6 minutes |
2021 |
The documentary film The Fan Film That Never Was was filmed and completed. This documents the history of the Star Wars fan film Disturbance in the Force which went into productiom in 2001 as a large, ambitious and ultimately never finished project which Darren was heavily involved with. | 32 minutes |
2023 |
The video series Sci-in 5 is produced and released. Created with the intention of featuring a number of really short YouTube videos on the Sci-Fi Zone channel, the videos require Darren to film himself for the intro and outro segments along with the recording of a voice over. Although technically a DMFilms production the series is promoted under the Sci-Fi Zone banner | 5 minutes |
2024 |
The special featurette video The Making of The Star Trek Retro Action Figures from Playmates is filmed and released. Produced in conjunction with the Star Trek Playmates Action Figure documentary, this video shows the step-by-step process Darren employed to make the documentary, | 12 minutes |