(feel free to say ‘about’ with a Canadian accent, sometimes Shilo does)
Shilo McClean is the author of the books: Digital Storytelling: the narrative power of visual effects in film (MIT Press, 2007) and So What’s This All About Then: a non-user’s guide for digital effects in film (AFTRS, 1998). She is the producer/director of the digital visual effects videos: How Long is a Piece of String and Adding Strings to your Bow.
In April 2008, she was the keynote speaker for the Norwegian Film Institute’s Digital Storytelling Conference, an international event based on her book and jury member for the Norwegian Best Visual Effects awards. In June 2008, she was the keynote speaker for Framework: create – an event and forum for games and convergent industries. Recent papers and lectures include: Children of the e•volution: the curator’s role in the user-led content revolution; Mapping the ‘Verse: three case studies identifying emerging models of user-generated content; and FutureYou: documentary in a YouTube world.
Shilo designs and conducts seminars, workshops, and lectures for industry and tertiary courses in filmmaking, digital visual effects and storycraft. She is a consultant to the New South Wales Film and Television Office’s (FTO) Digital Visual Effects Scheme, Vice Chair of ACM SIGGRAPH (Sydney Chapter) and was Digital Strand Curator for the 2006 & 2007 Sydney Film Festivals, producing and directing a series of podcasts for the Festival site in 2006.
Her consulting work ranges from digital image curation for games developers, strategic advice on educational/media ICT development and digital content. She is the editor for the Network Insight Institute and the author of various articles for industry publications including the chapter on digital visual effects for the Australian Film Commission’s production management ‘Satchel’ and worked with Ausfilm in the development of its international Factsheet series for filmmakers. She is currently researching and developing workshops as part of her new project, Storybuilding: the alchemy of turning word into image.
At present most of her online focus is over here at her storybuilding site or at the Sydney ACM SIGGRAPH site.