User:Michael Ney
Michael Ney
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Michael Ney was born 25 January 1958 in Sydney, Australia. He is currently a filmmaker (producer, director, editor, cameraman) as well as a video, web and multimedia producer. His production company, Sensory Image Pty Ltd, is developing new film and television projects; both documentary and drama.
Michael's travel over recent years includes a documentary in India (see Baba's Birthday) and he has had extended visits to New York and London networking and attending film festivals. In 2006, he traveled to Germany and Switzerland (with writer Stefanie Lasthaus and artist/producer Lynn Burgoss) researching his most recent documentary project on the German author Hermann Hesse.
Commercial Work
[edit]Other work by Sensory Image and their production team includes corporate and educational videos. A specialty is creating short documentaries and presentations on companies, or focusing on activities within organisations. An example of this work is - Recipe For Success but not to be confused with the television series of the same name.
Other recent projects include "behind the scenes" (aka 'making of') videos... namely - "The 'Ghosts of War' Story" for director, David Sander, and also the SBS Television second series of - East West 101 directed by Peter Andrikidis and produced by Knapman Wyld.
Other projects have included on-site documentary production in Kuala Lumpur for Oracle Laser following the laser and waterscreen installation for a major tourist attraction. Other work for this client includes - LaserMan.
Industry Links
[edit]Related industry activities include being a founding committee member for OZDOX - The Australian Documentary Forum - www.ozdox.org which is run under the umbrella of the Australian Director's Guild - ADG. In 2007 Michael produced a (DVD) video archive of 30 events from previous years. Prior to that Michael initiated the video archive for Popcorn Taxi Sydney and has shot most of the interviews at these film industry events since its launch in 2000.
Projects
[edit]Liberty In Restraint
[edit]His long form work includes director/producer of "Liberty In Restraint - behind the eyes of a fetish photographer". The work-in-progress version was awarded "Best Short Documentary" on Oct 24, 2004 at the CineKink film festival in New York, USA. The final DVD of the 90 minute feature is distrubuted in USA by Gallant Films with retail sales handled via Eclectic/MVD Entertainment. Tragically, the subject of the documentary, Noel Graydon, died on 7 July 2007 after a fatal heart attack. The documentary delves deeply into Noel's life and portfolio to reveal his work in progress, the passion for his art and its themes, the community he loved to photograph and their controversial transgressive activities.
Reviewers say:
- "Totally engrossing, absolutely authentic" - - Annie Sprinkle
- "Eye popping, jaw dropping, mind bending..." - Andrew L. Urban / Urban Cinefile
- "A meticulous, well-realised, thorough exploration of the BDSM sexual underground in Australia. It surprises the viewer by endowing its subjects with the humanity and depth which more superficial or sensational film-makers might shun, while at the same time not shrinking from showing in glorious Technicolor detail the pain the subjects inflict on themselves. You emerge from the film not only knowing your ABC of BDSM but feeling for its characters." - - Stuart Urban, Director of "Preaching to the Perverted"
Baba's Birthday
[edit]In 2006, Michael produced another unusual documentary (yet totally opposite in subject matter to Liberty In Restraint) called "Baba's Birthday - a journey of the heart", written and directed by well-known actor/director - Peter Sumner. The DVD of Baba's Birthday is distributed in USA by Love Street Bookstore - lovestreetbookstore.com.
Synopsis: Luke, a young Australian follower of spiritual master Meher Baba, makes a pilgrimage to India to appear in the classic play ‘Leila and Majnun’, to celebrate Baba’s birthday. During the rehearsal time Luke also visits many places of importance to Meher Baba, and speaks with many people who knew and worked with Baba from early 1900s to 1969. Meher Baba is revered by people worldwide as "God in human form".
Early Career
[edit]Theatre, Photography & Multimedia
[edit]Michael began his career path as a theatre lighting designer, stage manager and director's assistant in Sydney, Australia. After several years in the theatre he worked in television production at Channel TEN. This developed into his own commercial photography and audio-visual production company called "Midnite Stills" (denoting photo work for music magazines primarily), and later partnered with fellow photographer David Clare to expand into more commercial areas. In 1993, the AV work ultimately led to the creation of his multimedia company "Virtual Realm Xchange" (VRX) with business partner and fellow photographer/filmmaker William Bullock. This was concurrent to the arrival of the world wide web and Michael was involved in writing manuals and developing training courses and materials for Pegasus Networks. VRX's work included innovative developments in multimedia/video CD-ROMs and websites for The University of Sydney, and cinematic presentations for Westpac.
The Crystal Visionary
[edit]Between 1984 and 1988, Michael was the writer/editor/publisher of a magazine called The Crystal Visionary which offered research articles and networking in the popular field (at that time) of Quartz Crystals, exploring their use in meditation and healing. This A5 booklet quickly grew from humble beginnings to a worldwide subscriber base. In 1987, Michael visited USA for a few months and interviewed notable authors and teachers, such as Uma Silbey, Jose Arguelles, Randall Baer and Michael Smith and many others. From these interviews sprang the idea of compiling all the magazines into a book which is still available from distributor: - Earthwise.