In 1922 my grandfather, Raymond Gibson Carlton, was born in Victoria. Not more than 17 years later he went on to fight on behalf of the Allied troops in World War II. Just last month Ray turned 90.

I, along with Jimmy and Shyam, have begun filming a documentary about his time in the war and the subsequent impact it had on his life. I am very excited to bring my grandfather’s story to screen- to give him the opportunity to talk in depth about his experiences and to share them with not only our family but with a new audience.

This is a special project- something I’ve never done before. The film is being made in an organic and improvisational way. We are letting Ray tell his story. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you all.

Me Likey

In January I directed my first music video for Noize Bunny/Bombshizz Records, for the pop-track ‘Me Likey’. It was an epic and insane shoot – we ran 2 units (shooting RED Epic & Scarlet simultaneously), with James Lawler directing 2nd Unit and Shyam Ediriweera shooting for both. I’ve never had so much fun on a shoot in my life! I’m really stoked to unveil, ‘Me Likey’, which launched last week.

Big M/Masters/Moove

I’ve also been running around interstate, shooting and directing a series of spots for Big M/Masters/Moove (Agency: AJF, Client: Lion, Prod. Company: Dougal McDougal). The spots were part of the new campaign from the company centered around an impressively giant set of headphones made out of milk cartons. The shoot was across Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Here are two of the spots I made:

Big M, Moove and Masters commissioned a national TVC campaign in conjunction with a series of live events and a range of digital spots to promote their range of milk products. The focus point of all campaigns were the construction and release of a giant set of headphones made out of milk cartons. These headphones were featured in the television commercial and then publicly displayed in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Nick directed a series of digital spots to promote the launch of the monument in each state. Each spot had to capture genuine reactions and interactions from the public. The spots were then deployed across Facebook and YouTube in the lead-up to the weekend and to drive young people to visit. In addition to this Nick directed a series of 90′ second spots telling the story of the entire campaign – from construction through to completion.

Finally, I can reveal what we’ve been working on the last 2 months! Big thanks to everyone who worked so hard on the project. Check out the three spots for Hyundai here.

Directed and Produced by Nicholas Carlton & Shaun Crawford
Executive Producer – Mark Campbell
Production Company – RedLever
Agency – Innocean
Director of Photography – Shyam Ediriweera
Editor/Color Grader – James Lawler
Music/Sound Design & Mix by Dmitri Golovko
Production Manager – Shaun McAlpine
Production Assistant – Marie Mauron
Gaffer/Camera Assistant/Data Wrangler – Marcus Alleman
Narrator – Jeremy Kewley
Assistant Editor – Daniel Kerr
Sound – Keith Bottomley
Make-Up Artist – Eloise Loxton
Runner – Lisa Kappel
Special Thanks to Cail Young

The three spots can be seen online including on Hyundai’s Facebook Page and YouTube.

Hyundai via creative agency Innocean commissioned directors Nicholas Carlton and Shaun Crawford to produce a series of three online films promoting the new 2012 Santa Fe family car. With the help of a documentary crew and hidden cameras, the films captured the experience of three families and their use of the Santa Fe over the course of a week. The campaign was launched successfully across the internet including on Facebook, YouTube, KidSpot and MamaMia.com.au and was a fully interactive experience for consumers.

Big M, Moove and Masters commissioned a national TVC campaign in conjunction with a series of live events and a range of digital spots to promote their range of milk products. The focus point of all campaigns were the construction and release of a giant set of headphones made out of milk cartons. These headphones were featured in the television commercial and then publicly displayed in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Nick directed a series of digital spots to promote the launch of the monument in each state. Each spot had to capture genuine reactions and interactions from the public. The spots were then deployed across Facebook and YouTube in the lead-up to the weekend and to drive young people to visit. In addition to this Nick directed a series of 90′ second spots telling the story of the entire campaign – from construction through to completion.

Hyundai via creative agency Innocean commissioned directors Nicholas Carlton and Shaun Crawford to produce a series of 3 x online films promoting the new 2012 Santa Fe family car. With the help of a documentary crew and hidden cameras, the films captured the experience of three families and their use of the Santa Fe over the course of a week. The campaign was launched successfully across the internet including on Facebook, YouTube, KidSpot and MamaMia.com.au and was a fully interactive experience for consumers.

Director Nicholas Carlton worked with local lingerie brand, Smitten Kitten, to create a provocative and visually bold spot to showcase their wide range of lingerie. The cheeky, 30-second spot was released to over a hundred thousand views online.

Australia’s most acclaimed web series, OzGirl was created independently by director Nicholas Carlton. The 23-part, feature length web series won a slew of top new media & television awards internationally including ‘Best Web Series’ and ‘Best Acting’ at the 4th Independent Television Festival in Los Angeles and ‘Best Foreign Series’ at the 2nd Streamy Awards. OzGirl was an Official Honoree at the 14th Webby Awards in the drama category and made its New York debut at a special screening at the New York Television Festival in 2009.

The series established a solid audience across a range of platforms including Fairfax Digital, Virgin Australia, KoldCast TV, Apple iTunes, Microsoft Zune and TiVo. It was co-produced by star Sophie Tilson (Neighbours) who plays Sadie Brown, a country girl who moves to the city to stay with her former child-star cousin, Megan Brown, played by Shanrah Wakefield (associate producer).

With its interactive elements, including enabling the audience to communicate and interact socially online with characters, OzGirl has been instrumental in establishing a new form of innovative storytelling in Australia. Creator Nicholas Carlton has spoken about his experiences producing and distributing OzGirl to premiere industry bodies including SPAA and AFTRS. The series is represented by United Talent Agency in Los Angeles.