Though considerable development has taken place over the past 30 years encouraging creative practice research in the field of narrative filmmaking, most of the peer to peer conversations taking place between creative narrative filmmakers, who straddle the academic and professional sectors, occurs through the written word. There is a need to strengthen the notion of research interrogation and conversations through the actual practice itself, where the making and sharing of new insights in the field primarily takes place through the actual act of creating and making film outputs. This will enable the practical nature of creative conversations that naturally take place in the broader cultural sectors over time, to find a specific expression within the context of academia and its relationship to its creative and commercial sectors.

We are not expecting these conversations to be limited to academics; quite the contrary. This publication platform is aimed at any enquiring filmmaker who wishes to make a contribution to developing the art and craft of narrative filmmaking.

What do we mean by research? We have a simple definition of what research is in this context: a systematic enquiry into the fields of the art, forms, crafts and themes of narrative filmmaking which leads to new insights about the art, forms, crafts and themes of narrative filmmaking for the betterment of our engagement with, and enjoyment of, the filmmaking form as a means of encouraging human flourishing.

This means that we are interested in narrative film outputs that demonstrate systematic (methodology) creative and research processes seeking to enquire (research questions) through creative practice (methods) in ways that lead to new insights (originality) for the betterment (contribution to the field) of narrative filmmaking as means of encouraging human flourishing (impact). For a further discussion of how to articulate creative practice as research, have a look at our discussion paper, Research Glossary For Creative Practitioners.