Teenage Siamese: When an ideological Western Australian post studio grows up

In 2004, Merlin Cornish was in love with fellow Central Institute of TAFE graduate Francesca Hope. And Francesca was in love with Merlin. They shared a fervour and a passion for film and animation and they had a relationship that was tight, so they decided to start a company together.

Back then, social ideologies were a frequent topic of conversation, so the term ‘business’ was politically taboo. They considered themselves a ‘collective’.

They would start under the name Siamese in an old West Perth chocolate factory. The name engaged, for some of their friends, biological reflux mechanisms. (The thought of them being so in love that they were conjoined was too much to bear, putting to one side its slightly unsettling connotations.) But in truth, the intentions behind the name were far more altruistic.

Merlin and Francesca wanted to create a nurturing and inspiring environment for directors, writers, animators and editors to come together and create – to share ideas, provide peer support and collaborate. They wanted to pool talent and equipment and so on a shoestring Siamese came to be. Similar to its founders, the collective was ideological – it demanded being true to one’s creativity.

Their ethos was that if you believed in your work, were dedicated from the outset to its conclusion, and had the requisite skills and equipment to execute it, then the quality of that work would follow.

This ethos continues to define and drive the company today and is represented in an oft-quoted adage: “by Teenage Siamese: when an ideological post studio grows up creating good work, we can create better work”.

The desire to always improve on their best work was and remains integral to the Siamese way.

In the early years, Siamese collaborated to create some exceptional pieces of their now renowned creative work including AFI award-winning shorts and music videos. They paid well (lie) but unfortunately not even that was enough to build a career on. The pair were becoming professional, dare we say maturing, and the need to turn a profit emerged.

Fearing the commercial (based largely on sweeping stereotypes), they hesitantly tested the water. Who would’ve thought that creativity and good commercial work in Perth would be loving bedfellows.

Speaking of loving bedfellows, it was about this time that Merlin and Francesca broke up. It was amicable, and for Siamese, it was a significant step forward. Professionally, Merlin and Francesca were stronger than ever. They knew each other, trusted each other and respected each other, and they both shared a strong and continuing desire to consistently create work of exceptional quality.

The company grew and employed talented staff (including their emerging 2D/3D animator and colourist Andrew Buckley) and set up shop in a custom refurbished Beaufort Street loft. The impressive and dimly-lit set up includes a large Davinci Resolve / Online colour grading suite with 5.1 monitoring, a 2D / 3D Animation / Nuke Compositing suite, two Offline editing suites / Protools Sound suite and scalable 2D & 3D Animation / Graphics workstations.

Here, Siamese is capable of complete post production and also post pathway work, including supervision and coordination. Impressively equipped in both hardware and human resources, they now successfully manage for their clients in part and in full – design, visualisation, on set supervision, offline, online, visual FX and animation, colour grading and all delivery requirements from web to DCP.

Led by Merlin’s attention to the millisecond and the retina-pixel (a quality the artful perfectionist Robert Forsyth noticed early on in their now 10 year working relationship), the company has developed a resounding and impressive portfolio of work in editing and post. Consistently producing works that are seamless, concise, engaging, creative and clever, a reputation has formed in the industry that applauds Merlin’s strengths in narration, deft touch in eliciting emotional responses from an audience and knack for distilling the necessary.

Combined with Francesca’s attention to planning and management detail, Siamese has become a flexible, scalable and responsive post studio with a focus on and a talent for making every collaboration a success. Maintaining the standards they prescribed in their early years, the company is now beginning its second decade.

As it evolves and continues to look for new ways to improve, Siamese has developed an adeptness with new technology. By exploring and experimenting through their own personal

projects, the company’s skill set for commercial projects is bolstered and relevant.

Siamese’s recent projects including editorial for Meerkats / Lotterywest ‘Give Luck a Chance’ and ‘You Play, You Give’, a collaboration with Corrie Jones on the 303Lowe / Office of Road Safety’s ‘Enjoy the Ride’ and the ABC feature documentary ‘Girt By Sea’.

For ‘Girt By Sea’, Siamese’s longform management, technical ability and editing strengths were highlighted. Drawing on extensive visual collections held by The National Film and Sound Archive, ABC Archives along with crowd-sourced personal videos, Siamese were able to weave a romantic and meditative interpretation of Australia’s coastal history, set to an original score by award winning band The Panics.

For colour grading and online projects, Siamese completed the Marketforce / City of Perth’s ‘Get To Know Me’, ABC’s documentary ‘Yagan’ and is currently completing the much anticipated SBS series ‘Australia’s Secret Heroes.’ The company has also undertaken a diverse mix of art-based endeavours including the Alexander Buildings Architectural

Mapping Project with music by Naik.

As the company looks to its next decade in Western Australia, it is excited by the prospect of a new evolution, of being at the forefront of innovation, skills and techniques, of working with new clients on diverse projects and of producing work that proves an old adage about bettering oneself in an ever changing industry.

Web: siamese.com.au

Tel: 9228 9648