Timothy David Mitchell

Born to a farmer-later-turned-preacher and housewife, Timothy David Mitchell discovered his fascination for film at the age of 14. He received his first camera at 14-and-a-half in 2007, which was a Sony Handycam DCR-SR60, which he continued to use for the next 5 years. He began to film various productions from his drama class and secondary college and even shot a number of short films in and around Swan Hill which quickly started to impress people. In 2010 at the age of 17, he and some school friends shot the feature-length Alpha/Bravo (2011), a comedy/war film about two incompetent military teams forced to collaborate to rescue one of their men. While shooting took a whole year, the film was made during their final year of high school and clocked a running time of 90 minutes - purely by accident. Mitchell also shot a short film for his studies Mondo Supernatural (2010); a mockumentary about demonic possession within a secondary school. Both films won Award of Merits at The Accolade Competition in 2011. During a gap year in 2011, Mitchell met Adam Jacobs while they were both performing at the local theatre group. The two decided to make a film and shot Random: It's a Small Town Thing (2014), starring Jacobs and featured other members of the Swan Hill Theatre Group. Although it took a fortnight to shoot, it took a year and a half to edit due to a large amount of special effects work. Mitchell moved to Melbourne in 2012 and studied Film and Television at JMC Academy. During his time, he met future collaborator Sam Ward and the two of them worked together extensively both during and since their years of study. Mitchell took a sharp turn in style and made The Waiting Game (2014), an experimental feature-length following a rape victim inspired by the work of Lars von Trier. The film's themes gained Mitchell notoriety amongst his peers and gained mixed responses due to its stripped back stylistic approach. Mitchell also made the short film A Disagreement (2013) focusing on a church's stance on gay marriage, and also served as a stylistic and narrative companion piece to 'The Waiting Game'. Productions also completed while at JMC Academy included Ward's short film Bottomless Pit (2013) (which Mitchell produced, edited and co-wrote), and Mitchell's 50-minute film Four Kinds of Love (2014). Mitchell's longest and most notable collaboration came with meeting 'Daniel Hill (IX)', taking the reigns of the long-running improv web series Improv Sessions (2012). Serving as chief cinematographer and editor (and occasional composer and director) for 24 episodes between 2015 and 2017, the series showcased the versatility and experimentation of both its on- screen and Mitchell's off-screen talents.