Army film editor recognised on the world stage

An Army multimedia technician has found an unexpected calling to the short-film industry.

CAPTION: Corporal Susan Touch won ‘best editor’ at the 2022 Ediplay International film Festival in France. Story by Major Carrie Robards. Photo by Private Kelsey Innes.

Corporal Susan Touch, from Headquarters Combined Arms Training Centre, got into short-film production to upskill as a part of her professional development, but didn’t expect her work to be recognised on the world stage.

Earlier this year, Corporal Touch won the best editor category at the prestigious Ediplay International film Festival for a short film she created while attending an Australian Film Base course in Melbourne.

The course introduced her to all aspects of filming production, including technical aspects of using industry standard cinema cameras, lighting and sound equipment, and post production.

The casting call was a highlight.

“It was exciting being able to put a call-out to actors, and writing an ad explaining how we were looking for volunteer actors, as it was a student film, and when rehearsals were taking place,” Corporal Touch said.

“After shooting, we each had to edit our work on Adobe Premier Pro. I chose to do mine in black and white. The student who wrote the script named it Nostalgia.

“It’s a reflective piece on the passage of time and how we choose to subjectively remember things.”

At the end of the course students were encouraged to submit their work to film festivals. Corporal Touch didn’t expect to win anything “given the other strong competitors, but I took a chance”, she said.

“I was later contacted by the Ediplay International Film Festival in France and was told I had won one of their awards.

“I was absolutely over the moon to receive recognition from the international filming communities and to know that they enjoyed my style of film editing.”

Now on a short break from filming-making, Corporal Touch continues to work as a multimedia technician at the Combined Arms Training Centre at Puckapunyal, a job she enjoys.

“We are expected to solve and assist clients’ needs, whether it is filming a how-to video for the training schools or creating simple infographic messages for commanders,” Corporal Touch said.

“It is a demanding trade that encourages us to seek and learn new technologies or software that can be useful to the unit or the training schools.”

Corporal Touch said a desire to give back to Australia had prompted a career change from hospitality to the military.

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