A Brief History
| Year | Event | Duration |
| 2003 | September 19th, DMFilms is founded. Logo is created. | |
| 2004 | The short film The Dead of Night is completed. Although mostly filmed in one night during 2000, it wasn't edited until 2004. Despite the $50 budget, using copyrighted music and having minimal production values, it is still the first film to be released under the DMFilms banner. | 13 minutes |
| 2004 | The short film Jedi Heritage is filmed which is being promoted as a "drama set in the Star Wars universe" to highlight its dramatic, less action orientated, storyline. | |
2005 |
Darren is interviewed on Channel 31's Short Film Show about his experience directing Jedi Heritage. | |
| 2005 | Jedi Heritage is completed. It is submitted for online hosting to theforce.net but is rejected, it eventually gets an online release through the milneyfilms website. | 28 minutes |
| 2005 | 1st corporate video for Toyota Australia is filmed and completed IT Systems - The Toyota Way. This is the first of a number of corporate videos that Darren would be asked to make for Toyota. | 11 minutes |
| 2005 | The short film ALONE is
filmed and completed. It is submitted to MUFF but is
rejected without even being watched and does not become a
finalist in the 4th Angry Film Festival. Feeling
despondent from these rejections, Darren turns his back
on film festivals and opts not to enter them in future
unless there is a viable reason to do so. ALONE is Darren's first fully independent film production featuring all original material. |
11 minutes |
| 2005 | www.dmfilms.net is launched. | |
2005 |
Darren is approached by the director of the Australian Centre of Performing Arts to teach a non certified course on Film Directing. The course is unable to proceed as the minimum number of registrants is short by three people. | |
| 2006 | 2nd corporate video for Toyota filmed and completed tJunction Showroom Direct. | 5 minutes |
| 2006 | The short film The Psychology of Killing is filmed. | |
| 2006 | 3rd corporate video for Toyota filmed and completed The Boardroom of the Future. | 4.5 minutes |
| 2006 | 4th corporate video for Toyota filmed and completed Showroom Direct Training v1.0. | 50 minutes |
| 2006 | August 31st, DMFilms is registered as an official business and receives its ABN number. | |
| 2006 | Darren is interviewed by a 3rd year RMIT film student regarding film directing. | |
| 2006 | First wedding video filmed and edited. This is for Dean and Julie Edwards. | 1 hour 7 minutes + 4 minute music video |
| 2006 | The Tropfest film Continuity is filmed and completed. It is submitted into Tropfest on the view that it could do well based on its original concept rather than on production values or budget, but it does not make the short list. | 6 minutes |
| 2007 | 2007 Darren is interviewed by a Deakin University film student regarding film directing. | |
| 2007 | The short film The Psychology of Killing is completed after 15 months of post production (one month for every minute of screen time). It is submitted to the Electric Shorts film festival - which is run by a film making friend of Darren's - but is rejected. This leads Darren to promote himself as the "the film maker every festival rejects". | 15 minutes |
| 2007 | The short film Reality Check is filmed. | |
| 2007 | Darren conducts a two day training session called "An Introduction to Creating Corporate and Product Videos" for Viaarena. Viaarena mention to Darren that they wish to fly him to Thailand to teach their worldwide affiliates how to create their own videos but Darren declines the offer - though is very flattered by it. | |
| 2007 | A TVC for Kissphotos glamour studio is filmed and edited by Darren - 6 versions of the commercial are created of which the final choice was screened on the Arena Channel. | 30 seconds each |
| 2008 | The short film Reality Check is completed. | 14 minutes |
| 2008 | Darren edits the showreel for actress Sarah Breen which is then presented to a talent agent as a referral for further showreel editing work. | |
| 2008 | Second wedding video filmed and edited. This is for Axel and Robyne Conrad. | 53 minutes |
| 2008 | Darren creates his film making showreel and releases it on YouTube with the link to the DMFilms website. It receives 2,200 views within the first month and gets a five star rating. | |
| 2008 | Continuity and Reality Check are released on YouTube under the DMFilmsOnline label and both receive five star ratings. | |
| 2008 | Darren edits 3 x lawn bowls educational videos called How to be a Skip for the secretary of the Ashburton Bowls Club. | Various |
2009 |
Darren's first "completed" short film Skyforce: The Movie is re edited and officially finished. Originally filmed in 2000 and edited in 2001, the film is recut and re mixed by Darren as per his original vision. Although technically a DMFilms production it is not advertised as such as it was made before DMFilms was founded | 21 minutes |
| 2009 | The short film Flair: The Psychology of Killing Revisited is filmed and completed and is entered into the 2010 St Kilda Film Festival but does not become a finallist. | 15.5 minutes |
| 2009 | The short film Oneself is filmed and completed within a single week. It is released on YouTube and receives a five star rating. | 5 minutes |
2009 |
The short film Oneself Two is filmed and completed. It is released on YouTube and receives a five star rating. | 7 minutes |
| 2010 | The short film Oneself Three is filmed and completed. It is released on YouTube and receives a five star rating. | 6 minutes |
2010 |
Darren commences pre production on Red, his last short film. The production is expected to take two years to complete and will be Darren's biggest and most expensive film to date. |