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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Australian film'
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1
Nugent-Williams, Rosalind Louise. "Thespioprudence : Australian film directors and Film performance." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2004. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/15999/1/Rosalind_Nugent-Williams_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
"...we, directors and actors, put into practice the practice - we don't practice the theory. I think that if there is no theory of acting, at least there are theoretical laws that we may find, curiously enough, in all traditions of acting. It is true that the term "theory of acting" does not seem fundamentally wrong, but it seems always somewhat imperialistic and pretentious. I prefer to use fundamental laws which we sometimes know but then sometimes lose and forget. It is only practice that all of a sudden can make law or tradition rise to the surface. I will not say then that there is no theory of acting; on the contrary, there have been many of them. Of course, what interests me in these multiple theories are the essential laws that are common to all of them."
- Ariane Mnouchkine
(from "Building Up the Muscle" in Re:direction edited by R. Schneider and G. Cody, Routledge, London, 2002.)
I come to filmmaking from an actor's perspective and believe that the power of each individual performance is the key to audience engagement with a feature film. The technical aspects of filmmaking, for me, exist primarily to serve the story as revealed through the actors' performances. Because performance in film has been a neglected area of research, I set out to explore the different approaches to performance theory which might apply to film performance in an Australian context. In this dissertation, I have asked a number of key questions about how the director communicates with the actor to elicit the desired performance. I framed this thesis around one overarching question: What is the dominant approach used by Australian film directors when working with actors on performance?
This study reveals that many Australian filmmakers have been most influenced by a wide variety of approaches to working with actors, particularly because of the way actors are trained in Australia.
My interest in this project was partially triggered by my observation that many filmmaking students at QUT seem driven by the technical aspects of filmmaking. Given the complex demands made on actors, filmmakers who do not learn to speak the actor's language arguably fail to capitalize on their working relationships with actors. I have attempted to express my findings in plain English because the whole purpose of this project was to ensure that my findings would be of use to new filmmakers in a practical sense.
2
Nugent-Williams, Rosalind Louise. "Thespioprudence : Australian film directors and Film performance." Queensland University of Technology, 2004. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15999/.
Full textAbstract:
"...we, directors and actors, put into practice the practice - we don't practice the theory. I think that if there is no theory of acting, at least there are theoretical laws that we may find, curiously enough, in all traditions of acting. It is true that the term "theory of acting" does not seem fundamentally wrong, but it seems always somewhat imperialistic and pretentious. I prefer to use fundamental laws which we sometimes know but then sometimes lose and forget. It is only practice that all of a sudden can make law or tradition rise to the surface. I will not say then that there is no theory of acting; on the contrary, there have been many of them. Of course, what interests me in these multiple theories are the essential laws that are common to all of them." - Ariane Mnouchkine (from "Building Up the Muscle" in Re:direction edited by R. Schneider and G. Cody, Routledge, London, 2002.) I come to filmmaking from an actor's perspective and believe that the power of each individual performance is the key to audience engagement with a feature film. The technical aspects of filmmaking, for me, exist primarily to serve the story as revealed through the actors' performances. Because performance in film has been a neglected area of research, I set out to explore the different approaches to performance theory which might apply to film performance in an Australian context. In this dissertation, I have asked a number of key questions about how the director communicates with the actor to elicit the desired performance. I framed this thesis around one overarching question: What is the dominant approach used by Australian film directors when working with actors on performance? This study reveals that many Australian filmmakers have been most influenced by a wide variety of approaches to working with actors, particularly because of the way actors are trained in Australia. My interest in this project was partially triggered by my observation that many filmmaking students at QUT seem driven by the technical aspects of filmmaking. Given the complex demands made on actors, filmmakers who do not learn to speak the actor's language arguably fail to capitalize on their working relationships with actors. I have attempted to express my findings in plain English because the whole purpose of this project was to ensure that my findings would be of use to new filmmakers in a practical sense.
3
Ryan, Mark David. "A dark new world : anatomy of Australian horror films." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2008. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/18351/1/Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
After experimental beginnings in the 1970s, a commercial push in the 1980s, and an underground existence in the 1990s, from 2000 to 2007 contemporary Australian horror production has experienced a period of strong growth and relative commercial success unequalled throughout the past three decades of Australian film history. This study explores the rise of contemporary Australian horror production: emerging production and distribution models; the films produced; and the industrial, market and technological forces driving production. Australian horror production is a vibrant production sector comprising mainstream and underground spheres of production. Mainstream horror production is an independent, internationally oriented production sector on the margins of the Australian film industry producing titles such as Wolf Creek (2005) and Rogue (2007), while underground production is a fan-based, indie filmmaking subculture, producing credit-card films such as I know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer (2006) and The Killbillies (2002). Overlap between these spheres of production, results in ‘high-end indie’ films such as Undead (2003) and Gabriel (2007) emerging from the underground but crossing over into the mainstream. Contemporary horror production has been driven by numerous forces, including a strong worldwide market demand for horror films and the increasing international integration of the Australian film industry; the lowering of production barriers with the rise of digital video; the growth of niche markets and online distribution models; an inflow of international finance; and the rise of international partnerships. In light of this study, a ‘national cinema’ as an approach to cinema studies needs reconsideration – real growth is occurring across national boundaries due to globalisation and at the level of genre production rather than within national boundaries through pure cultural production. Australian cinema studies – tending to marginalise genre films – needs to be more aware of genre production. Global forces and emerging distribution models, among others, are challenging the ‘narrowness’ of cultural policy in Australia – mandating a particular film culture, circumscribing certain notions of value and limiting the variety of films produced domestically.
4
Ryan, Mark David. "A dark new world : anatomy of Australian horror films." Queensland University of Technology, 2008. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/18351/.
Full textAbstract:
After experimental beginnings in the 1970s, a commercial push in the 1980s, and an underground existence in the 1990s, from 2000 to 2007 contemporary Australian horror production has experienced a period of strong growth and relative commercial success unequalled throughout the past three decades of Australian film history. This study explores the rise of contemporary Australian horror production: emerging production and distribution models; the films produced; and the industrial, market and technological forces driving production. Australian horror production is a vibrant production sector comprising mainstream and underground spheres of production. Mainstream horror production is an independent, internationally oriented production sector on the margins of the Australian film industry producing titles such as Wolf Creek (2005) and Rogue (2007), while underground production is a fan-based, indie filmmaking subculture, producing credit-card films such as I know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer (2006) and The Killbillies (2002). Overlap between these spheres of production, results in ‘high-end indie’ films such as Undead (2003) and Gabriel (2007) emerging from the underground but crossing over into the mainstream. Contemporary horror production has been driven by numerous forces, including a strong worldwide market demand for horror films and the increasing international integration of the Australian film industry; the lowering of production barriers with the rise of digital video; the growth of niche markets and online distribution models; an inflow of international finance; and the rise of international partnerships. In light of this study, a ‘national cinema’ as an approach to cinema studies needs reconsideration – real growth is occurring across national boundaries due to globalisation and at the level of genre production rather than within national boundaries through pure cultural production. Australian cinema studies – tending to marginalise genre films – needs to be more aware of genre production. Global forces and emerging distribution models, among others, are challenging the ‘narrowness’ of cultural policy in Australia – mandating a particular film culture, circumscribing certain notions of value and limiting the variety of films produced domestically.
5
Chircop, Dean. "Branded Content and Australian Hybrid Film Financing." Thesis, Griffith University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366859.
Full textAbstract:
This exegesis proposes an alternative strategy for financing feature films in Australia, one centred on working to create a fictional narrative screenplay in conjunction with commercial brand partners. The studio project at the heart of this reflective practice research is the writing and development of King of Speed, a feature film script set in the realm of competitive automobile racing. I argue that the alignment of this milieu and industry with my narrative interests has provided a unique opportunity to partner with key corporations and brands without ceding creative control. I suggest that a major challenge confronted in the design of the project is the aesthetic contextualisation of commercial content. A key aim of the script development is to provide opportunities for sponsorship and the showcasing of ‘products’ that appear to be contextually naturalised and hence not to violate the integrity of the artwork. This research contributes to the field of screen producing and filmmakers who are seeking ways to finance feature films that are outside entrenched and established models. The exegesis investigates the process of script development; the financial advantages and disadvantages that can be gained from associating films with brands; the ethical and aesthetic limits of product placement; the complex issues surrounding artists’ rights; and the commercial challenges to influences on creative integrity.Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Doctor of Visual Arts (DVA)
Queensland College of Art
Arts, Education and Law
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6
Enders, Michael Leonard. "Gettin' acquainted : film, ethnicity and Australian society." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1996. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36279/1/36279_Enders_1996.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis uses a cultural studies- based social- cultural- historical methodology to
compare changes in depictions of ethnicity in selected Australian feature films
produced from 1930 to 1995 to changes in Australian immigration policy over the
same period. The aim is to identify the relationship between feature film
depictions and the societies which produced them. The study will show that
depictions of ethnicity in Australian feature films have progressed through three
phases in line with the changes in Australian immigration policy from 'white
Australia' (1930-1946) to assimilation (194 7 -1971) to multiculturalism (1972-
present) .
The study also proposes a model of 'cultural absorption' as better alternative than
'reflection' to explain the means by which social-cultural beliefs and values are
transferred from society to feature films. The results of this study confirm that
the myths and social cultural beliefs and values of a society can be identified by
analysing the cultural artefacts, such as feature films, produced by that society.
This means that it is possible to identify the myths, beliefs and values of past
moments in Australian social history by analysing feature films produced by that
society. Identifying changes in society and culture and the mechanisms which
brought them about provides a means of better understanding contemporary
society and culture and how future changes may affect social and cultural
evolution.
7
Faithfull, Denise. "Adaptations : Australian literature to film, 1989-1998." Thesis, Connect to full text, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1771.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2001.Title from title screen (viewed January 22, 2009) Submitted in fullfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philososphy to the Dept. of English, University of Sydney. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.
8
Faithfull, Denise. "Adaptations Australian literature to film, 1989-1998 /." Connect to full text, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1771.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2001.Title from title screen (viewed January 22, 2009) Submitted in fullfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philososphy to the Dept. of English, University of Sydney. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.
9
Ellison, Elizabeth Rae. "The Australian beachspace : flagging the spaces of Australian beach texts." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2013. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63468/1/Elizabeth_Ellison_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
The Australian beach is a significant component of the Australian culture and a way of life. The Australian Beachspace explores existing research about the Australian beach from a cultural and Australian studies perspective. Initially, the beach in Australian studies has been established within a binary opposition. Fiske, Hodge, and Turner (1987) pioneered the concept of the beach as a mythic space, simultaneously beautiful but abstract. In comparison, Meaghan Morris (1998) suggested that the beach was in fact an ordinary or everyday space. The research intervenes in previous discussions, suggesting that the Australian beach needs to be explored in spatial terms as well as cultural ones. The thesis suggests the beach is more than these previously established binaries and uses Soja's theory of Thirdspace (1996) to posit the term beachspace as a way of describing this complex site. The beachspace is a lived space that encompasses both the mythic and ordinary and more.
A variety of texts have been explored in this work, both film and literature. The thesis examines textual representations of the Australian beach using Soja's Thirdspace as a frame to reveal the complexities of the Australian beach through five thematic chapters. Some of the texts discussed include works by Tim Winton's Breath (2008) and Land's Edge (1993), Robert Drewe's short story collections The Bodysurfers (1987) and The Rip (2008), and films such as Newcastle (dir. Dan Castle 2008) and Blackrock (dir. Steve Vidler 1997).
Ultimately The Australian Beachspace illustrates that the multiple meanings of the beach's representations are complex and yet frequently fail to capture the layered reality of the Australian beach. The Australian beach is best described as a beachspace, a complex space that allows for the mythic and/or/both ordinary at once.
10
Thompson, Lisa. "Cinéma Vérité? Australian Film, Young Lebanese-Australian Men, and the Performance of Identity." Thesis, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7254.
Full textAbstract:
Australian popular media has stereotyped young Lebanese-Australian men as ‘violent misogynists’; subsequently, young Lebanese-Australian men have been criminalised as the deviant ethnic ‘other’. Recently, however, a number of films have emerged that have attempted to challenge these stereotypes through a variety of mechanisms. This research aims to examine the role of stereotypes in identity-formation among young Lebanese-Australian men, and to explore their representation through characters and issues depicted within recent films. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with men who had been involved in filmmaking; these interviews explored the tensions inherent within the intersection of masculinity and ethnicity in the negotiation of everyday life, and the situational mobilisation of popular stereotypes in the performance of identity. While these results may be particular to the target group, this project illuminates the complexity of identity and the potential for empowerment and active resistance against racism and marginalisation.
11
au, davidthomas@arach net, and David Glyndwr Thomas. "Extraordinary Undercurrents: Australian Cinema, Genre and the Everyday." Murdoch University, 2006. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20070307.130804.
Full textAbstract:
Extraordinary Undercurrents: Australian Cinema, Genre and the Everyday
investigates how the critical uptake of genre-based cinema has been incorporated into
the cultural and industrial rubric of Australian national cinema. The thesis offers, in
part, a revaluation of theoretically under-emphasized texts (as well as texts that have
been the subject of much higher levels of scrutiny), in order to establish recurrent
threads within Australian cinema. In doing this, the thesis offers new and original
knowledge in the form of developing a perspective for a revised critical and
theoretical analysis of genre cinema within Australian cinema, challenging the
presumption of the kinds of texts that can be seen as articulating the nation. The
groups of films examined herein form nodes through which a network of important
and divergent ideas about nation, national identity and social organization come
together in the form of narrative and thematic undercurrents.
These (generally malevolent) undercurrents are articulated in the filmic representation
of a range of conventional personal, social and cultural dichotomies, and of particular
interest are the events, characters and narratives in which the everyday is confronted
by the abstract, abject and uncanny. The undercurrents I identify are shown as the
textual sites in which transgression - both inside and outside the frame - and
intertextuality are collocated, representing the convergence of material which
simultaneously operates outside of genres, while reinforcing textual similarity. The
undercurrents I identify provide a theoretical direction in analysing interaction
between national cinema, culture and identity
12
Thomas, David Glyndwr. "Extraordinary undercurrents: Australian cinema, genre and the everyday." Thesis, Thomas, David Glyndwr (2006) Extraordinary undercurrents: Australian cinema, genre and the everyday. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2006. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/344/.
Full textAbstract:
'Extraordinary Undercurrents: Australian Cinema, Genre and the Everyday' investigates how the critical uptake of genre-based cinema has been incorporated into the cultural and industrial rubric of Australian national cinema. The thesis offers, in part, a revaluation of theoretically under-emphasized texts (as well as texts that have been the subject of much higher levels of scrutiny), in order to establish recurrent threads within Australian cinema. In doing this, the thesis offers new and original knowledge in the form of developing a perspective for a revised critical and theoretical analysis of genre cinema within Australian cinema, challenging the presumption of the kinds of texts that can be seen as articulating the nation. The groups of films examined herein form nodes through which a network of important and divergent ideas about nation, national identity and social organization come together in the form of narrative and thematic undercurrents.
These (generally malevolent) undercurrents are articulated in the filmic representation of a range of conventional personal, social and cultural dichotomies, and of particular interest are the events, characters and narratives in which the everyday is confronted by the abstract, abject and uncanny. The undercurrents I identify are shown as the textual sites in which transgression - both inside and outside the frame - and intertextuality are collocated, representing the convergence of material which simultaneously operates outside of genres, while reinforcing textual similarity. The undercurrents I identify provide a theoretical direction in analysing interaction between national cinema, culture and identity.
13
Thomas, David Glyndwr. "Extraordinary undercurrents : Australian cinema, genre and the everyday /." Thomas, David Glyndwr (2006) Extraordinary undercurrents: Australian cinema, genre and the everyday. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2006. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/344/.
Full textAbstract:
'Extraordinary Undercurrents: Australian Cinema, Genre and the Everyday' investigates how the critical uptake of genre-based cinema has been incorporated into the cultural and industrial rubric of Australian national cinema. The thesis offers, in part, a revaluation of theoretically under-emphasized texts (as well as texts that have been the subject of much higher levels of scrutiny), in order to establish recurrent threads within Australian cinema. In doing this, the thesis offers new and original knowledge in the form of developing a perspective for a revised critical and theoretical analysis of genre cinema within Australian cinema, challenging the presumption of the kinds of texts that can be seen as articulating the nation. The groups of films examined herein form nodes through which a network of important and divergent ideas about nation, national identity and social organization come together in the form of narrative and thematic undercurrents.
These (generally malevolent) undercurrents are articulated in the filmic representation of a range of conventional personal, social and cultural dichotomies, and of particular interest are the events, characters and narratives in which the everyday is confronted by the abstract, abject and uncanny. The undercurrents I identify are shown as the textual sites in which transgression - both inside and outside the frame - and intertextuality are collocated, representing the convergence of material which simultaneously operates outside of genres, while reinforcing textual similarity. The undercurrents I identify provide a theoretical direction in analysing interaction between national cinema, culture and identity.
14
Hegedus, Peter. "Towards a Model for Autobiographical and Socially Conscious Cinematic Documentary in Australia." Thesis, Griffith University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/365761.
Full textAbstract:
The Australian film and television industry is currently undergoing a major transformation, which ultimately will have significant impact on its practitioners. As an Australian filmmaker whose interest and ambition lie in more idiosyncratic and autobiographical films for cinema, I believe a close examination of these filmmaking aspirations in relation to the current codes and practices of the Australian film industry is necessary.
Apart from some festivals and media interviews, for filmmakers there is little room for self-reflection. Having the opportunity to conduct a critical and in-depth examination of my work is vital for my professional development, as it signals a necessary shift from emerging filmmaker to the platform of a more mature and established filmmaking practice.
The objective of this research work is to investigate whether socially conscious autobiographical cinematic documentary can be a viable filmmaking practice in Australia. This process of investigation is driven by a self-reflexive analysis of my studio projects, challenged, shaped and developed by the work and experience of other film practitioners and documentary theorists whose ideas relate closely to the problem at hand...Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Doctor of Visual Arts (DVA)
Queensland College of Art
Queensland College of Art
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Mikhail, Samia, and fasisami@netspace net au. "The experimental art of Arthur and Corinne Cantrill." RMIT University. Applied Communication, 2006. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20061222.094324.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis analyses the effect of the personal history of Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, two Australian independent filmmakers, on their style of filmmaking. It analyses their representation of film-form experimentation within national Australian art in a range of independent film works. It reflects on their cultural relation to the general history of independent filmmaking in Australia, America and Europe. It studies the circumstances tat resulted in the appearance of the Cantrills' experimental film and their relation to international art theories and film experimentation. This thesis will examine how the Cantrills' film works, which were often critical of conventional filmmaking styles, and their critical writing, statements and promotion of their independent and experimental film work contributed significantly to theoretical discussion and argument about the physical nature of film within Australia. This examination is explored through asking and answering the central question: The work of Aurtheur and Corinne Cantrell is theoretically drawn from a tradition of European arts and visually drawn from Australian landscape and urban culture; can their work be identified and undertood as Australian art?
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Siracusa, Ettore, and ettore siracusa@deakin edu au. "The Cliched gaze of the migrant on the Australian screen." Deakin University. School of Visual, Performing, and Media Arts, 1993. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20070329.140940.
Full textAbstract:
The thesis takes up the question of the representation of the migrant on the Australian screen in terms of a specific set of concerns around the notions of stereotype and self-reflexivity. The stereotype is read as a self-referential image: hence, as a question of film spectatorship and identity; in short as an unconscious reflex or self image.
The text of the thesis is in two parts: part one, comprises the production of the film Italians at home. It is the major component of research and text which, for this purpose, has been copied and submitted hereto on VHS video cassette. Part two, includes an analysis and discussion of the television documentary The migrant experience, and an exegesis, of the production, narrative and reception of the film Italians at home.
The migrant experience is read and discussed as an exemplary text of dominant, stereotyped discourse of cultural difference; while Italians at home is proposed as a parallel text and a self-reflexive reading and criticism of such a text.
Both the television documentary and the film, deal with the representation and problematic of homogenised representations of ethnicity. In the case of The migrant experience, it is argued, that the figure of the migrant as other and self-image, functions as an object of Australian culture and discourse of national identity within a logic of representation of binary structures; while the film Italians at home, the question of self-referentiality is seen in terms of the viewing subject and a problematic of film representation; thus, the film attempts to make such signifying structures, visual codes and agreed assumptions of otherness visible, while, at the same time, attempting to displace them or pose them as a problem of representation or reading for the viewer.
17
au, larissa sextonfinck@uwa edu, and Larissa Claire Sexton-Finck. "Be(com)ing Reel Independent Woman: An Autoethnographic Journey Through Female Subjectivity and Agency in Contemporary Cinema with Particular Reference to Independent Scriptwriting Practice." Murdoch University, 2009. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20100512.122302.
Full textAbstract:
Women exert only a modicum of production power in 21st century cinema despite its growing accessibility and spectatorship through the developing technologies of the digital era. In 2007, of the top 250 grossing films in Hollywood, only 10% were written, and 6% directed, by women, and just 16% contained leading female protagonists. Why, after the gains of the film feminist movement, is there such a significant gender imbalance in mainstream film, and an imbalance that is only increasing over time? More significantly, what are the possibilities and limitations for reel womans subjectivity and agency, in and on screen, in this male-dominated landscape?
As a female filmmaker in this current climate I conduct an autoethnographical scriptwriting-based investigation into female subjectivity and agency, by writing the feature length screenplay Float, which is both the dramatic experiment and the creative outcome of this research. The exegesis works symbiotically with my scriptwriting journey by outlining the broader contexts surrounding women filmmakers and their female representations.
In this self-reflexive examination, I use an interdisciplinary methodology to unravel the overt and latent sites of resistance for reel woman today on three interdependent levels. These comprise the historical, political and philosophical background to womans treatment both behind, and in front of, the camera; my lived experiences as an emerging writer/director as I write Float; and my representation of the screenplays central female character.
I use the multiple logic of screenplay diegesis to explore the issues that have a bearing on womens ability to be active agents in the world they inhabit, including: the dichotomising of female desire, the influence of familial history, the repression of the mother, the dominance of the male gaze, the disavowal of female specificity, and womens consequent dislocation from their self-determined desire. These obstacles are simultaneously negotiated as I map my process of writing Float and deal with the challenging contexts in which the screenplay was created. In the course of my scriptwriting investigation, film feminist and French poststructuralist paradigms are considered and negotiated as I experiment whether it is possible for female filmmakers, and their female characters, to overcome the seemingly insurmountable odds facing womens actualisation today.
My research brings to light the critical need for more inclusive modes of practice across the film industry, discourse and pedagogy that are cognisant and respectful of reel womens difference, and allow them to explore their own specificity. The thesis argues that it would be advantageous for female filmmakers to challenge their fixed status in phallocentric discourse, and to deconstruct their patriarchal conditioning through engagement with forms of identity and writing resistance that recognise the fluidity of their subjectivity, and the consequent potential for change. I also highlight the importance of an accessible and affirmative feminist cinema pertinent to the 21st century, to integrate feminist ideals into the mainstream, and finally bring reel woman out of the margins.
18
Morgan, Craig Ashley. "The Use of Virtual Instruments by Australian Screen Composers." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/14884.
Full textAbstract:
Recent technological advancements, strong competition and targeted marketing strategies by virtual instrument merchants have established virtual instruments and digital instrument samples as essential components of a professional screen composer's toolset. The democratisation of these powerful tools has led to broad accessibility to virtual instruments and the digital sequencing software required to run them. Virtual instruments are portable, powerful, and affordable––they are no longer the exclusive domain of expensive recording studios. This thesis aims to quantify and qualify the parameters surrounding screen music composition in this digital age and introduce to the literature new empirical data together with the experiences of working screen music professionals. This is achieved by following a mixed methods sequential exploratory methodology starting with a survey of Australian screen composers (n=102) where they are asked to answer questions with a recent cue in mind. Informed by the results of the survey, semistructured interviews were conducted and recorded with working Australian screen composers (n=22). When combined the meta-inferences confirm that virtual instruments are vital for Australian screen composers to do their job, especially now that their tools are democratised. Screen composers are able to swiftly create cues that are finished products and not demos for their director and film-team. These changes have also shaped a new paradigm of film and television directors to expect final and completed versions of cues from Australian screen composers and not working drafts.
19
Althans, Katrin [Verfasser]. "Darkness Subverted : Aboriginal Gothic in Black Australian Literature and Film / Katrin Althans." Bonn : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn, 2021. http://d-nb.info/1229086420/34.
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Brits, Cherie. "Marketing Australian National Identity Through Film: The Place of the Video Store." Thesis, Brits, Cherie (2011) Marketing Australian National Identity Through Film: The Place of the Video Store. Masters by Research thesis, Murdoch University, 2011. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/10650/.
Full textAbstract:
Video stores are one of the main sources of entertainment within Australia today. The films borrowed and sold portray varying cultures, issues and opinions. Assumptions of the educational efficacy of Australian films have always been bumped up against assertions of commercially produced Australian films as mere entertainment. Films are borrowed or bought for diverse reasons but since nationalism is often buttressed by narratives, the video store itself can be used as an instrument to promote and even measure cultural identity. Because film is a major part of popular culture and the video store plays a fundamental role in this domain, I wish to argue that video stores could be used as influential portals for the promotion of Australian films and by consequence of Australian national identity.
21
Nguyen, Alan Duc Khoi. "That's a rap : the making of an Australian hip hop integrated musical film." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2010. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/40757/1/Alan_Nguyen_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
To date, the majority of films that utilise or feature hip hop music and culture, have either been in the realms of documentary, or in ‘show musicals’ (where the film musical’s device of characters’ bursting into song, is justified by the narrative of a pursuit of a career in the entertainment industry). Thus, most films that feature hip hop expression have in some way been tied to the subject of hip hop.
A research interest and enthusiasm was developed for utilising hip hop expression in film in a new way, which would extend the narrative possibilities of hip hop film to wider topics and themes. The creation of the thesis film Out of My Cloud, and the writing of this accompanying exegesis, investigates a research concern of the potential for the use of hip hop expression in an ‘integrated musical’ film (where characters’ break into song without conceit or explanation).
Context and rationale for Out of My Cloud (an Australian hip hop ‘integrated musical’ film) is provided in this writing. It is argued that hip hop is particularly suitable for use in a modern narrative film, and particularly in an ‘integrated musical’ film, due to its: current vibrancy and popularity, rap (vocal element of hip hop) music’s focus on lyrical message and meaning, and rap’s use as an everyday, non-performative method of communication. It is also argued that Australian hip hop deserves greater representation in film and literature due to: its current popularity, and its nature as a unique and distinct form of hip hop. To date, representation of Australian hip hop in film and television has almost solely been restricted to the documentary form.
Out of My Cloud borrows from elements of social realist cinema such as: contrasts with mainstream cinema, an exploration/recognition of the relationship between environment and development of character, use of non-actors, location-shooting, a political intent of the filmmaker, displaying sympathy for an underclass, representation of underrepresented character types and topics, and a loose narrative structure that does not offer solid resolution. A case is made that it may be appropriate to marry elements of social realist film with hip hop expression due to common characteristics, such as: representation of marginalised or underrepresented groups and issues in society, political objectives of the artist/s, and sympathy for an underclass.
In developing and producing Out of My Cloud, a specific method of working with, and filming actor improvisation was developed. This method was informed by improvisation and associated camera techniques of filmmakers such as Charlie Chaplin, Mike Leigh, Khoa Do, Dogme 95 filmmakers, and Lars von Trier (post-Dogme 95). A review of techniques used by these filmmakers is provided in this writing, as well as the impact it has made on my approach. The method utilised in Out of My Cloud was most influenced by Khoa Do’s technique of guiding actors to improvise fairly loosely, but with a predetermined endpoint in mind. A variation of this technique was developed for use in Out of My Cloud, which involved filming with two cameras to allow edits from multiple angles.
Specific processes for creating Out of My Cloud are described and explained in this writing. Particular attention is given to the approaches regarding the story elements and the music elements. Various significant aspects of the process are referred to including the filming and recording of live musical performances, the recording of ‘freestyle’ performances (lyrics composed and performed spontaneously) and the creation of a scored musical scene involving a vocal performance without regular timing or rhythm.
The documentation of processes in this writing serve to make the successful elements of this film transferable and replicable to other practitioners in the field, whilst flagging missteps to allow fellow practitioners to avoid similar missteps in future projects.
While Out of My Cloud is not without its shortcomings as a short film work (for example in the areas of story and camerawork) it provides a significant contribution to the field as a working example of how hip hop may be utilised in an ‘integrated musical’ film, as well as being a rare example of a narrative film that features Australian hip hop. This film and the accompanying exegesis provide insights that contribute to an understanding of techniques, theories and knowledge in the field of filmmaking practice.
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Barnett, Vanessa. "Tasha: A practice-based problematisation of Australian comedy cinema’s representation of gender, family and nationhood." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2014. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1411.
Full textAbstract:
Between 2007 and 2012, 140 fictional feature films were financed with the assistance of Australian film funding bodies. Of these 140 films, only 31 featured female protagonists and of these 31 films, only 8 were comedies (see Appendix B). These figures show statistically, Tasha, the creative film component of this research project, is not a typical Australian comedy film; it is the story of Tasha, an unemployed girl from Girrawheen in her early twenties, who has lost her sense of identity. As Australian films such as Little Fish¸ Candy, Jedda and Muriel’s Wedding would suggest, this is certainly not an uncommon premise in Australian national cinema. However, this is not all there is to know about Tasha; she is preoccupied, not by a love interest or by a drug addiction, but by ninjutsu, and vigilantism. This is where Tasha finds its unique approach to Australian cinema’s historic treatment of the woman-centred narrative. That said, beneath Tasha’s unconventional surface arguably lies a truly Australian comedy film.
The exegesis component of this project re-interprets Bazin’s question, “Qu'est-ce que le cinéma?” (What is cinema?), with a theoretical framework inspired by Australian film theorist Tom O’Regan’s influential text, Australian National Cinema. The exegesis begins by looking at Australian national cinema as a whole, then narrowing the focus to Australian comedy cinema. O’Regan (1996) describes Australian cinema as a national cinema; a cinema that embodies Australian culture, society and history. The focus is on Australian comedy film texts, and their social, political and cultural contexts. Tasha, the creative film project, is what O’Regan would term a “problematisation” of Australian comedy cinema.
The key argument of this project is that Australian national comedy films are uniquely Australian, cinematic explorations of individual identity, socio-cultural identity, landscape and family. Australia laughs about what it knows best, these four narrative and aesthetic preoccupations being central to Australian socio-cultural values and attitudes, to understanding the concept of Australianness. Australian comedy cinema is a problematic genre unto itself. The theoretical component of this project is a profile of Australian comedy cinema’s homogenised representation of Australianness. Tasha is then presented as an alternative. This investigation aims to both improve, and demonstrate an understanding of Australian comedy cinema as a problematisation of gender, culture, landscape, family and identity.
Tasha responds to the research question, “What is Australian comedy cinema?” by revealing that even an Australian action comedy with exciting stunts and fight scenes, is still a story of an individual’s sense of identity, family, and place. Such stories are arguably the hallmark of Australian comedy cinema; this carries a uniquely Australian sense of quirkiness. It remains the domain of the underdog: the battlers, larrikins, and of course the ockers. It still carries the same messages; never forget who you are, who your friends and family are, or where you came from. Despite its unconventional narrative, subject matter, soundtrack and aesthetics, Tasha proves to be no exception; it is still easily identified as a truly Australian comedy film.
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McKenzie, Susan M., and n/a. "Canadian and Australian Feature Film Policy in Perspective: A Comparative Study from 1968 to 1998." Griffith University. School of Arts, Media and Culture, 2004. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20040804.142852.
Full textAbstract:
This comparative study is an investigation into the changing concerns of feature film policy in Canada and Australia from 1968 to 1998. Its purpose is to determine how similar policy initiatives have produced divergent results in two economically, culturally and socially similar nations. The inquiry's aim is to establish what financial, political and geographic variables affect the application of feature film policy. While resemblances between these nations justify the contrasting of comparable feature film policy initiatives, differences in outcomes suggest that these nations are not entirely alike. Therefore, rather than following the leads of comparable national agencies, film policy makers in Canada and Australia need to concentrate on conditions specific to their own particular situation.
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McKenzie, Susan M. "Canadian and Australian Feature Film Policy in Perspective: A Comparative Study from 1968 to 1998." Thesis, Griffith University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366616.
Full textAbstract:
This comparative study is an investigation into the changing concerns of feature film policy in Canada and Australia from 1968 to 1998. Its purpose is to determine how similar policy initiatives have produced divergent results in two economically, culturally and socially similar nations. The inquiry's aim is to establish what financial, political and geographic variables affect the application of feature film policy. While resemblances between these nations justify the contrasting of comparable feature film policy initiatives, differences in outcomes suggest that these nations are not entirely alike. Therefore, rather than following the leads of comparable national agencies, film policy makers in Canada and Australia need to concentrate on conditions specific to their own particular situation.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Arts, Media and Culture
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Mageros, Peter. "Anzac Cinema: The Heroic Depiction of Australia’s Film Industry, 1906-1988." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/14307.
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In 1915 Australia’s bush-bred soldier-warrior, the ‘Anzac’, wrote himself into history on the battlefields of Europe, earning a reputation as one of the world’s most fearsome and indefatigable fighters. Back home he was conscripted in an equally fierce cultural war as local film interests battled to keep Australian films on Australian screens. This thesis examines the historical prolificacy of Australian cinema to portray itself as heroic as the nation’s Anzac soldier, who is also commonly referred to as the ‘digger’. As such, the thesis aims to contribute to scholarship about the relationship between the Australian film industry and the national identity by examining how the cinema has at pivotal moments sought to incorporate the Anzac legend into its own identity. It is argued that Australian cinema has sought to depict itself in the ‘heroic’ image of the legend. This nationalist tendency was most apparent at moments of crisis for the production sector – the First World War, the arrival of sound cinema in the early 1930s and the period during and immediately after the Second World War. It is also argued that Anzac-themed films were the catalyst for the cultural nationalist-boom of the early 1980s. The main argument is that the Anzac legend was exploited at these pivotal moments as the film industry sought to re-establish or consolidate its presence in the domestic market when faced with the reality of Hollywood’s dominance. This idea of the ‘heroic film industry’ involved metaphorically aligning the fighting image of the ‘digger’ with the struggle of the film industry itself, culminating in a depiction for both that was interchangeable. This thesis examines a selection of Bush-Anzac-themed films released between 1906 and 1988, with each chapter focussing on a particular phase of the cinema. This is essentially an interventionist approach to the study of Australian film history. As such, it is involved in a critical analysis of the films in question and discourse on the film industry, the result of which is a fresh approach to the relationship between cinema and mythology.
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Moor, Andrea L. "Contemporary actor training in Australia." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2013. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63083/1/Andrea_Moor_Thesis.pdf.
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This professional doctorate included a major research project investigating the efficacy of acting methodologies taught at four leading Australian actor-training institutions - National Institute of Dramatic Art, Queensland University of Technology, Victorian College of the Arts, and Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. This study represents the first review of its kind, in which the 'castability' of acting graduates from each of these schools was scrutinized by industry leaders. The study not only reveals the methodologies and philosophies of each school but determines an ideal set of practices for future consideration. The doctorate also included two practice-led projects examining the candidate's transition from actor and teacher of actors to theatre director. The candidate's qualitative study was also underpinned by reflective practice on her extensive professional experience as actor, teacher and director.
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Davies, Llewellyn Willis. "‘LOOK’ AND LOOK BACK: Using an auto/biographical lens to study the Australian documentary film industry, 1970 - 2010." Phd thesis, Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/154339.
Full textAbstract:
While much has been written on the Australian film and television
industry, little has been presented by actual producers,
filmmakers and technicians of their time and experiences within
that same industry. Similarly, with historical documentaries, it
has been academics rather than filmmakers who have led the
debate. This thesis addresses this shortcoming and bridges the
gap between practitioner experience and intellectual discussion,
synthesising the debate and providing an important contribution
from a filmmaker-academic, in its own way unique and insightful.
The thesis is presented in two voices. First, my voice, the
voice of memoir and recollected experience of my screen
adventures over 38 years within the Australian industry, mainly
producing historical documentaries for the ABC and the SBS. This
is represented in italics. The second half and the alternate
chapters provide the industry framework in which I worked with
particular emphasis on documentaries and how this evolved and
developed over a 40-year period, from 1970 to 2010.
Within these two voices are three layers against which this
history is reviewed and presented. Forming the base of the
pyramid is the broad Australian film industry made up of feature
films, documentary, television drama, animation and other types
and styles of production. Above this is the genre documentary
within this broad industry, and making up the small top tip of
the pyramid, the sub-genre of historical documentary. These form
the vertical structure within which industry issues are
discussed. Threading through it are the duel determinants of
production: ‘the market’ and ‘funding’.
Underpinning the industry is the involvement of government, both
state and federal, forming the three dimensional matrix for the
thesis. For over 100 years the Australian film industry has
depended on government support through subsidy, funding
mechanisms, development assistance, broadcast policy and
legislative provisions.
This thesis aims to weave together these industry layers, binding
them with the determinants of the market and funding, and
immersing them beneath layers of government legislation and
policy to present a new view of the Australian film industry.
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Scodari, Christine Ann. "The rhetoric of mass intercultural identification : a Burkeian study of the new Australian film industry /." The Ohio State University, 1985. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487263399027217.
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Enders, Mark. "No Laughing Matter: An Exploration Of The Role Of The Protagonist In Australian Feature Films Classified As Social Comedies." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2004. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/15926/1/Mark_Enders_-_The_Last_of_the_Wombats.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Australian film has engaged social issues since its earliest days, often within the genre of comedy. Writers and filmmakers have treated a wide range of issues with varying degrees of success in engaging their audience in a level of social discourse. This success has been independent of the specific issue addressed, the government funding policy, cultural policy, the national and international political climate, and available technologies. Rather it can be attributed to the filmmaker's approach to both characterization and narrative. Of the films chosen for examination it appeared that a positively portrayed protagonist in combination with a narrative that provided a clear but balanced opinion on the issue addressed was more successful in engaging its audience in a level of social discourse. The ability of the films to engage their respective audiences was based on criteria such as box office success, critical reception, and media and public discussion of the film around the time of its release as well as more recently.
The findings of this investigation arose from the production of a feature length screenplay, The Last of the Wombats, which dealt with the issue of national security.
The screenplay follows the Ruddocks along on their journey from personal insecurity, through issues of perceived threat, to the initial response of increasing the physical security measures around their house. These actions produce more problems than they solve, and this state of imbalance forces the main characters (Amber, Brian and Karen) to address their own insecurities and eventually to move beyond them.
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Enders, Mark. "No Laughing Matter: An Exploration Of The Role Of The Protagonist In Australian Feature Films Classified As Social Comedies." Queensland University of Technology, 2004. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15926/.
Full textAbstract:
Australian film has engaged social issues since its earliest days, often within the genre of comedy. Writers and filmmakers have treated a wide range of issues with varying degrees of success in engaging their audience in a level of social discourse. This success has been independent of the specific issue addressed, the government funding policy, cultural policy, the national and international political climate, and available technologies. Rather it can be attributed to the filmmaker's approach to both characterization and narrative. Of the films chosen for examination it appeared that a positively portrayed protagonist in combination with a narrative that provided a clear but balanced opinion on the issue addressed was more successful in engaging its audience in a level of social discourse. The ability of the films to engage their respective audiences was based on criteria such as box office success, critical reception, and media and public discussion of the film around the time of its release as well as more recently. The findings of this investigation arose from the production of a feature length screenplay, The Last of the Wombats, which dealt with the issue of national security. The screenplay follows the Ruddocks along on their journey from personal insecurity, through issues of perceived threat, to the initial response of increasing the physical security measures around their house. These actions produce more problems than they solve, and this state of imbalance forces the main characters (Amber, Brian and Karen) to address their own insecurities and eventually to move beyond them.
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Barber, Stella M. "Woomera’s women : rolls and roles of film : camera operators on the Anglo-Australian rocket range 1947-1970." Thesis, Barber, Stella M. (2020) Woomera’s women : rolls and roles of film : camera operators on the Anglo-Australian rocket range 1947-1970. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2020. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/55984/.
Full textAbstract:
With the aftermath of World War II and the onset of the Cold War, Australia hosted with the UK one of the few global centres dedicated to the research, development and testing of rockets, jets and other long-range weapons, including Britain’s atomic warheads. By the mid 1950s a new purpose-built town had been constructed in the Australian desert, named “Woomera”, with a population of 7,000 at its peak. No expense was spared in establishing the testing grounds, laboratories and infrastructure – which included a security cleared film laboratory and production facilities at Salisbury near Adelaide – to support the Anglo-Australian Joint Project’s research and experimentation.
This dissertation examines pioneering work undertaken by women at Woomera and Salisbury within the context of Australia’s broader social history. Women’s roles at Woomera were initially expected to be traditional – supportive wives and mothers. My research features the women who undertook new roles operating the sophisticated kinetheodolites and Vinten cameras that filmed and tracked the rocket firings, and the women referred to as “computers” who assisted in the pre- and post-production process, including data evaluation. Previous studies of Woomera (e.g., Morton, 1989, Southall 1962) exclude any detailed mention of this industrial phenomenon – women as camera operators and data analysts/computers. My dissertation addresses this significant gap in the literature as the first systematic oral history of these secret Cold War undertakings.
The gendered aspects, political economy and unique cohort of this research radically challenges the normative assumptions concerning Australian women and workplaces during what is commonly perceived of as a conservative era. Recent scholarship (e.g., Shetterly 2016) in the United States and the United Kingdom has highlighted work of female mathematicians during World War II and the space race. Given the age of these trailblazing women, it is timely that due attention be given to Australia’s “hidden figures”.
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Ashton, Romana, and darkroom@optus com au. "Antipodean Gothic Cinema: A Study of the (postmodern) Gothic in Australian and New Zealand Film since the 1970s." Central Queensland University. Humanities, 2006. http://library-resources.cqu.edu.au./thesis/adt-QCQU/public/adt-QCQU20060921.111449.
Full textAbstract:
Although various film critics and academics have located the Gothic in Antipodean cinema, there has been no in-depth study of the Gothic and its ideological entanglements with postmodernism within this cinema. This study is divided into two parts and locates the (postmodern) Gothic in twelve Australian/New Zealand films ranging from Ted Kotcheffs Wake in Fright (1971) to Peter Jacksons Heavenly Creatures (1994).
Part one theorizes the Gothic as a subversive cultural mode that foreshadows postmodernism in terms of its antithetical relationship with Enlightenment ideals. Interconnections are made between proto-postmodern aspects of early Gothic literature and the appropriation and intensification of these aspects in what has been dubbed the postmodern Gothic. The dissertation then argues that the Antipodes was/is constructed through Euro-centric discourse(s) as a Gothic/(proto)-postmodern space or place, this construction manifest in, and becoming intertwined with the postmodern in post 1970s Antipodean cinema.
In part two, a cross-section of Australian/New Zealand films is organized into cinematic sub-genres in line with their similar thematic preoccupations and settings, all films argued as reflecting a marked postmodern Gothic sensibility.
In its conclusion, the study finds that Antipodean Gothic cinema, particularly since the 1970s, can be strongly characterized by its combining of Gothic/postmodernist modes of representation, this convergence constitutive of a postmodernized version of the Gothic which is heavily influenced by Euro-centric constructions of the Antipodes in Gothic/(proto)-postmodern related terms.
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Wang, Ying. "Representations of obesity in national newspapers: A comparative study between China and Australia." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2020. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2367.
Full textAbstract:
Nearly two-thirds of Australians and up to half of all Chinese are overweight. Global obesity figures have tripled since 1975 (WHO, 2018b), which demonstrates that obesity is a major global health problem. It is critical to examine how print media represent obesity because they influence public understanding of the problem. It is also essential to determine ways to improve health journalism and health outcomes. While there is a significant body of literature that has examined representations of obesity in the Australian press through mixed approaches, there is a deficit of media research into how China’s press has represented this issue. This study investigated how obesity was represented in two national newspapers—China Daily and The Australian—between 2013 and 2018. Content analysis was performed to reveal the types and frequency of obesity-related news items regarding causes, determinants, impacts, solutions and sources. Additionally, discourse analysis was undertaken to qualitatively reveal the framing of obesity based on findings from the content analysis. China Daily was selected because it is China’s largest-selling national daily English-language newspaper, while The Australian is Australia’s largest daily national newspaper. More than 1000 news items on obesity published in the two newspapers between 2013 and 2018 were retrieved through Factiva. Content analysis uncovered that obesity was under-presented in both newspapers. Individual causes and solutions were the most prominent news items in both newspapers, whereas genetic and biological determinants were less likely to be presented. For childhood obesity, parental determinants appeared more often than social determinants. Findings from the discourse analysis found three prominent frames—legitimation, responsibility and stereotype—in which individual responsibility was highlighted, while social responsibility was backgrounded. Individual responsibility and blaming were the dominant discourses in both newspapers. Further, stereotypes, weight stigma and the thin ideal discourse were mentioned in the news items. Framing analysis revealed that news items on obesity tended to shift health costs onto individuals rather than highlight the responsibility of the food and drink industries. The presence of stereotype frames was greater in China Daily than The Australian.
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Osborn, Matthew. ""I don't know what makes a man cry like that..." : the masculinity crisis and Australian film, 1997-2004 /." Title page, abstract and table of contents only, 2005. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09AR/09aro812.pdf.
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Bannah, Maxwell Joseph. "A cause for animation : Harry Reade and Cuban revolution." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2007. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16452/1/Max_Bannah_Thesis.pdf.
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This monographic study examines the life of the Australian artist Harry Reade (1927-1998), and his largely overlooked contribution to animation within historical, social, political and cultural contexts of his time.
The project constitutes a biography of Reade, tracing his life from his birth in 1927 through to his period of involvement with animation between 1956 and 1969. The biography examines the forces that shaped Reade and the ways in which he tried to shape his world through the medium of animation. It chronicles his experiences as a child living in impoverished conditions during the Great Depression, his early working life, the influence of left wing ideology on his creative development, and his contribution to animation with the Waterside Workers' Federation Film Unit, in Sydney. The study especially focuses on the period between 1961 and 1969 during which Reade supported the Cuban Revolution's social and cultural reform process by writing and directing animated films at the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (Cuban Institute of the Art and Industry of Cinema - ICAIC), in Havana.
The thesis argues that Reade played a significant role in the development of Cuban animation during the early years of the Cuban Revolution. Further, his animated work in this cultural sphere was informed by a network of political alliances and social philosophies that were directly linked to his experiences and creative development in Australia.
Theoretical approaches to biographical method and animation studies have been used to provide a cohesive framework for an investigation of Reade's life and animation work. The thesis also draws on Reade's autobiography and his animated works, oral histories, newspaper articles, press cartoons, illustrations, photographs, and official government archival documents. This project also has an archival purpose in collecting and compiling Reade's animation work onto CD.
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Aly, Anne M. "Audience responses to the Australian media discourse on terrorism and the 'other' : the fear of terrorism between and among Australian Muslims and the broader community." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2008. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/176.
Full textAbstract:
The terrorist attcks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001 heralded an era of unprecedented media and public attention on the global phenomenon of terrorism. Implicit in the Australian media's discourse on terrorism that evolved out of the events of 11 September is a construction of the Western world (and specifically Australia) as perpetually at threat of terrorism.
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Li, Jian. "Film Dialogue Translation And The Intonation Unit : Towards Equivalent Effect In English And Chinese." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1999. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1480.
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This thesis proposes a new approach to film dialogue translation (FDT) with special reference to the translation process and quality of English-to-Chinese dubbing. In response to the persistent translation failures that led to widespread criticism of dubbed films and TV plays in China for their artificial 'translation talk', this study provides a pragmatic methodology derived from the integration of the theories and analytical systems of information flow in the tradition of the functionalist approach to speech and writing with the relevant theoretical and empirical findings from TS and other related branches of linguistics. It has developed and validated a translation model (FITNIATS) which makes the intonation unit (IU) the central unit of film dialogue translation. Arguing that any translation which treats dubbing as a simple script-to-script process, without transferring the prosodic properties of the spoken words into the commensurate functions of TL, is incomplete, the thesis demonstrates that, in order to reduce confusion and loss of meaning/rhythm, the SL dialogue should be rendered in the IUs with the stressed syllables well-timed in TL to keep the corresponding information foci in sync with the visual message. It shows that adhering to the sentence-to-sentence formula as the translation metastrategy with the information structure of the original film dialogue permuted can result in serious stylistic as well as communicative problems. Five key theoretical issues in TS are addressed in the context of FDT, viz., the relations between micro-structure and macro-structure translation perspectives, foreignizing vs. domesticating translation, the unit of translation, the levels of translation equivalence and the criteria for evaluating translation quality. lf equivalent effect is to be achieved in all relevant dimensions, it is argued that 'FITness criteria' need to be met in film translation assessment, and four such criteria arc proposed. This study demonstrates that prosody and word order, as sensitive indices of the information flow which occurs in film dialogue through the creation and perception of meaning, can provide a basis for minimizing cross-linguistic discrepancies and compensating for loss of the FIT functions, especially where conflicts arise between the syntactic and/or medium constraints and the adequate transfer of cultural-specific content and style. The implications of the model for subtitling arc also made explicit.
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Armstrong, Shayne. "Beast Sellers: The Necessary Evils of Paratexts in the Development and Marketing of the Horror-Thriller Screenplay." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2005. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16446/1/Shayne_Armstrong_-_Monster_Business.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Monster Business is a feature film project comprising a horror-thriller feature screenplay and an accompanying exegesis. The screenplay is about a best-selling author who is behind on the delivery of the sequel to his money-spinning first novel and is made an offer by an enigmatic stranger to help rearrange his working environment to facilitate the rapid completion of the manuscript. Over the coming hours, then months, the author discovers just how far the stranger will go to complete the terms of this bizarre and brutal new contract.
This accompanying exegesis examines a series of 'paratexts' (a logline, a one-pager and a treatment) that the screenplay has given rise to. The thesis argues that the role of the screenwriter does not end with the production of the core text--the screenplay.
Instead, in order to support the development and/or the marketing of the script into a feature film, the screenwriter is an ongoing generator of supplemental documents or
paratexts. The paper explores the status and function of paratexts (loglines, onepagers, treatments and explanatory development notes). It further argues that developmental paratexts are a necessary evil, providing a sifting or culling mechanism for producers and production executives, and that they are intended to guide a project toward being 'greenlit' but will more often have, at best, benign or, at worst, negative or destructive effects on its development. In this way, developmental paratexts, although ubiquitous and pro forma, are inherently problematic.
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Armstrong, Shayne. "Beast Sellers: The Necessary Evils of Paratexts in the Development and Marketing of the Horror-Thriller Screenplay." Queensland University of Technology, 2005. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16446/.
Full textAbstract:
Monster Business is a feature film project comprising a horror-thriller feature screenplay and an accompanying exegesis. The screenplay is about a best-selling author who is behind on the delivery of the sequel to his money-spinning first novel and is made an offer by an enigmatic stranger to help rearrange his working environment to facilitate the rapid completion of the manuscript. Over the coming hours, then months, the author discovers just how far the stranger will go to complete the terms of this bizarre and brutal new contract. This accompanying exegesis examines a series of 'paratexts' (a logline, a one-pager and a treatment) that the screenplay has given rise to. The thesis argues that the role of the screenwriter does not end with the production of the core text--the screenplay. Instead, in order to support the development and/or the marketing of the script into a feature film, the screenwriter is an ongoing generator of supplemental documents or paratexts. The paper explores the status and function of paratexts (loglines, onepagers, treatments and explanatory development notes). It further argues that developmental paratexts are a necessary evil, providing a sifting or culling mechanism for producers and production executives, and that they are intended to guide a project toward being 'greenlit' but will more often have, at best, benign or, at worst, negative or destructive effects on its development. In this way, developmental paratexts, although ubiquitous and pro forma, are inherently problematic.
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Proudley, Craig William. "The way of the warrior: Realising the mythic warrior-hero in the action genre and in Australian cinema." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2018. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/116768/9/Craig%20Proudley%20Exegesis.pdf.
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The Way of the Warrior, Realising the Mythic Warrior-hero in the Action genre and in Australian Cinema, is Creative Practice research that pursues detailed analysis of the warrior-hero in Australian and, action genre cinema narratives. Warrior-hero archetypes are employed in the original Australian feature screenplay Behold a Pale Horse in order to address whether it is possible to synthesise the Warrior-hero archetype with the tropes, codes and conventions of the Action genre in an Australian context and create an original screenplay with the potential for both critical and commercial success?
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Gaze, Tim. "Surf, sun, and sound: The role of surf music in the development of Australian popular culture. An investigation of the iconic surf film, Morning of The Earth, as a medium." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2020. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/196756/1/Tim_Gaze_Thesis.pdf.
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A new model for examining iconic works in creative popular culture was developed, generating comparative insights into how the iconic film Morning Of The Earth (1972) functions as a medium, first by re-recording the original soundtrack using emerging local talent, then by asking the same artists to re-imagine the soundtrack and compose new material for the film. Informed by historical connection to the original film, artistic direction of these projects enabled exploration of how Morning Of The Earth's influence inspired these artists' reworking and responding to the original soundtrack by comparing the film's overall position in Australian popular culture.
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Cameron, Priscilla A. "Taking tonal proof to the world stage: developing a framework of creative and strategic choices to enhance an aspiring Australian feature film director's vision." Thesis, Griffith University, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/410149.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is informed by my own transition from short filmmaking to the writing and directing of my first feature film, The Butterfly Tree (2017). It investigates the crucial role of domestic distributors within the context of an Australian feature film ‘mainstream’ funding model and focuses on how domestic distributors evaluate an Australian feature film pitch and project. It also explores the power of tonal proof (for the purposes of this thesis, defined as a short-form project tonally reflective of the long-form project in terms of genre, tone and style). Its central line of inquiry investigates how aspiring Australian feature film directors can efficiently transition from short filmmaking to feature film directing by strengthening their creative vision while simultaneously meeting funding body and funding system requirements. This process has synthesised primary and secondary research with reflective creative practice and praxis, and involved the creation of two short films and an awardwinning feature film. The feature competed at the Toronto International Film Festival, one of the most prestigious ‘A list’ film festivals in the world and was also released theatrically in Australia.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith Film School
Arts, Education and Law
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DeLassus, Leslie Marie. "Salvage historiography: viewing, special effects, and Norman O. Dawn's unpreserved archive." Diss., University of Iowa, 2016. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2203.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation excavates the work of early special effects cinematographer Norman O. Dawn in order to explore film spectatorship, the ephemerality of the cinematic image, and motion picture preservation and archival practices. Best known for his innovations of glass and matte shot techniques, Dawn produced 861 composite images while working in the U.S. film industry between 1906 and 1954. Although technological film historians acknowledge the importance of Dawn’s innovations to the development of motion picture special effects, the composite images themselves as well as the films for which they were produced remain in relative obscurity. Rather than attempting to recover these objects for inclusion in an existing film canon, my research interrogates their obscurity by analyzing Dawn’s special effects processes against the broader economic concerns that inform the dominant practices of the US film industry during the first half of the twentieth-century.
My research begins with the Norman O. Dawn collection housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, which is the most comprehensive historical record of Dawn’s work in the film industry. Constructed by Dawn himself between 1962 and 1974, this collection consists of 164 poster-sized collages of archival ephemera that illustrate the special effects processes employed in the production of 235 composite images for eighty-five films. While these eighty-five film titles constitute a tentative corpus upon which to base my research, seventy of these films are lost, which raises questions concerning the relationship between motion picture preservation and film history, specifically why these films have not been preserved while others have and to what extent the economic imperatives of the film industry have determined these conditions.
I address these questions in my analysis of archival material related to these films, finding that they traverse several distinct domains of film practice—including early scenic footage for newsreels and the amusement park ride Hale’s Tours of the World, early one-reel travel films, silent-era studio shorts, serials, and B features, and poverty row and independently-produced silent and sound feature-length films—thereby situating Dawn’s special effects at the intersection of the early and contemporary cinematic modes often aligned in studies of cinematic special effects. I argue that this heterogeneous corpus points to a studio-era Hollywood cinema alternative to the classical model, largely forgotten because it is dominated by low-budget product intended to supplement more costly feature films. In contrast to the classical model, this alternate cinematic mode emphasizes the scenic and thrilling elements that characterize both early exhibitionist films and contemporary effects-driven blockbusters. In this context, Dawn’s special effects processes constitute a historically marginalized practice precisely because they are non-routine techniques that provide cost-effective means to produce otherwise economically infeasible scenes, and, as such, operate on the periphery of conventional film production.
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Taylor, Cory Jane. "What happens next? " Telling " the Japanese in contemporary Australian screen stories." Queensland University of Technology, 2006. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16253/.
Full textAbstract:
This study investigates the challenges facing screenwriters in Australia who set out to represent the Japanese on screen. The study is presented in two parts; an exegesis and a creative practice component consisting of two full length feature film screenplays. The exegesis explores how certain screenwriting conventions have constrained recent screen images of the Japanese within the bounds of the cliched and stereotypical, and argues for a greater resistance to these conventions in the future. The two screenplays experiment with new ways of representing the Japanese in mainstream Australian film and aim to expand the repertoire of Asian images in the national film culture.
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Bannah, Maxwell Joseph. "A cause for animation : Harry Reade and Cuban revolution." Queensland University of Technology, 2007. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16452/.
Full textAbstract:
This monographic study examines the life of the Australian artist Harry Reade (1927-1998), and his largely overlooked contribution to animation within historical, social, political and cultural contexts of his time. The project constitutes a biography of Reade, tracing his life from his birth in 1927 through to his period of involvement with animation between 1956 and 1969. The biography examines the forces that shaped Reade and the ways in which he tried to shape his world through the medium of animation. It chronicles his experiences as a child living in impoverished conditions during the Great Depression, his early working life, the influence of left wing ideology on his creative development, and his contribution to animation with the Waterside Workers' Federation Film Unit, in Sydney. The study especially focuses on the period between 1961 and 1969 during which Reade supported the Cuban Revolution's social and cultural reform process by writing and directing animated films at the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (Cuban Institute of the Art and Industry of Cinema - ICAIC), in Havana. The thesis argues that Reade played a significant role in the development of Cuban animation during the early years of the Cuban Revolution. Further, his animated work in this cultural sphere was informed by a network of political alliances and social philosophies that were directly linked to his experiences and creative development in Australia. Theoretical approaches to biographical method and animation studies have been used to provide a cohesive framework for an investigation of Reade's life and animation work. The thesis also draws on Reade's autobiography and his animated works, oral histories, newspaper articles, press cartoons, illustrations, photographs, and official government archival documents. This project also has an archival purpose in collecting and compiling Reade's animation work onto CD.
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Beaton, John Roderick. "The Ridge and the River: Adapting a novel set in World War Two into a screenplay for a contemporary Australian film audience." Thesis, Curtin University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2219.
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This two-part thesis argues that academic studies of adaptation from novel to film disregard the importance to the screenwriter of industrial and commercial pressures. The first part has a brief overview of adaptation studies, and the art of screenwriting which links to a final chapter about adapting a specific novel into a screenplay, some concerns of screenplay structure and a personal review of tasks ahead. The second part is the creative work of a feature length screenplay.
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Taylor, Cory Jane. "What happens next? " Telling " the Japanese in contemporary Australian screen stories." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2006. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16253/1/Cory_Taylor_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This study investigates the challenges facing screenwriters in Australia who set out to represent the Japanese on screen. The study is presented in two parts; an exegesis and a creative practice component consisting of two full length feature film screenplays. The exegesis explores how certain screenwriting conventions have constrained recent screen images of the Japanese within the bounds of the cliched and stereotypical, and argues for a greater resistance to these conventions in the future. The two screenplays experiment with new ways of representing the Japanese in mainstream Australian film and aim to expand the repertoire of Asian images in the national film culture.
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Vickery, Edward Louis, and annaeddy@cyberone com au. "Telling Australia's story to the world: The Department of Information 1939-1950." The Australian National University. Faculty of Arts, 2003. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20040721.123626.
Full textAbstract:
This study focuses on the organisation and operation of the Australian Governments Department of Information that operated from 1939 to 1950. Equal weighting is given to
the wartime and peacetime halves of the Departments existence, allowing a balanced assessment of the Departments role and development from its creation through to its
abolition. The central issue that the Department had to address was: what was an appropriate and acceptable role for a government information organisation in Australias democratic political system? The issue was not primarily one of formal restrictions on the governments power but rather of the accepted conception of the role of government. No societal consensus had been established before the Department was thrust into dealing with this issue on a practical basis. While the application of the Departments censorship function attracted considerable comment, the procedures were clear and accepted.
Practices laid down in World War I were revived and followed, while arguments were over degree rather than kind. It was mainly in the context of its expressive functions that the
Department had to confront the fundamental issue of its role. This study shows that the development of the Department was driven less by sweeping ministerial pronouncements
than through a series of pragmatic incremental responses to circumstances as they arose.
This Departmental approach was reinforced by its organisational weakness. The Departments options in its relations with media organisations and other government agencies were, broadly, competition, compulsion and cooperation. Competition was never
widely pursued and the limits of compulsion in regard to its expressive functions were rapidly reached and withdrawn from. Particularly through to 1943 the Department struggled when it sought to assert its position against the claims of other government
agencies and commercial organisations. Notwithstanding some high profile conflicts, this study shows that the Department primarily adopted a cooperative stance, seeking to
supplement rather than supplant the work of other organisations. Following the 1943 Federal elections the Department was strengthened by stable and focused leadership as well
as the development of its own distribution channels and outlets whose audience was primarily overseas. While some elements, such as the film unit, remained reasonably
politically neutral, the Department as a whole was increasingly employed to promote the message of the Government of the day. This led to a close identification of the Department
with the Labor Party, encouraging the Departments abolition following the Coalition parties victory in the 1949 Federal elections. Nevertheless in developing its role the Department had remained within the mainstream of administrative practice in Australia.
While some of its staff assumed a greater public profile than had been the practice for prewar public servants, this was not unusual or exceptional at that time. Partly through the efforts of the Department, the accepted conception of the role of government had expanded
sufficiently by 1950 that despite the abolition of the Department most of its functions continued within the Australian public sector.
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Catling, Aaron. "The Ending Needs Work AKA the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of being an independent filmmaker in Australia." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2005. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16091/1/Aaron_Catling_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Over the period of candidature, write and direct a feature film to completion. Furthermore, undertake a thorough reflective phase which involves the analysis of each aspect relating to those key components, writing and directing. Through this form of creative practice and utilising state of the art digital filmmaking techniques it is hoped that an addition to knowledge will be achieved.
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Catling, Aaron. "The Ending Needs Work AKA the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of being an independent filmmaker in Australia." Queensland University of Technology, 2005. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16091/.
Full textAbstract:
Over the period of candidature, write and direct a feature film to completion. Furthermore, undertake a thorough reflective phase which involves the analysis of each aspect relating to those key components, writing and directing. Through this form of creative practice and utilising state of the art digital filmmaking techniques it is hoped that an addition to knowledge will be achieved.