Be patient, Better days are coming for the marketing of Australian content

Is it time to give up on Australian content?

When I first began this course, I said that I didn’t actually ‘trust’ Australian content and I would more often than not, search for reviews of an Australian film before I even considered watching it. Now, I’ve opened my mind to the development of Australian content, as it is obvious that we have come a long way from our ‘Boom & Bust’ period (Burns, A & Eltham, B 2010) of Crocodile Dundee and low budget ‘ocker sex comedies’ (Middlemost, R 2017). Australia produces not only impeccable actors but incredible writers as well, the production of our content is looking bright, it’s our distribution techniques and reaching the audience that we need to worry about.

‘Just Keep Swimming!’ (Finding Nemo, 2003). Maybe Australian content producers should listen to Dory?

This session has completely flipped my preconcieved ideas of Australian content, now of which I greet with open arms. Personally, I believe that the minds of domestic viewers would be changed in regards to Australian content if it were more accessible to viewers. It’s no secret that viewers are moving their way onto streaming services such as Netflix and Stan. ‘More and more, Australians are either complementing or replacing their consumption of live broadcast TV with streamed content.’ (Roy Morgan Research, 2013).

Home grown Australian films aren’t distributed onto as many screens as their international counterparts. If you wanted to view The Babadook in 2014, you would have had to find one of the 13 art house screens that were blessed with the psychological thriller. The reality of one of the 13 screens being within a reasonable distance is ridiculous, we as a nation need to have more faith in our home grown content.

As stated by Screen Australia in 2011, ’79 per cent of people agreed (32 per cent strongly) that Australian stories are vital for contributing to our sense of Australian national identity; while 75 per cent agreed (35 per cent strongly) that they would miss the Australian film and television industry if it ceased to exist.’ Granted it has been 7 years since this was written, however I would like to believe its true.

Screen Australia, 2015, Australian audiences are watching online

According to this infograph from Screen Australia, it displays that one of the main ‘traditional methods’ that viewers use to discover new content is ‘word of mouth’. This could be detrimental to Australian production as the preconcieved views of Australian content is isn’t good, which is more than likely what would be discussed.

It isn’t the Australian content that is ‘broken’ per say, its the way in which we distribute and market our content. ‘As producers seek new ways to reach the sought-after youth audience in particular, some have seized upon mobile phones as offering a renewed possibility of delivering product for the ‘on the go’ market.'(de Roeper, J & Luckman, S 2009, pp.8). Taking this into consideration, Australian producers know how to market to their target market and at a reduced cost, they just aren’t giving marketing and distribution the time for it to work efficiently with the audiences.

Overall, we’ll still have the classic first date at the cinema and my family will still gather around the television to watch My Kitchen Rules. It isn’t that we should give up on Australian content, it’s that we need to be patient with the development of distribution and marketing in order for Australian films to reach their full potential, both in the box office and with audiences.

References

Burns, A and Eltham, B 2010 “Boom and Bust in Australian Screen Policy: 10BA, the Film Finance Corporation and Hollywood’s ‘race to the bottom’”. Media International Australia. August 2010, No. 136, p 103-118.

Screen Australia, 2015, Australian audiences are watching online, Screen Australia, viewed 29th January 2018 <https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/infographics/australian-audiences-are-watching-online&gt;

 

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Who needs culture when we have can have JOBS!!!

With new innovations and new technologies, jobs are being created everyday. With this however, comes the demolishing of ‘old’ jobs. Newspapers are slowly creeping their way onto only digital, if it weren’t for the fact I work in a hotel where newspapers are delivered daily I would think they were already only digital. But with this, are we losing our culture amongst the new ways of the first world?

Laurence D, 2013 (source)

Australian content production is at a high, with the television show Wentworth that gained its popularity after being first aired on Foxtel to Australian audiences May 1st 2013, and since has been picked up by Netflix for international viewing. But when it comes to the Australian production, is that more important than projecting our culture onto the media?

Australia is part of several ‘Co-Production treaties’ with countries including: Canada, China, Singapore and the United Kingdom (Screen Australia). With a co-production agreement between two countries, it opens up a greater pool of resources – by automatically accessing two markets in terms of creativity, finance and audience reach (Middlemost R, 2018), which in turn, creates more economic revenue for Australia. The basic requirement of each Arrangement is that each co-producer must bring a minimum percentage of the financial and creative contribution to the project, and further, these two elements need to be ‘reasonably in proportion'(Middlemost, R 2018), meaning there has to be content related to each country within the film. These co-productions are valuable to the Australian media production and give Australia a voice amongst all of the Hollywood blockbusters constantly taking the headlines.

Movies such as The Great Gatsby (2013) and Babe (1995) are both co-productions with the United States. Whilst Australia doesn’t explicitly have a co-production treaty with the United States it doesn’t mean that they cannot produce with them. However, when you think of these two films, they don’t exactly shout ‘Australianness’ at you, do they? Have we become far too involved in the economic gain of media production that we are losing our national pride in ridding the ‘Australianness’ within our content?

The Great Gatsby film (2013)

‘Another site where globalising processes are recalibrating Australian content is the
increasingly affiliation of independent Australian production companies with their
global counterparts.’ (O’Regan T, Potter A, 2013, pp.10)

Domestic production companies are being encouraged to morph their view of Australian content of which they believe would appeal to the international market. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop encouraged the filming of Thor: Ragnarok to be filmed on Australian soil, whilst it does involves Australian actors and actresses (namely Chris Hemsworth and Cate Blanchett) it doesn’t exactly justify ‘Australian creativity’ when it is a U.S. production. In her speech that given at the launch of the film she is quoted saying ‘Let’s hope we can find our way clear to continue to support blockbusters of this type being filmed here in Australia.’ (Bishop, J 2017). Is being the landscape of Hollywood blockbusters now more important than projecting our own culture through film and television?

Julie Bishop at the premiere of Thor: Ragnarok (source)

Ms Bishop was also quoted at the premiere saying ‘It does add a great deal to the Australian economy and it will raise our profile overseas as a sophisticated, creative nation’. A sophisticated, creative nation who is the backdrop for other countries creative exports?

Sure, filming Thor: Ragnarok brought jobs for aspiring producers and media students for a short time and perhaps the production of Aquaman will bring jobs for a short term as well. Bring jobs and bring tourism, we however cannot lose ourselves in the creativity of another nation.

References

Middlemost, R 2018, ‘Cross national casting, transnational co-productions, location incentives and runaway productions’, PowerPoint slides, BCM330, University of Wollongong, viewed 31 January 2018

O’Regan, T & Potter, A 2013, ‘Globalisation from within? The De-Nationalising of Australian film and television production’, Media Internation Australia, no. 149, pp. 5-14

Screen Australia, 2017, Upcoming Production Report, Screen Australia, viewed 1 February 2018 <https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/2e4a1e52-4466-48b7-aad8-ca05e207f8a9/upcoming_productions_report_features.pdf&gt;

 

 

Global diversity favoured over Australian content

“The way we watch favours global cultural diversity over Australian content”. 

When I watch films, I like to watch content that takes me away to another world or place. For a girl who has grown up in semi-rural Australia, visiting the streets of New York in When Harry met Sally and outer space in Star Wars is a journey for me. So if you were to ask me ‘Do you watch Australian content?’ it more than likely would’ve been a firm no. When it comes to this media content, how have we become far too involved in ‘the way of the Americans’ that we prefer to watch ANOTHER Adam Sandler film as opposed to a new film containing significant Australian content?

I personally believe we are a diverse culture with numerous stems of interests, morals and beliefs, this is not projected onto our screens however. If I was to ask ‘What is your Australian film?’ A typical response would be something like Crocodile Dundee or The Sapphires, many however do not realise that films like The Great Gatsby and Happy Feet are actually Australian written or produced films. This is of course not the audiences fault, the marketing and portraying in these films are that of ‘American’ persona. Happy Feet is tricky as it involves many different accents within the film, the dominant one being American.

Australia isn’t opposed to broadcasting its content internationally, however marketing and distribution somehow takes a backseat when it comes to new content in the domestic and international market.

‘The ‘failure’ of Australian films is often attributed to deficiencies in the creative processes of development and production, or the funding strategies of government film agencies (Eltham, 2009; Kaufman, 2009; Schembri, 2008; Charlton, 2005); however, these discourses are limited by their tendency to overlook the significance of distribution and exhibition in shaping the reception of Australian films.’ (Aveyard, K 2011, pp. 36)

Free Trade Agreements (FTA) are designed to reduce the barriers between two or more countries for purposes of trade, which are in place to help protect local markets and industries (Middlemost, R 2018). These are aimed to be beneficial to customers as it enables each country to place more products on shelves which in turn creates more revenue for each country. Yet ANOTHER tactic that the government uses for economic gain.

When thinking about the benefits of FTAs, one is the extended reach of our content to more countries. The Babadook (2014) is an Australian film and only aired on 13 screens in Australia, a miniscule number compared to the 147 screens in opened with in the U.K. It’s a shame that The Babadook wasn’t given the opportunity to perform well nationally. Again, not the Australian audiences fault, we just don’t realise that our Aussie films are going abroad before we know that they exist. Producer Kristina Ceyton is quoted by the Guardian “The kind of film that we made, it’s kind of an art house film and a psychological thriller slash horror. These don’t traditionally do that well in Australia”.

The Babadook film (2014)

Is it that this genre of film doesn’t perform well in Australia, or that Australian content as a whole doesn’t perform well? Despite the lack of ‘Australianness’??

In future, I aim to challenge this notion and will ideally search for Australian content in cinemas in order to develop my own opinion instead of reading an grammatically incorrect iMDb review.

References

Aveyard, K 2011 ‘Australian films at the cinema: rethinking the role of distribution and exhibition’, Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, no. 138, pp. 36-45

 

 

Is any attention good attention for Australian films?

There will always be a spotlight on Australian film and television, whether it be on what Hugh Jackman is doing now or when the new season of My Kitchen Rules is, something is always happening. But is any attention good attention?

When it comes to us representing our country on film and television, we sway a lot towards either the outback or the suburbs. All of what we portray on screen we aim to greet tourists by the masses after the film piece is aired. Uluru almost always making a cameo appearance and ‘the local pub’ squeezing its way into a scene, we certainly know how to depict our values on screen. This could be because the Australian film industry are embracing our history and heritage of the land or because we are ‘the sunburnt country’. For example, The first scene of Australia is a shot of the sunrise in the Australian outback and Uluru makes an international appearance in The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, a scene where the drag queens are shot climbing the heart of the outback, depicted in a rather triumphant way. When this first aired, it brought crowds upon crowds of tourists to the outback to do the same. However now to climb Uluru is disrespectful to the sacred land and is not a tourist activity anymore.

(source)

Due to the strict guidelines in using Indigenous land in media content, this photo may now be viewed as disrespectful to the indigenous land of which wasn’t viewed that way in the past. The Australian landscape is a precious entity to the Indigenous Australians who founded this land, and some may view this photo as Screen Australia has devised an ‘Indigenous Assessment’ in their report on ‘Pathways & Protocols’ for any producers wanting to use indigenous content in their film projects. Section 2.1. being titled ‘Respect for Indigenous culture and heritage’ (Screen Australia), with this guide it allows Australian filmmakers respect the Australian landscape and indigenous content without being derogatory or racist (historic films not included). But now as a nation, we want to save the Great Barrier Reef and we want to be as respectful to indigenous land as possible. But to Australians, there is something humerous about being portrayed as an ‘ocker, true blue’ Australian in films of which we don’t want to end.

A quote by Tara Brabazon discusses the malleability if Australian cinema ‘During its moments of ‘revival’, Australian cinema has been reflexively (and at times embarrassingly) nationalist. Working against British codes of behaviour, Australian films like The Adventures of Barry Mackenzie (1972) and Gallipoli present a unified national ideology, rather than a contradictory analgam of discrepancy and historical discrepancies grounded in a recognisably national geography’ (Brabazon 2012, p. 151). What I take from this quote? Australian cinema can go from serious, real life events to comedic relief in a heart beat, which in my opinion depicts Australians VERY well.

Crocodile Dundee (n.d..)

The way in which ‘Australia’ is projected to the world and the way that ‘Australians’ are depicted are very different takes in film and media. Australia is depicted as the country with a beautiful landscape, being able to offer surf and snow and having the hidden treasures scattered across the country.

 

References

Babrazon, T 2001, ‘A pig in space? Babe and the problem of landscape’, in I Craven (ed.), Australian Cinema in the 1990’s, F. Cass, London, pp. 149-158.

Ozploitation & The 10BA Tax rebate

When it comes to Australian film making, a lot of producers need the extra kick in order to get their films made or even propose them. Australian director Bruce Beresford states in interview with The Australian  that he went to Hollywood to propose his films during casting that it was a “nightmare” and that when he tried to cast actors and actresses before they ‘got big’ they wouldn’t give him a second look.

However, the indecisive ‘pickiness’ with casting and scripts wasn’t the case for the aspiring producers and actors from 1970-80. In 1973, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam created the Australia Council, a national funding body for the arts, of which was modelled on English and Canadian institutions (Gardiner-Garden J, 1994, pp. 105). And in 1975, the Australian Film Comission was established. This meant that subsidies from this national screen funding agency began the national policy of direct public subsidies for Australian creative production. Following this national scheme were amendments made in 1978 and then again in 1981 which allowed producers to claim a ‘Producer offset’ subsidy (Screen Australia 2010). Sections of this amendmant were classified as ‘10B’ and ‘10BA’, and these tax subsidies became methods for attracting  film financing for domestic production in Australia (Middlemost R, 2017).

This new form of funding saw the ‘Boom or Bust’ period for the Australian film and television industry (Stratton, 1990). This period for filming saw ‘Boom’ films with great ratings such as ‘Man from Snowy River’ (1982) and ‘Crocodile Dundee’ (1986). Both these films were successful in their own ways and either depicted the Australian lifestyle and values that we maintain. A ‘Super reviewer’ of the website ‘Rotten tomatoes’ called Aj V says he thought ‘Crocodile Dundee’ was ‘A fun cross-cultural comedy/adventure movie… if you like Australian themed movies of the 80s, you’ll like it too.’

These 10BA tax subsidies also saw less successful or ‘Bust’ films, which included ‘The Cars that ate Paris‘ (1974) and ‘The Office Picnic‘ (1972) both of which had poor ratings from websites such as IMDb. Films from this era that were lacking in material and creativity are examples of people wanting to abuse the 10BA tax subsidies which saw a fall in production quality in some of these films made. Becayse of this period of filmaking, is it possible that this is the reason that the Australian audience doesn’t trust Australian produced content?

Director Mark Hartley who is behind the documentary ‘Not Quite Hollywood’ (2008), addresses the period of film in Australia. He uses the term ‘Ozploitation’ which is defined as ‘the exploitation of Australian films and filmmakers taking advantage of the 10BA tax rebate. Typically, genre films such as Horror, Thrillers, corny Romance and Actions films that were made on a low budget with R18+ ratings’. It discusses the abuse of the 10BA tax subsidies which produced low budget films with 3 distinct categories: sex comedies, ocker films, low budget horror films. This period also saw Australia’s fair share of creature features and action films (Middlemost R, 2017).

Since this era of films and television, Australian media has seen a change in what direction the government is taking in the production of Australian media content. As written in the Sydney Morning Herald by journalist Andrew Hornery that “Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to various government agencies crowing about what a coup it is to have such a big, international, all-star movie being made in Australia, with studios lured here by generous tax rebates and incentives offered by both federal and state governments”. Taking this into consideration, Are the Australian government taking its faith out of Australian made content and fuelling it into the beautiful landscape?

To finish this blog post, I leave you with a quote from Mad Max; “They say people don’t believe in heroes anymore. Well damn them! You and me, Max, we’re gonna give them back their heroes!”

Future Australian filmmakers will be our heroes.

References

Burns A, and Eltham B, 2010, “Boom and Bust in Australian Screen Policy:10BA, the Film Finance Corporation and Hollywood’s ‘race to the bottom’”. Media International Australia. August 2010, No. 136, p. 103-118.

Gardiner-Garden J, 1994, ‘Arts Policy in Australia: A History of Commonwealth Involvement’, Australian Parliamentary Library, Canberra Australia

Not Quite Hollywood, 2008, Documentary, Mark Hartley, Australia

Middlemost R, 2017, ‘Funding and Policy: A History of Market Failure’ PowerPoint slides, BCM330, University of Wollongong, viewed 12 December 2017

Screen Australia, 2010, ‘10BA: The Operation of 10BA’, Screen Australia <www.screenaustralia.gov.au/gtp/mpallemployment.html.>

 

Why do we have such strong assumptions on Australian media

What are the key assumptions surrounding the production of Australian content?

Being an Australian, we are always compared to the televised streotypes that impinge on our culture and it seems that our culture is the most exaggerated. Movies such as Crocodile Dundee, while a comedy film, has not stopped foreign people asking questions (to myself)  like ‘Do you ride kangaroos to school?’ and statements like ‘Throw a shrimp on the barbie!’

 

While kangaroos are spotted regularly in many Australian suburbs and country towns, and the majority of Australians do refer to barbeques as ‘barbie’, it’s these stereotypes that have resulted in the Australian audience to somewhat fear Australian content. It’s well known that Australian produced content doesn’t produce as much revenue as the Hollywood blockbusters do, but what’s shocking is that it’s Australian’s who are the least supportive audience of Australian content than other cultures. Screen Australia state that Australian films and Co-Produced films had a 1.9% total in the Australian box office in 2016. (Buena Vista films taking in 26.3% market share in 2016)

According to an article written by Karl Quinn (2014) of the Sydney Morning Herald, homegrown, Australian films accounted for less than 3% in the domestic box office in 2014. However, with our country producing more rising stars such as Margot Robbie and the Hemsworth brothers, Australian films and becoming more appealing to audiences both domestic and international, with a 2.7% increase in Australian box office and admissions in 2016 according to Screen Australia. With this being said, the Australian film industry is renowned for its ‘boom or bust’ mentality. Many Australians’ feel that Australian produced films are far more serious than their American or English counterparts. Australian films are either very serious in the way that they are portraying Australian history such as the film ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ (2002) or provide light-hearted comedy and strongly influence the stereotypes that Australians’ have grown to dislike, such as the television series ‘Housos’ (2011-2013). Both of these examples were popular in their own way and managed to attract a different audience from the Australian public.

One of the main assumptions is that Australian content just ‘isn’t good’ and it is stated by Mark Ryan (2014) that ‘Australian audience are inclined to watch films in a way that has almost no relationship to the national agenda or the general quest for a national cultural identity in the cinema.’ In relation to this quote, I believe that it is this mindset instilled in the Australian audiences minds that made films such as Peter Pan (2003) which was filmed on the Gold Coast, Queensland and Lion (2016) so successful among the Australian audience. However, not many know that these are Australian produced films.

To conclude this post, I’ll leave with my own thoughts and assumptions on Australian produced media. Personally, I believe that I give foreign films and television more of a chance than I do Australia media content of which after researching, I want to give more of a chance.

References

Quinn K, 2014, ‘Why wont we watch Australian films?,’ The Sydney Morning Herald, 26th October, viewedDecemer 18th 2017, <http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/why-wont-we-watch-australian-films-20141024-11bhia.ht ml>

Ryan M, 2014, A Silver Bullet for Australian Cinema? Genre Movies and the Audience Debate, Studies in Australasian Cinema, vol.6, iss. 2, pp.141-157

Screen Australia (2016), Cinema Industry Trends Gross Box Office and Admissions, Screen Australia, viewed December 12th 2017, <https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/industry-trends/box-office&gt;

 

 

 

Opinion on Australian Media content and the 10BA tax rebate

Television was introduced in Australia on the 5^th of November 1956, just in time for Australians to watch the Melbourne 1956 Summer Olympics from home. Ever since then, film and television have been the dominant form of media cultural consumption in Australia (Burns & Eltham, 2010). With smart phones creseeping up the ladder the start of 2010, film and television still hold a position in the hearts of Australians’. In the early 2000s, at least 90 per cent of Australian movie ticket sales (Screen Australia, 2010a). However, 90 per cent of these sales were foreign-movie sales. With this knowledge forever begs the question, why do Australians dislike Australian-made content?

Over the past decades, Australian media content is known to experience a ‘boom or bust’ persona of which the content that we have been producing, whether it be a film or television show, is either very successful or is a major flop in the box office. The Australian government has always been supportive of the Australian Screen Industry, and has defended its institutional legitimacy by stating that ‘Australian films have performed relatively well given their release strategies’ (Screen Australia, 2009). The 10BA period for Australian films resulted in one of the well known ‘boom’ times for Australian film and television. This 10BA period started in the late 1970s and ended in the late 1980s. The 10BA era is thanks to the Fraser government amending Australian tax law (the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936) to enable screen producers to claim a tax deduction for eligible film production of which these tax subsidies became a method in attracting film financing for Australian film production. This era was to encourage the production of Australian media for Australian audiences. This boom era produced internationally recognised films such as ‘Crocodile Dundee’ (1986) and ‘Mad Max’ (1979) of which still get quoted and referenced today. However, within this 10BA period, there were many producers and film enthusiasts who used and abused these subsidies for their own gain, not exactly for public entertainment. This is referred to as ‘Ozploitation’ and the term was coined by Australian film maker Mark Hartley in his documentary, Not Quite Hollywood (2008). This documentary reveals that the late 1970’s and early 1980’s witnessed the production of a number of Australian genre films now labelled as Ozploitation films such as the film Patrick (1978). Many audience members would consider that some films produced in the 10BA period were a success and met their budget in the box office whilst others did not. An “improved financial infrastructure for screen production [could’ve lead to a] high risk and low profitability of Australian screen production” (Burns and Eltham, 2010). This encourages the fact that due to the tax subsidies provided for the Australian film industry that many people were deciding to join in and therefore creating low budget and lesser quality films.

If you ask many Australian citizens and ask what their thoughts are on ‘Crocodile Dundee’ or even ‘Gallipoli’, many will either say that it is ‘stereotypical of the Australian culture and does not depict an accurate representation’ or that it is ‘too serious of a film and lacks the comedic relief that many Australians take pride in’ of their culture. However, both these films were one of the biggest successes from Australian production during the 10BA period when it comes to their box office returns. I believe that many Australians in the modern-day era are more welcoming to Australian produced television over Australian produced films. For example, the hit television show ‘Neighbours’ which aired its first episode the 18^th of March 1985 has seen continuous success of the last few decades and will more than likely see continuing success in the future.  I believe that ‘Neighbours’ is successful in the same way that the series ‘Kath & Kim’ was successful in that it was a show that many people related to. As stated by ‘the Conversation’ ‘Neighbours’ stories tend to work through issues to regain a state of balance and happiness.’ And ‘A key factor is always telling stories emotionally and within character. I think this is one of the things that makes the show endure: a loyalty to character, plus a sense of hope.’ This statement supports my argument in that ‘Neighbours’ is popular for its relatability to the audience. Furthermore, this statement demonstrates that Australians are more inclined to watch Australian television as opposed to films because the audience is able to connect with the characters over a period of time.

Australian film commission defined Australian content as those productions under Australian creative control. If you are needing to gain funding for a creative project, Screen Australia will grant funding for your piece, it must contain significant Australian content. This is Screen Australia’s way in protecting Australian content. Alex Storer of AWS Productions (2015) states that ‘Australian Cinema needs something else to interweave with these smaller scale productions, we need films that will appeal more broadly and with quality writing, clever marketing, and most importantly – essential storytelling driving by memorable characters.’ Furthermore, I believe that for the Australian content is to reach another ‘boom’ era that Australian producers and writers should stray from hosting extravagant films, unrecognized as Australian due to foreign directors and producers such as ‘Thor’ and use their creative intellect in producing simple Australian films based on the reality that is living in Australia and simply being Australian.

Australian produced media content is far more popular with international viewers as opposed to domestic. Some producers produced creative pieces that is far from the Australian culture which “reflects an American perspective of Australia”, which therefore inhibits the classic ‘Aussie stereotype’ that many foreigners love. This however, marketed Australia to others as a tourist destination instead of accurately reflecting Australia’s culture. It is that of “mateship” and “the freedom of opinion and speech” that Australians provide themselves on. International viewers from countries such as the United States and the U.K. love the satirical and comedic feature film that is “Crocodile Dundee”, however when compared to the Australian culture, it is far from reality which is why I think that many Australians are not a fan of the film. The strong, muscular persona of Australian men that is portrayed in the stereotypical manner in this film is lacking truth of the Australian values as mentioned before. Whilst this film did perform well in the box office dur to the 10BA period’s tax rebate, I do not believe that it accurately reflects Australian culture.

Overall, I believe that the Australian film and television industry has not been successful in the market. It has not been as successful as Hollywood films however I do not believe that these two industry’s should be compared. The 10BA tax rebate didn’t help the Australian film and television industry however I do believe that without the incentive we wouldn’t have seen the successful films like ‘Crocodile Dundee’ and ‘Gallipoli’ reach the cinema. It is because of this that I have faith in the Australian film industry that they can produce quality films, it is however with incentive and drive that they can make it happen.

 

References

Burns, A and Eltham, B 2010, “Boom and Bust in Australian Screen Policy: 10BA, The Film Finance Corporation and Hollywood’s ‘Race to the bottom’”, Media International Australia, no. 136, pp. 103 – 115.

Cinema industry trends, Gross box office and Admissions, Screen Australia, March 2016, viewed 12th December 2017 <https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/industry-trends/box-office&gt;

The Conversation, ‘After 30 years, can Neighbours and Australians become good friends?’ The Conversation, 17^th March 2015, viewed 10^th December 2017 < http://theconversation.com/after-30-years-can-neighbours-and-australians-become-good-friends-38779>

George, S 2017, ‘Local Content: Policy, Pressure Points, Options, Impacts’, Screen Australia, 8^th September 2017, viewed 11^th December 2017 < https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2017/09-08-local-content-policy-pressure-points-options&gt;

Hartley M, 2008, “Not quite Hollywood” film.

Storer, A 2015, ‘What’s wrong with the Australian Film Industry?’, AWS Productions, weblog post, 13^th April 2015, viewed 11^th December 2017 < http://www.videoproductioncompany.com.au/whats-wrong-with-the-australian-film-industry/>

 

The world as a single body

In cyberspace, we tend not to think about the process that brought us to where we are today, we dont think about how there once wasn’t a cyberspace (shock). We forget that there once wasn’t ‘the internet’. We’ve become so accustomed to the fact that our handheld devices and the world wide web has taken control over our lives.

The way in which we transmit and send information or matter just through a few taps on a keyboard and the click of a button is nothing short of incredible. We’ve transformed from sending dots and dashes to being able to video call in high resolution. The sending and recieving of matter is largely due to the development of technology and how we are always trying to improve resources.

As a society, we have become so accustomed to the development and improvement of our devices that we anticipate it. The sentences ‘I’m waiting for the new one to come out before I upgrade’ and ‘I’ll get the new one when they create it’ are thrown around daily. Whereas look back 50 years and telecommunication wasn’t even created.

The world is a nervous system and when something revolutionary happens it flips it on its head. Cyberspace has become such a norm that everyone can’t imagine a life without it. However, when the first telegraph was introduced, a woman couldn’t grasp the fact that she could send messages to her son through the telegraph but not send him soup. The telegraph caused a dramatic shift in the world’s perception which demonstrates the likeness of the world as a nervous system. Jason Silva states in a conference in 2013 “… technology is evolving so fast. Exponentially so, in fact, and we’re so swept up in it that our expectations are so high, yet very few people ever step back and go, “Wow! Look at the big picture and think big.”

Thanks for reading! I leave you with a meme.

REFERENCES / IMPORTANT TEXTS

http://www.bigdatalandscape.com/blog/big-data-and-the-global-nervous-system

• A Short History of the Internet by Bruce Sterling
• Open Culture and the Nature of Networks

Final update on my research!!!

Trolle K, ‘People walking and biking at Assistens Kirkegården. At Nørrebro, Copenhagen, Denmark’ <https://www.flickr.com/photos/kristoffer-trolle/33342048826/in/pool-creative_commons_world_travel_/&gt; Creative Common Licensing

Hello!

Last time I wrote about this I was fairly certain I knew exactly what I was writing about. However, It was brought to my attention that I very much got sidetracked on what it was I wanted to know. I started this project asking the question ‘Why are university students not travelling during their time at university as much as we used to?’ Which of course, is the question I want to know.

When I began my research and started searching for primary research, the answers I got deterred me from my question. Student’s began telling me about places that they’ve been to and why they went as opposed to places they want to go to and why they aren’t going yet.

When it comes to researching and myself as a person, I find myself to get distracted from the task at hand. When it came to looking for sources, I struggled. The sources i could find were solely based around why students should travel, where students that are travelling have travelled and how much students are spending. Whereas, I wanted to know whether it was the student HECS debt that is the grey cloud that is hindering students from travelling, because they’re feeling that they cant afford to do it so early in life.

Another thing that I found difficult when conducting this research project was creativity. When I couldn’t find any sources relating to my question, instead of figuring out a new way to find what I wanted, I ended up just accepting that this is what I had and I needed to work with it. Which lead to me completely sidetracking from what I wanted to know.

Another question I have addressed in this research, is whether or not it is our relationships that affect our choices in life. Are we more likely to say no to going out saturday night in order to save money? And if we are invited to breakfast twice a week are we, as millenials prepared to sacrifice avo on toast? (triggered) Why is it that our social life is broadly encapsulated by the notion of going to breakfast/lunch/dinner with our friends as opposed to bringing your own lunch to a park bench or just going to each others house to watch a movie? Maybe then, university students will view travelling during their studies as a more realistic goal.

Thanks for keeping me company during this whirlwind of confusion I call a research project.

Final

For this task, I wanted to focus on a very important aspect of my life that has shaped me to be who I am today; My relationship with my twin sister.

I sought inspiration from a couple of creative pieces such as George Ella Lyon’s poem ‘Where I’m From’ and the music video from Lukas Graham ‘7 years’.

Throughout this clip it’s just recording of a day out with my sister. We ventured out to Burragorang Lookout due to the fact that it’s somewhere we used to go all the time as kids. I contrast the day out with shots of old photos of my sister and I, to then bringing it back to modern day us. ‘Itsy, bitsy spider’ is playing on piano throughout the whole clip as my sister used to sing the nursery rhyme all the time as she was under the impression it would get rid of my fear of spiders.

I hope you enjoy this clip as much as I enjoyed creating it

-K