Australian Cinema
Unit Information
First Semester 2008
Coordinator
Dr Garry Gillard
Senior Lecturer
School of Media Communication and Culture
This information should be read in conjunction with the Guide to Studying at Murdoch booklet and the material provided on the unit website which can be accessed via MyWebCT. Go to the unit welcome page
online.
Introduction
Unit Coordinator
Dr Garry Gillard. I have taught this unit since 1998. I have also taught Introduction to Screen and Sound Studies since 1990.
Australian Cinema is a Part II unit worth 4 points. The unit is part of the Media Studies course. There is no prerequisite.
Go to the Australian Cinema Website and follow the prompts, putting in your password.
The lecture presentations are available as (HTML) text on the website: you can read them in a small part of the time it will take you to get through listening to an audio version, so there are no Lectopia audio-recorded lectures for this unit. Much of the contiguous "lecture" time is taken up with showing filmic examples: another reason why Lectopia would be inappropriate. You may wish to download the presentations from the Web and print them: you can even bring the text to the presentations.
Calendar
Week Starting -- Topic ---- Assessment
1. 18 February -- Introduction to the unit
2. 25 February -- Road
3. 3 March -- Comedy
4. 10 March -- Musical
5. 17 March -- Horror/Science fiction ---- essay due
6. 24 March -- Study Break one week
7. 31 March
-- Coming-of-age
8. 7 April -- Woman's film
9. 14 April -- Social Realism ---- critical film review due
10. 21 April -- Study Break one week
11. 28 April -- Biopic
12. 5 May -- Art
13. 12 May -- Australian Cinema now
14. 19 May -- screen test
Overview
This unit provides a general introduction to Australian cinema. It places Australian screen output in the context of international film making and TV production and Australian filmmaking, social and cultural institutions. As film is intrinsically an international medium, Australian cinema's relationship to the international cinema—the dominant Hollywood cinema and the major alternative responses to it in the festival cinema—is foregrounded. Some consideration will also be given to alternative cinemas. The unit also considers the relationship of Australian film to adjacent cultural fields (writing, fine arts, radio) and to broader social and cultural movements.
Australian Cinema is designed to meet the needs of students coming from a broad range of study areas. For general Media Studies and Gender and Cultural Studies students it is a media analysis elective designed to broaden their knowledge of different media forms. For those Media Studies students pursuing the full complement of screen production units it provides the necessary background to the Australian filmmaking milieu, while for those pursuing screen studies it provides a case study of local national cinema, complementing units such as Screen Texts, Issues in Screen Analysis and Documentary. For students of English it provides an ideal screen counterpart to their study of Narrative Fiction and Australian Literature. For those who would like to be acquainted with the content and issues facing Australian cinema it can serve as a stand-alone introduction to Australian cinema.
Aims and Objectives
By the end of the unit you should be able to:
• demonstrate an understanding of genre in film.
• critically examine the nature of the Australian character, identity and culture as depicted in film
• demonstrate knowledge and appreciation the key elements of the Australian film industry, including the films, the directors and the institutions
•identify the elements which contribute to the making and reception of film, (including the films, economics, politics/policy, film criticism, marketing, film production) and examine the relationships between them
• develop and demonstrate your capacity as an independent learner.
Graduate Attributes
This unit will contribute to the development of the following Graduate Attributes:
• communication—by expanding your ability in terms of your reading, speaking, listening and writing skills
• critical and creative thinking—by developing your ability to collect, analyse and evaluate information and ideas and solve problems by thinking clearly, critically and creatively
• social interaction—by expanding your capacity to relate to and collaborate with others to exchange views and ideas
• independent and lifelong learning—through the capacity to be a self-disciplined learner and thinker, able to study and work independently.
This unit is organised around a selected ten types (or genres) of Australian film: one per week plus an introduction. The unit used to be based on Tom O'Regan's book (and the unit design that went into it): Australian National Cinema (still recommended, if you can find a secondhand copy). Then for 2006 I radically redesigned the unit on the basis of an approach from genre. I wrote the current textbook, Ten Types of Australian Film, along those lines. Just after I wrote my book, Moran & Vieth produced theirs, so that is also recommended.
For 2008, I have reintroduced some more issues-based topics in the middle of the unit. For the first block of the unit, after the introduction, the focus is on 'genre' films, and therefore on the Australian film industry as such and also in relation to Hollywood. The middle block of three weeks is concerned with films with deal with social issues. The last block picks up a couple of more unusual types of films, and concludes with a survey of the situation of Australian cinema at the present time.
To undertake study in this unit, you will need:
• the Unit Outline/Study Guide
• one set textbook:
Garry Gillard 2008,Ten Types of Australian Film, second edition, Murdoch University
• one recommended textbook:
Albert Moran & Errol Vieth 2006, Film in Australia: An Introduction, CUP
• access to the MCC231 website
• access to the ECMS service of MULib
Online facilities
All students will be able to access the official unit website, available via the University's online server at online.murdoch.edu.au. Go to that site and follow the prompts and enter your password.
I see the website as an essential element of this unit—and as an organic creation. Whereas I revise this Study Guide only once a year, I am constantly working on the website, adding new information, and continually trying to improve the teaching/learning resources I make available to you.
"Lectures"—which may more accurately be named "presentations"—will be available there before the physical presentations, so you will be able, if you wish, to come to the lecture theatre with the notes already printed out. I spend as much time as possible in the lecture theatre showing filmic examples.
A second important website is the Australian film resource in the "Reading Room". It is also the site where your second assignment will appear. You can see many years' worth of examples of other students' work at: wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/dbase.
Other resources
Oz Film Site in "The Culture and Communication Reading Room"
wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/
This site, maintained by me since 1995, contains (among many other things) a variety of academic essays on Australian cinema. It also contains a reasonably extensive bibliography of Australian cinema.
Australian Film Commission
Australian Film Institute
Television and Radio Programs
• The Movie Show [now defunct]
• At The Movies
• Radio National:
* Media Report
* Artworks
Journals
There are four pieces of assessment for this unit.
• an essay, due at the end of Week 5
component due time and date %
1. Essay due noon Friday 21 March 30%
2. Film review due noon Friday 18 April 30%
3. Examination Week 12: Thursday 24 May 30%
4. Tutorial participation weekly 10%
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Extensions will not be granted for trivial reasons. Work that is submitted late will lose 10%, the equivalent of one letter grade, unless there is some unavoidable reason for the delay, with available documentation. No written comments will be given on late work, only grades. No assignment will be accepted after the examination, 24 May.
This assignment is worth 30% of the grade for the unit, should be of about 2000-2500 words, and is due no later than noon Thursday 20 March, at the end of Week 5 (the Friday is Good Friday and the University is closed).
Objective
The objective is to get you to reflect on and write about one type (or genre) of Australian film in relation to a small number of Australian feature films.
Topic
Choose ONE type (or genre) of film. Define or describe or explain what you think it is. Choose three Australian feature films which you think are relevant to this type (or genre) of film, and analyse them in the context you have set up. Attempt an argument about what you have discovered about the Australianness of the films you have chosen, in the context of genre.
Essential Criteria
1. Language and style appropriate to university essay; essay in continuous prose, not note form
Desirable Criteria
Insight, creativity, originality
This assignment is worth 30% of the total, and is due no later than noon Friday 18 April, at the end of week 9.
This assignment requires that you prepare a critical review and bibliography for one Australian feature film. You MUST choose a film that has NOT already been researched by previous students. To see what films have already been done, you MUST CHECK THE OZFILM WEBPAGE. In this assignment you will
* give an account of the information you have found on the film and where you have found it
* provide a critical review in which you will establish the plot synopsis, stylistic and especially generic elements, and evaluate the film and determine where the film fits on the horizon of critics, cinema, video and television audiences and trade—and to comment on these findings by using it as an instance of a type of Australian film.
How to submit this assignment
There are a number of ways in which you can submit this assignment. Note that it is NOT required that you create a website or write HTML: that is just one option.
1. Create your own website or put your own page on your ISP's server. I'll simply write a link to your page. Obviously this is my first preference, as it's almost no work for me. The downside is that the page/site may disappear in time if it is does not continue to receive the support of you or your ISP. If I have time, I may ask you if I can copy the site/page and put it on the Murdoch server.
2. Second option: submit a webpage or site by email attachment or on CD. I'll put your material on the server—unless the format you've used is too difficult for me to deal with.
3. Third option: submit a normal text file written in your normal word processor, by email attachment or on CD or on paper. If you submit the digital file (as opposed to paper) I'll put your material on the server.
Most people send me the whole assignment in one file as an email attachment. If you submit it on paper: that's perfectly acceptable for grading—but it means I may not have time to do the work of putting it on the Web.
The idea is to build up an archive of information which will help us to inform each other, future students—and the World—about Australian cinema. You can see work done by students in previous years on our OzFilm webpage at wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/dbase/
The assignment is in two parts.
Part 1: (<1000 words) Film Information
You are asked to provide
* a list of key cast and crew (director, scriptwriter, cinematographer, producer, production company, lead actors)
Part 2: (<2,000 words) Critical Review of Film and its Literature
Discuss the film you have chosen.
* Provide a critical review of the film (plot, synopsis and some of your own commentary on the film).
Objectives
The exercise will focus your attention on the question of genre (or type) but in a way different from that in the first assignment.
This assessment will also train you in the information landscape of Australian cinema: you will learn how to obtain information about Australian titles, directors, actors and producers. One of the unit objectives is to help you navigate the Australian film landscape: to do so you need to develop a working knowledge of prominent titles, names and some familiarity with film history. By giving you a basic familiarity with Australian titles, you will hopefully be encouraged to dip into the archive to see some of those titles you find. This assignment will also help you build a "film archive" of Australian film resources available locally on video release and elsewhere. These will permit you to readily access a broad range of Australian titles over this unit. The critical review gets you to concisely summarise your findings from a diverse resource base, add your own view of the film and present your own findings about Australian film.
A final objective is to enable your contribution to a large (world) community project: the website containing the results of everyone's research.
Essential criteria
1. language and style appropriate for this task and this readership
Desirable criteria: outstanding industry, insight, originality, creativity.
Value: 30% of the total. Conducted in the lecture/screening time in Week 14.
The test will be conducted during the time for lecture and screening in Week 14—not during the assessment period. A short film or film excerpt will be screened and you will be asked simply to write a short essay about it based on what you have learned in the unit, particularly with regard to types and genres of film in the Australian context.
Objective
The main object of the test is to allow you to demonstrate—in a practical way—what you have learnt from the unit about Australian cinema. The intention is to show you a complete short film (or part of a film) you probably won't have seen before and to ask you to write about it in terms that you have found useful in doing this unit, and also relating this film to other Australian films of similar type or genre, including those screened as part of the unit.
Essential Criteria
1. Language and style appropriate to an essay written in a university examination; essay in continuous prose, not note form (No references are required nor expected.)
Desirable Criteria
1. Structure: an argument, introduction and conclusion
Value: 10% of the total
Objectives
Tutorials are your opportunity to share with your tutor and other students what you know. Indeed you may find that you not only learn from others, but also find out what you know yourself, when you hear your own formulation of your knowledge. Other objectives include the sharing of knowledge and the correction of errors, in a collaborative environment.
I hope you will attend and contribute to discussions to the best of your ability. Final grades/marks
No grades are final until moderation has occurred, if applicable, and until the Board of Examiners has ratified the results.
AUSTRALIAN CINEMA
Switch off your mobile phone.
Leave at least one chair between yourself and the next person if possible.
Do not communicate with anyone after you have been given this paper—including during the screening.
This is a "closed book" test. All that you should have available is the exam booklet to write in—which is provided (and something to write with—which is not provided).
A film will be screened. While it is screening you are free to make notes. You may use the exam booklet for that.
At the conclusion of the screening, of about 16 minutes duration, you have one hour (60 minutes) to write a response to the following.
Write about the film in relation to your understanding of the unit MCC231 Australian Cinema. Apply what you have learnt to an analysis of this film. In particular, write about the genre/s (or type/s) of film in which it participates. Also: in what ways is it characteristic of Australian cinema? And: to what other films can you relate it in any way?
Writing style, expression, correctness, organisation and structure will be taken into account in grading your papers.
The film for 2004 is:
Tran the Man (Rowan Woods, 1994) wr. Rowan Woods, with David Wenham (Ray Moss), Rowan Woods (Donny Moss), Stephen Leeder (Uncle Jack), Skye Wansey (Deb); © AFTRS; ca. 16 min.
Rowan Woods went on to direct The Boys (1997) with David Wenham as Brett Sprague. He is currently working on a film set in Sydney and called Little Fish, with Cate Blanchett and Martin Henderson.
END OF PAPER New: 4 October, 2004 | Now: 28 April, 2022
• Cinema Papers (ceased publication [again] mid-2001)
• Metro: published by ATOM: Australian Teachers of Media
• ASE: Australian Screen Education, also published by ATOM
• Encore: associated with SPAA, the Screen Producers Association
• Media International Australia, published by CCCS
• IF used to be Independent Filmmaker, now it's Inside Film
• a critical review of a film, due at the end of Week 8
• a test
• tutorial participation
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Assessment weighting and timetable for submission
Lateness
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In assignments and in the examination the use of current films, issues and events to illustrate the relevant principles and concepts will be rewarded.
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Assignment 1. Essay on one type of Australian film
2. References in a standard form, and consistent
3. Clear argument, introduction and conclusion
4. Some knowledge of screen theory generally, particularly genre; some knowledge of Australian cinema generally
5. Analysis of relevant texts
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Assignment 2. Critical Review and Bibliography
* release dates if available
* budget and box office figures where available: not required!
* bibliography of interviews with filmmakers (including directors, writers and producers) at the time of and subsequent to the film's release
* bibliography of reviews in newspapers, critical essays in journals, discussions in books
* details of the film's on-line presence in the web literature
* Discuss the critical uptake of the film both at the time of its release and subsequently.
* Outline the circumstances of its production and release and its box-office (if available).
* Situate the film in relation to the subsequent or prior work principally of the director and perhaps also the cinematographer, writer/s, lead actors and/or producer.
* Use the film to estimate what its uptake and current place on contemporary critical and market horizons tells you of the general position of Australian film and its value.
* Situate the film in relation to Australian cinema as a particular type of film and as belonging to a genre or genres.
2. references in a standard form, and consistent
3. reasonable attempt to address most of the criteria (some, especially box office, may not be available)
4. some knowledge shown of Australian cinema generally
5. clear argument as to this film generally, and particularly with regard to its genre (type)
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Test
2. Demonstration of some knowledge of screen theory generally, particularly genre
3. Demonstration of
some knowledge of Australian cinema generally, and relevant films in particular
4. Analysis of the film shown in terms of what has been learnt in this unit
2. Insight, creativity, originality
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Tutorial participation
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example past test paper
Internal students screen test
2004
Please take this paper with you when you leave the examination room and dispose of it thoughtfully.