November 2007 Archives
FTI graduates Sam Mclenahan and Robbie McGoarty have just submitted their entry for the OPTUS One80 competiton. This online compettion allows you to upload your 3 minute trailer of a television drama idea and the winner idea is produced by MTV Australia. Check out Sam and Robbie's entry, it's titled 'Angst', log on and vote for it too!
THE NEW YORK TIMES charts the production process of an episode of Nickelodeon's 'Sponge Bob Square Parts', with each episode taking a year to make it to the screen passing through several countries during the production process. Meanwhile over at SALON they give an analysis of the production process.
Jake McCallum began life at FTI as a projectionist, soon he became a student in our Advandced Diploma in Screen program, and as soon as the course was over he hit the ground running working on short films and travelling to South Africa to DOP a low budget feature. Jake's currently in Scotland scouting locations for another film.
As his first assignment, three weeks into the course, Jake made a 4 minute long microdocumentary featuring well known FTI member Ron Tutt. Now on YouTube you can see this intriguing film where Ron reminices on his years in the screen industry and the changing roles of projectionists.
At the 2007 AGM Ron Tutt was made a life member of the Film and Television Institute.
As his first assignment, three weeks into the course, Jake made a 4 minute long microdocumentary featuring well known FTI member Ron Tutt. Now on YouTube you can see this intriguing film where Ron reminices on his years in the screen industry and the changing roles of projectionists.
At the 2007 AGM Ron Tutt was made a life member of the Film and Television Institute.
Verity Lambert OBE, a pioneering and BAFTA-winning British television producer, died last Thursday 22 November, aged 71. She was a giant in British television production, overseeing the making of some of the UK's most famous and fondly remembered programmes.
Lambert was working as a production assistant at the BBC in 1963 when the broadcaster's Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, selected her to produce the all-new family-orientated drama serial Doctor Who. It was a bold choice for Newman to make: it made Lambert not only the first female producer the BBC had ever had, but at 27 years old it also made her the BBC's youngest. Lambert produced the series for its first two seasons, introducing audiences worldwide to the mysterious Doctor (then played by William Hartnell), his TARDIS and the phenomenally successful Daleks.
After moving on from Doctor Who, Lambert produced a string of hit television dramas and comedies for both the BBC and commercial rival ITV, including Adam Adamant Lives, Budgie, Rock Follies, Rumpole of the Bailey, Edward and Mrs Simpson, Widows, Reilly: Ace of Spies, Minder, GBH and Jonathan Creek.
In 2000 the British Film Institute (BFI) listed two of her programmes – Doctor Who and The Naked Civil Servant – in the top 5 of their 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th Century. Doctor Who came third, The Naked Civil Servant fourth.
In 1985 Lambert established her own production company, Cinemaverity, that produced film and television classics such as Fred Schepisi's 'Evil Angels', the long-running BBC sitcom May to December. Her final television production, Love Soup, is due to air in the coming months.
On 7 December she will be posthumously awarded the Women in Film and Television Award for Lifetime Achievement.
In the 2002 New Year's Honours list Lambert was awarded the O.B.E. for services to film and television production. In the same year she received BAFTA's Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television.
Verity Lambert will be long-remembered as a pioneer for women in television, and as a pioneer for British science fiction. The day after her death, Doctor Who turned 44. It remains the longest-running and most successful science fiction TV series of all time.
Obiturary written by FTI member Grant Watson
Lambert was working as a production assistant at the BBC in 1963 when the broadcaster's Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, selected her to produce the all-new family-orientated drama serial Doctor Who. It was a bold choice for Newman to make: it made Lambert not only the first female producer the BBC had ever had, but at 27 years old it also made her the BBC's youngest. Lambert produced the series for its first two seasons, introducing audiences worldwide to the mysterious Doctor (then played by William Hartnell), his TARDIS and the phenomenally successful Daleks.
After moving on from Doctor Who, Lambert produced a string of hit television dramas and comedies for both the BBC and commercial rival ITV, including Adam Adamant Lives, Budgie, Rock Follies, Rumpole of the Bailey, Edward and Mrs Simpson, Widows, Reilly: Ace of Spies, Minder, GBH and Jonathan Creek.
In 2000 the British Film Institute (BFI) listed two of her programmes – Doctor Who and The Naked Civil Servant – in the top 5 of their 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th Century. Doctor Who came third, The Naked Civil Servant fourth.
In 1985 Lambert established her own production company, Cinemaverity, that produced film and television classics such as Fred Schepisi's 'Evil Angels', the long-running BBC sitcom May to December. Her final television production, Love Soup, is due to air in the coming months.
On 7 December she will be posthumously awarded the Women in Film and Television Award for Lifetime Achievement.
In the 2002 New Year's Honours list Lambert was awarded the O.B.E. for services to film and television production. In the same year she received BAFTA's Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television.
Verity Lambert will be long-remembered as a pioneer for women in television, and as a pioneer for British science fiction. The day after her death, Doctor Who turned 44. It remains the longest-running and most successful science fiction TV series of all time.
Obiturary written by FTI member Grant Watson
Yesterday at the 'New ways of Working in VET' Conference in Brisbane Dr Victor Callan from the University of Queensland Business School discussed some of his recent research and observations about Australian's vocational training industry.
Dr Callan noted that as the workplace and industry needs are changing so are our training organizations and a new set of capabilities are required from organizations, their managers and leaders.
Change in the workplace is being driven by globalisation, increasing competition, information technology, communication, the demographics of an aging workforce and increasing connectivity. While in the VET world change is being driven by both the agendas of state and federal governments, needs for rapid skill uptake and pressure for effective Recognized Prior Learning (RPL) processes.
Dr Callan highlighted that nationally in Australia only 4% of qualifications are issued through RPL processes, for a fundamental part of our vocational training structure - this is an incredibly low number. At FTI we would predict that the level of RPL in the screen sector is even lower - and the action learning we have been undertaking through the 'Reframing the Future'; project this year certainly backs that up.
The training professional today also has increasing demands that require them to deliver to a diverse range of customers, requiring Training Organizations to develop strategies that allow them to provide services in full time and part-time delivery, through flexible options, provide services during the day, at night and on weekends and often this change is coming too fast for the staff within these organizations.
Dr Callan highlights that many successful organisations now have a 'Shamrock' structure - three leaves incorporating a central core of staff, independent casual contractors and a mix of temporary hires for specific projects. An incredibly flexible workforce.
To be success a training organisation needs to have an effective balance of operating environment, strategy, workplace culture and effective leadership.
As Dr Callan noted "It's no longer 'know how' that is essential, rather the 'know why' and 'know whom' is more important and developing the essential internal and external networks of communication between the training world and the wider industry.
Dr Callan proposed that an effective VET Manager would need the following skills;
The ability to develop people's skills and abilities
The Ability to manage people's performance
The ability to manage an organisations financial performance
The ability to undertake strategic management
The ability to implement and manage change
When it came to change management it didn't matter which model of change management you followed or which school of thought you subscribed to or how many stages were in your change management model. Whatever works is what is required. Every situation is going to be different and a wide variety of approaches to change management will be needed. So it didn't matter if you specialized in collaborative or coercive change - whichever is appropriate for the situation is probably the best one to go with.
The clear thing is that VET Managers should be planning for chaos and uncertainty. The unexpected and unpredictable will be the norm.
It is essential for training organisations to remember to effectively develop their own staff, while facing the growing challenge of addressing the skills shortages of the outside world.
There are common barriers to effective development in this area as well. We are too busy, their financial barriers, Human Resources in training organisations are often described as outdated, organisations lack strategic planning, effective induction processes, retention of existing staff and fail to undertake succession planning and face a growing casualization of their staff and the ever aging VET workforce.
Read more about Dr Callan's research here.
Dr Callan noted that as the workplace and industry needs are changing so are our training organizations and a new set of capabilities are required from organizations, their managers and leaders.
Change in the workplace is being driven by globalisation, increasing competition, information technology, communication, the demographics of an aging workforce and increasing connectivity. While in the VET world change is being driven by both the agendas of state and federal governments, needs for rapid skill uptake and pressure for effective Recognized Prior Learning (RPL) processes.
Dr Callan highlighted that nationally in Australia only 4% of qualifications are issued through RPL processes, for a fundamental part of our vocational training structure - this is an incredibly low number. At FTI we would predict that the level of RPL in the screen sector is even lower - and the action learning we have been undertaking through the 'Reframing the Future'; project this year certainly backs that up.
The training professional today also has increasing demands that require them to deliver to a diverse range of customers, requiring Training Organizations to develop strategies that allow them to provide services in full time and part-time delivery, through flexible options, provide services during the day, at night and on weekends and often this change is coming too fast for the staff within these organizations.
Dr Callan highlights that many successful organisations now have a 'Shamrock' structure - three leaves incorporating a central core of staff, independent casual contractors and a mix of temporary hires for specific projects. An incredibly flexible workforce.
To be success a training organisation needs to have an effective balance of operating environment, strategy, workplace culture and effective leadership.
As Dr Callan noted "It's no longer 'know how' that is essential, rather the 'know why' and 'know whom' is more important and developing the essential internal and external networks of communication between the training world and the wider industry.
Dr Callan proposed that an effective VET Manager would need the following skills;
The ability to develop people's skills and abilities
The Ability to manage people's performance
The ability to manage an organisations financial performance
The ability to undertake strategic management
The ability to implement and manage change
When it came to change management it didn't matter which model of change management you followed or which school of thought you subscribed to or how many stages were in your change management model. Whatever works is what is required. Every situation is going to be different and a wide variety of approaches to change management will be needed. So it didn't matter if you specialized in collaborative or coercive change - whichever is appropriate for the situation is probably the best one to go with.
The clear thing is that VET Managers should be planning for chaos and uncertainty. The unexpected and unpredictable will be the norm.
It is essential for training organisations to remember to effectively develop their own staff, while facing the growing challenge of addressing the skills shortages of the outside world.
There are common barriers to effective development in this area as well. We are too busy, their financial barriers, Human Resources in training organisations are often described as outdated, organisations lack strategic planning, effective induction processes, retention of existing staff and fail to undertake succession planning and face a growing casualization of their staff and the ever aging VET workforce.
Read more about Dr Callan's research here.
Yesterday at the opening of the 'New Ways of Working in Vocational Education and Training' conference in Brisbane, Carol Webb, the Assistant Director Director General, Industry and VET Policy from the Department of Education, Training and the Arts in Queensland gave an engaging presentation about the effects of technology and the importance of change management skills in the modern training workforce.
To illustrate her point Carol payed a video that highlighted how technological uptake is getting faster and faster, the film showed the amount of time it took different pieces of technology to gain 50 million users. Beginning with the telephone, which took 74 years from it's release to finding it's 50 millionth customer. For radio the uptake was a much shorter 38 years, computers took only 18 years and television was just 13 years. The internet took just 4 years to reach 50 million people and the most recent technological uptake is the I-Pod, which has taken just 1 year to find 50 million users.
Australia's current level of training is 24th on the list OECD countries, well below the average and there is no denying that in today's booming economy their is a significant skills shortage.
This morning in his keynote presentation Jim Davidson, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Education, Science and Training highlighted that if Australia maintains it's current level of vocational training success - within around 15 years we will be 200,000 workers short of industry requirements - a massive short fall. To meet the requirements of our growing economy and workforce the number of successful graduates each and every year must increase by 1.2%.
Side by side these two statement present a challenging scenario. A huge undertaking to train many many more workers, with a growing level of success - in a n environment that is rapidly changing and developing. In fact the pace of change is becoming so fast that often training programs now require to be rewritten while they are in progress to keep up with industry developments.
Effective Trainers don't just have to be industry experts and learning experts, they also need to be rapid change experts, learning new techniques, new technology and new ways of working almost instantaneously. Forever chasing a moving target.
Carol Webb noted that organizations can no longer be working to static 5 year plans - because no-one is able to accurate predict where we will be in 5 years and what the priorities will be. Effective workers and organizations need to be in a state of constant flux, continually changing, developing strategy and responses and the run, and making rapid but effective implementations.
This is certainly a theme that we have also seen this year through our participation in 'Reframing the Future' a national program that aims to assist vocational education professionals with the essential skills required to operate effectively. The training team from FTI has been focusing on change management and strategic planning abilities and the theme of constant change, and constant adaptation has shone through.
The terms 'education evolution' has been used to mock the calls for an 'education revolution'. A clever play on words - certainly we need to maintain the things that work in our national training system and not throw the baby out with the bathwater but the evolution we need though is a fast paced one featuring rapid adaptation and a desperate need to jettison the outdated points of view, redundant skills, or bureaucratic requirements which no longer serve a useful purpose.
To illustrate her point Carol payed a video that highlighted how technological uptake is getting faster and faster, the film showed the amount of time it took different pieces of technology to gain 50 million users. Beginning with the telephone, which took 74 years from it's release to finding it's 50 millionth customer. For radio the uptake was a much shorter 38 years, computers took only 18 years and television was just 13 years. The internet took just 4 years to reach 50 million people and the most recent technological uptake is the I-Pod, which has taken just 1 year to find 50 million users.
Australia's current level of training is 24th on the list OECD countries, well below the average and there is no denying that in today's booming economy their is a significant skills shortage.
This morning in his keynote presentation Jim Davidson, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Education, Science and Training highlighted that if Australia maintains it's current level of vocational training success - within around 15 years we will be 200,000 workers short of industry requirements - a massive short fall. To meet the requirements of our growing economy and workforce the number of successful graduates each and every year must increase by 1.2%.
Side by side these two statement present a challenging scenario. A huge undertaking to train many many more workers, with a growing level of success - in a n environment that is rapidly changing and developing. In fact the pace of change is becoming so fast that often training programs now require to be rewritten while they are in progress to keep up with industry developments.
Effective Trainers don't just have to be industry experts and learning experts, they also need to be rapid change experts, learning new techniques, new technology and new ways of working almost instantaneously. Forever chasing a moving target.
Carol Webb noted that organizations can no longer be working to static 5 year plans - because no-one is able to accurate predict where we will be in 5 years and what the priorities will be. Effective workers and organizations need to be in a state of constant flux, continually changing, developing strategy and responses and the run, and making rapid but effective implementations.
This is certainly a theme that we have also seen this year through our participation in 'Reframing the Future' a national program that aims to assist vocational education professionals with the essential skills required to operate effectively. The training team from FTI has been focusing on change management and strategic planning abilities and the theme of constant change, and constant adaptation has shone through.
The terms 'education evolution' has been used to mock the calls for an 'education revolution'. A clever play on words - certainly we need to maintain the things that work in our national training system and not throw the baby out with the bathwater but the evolution we need though is a fast paced one featuring rapid adaptation and a desperate need to jettison the outdated points of view, redundant skills, or bureaucratic requirements which no longer serve a useful purpose.
Marshall McLuhan seems to be popping up everywhere again, in THE GUARDIAN, Nick Carr is writing about him, and more indepth on his blog. Finding new love for McLuhan in the internet age is nothing new though, he's been the 'patron saint' of WIRED magazine for ages.
A recent hit YouTube video on the modern educational experience also began with a McLuhan quote.
"Today's child is bewildered when he enters the 19th century environment that still characterises the educational establishment where information is scarce but ordered and structured by fragmented, classified pattern subjects and schedules" - McLuhan 1967
Effective education in today's world is far removed from the classroom experience that our parents, or even we oursleves experienced. An effective educator needs to be able to teach for a vareity of learning styles, lifestyles and individual students needs. From this outside this can look disorganised and unstructured, chaotic and undisciplined. But from the users experience, it is education that is engaging, personalised and incredibly effective.
One of the things I love about working at FTI is that we often try out new ways of teaching, experiment and adapt. The team make constant change to our programs, they are living creatures, adapting and transforming as the world and industry around us changes at a rapid rate. There has been much debate about how McLuhan's theories and writings apply to the internet age, but I wonder if they can also been used to guide approaches in learning and eduction?
'We the Robots' is an amusing and possibly inapproriate online comic. Click on the entry at the botom of the archive list to start at the beginning. It's a great example of how a stylish look does not have to be a perfect look, story and character shine through above all else.
On Thursday night hundreds of members of the local filmmaking community turned out for the premiere screening of Patrick Herford's new film 'Hollywood Sign Girls'. The film is a 50 minute black and white, noir styled, tale of Hollywood starlets.
The premiere of the film was at the Luna Cinema in Leederville and was introduced by the teams mentor Melanie Rodriga who brought a moment of Australian culture to the evening by reciting some adapted Banjo Patterson. Prior to the sceening Director Patrick Herford thanked the crew members who had all worked on a volunteer basis to bring this ambitious film to the screen.
Seen at the event were filmmaker Jimmy the Exploder, Sound Specialist Richard Mahony, Clint Lawrence who was taking a moments rest from his unit duties on the hectic shoot of 'Two Fists, One Heart', local Director Zak Hilditch, Author and outspoken bi-sexuality advocate Alan Kane - twin brother of FTI's Phil Jeng Kane who was in town for the night (my goodness talk about identical twins!), Documentary makers Alison James and bRitt Arthur, Projectionist Nick McRobbie, the Screen Academy's John Rapsey, Editor Heny Inglis, the multi-talented Noah Norton, Liz Sederisd and Liz Kearney, animator Pierce Davision, composer Alex Ringis and hundreds more.
Read the interview with Direcotr Patrick Herford and Producer Jess Woodland.
The premiere of the film was at the Luna Cinema in Leederville and was introduced by the teams mentor Melanie Rodriga who brought a moment of Australian culture to the evening by reciting some adapted Banjo Patterson. Prior to the sceening Director Patrick Herford thanked the crew members who had all worked on a volunteer basis to bring this ambitious film to the screen.
Seen at the event were filmmaker Jimmy the Exploder, Sound Specialist Richard Mahony, Clint Lawrence who was taking a moments rest from his unit duties on the hectic shoot of 'Two Fists, One Heart', local Director Zak Hilditch, Author and outspoken bi-sexuality advocate Alan Kane - twin brother of FTI's Phil Jeng Kane who was in town for the night (my goodness talk about identical twins!), Documentary makers Alison James and bRitt Arthur, Projectionist Nick McRobbie, the Screen Academy's John Rapsey, Editor Heny Inglis, the multi-talented Noah Norton, Liz Sederisd and Liz Kearney, animator Pierce Davision, composer Alex Ringis and hundreds more.
Read the interview with Direcotr Patrick Herford and Producer Jess Woodland.
The first week of 'Squoodle' featured experimentation with experimentation with cut out stop motion animation, at the end of the day we had three short films, one about a Bonobo with a laptop, another saw a Giraffe with an I-Pod, and a beautiful piece with leaves falling off trees.
It was a pretty chilled out day as we listedned to the sounds of Hot Chip, The Klaxons, The Pre-Sets and Tracey Thorn while drawing, animation and chatting.
It was a pretty chilled out day as we listedned to the sounds of Hot Chip, The Klaxons, The Pre-Sets and Tracey Thorn while drawing, animation and chatting.
