Recently in documentary Category
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.
This week I had the great pleasure of being a guest at a very forward thinking, modern, public high school in Perth. I was visiting a group of 60 or more Year 8 students who are making a series of documentaries during this term. Over the course of a few hours we talked about stories, the concept of the truth in documentary, the history and future of documentary films, tips for filmmaking, audience interest and so many other things about the filmmaking process.
I asked the students, how many of them had a video camera at home, it was about 80 percent.
I asked how many had a mobile phone with a camera, it was nearly everyone.
I asked who had made a film already, again it was around 80 percent.
I asked who had posted a film to a share site such as YouTube, 60 percent responded in the affirmantive.
When you stop and think about it the average age of the emrging filmmaker is dropping fast. No longer is the up and comming new filmmaker a 25 year old or even a 20 year old, at FTI we see talented 15 year olds trying to get a look in. Now if you think about funding schemes, training opportunities, production initinatives and entery level industry jobs, how many of these doors are available to the youngest of filmmmakers?
As students progress through primary and secondary education now they are regularly exposed to vision editing, using video cameras, and flash animation. Each year the level of expertise held by an average Year 12 student will continue to rise. So should we make all the restrictions on funding programs, courses and the rest be removed? There is a certain logic that says 'Yes'.
However, there is another more obvious challenge. Do 15 year old filmmakers have anything to say? This is debatable, as many 20 year old filmmakers often make a plethora of angst filled films about tortured souls. Maybe the real question is how do you challenge a young filmmaker to think beyond the norm and to present ideas and thoughts in a more creative context.
This is going to be one of the big challenges for screen educators and support agencies in coming years, finding the methodology and tools to work with the youngest of filmmakers and bring out the best in them.
One great opportunities for young filmmakers that is specifically for them and already in existence is the 'Document Your World' competition at the Australian International Documentary Conference. Teams of young filmmakers get a chance to pitch their ideas to ABC's JTV, in front of an audience of experienced filmmakers and a panel of esteemed filmmakers. I got the chance to see this in action at AIDC 2007 and the ideas put forward by the different teams were great. It's brilliant to see that it will be back for AIDC 2008 which is being held right here in Perth.
I asked the students, how many of them had a video camera at home, it was about 80 percent.
I asked how many had a mobile phone with a camera, it was nearly everyone.
I asked who had made a film already, again it was around 80 percent.
I asked who had posted a film to a share site such as YouTube, 60 percent responded in the affirmantive.
When you stop and think about it the average age of the emrging filmmaker is dropping fast. No longer is the up and comming new filmmaker a 25 year old or even a 20 year old, at FTI we see talented 15 year olds trying to get a look in. Now if you think about funding schemes, training opportunities, production initinatives and entery level industry jobs, how many of these doors are available to the youngest of filmmmakers?
As students progress through primary and secondary education now they are regularly exposed to vision editing, using video cameras, and flash animation. Each year the level of expertise held by an average Year 12 student will continue to rise. So should we make all the restrictions on funding programs, courses and the rest be removed? There is a certain logic that says 'Yes'.
However, there is another more obvious challenge. Do 15 year old filmmakers have anything to say? This is debatable, as many 20 year old filmmakers often make a plethora of angst filled films about tortured souls. Maybe the real question is how do you challenge a young filmmaker to think beyond the norm and to present ideas and thoughts in a more creative context.
This is going to be one of the big challenges for screen educators and support agencies in coming years, finding the methodology and tools to work with the youngest of filmmakers and bring out the best in them.
One great opportunities for young filmmakers that is specifically for them and already in existence is the 'Document Your World' competition at the Australian International Documentary Conference. Teams of young filmmakers get a chance to pitch their ideas to ABC's JTV, in front of an audience of experienced filmmakers and a panel of esteemed filmmakers. I got the chance to see this in action at AIDC 2007 and the ideas put forward by the different teams were great. It's brilliant to see that it will be back for AIDC 2008 which is being held right here in Perth.
For more information on this exciting initiative, visit www.aidc.com.au/marketplace/documentyourworld or the Hero Project at www.directingthehero.com
The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) is going to be in Fremantle in February 2008. This week we had the first meeting of the Local Management Committee (LMC). The local organisers include Brian Beaton and Ceilia Tait from Artemis International, Peter Du Cane, Kate Beverley, David Curl, Andrew Olgilvie from Electric Pirctures, Ian Booth and Debra Miller from ScreenWest and Conference Director Joost Den Hartog.
The role of the LMC is to provide feedback on the proposed program, recommned local people who may be able to present and provide expertise on the local region so the conferecne can be as successful as possible.
I went to this conference in Adeliade this year and it was brilliant! I hope the Perth conference can match the impressive standard that was set. To read about some of things at this years conference click on the links below.
The New Toolbox for Cross Platform Production
Three Things Every Cross Platform Production Needs
The Great Debate
The Day of the Figurines
It's going to be about the repeats
The Change that has come and the change that has got to come
Bus Networking
Our first meeting was really interesting and the AIDC team are lining up some great international guests, don't ask me who - I'm sworn to secrecy.
The guiding theme of the conference is going to be 'Storytelling', noting that Western Australia is home to some of the oldest storytelling traditions in the world. Many of the sessions will focus on how ever person in the production process contribute to the creation of the story.
The secondary themes are 'The Revolution will be Digitized' - which will look into different business models and how idepedent factual producers can full exploit their rights revenues. We are now in the second phase of the digital media revolution, it's no longer about predictions and futurists this is the time of the entrepenuer.
The third theme is 'Mash Up' - a term that originates out of 80's hip hop music, what is a mash up in the documentary world?
and finally 'United Nations' a look into the world of co-productions, international markets and the nuts and bolts of putting one together.
There will also be a AIDC Fringe conference right here at FTI on Saturday February 22nd, especially focussing on the early career part of the industry.
So, start saving your pennies for the registration, it is well worth the investment. If there is something you would like to get out of this conference or the Fringe Conference, add your thoughts to the comments section.
The role of the LMC is to provide feedback on the proposed program, recommned local people who may be able to present and provide expertise on the local region so the conferecne can be as successful as possible.
I went to this conference in Adeliade this year and it was brilliant! I hope the Perth conference can match the impressive standard that was set. To read about some of things at this years conference click on the links below.
The New Toolbox for Cross Platform Production
Three Things Every Cross Platform Production Needs
The Great Debate
The Day of the Figurines
It's going to be about the repeats
The Change that has come and the change that has got to come
Bus Networking
Our first meeting was really interesting and the AIDC team are lining up some great international guests, don't ask me who - I'm sworn to secrecy.
The guiding theme of the conference is going to be 'Storytelling', noting that Western Australia is home to some of the oldest storytelling traditions in the world. Many of the sessions will focus on how ever person in the production process contribute to the creation of the story.
The secondary themes are 'The Revolution will be Digitized' - which will look into different business models and how idepedent factual producers can full exploit their rights revenues. We are now in the second phase of the digital media revolution, it's no longer about predictions and futurists this is the time of the entrepenuer.
The third theme is 'Mash Up' - a term that originates out of 80's hip hop music, what is a mash up in the documentary world?
and finally 'United Nations' a look into the world of co-productions, international markets and the nuts and bolts of putting one together.
There will also be a AIDC Fringe conference right here at FTI on Saturday February 22nd, especially focussing on the early career part of the industry.
So, start saving your pennies for the registration, it is well worth the investment. If there is something you would like to get out of this conference or the Fringe Conference, add your thoughts to the comments section.
