February 2008 Archives
Source: ABC News
This is a forward thinking step by a state agency that will be the envy of other states.
Tina Dalton from Absoloutley Wild Visuals and Content Mint showed how they had taken a large serious wild life documentary and cut it up into smaller bite sized chunks, added some funky animation, given a new naration and created a whole new interstitual series for Nickelodeon.
Sumbarine's Bruno Felix showed a similar process in reverse, his company created a whole series of short episodic documentaries, they were available online. One they had a sufficent number of viewers, a growing audience, the content was repackaged into a larger program, which was then successfully sold to broadcasters.
Greenaway, a commanding public speaker, rose to the pulpit and spoke for an hour free of notes or guides. Greeaway outlined his love of painting, and noted that this was his original training ground. He challenged the audience to think of the begininning of cinema not as the invention of the Lumierre Borthers 112 year ago but rather a an extension of an investigation of capturing articicial light that began in the 17th century.
Greeaway comment that he found himslef to be a reluctant film director but described film as an extrordinary playground. If film was, as some envisaged, the combination of literature, theatre and painting, then haven't we been focussing on the next side of the process a little too much? And as for Documentary makers, the audience of the day, Greenaway playfully highlighted that they have the name 'document' within their job title, making them little more than a bunch of 'text pushers' in his eyes.
Therefore the last 112 years of cinematic history could fairly be called 112 years of illustrated text.
Geenaway questioned our lack of confidence in the visual language, that we keep going back to that god-damn bookstore.
Television was not free of the Directors dismissive overview, 1983 the year of the intoduction of the mass producted remote control was stated as that mediums time of death.
It makes little sense, cinema forces you to sit still and quiet for 120 minutes, a very unnatural state. Cinema also makes us see the world through a rectangular frame of a 16:9 ratio, event the master painters could alter their frame size, width and height.
Greeaway showed two of his recent works, a recent instalation in Italy, a 500 year history of intalian design that was projected on to several screens concurrently,one screen was big and long, another thin and tall, three more were square, while another was the shape of the earth's curve.
A second example was a new art gallery in Italy where Greeaway has fillmed majestic looking people who stand around, to be projected on to the walls of a new art gallery, instantly populating the space with people and creating a rich atmosphere.
Finally he showed his projective work for Rembrant's 'The Nightwatch', this work was projected onto one of the world most famous paintings and through a use of light and sound, this painting was brought to life as each character was carefully highlighted. Following it's success Greenaway is soon off to begin work on DaVinci's famous work 'The Last Supper'.
Cinema has died and become predictable, everyone knows it conventions, it is mainstream and there is little left to explore. We should not worry though, for new doorways are opening up, the worlds of SecondLife, Interactive mediums and multi media delivery.
Following Greenaway's address the conference was alive with conversation, some were inspired, others called it a 'load of codswallop'. I have to admit it gave me a huge desire to rush of and film something a little odd and project it on an unsuspecting wall.
The talk however was the perfect start for the final day of the conference. A series of sessions about mixing it up and mashing it up with the new generation.
Screenhub contributor David Tiley got people talking when he presented a session called"What's Coooking". In an entertaining a thought provoking rant he cast his eye over the documentary landscape exploring the worlds of production through handmade films, international co-productions, domestic pre-sales for TV, commercial TV and PAY TV. He ignored the world of Reality TV, as documentary makers like to.
Tiley noted that there was a lot of optimism about the future from largely optomistic people, and some doom and gloom predications from those who always see the worst. He noted that things were looking up with the formation of the super agency, Screen Australia although some were worried that it may have actucally become Screen Bulgaria.
There are many predictions about who may be new CEO, Earlier in the morning Sandy George has touted Jane Smith, Greg Smith or even possible bad boy Cory Worthington - at least he understands online distribution. There are even runours that the Screen Australia board might include filmmakers. Many people were of course eager to hear from the 'Three Amigos' - the current heads of AFC and FFC suddenly not attending the conference, Film Australia's Daryl Karp was left alone in the final session of the day.
Most importantly Tiley pointed out that there is a growth in the indie-indie sector - the true independents. It was highlighted that there are many people in positions of power in boadcasters and funding bodies who are in their late 50's (those with superanunation) and filmmakers with provien track records (those without superanuation) who often work together to mutual benifit. Meanwhile the next generation in their 40's wait on, patiently given the rare opportunity to be arunner bu people who given similar breaks whebn they were 20 years younger.
Filmmakers in their 20's are nearly missung from the landscape, they are not making things for televison or presenting on television. It is an older people's sector. Tiley proposed that filmmakers in their 20's are probably doing the innovation that the 50 year olds are now searching for.
A look over the landscape of 2006 - 2008 sees productions in pre-production, filmming, post and exhibition. Amongst them is;
- 280 projects, including 26 features
- 160 active productions
- 65 series - 300 hours of television
- 180 one off 1 hour productions
- 116 active companies
- 42 companies who made more than 1 thing
- 20 companies making multiple projects at the same time.
Tiley nopted that there is a trend towards series, a jugernaught that can not be stopped, due to the reading of ratings, but questioned how a young filmmaker would get their first work comissioned and noted that less players equals less diversity.
As you looked around the room, it was very clear, there are few people here under 30.
The first day of AIDC ended with a great function held on the Beach in Fremantle, in front of the Kidogo Arthouse. It was a perfect choice of location, as the run set, the sky turned orange and the clouds reflected a vibrant purple, it was an impressive backdrop.
For four hours filmmakers from around the world, mingled and schmoozed, there was lots of drinks and an endless supply of finger food, scallops, chicken spring rolls, little pizzas, and other tasty morsels. If you were wondering why it costs $800 to attend, the generous supply of food and drink provides part of the answer.
This was a great change to meet new people, touch base with other West Australians, see people from interstate and make new acquaintances.
The real challenge at these events though is to force yourself to meet new people. I mean there's no advantage in spending time with people who have an office down the hallway, or colleagues who you see three times a week. The first rule of schmoozing is to ignore your friends.
So it was great to chat to David Bradbury about his Stanley Hawes win, he noted that the winning payment of $5000 means he stop worrying about his credit card bill for this month. I caught up with Martin Potter from the Media Resource Centre in Adeliade and met a variety of filmmakers and film supports from an amazing range of places and roles.
One of the hihglights of the Australian International Documentary Conference is the Docu-mart. Held on the second day this is a massive high stakes pitching event,
Picture a United Nations style set up, a big square of tables lined on three sides by Commissioning Editors from around the globe. ABC is there, SBS, National Geographic, Discovery, Channel 4, Foxtel, Adeliade Film Festival, boradcasters from Candada, Bangladesh, Denmark, Germany. Aljazeera English, BBC Scotland, ITVS from the USA, and many more, Officially there are 55 people who may be able to help your project but there are many more about.
One the other side of the table sits a fimmaker, sometimes a Producer and Director, sometime the team extends to three people. Behind them are two massive screens, and they are on camera, and the crowd watching on is in the hundreds.
The filmmaker get a few minutes to pitch their idea, show a short visual clip and give an overview of what they're after to drive their project forward. When they have a minute of time left a bell rings. When it's their time is out the moderators politely ask them to stop talking.
The moderator then asks various people for their feedback. It's an awesome experience, the feedback alone is probably worth a million bucks. But these Producers are hoping that one of the people looking on will be able to give them the money they need to make their film, these producers are looking for millions. And Commisioning Editors have to say 'No' a lot more than they ever get to say 'Yes'.
The stakes are high, the feedback can be enlightening, and it can also be brutal.
Like many of his generation David got his start at the ABC in 1972 but he was unable to get into the newly formed Australian Film Television and Radio School. In his acceptance speech David reflected on this and noted that filmmakers should never be deflated by rejection becasue determination is what it's all about.
Bradbury didn;t hold back on his assessment of the current landscape for indepdent filmmakers, he hit out at our nations public broadcasters describing them as 'filled with dross that appeals to the lowest common denominator' and reminded the staff at the ABC that is actually 'our ABC'.
He reflected on the comments from the opening address that highlighted the booming economy in WA and commented that while we may be materially rich, if we don't tell the inmportant stories we will be spiritually void.
In good humour, later in the day ABC's Commisioning Editor - Contemory, Dasha Ross welcomed David Bradbury's comments and noted that it is worth 'getting a good kicking' to remind us of what is important.
Steve Hewlett has many roles, he is a collumist for THE GUARDIAN, and runs Big Pictures Ltd - a television production company, he is also a visiting Professor of Journalism and Broadcast policy at Salford University, as well as contributing to radio and television programs. He started his career as a Researcher on BBC Nationwide before producing a number of a series for Channel 4. He was Producer of the landmark BBC programs 'Inside Story' and 'Panorama' in the 90's and went on to be Managing Director of Carlton Television.
Jane Roscoe is the Netowrk programmer at SBS, which is the leading broadcaster for documentary in Australia. She was previously Head of the Centre for Screen Studies and Research at AFTRS and has written extensively on documentary, audiences and television.
Celia Tait is joint Managing Director of production comapny 'Artemis International'. Artemis International's productions include the mega rating Australian version of 'Who Do You Think You Are', 'Desperately Seeking Sheila' and the Walkley nominated 'Saving Andrew Mallard'.
Professor Duane Varan is the Director of Interactive Television Research Institute at Murdoch University and is a leading authority on the future of television who advises many of the worlds leading brands and media networks.
There are many challenges to the documentary in it's purest form, the rise of reality television, multi chanelling, the comercialisation of broadcasters, including the public broadcasters, on demand viewing, online viewing and mobile viewing.
For the documentary filmmmaker there have always been the questions about the audience. Will they want it? Will they get it? but now we must also ask, Would they rather make it themselves?
For Celia Tait at Artemis International there has been a very clear change in the kinds of films that they are making. They branched out into format television when they created the series 'Desperately Seeking Sheila' for SBS television. There most recent success has come from licencing another program format, the British show 'Who Do you Think You Are'.
Celia noted that while this show was a mamoth production, it is far more than a just a TV show, the online discussions, forums and an ellaborate website are all parts of the whole project.
Jane Roscoe noted that there is often a session at conferences where we declare documentary dead, but the next year, the session conference remains and so does the session proclaiming impending doom. Roscoe highlights that there are two very powerful forces that guide viewers, the desire to watch and the desire to understanding, looking and knowing are two of our most driving desires and becasue of this there is always a place for documentary.
While TV is changing, some of the core roles of broadcasters are not, they are still curators of content, as the amount of content available explodes the need to highlight quality remains. broadcasters can guide audiences through the sea of the good, the bad and the ugly.
Roscoe believes there is still a place for the serious documentary, the key is engaging the audience.
Professor Duane Varan sees many challenges for the documentary sector, he notes that business is changing, braodcasters have always workled on economies of scale, successful businesses in the future will be based around economies of scope. To be successful filmmaker will have to be able to leverage their product across different platforms.
Varan highlights that there are some hurdles for Australia in that we seem to have a fundamental disconnect between Australian content and global content, our poor access to broadband internet puts us at a disadvantage, we still have a low uptake of subscription television and we remain with an 'old boy network' model for commissioning content and we struggle to embrace and understand complex rating and metrics.
Varan believes that we need to get a better balance between our local and global perspectives.
All the panelist agreed however that excellent storytelling ability however remains at the top of the list.
One of the great fears of attending any conference or forum is the fear that the discussion will be the same discussion that was heard at last years event. In the media world we are continually having discussions about the technological disruption of broadcast television, the rise of the internet, the rise of audience generated content. This can become very doom and gloom, if your a professional filmmaker what happens once the audience start watching their own films instead of yours, where do you put your new TV show once the ABC has been replaced by Google? Sometimes it seems like the sky is falling in.
Steve Hewlett made a concise point though yesterday, a voice of reason and logic shining through. Documentary is not television, it is not up to documnetary makers to rise and fall with challenges of television, it is up to documentary makers to define themselves seperate of broadcast television.
Today at the Australian International Documentary Conference Jeremy Bean from Murdoch University eched these sentiments describing it as documentary living in television's back padock.
This seems to be one of the key themes emerging from the sessions, Documentary makers need to be innovative,entrepeneuiral and find new ways to develop, create and distribute product.
It has also been highlighted by Screenhub's David Tiley in his presentation that there is a generation of filmmakers and administrators in their late 50's who are nearing retirement, they have held their roles and positions for a long time and the generation that follows them have been waiting in the wings. The generation that comes next however, isn't getting a look in, there are few young filmmakers, few young presenters on television. The newest generation of documentary makers is doing it a different way - they are already innovating like mad.
Television can learn something from the web.
Yesterday Film Australia presented a forum DOCO2012, a series of panel discussions hypothesising where the documnentary world will need to be in 4 years time when television's annalogue signal is finally switched off and Australia embraces a digital future.
Often in these discussions - which cover the effects of the internet, online video, the downfall of cinema and so on - the phrase 360 degree comissioning will be thrown in. Yesterday was no different, it appeared within the first hour. 360 degree comissioning is the idea that a program can be a broadcast, a web site, a mobile phone experience, a game or whatever other platform the project works on, A Commissioning Editor may green light a host of inter-related projects or begin with just one.
It got me thinking...
One of the great experiences of video on YouTube is that there is a conversation, a call and response effect, debates break out. On YouTube, you can add your thoughts to the comments section or make your own video and file it as a response.
Television may also allow for feedback and comments on their websites, but could this be integrated into the actual television broadcast product.
Take a show like ABC's 'Four Corners', it has embraced the web revolution, it has a great website, There are online discussions in chat rooms, there is extra content and extended interviews. What if I could record my own video on what I thought of the episodes argument, submit my own 5 minute film that provided a different point of view.
'Four Corners' is repeated several times through the week, in the afternoon for schools, late at night a few nights later and it get's a replay on ABC2. What if the secondary screenings had additional content. What if throughout the week a coversation was allowed develop. What if television found away to do call and response.
This is where television falls down as it is a broadcast medium. A one way form of communication. Conversations may be the key for television as it goes through disruption and change.
