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Ryan, Mark David& Murphy, Kayleigh F. (2016) Pedagogical uses of Australian screen content in tertiary education. In Sea Change: Transforming Industries, Screens, Texts; Screen Studies As- sociation of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand Conference, 2016-11-23 - 2016-11-25. (Unpublished)
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Mark David Ryan and Kayleigh Murphy Queensland University of Technology [email protected] Broader Research Context
This paper emerges from and builds on two projects:
Australia cinema studies: how the subject is taught in Australian universities • 1 year study into curriculum/syllabus models • Finding published in The Journal of Australian Studies (Ryan 2017 forthcoming)
Screen Content in Australian Education: Digital Promise and Pitfalls • Funded by ‘Australian screen content in education’ Linkage Grant (Cunningham and Dezaunni) • I led a component on screen content in tertiary education Background: Mapping of Australian Cinema Studies
31 of 39 University offered an ‘Australian cinema’ subject of some kind:
22 universities offered Australian cinema units (sole object of study)
5 offered Australian cinema as a dual area of study with literature or stage
4 units where Australian cinema constituted a minor component of syllabus (‘Australian Popular Culture’ and ‘World Cinemas’)
Units without a central Australian film focus were not analysed
Source: Australia cinema studies: how the subject is taught in Australian universities
3 University Unit 1. Australian National Australian Cinema: The Kelly Gang to Baz Luhrmann’s University Australia (FILM2066) 2. Bond University Film Analysis 2: Australian Cinema (FITV12-230) 3. Deakin University Contemporary Australian Cinema (AAM319) 4. Edith Cowan University Australian Screen Studies (SCR2116) 5. Federation University Australian Cinema (FLMOL 1001) 6. Flinders University Australian Cinema (SCME2101) [Renamed: Australian/Indigenous Media (SCME2101)] 7. Griffith University Australia Screen (3012HUM) 8. MacQuarie University Australian Film and Television (CUL221) 9. Monash University Australian film and television: Nation, culture and identity (ATS2529) 10. Queensland University of Australian Film and Television (KPB212) Technology Australian cinema 11. Royal Melbourne Australian Cinema (COMM1033) Institute of Technology (RMIT University) subjects by 12. Swinburne Australian Film and Television History (FTV20005) 13. University of Canberra Australian National Cinema (9016.2) university 14. University of Melbourne Australian Film and Television (SCRN20013) 15. University of New Australian Cinema (COMM385/585) England 16. University of Notre Australian Cinema (CO363) Dame 17. University of NSW Australian Cinema and Television (ARTS2062) 18. University of Queensland Australian Cinema (MSTU2006) 19. University of Southern Australian Television (CMS2017) Queensland 20. University of Sunshine Upfront: History of Film in Australia (HIS290) Coast 21. University of Technology Australian Film (58321) Sydney 22. University of Western Postcolonial Australian Cinema (101987.1) Sydney 4
Subjects by university cont …
“Australian cinema” units with a dual focus
University Unit 23. Charles Sturt University Australian Screen and Stage (COM122)
24. James Cook University Regional Features: Place, Location, Australia and Asia in Cinema (CN2205)
25. University of Adelaide Australian Classics: Literature and Film (ENGL 2055) 26. University of South Australia Imagined: Identity and Diversity in Australia Australian Film and Literature (COMM 3048) 27. University of Sydney Australian Stage and Screen (ASLT2616) Broader units with content that also
includes “Australian cinema”
University Unit 28. Australian Catholic Australian Popular Culture (HIST228) University (no course outline available) 29. Curtin University World Cinemas (SCST2000) 30. University of Western National and Transnational Cinemas Australia (ENGL3401) 31. Victoria University World Cinema (ACC3061) 5 Background: National Cinema Curriculum and Australian Cinema Studies
Australian cinema studies is firmly embedded within national cinema curriculum
Focussed on Australian cinema’s distinctiveness as a national cinema and attendant discourses
Principal focus is analysing, critiquing, discussing and in some cases problematising national issues, history and discourses
Most units have modules dedicated to contemporary issues, only a handful focussed on contemporary cinema
6 Background: common approaches to syllabus
Four key approaches to curriculum are:
1.Historical and chronological accounts of Australian cinema (historical/industry/policy/text during a specific period of time)
2.Study of a key film and corresponding theme (textual/thematic,history)
3.Key discourses of Australian cinema and critical issues (cultural, critical theory)
4.A modular approach (a combination of the above)
7 Background: Historical chronologies
Table 1: ‘Upfront: History of Film in Australia’, University of the sunshine Coast Lecture Lecture topic/key concepts week
1. Introduction: The invention and early historical transitions of film: what was Key issues that shape cinema? production, policy
2. The Silent Era 1: the first Australian (and international) documentaries settings and ultimately (‘actualities’) and the early feature film history of Australia the textuality of films in 3. The Silent Era 2: the development of documentary and feature film, and the a specific era cinema industry, in Australia to the end of the 1920s: structures, techniques, narratives, themes
4. The coming of sound in late 1920s and 1930s – new techniques, old themes? Provides a holistic
5. War, propaganda and colour film: WW2 and the effects on Australian film account of OZ cinema – from silent cinema to 6. 1940s-50s Britain/Australia/Hollywood: the links 7. now … Documentary film: supporting the film industry during the decline in feature productions 8. The start of the revival of Australian film Emphasis tends to be a
9. The film revival in full swing combination of text, 10. Suburban/urban film 1980s-1990s history, industry, policy
11. Diversity, glam musicals and the marginalised 12. A second revival? New directions 8 Background: key discourses/critical issues
Critical issues: ‘Australian Film and Television’, Macquarie University Lecture Lecture schedule and content breakdown week
1. Screening Australianness – Newsfront (1977) Aligned with critical 2. Screening National Identity – Kenny (2006) theories/approaches 3. Screening Indigeneity – Mabo (2012) common in film theory/
4. Screening Multiculturalism – Temple of Dreams (2007) Screen studies
5. Screening Australia –Australia (2008)
6. Screening Space – Bra Boys (Sunny Aberton, Macario De Souza, 2007) Critical positions not
7. Screening Gender – Suburban Mayhem (Paul Goldman, 2006) necessarily unique to
8. Screening Sexualities – Strange Bedfellows (2004, Dean Murphy) Australian cinema
9. Screening Religion – The Devil’s Playground(Fred Schepsisi, 1976) studies but applied to
10. Screening Diaspora and Detention – Go Back to Where You Came From, Season the Australian context 1, Episodes 1 and 2 (2011, SBS Television)
11. Screening Badlands – Underbelly: The Golden Mile, Season 3, Episode 1 – ‘Into the Mystic’ (2010, Nine Network)
12. Screening Futures
9 Background: Australian cinema discourses and genre
KPB212: Australian Film and Television Lecture Lecture Screenings Week 1. Introduction: Australia film and television – Crocodile Crocodile Dundee (1986) Dundee 2. Constructing a nation in 1970s and 1980s – Gallipoli Gallipoli (1981) 3. Aesthetics of commercialism: Ozploitation and Not Quite Hollywood blockbusters – Not Quite Hollywood (2008) 4. Diversity and Australian Screen in the 1990s: Men, The Adventures of Priscilla, women and suburbia Queen of the Desert (1994) 5. Post-national cinema: contemporary Australian cinema Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010) 6. The Australian television industry Episode of Neighbours and TV soapies Or Home and Away (2006 and 1993 series available)
7. Indigenous filmmaking The Sapphires (2012) 8. Suburban mayhem: crime films Gettin Square (2003) 9. Revenge of nature: Australian horror films Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) or The Tunnel (2011) 10. Ocker comedy The Castle (1997)
10 This Study
Examines the use of ‘Australian screen’ content in tertiary screen studies programs, namely:
‘Australian cinema’, ‘Australian Film’, ‘Australian National Cinema’, ‘Australian Film and Television’, ‘Australian Screen’, and ‘Australian Documentary’
It drills deeper into the broad insights curriculum and syllabus models identified in Ryan (2017)
Focused on the pedagogical use of Australian screen content in undergraduate study in higher education in Australian universities. Methods/Research Design
10 x 60-120 minute semi-structured interviews with principal coordinators or lecturers
2x Queensland universities; 2x Victorian universities; 3x New South Wales universities (1x stage and screen); and 1x university in South Australia, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory.
No standalone subjects offered in Northern Territory (Charles Darwin University) or Tasmania (the University of Tasmania).
Mix of Go8, Australian Technology Network and regional universities examined. Australian Screen and their position in curriculum
Many coordinators are former filmmakers, activists, cinephiles, critics
Australian screen units, and their emphasis, are strongly associated with individual coordinators
Part of a broader suite of screen studies subjects (sometimes alongside various Australian screen subjects)
Australian Screen unis are also part of a suite of cultural analysis or cultural studies-type units – have a strong cultural function.
The number of Australian screen subjects offered at any one time fluctuates – offered on a rotating basis Screenings
Teaching and learning for Australian screen studies is typically structured around:
• A one to two hour lecture • A scheduled in-class screening of generally an hour and an half • A tutorial • Out-of-class viewings and in some cases an expectation for out-of-class attendance of film festivals, exhibitions or other relevant screen culture events.
In-class screenings & out-of-class viewing – feature films, television programs, and documentary films, is central to curriculum, weekly syllabus and T&L activities.
Coordinators have options for sourcing screen content: physical DVDs/Blu-ray, streaming services such as Kanopy and EduTV.
Feature film was most dominant form of screen content studied. In Class Screenings
In-class screenings remain the dominant practice
Timetable scheduling, a push for students to watch feature-length screenings outside of class-time, poor screening attendance put pressure on in-class screenings
For interviewees: world cinema, documentary units no longer have dedicated screenings
Few Interviewees felt as though their Oz screen subject was not under the same timetabling or institutional pressures
There has bee a contraction in no. of subjects offered in recent years; those that remain are on stable ground In-class Screenings
Australian screen subjects may have a privileged position relative to other screen subjects
Interviewees justify in-class screenings in three key ways:
1. Screenings critical to curriculum
2. Importance of social practice/awareness of cinema experience
3. A key way to foster attendance
Cultural function/cultural heritage may also play a key role in maintaining this privileged position ‘Curating’ content and screening practices
Screenings: physical DVDs/Blu-ray copies purchased by university libraries and supplemented by titles from a coordinator’s personal collection is the most established practice for sourcing content for in-class screenings is.
Quality is a key determining factor – streaming viewed as unreliable in terms of quality
Youtube is widely used to show clips, rarely weekly screenings.
Coordinators go to extraordinary lengths to acquire and ‘curate’ screenings. • Institutional librarians license NSFA and ACMI 16/35 mm prints.
• Margot Nash secured 16mm prints from filmmaking networks not housed by NFSA
• QUT purchased Ozploitation rarities from Trash Video Collection for T&L activities An Australian Screen Studies Canon?
There are canonical films commonly screened in many screening programs across Australian universities.
There is no one accepted canon of Australian cinema screened in higher education (Ryan 2017 forthcoming).
For interviewees: key AFC films are central to what can be understood as classic Australian cinema
But there is no agreeance on what constitutes and Australian canon, or the criteria by which if should be judged . Australian cinema screenings (2014) Screened in four or more The Sentimental Bloke (1919) – six subjects Gallipoli (1981) – five Jedda (1955) – five Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) – four They’re a Weird Mob (1966) – four
Screened in three subjects The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) Australia (2008) Wake in Fright (1971) Not Quite Hollywood (2008) Samson and Delilah (2009) The True Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) Mad Max (1979) The Castle (1997) The Proposition (2005) Lantana (2001) Newsfront (1977) Ten Canoes (2006)
Screened in two subjects Bedevil (1993) The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) Muriel’s Wedding (1994) Breaker Morant (1980) Radiance (1998) My Tehran for Sale (2009) Kenny (2006) East West 101 ( 2007–2011) Underbelly (2008–2013) One Night the Moon (2001) My Brilliant Career (1979) Kath & Kim (2002–2007) Source: Ryan, Mark David. (In press 2017). Australian The Boys (1998) Cinema Studies: How the Subject is Taught in Australian Universities. The Journal of Australian Studies, Iss. 4. Accepted 23/11/2016. An Australian Screen Studies Canon?
Huw Walmsley-Evans stressed the importance of studying the highest aesthetic and technical quality, or what he refers to as “film as film”.
For Walmsley-Evans, he would not screen Kenny because:
It's not a good film. So in that sense there is a sense of "capital C" cinema about Australian film. Because we know that other approach, the more socio-cultural approach doesn't … necessarily care for pro-filmic values and will get taught elsewhere in units or courses in "Australian Studies", "Cultural Studies" or "Gender Studies" at the University of Queensland. These media/cultural studies’ approaches to Australian cinema allow us to be more pro-filmic with our offering in the film department. (Walmsley-Evans, UQ, 2016).
For other interviewees, delimiting screenings to films of the highest aesthetic or technical quality was less of a determining factor
How well films align with relevant cultural and national cinema discourses was more important. Coordinators attempt to screen a range of contrasting films that reinforce as well as challenge the idea of classic Australian cinema:
“I think in terms of teaching the canon, I try to include some canonical things … some [films] that are bad taste or … a mixture in terms of genre and in terms of period, in terms of ethnic groups” (Lesley Speed, Federation University, 2016).
“I’m more interested in films as cultural history. So, yes, I aim to include what might be called “keynote” films by well-known directors, as well as some other, less art house movies.Working Dog’s The Castle was brought back this year, for instance, partly due to student demand, and partly to speak to themes about the representation of suburban life that also run through a number of the play texts.” (Kirkpatrick, Uni of Sydney, 2016)
“I tend to choose films that I think they probably haven’t seen. I do have a main theme running through the course, which is the classic and the canon, what do we mean by the canon. Because I’m interested in ideas about taste, and I’m also yeah, I guess it is about taste that I’m interested in. And so the, what is a classic? Why is it a classic? What is the canon? Who’s canon? Are we talking about a canon or genre?” (Jane Mills, UNSW, 2016). Australian Screen and Cultural Heritage
Teaching Australian screen history is viewed as important to curriculum to:
• Introduce students to key films and their historical lineage that they will not have seen otherwise; • Frame contemporary films within an understanding of historically-informed industry, policy and cultural contexts; and • Encourage students to think about Australian culture, national identity and their own cultural identity through critical engagement with the films studied.
However, teaching history is problematic and is a major challenge to teaching Australian screen.
Despite a strong desire by coordinators to teach history, students have little interest in engaging with historical content.
Students also often have a minimal understanding of Australian history (both domestic and international students). Australian cinema studies Assessment Items (2014)
Type of Assessment Specific Assessment Task Number of Units Total offering Task Written Essay (< 1,000 words) 8 29 Fundamental critical literacy Essay (> 1,000 words) 21 Examinations Exam 8 13 skills Viewing Exam 1 Take Home Exam 3 Graduate destinations are: Test/quiz 1 Tutorial-Based Tutorial Reports/Journals 2 13 Education, production, Assessment Critical Contribution 1 support roles in ‘production In-class Review 1 Attendance/Participation 7 culture’, criticism, higher Weekly Tutorial Exams 2 degree research and Oral Presentation Presentation 11 11 Exhibition Exhibition Program Rationale 2 4 academic professions Exhibition Catalogue 2 Creative Creative practice 1 4 (short film/multimedia piece) But largely textual based, Creative Research Project/ 2 not fusing of Creative reflection Creative Response (to film 1 production/theory little history, recurring themes) experimentation with new Bibliography Annotated Bibliography 3 3 Company/Institution Company/Institution Report 1 2 media technologies Profile Filmmaker profile 1 Multimedia Blog Entries 1 1
Source: Australian Cinema Studies: How the Subject is Taught in Australian Universities. The Journal of Australian Studies. 23 Pedagogy and Assessment
It is common for students to commence the study of Australian screen with:
• Limited prior knowledge of Australian film. • Either a negative/ambivalent attitude towards Australian screen content. • And a reluctance to watch historical content.
Engagement with ‘Australian screen’ as a subject is a key priority for pedagogues
Essay has long been a dominant form of assessment – aimed at developing research, writing, and critical analysis skills
There is increasing emphasis on creative responses and non-essay based assessment. Pedagogy and Assessment
Assessment design priorities:
• To enable students with non-screen disciplinary knowledge to apply this knowledge in non- essay based assessment
• Developing creative outputs relative to a student’s specific craft (costumes, art-design, scripts, video and photographic essays)
• Authentic assessment aligned with screen culture (curating film festival catalogues, film criticism)
• For students studying practical film production, an emphasis is developing critical informed practice
Few online/new media projects (Youtube channels, transmedia, online videos) Examples: authentic and applied assessment items
Students program and project 35mm prints for weekly screenings
Students create a portfolio of critical writing for actual publications
Students produced a short trailer for an Australian movie concept
Exhibition catalogues responding to industry-standard briefs
Set/prop design for a movie concept Stephen Gaunson, Australian Cinema (RMIT)
Gaunson’s (RMIT) Australian Cinema is one of the few films to focus solely of films released in last 15 years.
Assessment 1. Choose your own assessment (design your own essay/written assessment based on your disciplinary knowledge) – marketing briefs, business plans, distribution plans etc.
Assessment 2. Research and examine a material object from an Australian screen object
Students attend the Screen Worlds exhibition at ACMI, Melbourne, and must write a portfolio on a object:
“The exhibition displays props and set pieces from iconic Australian films, including: the canoe from Ten Canoes (2006), a replica of the Mad Max (1979) Interceptor car and the windmill from Moulin Rouge! (2001). Assessment requires students to write an essay that places a chosen cultural artefact in either a cultural or filmic context” (Gaunson, RMIT, 2016). Week Lecture schedule and content breakdown 1. What is an Australian film? – Finding Nemo (2003) 2. Outwardly Australia – The Sapphires (2012) 3. Australian Films for China – 33 Postcards (2011) 4. The Problems of ‘International’ Australian Stories: Finding Local Audiences – Balibo (2009) 5. Inflated Budgets and Poor Box Office: A Case for Robert Connelly’s ‘White Paper’ – Netherland Dwarf (2008) and The Rover (2014) 6. CinemaPlus: Robert Connolly’s Event Screening – The Turning (2013) 7. Test Screenings and Young Audiences – Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010) 8. Finding the Wide Audience: Film Festivals and Audience Response – Stranded (2011) and Samson and Delilah (2014) 9. Genre Markets and Marketing – Monster (2005) and The Babadook (2014) 10. Watching Australian Films on the Small Screen – The Mule (2014) 11. Australian Hit: When is a Film Successful? – Mystery Road (2014) 12. Next Generation Filmmaking – Blue-Tongue Shorts and Lake Mungo (2008) Screen studies and Industry outcomes
Me my mates and the zombie Apocalypse (2015) screenplay written as an assessment item for “Australian National Cinema” coordinated by Susan Thwaites, University of Canberra
“For that film, and [the student] basically, all the things that we were looking at, in terms, especially the larrikin, the archetype … all of that stuff was in there. So it’s one of the lovely success stories of that unit that inspired someone to think of … that idea of the larrikin in a zombie apocalypse” (Susan Thwaites 2016).
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmsdSx3PLqs
Dario Rosso’s Youtube sensation Italian Spiderman was conceived for an honours project at Flinders University and early ideas were developed in Mike Walsh’s Australian cinema subject (Walsh 2016). Assessment and Industry outcomes
In Margot Nash’s unit, a key assessment item is a Creative Response to any aspect of Australian screen:
Students choose a film or a group of films that embody an issue … and produce a creative response that draws on ideas discussed in the class. They were invited to re-imagine a familiar work or produce an original [artefact] as a personal response. They can write a critical essay but it must be supported by visuals such as stills from the film … They can do an audio-visual [piece] … One or two maybe wrote an essay but when I taught it, they made films, they did photographic essays, one student did a choreographed dance. Another… embroidered an evening purse as a tribute to the McDonagh Sisters [Isabel, Paulette and Phyllis McDonagh] who A prop developed by a were pioneering female filmmakers during Australian silent fashion student as a tribute cinema (1896-1930)] (Nash, University of Technology Sydney, to the McDonagh Sisters 2016). Conclusion
Australian screen studies is on stable unstable ground
Tensions between desire by coordinators to teach history and cultural heritage and students’ attitudes towards Australian screen
An increasing shift towards a more contemporaneous focus on Australian screen though tensions remain
Assessment and teaching and learning is to an extent becoming more applied – to increase perceived relevance of the subject to career trajectories
There is a vague sense of a canon but every screening program is quite different
Student engagement is more of priority than pedagogical innovation