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FEBRUARY 2013: Independence M M MediaMagazine

edia agazine Menglish and media centre issue 43 | februaryM 2013

Be the best. Choose

the best. Independent Thinking in Media Exams Pick the Tick. Independent The Creative Skillset Tick Hollywood? is the industry quality mark for professional Hitchcock’s

short courses, Vertigo apprenticeships and higher education courses Independent Girl:

across the UK. Juno To see the courses Game Development

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MediaMagazine is published by Independence. What does it mean? Can there be such a the English and Media Centre, a thing as an independent movie any more? Is it possible to non-profit making organisation. The Centre publishes a wide range conceive of any form of media production as independent, of classroom materials and runs given its collaborative nature? And how independent are courses for teachers. If you’re you – as a fan, a thinker, a learner, a producer of media? studying English at A Level, look out These are some of the questions we’re trying to unpick for emagazine, also published by the Centre. in this issue, starting with that last question – you as an independent thinker – with Steph Hendry’s useful advice on how to prepare for writing The English and Media Centre 18 Compton Terrace independently in Media exams. Nick Lacey asks how we would identify an London N1 2UN independent film – by its budget? Its visual style? Its stars? Its relation to Telephone: 020 7359 8080 Hollywood? – and concludes that the only way of knowing is by studying Fax: 020 7354 0133 the credits. Read Pete Turner’s detailed case study of one of the most Email for subscription enquiries: popular so-called independent movies of recent years, Juno, to decide [email protected] for yourself. And Elaine Scaratt’s illuminating article on Alfred Hitchcock’s Managing Editor: Michael Simons masterpiece Vertigo poses all sorts of interesting questions about the

Editor: Jenny Grahame impact of his early art-house influences, studio collaborations and commercial self-branding on his status as an auteur. Editorial assistant/admin: Zelda McKay Then there are several case studies of individual artists renowned for Design: Sparkloop their independence of vision: filmmakers Werner Herzog and Alexander Print: S&G Group Payne, and the mould-breaking cabaret singer Amanda Palmer, who has Cover: Images from Satellite Boy struggled to break free from the control of her record label. We also look at courtesy of Bunya Productions A interesting examples of independence in production processes, and in film Satellite Films Production. Photo By distribution, with the growth of crowd-funded movie experiences and pop- Matt Nettheim up cinemas. And on a more cultural, World Cinema level, two pieces from ISSN: 1478-8616 the other side of the world investigate opposite ends of the independent production process, with studies of Australian indigenous film, and the Weta Studios in Hobbit-land, aka New Zealand. Finally, some independent ways into a career in the media industries, from a former A Level student who formed his own production companies, and another who is making her mark in independent journalism, plus guidance from Skillset. There is definitely more to life than Hollywood. Don’t forget that the clock is ticking for the MediaMag Video Production Competition – see below! So the message for this issue is think independent!

This magazine is not to be photocopied. Why not subscribe to our web package which includes a downloadable and printable PDF of We’re looking forward to receiving your entries! And so are our judges: Pete Fraser, Corin Hardy, and Mark Reid (BFI) the current issue or All entries must be received by 25th March 2013. encourage your students The choice of genre is yours, but entries must be between 30 seconds and to take out their own 4 minutes long. £12 subscription? For further details and to download an entry form, see http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/prod_comp/index.html

2 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM contents

Front Page News Sapphires and Satellite Homing into Holmes: Latest news and views. 30 Boy: Independent the Independence of Fan 04 Indigenous Australian 49 Independent Thinking Culture Librarian and fan Ruth Film Globetrotter Maggie in Media Examinations Kenyon confesses and celebrates 06 Miranda introduces some recent the appeals, dedication and Examiner Steph Hendry independent films from a culture independence involved in being explains why wider reading/ rarely represented in mainstream part of a fan community. viewing, through research and cinema. independent thinking should Independent Radio, play an important part in your Independent Music revision, whichever exam you’re 53 Independent music is flourishing studying for. in the digital age, and independent Independent Hollywood? radio has also found its home Nick Lacey explores what we online, guiding non-mainstream 09 audiences towards ever changing mean when we talk about an independent movie, and Big Fish Little Fish musical styles through platforms suggests that it’s not as clear-cut Cartoon by Goom such as Dandelion Radio, as Peter 34 Jackson explains. as we might expect… Secrets, Hidden Hitchcock’s Vertigo: Identities and the Village The Rise and Rise of the 36 Independent Journalist 13 A Narrative of Movie Brenda Hamlet explores 56 Tara Cox considers some of the Independence? Hitchcock how new technologies and new many factors contributing to the has always been seen as the audiences are changing the rise in citizen journalism, and master of his own productions, ways in which people make, introduces some useful apps and an independent director and experience and screen movies. approaches. producer. But how independent was he? Elaine Scarratt Pop-Up Cinema: A Career in the Media Independent investigates, with a focus on 39 – It Happens! Advice and Vertigo. 58 Distribution All over the guidance from a former Media A country independent exhibitors level student who‘s been there are screening movies new and and done it! old, sometimes in the unlikeliest of settings. Christopher Budd explains how film fans are finding alternatives to the ordinary multiplex viewing experience.

Alexander Payne’s State Limbo: How Independent Developers can take on 18 of Independence Jonathan 42 Weta: Turning Nunns explores the career of the Games Industry A 62 Imagination into Reality independent auteur Alexander fascinating case study of the Sara Mills, currently travelling in Payne. formation and development New Zealand, visits Wellywood of independent video-game and the independent Weta Dreams of Herzog Mark developer Playdead, and its Studios, whose brilliant CGI and 22 Ramey considers the diverse and critically acclaimed debut game, digital workshops brought Peter fascinating repertoire of Werner Limbo. Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Herzog, and offers a catalogue of The Hobbit to life. secondary sources to support A2 Film and Media students. Independent Girl: A Case 26 Study of Juno Pete Turner analyses an example of a modern ‘independent’ film that has had crossover appeal and made a Amanda Palmer, fortune for 20th Century Fox. Find the Right Route into 46 Independent Artist Meet 66 the Media Industry There’s the ‘punk-cabaret’ performer a whole world of creative media who launched a campaign to jobs out there – you just need to free herself from the label which know how to get started. Skillset, she believed was strangling her the lead training body for the creativity. media industries, offers you some really useful ways in.

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 3 MM Front Page News Media Literacy and the Communications Act

A new study from the London School of Economics (LSE) suggests that in the UK, progress in digital skills has stalled. Despite increased access to broadband, and various educational initiatives, research shows little increase in adult or children’s knowledge, or their skills in critical or participatory media. Yet the digital media landscape is becoming increasingly complex. The report suggests that: Today’s media are infrastructural to modern life, underpinning work and family, public as well as private life, civic and personal activities. Everyone must use the media, whether they are able to or not. Society does not leave individuals to work out for themselves how to use the crucial medium of print, but media illiteracy is as problematic in the 21st century as print illiteracy was in the 20th. http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/ although more people now know how to improved design, guidance and/ documents/MPP/LSE-Media-Policy-Brief- block viruses. or motivation, children’s use of the 2-Updated.pdf • Many children are now taught about the internet for creative purposes is likely This may result in an increase in the internet at school, mainly in the 12-15 to remain a minority pursuit. so-called ‘digital divide’, leading to the age-range. But other trusted sources of • 16 million people aged 15 and over in exclusion and growing inequality of some information – particularly TV – are taught the UK still lack the basic online skills social groups. The findings of the study about far less. of communication (finding things, include that in 2012: • The disclosure of personal information sharing personal information and • 20% of adults and over one-third of online without critical judgement is evaluating whether they can trust the teenagers do not check the reliability of highest for the lower socio-economic online content or websites). websites they visit. groups, and for 16 to 24-year-olds. The Government will publish a new • People generally knew how broadcast • Despite the increased use of search Communications White Paper before the media were financed, but despite mass engines to find information, only 57% of end of the current Parliament. The authors internet use, only a minority knew adult users recognised that not all search of the LSE report are calling for it to focus that search engines were funded by results are accurate and unbiased. on the effective promotion of digital skills advertising. • Despite the ease of user-generated and media literacy, and that renewed • In the last five years of internet content sites such as YouTube, making government and industry support for this safety initiatives, there has been little and uploading a video was undertaken is essential. What price media in an online improvement in digital safety skills, by few 12- to 15-year-olds. Without age now?

Front Page News was compiled by Jenny Grahame.

4 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM Interesting people making interesting media

Shameless creator Paul Abbott is in a new modern version of The Taming producing an 8-episode zombie TV thriller of the Shrew, to be produced by Working – an English-language remake of a French Title and Universal. The screenplay comes serial based on a 2004 French film called Les from British film and TV writer Abi Morgan Revenants (They Came Back). It follows the (The Iron Lady). But will it replace the 1967 inhabitants of a small mountain community Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton version, or after a number of people who were the iconic 10 Things I Hate About You? presumed dead reappear in their houses... Silver Linings heartthrob Bradley Cooper Skyfall director Sam Mendes is is in talks to play the disgraced cyclist producing a horror series for US cable Lance Armstrong in a biopic to be directed network Showtime, created by his Skyfall by JJ Abrams, who created Lost, and is partner John Logan, and produced by his also directing Star Wars Episode V11. own production company, Neal Street Vying for the cycling role are Matt Damon, Productions. The psychosexual period Jake Gyllenhall, Michael Fassbender and drama, titled Penny Dreadful, will be Christian Bale. It would be great to see the shot in London, and will feature some audition reels – hunks in trunks on wheels. of literature’s most terrifying characters Do you have a fantasy cast or crew for including Dr Frankenstein and Dracula a film or TV series you’d like to see in as they become embroiled in Victorian production? If so, mail a 25-wordo ‘elevator London. Creepy. pitch’ to [email protected], Anne Hathaway, currently tear-jerking making sure you include your name and as Fantine in Les Mis, is to play Katherina school/college. We’ll print the good ones.

Crossing the boundaries between Literature and Media Studies?

first published on Movellas.com has now been published by Penguin: http://www. dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2213370/ One-Direction-teenage-fan-Emily- Barker-wins-Penguin-publishing-deal- As part of its 2013 celebration of books Loving-The-Band-Movellas.html and reading, World Book Day http:// Movellas.com describes itself as a YouTube www.worldbookday.com/ and teen self- for young writers. Your own stories – or publishing site, Movellas.com http://www. movellas, as this site calls them – can be movellas.com, have teamed up to produce uploaded for sharing, feedback, and debate. an exclusive free app for teens in the UK You can talk directly to authors and the rest and Ireland (available for iOS and Android), of the community about writing, stories and packed full of new short stories by top Young Fandom. Movellas can be read anywhere, Adult (YA) authors. And for the first time, anytime, downloaded as ebooks to your young writers have been given the chance computer, tablet, iPad, iPod Touch, ebook- to join them. Every week aspiring writers reader or smartphone – quick, easy and have the chance to submit and vote for their totally free. favourite stories. The very best will then be The World Book Day YA app, powered by selected for publication on the World Book and with original content from Movellas.com Day YA app, launching on 25th February. young writers, is available from the end of This collaboration builds on the increasing February for both iOS and Android platforms, interest of young people in writing stories from iTunes and Google Play. and fan-fiction, such as One Direction fan Visit http://www.worldbookday.com to Emily Baker whose Loving The Band novel, find out more.

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 5 MM

Let’s face it, Media Studies exams I am often asked what characterises an Media is a subject that seeks are different. Certainly no less A grade in Media Studies. This is not an easy question to answer. Media Studies is to actively reward independent challenging than your other not like other A Level subjects; students thinkers who bring their own subjects, but less reliant on a body are rewarded for having technical, creative analysis and ideas to a discussion. of facts, and more dependent on a and artistic skills on one hand; as well as research, analysis and writing skills on the variety of skills, texts, connections other. One skill that is rewarded highly in told you to learn; your own interpretations and concepts, and most important both the practical and written assessments will be valued. But don’t fall into the trap of assuming that this means you can turn up of all, on your own independent is the skill of independent thinking. In practical work this is evidenced in the to an exam simply with a selection of gut thinking. Examiner Steph Hendry creativity and flair used by a student reactions! There’s more to it than that. explains why wider reading/viewing who is perhaps subverting codes and Having an opinion is an important starting point; but independent thinking and thorough research should play conventions or audience expectations in some way. An independent thinker may stems from a genuine engagement an important part in your revision, use cameras or software in an unusual or with the media product or issue being whichever Awarding Body you’re original way, or they may be novel in their discussed. As such, it is a high level skill that will separate students who are simply studying for. approach to their project. In examinations some A Level subjects repeating learned material from those focus on assessing recall or the ability of who have developed their own ideas students to explain accepted ideas. Recall on the subject. Showing independence and explanation may be one part of a of thought in the examination requires Media Studies exam response; but Media knowledge and understanding that comes is a subject that actively seeks to reward from undertaking research, applying independent thinkers who bring their analytical skills to what is observed and own analysis and ideas to a discussion. making connections between concepts This makes the subject both one of the and ideas, media products and the context most challenging and rewarding of all A of production. Levels. Your success won’t be based on simply repeating what your teacher has

6 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM Research Media Studies has no set texts and Analysis First of all, you need to know your stuff. While you are researching, you should You will need a good, in-depth knowledge no prescribed theories or ideas always analyse the media texts or of the media both in terms of media texts that have to be covered. This does discussions you are accessing. Analysis is and products, and contemporary ideas, mean that Media students get a lot about asking questions of the information issues and debates. Media Studies has no you are seeing. The principle is the same set texts and no prescribed theories or of freedom; within the framework whether you are analysing texts or engaged ideas that have to be covered. This does provided by the assessment you in discussions about the media... You should mean that Media students get a lot of ask ‘What?’, ‘How?’ and, most importantly, freedom; within the framework provided can often select texts, theories and ‘Why?’. Media analysis should always by the assessment you can often select ideas for yourself. attempt to go beyond the surface content texts, theories and ideas for yourself. In of what is presented in a media text. many ways this is the first test of your independent thinking skills. You will need to Hints and Tips for decide which texts best exemplify an idea, Effective Analysis or which ideas relate best to the texts you Ask the following questions when are looking at. There are lots of texts and looking at a media product/text: theories to choose from, but you can only • What is it? choose from what you know – and that will • What (... and who) is it for? depend on how much research you have • How has media language been used – undertaken. and why? • What ideas are being communicated? 1. Textual Research – How? Depth and Breadth • How is the audience being targeted Whether you end up studying horror understand how a media text is constructed and why? or soap operas, the regional press or and what meaning it makes. • How is the text creating meaning for computer games, you will need to make the audience – and why? it your business to watch, read or play 3. Media Issue Research the products you have chosen. You Different texts and topics raise different should research to find out more about issues. For example, one of the main issues your chosen topic or area. Try looking in the news at the moment is the way at examples of your topic from different Twitter and other social networking sites institutions, from different eras, or those can lead to misinformation and are acting to aimed at different audiences. This will help get in the way of accurate news reporting. you develop a broad knowledge of the In gaming, the long-standing debate about topic you are researching. the potentially damaging effects of the You should also ensure that when you media still rages as key products are often are watching, reading or playing you are singled out as problems. Whichever area of considering how the text is constructed the media you are studying, there will be a (through the choice of media language host of issues and debates that are relevant. and the representations created), what You will need to undertake some reading institutional issues the text identifies to find out what they are and what the and how it finds, appeals to, and offers arguments are on either side of the debate. gratification to its audiences. All of this You may find yourself needing to read an takes close textual analysis which gives academic textbook (where you can find out Using the Hints and Tips you an in-depth knowledge. Of course, what media researchers have to say about The following example shows you how while doing this you need to apply your the ‘effects debate’, for example). Another these hints and tips can help you analyse knowledge and understanding of media valid approach to researching issues within the sort of text you might get in an exam. concepts. the modern media is to read news articles, The text blogs and discussions to find out what On August 29th 2012 MailOnline ran audiences think about these topics and 2. Concept Research the following headline: what arguments are being raised. Obviously You will be learning about the media Violent images in movies, TV or computer when reading audience discussions concepts throughout the two years of your games CAN act as triggers for aggression, A Level. You may find that they are defined or opinion-based articles it’s worth says new report. a little differently by different teachers, remembering that these are simply that: The article cites an American think- or that they may be grouped differently; opinions. Well-written blogs and articles tank and a British judge as its sources of but fundamentally, the main concepts are: identify the sources for the information they information. The first article later goes on Media Language, Institution, Genre, are providing, allowing you to check the to say that the study showed that media Representation, Audience, Institution sources for yourself so you don’t have to violence acts as a: and Narrative. Each concept comes with take the writer’s word on what they say. trigger for aggressive thoughts or feelings its own ideas and terminology. You will already stored. need to read up on these media concepts in order to understand how they work to help

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 7 MM On 28th September 2012 it ran another using textual examples or by referring to report claiming in its headline that concepts and ideas you have encountered Facebook rows trigger rise in violent crime. in your reading. In your work you should The questions you might ask aim to demonstrate what has led to your In the light of this information, consider interpretation. the following: Making Connections • What are the news values of MailOnline? As you can see from the analysis of • What business model does MailOnline MailOnline, considering the way media use to generate income? How do concepts and ideas are connected is articles like this help generate interest another way to develop your independent and income? thinking skills. • Why might MailOnline promote the Stories that tap into adult fears of • Media Language choices construct idea that ‘the media’ may, in some part, youth culture and modern technology representations that are, in some way, be responsible for violence in society? are likely to appeal to the older, more ideological. • How and why might stories like this conservative demographic that make • The choices in production made may meet audience expectations when up The Daily Mail’s traditional audience be determined by the institutional or accessing the news service? (ideas about target audience linked to economic context. • The choices may be made based The points you might make in values and ideologies). Effects theory provides debates that on generic codes and/audience response expectations. Here are some of the ways I’d begin to support the idea that the media are ‘to blame’ but there are critics who see this • The choices made may be specifically address these questions. attempting to meet an audience need. The technological and economic as a simplistic approach that does not allow for audience members to exercise • Audience needs may be determined by context means that MailOnline the niche group being targeted. provides an income stream that is more freewill. MailOnline can be seen to be repeating this ‘received opinion’ about • Audience needs may be determined by profitable than the traditional print- external contextual factors. based newspaper format. It is the most the media rather than engaging in more complex discussions (media theory • The wider social and political context visited online newspaper published in will impact on the way texts are the UK. Globally it is the second most linked to representations in the text). This means that stories that imply constructed and accessed. visited news provider online (links to the Students who get used to thinking about contemporary context). that the media are problematic and the cause for a range of social ills can play to these conceptual connections will begin to MailOnline’s primary function is to get into the habit of questioning texts and, provide news information but its news existing prejudices, offering reassuringly simple ‘solutions’ to what are actually very consequently, will find the requirements values focus on entertainment, celebrity of assessments much more manageable. and gossip with its most popular feature complex issues (the website’s approach linked to audience gratifications). It really is a case of the more you do it, the being the ‘sidebar of shame’ on the right more effective your independent thinking hand side which offers quick access to Therefore, these types of stories may reflect the audience’s beliefs back will be and the more natural it will feel to a range of soft-news stories (a textual do this in an examination. The nature of the example to support links to news to them, which could lead to more audience loyalty and, subsequently, media and audience’s subjective responses values). means there is never a standard answer MailOnline thrives on stories that more returns to the website (linking uses and gratification theory to expected by a Media examiner but they do are salacious, shocking or that tap into expect to see that your ideas and analyses cultural fears, as these are likely to create audience behaviour and institutional requirements). are based on the application of your ‘click through’. The site relies on mass knowledge and understanding of media footfall for its income which is generated In an exam the examiner needs to see texts, concepts, theories and debates. by advertising (more contemporary that you have considered the issue that Steph Hendry is a Lecturer in Media Studies at Runshaw context but also links to audience and you are discussing, and that you have College, Lancashire. She is a Senior Examiner, freelance their economic role). knowledge and information to support writer and trainer. your viewpoint. You can show that your interpretation is based on knowledge by

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Nick Lacey explores what we mean (1999-2012) aimed at young people.* They low budget does not necessarily when we talk about an independent also produce ‘prestige’ product for the ‘middlebrow’ audience that are designed mean low production values, the movie, and suggests that it’s not as to win awards (which are themselves a mass audience, brought up on clear cut as we might expect ... marketing tool), for example Fox’s Life of Pi the saccharine of Hollywood, and (2012). These ‘award’ films, however, are not How do we know if we are watching an actually made by the major studios but are who often prefer movies to be like independently produced film? Maybe it produced by quasi-indie subsidiaries, such a fairground ride, tend to resist has an ‘offbeat’ narrative featuring quirky as Viacom’s Paramount Vantage and Sony difference and so, no matter what characters (such as Me and You and Pictures Classics. These divisions of the Everyone We Know, US-UK 2005) or maybe majors often make films that are as quirky their quality, indie films often struggle it is a movie that pushes the boundaries as genuinely independent films, but cannot to find an audience. of ‘good taste’ and seeks to disturb the audience (Happiness, US 1998). One thing be considered to be wholly independent that unites such films is that they are not due to their ownership. mainstream. Truly independent films are made by The mainstream is exemplified by non-Hollywood production companies, Hollywood, which aims for big audiences in with a small budget so they can’t afford any order to maximise profitability. That doesn’t star ‘marquee’ names to help market the mean all its productions target a mass film. They are also often ‘labours of love’; audience, though many do, for example for example it took five years for Winter’s the big budget ‘family film’ franchises Bone (US 2010) to be made (see http:// such as Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-). www.filmindependent.org/resources/ Hollywood is also happy to ‘mop up’ niche case-studies/winters-bone-case-study/ for audiences via relatively cheaply made a fascinating description of producing an

Images courtesy of image.net movies, such as the American Pie series ‘indie’ film). Although low budget does

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 9 MM not necessarily mean low production It’s highly likely that 2012’s third top- Just make sure that you watch the values, the mass audience, brought up grossing movie in North America will on the saccharine of Hollywood, and who be The Hunger Games, the first in a opening credits of the next film want films as pure entertainment, tend franchise. Although it has no A list stars, you see to check out whether to resist difference. No matter what their the appearance of recognisable actors you’re watching a Hollywood or an quality, indie films often struggle to find (Stanley Tucci and Donald Sutherland), an audience. Occasionally, ‘indie’ films will and its action-packed special effects- independent film, as that is the only ‘cross over’ into the mainstream such as driven spectacle, made the film look way you can really know if you’re My Big Fat Greek Wedding (US-Canada, typically Hollywood. However, it was 2002) which took over $367m worldwide made by an independent producer, watching a major studio film or not. having cost $5m to make. Such immensely Lionsgate Entertainment. Lionsgate profitable examples obscure the fact that is also responsible for the extremely most independently produced films never successful Twilight series (2008-12), even receive a cinema release. though that originated with the indie Summit Entertainment, which Lionsgate Not All About the Money bought. IMDB estimates that The Hunger Can we conclude, then, that genuinely Games cost $78m to make and the typical ‘indie films’ are those that are made outside marketing budget of a mainstream movie of the mainstream and are low budget, is another 50% of production costs. Clearly have no stars, target niche audiences and spending $117m, or so, on a film means are made for artistic rather than commercial that Lionsgate is acting like a Hollywood purposes? Not quite. A number of film studio, and not like a typical indie. Showgirls (both 1995) flopped. Carolco had stars, such as Brad Pitt in Killing Them However, big budget productions by benefited from the deregulation of financial Softly (US 2012), are happy to appear in independent producers aren’t new. Carolco markets that brought foreign money into independently-produced films because they Pictures produced what was, at the time, the American film industry. They didn’t, have interesting roles and are prepared to billed as the most expensive movie ever however, have the capital base to survive forego their ‘going rate’. made ($78m): Terminator 2: Judgment Day expensive box office failures. If, for example, Okay, so indies are low budget and (US 1991). They were also responsible for 20th Century Fox has a bad run at the quirky…? Er no. While this is true of many the successful Rambo franchise (US 1982- box office it’s unlikely to go bankrupt as independent films, it is certainly not the 88) but went bankrupt when the expensive it has the fortunes of its parent company, case for all. productions Cutthroat Island and News Corporation, to fall back on. It’s possible that Lionsgate might go the way of Carolco but there are reasons for thinking otherwise. Although Lionsgate is a large company, owning a number of subsidiaries, its success is arguably a symptom of the major studios losing their way in the 21st century. Hollywood in Transition Hollywood is in transition and it seems that the ‘rules of the game’, which have been in place since the rise of the High Concept movie in the mid-1970s, are changing. In a nutshell the High Concept is: a movie that any producer could pitch in thirty seconds and any audience could understand without even thinking. Fleming 1998: 14 The simplicity (definitely not an ‘indie’ characteristic) of High Concept films makes them relatively easy to market. This became crucial when Hollywood decided that ‘blanket’ releases of films, rather then the ‘rolling out’ across the nation, was the way to profitability. Stars who had been important since Florence Lawrence in 1910 continued to be integral to the promotion of Hollywood films in the latter years of the 20th century. However their importance in the 21st century appears to be diminishing. Hollywood seems happy to jettison

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stars as they are very expensive, up to inevitably impacts on film finance. Indian you’re watching a Hollywood studio or $25m per picture plus a percentage of film companies have invested in Hollywood independent film is by watching the the gross box office. In each of the last movies for a number of years; for example opening credits. three years the only star-driven films in The Happening (2008) was co-produced Nick Lacey is Head of Media Studies at Benton Park School the North American top ten were Men in by UTV Motion Pictures. The Chinese Technology College, Leeds. Black 3 (2012), Pirates of the Caribbean: company DMG Entertainment funded On Stranger Tides (2011), Iron Man 2 and Looper (US-China 2012); one result of Further Reading Inception (both 2010); and of these, only which was that the script shifted the film’s Fleming, C. High Concept: Don Simpson the last isn’t part of a franchise. It is even futuristic setting from Paris to Shanghai. Xu and the Hollywood Culture of Excess. arguable that the director of Inception, Qing, who is well known in China, played 1988. Bloomsbury. Christopher Nolan, was as big a selling point Bruce Willis’ wife thus enhancing the film’s as Leonardo di Caprio. appeal in the East. The version of the film Germain, D. ‘Summer Box Office 2012: that played in China featured more scenes Hollywood Studios Underwhelmed As Independent Franchise in Shanghai than the one released in the Attendance Drops’. Huffington Post. 2012. Another change has been the increase in West. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost. the importance of franchises. Hollywood For most independent producers the com/2012/09/02/summer-box-office- has always like serials, as they are much changes in Hollywood mean little as they 2012_n_1850332.html, accessed easier to market than ‘one off’ films. continue to struggle on the margins. But November 2012 However it is clear that they are now more as the old certainties disappear Hollywood important than ever before. The recent The seems unable to adapt; this summer’s *Though American Pie appears to be a Universal Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (US-New box office was the lowest for 20 years film, it was in fact produced by the ‘indie’ Zide/Perry Zealand 2012), based on a standard length (Germain, 2012), leaving gaps in the market productions and is an example of how Hollywood novel, has been stretched into a trilogy for innovative, and foreign, independent ‘picks up’ independent films for distribution. Films like American Pie might better to be considered as as Warner Bros desperately tries to find a producers. However, for audiences of institutional ‘hybrids’ as, although the producers are replacement for the Harry Potter films (The quirky independent cinema the success of they benefit from the financial muscle of a studio Hobbit’s producer, New Line, is owned by Lionsgate will mean very little if their focus enabling strong p + a (‘prints and advertising’). Warners). The three Hunger Games novels is to be on Hollywood clones, such as The are to be made into four films. Hunger Games. The relative decline of the US economy By now you’re probably more confused is also a current trend that’s affecting about what an independent film is than Hollywood as the rise of the BRIC you were at the beginning of the article. economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) The only reliable way of knowing whether

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 11 MM

12 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM

A Narrative of Independence?

Alfred Hitchcock worked in the UK buildings within living memory of the 1888 film industry from 1919 until 1939 Jack the Ripper killings. His working-class upbringing and admiration for the popular when he moved permanently to narrative techniques, melodrama, romance Hollywood. By his peak period and suspense of Dickens and Poe gave him in the 1950s, Hitchcock was the a feel for how art can be popular without compromising quality. master of his own productions as an Audiences, and telling them ‘a good yarn’, independent director and producer were central to Hitchcock’s filmmaking. – highly unusual for Hollywood. But He bemoaned the perception of crime fiction – his favourite reading – as ‘second how independent was he? Elaine class’, and based many films on high quality Scarratt delves into the workings crime literature, including From Among the of the movie business to find the Dead (1954), Vertigo’s source novel. Crime and horror were also regarded as ‘B’ movie answers, focusing on Vertigo. exploitation genres; but Hitchcock’s artistry transformed their status. Vertigo stands alone as a Hitchcock film, as a Hollywood film – in fact, it just plain stands alone, period. His working-class upbringing and Foreword by Martin Scorsese in Dan Auiler (1999) admiration for the popular narrative Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic techniques, melodrama, romance and Hitchcock’s films pulled together does this fully account for his filmmaking? American production techniques, German suspense of Dickens and Poe gave We’ll consider these questions in the Expressionism and other European styles cultural and industrial contexts that shaped him a feel for how art can be popular but the work remained ‘recognisably and distinctly’ his own. Vertigo. without compromising quality. Alexander Ecob, ‘Murder Most Typographical’ in Eye, 29/11/11 http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/ Cultural Contexts: Artist and Populist The early 20th century was a time of fast murder-most-typographical change, further destabilised by World War Hitchcock had both technical and The issues raised in these quotations offer 1 and the disintegration of the old social artistic skills. His original training was in useful starting points to explore two main orders. The workings of people’s inner engineering. In his first job as a technician questions. lives were highlighted by both Freud’s for Hendon Telegraph Company he also The quotations imply different theories about psychology and by designed adverts. His skill in graphic characteristics for the two film industries: modern literature. Art movements rejected design enabled him to recognise the talent the business-led model of Hollywood’s traditional realistic surface representations, of graphic designer Saul Bass, who he studio system, making safe standardised in favour of stylised multiple perspectives employed for Vertigo’s title sequence and products, and a European industry more and fractured identities. A central feature of poster. rooted in inventive art culture. Hitchcock’s cinema was his assimilation of The Hitchcock name immediately So how did Hitchcock, as an art contemporary art and culture into popular conjures up suspense, psychological thriller, filmmaker, with aspirations more typical narrative, such as the nightmare sequences and horror. However, his specialism in that of independent cinema, operate in the by Surrealist Salvador Dali and modern genre was not a cynical one. Born in 1899, conditions of commercial mainstream Expressionist John Ferren in Spellbound Hitchcock grew up in London’s East End, Hollywood? Both quotations portray (1954) and Vertigo respectively. steeped in Victorian values and Gothic Hitchcock as an individual auteur, but European cinema’s response to

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 13 MM The UK and Hollywood cinema focused on realism, action, mise- en-scène as a backdrop, unobtrusive camerawork and continuity editing. Expressionism had stylised geometric and fantastical set design, symbolic props, stark gradations of light and shadow, and flamboyant camerawork

Balcon, he rapidly moved to set design, screenwriting and editing. By 1923 he was Assistant Director to Graham Cutts, Gainsborough’s star director. Balcon also recognised the superiority of Germany’s filmmaking, and set up Anglo-German productions with Studio Babelsburg, where he sent Hitchcock in 1924. Seeing the German Expressionist styles of directors F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang was a deeply formative experience for the young Alfred. The UK and Hollywood cinema focused on realism, action, mise- en-scène as a backdrop, unobtrusive camerawork and continuity editing. Expressionism had stylised geometric and fantastical set design, symbolic props, stark gradations of light and shadow, and flamboyant camerawork to convey psychological states and elicit maximum emotion from the audience. Hitchcock’s third film, The Lodger: A Story of London Fog (1927) was vividly Expressionistic. He saw it as the film in which he established his style and themes, and it was the start of his UK box office success. As a ‘Jack the Ripper’-inspired story with his characteristic ‘wrong man’ theme, it is very different from Vertigo. However, Dan Auiler in Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic (1999) notes several Modernism was subjective camerawork common themes and visual images: a and expressive mise-en-scène and haunting obsession with the past, a sense editing. Hitchcock greatly admired 1920s of helplessness, a fixation on golden hair, a Russian Montage-editing in which the flashing neon sign… combination of discontinuous images, As a portrait of psychological states, different graphic qualities, and impossible Expressionism is woven into Vertigo. Bass’s spatial matches evoke ideas and emotional mathematical Lissajou curves, animated meanings. These are also features of Bass’s by avant garde filmmaker John Whitney, credits, while the combination of clashing symbolise the twisted psychological colour, photography and crude animations landscapes to come. The visual motifs of is seen in Ferren’s sequence in Vertigo. mirrors carry the themes of looking, not Once Scottie starts tailing Madeleine, the Industrial Contexts: Art and seeing, and of delusion. In the dress shop narrative is restricted to his point of view; Industry (the UK) mirror, multiple reflections momentarily he and we cannot see the full picture of reveal to the audience what the characters Hitchcock’s graphic skills gained him a his manipulation by Elster and ‘Madeleine’. are hiding but do not see – Scottie’s brutal job in the film industry, writing title cards, This is why Judy’s look to camera in intent and Judy’s intense distress. the dialogue and scenario graphics for the the letter scene is so important. We are The carefully controlled blocks of colour, then silent films. Thanks to his exceptional suddenly invited into her perspective too particularly red and green, are contrasted talents and the support of his first mentor, and are privy to her flashback memory and like the gradations of light and shadow in Gainsborough Studios Producer, Michael voiceover thoughts. the monochrome cinema of the past. A Images courtesy of image.net/BFI

14 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM Rear The Man Vertigo Window Who Knew (1958) (1954) Too Much (1956)

Male Star James James James Stewart Stewart Stewart

Female Star Grace Kelly Doris Day Kim Novak

DP Robert Robert Robert Burks Burks Burks diverse range of expressive camerawork Art Johnson & Bumstead Pereira & includes the dramatic dolly-zoom Vertigo Direction Pereira & Pereira Bumstead shot, long tracking shots as Scottie follows the ghostly Madeleine, the circling sweep Set Corner & Corner & Corner & when Scottie passionately kisses the newly Decoration Moyer Crams McKelvey transformed Madeleine/Judy Editor George George George Silent film itself was a major influence on Tomasini Tomasini Tomasini Hitchcock; he often cited ‘pure cinema’ as Make up Wally Wally Wally his aim. It was the moving flow of visual Westmore Westmore Westmore images that distinguished it from other His preference was always for visual art forms. His preference was always for storytelling made powerful through Costumes Edith Head Edith Head Edith Head visual storytelling made powerful through editing, framing and composition, Music Franz Bernard Bernard editing, framing and composition, although Waxman Herrmann Herrmann he also valued the economical use of sound alhough he also valued economic use effects, and the narrative drive and thematic of sound effects, and the narrative Auteur Debate: Selected Hitchcock reinforcement of musical scores. In the first Collaborators, Peak Period 1951-1963 half of Vertigo, the editing alternates the drive and thematic reinforcement of ‘talkie’ exposition scenes with the visual set musical scores. The Rise of the Agent: pieces of Scottie following Madeleine. This Hitchcock as a Franchise sets up a hypnotic rhythm intensified by the Hitchcock did gain an unusual degree O’Selznick was left fuming about ‘goddam alternating point of view shot/reverse shots of independence largely thanks to Lew jig-saw editing’. They only made three films as Scottie is increasingly mesmerised by Wasserman’s management. The studio together, and Hitchcock was loaned out Madeleine. system was dismantling by the 1950s, to several studios. It was a move which and agents were becoming the new enabled him to build many contacts. Industrial Contexts: A power-brokers as they snapped up talent Hollywood Player Creative Collaborations at the end of their long contracts – James In 1939 Hitchcock was ready for Stewart was an early Wasserman client. Hitchcock realised early on that trusted Hollywood; he signed a personal seven- They capitalised on Hitchcock’s good collaborators were essential both to year contract with independent producer relationships with the studios, and he protect him from interference and to David O’Selznick, his second influential worked with Warner Bros, then Paramount achieve his vision of filmmaking. For mentor. ‘Independent’ was a relevant (Vertigo) and finally Universal when instance, actor Tom Helmore, who played term: he needed the studios’ production Wasserman’s MCA talent agency bought it. Gavin Elster in Vertigo, was a UK colleague. and distribution facilities; and contracts Money was often a problem for Hitchcock was extensively involved in with them gave the studios final cut. What independent producers and Wasserman planning and designing. He made it clear O’Selznick, and agents like Lew Wasserman turned the Hitchcock persona into a what he wanted, but then let his team get (Hitchcock’s third mentor) had were projects lucrative business franchise through on with their jobs, and many elements and a roster of talent to offer ready-made television. The television series Alfred came from them. By the time he made packages to the studios. Hitchcock Presents led to The Alfred Vertigo the ‘Hitchcock Film’ was well known, Although Hitchcock liked the security Hitchcock Hour which ran from 1955-65. and his loyal crew and creative collaborators of a studio and the superior facilities These series gave Hitchcock international understood what he wanted. Midge’s of Hollywood, he also wanted creative iconic cultural status, not least through character was created by screenwriter independence. His work had been his opening cartoon profile (drawn by Sam Taylor, to provide balancing rational undermined, and Gainsborough’s Hitchcock), droll introductions, and the humanity in the narrative. The Bass and distributors, declaring his films ‘too arty and theme tune, Gounod’s Funeral March for a Ferren designs went straight to screen, and incomprehensible’, had subjected some to Marionette. the ‘Vertigo shot’ was invented by second re-edits or support status. Wasserman also set up licensing deals unit cameraman Irmin Roberts. He worked O’Selznick too was a mixed blessing. He for Hitchcock’s name to be used for a series on many films with D.P. Robert Burks and notoriously ‘micro-managed’ production. of mystery thriller anthologies, and Alfred editor George Tomasini; they were both key Standard Hollywood practice was to Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. It was not to his visual storytelling, during his peak film several takes from different angles plain sailing though. Paramount would not period – which tailed off coincidentally with for editing choice. Hitchcock’s method, back Psycho (1960) so Hitchcock used his their deaths in 1964. however, was to plan and storyboard in TV crew, his own money, and black and detail, and to shoot only what was needed – white film to cut costs. Interestingly, its style so there was only one possible way to edit. is closest to his early Expressionist films.

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 15 MM he hired a PR firm and built a public Hitchcock the Ad-man, the for The Lodger led to his trademark cameo Brand and the Myth appearances. persona through media interviews, In today’s terms, he created a brand, the Until the auteur theorists of the 1950s- publicity stunts to promote his films, myth of the genius behind the camera. His 60s, directors were not public figures. name appears three times in Vertigo’s title presenting comically macabre trailers Hitchcock’s popular fame was not sequence, twice in large type as director accidental. His early days in advertising for his films and ‘presenter’; the less creative ‘Alfred J. had taught him the value of branding and Hitchcock Productions’ is played down in marketing to create public awareness. After the billing card’s tiny type. His designation The Lodger’s success, he hired a PR firm as an auteur played into this mythology. and built a public persona through media While he clearly meets auteur criteria as a interviews, publicity stunts to promote his director of artistic vision with a signature films, presenting comically macabre trailers style and recurring themes, he rarely for his films (available now on YouTube), publicly acknowledged his collaborators’ and so on. The necessity of doing a short contributions. This demonstrates his performance when an actor didn’t turn up astuteness as an industry operator: his self-promotion brought in the work and audiences. Vertigo shows his personal love of art and experimental film finely balanced with a hard film business head; and creative independence only mildly tempered by industry constraints. One of O’Selznick’s great gifts to Hitchcock was a high-profile entry into Hollywood, and thereby access to the major stars that Hitchcock knew were essential to sell a film. James Stewart was a top Hollywood actor for decades, with gangly boyish looks and a likeable ‘Everyman’ persona. Hitchcock needed this empathy for the audience to stay with Scottie through his disturbing behaviour. Kim Novak was loaned from Columbia, where she was groomed as a blonde bombshell to challenge Marilyn Monroe. Her distinguishing publicity gimmick was the colour lavender, which contemporary audiences would have known from publicity photos. Despite the film’s strict colour code, Judy chooses a lavender dress in the letter scene. As well as its key change of viewpoint, which increases the suspense by allowing the audience to know more than Scottie, the film exploits star power. True to Expressionist mise-en-scène, Paramount’s widescreen VistaVision sets up the environment of San Francisco as integral to character, mood and plot. Hitchcock expands his signature set piece of underlying chaos erupting on to national monuments, the representatives of social order. Vertigo is also a travelogue for the San Francisco’s Bay area. Travelogue was part of mainstream Hollywood glamour

Hitchcock’s popular fame was not accidental. His early days in advertising had taught him the value of branding and marketing to create public awareness.

16 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM he created a brand, the myth of the genius behind the camera.

providing escapism for the poor, and ending. Ambiguity and complexity were holiday planning for the growing middle Hitchcock’s way of sidestepping the classes (see Virginia Wright Wexman, ‘The Hayes Code, not least through the moral Critic as Consumer’ in Film Quarterly, April complexity of Scottie and Judy’s emotional 1986, Vol.39, no.3). damage resulting from their treatment by O’Selznick’s other gift to Hitchcock others. The ending leaves discussion and was teaching him classic Hollywood judgment to the audience. narrative, which gave more coherence to Hitchcock was a supremely confident his storytelling. The five linear stages of entertainer, an artistically gifted filmmaker, exposition, development, complication, and creatively canny industry operator. climax and resolution underpin Vertigo’s Supported by mentors and collaborators, narrative; but it is partly disguised by he reworked Hollywood prose into thematic Hitchcock’s inventiveness and subversion. and image-led poetic drama. Independent The title sequence brings unsettling or not? You decide. disequilibrium before the opening Elaine Scarratt is a Media teacher at Forest Hill School and a sequence, which itself hurtles into a freelance trainer in Film and Media Studies. disturbing death, and camerawork designed to shock. Instead of forward momentum Recommended Resources there is a circular narrative as Scottie follows British Film Institute’s 39 Steps to Madeleine and revisits his trauma. The Hitchcock: http://explore.bfi.org. audience is denied a reassuring resolution uk/39steps and is left with an ambiguous image of cured Vertigo, redemption and despair. Charles Barr, Vertigo 2nd edition (2012), BFI Film Classics The Limits of Independence Hitchcock did not entirely escape final cut intervention. Judy’s confession in the letter scene would have been a climactic reveal scene in a conventional mystery, and Hitchcock was credited with the audacity of positioning it in the main narrative. It appears to be a characteristic of Hitchcock’s preference for suspense instead of a brief shock resolution (see Alfred Hitchcock: The Difference Between Mystery and Suspense http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=-Xs111uH9ss). But in fact it was screenwriter Sam Taylor’s idea. Hitchcock first accepted it, got increasingly undecided, argued with his long-time co-producer, panicked and cut the scene. Highly critical previews led to Paramount’s Chief Barney Balaban ordering the scene to be put back. Censorship also influences film content. The US Hayes Code required that crime (Elster’s) must not be left unpunished; so an alternative ending was made (see ‘Hitchcock’s Foreign Censorship Ending’: Disc 1, Bonus Materials Chapter 14; Vertigo 2 Disc 50th Anniversary Edition DVD). But Hitchcock won the battle for his ambiguous

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 17 MM

Jonathan Nunns evaluates the career of independent auteur Alexander Payne.

A man walks down the street, he says why am I soft in the middle now, why am I soft in the middle, the rest of my life is so hard. I need a photo opportunity, I need a shot at redemption. Don’t want end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard. So start the lyrics of Paul Simon’s seminal 80’s track ‘You Can Call Me Al’ (Simon 1986). The themes of aging, sadness, disappointment and a thickening waistline were hardly fashionable then or now. However, they provide as good an encapsulation as any of the recent films of the American writer/director Alexander Payne. Part of the joy of independent film is in its willingness to deal with themes outside of the orbit of mainstream cinema. Big budget tent pole films can be excellent, of course, and often have been when directed by the likes of Stephen Spielberg, Ridley Scott, or Peter Jackson. These filmmakers, comfortable with budget and spectacle, have produced some of the most immersive and memorable images ever put to film. However, for every Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg USA 1998) Gladiator (Scott USA 2000) or Lord of the Rings (Jackson USA/ New Zealand 2001), there have been many far weaker films as illustrated by the decline Images courtesy of image.net 18 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. After a strong original, (Verbinski USA 2003) the most recent sequel, Pirates of The Caribbean 4 – On Stranger Tides (Marshall USA 2010), demonstrates the problems of films that are financially flush but creatively bankrupt. The film was successful but critically panned. Studio-driven franchises can become empty CGI extravaganzas, devoid of plot or character and it is here, in story, depth of character and performance, that independent cinema often shines. Payne’s career has included five films and numerous awards. His most recent, The Descendents (Payne USA 2011), was Oscar tipped but lost out to The Artist class life aches with unfulfilled promise. realises his working life has been empty and (Hazanavicius France 2011) a black and His voiceover explains his love of his pointless. Days after his retirement party, he white silent film which went on to sweep teaching life, but a later voiceover by Tracy sees the packing cases containing his life’s the board. Payne’s four most recent films witheringly demolishes the life in which work tossed into the street by the doofus are his most characteristic, starting with he has set such store. Unfulfilled in his that replaced him. In a signature Payne Election (Payne USA 1999), About Schmidt marriage, Jim’s roving eye propels him into voiceover, Schmidt unloads his irritations. (Payne USA 2002), Sideways (Payne USA disastrous adultery that sees his home life His forty-two-year marriage has left him 2004) and ending with his most recent, The implode while Tracy destroys him at work. feeling emasculated by a controlling wife Descendents. With her hair drawn tightly back, frumpy who makes him pee sitting down lest he clothes, fixed smile and scary eyes, Tracy wet the seat. However, in a twist of genuine Ambition is Integrity is fanatical and unstoppable and Jim pathos, she then dies, and only then does Payne’s world-view gets an effective is crushed beneath the wheels of her he appreciate what he has lost. Bereft and airing in Election. This smartly written ambition. In the film’s coda, Jim, divorced adrift, Schmidt discovers her infidelity with film tells the story of Omaha High School and bounced from his job, is rebuilding his his best friend and as his life spirals out of teacher Jim McAllister, played by Matthew life when he spots Tracy in Washington DC, control, goes on a road trip to the wedding Broderick. Successful in his school, Jim’s now the aide to a right wing Republican of his only daughter in the next state. small town life comes unstuck when he Congressman. Tracy’s ambition has found a Schmidt makes his trip in what appears meets Tracy Flick, a student of ferociously chillingly natural home in the ruthless world to be the world’s biggest camper van. burning, unstoppable ambition. Jim of professional politics. Next stop the White Bought at the insistence of his now dead takes against her and her single-minded House! wife, Schmidt looks pathetically tiny and self-promotion as Tracy, played by Reese alone driving a Winnebago the size of a Witherspoon in a break-through role, sets Grumpy Old Men petrol tanker. A similar theme is played in her mind on becoming president of the In About Schmidt (Payne USA 2002) reverse in Election with Jim’s powerlessness student council. When Jim tries to stop her, Payne looks at a different aspect of middle- and impotence reflected in the tiny car he we know it won’t end well. class male frustration. Omaha actuary drives. Schmidt’s trip ends at the family Jim is in many ways a typical Payne Warren Schmidt, played by Jack Nicholson, home of his would-be son-in-law. His hero. Essentially decent, his middle- is a very unhappy man. Newly retired, he daughter’s intended is an Olympic-class dolt with mutton chop whiskers. Meeting his family only makes things worse. They are almost the definition of dysfunctional behaviour. A wonderful scene ensues with Schmidt, a hot tub and the family matriarch played by Cathy Bates. Sitting in the bubbles, Schmidt finds himself joined by a middle-aged, plump and stark naked Bates. His eyes swivelling in fear, Nicholson’s performance plays directly against his public reputation as one of the most libidinous men in Hollywood. Another key scene follows where Nicholson again plays

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 19 MM against the expectations of his persona. connect with Mia, the woman with whom revealed and she busts his nose and beats Giving the father of the bride’s speech at he has been set up. It leads to a magical him senseless with a crash helmet. The the wedding, Schmidt knows his every sequence. Paunchy and depressed, Miles revelation also sabotages Miles’ chances attempt to stop the catastrophic match has is a failed novelist; he is like Election’s with Mia. failed. Watching, you wait for the fireworks. Jim, a high school teacher. Played by Paul Jack proves shallow and weak. Having Schmidt can hardly contain himself and Giamatti, his face is constantly hangdog and lost his and his wife-to-be’s wedding rings you expect a devastating Nicholson rant of etched with defeat. Divorced, very much during another sexual adventure, it is left the type that made him so memorable in against his wishes, Jack loves his wine and to his abused friend to get his fat out of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Foreman is an enthusiast with massive knowledge. the fire. The film ends with a moment USA 1975). This is, after all, the actor who Closeted up with Mia, Miles’ awkwardness of redemption for Miles. With his friend cried out ‘Here’s Johnny!!!’ so terrifyingly dissolves as he describes the wonder of wedded off, it is implied that Miles, his in The Shining (Kubrick USA 1980) as he wine and the beauty of the grape. His novels unpublished, might yet rekindle tried to murder his family with an axe. But passion and enthusiasm lifts his dialogue things with Mia and find happiness. it doesn’t come and Schmidt salutes the into poetry, momentarily transforming train wreck unfolding in front of his eyes, his him into the confident and articulate man All in the Family helplessness and defeat complete. he could have been. The effect on Mia is Payne’s most recent film, The electric; clearly she is totally seduced as she Descendents, tells the story of Matt King, Mid-life Crisis places her hand on his. Miles, of course, true a Hawaiian lawyer played by George In Sideways Payne, repeating the road to character, totally blows the moment and Clooney. An unassuming success at work, trip theme, introduces Miles and Jack, two goes home alone. he is a hapless father to his two daughters middle-aged men on a wine tasting tour of The film, like Payne’s earlier examples, and is at a loss when his wife is thrown Northern California. Jack is about to marry. etches the moment in many lives when into a coma by a boating accident. This is Miles wants to give him a good send off. realisation dawns that dreams of success Clooney without the sheen of his regular Sadly the two men have different agendas. and status will not be fulfilled. Miles will Jack is a fading TV actor trading on looks probably be a teacher his whole life, rather and past glory to sow some wild oats before than the acclaimed novelist he had hoped settling into marriage. Self-obsessed, like to be. Jack will never be the A-list lead and many Payne characters, Jack is Miles’ best is doomed to a dwindling career of bit parts friend but might as well be his worst enemy. and voiceovers for TV ads. Desperate to On a disastrous double date, Miles winds hang on to the last vestiges of his youth, up listening to Jack having noisy sex in the Jack lies to get his conquest into bed, next room. His awkwardness and insecurity promising her the world. He spectacularly are highlighted by his initial inability to pays the price when his deception is

20 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM star persona. His hair is a little too long, his Alex, played by Shailene Woodley. As he clothes ill fitting and in a genuinely funny says himself – ‘I’m the backup parent, the scene, he is shown to be the possessor understudy.’ Without his wife he doesn’t of the most flat-footed running style this know how to cope. The plot hinges on a side of Donald Duck. He’s in toned-down, regular Payne theme. Matt discovers that smart but slightly goofy, insecure and inept his comatose wife had been having an affair His films are almost the definition of mode, dialled back from the full-on doofus and at one point, in his pain and hurt, he the term bittersweet. characters he played for the Coen Brothers rails and rants at her in her hospital bed. in O Brother Where Art Thou (Coen and Slowly, through dealing with his wife’s Coen USA 2000) and Burn After Reading infidelity and eventual death, Matt forges (Coen and Coen USA 2008). As with a bond with his daughters, leaving us in a Nicholson in About Schmidt, the Clooney key Payne signature, with some optimism seen here is miles from his regular screen about their future. The moment he and his persona, the smooth sophisticated and daughters say goodbye to his wife and their attractive ‘Gorgeous George’ of tabloid fame mother is genuinely wrenching. However and the Ocean’s Eleven (Soderberg USA the film has a simple but lovely coda. With 2001) franchise. everything done, Matt and his daughters Clooney’s character Matt, is at a loss to settle on the sofa at home in front of the TV, know how to build a relationship with his cover themselves with a duvet and share daughters, the ill-behaved 11-year-old a tub of ice cream. Through this moment Scotty and the spiky and wilful 17-year-old of simple sharing, we know they will be all right. Payne, a genuine writer/director auteur, has created a slate of films to represent the sadness and pain of his characters and perhaps, his audience too. That he has done so with humour, pathos and insight and without a hint of self-pity is testimony to his skills as a filmmaker. His films are almost the definition of the term bittersweet. Stars like Clooney and Nicholson line up to appear in his low-budget work for relative peanuts, because it offers them something blockbusters cannot: recognition as an artist. Jonathan Nunns is Head of Media Studies at Collyer’s College and moderates for the WJEC.

Filmography Election (Payne USA 1999) DVD About Schmidt (Payne USA 2002) DVD Sideways (Payne USA 2004) DVD The Descendents (Payne USA 2011) DVD ‘You Can Call Me Al’ (Simon USA 1986) CD

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For many film enthusiasts, Werner The Simpsons and American Dad and has Herzog represents the ultimate recently appeared with Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher (US 2012, McQuarrie). Even in the independent auteur with a diverse twilight of his career Herzog is still a hot and fascinating repertoire, and a cinematic property. total refusal to compromise his Herzog makes both feature films and documentaries, although it is the latter cinematic integrity. Here Mark which define his current career trajectory, Ramey investigates his career and the former that brought him fame in through a catalogue of secondary the 1970s. A philosophical man, articulate in a number of languages, and keen to discuss sources which will be particularly his work at length, he has particularly helpful to any Film Studies students engaging views on the claim of cinema preparing for FM3 (Small Scale verité to being the most direct form of cinematic truth. These views culminated in Research Project) – as well as to A2 his 1999 Minnesota Declaration, a bizarre Media students. but powerful critique of conventional approaches to realist documentary made Werner Herzog is one of contemporary in the style of a manifesto eulogising the cinema’s great mavericks: a prolific artist poetic character of truth on screen. who has rarely compromised in his quest to It [vérité] reaches a merely superficial truth, articulate the nature of man. Now in his 70s the truth of accountants…there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious he directs, writes, acts and produces and and elusive, and can be reached only through has currently completed 57 films. A child of fabrication and imagination and stylisation. war-torn Germany, he has won awards at This article is an attempt to seek out the Cannes and Sundance and had Oscar and ecstatic truth of Werner Herzog through BAFTA nominations. He has performed in an itemised catalogue of largely secondary sources. These stylised fabrications through which we will find Herzog dreamed about and imagined are, I suggest, a good way to glimpse his cinematic credos at work. Item 1: Roger Ebert, Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert (2006) Respected film critic Roger Ebert notes: [Herzog] has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular.

22 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM [Herzog] has never created a single Ebert has a point – Herzog is critically of his Gulf War documentary Lessons of lionised but he is not box office dynamite. Darkness the audience booed him for what film that is compromised, shameful, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans they perceived to be his pro-war stance. made for pragmatic reasons or (2009), which starred Nick Cage, took just Interestingly the film starts with a lie – a uninteresting. Even his failures are over £1 million at the UK box office and quote attributed to the French polymath remains his most successful UK cinematic Blaise Pascal; it is in fact a Herzog invention spectacular. release. With a budget of $25 million and aimed at elevating the audience response a worldwide box office of only $11 million to his film: the importance of other revenue streams The collapse of the stellar universe will occur is clear. Herzog’s documentaries provide – like creation – in grandiose splendor. the better business model due to their low Indeed ‘grandiose splendor is a budgets and often striking subject matter phrase that somehow suits Herzog too but aside from the 3D Cave of Forgotten – committed as he is to imagination, Dreams (2010) and Grizzly Man (2005) his fabrication and stylisation. output remains largely for art-house circuit Item 2: Kinski Uncut: the autobiography release, DVD and TV. of Klaus Kinski (1996) Cinephiles like Ebert adore Herzog for Peaking in the 70s and 80s Herzog was his commitment to unconventional cinema part of a new wave of German art-house and it is here and in the artful construction filmmaking called New German Cinema. of his own persona that we find his cult Klaus Kinski, a mercurial actor about whom appeal. However, not everyone is a fan. In Herzog made a documentary entitled My 1992 at the Berlin Film Festival’s premiere Best Friend (1999), was a key face in the movement and he and Herzog worked together on five feature films which in many ways still define Herzog’s artistic temperament. The men shared a volatile relationship and Kinski’s hilarious diatribe on Herzog’s faults is revealing in its depiction of two passionate and obsessive intellects colliding: Herzog is a miserable, hateful, malevolent, avaricious, money-hungry, nasty, sadistic, treacherous, cowardly creep [...] he should be thrown alive to the crocodiles! [...] Huge red ants should piss into his lying eyes and gobble up his balls and his guts. Herzog was equally complimentary about Kinski, claiming that he had to tame him like a wild animal, but the documentary referred to above is heartfelt and poignant. Herzog enjoys extremes of landscape and character so placing Kinski in a jungle – as he did in Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Cobra Verde (1987) – was a masterstroke of casting.

Item 3: Burden of Dreams (Blank, 1982) This is a fascinating feature length documentary by Les Blank about the making of Herzog’s defining film to date – Fitzcarraldo. Plagued with major production problems the film was almost four years in the making and is now as famous for its creation as its critical reception – Fitzcarraldo won Herzog Best Director at Cannes in 1982. The film was shot deep in the Amazonian jungle of Northern Peru and foregrounds a number of Herzog’s key ideas which inform both his narrative and documentary films: the terrifying beauty and cruelty of nature; man’s fierce, obsessive ability to dream, and the transformative nature of art. Fitzcarraldo is an early 20th-century tale of the eponymous man, a character so obsessed with the elevating power of

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 23 MM opera (an abiding love of Herzog’s – he has directed 18 theatrical operas) that he literally moves mountains to try and build an opera house in the heart of the jungle. In an act of Sisyphean madness Fitzcarraldo, with the help of a thousand savage natives, drags a massive ship from one river, over a jungle ridge, to another river. He does this to open up a profitable route for the local rubber barons and so secure himself funds to build the opera house. What makes the film so remarkable is in part the fact that Herzog and his long-suffering crew actually performed the task fictionalised in the film: by using largely rope, chain and human labour they moved a boat over a metaphorical mountain and Herzog’s extreme style of filmmaking reached its issue; indeed at one point he tells the L.A. definitive peak. audience assembled for the shoe-feast and The documentary also shows us Herzog subsequent screening of Morris’ film: the passionate, obsessive storyteller, a man If you want to do a film, steal a camera, steal so committed to the realism of his dreams raw stock, sneak into a lab and do it! that he is undaunted by serious practical Apparently Herzog did just that; stealing problems and unwavering in his quest for a camera from the Munich Film school in authenticity. After the first disastrous shoot the 1960s to make his first films. and his loss of 40% of footage he was asked by his backers whether he should give up. Item 5. The Culture Show (BBC, 2006) His response exemplifies a defining feature This Mark Kermode interview with Herzog of both his filmmaking practice and his in L.A. on the release of Grizzly Man (2005) subject matter. is now infamous for its interruption by a If I abandon this project I would be a man gunman taking a potshot at Herzog with without dreams and I don’t want to live like an air-rifle. Later in the interview Herzog that. reveals the wound in his abdomen and, The documentary concludes with Herzog taking the shooting in his stride, confesses having the last word: to being afraid of nothing. This stance may It is not only my dreams; my belief is that all at first seem just macho posturing but these dreams are yours as well. And the only he develops his views in the interview by distinction between me and you is that I can arguing that, articulate them and that is what poetry or the poet must not avert his eyes. You have to painting or literature or filmmaking is all take a bold look at [...] what is around you, about. [...] I make films because I have not even the ugly [...] decadent [...] dangerous learnt anything else and I know I can do it to things. a certain degree. And it is my duty because Filmmaking for Herzog is fundamentally this might be the inner chronicle of what difficult in terms of both theme and we are and we have to articulate ourselves practice. Getting shot is therefore no otherwise we would be cows in the field. surprise, especially for a man who has Clearly for Herzog filmmaking is a very been, as he notes at the conclusion of the serious business. interview, ‘[...] a good soldier of cinema’. Item 4. Werner Herzog Eats his Shoe Item 6: www.roguefilmschool.com (Blank, 1980) Recently Herzog set up his own film This is another Les Blank documentary, school, which is characteristically non- but this time a short which deals with conformist and un-academic in its founding Herzog fulfilling his promise to eat his shoes principles, the first of which is: if his friend and fellow documentarian Errol The Rogue Film School will not teach Morris released a documentary about the anything technical related to filmmaking. For American pet cemetery business. Needless this purpose, please enroll at your local film to say, Morris secured distribution, so true school. to his word Herzog cooks and eats one of Later, over a picture of Kinski and Herzog his shoes. The documentary is a humorous fighting on the set of Cobra Verde, we find A filmmaker without dreams is clearly tribute to Herzog’s sense of honour and the following list of qualities the school is someone Herzog would have no loyalty, as well as a record of the bizarre looking for in its students: interest in and nor can dreams be business of actually eating a shoe. While The Rogue film school is not for the faint preparing the dish we learn from Herzog hearted; it is for those who have travelled taught – experiencing and interpreting that filmmaking is akin to cookery and on foot, who have worked as bouncers in sex life is the key. that financial worries should not be an clubs or as wardens in lunatic asylums… for

24 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM those who have a sense of poetry. For those world. of handy-cam footage shot by Timothy who are pilgrims [...] For those who have a The eponymous plastic bag goes in Treadwell, an eco-activist and friend of dream. search of his plastic brethren because bear-kind who gets too close to the thing A filmmaker without dreams is clearly No-one needs me anymore – not even my he is trying to protect and is mauled to someone Herzog would have no interest maker. death by a rogue bear. In the scene a bear in. And dreams cannot be taught – Cast adrift literally into the godless Pacific approaches the camera, ending on a big experiencing and interpreting life is the key. the bag seeks out his kin who have all met close-up, and Herzog’s eerie, horrifying up in a vortex of currents – a grim reminder narration: Item 7: Plastic Bag (2009 Bahrami) of the plastic soup that now litters our What haunts me is that in all the faces of This 18-minute short by a little-known oceans. The bag’s final word to the maker all the bears that Treadwell ever filmed but critically-acclaimed new talent, that has completely abandoned him to a I discover no kinship, no understanding, Ramin Bahrami, details the existential marine eternity of utter emptiness is: no mercy. I see only the overwhelming life-story of a plastic bag with a first- I wish you had created me so that I could die. indifference of nature. person voiceover performed by Herzog. This heart-breaking message, was written Secondly, in Encounters at the End Indeed, Herzog narrates most of his own by Behrami, but is however pure Herzog – a of the World, a film about the odd documentaries and he has developed man who claims he too would rather die community of scientists and workers living such a distinctively gloomy and mesmeric than live in a world without lions. in Antarctica, there is an interview with a style, full of portentous German inflection taciturn and awkward scientist who is a and philosophical musings, that his vocal Item 8: Encounters at the End of the penguin specialist. Herzog has no interest delivery is now the source of fond parody World (2009) and Grizzly Man in anthropomorphic wildlife documentary (see YouTube: ‘Werner Herzog reads Aside from the 3D Cave of Forgotten as illustrated by such films as March of Madeline’ or ‘Werner Herzog reads Where’s Dreams, these two documentaries the Penguins (2005). Accordingly he Waldo’). represent Herzog’s most successful surprisingly asks the scientist about gay Plastic Bag is a beautiful study of the returns at the UK box office within the penguins, and then films one such little search for meaning and, of course, the documentary genre. I cite a scene from penguin walking away from the warm flock emptiness of a consumer lifestyle – both each of these primary sources because their and nourishing sea into the depths of the sources of interest for Herzog, whose films analysis of nature is exemplary. icy continent and towards certain death. often try to articulate human nature and The first scene comes towards the end The image is haunting and disturbing study the wonder and horror of the natural of Grizzly Man, a film consisting largely because it undermines our sense of a rational universe and confirms Herzog’s fascination with extremes of character and place. At first his questioning seemed obtuse or trivial but instead it helps touch on the essence of his approach to nature: I believe the common denominator of the universe is not harmony but chaos, hostility and murder. In conclusion Herzog’s themes and aesthetic and his filmmaking practice undeniably identify him as one of contemporary cinema’s great individuals. A final illustration is his disregard for cinematic norms such as storyboarding: [...] storyboards remain the instruments of cowards who do not trust in their own imagination [...] Herzog on Herzog, Cronin 2002 This is a typical Herzog pronouncement: fearless, romantic, bold and totally dismissive of convention; much like the man himself. Mark Ramey teaches Media Studies at Collyer’s College, West Sussex.

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The definition of modern million), at the time, Reitman was a risky independent films is changing. The director to trust with big budget films. As Reitman himself puts it: Hollywood studios have realised I was in the midst of finishing Thank You there is money to be made from for Smoking, but I didn’t have any street cred(ibility) yet. these seemingly quirky films made The MovieWeb Team, 2007 for a supposedly niche audience. Reitman has since gone on to work on Pete Turner analyses an example bigger budget films with the likes of George of a modern ‘independent’ film that Clooney in Up in the Air and Charlize Theron in Young Adult. These are still edgy had crossover appeal and made a films that deal with serious concerns and fortune for 20th Century Fox. do not attract the biggest blockbuster audiences. Spanning the four seasons of one year, The writer of the film is Diablo Cody; Juno (US 2007) tells the tale of a fairly Juno was her first screenplay. Again, typical high school girl in Minnesota. When producing a script from a novice can be Juno (Ellen Page) discovers she’s pregnant risky but this film was financed not on the after having sex with her best friend Bleeker strength of the names of the writer and (Michael Cera), the story takes a turn for director but on the strength of the script the edgy. Faced with the choice of abortion to a much wider audience than it may have itself. or having the baby and placing it with an been originally intended for. Before… Juno received a rapturous standing adoptive couple, the smart, cynical teen ovation at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, opts for the latter. The couple Juno chooses Director and Writer before Steven Spielberg called... Diablo Cody are upscale yuppie types, the man (Jason Juno is director Jason Reitman’s second was giving half-hearted lap dances to greasy men at a Minneapolis strip club Bateman) laid-back and cool, the woman feature after the critically-acclaimed and Valby, 2007 (Jennifer Garner) uptight and a little scary financially-successful Thank You For in her desire for a child. The film makes Smoking. However, when Juno’s producers Cody has since worked again with an interesting case study of a modern were seeking a director, Reitman’s first film Reitman on Young Adult and has co-written independent film and how the Hollywood had not been released. Thus, although the Evil Dead remake. majors have muscled in on formerly niche Thank You For Smoking ultimately became Reitman pursued the job of directing and edgy fare, packaging and promoting it a big earner at the international box office, Cody’s first script because he considers despite its weedy budget of only $6.6 the response to Juno as equivalent to the

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reception of Tarantino’s first films, ‘that kind Independent films can often deal with budget and do not require huge box office of overwhelming excitement about a fresh figures to make a profit. Therefore, they new voice’ (Valby, 2007). Only after the controversial themes because they are can afford to take risks with potentially success of Reitman’s first film, did he get the low budget and do not require huge edgy or even offensive material. One of job of directing Juno. And even then, there box office figures to make a profit. the producers of the film, said of an early were still problems with funding. incarnation: Therefore, they can afford to take a lot of people were worried that we would Finance risks with potentially edgy or even be protested by right-to-lifers or pro-choice The production budget for Juno was $7.5 people million, slightly higher than the budget for offensive material. and that ‘expectations were modest’ Reitman’s previous film and much higher (Spines 2008). Similarly Nancy Utley at Fox than for many other independent films. Searchlight said: There are many stories of the different We thought it was going to be a smaller movie because of the subject matter. methods used to finance independent Spines, 2008 films, from Kevin Smith funding Clerks by credit cards to Robert Rodriguez This demonstrates investors’ caution taking part in medical experiments so over controversial themes such as teen that he could afford to make El Mariachi. pregnancy and abortion, often the reason Increasingly there is bigger budget backing for the difficulties independent producers from major studios and their independent have in raising funds. film-producing subsidiaries. During promotion for the film, actress Production Companies Ellen Page alluded to the trouble with Juno was co-financed by Fox Searchlight financing an indie film like Juno. She said Pictures, Mandate Pictures and Mr Mudd, that after reading the script a couple of all contributing to the total production years previously: budget. Fox Searchlight Pictures is a it was one of those things that takes time division of Fox Filmed Entertainment, [to get off the ground] … it kind of just a global leader in movie production and dwindled away, didn’t have money distribution… responsible for some of the Yamato, 2007 top grossing movies of all time, including history’s most successful movies, Avatar and Independent films can often deal with Titanic controversial themes because they are low http://www.newscorp.com/operations/index.html

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With the backing of a subsidiary This also occurred with Quentin Tarantino’s second feature, Pulp Fiction, when stars of global conglomerate News such as John Travolta and Bruce Willis International, is Juno really even an took massive pay cuts to appear in a low-budget film that they could see from independent film? the past track record of screenwriter and director had the potential to be a hit. As Juno went into production, Reitman was nominated for a Golden Globe and therefore stars were attracted to a role in his follow-up film, despite having to lower their fees. Independent films are also often shot on locations rather than in expensive studios with built sets. Juno was shot in Vancouver and took only 30 days to film, an extremely of the major Hollywood studios. They take fast production. This keeps costs low and on more challenging, controversial or also increases realism compared to big complex material, but still want to make budget blockbusters filmed on expensive profitable films that may have crossover sets. appeal and some mainstream success. Juno, like so many other modern ‘independent’ Stars films, is not actually independent from the This is typical of Independent films major studios. Its independence comes rarely have the budget to afford the more from its script, characters and story. biggest Hollywood stars, so draw on actors The budget is kept low due to modest box famous from television in order to attract office expectations, and therefore there is a a mainstream audience. This is certainly maximum chance of making a profit. the case in Juno. Ellen Page had starred in The films produced by the subsidiaries Hard Candy, an extremely controversial of major studios have limited promotion at independent film about a girl and a first so they will potential paedophile, but had also taken start off as word-of-mouth favourites among a supporting role in blockbuster sequel devoted moviegoers. As a result, they can X-Men: The Last Stand. Juno would be wind up as Academy Award nominees with another starring role for her, and would give relatively few people having seen them. her a much bigger chance to demonstrate Breznican, 2008 This doesn’t sound very independent! her talent than the X-Men film. Jason When the Hollywood majors realised that If the films generate positive word of Bateman and Michael Cera had appeared there was potentially a great deal of profit mouth and awards-buzz, then more money together in critically-adored but criminally- to be made from certain low budget and will be spent on increased promotion. This canned TV comedy Arrested Development, therefore low risk films, they began actively means that in recent years the studios have meaning some people might be drawn to hunting down the important directors to dominated the independent sector by using Juno to see their reunion. Jennifer Garner work with. their subsidiaries (such as Fox Searchlight) is perhaps the biggest star, having been in Sony Classics, Paramount Classics and Fox to make smaller films that can make big TV’s Alias and a number of films including Searchlight were thus created by their money thanks to festivals, competitions and comic book movies Daredevil and Elektra. respective, internationally co-owned, parent awards. Michael Cera was popular at the time due companies to deal with requests for funds. to the big success of high-school comedy Shaw, 2002 Production Superbad and would therefore also add Mandate Pictures and Mr Mudd, on Independent films such as Juno typically to the teen appeal. They may not be the the other hand, are both more traditional have short shooting schedules and do biggest stars in Hollywood but together independent producers, though it is not use the latest and most expensive they ensure that people are likely to interesting to note that Hollywood star technology such as CGI, IMAX and 3D. They recognise at least a few of the faces in the John Malkovich is a co-founder of Mr Mudd. are not generally produced to capitalise cast. Increasingly the Hollywood elite, such as on any trends, and their creators have not Brad Pitt and George Clooney, is founding been analysing the market to see what is Distribution their own production companies to making the most money at a given time. Distribution for an independent film like produce passion projects and often edgier Increasingly they feature stars, but these Juno is very different to most Hollywood fare. stars often take pay cuts to appear in what blockbusters. The film starts out at festivals The involvement of Fox Searchlight they think will be critically adored and and on a limited number of screens. As buzz illustrates the modern trend by which popular films. Braver (2008) reported that builds and word of mouth spreads, the film independent films are made by subsidiaries ‘to keep to the budget, high profile stars like gets a wider release. Troy Hart (2008) states: Jennifer Garner took cuts in their usual pay’. a slow release… is to release on a limited

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number of screens in a few key markets and manager of Fox Searchlight in Australia said Pete Turner is a lecturer at Bracknell and Wokingham hope word of mouth drives up ticket sales. the studio College, is undertaking a PhD at Oxford Brookes University Then they will expand it (increase screen brought 100 Juno-branded phones to and writes a film blog at http://ilovethatfilm.blogspot. count) as ticket sales increase. The advantage Australia for use in promotional giveaways com/ is that it keeps P&A (prints and advertising) Moses, 2008 costs to a minimum. Juno was actually released in cinemas Like many other independent films, the References nine days earlier than originally scheduled posters and trailers emphasise the critical http://www.newscorp.com/operations/ in order to ‘take advantage of all the response to the film and the awards it has index.html incredible advance buzz’ (Sciretta, 2007). won. The release strategy of Juno is typical of Exhibition and Performance Braver. 2008 http://www.cbsnews.com/ independent film. Variety reported: stories/2008/02/09/sunday/main3812797. Juno will open in an additional 13 cities on Juno has been incredibly successful for shtml Friday, upping the total theatre count to an independent film. This is due to a clever Breznican, 2008. http://www.usatoday. about 40. Another 17 cities will be added on script and great characters but also due com/life/movies/movieawards/ Dec. 21, and the film will further expand on to a clever distribution plan that has seen oscars/2008-02-21-oscar-box-office_N. Christmas Day before going nationwide Jan 4. it embraced by a mainstream audience. It htm McClintock, 2007 became a massive crossover hit, making These release dates and scheduling will over $200 million at the international box Hart, T. http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis- also help the film to get attention in the office. It received Oscar nominations for 2007-independent-film-box-office- awards season, and will ensure that the film Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, and numbers-1848390.html has huge buzz before money is spent on Best Original Screenplay and exceeded all McClintock. 2007. http://www.variety. more prints. expectations for the film. But the question com/article/VR1117977409?refCatId=13 remains: with the backing of a subsidiary Marketing of global conglomerate News International, Moses. 2008. http://www.theage. com.au/news/technology/junos- The marketing is also quirkier and less is Juno really even an independent film? hamburger-phone-sparks-online- traditional than Hollywood blockbusters. It’s a question that you could likely spend a sales/2008/02/06/1202233932553.html A hamburger phone that Juno uses in the whole lesson debating; Juno is a revealing film became a curious marketing tool; the case study that you could refer to in your AS Sciretta. 2007. http://www.slashfilm.com/ producers apparently sent one to journalists Film Studies exam. junos-due-date-sooner-than-expected/ to entice them to review the film. The Shaw. 2002. http://www.thefilmjournal. com/issue6/americancinema.html Spines. 2008. http://www.ew.com/ew/ article/0,,20175163_3,00.html The MovieWeb Team. 2007. http://www. movieweb.com/news/exclusive-director- jason-reitman-talks-juno Valby. 2007. http://www.ew.com/ew/ article/0,,20157948,00.html Yamato. 2007 http://www.rottentomatoes. com/m/juno/news/1694026/ellen_page_ on_juno_the_rt_interview/

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 29 MM Images from Sapphires, courtesy Sapphires, of Image.net Images from Gulpilil as Jagamarra and Productions David courtesy Boy of Bunya Satellite Images from Nettheim By Matt Production. Photo Films A Satellite Boy. in Satellite as Pete Wallaby Cameron 30 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM An Exploration Australian independent film company. The embrace soul music and begins to coach film made its world premiere at Cannes this them. of Independent year to wide critical acclaim. The film cuts to scenes of Saigon, Indigenous Australian Sapphires is inspired by a true story set in Vietnam, a busy and polluted city with cars, Film the late 60s about the McCrae girls, young smoke, bikes and smog, a million miles from talented Aboriginals who followed their their natural Australian outback. And while dreams to be singers by working in war-torn this film is entertaining it does not shy away Our regular global correspondent Vietnam, entertaining the troops with their from exposing the casualties of war: road Maggie Miranda introduces performances. blocks, explosions and prisoners of war. some recent independent films The Sapphires are hired to sing to the US Sapphires: Soldiers and marines who are mostly black. One of the from a culture rarely represented Soul Music girls remarks: in mainstream cinema, and finally The Sapphires are made up of Gail I’ve never seen so many black men in a room beginning to come into its own. (Deborah Mailman) Cynthia (Miranda before. Tapsell), their cousin Kay (Shari Sebbens, Throughout the film there are many references to race and racial division. What do we know of Australian media? a ‘stolen’ aborigine returned to the family When the band travels to a gig with no For many the answer would be Neighbours fold) and front woman Julie (Australian Idol military escort they are stopped by armed and Home and Away. My exploration of star Jessica Mauboy). Vietnamese troops. The girls manage to Independent Indigenous Australian film We are first introduced to the group talk their way out of the situation but the began at the Melbourne International film preparing for a talent show. The girls get cousins fight. Gail calls Kay a coconut, festival. The opening gala was Sapphires dirty looks from others but they go on they argue, one slaps the other, and it’s a (2012) by Australian director Wayne Blair, undeterred. The singers are by far the best big punch; these are big race issues. As an released by Hopscotch Films, a leading act at the show but they lose to a white girl, a ‘gubba’ (non- Aboriginal or white audience is told about Australia’s stolen person). The film very quickly exposes generation: the truth behind Australian society at the If you were fair like Kay you would be taken away and taught white ways. time. Racism was rife. Aboriginals were This was how the former governments not entitled to a vote in their country tried to ‘breed out the blackness’. This part until 1970. But MC and talent scout, Dave of Australia’s past is largely unspoken about Lovelace (played by Chris O’Dowd of The IT now but the script begins to bring this dark Crowd and Bridesmaids) quickly recognises history to light. their potential. He encourages the girls to Racism is explored in the film though the images of Martin Luther King’s assassination, the scandal of Australia’s Stolen Generation and the relationship between Lovelace and Gail.

Overall Sapphires is a feel-good film and of course everyone loves a rags- to-riches tale. The performances are glittering (especially as the characters gain confidence as singers), the Motown songs combine to form a powerful soundtrack and the design in the film from the fashions to the cars is to be commended. But beyond this, this independent film manages to subtly make valid social comment. Racism is explored in the film though the images of Martin Luther King’s assassination, the scandal of Australia’s Stolen Generation and the relationship between Lovelace and Gail. As the film goes on the crowds of soldiers enjoy the girls’ performances more and more and the Sapphires begin to sparkle. It is sad that they have to go all the way to Saigon to be accepted and appreciated. When the girls return home their families welcome them with a smoke ceremony and we are reminded of the traditional Aboriginal ways which have somehow endured.

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 31 MM The end of the film asks its audience to question ‘what is development’?

Satellite Boy My exploration of independent indigenous Australian film continued, this time at the Abu Dhabi film festival in UAE Satellite Boy (2012) explores traditional Aboriginal culture further. This is director Catriona Mackenzie’s debut film, made with an Aboriginal casting director, Jub Clerc and featuring veteran Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil. Satellite Boy had already received much critical acclaim at its premiere in Toronto. The first words of the film are in an Aboriginal language. Throughout the film creole is used, as The film is driven forward by the story of But Pete soon realises that the ‘perfect lots of language was lost during the their eviction. Pete and his grandfather have city life’ is not for him. When he wakes in ‘stolen generation’. We are introduced to leave their home as a company called the night he sees his mum lying next to a to the central character, Pete, played by Mainstay Construction begins demolition strange man. His mother regularly shoplifts Cameron Wallaby. He walks along with work there. They are given the weekend to from the supermarket. The ‘family’ set off his grandfather, Old Jagamarra, and is told shift their belongings. Pete and his friend for a new life in Perth but Pete’s doubts ‘all the kangaroos walk this way’. Pete is head for the city to protest to the company. make him stop by the side of the road. As being taught how to hunt, skills that the The grandfather speaks of a walkabout, he draws settlements in the sand, just as youth are losing. In the first few minutes a cultural tradition to go off, to explore his grandfather did before, he thinks about of the film we are given an insight into and to learn. On the open road the boys what to do. The mother offers him a bike, Aboriginal culture not usually profiled in pedal on, not knowing what to expect in new toys, video games but Pete doesn’t mainstream cinema, and introduced to the big city. Kalmain anticipates the ‘best want these material things. He decides to the vast, arid landscape of the Australian video games in the whole world’ but is this favour the ‘old ways’. He tells her: outback. It’s a harsh landscape, not exactly ‘civilisation’? Through the boys’ experience it’s OK Mum, you got your dreams, I got my a picture postcard image of Australia. Some the film presents the question ‘what is dreams. of the cinematography in Satellite Boy is development’? And so Pete returns to the outback and excellent, brilliantly capturing the immense Pete knows many traditional ways. He the mother pursues the material life that Kimberleys region. The camera pans over repairs a punctured tyre with dried grass. she craves in Perth. Pete smiles at the trees Aboriginal rock art, a reminder of traditional He follows a sugar fly to its nest, ’lunch’! He and landscape that welcome him home. He storytelling and communication. uses a littered crisp packet to start a fire. knows that this is what he wants. He returns Pete meets up with his buddy Kalmain Pete has learnt so much from his elders to his grandfather, a tearful re-union. The (Joseph Pedley). The two boys cycle across and his efforts ensure their survival in the film ends with the white painting of bodies, the parched, cracked earth. They torch an outback. Pete climbs up a satellite dish a traditional Aboriginal celebration. Pete abandoned vehicle for something to do, and jumps into the centre to start a fire. dances by the fire. He is home. The end of ‘kids’ entertainment’ in this barren land. The For years Aboriginals have found ways to the film asks its audience to question ‘what boys are charged with malicious damage survive and as a people they will continue is development’? What is good about living and being a public nuisance. Pete gets to do so. Pete repeatedly says ‘country in a capitalist society and is it for everyone? let off with a warning and is returned to looks after us’ [as long as we look after it]. Pete makes a choice to reject all that is his grandfather. He is frustrated and sets This is what Old Jagamarra has taught him. modern and ‘civilised’ for a more traditional fire to a chair. As the sun sets he watches The boys finally reach the city and find way of life. the flames and wipes away his tears. He Mainstay Construction. Pete’s mother sees The casting for this independent film took misses his mum. The elders gather round a a news report of the incident involving two five months and the search for the two boys campfire too and sit under the stars to talk boys at the plant and she goes to the police stretched over hundreds of kilometers. The together. station. The mother and son are reunited. casting director said that because of real

32 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM life issues with substance abuse for many films. For the filmmakers it seems that it good production values, tell good stories boys it was too personal, too close to home. is strongly ingrained in them to approach and engage audiences. There are so I asked Jub Clerc what films like Sapphires any production with a clear objective. And many stories to be told, not just from an and Satellite Boy tell audiences about this is what makes indigenous film making Aboriginal perspective. Film can be used as Aboriginal culture. She replied: so exciting. It’s not ‘frothy entertainment’: a vehicle to expose the truth – activism via In Australia there are many emerging these films represents a fight that has taken film. All cultures have a unique narrative. filmmakers. There are more Aboriginal place over 200 years. Film can provide a We all have our stories to tell. We all have directors and writers now. We are starting service where many politicians have failed. histories to share. This is why independent to tell our own story and we’ve started to Skilled film making succeeds in presenting films, and the platform to hear often- understand how we could use the media to do the facts, re-telling these stories with both marginalised voices, are so important. that. We are opening the eyes of Australians accuracy and sensitivity, starting debates [and others worldwide] as to who we are. Maggie Miranda teaches at Dubai International Academy, and potentially affecting change. As part of the festival I attended a forum UAE. on Aboriginal film making. It would appear Stories from History: that many independent film makers from Coniston Find Out More the Aboriginal community are changing the rules and setting a new agenda. Australia’s Shocking events such as the Coniston Melbourne International Film Festival SBC and ABC TV networks are beginning to Massacre (Coniston 2012) are being re-told (MIFF): www.miff.com.au afford them a voice. More and more drama through independent film, and while CAAMA Aboriginal media: www.caama. films such as Radiance (1998), Sapphires people are sensitive about this history com.au and Satellite Boy are being produced, and they do want those stories to be told. The Screen NSW: www.screen.nsw.gov.au this is great for Australian film. TV series Coniston massacre happened in 1928 when such as Bush Mechanics (2001) (which Australia was already supposed to be a Screen Australia: www.screenaustralia. showed traditional survival techniques) developed, civilised and modern country. gov.au And these atrocities happened across represent an important milestone in Creative Spirits: www.creativespirits.info indigenous filmmaking. These independent Australia. Films such as Coniston afford Hopscotch films: www.hopscotchfilms. productions, usually made on a shoestring audiences a chance to be educated about com.au/the-sapphires-film/the-real- budget, are important as they are capturing what really happened and to experience a sapphires the voices of the older community, as feeling of grief. These films are evidence of well as many emerging young voices too. the fight for justice, a quest that is central to Independents such as CAAMA have been a film like Sapphires. set up to intervene in a very ‘Eurocentric’ The Future media in Australia, providing a voice for the indigenous community. So what is the future of indigenous The culture of storytelling in Australia’s filmmaking in Australia? Many of the indigenous community has always been freedom fighters of the past, those who prominent, from Rock art to present day would have rioted and protested, would never have imagined the changes that would take place. Many gains have been made. The future for these independent films is exciting. TV is beginning to value indigenous programmes and wants to commission more. Audiences can embrace indigenous films and indigenous culture, to feel that it is their history too. Ultimately, the challenge for all filmmakers is to make films that have

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 33 MM

34 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 35 MM How Three independents are Making Movies for the 21st Century

Brenda Hamlet explores how new technologies and new audiences are changing the ways in which people make movies and think about them. Everything is changing from financing to production, distribution and exhibition. And when you consider that movie fans now have better access to so many different types of films from popular genres to big screen classics and world cinema titles, plus more choices for viewing Carax, suggests we are waking from a dream of cinema – in which the 20th-century film is them – on gadgets, movie channels, a dying art form – while the new digital ones DVD player, multiplex or single are still emerging. Fabien Riggall, founder screen cinema – it makes sense that of Secret Cinema, believes that moviegoers in the 21st century want to feel more our experience of movies and movie- connected to something: ‘there is a cultural going is also changing. shift happening. Live cinema is the future.’ And Guy Browning’s low-budget comedy, The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies Tortoise in Love not only stars the residents and What They Did to Us (2012) by David of the writer/director’s Oxfordshire village Thompson says that people’s understanding (Kingston Bagpuize), but is part funded by of the movies in the 20th century was them too. shaped by the big screen. It is the big screen, he argues, that defined concepts Secret Cinema: Don’t Tell of spectatorship and movie-going. Sitting Anyone ... in a darkened cinema and identifying with Secret Cinema pushes the boundaries of the huge faces shining on the big screen movie-going far beyond the spectatorship was a wholly immersive experience which experience described by Thompson. Part Thompson believes does not exist in today’s screening, part installation, this interactive modern era of the small screen and multiplex movie event takes movie-goers out of their feature. seats and into the movie by fusing live The Good, the Bad and The Multiplex – performance with big screen entertainment. What’s Wrong with Modern Movies? (2012) To create the events, Riggall rents out by Mark Kermode argues that the modern spaces from warehouses to vintage picture movie is more about the technology that palaces and transforms them into iconic makes and distributes movies, than it is settings from movie favourites such as Bugsy about watching them. Computers, he says Malone, The Red Shoes and The Third are even used to determine financing for Man. Actors cast as characters from the film film, using programmes for generating improvise favourite scenes and encourage spreadsheets and box office forecasts. the audience to take part. As importantly, Kermode argues, our Julian Spooner – the actor cast as Lucky experience of the movies is also dominated Louie in Bugsy Malone says: by technology; from online booking systems Secret Cinema takes the movie goer inside to the ticket machine in the foyer. Even the the cinematic narrative so they become part projectionist, he adds, is a computer. of the onscreen action. The events rely on Whether you agree with these two film the interaction between the cast and the audience. By the end of the evening movie- critics or not, each raises important questions goers are so caught up in the nostalgia and concerning the nature of a changing movie fantasy of the action, setting and big screen culture. Equally interesting is the way in film – that’s hard to distinguish between which these issues are contributing to the who is acting and who is not. People love work of three independent filmmakers. re-experiencing their favourite films. Bugsy Holy Motors, written and directed by Leos is an iconic film and creates nostalgia for

36 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM childhood memories of the movies. Many up comedy was followed by a big screen actor who performs in a strange avatar love- people came with their friends and kids. viewing of the film. making sequence. M. Oscar’s final role in the To gain access to the event, movie goers This summer, Secret’s Cinema’s live film – a tired suburban husband living with buy tickets from www.secretcinema. cinema journey for Prometheus netted £1.1 his ape wife and baby – brings the narrative org, billed as ‘a growing community of million and attracted 25,000 movie fans – all full circle back to the beginning of cinema movie-fans who enjoy experiencing the wearing boiler suits – to secret screening and the start of the film. The scene, though unknown’. Directions to a secret venue or venues including the BFI-IMAX. A Radiohead absurd in its style, provides an optimistic meeting place are given – but not the movie soundscape accompanied fans as they ending for M. Oscar. Though exhausted to be screened. The ticket/invite however boarded the Secret Cinema spaceship. Even from his journey through the history of does provide some clues. For this spring’s Ridley Scott got involved, enabling Secret cinema and technology, M. Oscar pauses Bugsy Malone event, movie-goers were Cinema events to coincide with the first run for a moment of reflection before the scene given these instructions: screenings of Prometheus in the UK. closes: ‘I see the future and it is bright’. The boss wants you to meet under the bridge, Riggall says the idea grew out of his pop- Throughout M. Oscar’s travels, Carax Caroline Street, E1, on the east side. Look out up festival venture – Future Shorts. employs the theme music from Jean Luc for Joey the violinist. Now you got to act real It started as a one-off screening and it just Godard’s, A Bout de Souffle (1960). At one normal and pretend like nothing happened. grew and grew. I was a short filmmaker at the point Celine invites M. Oscar to enjoy the We don’t want the fuzz knowing nothing time working for a production company and I Parisian scenery – which is straight out of about this shindig otherwise we may get just felt that there wasn’t a platform for short the car chase scene from the same movie. rumbled. Dress: Late twenties. Ritzy and real films…And from the first screening it has had But instead of looking out the window, M. swanky. Bring a book; give it to the librarian to the feel of a social event. It is like what cinema Oscar pulls down a video screen in the back get in to the club. Oh and one more thing... You used to be. Cinema as the community as a got to bring a flower to give to the boss. Now communal experience – a place where people of the limo. And the commentary is about this is real important. We gotta keep the boss can be inspired. technology, rather than the countryside; the happy. You may decide to talk. We got Bernie cine camera used to be bigger than a man – the weasel and his boys keeping an eye on you Holy Motors: Hidden now it is so small you can barely see it. so don’t be saying nuthin to no-one. See you at Identities and the 21st- The relationship between people and Fat Sam’s! Century Movie technology is one of the many themes taken On arrival to the secret location, movie on by Holy Motors. According to Carax, the Holy Motors opens with a surreal fans were chauffeured to East London’s Troxy limousines represent computers – with tiny sequence in which Carax – in a signature Picture Palace by cycle powered rickshaws, cameras – used by people to drive around appearance – gets out of his bed and made over as gangster-style get-away cars. the world on the internet. But they could wanders through a hidden passage into Outside, moviegoers in feather boas and easily stand in for movie cameras as well. an old cinema. On screen is a film of an zootsuits with spats, mingled with the live The idea is that of the internet as one big ape in motion – similar to the studies of cast of gangsters and show girls. Newssheets performance space in which people take on horses made by Eadweard Muybridge. designed as era-style tabloids announced a range of disguises and hidden identities The evolution of filmmaking is then charted the film to be screened – Alan Parker’s Bugsy from usernames to avatars. through references to Chaplin (silent film), Malone. Inside moviegoers passed their This theme is developed further when M. surrealism (Buñuel and Cocteau), Nouvelle books to the ‘librarian’ before being allowed Oscar’s limousine crashes into another. Vague (Melville and Godard) through to the entry into Fat Sam’s – a 1920s Chicago- Rushing to the passenger side of the other digital age of motion capture CGI animation. style speakeasy. A milkshake bar, Italian limousine, he finds Kylie Minogue dressed The story that follows is about the restaurant, gambling room and boxing ring as Jean Seberg’s Patricia from A Bout de mysterious Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) provided pre-show entertainment. Onstage, Souffle. This scenario culminates in a rooftop and his travels around Paris in a white stretch an authentic Twenties-style nightclub performance by Kylie who sings: limousine. During the course of the film, M. performance including a barbershop quartet, Who were we? Who were we when we were Oscar’s chauffeur Celine provides him with Busby Berkeley-style dancers and stand- who we were back then? Who would we have assignment files that require him to take on become if we had done it differently back the role of nine different movie characters. then? As Celine drives to the live location In this sequence, Kylie might be singing Film can be used as a vehicle to settings for each character, M. Oscar about the character (Patricia), the actress expose the truth, activism via film. transforms into business executive, old Jean Seberg or the movies themselves. crone begging near the Seine, Merdre the The last scene – a dialogue between All cultures have a unique narrative. Troll – a subway phantom – who kidnaps talking limousines – is a reference to Cars, We all have our stories to tell. We all Eva Mendes during a photo shoot in Pere the Pixar CGI-animated movie. It is here that have histories to share. Lachaise cemetery, a hit man hired to kill the title of the film, Holy Motors, becomes his own stunt double and a motion capture clearer as the cars discuss what will happen to them when they are no longer being used. One worries they will be sent to the scrapyard – a metaphor for old films in a movie archive perhaps. Tortoise in Love: The Village Movie The story told in Tortoise in Love is about a young man named Tom who falls hopelessly in love with a beautiful Polish au pair named Anya. The film begins with a train

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 37 MM journey accompanied by a voiceover – stages to wardrobe and catering trailers. This is the story of a tortoise in love, and The local hair salon provided make-up and this is the kissing scene in the little village styling, whilst the Women’s Institute made of Kingston Bagpuize in Oxfordshire where meals for cast and crew. The film’s musical they’re famous for doing things slowly. score was composed by a neighbour Geoff The narration goes on to explain that Cottrell and performed with the village choir. twenty-something Tom has chucked in his Tortoise in Love also received a £30,000 high-flying job in London to return home. grant from the BFI for distribution and No reason is given for Tom’s decision – but exhibition at non-traditional venues such his soulful expression implies that he is at a as village halls and film clubs. The money crossroads. provided posters, press packs and prints The first point of call is the village pub, to these rural venues – which in other where a well-meaning local points Tom in the circumstances would not have the finances direction of the groundskeeper for the Manor to fund a first-run screening. Film events such House. Tom, who has a degree in botany, as Q&A with the Director and post-screening is thrilled to land a job within minutes of discussions with cast members helped to arriving home – that is until he finds his job create a word-of-mouth buzz before a is making tea. But the groundskeeper likes to general release to local cinemas. keep real. As he explains to Tom – ‘it’s custard The concept of community filmmaking creams in the morning and jammy dodgers may not be new – film co-operatives provide in the afternoon.’ similar schemes – though most relied on Anya is au pair to Harry, who lives in the grants and funding which is no longer manor house. The story gains momentum as as widely available as before. Travelling the three begin to connect and Tom works Light, a new play by Nicholas Wright also up the courage to express his feelings for Anya. But as suggested by the movie tagline – ‘He likes you. He’s just slow‘– Tom takes most of the film to pluck up his courage and kiss Anya. In the meantime, Harry’s stuffy stockbroker father sabotages plans for the village fete. But the show must go on, and the ever- resourceful villagers find ingenious ways to put on the best-ever fete and help Tom to overcome his shyness. describes the village movies made by Eastern Most importantly, they have a great time Europeans – some of whom became major doing it. Actor Ivan Kaye who appears as players in Hollywood – forming the basis of Sean in the film says: what would become the 20th-century big I have made many movies, including screen classic. As M. Oscar predicts – the blockbusters with Jonny Depp, but I have never future is bright. had so much fun as I did on this film. Brenda Hamlet is a freelance journalist and teacher living Most of the cast had never been in a in Oxford. movie, though there are a few familiar faces such as Ed Vaizey (local MP and Minister for References Culture and Communications), Lesley Staple Thompson, D. The Big Screen: The Story (Calendar Girls), Steven Elder (Holby City) of the Movies and What They Did To Us. and Ivan Kaye (The Green Green Grass). 2012. And without giving away too much, the Red Arrows also make an appearance. Kermode, M. The Good, The Bad and The Browning, a comedy writer who lives Multiplex: What’s Wrong with Modern in Kingston Bagpuize, wanted to make a Movies. 2012 (reprint edition). film about the village. To raise the £250,000 www.secretcinema.org needed to make the film, Browning pitched the idea for Tortoise in Love at the local http://hub.honda.co.uk/dreamfactory/ village hall. And he offered the villagers cultural_engineers/fabien-riggall/ a stake in the film for as little as £20, to www.tortoiseinlove.co.uk/ buy a mini-mogul share, or a maxi-mogul The DVD of Tortoise in Love is available investment for £500 and up. This unique from Amazon: http://amzn.to/V0TZkG crowd-funding scheme enabled the holymotorsfilm.com/ participants to share in the profits and appear in the film. Many, including the owner of Kingston Bagpuize Manor House – the film’s central setting – also offered their homes, businesses and gardens for everything from production Images from Tortoise in Love, courtesy of Liz May and others. courtesy of Liz May in Love, Tortoise Images from 38 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM

Independent distribution

The great British summertime has a new tradition – pop-up cinema. All over the country independent exhibitors are screening movies both new and old, sometimes in the unlikeliest of settings, and film fans are finding an alternative to the ordinary multiplex viewing experience. And if your idea of audience participation is limited to singing along to The Sound of Music, components of the folly after the summer, Science and Industry in Manchester has a then think again, says Christopher so I asked Assemble, the organisation pop-up cinema that runs a Family Friendly that built the Folly, what happened to the Saturday Film Club. The great tradition of Budd. materials after it was dismantled… Saturday morning kid’s cinema has been …all the wooden bricks have been remade reborn using the pop-up model, although Many pop-up cinemas take place in into planters to be used by Gainsborough now primarily aimed at nostalgic dads unusual settings; often locations that would Primary School, located just down the canal (Back to the Future trilogy, anyone?). otherwise be disused, and that wouldn’t from the Folly. Each class will tend a planter Another conspicuously glamorous on the face of it lend themselves obviously in the playground for a year and will take element of the golden age of film was to becoming a cinema. Cineroleum, for part in gardening workshops. All of the film awards, and these haven’t been example, takes place at a disused petrol terrazzo tiles have been used to re-tile the forgotten either. Cannes in a Van, the station in East London. They proudly hark floor of Essex Flour and Grain, a wholesale ‘four-wheel film festival’ holds it’s own Van back to the days of old-fashioned cinema, food supplier located opposite the Folly on the canal. d’Or Independent Film awards, this year with ‘decadent interiors… popcorn, paper There’s glamour too. The Lost Picture presented by Barry Norman. With an aim to tickets, elaborate signage and flip-down Show, a pop-up cinema which can be hired give exposure to independent films, Cannes seats’, all designed to evoke the feeling of for all manner of events and festivals has a in a Van makes the drive to the south of traditional cinema-going rather than the manifesto which states their own dedication France every year! modern multiplex. Their programming to a more old-fashioned, higher quality style A popular way of pop-ups ‘adding reflects this independent spirit, including a of film presentation: value’ to the cinema-going experience is mixture of classics, cult movies, shorts and Step inside and encounter the past in vivid to provide something beyond standard b-movies; clearly their audience is going detail – a vintage cinema in intricately sewn multiplex popcorn, and this allows them to be cinema-goers of a certain age, with a and draped fabric [...] the audience recline in to partner with other local like-minded certain depth of fanaticism about film. luxurious velvet seating while low tables and organisations. For example, Film Fugitive, Taking something disused and making flickering chandeliers complete the effect of a pop-up cinema which roams the country, it useful, a kind of urban recycling, is a ghostly apparition of a time and place long offers homemade food and has a pop-up very important to a lot of pop-up cinema forgotten. bar serving up exotic treats. Similarly, Lexi organisations. Hackney’s Folly for a The Lost Picture Show brings this forgotten Cinema’s pop-up, The Nomad, partners Flyover took place over summer 2011, world back to life, using a combination of with a variety of organisations on their transforming a gap under the A12 into spectacular décor, immersive atmosphere, travels, including caterers, chocolatiers a temporary arts space, holding cinema performance, film and music... and gourmet popcorn makers! Some of screenings in the evening. Their intention However the golden age of cinema wasn’t the caterers they use are co-operatives, was always to productively re-use the just about cult movies. The Museum of

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 39 MM With this emphasis on social There’s a sliding scale of fees for different community organisations, with the aim of consciousness the whole experience making ‘community cinema’ affordable to adds up to something more put on. alternative and rewarding than your I asked Dogwoof what the impetus was behind them coming up with their pop-up usual trip to the mainstream cinema. cinema. Dogwoof’s Pop-up Cinema was established to empower individuals and organisations to become exhibitors of the excellent in Penrith, which screens ‘locally produced and important films that we select for films, documentaries and animations’, and distribution. It’s another way for these films which has an open call for submissions for to connect with audiences. Our philosophy is any local groups which have made their that while film is great in the cinema and at own documentaries. For these groups this home, it can be enjoyed in countless other is great exposure for their work or for the scenarios and venues. We set up Pop-up subject of their documentaries. Cinema to facilitate creative, non-traditional Larger arts organisations are also modes of exhibition. Through Pop-up, getting in on the act. The Institute of our films have screened in car parks, poly- Contemporary Arts in London has just tunnels, gardens, boardrooms, classrooms, living rooms, community centres, [and] many have a commitment to organic and held their own pop-up cinema event ‘Art pubs. Through the special screening licenses Fairtrade ingredients, and several make Drive!’ in the Great Eastern Street car park, scheme that Pop-up provides, anybody can contributions to charities from their profits. again in East London. The screenings were play our films in whatever way they wish. With this emphasis on social consciousness part of a larger exhibition by the ICA of And as for whether there are any bars the whole experience adds up to something cars transformed into artworks, and all to potential younger pop-up cinema more alternative and rewarding than your the films screened as part of the event, managers… usual trip to the mainstream cinema. although mainstream, involved driving in Being in school or college is in fact ideal One of the largest pop-ups is Secret some capacity. It’s not hard to see how the because you’ve got access to great venues, Cinema (see also page 36) which aims pop-up cinema concept can be employed and a big audience in your classmates and to ‘change how we watch films’ and in an arts capacity or as part of a temporary teachers. keeps its locations (and indeed the films exhibition alongside a traditional exhibition. For many organisations there are funding themselves) secret until the day of the True to the town’s reputation, Brighton’s opportunities too. For example The event. The experience involves immersing CINECITY hosts a more maverick pop-up Floating Cinema, a tiny canal boat that the audience totally into the world of the cinema: plied London’s waterways this summer film, with cinema-goers being invited …a grass roots movement of clandestine screening documentaries and hosting talks to dress up and participate in tasks. The cinema has been wrestling the movie-going specifically about the local area, received organisers go to extraordinary lengths to experience back from the multiplex. With money from the Arts Council. CINECITY is create appropriate surroundings for the Brighton Festival, CINECITY and the Duke of partially funded by The National Lottery and York’s have created an underground cinema screenings, transforming large spaces into by the BFI. As ever, for those organisations – literally – in The Basement, a pop-up spaceships, or deserts (complete with real prepared to meet funding criteria, even in picturehouse with a festival programme of camels – this for a screening of Lawrence of previews and special events. these straitened times, there may well be Arabia). Secret Cinema only screens classic Their pop-up cinema days showcase the potential to thrive and expand. movies, and the tickets are expensive. It is, an exciting selection of underground and Christopher Budd is a freelance lecturer, writer, composer however, immensely popular, proving that world cinema, and in partnering with the and musician. providing an alternative to multiplexes need Brighton Picture House they have an not mean undercutting them. established venue to make use of. Follow it up Some pop-up cinemas specialise in Pop-up cinemas are a natural fit for culturally-themed programming that might Cineroleum www.cineroleum.co.uk festival season in the UK. The weather is find a particular local audience. Watermans (hopefully) favourable, and the crowd is The Lost Picture Show www. Arts Centre in Brentford recently held a already there. The Nomad pop-up cinema lostpictureshow.org pop-up Bollywood cinema event in nearby actively seeks out ‘downright strange Cannes in a Van www.cannesinavan.com Gunnersbury Park. This part of west London screening locations’, and as a result they has a large Asian community and so is Film Fugitive www.filmfugitive.com set up at Bestival this year, in the Ambient the perfect match of audience and event; Forest, and screened an appropriate The Nomad www.whereisthenomad.com while a Bollywood season might not work programme of cult classics. everywhere in the country, Watermans was Secret Cinema www.secretcinema.org What if you want to set up your own pop- able to stage it as a one-off and sell it out, Cine-City www.cine-city.co.uk up cinema? It’s easier than you think, and showing the flexibility and adaptability of organisations like Dogwoof can help. They Pop-up Cinema (Dogwoof) www. the pop-up model. provide a full service where you can rent popupcinema.net Pop-up cinema can be used as an a film from them (including new releases opportunity to screen films that might and classics), and they provide a special otherwise find it hard to get distribution, screening DVD and all the licensing rights to because they’re too specialist or low show it. All you need to do is find a venue budget. The Cumbrian arts development and a projector, and a willing audience. agency Eden Arts runs a pop-up cinema

40 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM Our philosophy is that while film is great in the cinema and at home, it can be enjoyed in countless other scenarios and venues. We set up Pop-up Cinema to facilitate creative, non-traditional modes of exhibition. Through Pop-up, our films have screened in car parks, poly- tunnels, gardens, boardrooms, classrooms, living rooms, community centres, [and] pubs. Thanks to the following pop-up supplying images: generously the following cinemas for to Thanks Nomad. The Van, Cinema, Cannes in a Floating

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 41 MM

how independent developers can take on the games industry

42 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM James Rose offers a fascinating would probably take coherent form as either a Point-and-Click Adventure or Platformer. case study of the formation and By utilising the codes and gaming development of independent conventions of these genres, Jensen could video game developer Playdead enable the player to enter into that cave, slowly and hesitantly, to experience the and its critically acclaimed debut darkness and the surprise of their gradual game, Limbo. What began as a journey of discovery around that increasingly free PC-based game became both cavernous space. the foundations of a company Early Production world. It was a one-man project at the time, and a highly-successful console Jensen would spend the next two years and it felt like they wanted to control it and game, using private investment but working alone on the project, slowly and be part of it. I was so scared that people steadily building a working prototype that would take it away from me and make it more commercialised. retaining full editorial control. he designed, programmed and animated Among the messages was one from Dino himself. While such a solitary experience On one quiet day in 2004, Concept Artist Patti who initially intimated that Jensen enabled him to have full creative control it Arnt Jensen made a drawing that would didn’t just need a programmer to realise also bought about a number of frustrations, become the point of origin for Playdead’s his vision, but also a business partner to primarily due to his lack of programming highly-successful console game Limbo. The facilitate the game’s development, financing

drawing was of a landscape, a seemingly experience. Not being a programmer himself, and subsequent marketing. Jensen and endless and empty stretch of beach whose Jensen’s initial attempts at transforming his Patti met and discussed the project and, only feature was a dark cave. Drawn in sketch into a functioning game were limited, realising Patti was sympathetic to his vision, monochrome, the cave was saturated in able only to get animated figures to move Jensen hired him. Together, Jensen and Patti enough darkness to make it both foreboding and interact with their environment on a formed the company Playdead in order to and alluring, arousing enough curiosity to basic level. While these were achievements facilitate the long period of development make the viewer want to step inside the for Jensen, the results were nowhere near and initial production. This process was gloom and explore what lay hidden within his vision for the project in terms of both initially funded with their own money and all that darkness. Seeing potential in this aesthetic and action. He realised that he then subsidised by small grants from the one image, Jensen began to produce further would need to relinquish some of the Danish Government and the Nordic Game drawings of this monochromatic space, creative control over the project and hire Development program. developing and expanding its features a programmer. while, all the time, recognising that these To make contact with possible Production images were not of just a unique landscape programmers, Jensen made a Concept One of the key elements of the game’s but possible locations, environments, or Video and launched it onto the internet. production was that the entire game – backdrops for a console game. What was intended as a small-scale from its stark monochrome aesthetic to With his visual ideas developing, Jensen advertisement to recruit a programmer its challenging game play – was to be began to consider their relationship to suddenly went viral, garnering interest not programmed from scratch, along with game play, design and programming. He just from programmers but from publishers. the Game Engine that would bring these recognised that in order to translate the Overwhelmed by the response to both the two elements together to make the game imagery into a functioning game, he would video and the games industry’s interest function. Coupled with this was Jensen’s have to design, develop and programme in his project, Jensen became concerned, desire to maintain full control over the the game himself. These considerations commenting in an Edge interview that he creative aspects of the project to ensure his led him to decide that the game would be got very scared by all these people contacting vision for the game was realised. very low-tech in function and operation and, me. I had mail from publishers all round the Initially Patti began programming the

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 43 MM game, working closely with Jensen in order Retaining the IPR has clear benefits, to translate – and preserve – his vision for although selling those rights as part of a deal the game but it quickly became apparent with a major publisher also has benefits for that further programmers would be needed. the developer, as well as for the publisher. Patti commented: According to Smith in his lecture at the it would be better to hire better coders than Developer Conference, major publishers me, hire better middle management, hire want to obtain the IPR to ensure that better everything and just be at the centre protection over the product is guaranteed of it. by preventing a developer from completing IGN.com Xbox Only a game and then selling it onto a rival Jensen’s original intention was to make Effectively working as the Project Manager, publisher. Limbo as a free PC-only title. But, as the Patti ensured that Jensen’s vision remained From the Developer’s point of view, selling project grew, it became apparent that the intact. This was particularly important when, the IPR usually means that the Publisher will game had greater potential as a saleable to generate further finances to sustain the be more willing to invest in the game, paying – and potentially profitable – game. As development of Limbo, Jensen and Patti for production costs, marketing spend and independent game developers, Jensen sold shares in Playdead. Their investors also merchandising. With such investments, a and Patti recognised that the most viable wanted input into the game’s production, game has the potential to reach a much and cost-effective means of distribution particularly the addition of standard wider audience and therefore earn a would be through download and online gaming elements such as multiplayer and greater profit. With this financial success, delivery services. Discussions were held future projects can be discussed, negotiated,

co-operative options, changes to the length with both Microsoft and Sony to negotiate of the game and also an option to change a distribution deal. As a consequence, the level of difficulty within the game. Such Limbo was released in July 2010 as an Xbox additions were not part of Jensen’s original Exclusive and so made available solely on vision for the game and were vetoed in Xbox Live Arcade. The game sold 300,000 favour of the concept of Limbo as a stark, units within its first month of release and increasingly challenging and singular by the end of its release year had received gaming experience. wide critical acclaim, going on to sell over a The game’s production lasted for two half a million copies. and brokered, all with the support and and a half years, with Jensen, Patti and their sponsorship of a major publisher. But these growing team of programmers all working Intellectual Property Rights: positives can come at the cost of losing hard to make Jensen’s vision a reality. Who Owns What independence and creative control over As a result, Limbo existed in numerous It is unusual for an independent developer the product as the corporate seeks to ensure versions; Patti commented in a Gamasutra to restrict the release of their game to saleability and subsequent profit. interview that this period of Research and one platform. This came about during July 2011 marked the end of Limbo’s Development was ‘both fun and arduous’ Playdead’s negotiations with Sony Computer Xbox exclusivity period. The game was and resulted in ‘around 70% of the content’ Entertainment: speaking at a Developer subsequently released and ports of the being removed as it did not fit into Jensen’s Conference in July 2012, SCE Executive game were made available to purchase and vision. Such was the clarity of this vision, Producer Pete Smith commented that Sony download via the PlayStation Network, that Jensen and his team were still making had entered into talks with Playdead to Steam and GamersGate. By the end of changes in the final two months leading up secure the game’s release solely on their 2011, Limbo had sold over a million copies to the game’s release. PlayStation Network – on the proviso that and would go on to become the best- they would retain the IPR (Intellectual selling self-published independent game Property Rights) as part of the deal. of 2011 in the US PlayStation Store. Playdead

44 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM followed these releases with a Mac OSX game. This may seem daunting, but the version and a Linux port. As a result of both full creative control Jensen and Patti now the cross-platform porting of the game have over their next products offers not Limbo’s key characteristics: a and its availability on the key media online only the opportunity to develop another child as protagonist, stark graphic delivery services, Limbo was played in emotional and immersive game, but also over 140 countries and translated into nine to begin to define the brand identity of environments and an overwhelming different languages. Playdead. Although very little information preoccupation with death, all has been released about their second The Future of Playdead game, the information that is available integrated into a side-scrolling Independence: Project 2 suggests a reworking of Limbo’s key puzzle Platformer…. The game sold Limbo’s unique aesthetic and game characteristics: a child as protagonist, stark 300,000 units within its first month play, broad distribution, high sales figures graphic environments and an overwhelming and subsequent profit, enabled Playdead preoccupation with death, all integrated into of release and, by the end of its to regain its independence. With the a side-scrolling puzzle Platformer. release year, had received wide profits made from Limbo, Jensen and Patti To date Playdead have only released the effectively bought back their own company working title – Project 2 – and a singular critical acclaim and gone on to sell and, by doing so, have laid piece of stark and graphic concept art which over a half a million copies. the groundwork for the studio to begin depicts a boy dragging a heavy sack across developing and financing their next title the roof of a rain-soaked building. A brief Edge description of the game’s content appeared

They also have regained full creative on the Danish Film Institute’s website control over their subsequent when they announced they had awarded References productions. From this level of ownership the company a grant to help fund the Edge: The Making of Limbo an independent and creative vision can be development and production of the game: http://www.edge-online.com/features/ protected from the influences and needs Through unique puzzles and challenging the-making-of-limbo/ scenarios, Project 2, tells the story of a boy’s of market trends and assumed audience Road to the IGF: Limbo’s Dino Patti struggle against the evil forces through needs that are all indicative of corporate http://www.gamasutra.com/view/ culture. Jensen and Patti are in a rare and dubious experiments on human bodies, trying to take over the world. The game is in color news/27043/Road_To_The_IGF_Limbos_ privileged position, particularly in an industry and set in a 3D environment, while gameplay Dino_Patti.php#.UK9g5obDXtI where the market is dominated by what is a 2D Platformer. are essentially high-profile games from the Limbo sells one million, coming to Mac However this game develops, the major franchises. http://www.edge-online.com/news/ experience of Limbo has allowed Jensen and With the success of Limbo, Playdead now limbo-sells-one-million-coming-mac/ Patti the opportunity to develop a viable has the challenge (and potential audience- working business model of independence Danish Film Institute asserted pressure) to create their second within the games market. From such a http://www.dfi.dk/Branche_og_stoette/ position only dark and creative things can Spilord emerge as Jensen, perhaps once more, asks us to enter that dark and hollow cave somewhere on a lonely and desolate beach. James Rose is a freelance writer and filmmaker and a regular contributor to MediaMagazine.

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From Roadrunner to Kickstarter

In 2009 Amanda Palmer the self- all the more visible, and Palmer’s resistance styled ‘punk-cabaret’ performer and rebellion against her company would eventually see her released from her from New York dedicated her new contractual obligations and draw her record, Please Drop Me, to her fans and others into the debate about label Roadrunner Records at The ownership and control within the industry. Early on in her career Palmer seemed to Culture Club Room, Fort Lauderdale grasp that the real power lay with the in Florida. Nothing particularly artist’s relationship with their audience, not interesting about this fact, except their music company. With this motivating idea she utilised new media technologies that it was the start of a very vocal to her advantage, blogging about what was and visual campaign by Palmer to happening to her band and drumming up highlight the fact that Roadrunner support for a new mode of making money from music by circumventing the powers- would not free her from her that-be. contract and were, to her mind, This is not to say that Palmer was not actively strangling her creativity and grateful to Roadrunner for signing her band the Dresden Dolls (Palmer is also one half hampering the band from being of the group Evelyn Evelyn) when nobody who they wanted to be. else would. She acknowledged that this allowed her to focus on the music instead Roadrunner. She stated that when The Please drop me. What do I have to do. You of juggling ‘business-ing and musician- Dresden Dolls’ second album, No, Virginia don’t get me, you won’t let me do what I ing’. But the music industry can be fickle, didn’t immediately sell well, they totally want and it’s making me sad, and after two years with the label Palmer pulled the plug. Overnight. They pulled some she sang to the melancholic strains of accused Roadrunner of showing a lack of really dishonest moves, like backing out and ‘Moon River’, whilst encouraging the crowd interest in what the band was trying to pulling budgets for videos to put it on YouTube immediately. In fact, achieve. The cabaret singer’s clash with This was another testimony to the this is an edited version of what Palmer said, her label originated with her video for the unpredictable nature of the business. (she is renowned for using taboo language single ‘Leeds United’, (a song inspired by an Palmer went further and accused the owner as part of her theatrical persona); the unlikely romance with Ricky Wilson of The of Roadrunner out right. unedited version is at http://www.youtube. Kaiser Chiefs). Specifically, the label baulked He told me, and this was a real shock, com/watch?v=iMi7wRfmoMs. It is more at shots of the singer’s stomach, and asked honestly, that he expected that someday I ‘robust’ in the way it criticises Roadrunner, her to have them cut out or digitally altered would get my sh** together and write some and signalled a conscious attempt by to make them ‘more flattering’. Palmer more commercial music. I thought he was Palmer to openly involve her audience in a refused, and since then she has said that joking. He wasn’t. discussion about how the music industry her label deemed her ‘uncommercial’, Controversy seems to follow Palmer and manages its creative talent. and withdrew promotional support for this is partly why she has built up such a The struggle for artistic integrity and her album. In a show of support dubbed cult following. In 2008 she released her freedom against the commercial impulses the ‘Rebellyon’ fans of Palmer emailed debut solo album, Who Killed Amanda of the music industry is nothing new, but Roadrunner pictures of their stomachs. Palmer, produced by Ben Folds in which with the increase in e-media this conflict is Palmer was used to conflicts with she wrote a song about an imaginary rape

46 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM of an Oasis fan who gets pregnant, has an It is in this climate of non-risk each balloon until she was left completely abortion and then forgets it all because she, commercialism, where labels are struggling naked. Some may say this is simply a ‘just got a letter in the mail’ from Oasis. to maintain audiences and arguably gimmick that encourages and cements a The accompanying video was meant to be churning out music that sounds the same, pseudo-personal relationship with fans, a tongue-in-cheek dig at attitudes towards that artists like Palmer with their anti- but it could also be read as a metaphor for female violence, pregnancy and religion; yet mainstream appeal and willingness to how Palmer sees her relationship with her despite the fact that Roadrunner wanted to consent to a more personal and intimate followers; she is literally laying herself naked release the track, all the TV outlets refused relationship with their audiences, appear in front of them. In an age where many to play the video, citing that it made light more authentic and desirable. This seems music artists seem to construct an aura of of these issues in audio, as well as visually. to have been be borne out, as three reachability through social communication Many of the stations such as NME tv, Scuzz, years on from her release by Roadrunner, sites like Twitter, yet in reality retain their Kerrang, MTV, Q, and The Box, liked the track Palmer and her new band The Grand unattainability, this level of personal and the video but were bound by strict Theft Orchestra have just raised $1.2 interactivity is rare. broadcasting rules. Palmer was incensed. million through the crowd-funding site Laying herself bare is a recurring motif in She referred to the people who make these Kickstarter, a site which allows for all Palmer’s work. The use of the naked self as a rules as unintelligent ‘kumquats’ (a kind sorts of new projects that need funding to way to market and promote could arguably of squidgy fruit) and saw this as another be sourced by those who part with their be viewed in the same way as many other stranglehold on freedom of expression, money because they believe in the artist, and crucially the silencing of debate about product or concept that is being proposed. issues that affect women. (You can access Palmer initially asked for $100,000 to the video at http://www.youtube.com/ make her album and in return donors watch?v=8C17yfGyJjM and make your own pre-ordered merchandise for distribution mind up whether it does this.) in September of 2012. Nearly 25,000 fans donated money to fund the album Theatre is Evil; and to celebrate she performed in a car park in Brooklyn wearing a dress made out of balloons, encouraging any of her fans to come forward and slowly burst

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 47 MM ‘over-sexualised’ images of female artists and dishevelled hair coupled with a fetish imposed by the Kickstarter site, and how within the industry; but perhaps the crucial for drawing all over herself, are part of her both audiences and industry are guilty of difference between Palmer and self-aware, performance artistry which is theatrical but changing their minds. Or it could simply be over-stylised female personae such as Lady has the appearance of being totally sincere, a love song. Whatever the meaning behind Gaga, is her insistence that she goes all the and at a time when fakery appears to be the lyrics, Palmer has done something that way in her use of the female form rather lauded and female artists are moulded many artists are longing to do: be in control than creating a tease for the male gaze. ‘I copies of each other, it is liberating to watch of their own career and in her own words: am naked-so what?’ her videos seem to say. Palmer’s whole-hearted embracing of who You know what’s really cool? Wake up every Palmer seems to confirm this in a recent and what she is. morning, decid/ing what you feel like doing, article in The Guardian she is quoted as But to focus only on her image is to do and do/ing it.’ saying she is her music an injustice. Whilst it is part of Di Naylor teaches Media, Film and English at Runshaw so comfortable being naked at this point that Palmer’s package she is keen to emphasise College in Lancashire. I almost forget [...] I’m proud that that [...] that it is her music she wants to be heard. video has nudity, but it isn’t sexual or erotic She is at pains to state that she does not [...] it’s using the body as raw canvas, which want her first audience-funded album to I love. be known as the first Kickstarter album, ‘it’s The use of the female form as artistic a great album in its own right’ she says expression is always going to be and she may well just be right. Her lyrics problematic for some. Getting naked are fresh and innovative. At times they are can be seen to be both empowering and an unfathomable stream-of-consciousness disempowering at the same time, but it and yet they can also be witty and strikingly is Palmer’s unremitting subversion of the honest, as we see in Want it Back, Palmer’s clean-cut images of femininity that her first single from the new album. It is an audiences have become accustomed to interesting choice for initial release as which makes her so anarchic and appealing. it seems to question the very nature by Hairy armpits, full nudity, shaven eyebrows which she was able to produce it; ‘doesn’t matter if you want it back, you’ve given it away, given away’, could be a wry wink at Roadrunner’s loss, but it may well also be about the non-refundable policy that was

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The Independence of joy in finding that she, like me, was fixated on Shakespeare plays – particularly those Fan Culture performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company who came to our city each year Librarian and fan Ruth Kenyon – was life changing. Our friendship led to confesses – and celebrates – her many crack-of-dawn dashes by train to watch performances at the Barbican Theatre long-term Fandom, and explores in London. It certainly got me out of my the appeals, dedication and Northern English mind-set, and opened up independence involved in being part travel to another part of the UK. At the same time I was also a fan of of a fan community BBC Science Fiction, where the options for connecting were, of course, similarly As someone who is in her middle forties limited. With no internet and email, fans in and has been a member of many fandoms the 1970s and 80s were stuck with official over many years, I am proof that being a fan fan clubs to supply our need to interact doesn’t have to stop when you leave your with others. You’d usually find out about the teens. In fact I have friends in their fifties clubs by writing to the series’ creators, and and sixties who are just as keen as I am – they’d have a typed-out fact sheet to send fans just as passionate and active as any you if you sent them a stamped addressed young person half their age. I want to understand why we get so envelope. These clubs communicated by As the BBC was broadcasting the second fascinated and involved with these hand-typed and photocopied newsletters series of their modern-day Sherlock Holmes, and fanzines. They organised meet-ups at I found myself (as someone who’d spent dramas and characters: in essence conventions, which, if you were lucky, might quite a while living in London) being asked why we become fans. be within a reasonable travelling distance. by friends to put my fan-brain to work on Here we’d meet fans from other parts of the the parts of London used as locations in country and possibly (very excitingly) from filming Sherlock. Not only was I spotting Textual Poachers in 1992, as well as the more recent Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: overseas. If you were really lucky, some of parts of the city I’d known very well indeed, the actors and creatives from your favoured I was also amused to note that, for some Exploring Participatory Culture, knows fans aren’t just passive consumers. But way drama might also be invited, and you’d then reason, the production team seemed to be able actually to meet some of your series’ enjoy driving cars and taxis directly past back when I was a teenager, without the Internet and social media, options for fans heroes. places where I used to work. I found myself The problem with this method of contact getting quite interested in the drama of were a little limited. This didn’t stop our enthusiasm, but just meant we had to plan was that it sometimes had the effect of Sherlock’s world and pretty soon I realised being bottlenecked by certain personalities I could count myself as one of its followers our fan-involvement differently – and at a more local geographical level. in Fandom. The BNF or ‘Big Name Fans’ too – and that I had a new exciting fan- who organised things, could be a little world to explore. Fandom in the Dim and controlling. While we were, of course, very My experience of Fandom is quite varied Distant Pre-internet Past appreciative of the hard work they did, and goes back a long way – to my teens. everything went through them. There was While still at school and living at home Modern-day fans do things in a way that’s little time or energy given to niche fandoms, on Tyneside, I was extremely lucky to meet somewhat different from the way we or personal specific interests outside the my friend Irene, who was a fellow member operated up in the North of England in the mainstream. 1980s. Henry Jenkins, who wrote the book of a local history group in Newcastle. The

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50 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM The role of personal accuracy and information. Certainly takes a lot of heat off me having to do it! relationships and personal This website is a sort of independence: identity in Fandom is created and maintained by fans. However, clear: one of the main the fact that it has been ‘officially’ endorsed creates a level of control that was not there reasons to join the fan before. community is to meet What happens when participants of the show, such as writers and actors, other enthusiasts and join in fan discussions through personal share our interests. The appearances, tweeting, and blogging? Melanie, a transatlantic fan, says: internet and social media a certain percentage of the fanbase tend make this easy. to become rather over-excited by this ‘official’ recognition. The end result of this is us looking rather silly to outside eyes. This stands in stark contrast to the more organised, diverse, and high-quality work which is being produced by some very talented individuals inside Fandom. Relationships and Identity The role of personal relationships and personal identity in Fandom is clear: one of the main reasons to join the fan community is to meet other enthusiasts and share our interests. The internet and social media Independence via the Back to the Future: the Joys make this easy. Bea, a Sherlock fan who Internet! of Fandom uses my library, tells me modern fans ‘do what they want, when they want’. This In the late 1990s, with the arrival of As a Reference Librarian in a Sixth Form independence of choice is also noted by the internet, things changed a lot. Fans College, it is my job to run the Learning another American friend of mine, Allison, breathed a collective sigh of relief and Resource Centre, but I occasionally get who says: finally had the tools to start to celebrate to escape and turn my hand to lecturing. I’m shy, so my ‘fanishness’ has really just their own independence. It became much My most popular topic of discussion has taken the form of fic writing and then easier to meet friends who were interested been the evolution and structure of connecting and emailing with people I’ve met in your ‘niche’ Fandom, or strange, out-of- the Fandom community which interests through this, which has been so, so lovely. the-way focus within a mainstream one. In students following Media Studies courses. addition to the ‘official’ website for a show Not only do I enjoy being a fan but I The Great Game or film, it was now possible to create your also enjoy using my analytical mind and Talking to other fans fulfils a basic own website. Discussion lists and forums reference-research skills to deconstruct need of Fandom: by doing so we feel allowed fans to talk to each other, and elements of Fandom’s various interests. closer to the characters we love. In the despite the slow bandwidths available in I want to understand why we get so world of Sherlock Holmes this nothing the 90s, friendships blossomed via email fascinated and involved with these dramas new: when Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories and Instant Messaging. and characters: in essence why we become were originally published, long before fans. Thinking and talking with students studies had begun and ‘Fandom’ existed contributes to my understanding as well as as a concept, the practice of considering their Media Studies curriculum. Sherlock Holmes as a real person was called My recent leap into the Fandom of the ‘The Great Game’. Those who live in or modern Sherlock Holmes was a great visit the UK have the great good fortune chance to study a brand-new, fast-emerging of being able to visit the places mentioned Fandom. With the internet continuing to in the short stories and novels. Standing support fan interactivity, and with modern outside Baker Street Station in London social media, I could see how quickly one is struck by the many tourists posing the community was being created and for photos in front of the statue of the developed. The original series of Sherlock great detective. They then make their way was first broadcast in July 2010; almost round the corner to the Sherlock Holmes immediately it was being blogged about, Museum to spend time in its reproduction fan-ficced, and alt-illustrated on sites like of Holmes’ study. Deviant Art. There was no need for the The need to feel close to our favourite Sherlock production company to create characters is also felt by fans of the modern a website as the fans had already created TV Sherlock. In addition to websites, chat Sherlockology.com. In fact Sue Vertue, the groups, the obligatory fanfic, and fanart producer publicly thanked the fans for their (in every form, from speculative erotic dedication, hard work and sleepless nights in drawings to faithful costume reproductions getting [their] website to this level of class,

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of them wearing a replica coat and lying on the pavement); finally a whole family from Malta visit to pay their respects and enthusiastically ask me to take a photo of them. As Sherlock stood on the roof, speaking via his mobile to his friend John, he said ‘That’s what people do don’t they? Leave a counter. Pleasingly, both fans and owners note?’ Fans also leave messages in the red get something meaningful out of the telephone box nearby, honouring what excitement created by the BBC filming. their hero said in his last moments. One Ask the fans why they actually go to girl I met says her dad drives her there Speedy’s and the answers range from the weekly. Most messages include an email independently minded – ‘because we or website address, speaking to the need can!’ – to the hopeful, ‘because we feel they of fans to reach out to others in their might come in here to eat too.’ This desire community. Moving closer to our heroes, to create a personal, physical connection we simultaneously move closer to those with favourite characters and their worlds is who share our dreams, and the circle turns a major facet of the Sherlock Fandom. Many round again. locations in Bloomsbury the West End of the Let me finish with a quotation from capital were used, but by the end of Season another American fan who signs herself as Two, we are sent further east into the City djarum99: of the coat he wears), enthusiasts also want of London. Fandom at its best can indeed be a wonderful to spend time visiting locations seen in place that meets our needs for community, the TV drama. As I explained earlier, my The Death of Sherlock connection, intellectual stimulation, and introduction to this Fandom occurred Holmes? many other things. I’ve seen plenty of the because I know London very well. And now worst of Fandom as well, but just can’t quit it. In January 2012, when the final I have extended my tracking skills to streets Ruth Kenyon is a librarian and manager of the Learning around the studios in Cardiff, Sherlock HQ. episode of Series Two of Sherlock was Resources Centre at Lowestoft 6th Form College. It’s been a fun and exciting challenge. transmitted, viewers saw our consulting detective apparently fake his own death by The Magic of Locations jumping off a building in West Smithfield. Thus began the steady stream of fan When Hartswood were looking for pilgrimages to St Bartholomew’s hospital, somewhere to film in London, they found where actor Benedict Cumberbatch (doing they couldn’t use the actual Baker Street. his own stunts, one including a 60 foot fall The busy city thoroughfare was too full of and involving a crane and, thankfully, a traffic, and the proximity of the Sherlock safety harness) seemingly plunged to the Holmes Museum could have created a clash pavement. I often pass through that area of worlds. Instead, the production team when I visit London, and as a keen observer settled on the quieter but similar looking of fan behaviour I have been fascinated to North Gower Street. Serendipitously, a see just how many people have turned up local cafe was included as part of the over the months. arrangement. Speedy’s Sandwich Bar has Fans stand in the roadway trying to appeared in sequences in several episodes, work out how the death-evading trick was and has also become the destination for played. Some quietly gather below the impromptu fan gatherings. building at the spot where our fallen hero The boss, Chris Georgiou, explains landed. An hour on a Saturday morning that nowadays he gets a second wave of reveals a whole world of fans arriving customers on Saturdays. Locals and workers to pay tribute: a Spanish couple watch arrive early for breakfast, but later in the day their dubbed version of the episode on a his café fills up with young fans. Chris has laptop; students from Sweden, Italy, and cleverly taken advantage of the influx to France chat excitedly; Norwegian and create his own range of memorabilia, which British fans arrange a re-enactment (one he proudly displays for sale behind the

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Independent music is flourishing in June 2006, producing an eight-hour in the digital age, with the schedule of programmes that looped throughout the month. The station’s democratisation of production motto was ‘Independent. Original. and distribution brought about by Uncompromising’; its playlist strategy for the internet. Independent radio its DJs was ‘play what you like’. As a mark of the respect for the concept has also found its home online, of the new venture, the old guard, Peel’s old helping guide and shape the non- production team, handed Dandelion the mainstream audience towards ever gift of the Festive Fifty, an annual listener’s poll of the year’s best tunes begun by John changing, ever weirder musical Peel in 1977. Dandelion Radio has been its styles. Peter Jackson investigates. home ever since. The Infrastructure Independent Distribution In its first six-and-a-bit years, Dandelion and Promotion in the Radio has played contributions from 25 DJs, Internet Age its former self and bear little relationship to most based in the UK; it has listeners across the way it looked back then. All have been In the mid-1980s, when I first began to the globe, and maintains its independence replaced, to some extent or another, by get interested in independent music, a from any kind of commercial connection. It the internet. Some may argue that much weekly diet of John Peel’s Radio 1 show is self-financing, fully licenced and staffed has been lost by this change, but I feel could be supplemented by the weekly and maintained entirely by volunteers. that the internet’s convergence of fan blog music press, such as Sounds and Melody There are no adverts, no promotions; no sites, radio, video, sales outlets and social Maker, by buying and reading fanzines like record company, PR agent or record plugger media have made connecting with and Ablaze! (usually only available by mail order has influence over the playlist. It’s probably circulating views about independent music or at gigs), or hanging out in record shops. quite a bit different to every radio station much easier, resulting in a more vibrant, Most of this infrastructure for circulating you’ve ever listened to. democratic, less clique-y scene. information and opinion on non- When John Peel died unexpectedly in Promoting Independence mainstream music has now disappeared; 2004, it was clear that no-one could take HMV is no more and NME is a shadow of As well as creating a new infrastructure, his uniquely independent and alternative the internet has made the distribution and place in the national consciousness, and the promotion of independent music simpler BBC very quickly seemed to lose interest in and more effective than ever before. A trying to do so. A small group of dedicated key artefact in the history of Do-It-Yourself fans decided to make use of the relatively music, Scritti Politti’s 7’ single ‘Skank new, and inexpensive, medium of internet Blok Bologna’ from 1978, proudly broke radio to try and fill the gap. down the specific costs of recording, Dandelion Radio (named after producing and distributing the record on Dandelion Records, Peel’s own record its homemade inky sleeve. The hard work label of the early 70s, which he’d named and finance that went into making this after his pet hamster) began streaming record can now easily be done for free in a

english and media centre | February 2013 | MediaMagazine 53 MM About Adorno Theodor Adorno was a Marxist Media theorist, part of the ‘Frankfurt School’ of intellectuals who fled Germany in the 1930s to escape persecution by the Nazis. Throughout his writing he was a stern critic of capitalism, and the role played by the ‘culture industries’ in helping maintain the capitalist system. In essence, he believed that media texts were used to keep us distracted and uninterested in political thought (an updating of Marx’s ‘opium of the people’ idea from the previous century). Adorno’s Big Ideas The Culture Industries – music, TV, film, magazine publishing, etc – produce ‘formulaic, simplistic, emotional products’ which avoid any complexity and possibility of questioning the powers that control or oppress us in daily life. Their products are also filled with fraction of the time with just a broadband images of goods produced by the connection and an account at bandcamp. capitalist system, represented in a com. This frequently encourages the glamorous, aspirational way; this creates artists to give their music away for free false needs in the audience, ensuring too, and, as we’ll see, this can be read as a production and distribution of recorded they continue to work hard, earn money distinct challenge to the established music material. and buy the things they think will bring industry’s practices. Many of the acts championed by them fulfilment – thereby ensuring the For Dandelion Radio, being an online Dandelion Radio offer a model of working capitalist system continues to flourish. station means that the listeners are able to that completely challenges the received Adorno describes this sense of willingly connect to the artist heard on the station notion that, if audiences are going to pay enslaving ourselves to the demands of much more quickly. If you hear a tune you little or nothing for your music, you should the system as living in a ‘euphoria of like, you can click a link to the artist’s Last. make your money through playing live. Two unhappiness’. fm page to find out more, follow links artists particularly are great examples of this Standardisation/Homogenisation from there to official sites or Bandcamp challenge – Lord Numb and The Chasms. – Adorno saw that cultural artefacts, or Soundcloud pages, make friends on such as TV programmes and pop songs, Facebook and follow them on Twitter, and Lord Numb were produced by industries in the same often legally download their whole back Lord Numb is incredibly prolific; he way as cars and ready meals – they catalogue for free to your device before the works not only as a solo artist, but also are mass-produced with a focus on song is over. as a member of The Reject Club with his formula and sameness. He believed Independent Music colleague Spidersleg, and also as a member that this uniformity of culture brought Challenges the Dominant of Spidersleg’s live band. In one guise or about a uniformity of needs, thought another, he has produced six exclusive and behaviour, and ‘the end of the Industry Model – and Wins! sessions for Dandelion Radio in the last individual’. Cultural production was Since the end of the 1990s, the three years, released one formal album taken away from artistic individuals, and mainstream music industry has struggled to and countless EPs and remixes and, with placed in the control of big corporations, cope with the huge changes to its business very few exceptions, all of these are given with the products therefore serving the model bought by the rise of peer-to-peer away for free via the internet. He performs needs of those corporations. sharing, downloading and internet live very rarely, and only close to his piracy. In recent years, companies have home in London. For Lord Numb, music A Challenge to Pseudo- shifted away from seeing the recorded is a passion rather than a job, creativity individuation musical output of an artist as the primary a need not a way of making money. He In his influential work of the 1930s, source of their earnings, towards a range embodies one side of the traditional debate Adorno argued that cultural artefacts for of other more lucrative ventures – through about whether popular music is a cultural mass audiences, such as TV programmes 360° deals – that see artists such as Lady commodity or a culturally creative pursuit. and pop songs, are produced by industries Gaga setting up fashion ranges, promoting Engagement with this debate will naturally in the same way as cars and ready meals perfume, publishing books, etc. The most bring us to consider the ideas of Frankfurt – they are mass-produced with a focus on significant change has been the renewed School theorist Theodor Adorno (see formula and sameness. He believed that importance placed on live performance, sidebar). with the emphasis on the experience for this uniformity of culture brought about the audience (and the premium price of a uniformity of needs, thought and the ticket), rather than the less profitable behaviour, which he referred to as ‘the end

54 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM the internet’s convergence of fan blog sites, radio, video, sales outlets and social media have made connecting with and circulating views about independent music much easier, resulting in a more vibrant, democratic, less clique-y scene.

of the individual’. Cultural production was taken away from artistic individuals and placed in the control of big corporations, with the products therefore serving the needs of those corporations. Adorno argued that since music is factory produced, then it must be given a kind of artificial difference in order for it to be marketed and sold to audiences. This pseudo-individuation in music can be seen in the repetitive structures, instrumentation and technology used to produce popular music. If he were writing today, he would claim that not only is there little difference between One Direction and Take That, but between both of these and The Sex Pistols or Marilyn Manson – they all create songs of similar length, using The DIY Tradition and similar verse-chorus structures, recorded Underground Fandom in similar ways using similar production technology. These similarities not only There has been a tradition in Britain, show the pseudo-individualised nature of stretching back at least as far as the punk pop music, but how the industry creates days of the mid-1970s, that for some artists, a standardised product to make the the only way to create music is Do-It- formulas of pop music easy to use across all Yourself. Without the financial support the (marginally) different genres. of a record company, the promotion and sometimes distribution of this music relies The Chasms on the interactive collaboration between fans and musicians, and on the relationship DIY music, by necessity, challenges this this underground fan base has with the pseudo-individuation; a great example writers and DJs who can act as a ‘taste can be found in Britain’s most under-rated filter’ – bringing to public attention acts band, The Chasms. Like Lord Numb, The who can’t or won’t embark on global tours, Chasms have no record company, produce Peter Jackson is a teacher of Media and Film Studies create multi-media advertising campaigns at Cardinal Newman College, Preston, and a regular their own music and distribute it for free. or hold press conferences. contributor to Dandelion Radio since 2008. They have recorded four albums and three Long before the birth of national music Dandelion Radio sessions, all given away radio stations, right up until the arrival of through their official website (right) – and in Websites the internet age, the late John Peel fulfilled addition, to date they have only performed www.dandelionradio.com this function, bringing together musicians live three times, twice in London and once and audiences who might never have www.thechasms.co.uk in Bristol. As the band is based on the Isle otherwise met. His position at the BBC Of Man, each of these live appearances has http://www.lordnumb.co.uk/ was often precarious, and the needs of the cost them a considerable amount of money corporation could at times be weighed – the complete opposite of the 360° model. against him. In the independent world of In addition, the band only ever records their self-financing internet radio, the pressures music in a barn on the Isle Of Man, creating are different; I for one am proud to be a unique and individual sound, unlike able to contribute in some small way to any other artist. The music varies from maintaining his legacy. instrumentals, spoken-word pieces and more traditional songs with choruses – but Specification References rarely is it predictable. • A2 OCR ‘We Media’ • A2 WJEC Industry, Text, Audience – The music industry.

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audiences look for news is changing, so it only seems right that the way journalist’s report news, and the methods they use, are changing too. Thirty years ago the idea of a freelance or independent journalist seemed unmanageable – where would they look for stories without an editor to guide them? How would they find their news stories to follow up? And most importantly, Independence is well known Newsflare. where would they publish their stories? I think inspiration strikes when you think The internet has helped fight all these in many professions, but one about solutions to everyday problems you constraints, and the independent journalists development that few people could face. Getting out and talking to as many have come out fighting. have predicted is the rise of the people as possible also helps when thinking In 1999, Brian Appleyard memorably of your business idea. It’ll help make clear described the internet as a ‘fabulous the different industries and perspectives and independent journalist. Thirty years monster’ in the New Statesman (October how people’s views to your idea might differ. ago a journalist on the hunt for a 1999). Some of the meetings I thought nothing of The arrival of this ‘fabulous monster’ as, has story would have been armed with actually helped the most. told us as much about the world of journalism Bevan also offers advice for anyone only a notepad, a pen and strict and how it reacts to change, as it has about looking to get noticed, for example a the change itself. instructions from their editor. Fast journalist looking to freelance. forward to today and as a result of Get used to pitching your ideas, the elevator Citizen Journalism the digital revolution, a journalist pitch in one or two sentences and the ten- minute pitch. Both should hook the audience With the subject of the internet also can be armed with pretty much any in. It might help if you talk to people like comes the arrival of citizen journalism. This is the theory that anyone anywhere journalistic tool and now, due to the investors; people invest in people so if you come across well and have a great team in the world can write, upload, share and convergence of TV, radio, print and behind you, the opportunities are open- publish stories, and could be leading the magazine journalism, could write ended. way to a future of independent journalism. Start to build up your network of people now; User-generated content is videos, pictures, stories not for just one platform, but it’s hard getting out of the work experience and recordings which have been made in effect, all of them. or job application pile. Also start blogging, if by the public, showing another form of you’re willing to write for free, when you do independent journalism. In this digital get a job writing and you get paid to do the Newsflare is a company specialising in age, it has evolved to content such as same thing you were doing for free, you’re user-generated content and is a big step set. YouTube videos, Flickr images, Amazon or up in helping citizen journalism to get With companies such as Newsflare Yelp reviews, blog posts or news stories, published. It launched in April 2012 and leading the way, opportunities for and ranging to videos and podcasts from creates a platform for local videos to get to independent journalists seem to be at an all scenes of incidents themselves. Any person local audiences. time high. at the scene of a story, event or in general News organisations can also post can create their own video, audio, images ‘assignments’ to the website in terms of The Internet or story and upload this to the internet, what video they’re looking for, and do pay or send to any TV station, radio station, The internet is a key tool in the for the correct quality of video, whether local or national newspaper for their independent journalist’s belt, but why it is shot by a journalist or just a member website section. Therefore, any member of is it so important? In 2010, two billion of the public with a good camera. Some the public with a media device such as a people were using the internet, twice the TV packages can make £40 and even mobile phone with a camera, recording and number using it back in 2005. The internet rough footage can be paid for, such as the internet capabilities could, at the scene of has become the new social haven, where Olympic torch passing through your town. incidents, become independent journalists news is uploaded instantly, cutting out It is possible for independent journalists to themselves. the time restraints of a daily newspaper or make a living out of websites such as these. A useful example of a rise in independent an evening news bulletin. Most people in Bevan Thomas, co-founder of journalism is the 2005 London bombings, search of news now head straight to the Newsflare, says there are fewer barriers in which prompted a substantial amount of internet, and social networking websites this day and age for independent ideas, and citizen journalism to be put onto the net. such as Facebook or Twitter. The way explains how he started his own business in Journalists were initially sceptical about the

56 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM attacks and believed they were false, and and upload all this to the internet from when they eventually realised the truth they your device. Kitting out a journalist has were not allowed onto the scene due to never been easier, or cheaper. Journalism. security reasons. Ordinary civilians caught co.uk research estimates that you can buy up in the bombings on their way to work software to do all this for less than £20. It took pictures and recorded videos at the also recommends apps such as Camera+, scene. This prompted TV and radio stations a tool that improves the quality of your to use this user-generated content more pictures, and Pro HDR, which helps you than ever before. take a better photo. iSaidWhat?! allows you to alter audio recordings, write a script Blogging to go alongside them, trim and arrange Blogging is another important tool for audio clips and share these clips via email, the independent journalist. Unless they are over a wireless network or by USB. PCM working for a large-scale news corporation recorder gives you broadcast quality sound, with its own website or newspaper, a which is vital for important interviews. journalist would need somewhere else to Apps SoundCloud and Audioboo are well showcase their work. Say hello to the blog, known as important ways to trim, edit and essentially a journalist’s own news platform. share audio. For filming video, FilmiC Pro Starting as an online journal back in the is a video-editing app with manual controls 1990s where people shared opinions and including white balance, an audio meter thoughts, in 2012 it has evolved into a vital and GPS tagging. 1st Video is expensive tool for major publishing businesses. For at £6.99 but essentially gives you a ‘video- example, blogging website The Huffington editing suite in your pocket’. Bambuser is a Post was sold recently for over 300 billion popular app used by citizen journalists for live streaming video and Vyclone gives you a multi-angled video. Byword is a favourite for writing articles, CoverItLive helps when it comes to live blogging and Evernote is suggested for keeping notes. Lastly, when keeping up to date with the latest news, Reeder allows you to create news feed folders from key news sites and share news updates via social networking. Independent journalism has never been easier, with a huge helping hand from the internet and advances in digital technology. While the main aim of news reporting will dollars. With four out of five internet users always remain consistent – to create and visiting social networking sites and blogs, publish a newsworthy story to the public blogging has become the new interactive – exactly who reports it is becoming less diary. significant. Breaking news stories reach When BBC correspondent Stuart Twitter within seconds, and it’s not always Hughes visited Iraq back in 2003 to report the large media companies that are first in in the field, he wanted a way to keep in line. touch with his audience. So he started Newsflare’s Bevan Thomas concludes: an online diary which became incredibly If you find something you love doing, popular. CNN reporter Kevin Sites also you’ll never really work a day in your life. created a blog on the front lines of war, with Independent journalism is as healthy as it’s images, comments, blog posts and different ever been. Today there are many outlets for views of people at the scene. Although journalists to publish work and even if you neither journalist was independent, these can’t convince someone to publish your idea, online methods of reporting show the you can now publish it yourself. impact that blogs can have on audiences, Tara Cox is a 3rd year undergraduate in multimedia and independent journalists can essentially journalism at Bournemouth University. have free rein – avoiding the normal pressures of time and cost in a newsroom. Technology and Apps Mobile phone apps are instrumental for a journalist looking to work independently. For example, if you own a smartphone such as an iPhone, you can take photographs to enhance your news story, edit these for sharper pictures, record and edit audio interviews and video, write a news article

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The True-life Story It’s so hot inside the club that the walls seem to be sweating. The drum and bass of an Independent music pumps from the sound system that’s Filmmaker half the size of the club and Andy C, the club DJ is on stage at the Brixton Electric Only five years ago he was studying Venue with his hands in the air taking in the roar from the fans. I’m in front of the for A Level Media; now he’s a Media stage facing the fans with a Canon 7D on graduate with his own independent a shoulder mount, head light blaring into production company, a great track people’s faces as they dance to the camera and I try and capture the emotion behind record in film and television, and the gig. A little over five years ago I had he’s about to become a teacher too! a £100 Sony Handycam and iMovie, and Meet Daniel Philpott, and follow was studying A Level Media and living in a village in Kent; now I have my own small his tips to learn the best ways to production company and work on shows the media career of your dreams. like X Factor for a living. Well, that was then and this is now. I’m currently a student again at the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama undertaking their PGCE course to become a Media and Film Studies teacher. I love film so much that I want to do nothing more than to talk about it all day. Like most of you people who have gone into the film and reading this, I took A Level Media Studies TV industry in all areas of production. They and then went on to study Media Arts at have also gone into journalism, PR and onto Royal Holloway University, in London. Masters courses (MA) around the world, including the famous Tisch Film School Make the Right Study based in New York and Singapore. I’ve Choices! found that a degree in Media can set you up Many people have negative for many different career routes. preconceptions about studying Media at university. There is a fear about where a Make the Most of Uni degree in Media could take them. I know Whatever you decide to go and study when I started the course I had no idea at university I can’t stress enough how which part of the media I wanted to enter important it is to make the most of your into, but I knew I wanted to go into some time there! Every one of my friends says part of it. I selected my course very carefully; ‘I can’t believe I didn’t get the equipment it was 50% theoretical and 50% practical, out more often and just make stuff!’ If you meaning that at the end of it I knew I would want to make films for festivals, or to show be able to write, study and show I was off what you can do after you have left educated to a high level while being able university, it costs a lot of money to hire to use relevant industry equipment and get equipment. creatively involved. From my course I know Your lecturers will almost certainly be

58 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM in a range of activities that mean you get to site called LinkedIn), read their blogs, ask do your dream job for the rest of your life! them if you can work on their projects. Just ask! No one was ever offered entry- Go for the Festival Circuit level work by chance; they asked for it! I’ve Whilst at Royal Holloway University, we worked for many companies such as the were lucky enough to get to enter our final BBC, CellcastTV, on various productions year group film into several film festivals. at Pinewood and 3 Mills Studios, and on Film festivals are where you get noticed: the shows like X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, industry is littered with tales of filmmakers Misfits, 8 out of 10 Cats, This is England taking a low budget film to a festival and and many more. Off the back of this getting such good reviews that they are experience, I eventually set up my own sent to Hollywood immediately. It does independent production company – but happen and it is actually the basis for many this didn’t happen overnight! Everyone, directors’ careers – but never their first film. with or without a degree, should expect Usually, it takes years of doing the festival to start at the bottom, as a runner or circuit. The ten-minute film we made was general dogsbody. There’s no shame in it selected at the Tehran International at all. There’s no room for pride or ego! industry professionals – use them! Stephen Film Festival for Best Student Film and A runner is the person who makes Frears (The Queen, Dirty Pretty Things) selected and nominated for Best Student the tea and coffee and gets the food for was a guest lecturer at my university, and film at the Swansea Bay Film Festival. cast and crew. Even if you have a first I didn’t let him go without getting all the Foolishly, you may think that’s it! I’m made! class honours degree you will have to information I could from him. In fact I was Someone will see the film and offer me a start as a runner. You can be a runner so persistent that I managed to wangle a job as assistant director. Yay! Erm, well, that’s while at university, out of term time and lift into London with my course lecturer, not how it works. in your holidays. This may speed up your John Roberts, another BAFTA director, It is excellent having a film go to festival progression through the ranks. A runner is all the way back to Stephen’s house in West of course. The people you meet there are the first point in your career. Kensington. For the entire journey I chewed great contacts, and probably the source for A degree in Media and/or Film should his ear off from the back seat. many future jobs. I truly think that more speed your route up the career ladder and Make the most of your time there. There schools should send their students’ work to the route your career takes may completely is a distinct difference between the students festivals, even at GCSE and A Level. I know depend on who you talk to. For example, who: there are many student festivals that would I worked as a runner at The Farm Group i. hassled their tutors for work experience be an excellent start to anyone’s career. which is a large post-production facility ii. made short films every weekend in Soho, London. Soho is full of post- iii. constantly emailed producers and got It’s Up to You! production companies; if you want to work onto film sets, and, finally Having said that, the onus isn’t on the as an editor, in sound, colour or even in iv. those who made contacts school but you; you are in charge of your production like I did, post-production is and those who did not. career and no one else! Get permission always an excellent starting point. This is Degrees are no longer free – you will pay from your school (as the footage probably because, in the production process as a it all back somehow. It can, however, be belongs to them) and send it everywhere! whole, everyone goes along to see the ‘edit’. worth every penny if you immerse yourself Meet other filmmakers, keep their details, The director, the producer and, perhaps follow them on Twitter (and also another obviously, the editor will all be there – and

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you have the opportunity to speak to them collectively. Talk to the Right People I spoke to many directors about what I had done, flattered them by talking about their work, and asked them for advice. I was invited to many film sets to take a look at what they do, and got to go along to award ceremonies at BAFTA and many other exciting events. This all came from talking to people. For instance, one of my best friends wants to be an editor. How is he going about it? After he finishes his shift as a runner, he goes to the editor he’s been ‘chatting up’ all day and sits with them, learning all he can. He now has that contact, plus a friend in a high place and a fuller CV as well. It’s only a matter of time before that (get loaned) the equipment, shoot, edit editor puts his name forward to a company and deliver a finished project to meet the to be an assistant editor; and from there he requirements of a specification. The only moves up. But the career ladder is slower difference is that with your own company, than you want it to be, and can be creatively you go out and find an organisation that frustrating. needs a film. Oh, and hopefully you’ll get paid (although while you’re initially getting Set Up Your Own together a show reel to show prospective Production Company clients, probably not!). The first thing If you’re like me and you want to be you need to do is either find a group to your own boss, be able to make your form your company, or get a gathering own creative decisions and actually make of talented people around you, and you the kinds of film that you want to make, orchestrate and deploy them to the most then you could always set up your own appropriate projects. independent film company. This sounds far more frightening than it really is. Many How I Did it schools have excellent facilities and are I was working as an assistant at The Farm structured in such a way that they are just at the time and was surrounded by other like a production company themselves. The like-minded young people who also wanted commissioner (your teacher, the curriculum to get creative. We formed a group of four, and, perhaps, the brief that the exam board each of us with a particular ‘specialism’; set) asks you to shoot a project. You hire for example, one of us owned and was

60 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM toilets. We also have links with companies like MaliaTV in Crete and, as of next year, are spending the summer clubbing season filming promotional videos in their clubs, and bars, for local businesses and tourism services. There’s no end to the jobs out there and businesses that want visual promotional films made. I still have a passion for fiction, and that’s what I love to make predominantly. I’ve quite often used money from the corporate productions to fund making fiction films. I love to write, and show the fascination that can often come from the everyday. Not every good film needs guns, explosions or a fight sequence to be a gripping movie, and it took me a while to realise that. The first films we made at university had to be black and white and without dialogue. If a scene needs dialogue to explain what’s going on and to move the story forward, then you’re either not showing it well enough in your composition of shots, or there’s something wrong with the writing. Calm everything down, scrap at least half of your dialogue want someone to film the event, the first and concentrate on framing your cast, their thing they will ask is to see your show acting and the final edit. reel and how much you’ll charge. You’ll For me, right now though, I’ve decided need to begin accumulating a show reel to precipitate a change in my life. I’m now around the type of company you want concentrating on teaching and have passed to be – almost creating a brand identity. If on the company to my partners, although you want to concentrate on filming music I’m still involved occasionally. I think events and music videos, then you need to there’s space here for me to link the two get a show reel of as many varied events experiences together and there should be as possible. This means you’ll have to work greater connections between production for free for about 6-10 productions until companies and schools. you have a full enough catalogue to show To this end, I would be delighted if you prospective clients. This took time and a skilled with a camera, one was an expert wanted to contact me; I can be found on lot of organising and persuading – and I sound recorder, another was experienced Twitter @DanielMediaEd. Get in touch if practised a lot of new skills here. in editing, and there was someone to head- you want any more details on how I set my up the sales. You can hire in and get other Finding Clients company up, or projects that you have that people on board if you don’t have someone we could collaborate on. Alternatively, I So, how do you get ‘out there’? I went with these specialist areas of knowledge. could pass some contacts on to you so that on MySpace asking unsigned artists if Quite often, if fresh out of university, they’ll you might develop your ideas with like- they wanted a free video shoot. Not work for free as they want the credit, and minded people. surprisingly, they always said yes! I to be able to add the production to their Please, please, please keep creative and contacted art galleries and asked if they show reel too. Remember, everyone is after be in it for the right reasons. I’m going to needed a promotional video made, and a credit so they can show other filmmakers leave you with a really important saying offered to do it for expenses only (travel and producers the work that they have that sums this business up for me and some and food covered). It was using resources done to get paid employment in the future. of the brilliant people that I have worked like the contact pages of companies or So, use talented young filmmakers and with: Remember websites such as Twitter, Linkedin, MySpace, partner up with them; you never know …we don’t make movies to make money, we Facebook and such like, that I found my where they are going to end up and what make money to make more movies clients. I also found that one job quickly they’ll be working on one day. You stand a Walt Disney leads to another and the more you tweet good chance of getting (paid) work if you and blog about what you’re doing, the Daniel Philpott is studying for his PGCE as a Media Studies have rolled your sleeves up with them in more work comes in. Soon after, we were teacher at the Central School of Speech and Drama. the past... charging for our services. Now that we were established and had Since then I’ve had gigs filming many formed a group, we needed to seek out music events like rap battles at The Brixton some paid work. This was the longest and Jamm, music festivals, gallery events, most frustrating part of setting up the and so on. We’ve even found ourselves in company, but I had to get it right. a ceramics warehouse in Hertfordshire, When you contact companies, for building a set and filming to create a example a music festival to see if they promotional advert for their new range of

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With Hobbit-mania running rampant whole spectacle. There were even people worldwide, , currently whose entire job was to apply and maintain Sara Mills the hair on Hobbit feet. For the LOTR trilogy, working in New Zealand, takes Weta Workshop designed and made 48,000 a look at the wacky world of items, including more than three thousand Wellywood and the independent pairs of prosthetic hairy Hobbit feet, over a thousand suits of armour, two thousand Weta Studios whose brilliant CGI weapons and more than 10,000 arrows. digital effects gave birth to Peter They also specialised in building ‘miniature’ Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The sets, scaled down versions of cities and locations, many of which were actually so Hobbit movies. big that they filled the sound stage. An Academy Award for ‘CGI- Wellywood assisted acting’? The Weta group of companies are Meanwhile, Weta Digital was breaking independent design and production new ground, particularly with its creation facilities based in Wellington, New of Gollum, seen by many as the first Zealand. Despite being far, far away from completely life-like CGI character. Based Hollywood and Bollywood, the traditional on the voice and performance of Andy centres of gravity for filmmaking, the Weta Serkis, the characterisation was so effective companies have contributed towards to direct the 1996 Michael J. Fox vehicle that it ignited a debate about whether building their own creative community The Frighteners, he chose to shoot it all in ‘CGI-assisted acting’ should be eligible for of Wellywood, a small but powerful New Zealand, using Weta for much of the Academy Awards. Weta also developed contributor to the world of filmmaking. production. Although Weta had mainly entirely new approaches, such as ‘Massive’, He needed all the blood worked with physical effects before this, a computer program which can animate and guts he could get The Frighteners featured so many ghosts the huge numbers of characters needed it forced Weta to experiment with CGI, and for the epic battle scenes, but which allows The company started in a back room of The Frighteners had more digital effects each one to act independently, with its a Wellington flat in 1987, doing prosthetics than any other film of its time. The company own ‘brains.’ The digital and physical effects and make-up for local low-budget films. grew and evolved into the Weta Workshop, blended throughout the LOTR trilogy, with One of their early customers was a young making the physical effects, with Weta the CGI characters adding to the hundreds filmmaker called Peter Jackson. You might Digital concentrating on CGI. of ‘real’ extras each wearing prosthetics, have heard of him now, but back then make-up, and hand-made armour. Weta he was making splatstick films like Bad Two whole years putting Digital worked on many other films as a Taste (1987), a sci-fi comedy horror, and hair on the hobbit’s feet result of the expertise and reputation they Braindead (1992) a zom-com reputed to But it wasn’t really until the late 1990s, developed on the LOTR. This included work be one of goriest films of all time. For this with the Lord of the Rings trilogy that Weta for King Kong (2005), where the fur of Kong splatterfest he needed all the blood and became a player on the world-stage. When required new simulation and modelling guts he could get so he approached the you watch the endless credits for a film like software, to add wind and light to each of small local company. Impressed with their LOTR, its easy to forget that every tiny name the 460,000 individual strands of fur on his work, he joined the fledgling company, is a real person, who has sat somewhere body, and they used similar techniques to and it was renamed Weta Studios. When like the Weta studios for the last two or give realism and detail to the plant life and Jackson later went to Hollywood, picked three years, working on their tiny part of the scenery in Cameron’s Avatar (2009).

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I’ve never done such a hairy movie The Hobbit films have used Weta’s skills again, but this time the advances in filming techniques, and Jackson’s use of 48fps have put even more pressure on the physical effects to be realistic and believable. The scale of the enterprise has again been huge, with Weta Workshop needing to produce 800 weapons for the main dwarves alone, up to 800 Elvish ears, and up to 48 separate their hair. It is actually real human hair, buildings to house the increase in staff face and body prosthetics every single day imported from Russia, so it has the right (they had about 150 working on LOTR, 800 of filming. The Hobbit feet have moved on Northern European look and texture, which or so working on the Avatar project, and from the glued on prostheses of the LOTR means that there will probably be people now over 2000 for The Hobbit), and to hold to slip on latex ‘wellington boot’ style feet, watching the film in Russia, trying to spot all the technical equipment. They have where the toes can move individually. Using which head of hair was once theirs. And rooms full of computers, and need about 70 average height actors to represent the 13 there is an awful lot of hair in the film, with times the processing and memory capacity dwarves also put pressure on the effects at least eight beards and six wigs for each for The Hobbit as they did for LOTR. The departments, with each dwarf wearing of the thirteen dwarves. ‘Everywhere you Hobbit used the same designs for Gollum, padded outfits and oversized head, feet look, there are tables and racks of wigs and but updated the technology to make his and hand pieces to try and make them beards’ said one of the designers, movement more natural and convincing. look shorter. However, Jackson insisted I’ve never done such a hairy movie. They can also take the technology beyond that the head and face prosthetics only And this is only a small part of the world the studio now, allowing much more cover down to the nose line, to allow Weta builds, piece by piece: freedom for Serkis to work on location and the actors’ faces to have expression and We had leather workers, blacksmiths, to interact with other characters. Likewise, movement. Even above the nose, Weta bookbinders and musical-instrument makers instead of designing the CGI horses from workshop use incredibly fine layers of says another designer, the outside, they worked with vets and silicone, some impregnated with a flock Pretty much every craftsman you can imagine animal experts to gain an understanding in Middle Earth was here. layer called corpuscle so that it reflects of the skeletal and muscular structure of a light in the same way that real skin does. Horses from the inside out horse, programming this in to develop more And for each prosthetic, they need a scale believable CGI versions. No wonder they Weta Digital expanded hugely for The double, a picture double and stunt double. needed more room for their computers. Another key part of the dwarves’ look was Hobbit films, taking over several nearby

64 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM Want to buy King Kong’s production, Weta might not have moved This ability to create new, impossible skull? Or the One Ring? from their original backroom set-up. Being yet believable worlds is one of the great so far from Hollywood also causes problems pleasures of films, and even Peter Jackson Alongside film-work, Weta also have a in getting and keeping world-class talent. says that very profitable line in merchandising. In New Zealand has to issue special visas to The only reason I started making movies was fact the merchandising possibilities are said entice workers from overseas, who may a love of special effects. to play a large part in whether Weta sign then find that when the film ends, there Sara Mills taught Media at Helston Community College, up for projects in the first place. They sell a is no more work and they have to move Cornwall, and was a Media Studies examiner. She is huge range of merchandise or ‘collectibles’: countries again. However, the stream of currently travelling with her family in New Zealand. you can buy Dr Grordbort’s ray guns, Kong work hasn’t dried up yet and Weta are skulls, helmets from Halo, even a 12’ high working on Elysium, a film by District model of the alien Exosuit from District 9 9 Director Neill Blomkamp, currently for only $599.00! From The Hobbit there scheduled for a March 2013 release. are prop replicas of The One Ring, the Knives of Fili and Ori, the Key to Eerebor, The only reason I started art prints and maps of Tolkein’s world, and making movies was a love the ever-popular figures. They also create of special effects public art, like the ‘world’s biggest Gollum’ a giant installation sculpture, almost 13 And the name Weta? Well, one of New metres long, at Wellington airport, to mark Zealand’s unique creatures is a supersized, the opening of the first of The Hobbit films. heavily-armoured grasshopper. Its Maori Made from huge blocks of polystyrene name is the Weta Punga, which can be coated with resin, the sculpture hangs from translated into English as ‘the God of ugly the ceiling and shows Gollum reaching out things.’ But Weta don’t just create ugly for a large fish. things, they seem to be able to make anything you can imagine into a reality. Far from Hollywood However, despite their huge commercial and critical success, it’s not always easy either being independent, or being so far away from Hollywood. While Weta’s fortunes aren’t tied to the rise and fall of a particular movie studio, this also means they don’t have the secure stream of work that a studio would provide. Each project has to be pitched for individually and if it weren’t for the success of Peter Jackson, and his championing of New Zealand as a location, and of Wellywood as the focus for

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Not everyone can be a famous film students to ‘Pick the Tick’ in his short video perfect route for you. Apprenticeships are star or a top director, but there are a available here: www.pickthetick.co.uk. a way for school leavers who want to work in the media to gain a valuable industry- huge number of roles in the media Pick the Tick for Uni recognised qualification while working with industry that are just as creative Degree courses that have been awarded a leading company – all while getting paid! and rewarding – and where there is the Creative Skillset Tick teach the skills that Contrary to what you may think, are actually needed to work in the industry. Apprenticeships are no longer limited also a great need for talented and They have tutors with relevant professional to plumbers and hairdressers. Over the committed young people. Creative experience, use up-to-date industry past few years a lot of work has gone into Skillset, the lead training body for standard equipment, and have both strong expanding Apprenticeships into a whole links with industry and a strong track record range of new fields that you wouldn’t the media industry, offers you some of past students entering employment. usually associate with them. ways in. Over 130 individual creative courses There are different levels of from across the UK have been awarded Apprenticeships to reflect the technical You may never have thought a career in the Tick so far. These include subjects skills and abilities that are needed to do the the Creative Industries was for you, but in such as animation, computer games, film job effectively. Level 2 Apprenticeships fact the industry is in need of a wide range can be compared to five GCSEs, and of skills, from physics whizzes in computer- level 3 Apprenticeships are comparable generated visual effects to maths geniuses to two A Levels. There are currently a in web analyst roles. range of level 2 and 3 Creative Skillset The media industry job market is as Apprenticeships covering Creative and competitive as ever, making it essential for Digital Media, Photo Imaging and Set Crafts you to get the right advice on the best way which will give you the mix of practical skills to fulfil your dreams. But as a school leaver, and industry knowledge that you need to how do you find your way through the start your career on the correct footing. dizzying array of creative careers available? Apprenticeships that carry the Tick have It will be a relief to discover, it’s now no been evaluated by panels of industry longer who you know, but what you know… production, screenwriting, visual effects, experts, and provide a guarantee for Pick the Tick and computer programming. employers and prospective apprentices For more information about courses alike that the programme will deliver One of the easiest ways to help you make with the Creative Skillset Tick and to view what it promises. Find out more about your decisions when taking your first steps the extensive online course database visit Apprenticeships that have been awarded into the media industry is to look out for the www.creativeskillset.org/courses and the Creative Skillset Tick at Creative Skillset Tick. also remember to look for the Tick in the KIS www.creativeskillset.org/courses. The Creative Skillset Tick is a kitemark of data. Creative Skillset also runs Higher Level quality indicating the degree courses and Apprenticeships in areas including Creative Apprenticeships best suited to prepare you Pick the Tick for and Digital Media, and Advertising and for a career in the Creative Industries. Apprenticeships Marketing Communications. Higher Level Noel Clarke, BAFTA award-winning actor, Apprenticeships are equivalent to the first writer and director whose credits include Getting a degree is not the only way to year of university, and allow apprentices to Doctor Who, Kidulthood, Adulthood get a job in the Creative Industries, and take positions with more complexity and and 4.3.2.1 is a passionate advocate of the Creative Skillset Tick has now been responsibility in the workplace. providing industry-appropriate training extended into a new realm of creative Most employers see taking on an for young people trying to break into the Apprenticeships. apprentice as an investment in their future Creative Industries. As a spokesperson If you’re itching to get out of school and as well as yours. So this is a great chance for the Creative Skillset Tick, Clarke urges start in the industry as soon as possible, then an Apprenticeship might be the to make a real impression in the industry,

66 MediaMagazine | February 2013 | english and media centre MM and carve out a role for yourself beyond the qualification; gaining tons of real-world Case Study experience and building up those all- Richard Thompson: An Apprentice in important industry contacts will help get Creative and Digital Media your career off to a flying start! After completing his A Levels in For more information about all of the English, Media and Music Technology, Creative Skillset Apprenticeships keep an Richard decided against going to eye on our Facebook page where further university and applied for an Advanced details, the latest Apprenticeships awarded Apprenticeship in Creative & Digital the Tick and new vacancies will be posted Media at Twofour Productions. on a regular basis: www.facebook.com/ Richard realised the benefits of taking creativeskillset such a qualification immediately: I never thought ‘I want an Apprenticeship’ Going Further – I was going to uni – but as soon as I had finished my A Levels I thought ‘I don’t Once you have completed your degree, want to go around with £24,000 on my further education or industry training back, with no job. there are a range of schemes available to So an Apprenticeship is a practical help new entrants break into the media qualification in the media industry; this industry which encourage employers to use is experience as well as a bit of money on alternative entry routes and break the cycle the side.’ of closed ‘who-you-know’ recruitment. Working at a TV production company For example the Creative Skillset has involved rotating round different Craft and Technical Trainee Placement departments including Technical Scheme is a new training initiative which Support and the Digital/TV departments, offers recent graduates and new entrants each giving him new experiences and opportunities to work on film productions opportunities to see different aspects of for between four to eighteen weeks at a how the company works. time. This allows young people to gain I think the best thing about this course valuable work experience and the chance is at the end; our CVs, in terms of media to develop their skills and cultivate strong experience, are going to look pretty networks within the industry. The scheme special. With the reputation this company has and our CVs, we would likely get a job has been developed to help provide in another media department/company: productions with the UK’s best new we will be qualified for a lot of different talent and to promote fairer employment jobs in the industry. opportunities. Moving from college to employment Also, keep your eye out for new has also changed Richard’s attitudes to recruitment drives from Channel work: 4 and the BBC who are developing I went on a film shoot around the new work placements, internships and University of Plymouth. It was great fun! Apprenticeships as part of a new initiative I was runner and soundman so it was called Open Channels. This scheme also really good experience for interacting aims to help open roles up to a greater with people, and when you walk around number of talented young people from with the camera you get this sense of more diverse backgrounds, who often responsibility. While I have been working find it difficult to break into the Creative here I want everything to be done to perfection and it has given me fulfilment Industries. Be sure to like Creative Skillset’s to do that perfect work. Facebook page for updates on this. When asked what his final words Creative Skillset continues to provide about the Apprenticeship would be support to professionals already in Richard said: the industry via a range of training I never realised that there were programmes, bursaries and career Apprenticeships outside of bricklaying development support. and hairdressing or that you could do So whatever route you choose to take, one in such a creative but office-based remember to Pick the Tick to guarantee environment. industry-approved qualifications and vital industry experience, and make full use of the support and advice Creative Skillset can provide to help guide you throughout your career in the media industry.

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edia agazine Menglish and media centre issue 43 | februaryM 2013

Be the best. Choose

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SS6564_tick_media_mag2.indd 1 18/01/2013 12:34