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 and fi nd out more visit: centre and media english www.pickthetick.co.uk Independent Indigenous Australian Film SCAN TO Follow us on: | issue 43 | february 2013 | february 43 issue | FIND OUT MORE Pick the Tick Pop-Up @SkillsetSSC Cinema MM SS6564_tick_media_mag2.indd 1 18/01/2013 12:34 MM 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.