First Essay Deadline

Noon Today!

Which means if your paper has not yet arrived via email or handed in in person, it will now be marked late. So get those papers in!

Gallipo-What?

movie poster-muchos gracias google.com

This movie poster says it all: “From a place you never heard of…a story you’ll never forget.” Before viewing Peter Weir’s 1981 film, I had never heard of Gallipoli, nor would I have thought that it was a Turkish peninsula. The Battle at Gallipoli began in 1915 but the film makes use of music from later time periods as an attempt to strengthen its narrative.

Jean Michel Jarre, a well-known French electronic musician, created the uncomfortable electronic music utilized during moments of high tension within the film. His website is here.

Although Jarre’s music was placed during plot points that needed the aid of a strong musical touch, I found the electronic music to have a negative impact on the narrative. Electronic music is quite enjoyable and the music of Jean Michel Jarre is unique and revolutionary. Yet, its placement in the film adds an avoidable humor.

There seems to be two soundtracks to the film: (1) the electronic stylings of Jean Michel Jarre and (2) Remo Giazotto’s Adagio in G Minor. As a complete piece of art, I found that these two genres clash with one another. The film has so much going on within the narrative, such as the ideas of mateship and the relationship between Australians and the British, that the added element of electronic music was needless.

All the talk about Adagio in G Minor during our discussion after the film made me curious about the Adagio’s history. Composed in 1958 by Remo Giazotto, there is a rumor that the Adagio was found in the ruins of a library during World War II. The use of the Adagio in Gallipoli makes sense even though it was written years after the Battle took place because it is historically connected to war.

Maybe the film should have utilized a piece actually written during the time of the Battle such as this.

-Ashley Whiting

Study guide for midterm

You’ll be asked to write two short essays that should take about twenty minutes each, in addition to answering some short-form identification questions. You can prepare for this exam by timing yourself by writing out answers to any of the questions below. Exam questions will be similar to those listed below.

You should be familiar with every film we have viewed in class so far, including:
Walkabout
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Devil’s Playground
Mad Max
Gallipoli

1. Discuss how the landscape portrayed in Walkabout exemplifies the clash between urban and rural culture.
2. Discuss the visual symbols that are related to sexuality in either Picnic at Hanging Rock or The Devil’s Playground.
3. Discuss the portrayal of mateship in Picnic at Hanging Rock, Mad Max, or The Devil’s Playground.
4. Discuss the clash of Aborginal and white culture in Walkabout.
5. Discuss the use of sound or music to elicit emotion or create resonance in Walkabout, Picnic at Hanging Rock, or Gallipoli.

Creative Project assignment

Your Creative Project is worth 15% of your final grade.

You have a choice of what kind of format you wish to use. You'll be graded on Originality, Content and Execution. You may address topics that are historical, cultural, artistic, technical or design-oriented.

Possible formats:

Visual project (video, slide show, computer generated, art)

Audio project (sound, music, other recording or live performance)

Performance (original piece, script based on Australian cinema)

Presentation (lecture or directed discussion)

Journal (critical or artistic analysis/exploration of topic related to Australian Cinema)

Production Materials (such as director's notebook, storyboard, or other production designs based on interpretation of Australian history, narrative or existing films)

Other ideas are welcome but be sure to clear tyhem with me first.

It is *highly recommended* that you submit a brief (one page) proposal of your project beforehand to make sure it will follow the parameters of the assignment.

Deadline: Creative projects may be turned in anytime, but all of them are due no later than November 20. In-class presentations or performances must be scheduled by November 13th (but may be presented after that date).

First Essay Guidelines

Due: Thursday October 9 (in class) or via email by Thurs. Oct. 12
Length/word count: 4-5 pages, 1200-1500 words

Topic guideline:
You may write about any show/film or subject we have viewed/discussed in class so far, including:
Walkabout, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Devil’s Playground, Mad Max or Gallipoli

Your primary topic area should be landscape. You may choose any topic you wish or choose from the ones suggested below. Your paper needs a descriptive title.
You must utilize and cite at least three different research sources; at least one of them must be from the articles by Gibson or Macfarlane that were handed out in class. There are a number of good sources also listed on the blog, and our library has some excellent resources on Australian Cinema.

You must include a standard bibliography page, AND either 1) an endnotes pages, or 2)cite your quotations/ideas not your own within the paper with authors and page numbers. Endnotes may also include additional notes to explain your topic, not just citations of source material.

Your essay should also refer often to your chosen film text and give examples from it along with analysis of it. There is no need to provide plot synopses or production information unless it is relevant to your argument.
Essays must be typed and carefully proofread for errors.

Topic suggestions:
1. How landscape establishes mood or tone in Walkabout or Picnic at Hanging Rock.
2. The clash of urban and rural culture, or nature and civilization, in Walkabout or Picnic at Hanging Rock.
3. The symbolic portrayal of sexual repression or sexual awakening in Picnic at Hanging Rock or The Devil’s Playground.
4. The portrayal of mateship in Picnic, Mad Max, The Devil’s Playground or Gallipoli.
5. The use of music to manipulate emotion and/or create emotional resonance in any one of the films.
6. The clash of British and Australian/Aboriginal, or white and black, cultures in Picnic, Walkabout or Gallipoli.
7. The portrayal of homoeroticism, whether actual or symbolic, in any one film.

Blog Naming Contest

The contenders as of today:

Do the Walkabout
Everybody Do the Walkabout
Lost in the Outback
Crikey! It's Aussie Cinema.
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy! Oy! Oy!
Outback Film House
Picnic at Hanging Blog
Down with Down Under

Textbooks, blog, etc.

The textbooks have arrived at the Emerson bookstore. Please make sure you get one by mid-month at the latest.

I should be able to finally get around to responding to your many emails today and tomorrow. Sorry if you've been waiting or feeling in limbo. My home internet access has been acting up and it's been spotty at best for the last week, but the new router seems to have fixed the problem. If anyone has any urgent questions let me know.

This week we will be viewing Mad Max. Please review the reading "Mates and Others in a Wide Brown Land" for tomorrow.

There are still only 14 students registered on this blog--despite there being 25 students in the class. I assume everyone has received their invites, since I have had no recent emails stating otherwise. If you have not received an invite at your emerson.edu email address, let me know as soon as possible. Otherwise I expect to see the remaining students registered by tomorrow.