Filed under: media industries 1 | Tags: brainstorming, cinema, questions, reading, topics
This week’s reading was really helpful and I’m going to give it a go in this blog post in terms of some of the things we discussed in last weeks tutorial. Our overall if you take it topic is a combination of independant vs international filmmaking and cutting edge original films, which is so broad it’s completely ridiculous. The reading shows some steps in terms of narrowing broad topics in to particular narrow areas of research that not break into the ‘too narrow’ domain. One of I guess the sub-topics that I wrote down was building reputations in the film industry, which is still very broad, however it links with other things that i wrote down such as marketing, retaining quality filmmakers and building a brand. So, say I stick with these ideas as my very general sub-topics. Now the job needed to be done is to focus that topic. To do this the reading suggests that you use words such as: ‘conflict, description, contribution, and development’ (p. 43) to tune your broad topic into a more developed focused one.
So say my broad topic is: building reputations in the film industry. This can be focused into something such as ‘The contribution of marketing in creating a larger Australian film culture’ or ‘The importance of the contribution of branding in order to build Australian film reputations.’ Or something of the like this narrows down something broad and looks at a certain area of topic, the first example being the study of marketing and the second being on branding. It narrows the path of study into how reputations can be built, and focuses in on one specific example. The next thing the reading wants you to do is turn your now narrowed topic into a claim rather than a statement.
‘The contribution of marketing in creating a larger film culture’ to ‘In Australia there is a crucial need to promote and market films in order to instill a larger and loyal reputation for Australian cinema’
Or something along those lines, anyway it is expanding the original idea into something a lot more specified.
The next part of the reading focuses on moving a focused topic to questions. Firstly you must ‘Identify the Parts and How they Interrelate’:
What are the parts of your topic, and how do they relate to one another?
Why is there a need to promote Australian cinema? How will marketed films create a loyal Australian audience? Will certain parts of marketing and promotion work more effectively in order to build the reputation of Australian cinema?
How is your topic part of a larger system?
How have other national cinemas effectively marketed their films? What is the general consensus about Australian cinema? Does web dominance give new and improved outlets of how we can market Australian cinema?
Secondly, you must ‘Trace Its Own History and Its Role in a Larger History:
How and why has your topic changed through time, as something with its own history?
What were the original perceptions of Australian cinema when it began? How has the Australian cinema experience changed? What are the major factors leading to the changing nature of Australian cinema? Has the reputation of Australian cinema changed over time?
How and why is your topic an episode in a larger history?
Why is Australian cinema so badly received compared to other national cinemas? What examples of Australian cinema have been received well due to international marketing? How has the digital age changed the possibilities in terms of how Australian films can be marketed? Why is a loyal audience important?
Thirdly, Identify Its Characteristics and the Categories that Include It
Well I don’t really understand the questions here as they seem rather vague, therefore I will skip this for the moment.
Fourthly, Determine Its Value
What values does your topic reflect? What values does it support? Contradict?
Does marketing undermine the value of the film simply as a film? Does marketing undermine the value of the film as art? Can an art film be marketed and still be worthy of its artistic value?
How good or bad is your topic? Is it useful?
Are films already marketed successfully in Australia? Are some films unmarketable? Is there any point in marketing films when films are dying anyway? Is it more useful to look at how the web is changing marketing strategies?
The next step is to evaluate all your questions, which I will come back to shortly.
Reference:
‘From Topics to Questions’ in Booth, W; Colomb, G; Williams, J. ‘The Craft of Research,’ (p. 40-52). Chicago: University of Chicago University Press, 2nd ed. 2003.
In our tute last week we formed into our groups (well-kinda) in terms of what we were interested in doing for our research projects. Our group is focusing on creating creative content and where the ideas behind the Australian film industry and where film is heading. What came up as one of the questions in our group discussion was: “What does going to the cinema distinctively do and is different?” in an environment when everything is free and the concept of something being cheap is expensive in comparison to being free and by constantly downloading free films, music, etc. we are only increasing the gap between the two polar opposites of free and cheap and cheap and expensive. In light of this how are we going to get people back to the cinemas, to support Australian film in a way that is both commercially viable- keeping loyal Australian fans, etc. etc. and also what can the internet offer in this convergent media environment. Basically, it’s really complicated, but I think I kind of established some ideas when I was doing my Histories of Film Theory reading this week, in which Bordwell’s article Defending and Defining the Seventh Art: The Standard Version of Stylistic Theory, which looked at how all different theorists attempted to differentiate cinema from every other art form. Even though this is not wholly relevant I think people need to be interested and dependant on cinema again in terms of what it offers as an art form in the context of it can only be viewed in the cinema, where the lights go down and you sit there collectively eating popcorn in a cinematically appreciative environment. What we need again is to create a film culture, that we get a lot with music- there seems to be a really large music culture in Melbourne, but a lack of film culture. It would be really great to research this further in terms of hyping Australian film and giving the industry a boost through creating a dependence on cinema as an art that only exists within a cinematic environment, but advertised and promoted through a convergent web-based environment to create this hype.
Reference:
Bordwell, David. ‘On the History of Film Style,’ (p. 12-45, 274-281). Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1997.
Our art is reproved for being specifically cinematic “You are not literary enough! You are not dramatic!” But a film ought to be filmic, or it is not worth making. Actors, directors, designers, write on your banner in bold letters the most important commandment of film art the cinema’s language is cinematographic
Lev Kuleshov (1918)
From: Bordwell, David. ‘On the History of Film Style,’ (p. 12-45, 274-281). Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press, 1997, (p. 27).
