Class | Michael Firus

Institutions Close to Home

Mowing one’s grandmother’s lawn on a warm Autumn’s afternoon is not generally the situation that evokes an analysis of an institution’s impact on a culture’s development. However, as my gaze lowered I began to realise that the piece of equipment I was using formed a prominent pillar in Australian culture: the Victa lawnmower. The Victa…

Institutions in Popular Culture: Wall Street

Institutions have characters; they have their values, beliefs and floors, much like individuals. Here, I will examine the way popular culture perceives the character of a specific institution through examining a specific media text: Oliver Stone’s 1987 drama Wall Street. (Whether the film reflects reality is not considered here) While watching the film, I noted…

Legitimation

If didn’t know any better, I would assume Hunger Games Author Suzanne Collins got her inspiration from this article. In an almost disconcerting revolutionary tone, this piece documents a so-called turning point for the entity of the audience. Much like every other ‘progressive’ opinion piece, it is all about legitimation. The article outlines a transition…

Ownership

When someone mentions the terms “Copyright” or “Trademark” they either think of that one relative who worked at the bar, or those media products they may or may not have obtained by nefarious means. Neither of these are particularly interesting topics. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the absurd side of…

Class Team Work

One has to love a good stock image… When PB4 was announced as a team-focused exercise, a fair amount of the lecture theatre either groaned or laughed nervously. However, after this week’s practical, I can honestly say that their fears were misguided. A quick scan of the room reveals a set of content groups humming…

EXERCISE – NARRATIVE STRUCTURE IN PB3

What is the ‘controlling idea’ (Robert McKee) of your portrait? In other words, what is the most interesting thing about your participant/interviewee that you want to communicate? The controlling idea in my portrait is the fact that vibrancy – to a normal or even greater than normal amount – is achieved within disability. …

Teamwork: The Only Way To Do

“There’s a level of sophistication of filmmaking that’s mind-boggling. Anything you need for your movie, there’s an establishment that can make it happen really fast” – Ang Lee Not many worthwhile things happen without teamwork. This is true for any human endeavor in any discipline. Need to move…

Us as characters:

In this course, we have been looking at the term ‘character’ as a fictional entity that we can construct in a book or film script. Maybe not all of us want to become writers, but we all create or have a say in creating characters of some kind. If nothing else, then it can…

Objects as Characters

Characters are probably one of those fundamental things… like thought or existence. I say this because everything has the potential to become a character; if they are not inherently one already. Objects as Characters: I recently saw the 1998 spy thriller Enemy of the State. Its narrative revolves around the NSA dealing crookedly in almost…

Lesson learnt.

Lesson learnt. I think we were all quite surprised by the amount of formalities and restrictions that needed to be dealt with before filming anything as outlined in this week’s lectorial (that isn’t a word by the way). Formalities that are absolutely imperative unless filming yourself under translucent bedsheets in a blacked out tent somewhere…