Today in our lectorial we had 2 guest lecturers, Anne Lennox and Kyla Brettle.
Anne came to talk to us, in brief about copyright in Australia and other countries. It was interesting to find out how our work is automatically protected here in Australia, but in America, there are unfortunately a large number of hoops to go through before a work can be copyrighted. Listening to Anne gave me a much greater appreciation for Australian legislation (in some areas) and allowed me to understand the impact copyright can have on my work. I found it interesting that under ‘fair dealing’, it’s ok to use copyrighted work so long as it’s for research and study, criticism and review, reporting news, and parody and satire.
Kyla came to talk to us about her experiences in the industry, which seem to have evolved through non-fiction, going from documentary film, to radio documentary, and various forms of journalism in between. I found it very interesting listening to Kyla talk about all of her amazing experiences, which never would have happened, had she not decided to poke at the boundaries she saw herself within. Not just the amazing people and situations she told us about constantly observing, but also the courage to transition from the widely used and distributed medium of the film documentary to the radio documentary, a lesser known, yet equally, if not more powerful medium. Listening to examples of Kyla’s work was quite amazing, as I found it even more overpowering than a film documentary, as the imagery is left entirely up to you and your own mind, your own relative experiences, to fill the gaps, allowing a strangely personal bond to occur.
Kyla talked about how difficult and worthwhile it is to stretch yourself and get out of your comfort zone and how rewarding it can be to see things unfold that you normally would never experience on a purely observational level. She spoke about how difficult it was for her to do these things but how worthwhile it was in the long run and all the amazing things she’s been able to do throughout her career.
I feel like I myself am at a stage where I could go the path that Kyla has, pushing not just the social boundaries of our society through her observations, but pushing the boundaries within herself. Or I could go the other way and choose to take no physical action, instead staying in the artificial world known as the internet. I feel as though I am at a turning point. And what better place to turn around and change then at university. And hey, why not blog about it too.