The Bachelor of Communication – Media program warmly invites you to its end-of-semester studio presentations taking place Thursday, October 27th at 2pm in Building 80, Level 4, Lecture Theatre 11 (Swanston Street).
Author: brian-morris
Analysing Diversity in Australian Media
Congratulations to current final year BComm Media students, Daina Anderson, Grace Hardy, Rose Ng and Fabiana Weiner whose research article on ‘Diversity in Australian Media: Production, Content and Representation‘ has just been published in the latest issue of Australian Mosaic (produced by FECCA – Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia).
Thelma and Louise – 25 years on
Check out this great discussion of the classic film Thelma and Louise, which first hit screens 25 years ago, by two former BComm Media graduates, Zan Rowe (triple j host) and Brodie Lancaster, critic and writer.
Winter at Westbeth
All our best wishes and congratulations to Rohan Spong, whose latest documentary feature, Winter at Westbeth, has its local premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival tomorrow.
The film charts a year in the life of one of New York’s most eclectic and vibrant artists’ residences and had its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival in June.
In-between film projects, Rohan has taught in to or coordinated a number of courses in the Media Program over the past few years. Most recently these have included a studio on ‘Music Video Production’ and also the Cinema Studies course ‘True Lies: Documentary Studies’.
‘The Audition’
James Thompson, a former graduate of the program, filmmaker and a current sessional teacher in our media production and cinema studies was recently in the U.S at the Palm Springs ShortsFest (June 2016), one of the largest showcases of short films in North America which screens over 325 short films that are selected from 3,000 submissions from 50 countries.
A short film, ‘The Audition‘, which James wrote and directed, opened a special ‘G-Day USA‘ mini-festival of Australian films.
James recently led a 2nd/3rd year Media studio, ‘Finding the Ear: developing short film drama‘ and has continued his teaching into the context courses ‘Histories of Film Theory‘ and ‘Popular Cinema‘.
Media students partner with Foxtel
A group of RMIT students and recent graduates worked hard to record the Foxtel broadcast of the 2016 Australian Directors Guild (ADG) Awards at the Sofitel on May 6.
For the first time ever the ADG Awards have received a television broadcast, possible through the dedication and creative skill of a team of RMIT students and recent graduates, who worked as production crew for the broadcast and production assistants for the event itself.
The students were responsible for the entire broadcast and informal vox pops with attendees.
The broadcast was produced and directed by Mark Poole, who teaches into the Media program, co-produced by recent graduate Maree Prokos and edited by graduate Bella Walker.
The evening was compered by comedian Nazeem Hussain, and presenters included industry leaders such as Jenni Tosi from Film Victoria, directors Fred Schepisi and ADG President Samantha Lang, former President Ray Argall and actors Lisa McCune and Catherine McClements.
Winners included well known directors Nash Edgerton, Emma Freeman, Daina Reid, Jennifer Peedom and Rachel Perkins. Looking for Grace director Sue Brooks and John Hughes, RMIT Adjunct Professor, were presented with a lifetime membership award.
Kingston Anderson CEO of the ADG said he was very excited that they are able to secure a broadcast of the 2016 Awards for the first time.
“It is very important to profile the talented directors that Australia has across all genres and the broadcast gives people the opportunity to see the depth of talent we have,” Anderson said.
Mark Poole, the Chapter Head of the ADG in Victoria and member of the media teaching team said he was incredibly impressed by the professionalism and dedication of the crew that filmed the Awards throughout the night.
“This was not only a fantastic opportunity for students to rub shoulders with the industry, to get real-world experience but also, to get meaningful industry credits for their CVs,” Poole said.
“RMIT staff Paul Ritchard, David Stanley and Windsor Fick ensured we had the right gear for the job,” Poole said.
The crew were co-producer Maree Prokos, editor Bella Walker, camera/sound and production Mollie Cowell, Ben Grant, Sarah Petrie-Allbutt, Angus Strachan and Jordan Williams.
Media and Communication Honours student Mollie Cowell said being given the responsibility to produce a broadcast was test of whether students have the skills to go out into industry and the experience showed that they did.
“We worked well as a team and performed under pressure and this was a great affirmation of not only what we learnt, but what we can do with our skills,” Cowell said.
Lisa French, Deputy Dean (Media) said the School of Media and Communication has an ongoing working relationship with the ADG’s and this is just one of the many outcomes of a productive industry engaged partnerships.
“The President of the ADG, filmmaker Samatha Lang, included in her speech reference to the need to improve the participation of women in film and television industries.”
“I was delighted to look to the back of the auditorium and see the two key cameras were being operated by women (Sarah Petrie-Allbutt and Mollie Cowell) and that RMIT had visible gender equality with a 50% gender balance on this crew,” French said.
“RMIT is equipping them for the industry but this is a very good example of how we are creating industry experience in that industry, and flagging that women have an equal place in it.”
The ADG awards will be broadcast on Foxtel’s Aurora channel on Sunday 29 May at 8pm.
Story: Wendy Little
[This story featured on RMIT News]
Intel Internships
RMIT’s School of Media and Communication is excited to be one of the Australian partners chosen by Intel’s Global Production Labs (a division of ‘Agency Inside’, the in-house creative and production group of this major tech company) to participate in a paid internships scheme in the San Francisco Bay area (which also includes fully subsidized housing). Internships will be based in the areas of producing, director of photography/shooting, offline editorial, vfx an and audio (sound design, music supervision, recording). Interns will work for three months in a team of 6-8 production specialists and have a chance to hone their production skills while learning the structure and workflow of a traditional ad agency and global corporation. They will also be introduced to leaders from multiple Intel departments and Silicon Valley partners and industry leaders.
The School was lucky enough to have Intel representative, Lisa Effress (Executive Producer of Mentorship, IGPL), recently offer an overview of the new scheme and answer questions.
Applications for the upcoming September and December 2016 intakes close on 1st June 2016. Interested current RMIT media students students and recent graduates (1-2 years out) should contact BComm Media Program Manager, brian.morris@rmit.edu.au for more information including the application form. Good luck to all those who apply!
Making a difference with Lentara
As part of the studio-based teaching model in the BComm Media program, some of the studios available to students involve interdisciplinary collaborations as well as working with an external industry partner. One exciting studio that does both this year is ‘Lentara: nonfiction design’. This studio sees Media students teaming up with students from the Bachelor of Communication Design to work with Lentara UnitingCare to help solve some of the communication challenges faced by the not-for-profit.
[The remainder of this story featured on RMIT News]
Lentara is part of the large network of community care services run by the United Church supporting some of the most vulnerable members of the community.
Corporate Partnership and Communications Manager Jeff Jones said Lentara Uniting Care is excited to be in partnership with the School of Media and Communication as part of an undergraduate teaching and learning studio project.
“The studio will explore ways to communicate to our supporters, volunteers, the community and general public, the social service work that Lentara carries out across our communities.”
‘’The design and production work that is being developed by RMIT may potentially be used in our future marketing and communications strategies after its completion, with full credit and attribution to students,” Jones said.
RMIT lecturer Seth Keen said the studio was a cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Communication Design and Media programs.
“The people involved are RMIT undergraduate students who are under the guidance of Lentara’s Jeff Jones, with the assistance of the co-teachers Peter West and myself,” Keen said.
“The aim is for students to engage with the real-world problems that a not-for-profit organisation faces.
“It’s one of the ways RMIT offers life-changing experiences to our students, through practical and industry-engaged learning that helps them to prepare for life and work.”
The following Lentara initiatives will be focused on in the studio: Asylum Seekers Community Housing, Men’s Shed, Shower Bus, Mobile Clothing Bins and Lentara identity branding.
Students will mix together graphic design, advertising, branding, film, television, radio and new media practices to produce a variety of communication outcomes.
The studio will run for the duration of the first semester, which ends in June.
‘The Conductor’
[Image: Amy Hanley]
Tune in to BComm Media student Amy Hanley’s piece, ‘THE CONDUCTOR’, first broadcast tonight (and also available as a podcast anytime) on ABC Radio National’s Soundproof . It’s a wild sonic ride produced this semester for an assignment in her Media 2 studio, ‘Radio’s new Wave’ (picked up by ABC during the studios Week 7 critical feedback session which included external industry guests). Soundproof is a top-shelf show in radio-feature and audio arts land.
From the ABC RN site:
The Conductor is an experiential representation of the physiological experience of gambling.
What really goes on between player and poker machine? Well many things.
Not only are poker machines themselves generating electricity but so does the person playing them. The electro-dermal activity of the person playing, other wise known as the changes in a person’s skin conductance levels, can be used to indicate how arousing poker machine play can be, particularly for problem gamblers.
MINA (Mobile Innovation Network Australasia)
Media Program staff member, Dr Seth Keen, has been busy coordinating and co-curating this year’s MINA screening held on November 19th and 20th at RMIT University and Federation Square as part of the MINA Symposium being hosted by RMIT’s School of Media and Communication this year.. Seth has developed an association with MINA over the last three years and has used his research and teaching to contribute to discourse on mobile filmmaking.
