Film synopsis:

Speaker: Leonard Retel Helmrich is a Dutch cinematographer  and film director Indonesian descent. He was born the 16th of August 1959 in Tilburg, Netherlands and has lived in Amsterdam since 1982. Received highest honours for international documentaries at the Sundance Festival and was the first two-time International Documentary winner at IDFA.

Helmrich is famous for perfecting the ‘Single Camera Shot’ filming style and his related technical camera innovations. “…you can move inside an event and go with your camera to the right spot, at the right moment,… That’s what the whole single-shot cinema is about: trying to think of the world as a kind of clockwork, a machinery, with everything interrelated. The bigger and smaller things are just as important. In a clockwork you can’t pull out a little gear because the whole thing jams. The solution is to become one of the clockworks.”, Leonard Retel Helmrich.

He is currently writing a book about “Single Shot Cinema”.

http://antidotefilms.com.au/details.php?filmid=4411

Event Information

WHERE: Cinema Paris, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.

WHEN: Thursday 10th November, 2011  
6.15 for 6.30pm

ENTRY:  $10 concession

OzDox Session on Digital Distribution

Distribution for documentaries is fast changing and we are entering a whole new world where our documentaries are available 24 hours a day to anyone who would like to view them, sometimes at a price: It’s called Video on Demand – VOD.

New companies have formed to meet this demand from educators, libraries and the general public.  We will hear from three of the biggest: Kanopy, ABC Commercial and BeamAfilm.

Kanopy has been aggregating educational content from distributors in Australia and Worldwide. They stream programs to tertiary institutions, which can then be accessed by any computer, iPod or other media device.  ABC Commercial’s digital distribution strategy is to license ABC content non-exclusively to a wide variety of digital platforms in Australia and internationally including iTunes, Fairfax TV, TiVO, Fetch, BT Vision and SeeSaw. They distribute an extensive back catalogue of documentaries including a number of Film Australia titles and are also actively looking for new acquisitions. BeamAFilm, launching their portal in early 2012, is aggregating a distinct collection of independent documentaries with an aim to raise the profile of documentary and create financial returns for the industry. In a secure streaming environment with a number of unique value-adds, films will be marketed internationally via the beamAfilm website and also sub-licensed across global VOD networks.

With internet streaming new apps have been developed. We will hear from Peter Tapp, of ATOM, who is currently working on developing iPhone and iPad apps and ebooks for iTunes and the Android markets and exploring the new revenue streams that these markets can open up for Australian producers and distributors, not only through sales of the film but also sales of the app itself and copyright income derived from the copying of the study guide.

We will also hear about FilmTank a new digital film distribution platform to be released in 2012 from Red Gaffa – digital agency dedicated to the film industry that specialises in online marketing, branding, social media and digital content distribution.

We will also hear from Thomas Mai, a very experienced Scandinavian sales agent and producer (notably for Lars von Trier), recently moved to Sydney, who will speak about film distribution at festivals/markets around the world.

Speakers:

Olivia Humphrey is the managing director of Kanopy, a Perth-based company. Olivia set up Kanopy two years ago and the company both streams programs and sells DVD from it’s website to tertiary institutions.

Jessica Ellis is the Manager of the Digital Sales & Distribution business within ABC Commercial and has over 10 years experience in the media industry within Australia,

Gil Scrine is Director, Acquisitions for beamAfilm and also runs Antidote Films – a Brisbane based independent distributor specialising in art-house films and social documentaries.

Louise van Rooyen is Director – Business Development for beamafilm. She has 15+ years experience with internet-based businesses and also runs her own consultancy, PPi.

Peter Tapp is Editor of Metro and Screen Education and is based in Melbourne.

Natalie Itzkowic and Tamara Piller from Red Gaffa are involved in innovative distribution, in particular the FilmTank platform.

Thomas Mai, a sales agent and producer who coaches  film makers around the world on how they can apply the new digital possibilities and grow a global audience for their films.

Event Information

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
http://www.ozdox.org/events/

WHEN: Wednesday, 19th October, 2011
Wine, nibbles and conversation from 6:00pm for 6.30pm start.

ENTRY: $7

RSVP not required, but be early to ensure your seat. Please invite your friends and colleagues too! This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

Join acclaimed film editor Mary Stephen – an editor who crosses all genres – for a screening of the award winning documentary 1428.  The screening will be followed by a discussion between Mary Stephen and Julia Overton where Mary will show clips from other documentaries and will show and discuss her approach to editing and the collaborative process.

Mary Stephen is an accomplished film editor, best known as Eric Rohmer’s long time collaborator. Initially an assistant to Cécile Decugis (the editor for Godard’s Breathless) since The Aviator’s Wife (1981), Stephen became Rohmer’s Chief Editor in the early 90s with Winter’s Tale and all the subsequent Rohmer films up to the last one, The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2006). In the last few years she has worked in Turkey, Canada and China, on films such as Du Haibin’s 1428, a prize-winner at the Venice Film Festival and the multi award winning Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home which won the top prize at IDFA in 2009.

About 1428

In 1428 the filmmakers deliver a vision of human devastation that is ‘fascinating, beautifully crafted (Ronnie Scheib, Variety).  Without judgment but with a deep compassion for their subjects, the filmmakers of 1428 bring us a myriad of individual stories of absurdity, confusion and grief. 1428 has won a number of awards including Best Documentary at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

With 382 hours of Australian independent documentary produced last year and  watched by millions,  documentary is  the industry’s most vibrant and productive sector. To celebrate the launch of the documentary issue of Lumina, Australia’s journal of screen arts and business,  OxDox and AFTRS will host a panel discussion on “The Future of Documentary” which will be followed by refreshments.

RSVP is essential.

Event Information

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
http://www.ozdox.org/events/

WHEN: Wednesday 17th AUGUST – 6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm start

Please invite your friends and colleagues! This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

Mrs Carey’s Concert is about music making and coming of age, about talent and courage, compliance and rebellion. About those prepared to open their minds and hearts to what the world has to offer… and those yet to discover the potential within.

Our Q&A with filmmakers Bob Connolly and Sophie Raymond (moderated by Jane Jeffes) will explore many issues and challenges, such as:

# Doco story and background – dealing with that many kids!
# Technical Issues – camera, sound, editing
# Broadcaster issues
# Producer issues – self distribution

The Story

At a Sydney girls’ school, music director Karen Carey prepares her young students for a concert at the Opera House. Believing in the transformative power of great music, Carey insists upon a classical repertoire, sets a dauntingly high performance standard and requires the participation of every girl in the school. Carey inspires many of her girls, but some do not share her passion and are not afraid to say so.

Her greatest challenge will be firing up the unwilling, and her antagonist is 16 year old Iris Shi. Waging open warfare against authority, the charismatic Iris is the focal point of student resistance to Carey’s Opera House ambitions, and the only girl who gets seriously under her skin. Emily Sun is Carey’s star musician and a different sort of headache – a gifted but troubled teenager on the threshold of a brilliant musical career if only… Carey wants Emily to solo in a Bruch Violin concerto. But to bring out her best, she needs to keep the girl from going off the rails, and then get inside her head. And that proves no easy task, because young Emily has her own distinctive take on everything.

Production Info

# 263 hours of footage shot.
# 18 month long shoot.
# 18 month edit.
# 1200 release forms signed by every kid and their parents in the school.
# The concert was covered by 11 cameras (2 backstage, 9 out front).
# Bob’s 6th feature length independent documentary.
# Sophie’s first feature length independent documentary.
# Mrs Carey’s 10th biennial concert.
# Took about two months for people to forget the cameras.
# It’s essential to have the right to have access to film in all areas of the school.

Every piece of music in the film, except one, was recorded on location and performed by the kids. Every Chamber Orchestra rehearsal was recorded on a Wednesday at 7.30am for 18 months.

Our greatest challenge in the edit was to chart the musical progression and the emotional development of the girls as they wrestled with the demanding repertoire and the ever looming deadline of the Opera House Concert. It was a multi-layered process, transformations often subtle. As subtle as the difference in speed of vibrato on a single note. Every day of editing brought a new challenge, as we gradually brought our 263 hours of rushes down to 95 minutes.

Biographies

Bob Connolly

Bob Connolly began his career at the ABC, directing some 30 documentaries there in the 1970s before teaming up with Robin Anderson to work independently. In 1983 they released and FIRST CONTACT, followed by JOE LEAHY’S NEIGHBOURS (1989) and BLACK HARVEST (1992). Shot in the PNG Highlands over ten years, these 3 films won 30 national and international awards, including an Oscar nomination for First Contact. All three won the Grand Prix at France’s Festival Cinema du Reel, and AFI awards for Best Documentary. In 1996 Connolly and Anderson released RATS IN THE RANKS. Their last film together was FACING THE MUSIC (2001) which like all its predecessors enjoyed a lengthy national theatrical release. It too won the AFI Award for Best Documentary, and was voted most popular film at the Sydney and Brisbane Film Festivals.

Sophie Raymond

MRS CAREY’S CONCERT is Sophie Raymond’s debut feature length documentary, and builds on her successful career as an animator and singer/songwriter with academic foundations in Anthropology and Theatre. Sophie teamed up with Bob Connolly after a chance meeting at IDFA in 2003. She was at the festival representing (as co director/ co producer) the highly successful, short animated doco IT’S LIKE THAT. The film went on to garner several awards and enjoy an Australian theatrical release and over 60 festival screenings worldwide.

Previously, Sophie was Assistant Animator on Adam Elliot’s Oscar winning short HARVIE KRUMPET and she went on to work on Elliot’s recent feature animation MARY AND MAX.

As a singer/songwriter Sophie released and toured three albums of her own work Nationally and internationally, and presented a regular segment on ABC National radio, thus bringing a wealth of hands-on experience to her role as sound recordist, editor and co director of Mrs Carey’s Concert.

You can BUY TICKETS to screenings of the film directly on the website… listings for other cities there too.

http://www.mrscareysconcert.com/?page=Cinemas

Suggested donation $7

RSVP not required, but be early to ensure your seat. Please invite your friends and colleagues too! This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117748204974188

Re-enchantment is an immersive journey into the hidden meanings of fairy tales. Presented as an interactive multi-platform documentary project, it explores why fairy stories continue to enchant, entertain, fascinate and horrify contemporary adult audiences. From Rapunzel to Cinderella, and Bluebeard to Snow White, Re-enchantment challenges us to think about the hold these stories have on us and the way they are reinterpreted throughout our life and culture.

Re-enchantment is a cross media documentary project on ABC TV, Online and Radio that has been 4 years in the making. It brings together documentary filmmakers with digital designers and developers in a convergent and often virtual space. Sue Maslin (producer), Sarah Gibson (writer/director) and Rose Draper (lead designer) discuss the opportunities and challenges of working on Re-enchantment. They describe the process of funding, development and production of both the online interactive site and the 10 x 3 minute animated documentaries for ABCTV. What are the differences of producing, writing, directing and designing for an online interactive project rather than for the traditional documentary? What are the new possibilities for ongoing relationships with audiences?

Biographies

Sue Maslin, Producer

Sue Maslin is an award winning screen producer and Adjunct Professor of the School of Media & Communication, RMIT University. She produces and distributes content across many platforms – cinema, television, web and mobile phone.

Credits include feature films Road To Nhill (1995), Japanese Story (2003), winner of 26 international wards including the AFI Award for Best Feature Film and Hunt Angels (2006), winner of the AFI Award for Best Documentary Film.  Documentary credits include The Edge Of The Possible, The Highest Court and Celebrity: Dominick Dunne which premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival in the US in 2008. Michael Kirby – Don’t Forget The Justice Bit (writer/director Daryl Dellora) was nominated for Best Documentary Biography in the 2010 ATOM Awards.

She has recently completed two transmedia projects which launched at the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival – Re-enchantment and the augmented reality work, REKINDLING VENUS In Plain Sight with screen artist Lynette Wallworth.

Sarah Gibson, Writer and Director

Sarah has over 30 years experience as a documentary filmmaker. She is a Senior Lecturer in Media Arts at the University of Technology, Sydney where she lecturers in documentary and supervises post graduate students.

Sarah has been writing, producing and directing documentaries on contemporary social issues for over 30 years. Her previous documentary work has screened nationally and internationally to critical acclaim and more recently has explored the relevance of psychological ideas for contemporary culture. In The Beginning There Was Shopping (1991) and Born to Shop (1991) examined the pleasure in shopping. The three part series Myths of Childhood (1997) examined how we think about childhood and The Hundredth Room (2004)  explored the inner landscape of grief. For the last 5 years she has been immersed in the world of fairy tale interpretation. She brings to her filmmaking her experience as a Jungian analyst in private practice in Sydney.

Rose Draper, Design Lead

Formally trained in design, Rose Draper has been an animator and visual effects artist since 2004. Responsible for visuals in productions such as Revealing Gallipoli, Vietnam Nurses, Rock ‘n’ Roll Nerd to name a few, Rose was co-recipient of Australia’s first AFI award for Best Visual Effects for her work in Hunt Angels in 2006, and later part of the Logie award-winning team on Constructing Australia: The Bridge in 2008. Re-enchantment is her largest body of design work yet, and most recently she produced a series of beautiful scientific animations for the documentary The Silent Epidemic. Rose continues to develop and apply her rich, textured visual style through abstract painting and digital art and is currently part of the Sydney broadcast design team for well-respected broadcaster SBS.

The Project: Re-enchantment

If you have missed the series of interstitials you can catch them on abc iView at www.abc.net.au/re-enchantment.

Fairy tales are incredibly popular and well suited to an interactive landscape. The stories shape-shift over time and throughout cultures. They are mysterious. They can be entered from many angles and in different media. They are full of motifs and symbols. They can be interpreted in a multitude of ways that lend themselves to a multi-platform approach.

Traditional fairy tales have a powerful hold on our cultural imagination. Adapted, revised and bowdlerised, they greet us in print and popular fiction, as a reality TV show to find an Australian princess, at the movies as Pan’s Labyrinth, Fur, Sex and the City and in advertisements for everything from Chanel to Moccona Coffee. They have been reworked by visual artists and photographers from Cindy Sherman and Corinna Sargood to Paula Rego and Rosemary Valadon.

Rather than stripping away the mystery and enchantment, Re-enchantment shows how threading together various interpretations and versions of a story from the perspectives of psychology, social history and popular culture, deepens our connection to and fascination with the richness of fairy tales.
Re-enchantment has been four years in the making and is groundbreaking in its originality and its scope. It is a poetic and provocative act of creative interpretation of fairy tales, bringing together digital video, documentary footage, feature film sequences, advertising, cartooning, photography, animation, artwork, still images and sound.

Follow on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Re-enchantment/125219870872528

Follow on Twitter

http://twitter.com/reenchantment

Production Information

The project was initiated by documentary filmmaker Sarah Gibson, a practicing Jungian Analyst and Senior Lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney. Re-enchantment has brought together the creative team of Sarah Gibson (Director), Sue Maslin (Producer), Rose Draper (Design Lead), Anthony Eden (Developer), Keren Moran (Creative Director), Gregory Ferris (Editor), Sharon Jakovsky (Composer/ Sound Designer), Penny Chai (Researcher), Megan Heyward (project consultant) and Catherine Gleeson (Digital Media Director).

Re-enchantment is an Inside Out Productions and Film Art Media Production made possible by Screen Australia, Film Victoria, ABC and University of Technology, Sydney.

Event Information

FACEBOOK LISTING: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=204120602950996

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
http://www.ozdox.org/events/

WHEN: Wednesday 13th APRIL – 6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm start

ENTRY: Suggested donation $7

NO RSVP REQUIRED: but come early to ensure your seat.

Please invite your friends and colleagues! This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

OzDox are holding a tribute to Tony’s work and contribution to the industry as a cinematographer, a teacher, a mentor, a colleague and friend. He will be greatly missed.

If you have stories, anecdotes and most importantly clips of Tony’s work, please join us in a session which will screen examples of Tony’s work, show Tony in action and remember his humour, warmth and talent.

Mitzi Goldman will moderate this session and would like to hear from you if you have a story and film to share.

Speakers: Aviva Ziegler, Hart Cohen, Jessica Douglas Henry and others.

Contact Mitzi at mailto:mitzi@lookingglasspictures.com.au

FACEBOOK EVENT LISTING: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109172229161970&index=1

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
http://www.ozdox.org/events/

WHEN: Tuesday 15 March 2011
Wine, nibbles and conversation from 6:00pm for 6.30pm start

ENTRY: Suggested donation: Still only $5 but you can be more generous if you like

NO RSVP REQUIRED: Come early to ensure your seat. Please invite your friends and colleagues. This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

Presented by OzDox – The Australian Documentary Forum and the Australian Directors Guild in association with and Sydney AFTRS

Rabbit a la Berlin, the Oscar nominated archival documentary tells the history of Berlin from the point of view of the rabbits that lived in the no-man’s land between East and West. For 28 years the rabbits had been living within the Wall, enclosed but safe. Unfortunately, the Wall fell down one day and the rabbits had to look for another place to live. The film is an allegory of the story of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany from an unusual perspective.

Synopsis: The untold story about wild rabbits which lived between the Berlin Walls. For 28 years Death Zone was their safest home. Full of grass, no predators, guards protecting them from human disturbance. They were closed but happy. When their population grew up to thousands, guards started to remove them. But rabbits survived and stayed there. Unfortunately one day the wall fell down. Rabbits had to abandon comfortable system. They moved to West Berlin and have been living there in a few colonies since then. They are still learning how to live in the free world, same as we – the citizens of Eastern Europe.

Official Website: http://rabbitalaberlin.com/?set_lang&lang=en

Filmmaker Interview: http://www.documentary.org/content/meet-filmmakers-bartek-konopka-rabbit-a-la-berlin

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1410281/combined

Runtime: 51 mins
Director: Bartek Konopka
DoP: Piotr Rosolowski
Editor: Mateusz Romaszkan
Music: Maciej Cieslak
Producer: Anna Wydra
Co-producer: Heino Deckert, MS Films, Majade, TVP, MDR, ARTE, RBB, YLE, LICHTPUNT, VPRO.

The OzDox End Of Year Party

Following the documentary screening, there will be food, drinks and wine – your favourite tunes on the vinyl jukebox – great conversation – all things documentary!

WHAT TO BRING: A RECORD FOR THE VINYL JUKEBOX!

Get involved on the night by helping to create the music playlist on the Vinyl Jukebox!

Dust off your record collection and bring a few of your favourite vinyls along to the party to play on the night, or select from the OzDox vinyl collection and pick a record to play on the Vinyl Jukebox.

All styles of music welcome!

FACEBOOK EVENT LISTING: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112150692188544

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
http://www.ozdox.org/events/

WHEN: Thursday 16th December – 6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm screening, followed by the OzDox party

ENTRY: Suggested donation $5

NO RSVP REQUIRED: but come early to ensure your seat.

Please invite your friends and colleagues! This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

Download the session notes here

The Seminar

Many documentaries stand or fall on the quality of their research. Good research reveals aspects of a subject you may not have thought of otherwise and can save the film from devastating errors of fact, opinion and sentiment. Today’s documentary research begins online and with budgets and time pressures being what they are, we need to know how to use this tool to the maximum effect in the minimum of time.

Whether you are a filmmaker, researcher or writer, this seminar will enhance your skills by demonstrating:

• How to effectively use different search engines and directories, and understand their strengths and limitations.
• The depth of information sources available in AFTRS and other libraries and how to search and access these resources for your research.
• Practical tips and techniques for using subscription-based online and database services and how to retrieve the most relevant material.
• The unique strategies and tactics for searching lesser known web tools.
• How to learn when to go beyond the Web to retrieve other high quality information sources.
• How to use Creative Commons to one’s advantage
• How to incorporate social media such as Twitter into your research.

The seminar will be presented by Debbie Sander.

Debbie Sander is the co-manager of the AFTRS library and has been at AFTRS for nearly 11 years. She has worked as a research librarian and Internet trainer for 25 years, working in a variety of libraries and training institutions including the State Library of NSW, University of Sydney Library, Telstra, and Dialog. Her area of specialisation is electronic information retrieval and web content, and she remembers having to use the Internet before web links and the mouse were developed. During the last few years she has created a specialised web research course to deliver to students and staff at AFTRS.

Pat Fiske will introduce the session.

WHEN: Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Wine, nibbles and conversation from 6:00pm for 6.30pm start

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.

GETTING THERE: http://www.ozdox.org/events/

ENTRY: $5 donation

RSVP not required, but be early to ensure your seat. Please invite your friends and colleagues too! This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

OzDox encourages you to participate in www.ozdox.org where you can leave comments and open discussion on each event.

SESSION DETAILS

Dr. Hart Cohen will introduce the session talking about the direction in which research projects are heading, what projects suit a Doctorate of Creative Arts at University of Western Sydney, and discuss the common pitfalls of film as practice-based research.

Paulo Alberton will showcase his multilayered project, Who We Really Are, which has accumulated over 60 hours of footage in the last 20 months and still has a 2-month shoot ahead, and a 12-month edit before he delivers a long form doco and a 30,000-word exegesis. How is it possible? Or is it? Find out the challenges, watch clips, give your feedback, get involved, finance it!

Basil Hogios will speak about his collaboration the director and participants in Who We Really Are, where music plays an important role in the storytelling: “The process is non-linear and is drastically different to traditional film music processes”. Basil participates as a performer, tutor, music producer and score composer.

WHO WE REALLY ARE

The work-in-progress documentary by Paulo Alberton

Capoeira Angola and gangster rap compete in young African refugees’ minds and hearts as they attempt to make Australia their new home. They are introduced to the traditional Afro-Brazilian art-form of Capoeira Angola by the hands of the strict Afro-Brazilian Master Roxinho. Roxinho constantly challenges their connection to their original culture and asks them why they are dressing and behaving like North American gangster rapper 50 Cent. Roxinho says: “you have to be really careful not to get lost in this culture!”

This doco combines observational and participatory filmmaking and music plays an important role in the film’s story telling.

The observational footage brings Paulo’s perspective on the relationship Master / African refugee students. And Capoeira Angola music plays an important role in subtitling this relationship with the metaphors of slavery time in Brazil.

The participatory element helps these young refugees tell the world “Who We Really Are”, bringing their perspectives into the feature doco and giving a sense of authorship and achievement as they discover their talent for music and storytelling.

More information on www.vidiola.com, or on the project blog www.framingthecircle.com

Facilitated by Dr Mitzi Goldman
Mitzi has written, produced, edited and directed documentaries for over 20 years and has a wealth of experience in many aspects of filmmaking and teaching. Her films have been screened around the world in festivals in Germany, South Africa, the UK, France, Spain, the USA, and of course, at home in Australia. Mitzi’s documentaries deal with social issues, personal history and cultural heritage, and have received nominations at Australia’s AFI Awards, sold to ABC TV, Channel 4 (UK), SBS TV and won awards, including an ATOM award for Best Social Issues Documentary. Her credits include Snakes and Ladders, Things I Call Mine, Many Homes – Many Names, Hatred, Ports of Destiny, Chinese Take Away and End of the Rainbow which is an international co-production with ARTE, ITVS and SBS. Mitzi has a Phd in Cultural Studies from UWS.

THE PANEL

Dr. Hart Cohen
Dr. Hart Cohen is Associate Professor in Media Arts in the School of Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney, NSW, Australia and a member the Centre for Cultural Research. He is Associate Head of School and directs Research and Postgraduate Studies. He is currently a principal investigator on the ARC project, Resident’s Voices. Dr. Cohen is founding editor of the on-line journal, Global Media Journal/Australian Edition and a member of the research group CINERG based at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada co-developing projects on interactive nonlinear on-line database narratives. Recent Publications include: Screen Media Arts: An Introduction to Concepts and Practices (2009) for Oxford University Press (with Juan Salazar and Iqbal Barkat.) Knowledge and A Scholarship of Creativity, IM – Interactive Media E-Journal, vol 2010, no. #5, pp 1-8, Conceptualising Digital Heritage Databases in Remote Aboriginal Communities (Information Visualisation 2010 University of London South Bank, IEEE July, 2010). Recent presentations include, Digital archives and discoverability: innovating access to the Strehlow collection,( ITIC, Canberra, July 2010); Database Narratives: Youtube, Database and Immersive Documentary: Challenges for Re-mediated/Remixed Documentary (Visible Evidence XVII, Istanbul 2010)

Paulo Alberton
In 94, Paulo left a 7-year career as a commercial airline pilot in Brazil to become a filmmaker. He completed a Certificate in Film at NYU, Queer Film Studies at WITS University in Johannesburg and a Master of Arts degree at AFTRS specializing in documentary directing; and is now engaged in a full time Doctorate of Creative Arts program at the University of Western Sydney (2009-2011). Broadcast credits include the 10-minutes Going To The Dogs (SBS); the half-hours Give Me A Break (SBS) and Living On (SBS) and one hour’s Swapping Lives (SBS) and Drums of Maranhao (TV Cultura Brazil). Awards include Best Photography for Water and I; Film Australia special commendation and ATOM Best-multimedia award for Mijn Man; and Best Doco and Best Editing at Western Australian Screen Awards 2004 for Going To The Dogs. Since 2007, Paulo has been working on independent documentary My Father, My Master, which explores the depths of a master-disciple relationship within the world of Capoeira Angola. This film leads Paulo to the thesis film Who We Really Are, being presented in this session.

Basil Hogios
Basil is an award-winning composer and sound designer who has worked in film and television, theatre, dance, and installation. For the screen, he composed the score for the feature film Romulus My Father starring Eric Bana, for which he was nominated for an AFI Award, and has composed for many award-winning shorts, television shows, documentaries, and TV commercials. In theatre, Basil has collaborated with some of Australia’s greats on mainstage shows for Sydney Theatre Co., Melbourne Theatre Co., Company B, Bell Shakespeare, and Griffin. He is the creative director of the music and sound company FirstCut Studio, a facility in Sydney that is home to a talented and experienced group of composers and sound professionals.

WHAT: Screening, Discussion and Q&A moderated by Dr Mitzi Goldman.

WHEN: Thursday, 14 October 2010
6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm start
Wine, nibbles and conversation from 6:00pm

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios,
Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St,
Moore Park NSW.

Map: http://www.aftrs.edu.au/about/contact-us/sydney.aspx

ENTRY : Suggested donation: Still only $5
but you can be more generous if you like too.

RSVP not required,
but be early to ensure your seat.
Please invite your friends and colleagues too!

This event is open to the public.

Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS. OzDox encourages you to participate in www.ozdox.org where you can leave comments and open discussion on each event.

THE OZDOX ARCHIVE

OZDOX has 30 programs of events from the past 3 years on DVD ranging from 60 mins to 120mins. These programs contain many of the best of Australian documentary filmmakers, plus visiting overseas filmmakers. Only $A 24 with postage.

See The OzDox Archive
or email: ozdox@mac.com for library sales enquiries.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ANONYMOUS STORIES FROM THE SEMINAR

OzDox – The Australian Documentary Forum and The Australian Directors Guild in association with the Australian Screen Editors Guild and Sydney AFTRS Presents:

The Perfect Match for the Perfect Cut

Couples management for editors and directors

With a distinguished panel of documentary editors:
James Bradley ASE, Ruth Cullen, Andrea Lang ASE

WHEN: Wednesday, 8 September 2010, 6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm start
Wine, nibbles and conversation from 6:00pm

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St,
Moore Park NSW.

Map: http://www.ozdox.org/events/

SUGGESTED DONATION: $5

RSVP not required, but be early to ensure your seat.
This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

What happens in the dark between the editor and the director – the GOOD, the BAD and the truly UGLY – rarely sees the light of day, but now OzDox and the Australian Screen Editors Guild (ASE) will lift the veil of secrecy in this special workshop on how to get the best from your editing process. The session will feature a lively panel of expert editors, contributions from the floor, and confidential tales of intrigue, salvation and magic read out by actors in order to preserve anonymity. These true adventures in editing, never before revealed in public, have been solicited from some of Australia’s most distinguished documentarians. Both experienced and beginning editors/filmmakers are encouraged to attend and put forward your questions and experiences.

The workshop will address the following:

• For the director: How to choose an editor
• For the editor: How to choose a director (plus rejection without tears).
• For the director: What a great editor can do for your film and what you need to provide them with at the start
• For the editor: the care and feeding of the director – ten dos and don’ts
• For the Happy Couple:
  • how to decide what your film is about and move forward together into bliss
  • protocol in the editing room – coming on strong vs the waiting game
  • ten fatal mistakes that can wreck a marriage
  • turning creative differences into a brand new baby
  • healthy parenting – the mix and the grade
• The Sweet Smell of Success: the domineering partner – learning to speak up – giving credit where credit’s due
  

Biographies

James Bradley ASE

James studied filmmaking in the late 1970s under the inspirational Surrealist painter and filmmaker Dusan Marek. After making several grant-funded dramas, he began his career as an editor on TV series, music videos, corporate films, documentaries and short dramas. James subsequently become known for his work with indigenous filmmakers and has edited a large number of highly awarded documentaries, many on indigenous subjects. Notably, he has cut over 70 music videos for some of Australia’s best-loved artists. In 2005 James won the AFI Award for Best Non-Feature Editing and later that year was awarded Australian Screen Editors Guild accreditation. James has also worked as a director and producer.

Ruth Cullen

Ruth initially entered the film industry as an editor, and has worked in that capacity on some remarkable award-winning documentaries. She is experienced as an edit doctor in both the US and Australia. As a filmmaker, Ruth has produced and/or directed one-off and series documentaries – specialising in magical tales about unusual lives – and these have been shown around the world.  Ruth has also worked as an Executive Producer in Arts, Entertainment and Comedy for the ABC, and is currently the Head of Documentary at The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). She serves on the Board of the Australian Directors Guild and is a committee member of Ozdox..

Andrea Lang ASE

After working for some years at SBS, editing documentaries, news and current affairs, in 1998 Andrea gained a Masters Degree in drama editing at AFTRS. Since then she has been applying her drama skills to documentary with notable results. As well as working on television series, hour-long and half hour documentaries, Andrea has edited a number of feature documentaries which have been highly acclaimed around the world. Within Australia, the films she has edited have consistently won “Best Documentary” awards, as well as several nominations for “Best Editing”.

The session organizers are Gwen Sputore for the ASE and Martha Ansara, chairing the session for Ozdox. If you have an anonymous story you wish to contribute, please contact gsputore@gmail.com or hotdox@iinet.net.au by Sept.5, 2010.

TALES FROM THE CUTTING ROOM:
things that go wrong in the dark – and sometimes right….

The following stories were sent into Ozdox by editors, directors and producers and read out by actors at the seminar A PERFECT MATCH FOR A PERFECT CUT on 8 September,2010. The seminar was  organised in cooperation with the Australian Screen Editors guild and evoked considerable recognition and discussion.  Our panel consisted of James Bradley ASE, Ruth Cullen, and Andrea Lang ASE. There were also comments from the audience. The audio recording of the proceedings will be available shortly and the Australian Screen Editors guild will be posting a tape.

1. Now know what to look for

I cut an hour long documentary for one director who could never stay long enough in the editing room to discuss a sequence in any concrete way.  Even if you could get her to show up, she would find a reason to leave again – make cups of tea, develop a headache, rush off to unexpected meetings, etc.  With a little research, I discovered that she was an ideas person, a great talker. Very personable – at least on the surface. But she had few actual filmmaking skills — certainly she had no comprehension of the editing process. And didn’t want to learn. For her, being a filmmaker consisted of coming up with the subject for a film, talking about it persuasively enough to hook a producer and a great crew, charming the film’s subjects, letting her crew do the filming, and then queening about with the film once it was finished. Practical filmmaking chores were not something she wanted to know about

This might have been tolerable if the director ever gave credit to any of the people she worked with, but her ego was so fragile and her anxiety about her ignorance so great that, of course, she claimed the whole thing as her own work. She was also very difficult if I, as her editor, didn’t come up with what she wanted even though she was unable to discuss possible solutions for problem footage.

I was drawn into the project through a producer with whom I had worked several times before. Neither this producer nor I nor anyone else, as far as I know, has ever worked with this director twice.  I now know what to look for.

2. A black comedy

The Film: one of Australia’s first personal documentaries.

The Tone: black, comic — very comic, very very black.

A highly regarded and experienced documentary editor is employed by the producer to work with the director. This editor, a mature and kind person, empathises with all the characters, and — because the story involves the suicide of the director’s father — treats this family story as a tragedy.

The editor’s objective: to reconcile the conflicts among the characters in the film and promote accord.

The director’s objective: to explore his ambivalent and unreconciled relationship with a complex and contradictory parent through an entertaining and – wherever possible – comic film.

After a week of awkward communication and failed connection, the editor finds the task too onerous and resigns.  The director – inexperienced at documentary – is blamed for this by both producer and funding body who threaten to remove him from the project.

The director then uses his intuition to select a new editor — one who is relatively inexperienced but every bit as black and twisted as the director. They overcome the opposition of the funding body, and are allowed to proceed. During the editing process the director becomes increasingly amazed that the editor understands the film’s objective PERFECTLY and EXACTLY! There are a lot of arguments and even out-and-out fights – all on creative editing issues – most of which are resolved to the film’s benefit.

Nevertheless, the funding body’s project officer finds their rough cut puzzling, irreverent and distasteful, and this time the editor as well as the director is threatened with removal. However, the ABC views the same rough cut and offers to buy the film, thus triggering completion finance.

The finished film receives multiple national and international awards and is screened theatrically. The director is inundated with letters from all over the world – of appreciation, dismay, and general reactions of controversy. Over the following years, personal documentaries with a black comic twist become more common.

3. Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

A senior editor and a more junior editor were given a brief for a complex, feature documentary. The director was still shooting and there was a time-critical deadline. Together the editors worked out a pathway to deal with multiple types of footage and this pathway was okay-ed by both producer and director. During the five weeks of the shoot, the editors worked happily. The director had scheduled time off from shooting when he was supposed to come into the cutting room to look for holes in the narrative that needed pick-ups and to keep an eye on the direction of the edit.  As material from the shoot came in, the editors sent back DVDs of the interviews for the director to view.

During the first week, this procedure seemed to be working. After that, the director rarely kept his appointments with the editors. Despite repeated requests to the producer for transcripts and logging sheets, these never appeared and the editors had to trawl through all the footage in order to assemble the film according to the script.. (Of course, this well-financed film had no editing assistants.)

For the first week after the shoot, the editors worked hard with the director to get a cut ready to screen for the broadcaster and funding bodies. Their feedback was that the film was well on track. At the screening, the director heaped lavish praise on the editors – proclaiming them the best editors he had ever worked with. Everyone was happy.

But the next day, as the editors started working towards a more detailed cut, it became obvious that the director had not viewed the DVDs which the editors had sent to him, and without logs and transcripts, he was finding it hard to get across the extensive and detailed interviews. By the end of that day, the director was clearly floundering. He was becoming a dark, brooding cloud, watching DVDs in a corner of the senior editor’s editing suite. By the end of the second day, this gloom was relieved by the director’s sudden sorties into the junior editor’s editing suite where he would burst out with aggressive demands and complaints,. Among his accusations were that the junior editor had ignored a scripting brief that had, in fact, never appeared in the edit room.  Soon after that, the director called in the producer (with whom he was having a relationship) and the producer also stormed into the junior editor’s room to have go at her. This tirade was so loud that the senior editor – a person with considerable prestige in the industry –  emerged from his room to intervene in the bullying. This did not improve the situation and, for the rest of the week, the director continued to hover in the senior editor’s suite trying to catch up on the footage while periodically popping next door to abuse the junior editor for every frustration he was experiencing.

The director’s emotional outbursts were by now upsetting others working in the facility, but the film was making progress and another week passed in the same gruesome manner. The following Monday, the junior editor arrived at work to find the director watching her DVDs in her room rather than that of the senior editor. This time, when the director started shouting because he couldn’t locate some footage he was looking for, the junior editor walked out. As the senior editor had continued to rebuff the director’s attempts to drive a wedge between him and the junior editor, it was a foregone conclusion that the edit was doomed.

The next day, without warning, the senior editor was sacked. Another editor was brought in, logging sheets and transcripts were supplied, and the director was finally across the material. He was at last ready to be in an edit suite with an editor and the film was finished by the deadline. It was later discovered by the original editors that this pattern of behaviour had occurred before, including the sacking of experienced editors. Almost no editor or producer had worked with this director twice, but none of the previous survivors revealed anything to the two editors involved in this project until after the whole thing was over.

4. Pushing the boundaries

I once started cutting a documentary which was supposed to be a kind of an intellectual thesis “pushing the boundaries of filmmaking”, with a mix of talking heads and re-dramtised events. One day the director came into the edit room and gave me a “paper” he had written on editing. He then told me to study it and suggested I try and stick as close as possible to the guidelines he was suggesting — things like “turn all the sound off and cut the whole thing to a piece of music”.  Instead of a script (which for weeks he claimed to be writing) he eventually presented me with a storyboard of images he had drawn and told me to cut to that, when I asked him for a bit more detail and perhaps even to select a few pieces of interview and to put them into some kind of order, he went berserk, attacked my credibility as an editor and questioned my integrity and commitment to the project. After doing a bit of research on him I realized he was a total nutcase so I QUIT!!!

5. Taking the Blame

Editor and director work furiously putting together a feature documentary that because of funding hold ups has started late but still has same delivery deadline.

Research and rough script that was promised have not been done. (due to a family drama that the researcher has had).

Editor and director work late for 3 weeks but are having a great time working with some fabulous material, great interviews, archive footage and photographs. We are both happy with a good rough cut that has a good emotional arc and weaves the stories to a satisfying conclusion.

Screening goes well with producer who has some good suggestions which are included the next day before a quicktime of cut is made.

Cut is then FTP’d to client.

Three days later the editor is fired as the client believes the film is not up to the stage it should be.!!!!!  (The producer offered no response to this opinion.)

Loyalty is a really important component in film making because we all need to take responsibility for all the factors that are involved. Blaming an experienced editor is really disappointing.

PS The final version that went to air was not that different but it still hurts.

6. Family relations

People somehow assume a woman editor is particularly sensitive to emotionally charged relationships and perhaps this is why I’ve been asked to work on several projects where the director has made a film about a close family member. Almost invariably, however, the time comes when I find myself caught in the middle between the director and their loved one — the subject of the documentary — and it’s not a comfortable place to be.

On one project we’re about to head off to the studio to record the father’s final narration – which to my surprise is the first time Dad has seen what Sonny Boy has written. The director “innocently” hands his father the final script and, of course, after a few minutes an argument breaks out “I’m not going to say that!” etc. There is a sullen silence on the drive to the studio, and I know it’s my job to somehow smooth things over and get the narration recorded – which we …..manage to do.

7. Voice of the dead

Endings of films are often difficult. One of the most difficult for me happened with a dramatized documentary based on the life of a long-deceased historical personage. Money had been tight and the shooting schedule had come to an abrupt and premature end, and now a couple of scenes — including the last –are posing difficulties. These problems, thankfully, are not insurmountable, but the director begins panicking. A couple of days of torment, and one morning he bounces radiantly into the editing room, declaring that all our problems have been solved: the long-deceased subject of the film has come to him in a dream and explained exactly how to edit the last scene. It doesn’t make sense to me, but my arguments aren’t in the same league as those of a genuine dream personage, so I just bite my tongue, follow the instructions from beyond the grave, and we finish the film. A few months later, I hear from the director that they’ve cut a new ending (and re-onlined and mixed) because audiences don’t like the original ending. Of course, there is no recognition that I’d argued for this exact same ending during the edit, and I don’t bother to make the point: I had long ago resolved that I would not be working with THAT director again!

8. Turn, turn, turn

After years of rejections and self-funding a film following a technological wizard with controversial ideas, we finally got to the edit room at X Company. The editor was a great story-teller who could be left alone with a script outline and notes while the technical writer and I dealt with the rest of the film. Within a few weeks, we had a rough-cut that Film Australia’s EP supported with enthusiasm. That was the post-production’s high point — everything from then on went south.

The broadcaster’s EP said, “This isn’t what I commissioned—focus on the technology — forget about the people”, At which point our X Company EP did a 180, “Don’t worry …. the guys will fix it”. This was my first self-initiated film and I sat there dumbfounded and intimidated as the EPs and the producer made their decisions. In hindsight, this was a door that led to years of bitterness and depression.

Our editor was very pregnant at the time and with all the other delays, we decided to take a break while the writer and I tried to refocus the story. The problem was that the more we tried, the more complex the technological issues got and the more was taken away from the human story.

A few weeks later our editor came back holding her baby. A special room was set up where the baby could stay under the care of the editor’s mother. While we were having coffee breaks, the editor would be breast feeding. At times, she would cut with the baby in her arms. It was a great atmosphere, though we did get the occasional complaint about the crying from nearby editing rooms

On seeing the next rough-cut, X Company’s EP said that they were considering taking the film away from me – the film to which I had devoted years of heart, soul and money. The rest is a little blurry but the anger on both sides eventually passed and it became clear that having the technology story as the main backbone wasn’t particularly interesting. Being a less experienced filmmaker, I was also too attached to some scenes, wanting to tell the bigger story, so the editor kindly pointed out that it was time to “kill the babies”, a disturbing comment coming from someone who was breast feeding at the time. She suggested we show the story to her husband, who was a filmmaker himself, and we took on many of his suggestions, building the story up rather than cutting it down. The following cut returned the film towards the human story which the EP from the broadcaster then said was what he wanted all along, I didn’t try to understand where the turn-a-round came from, I was just grateful that the film was no longer a purely technological story and that everyone had fallen into line.

The film went on to do well at festivals and when I talked one US judge who had awarded it a prestigious prize, he said that it won because it captured the human face of technology.

9. Editing with a bully

Bully: “This is how we do it, I need the structure in place by 3pm.
I don’t need to discuss this; this isn’t some wanky feature documentary…”

Ed: (taken aback but keeping the peace) “But, as the editor, I will need to look at the footage to see if the structure will work?”

Bully: “Do it however you need to, but we’re on a tight schedule and I need the outline of the cut by mid afternoon, so I can start on the narration”.

Ed: “ But …”

Bully: “No Buts.”

3pm. A rough assembly of main grabs is in place with black holes left for narration.

Bully “Good, now you can start colouring it in..”
(his term for editing)

Two days later a reasonable rough cut is in place. Bully writes an appalling emotional narration that interrupts and takes over the character’s story. Editor can’t help it and rewrites worst narration grabs. Bully comes and looks at the cut,

Bully: “Yes something like that. See, it’s not so hard to be collaborative is it !!!?”

Ed. “No it’s not.”.

10. The director loves editing

Starting the edit on a complex feature documentary that has been in development for many years, my heart sinks when the director enthuses ‘I just love editing’. I know this is dangerous – the director is approaching the edit as if suddenly all his dreams are going to magically fall into place and his vision will be realised, while I know it’s going to be a difficult job that needs to be approached with logic and discipline, not just unbridled enthusiasm. So we spend the first week trying to get the opening scenes working, going over and over them, at his insistence polishing them as if we were fine cutting. There will be no room in the cut for most of this back-story, but I can’t convince the director to move on. When he has to go away shooting for a couple of weeks, he asks “What are you going to do while I’m away?” and I reply “I’m going to edit – that’s what an editor does”. “But how can you edit without me?”

Of course, the edit drags on and on, and I have to start another job way before it is finished. I don’t even get a thank-you credit.

Editor vs Line Producer

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6921133/

11. Very relaxing
It’s the first day working in the edit suite on the cut.

“Two secs”, the director mutters, getting up and running down the hallway to the toilet.

Before I finish playing out the changes I am working on, I hear his feet thumping back towards me.

“Show me!” the director demands, bounding through the door, slightly out of breath.

And so the days of post roll on in much the same manner, the director being so precious about not wasting a single minute that he runs to the toilet and never letting me out of his sight if he can help it.

I’ve got the feeling he expects me to run to the toilet too.

12. In the wrong hands, a basic knowledge of Final Cut Pro can be a dangerous thing

I’ve been hired to finish editing a documentary which has gone over time. I am working with a first time director, with one short film to his credit. The film is at rough cut stage. Another editor has already worked on the project attempting to bring it to fine cut, but has moved on to another commitment, when I am brought onto the project.

As an editor, I am fine about a director who sometimes shows me what he wants by cutting a few shots together. The first day on the job, however, this director parks himself territorially between me and the monitor, and I have to insinuate myself into position to begin editing.

The director is so caught up in the details of the edit that he has lost sight of the bigger picture. The producer of the film manages to communicate what the film requires and I concur. The director disagrees, although the basis of his disagreement is not at all clear. Nevertheless, between the three of us, the editing of the film proceeds – after a fashion – with the director literally leaning over my shoulder and passing comments the whole time.

We get through the first day, with reasonable results despite everything, but I go home exhausted. The next morning, I return to discover that the director has spent the night reworking my edit – re-arranging shots and changing shot lengths. The sequences that were almost working the day before are now over-long, again. And day by day, this is how the edit proceeds – the night shift reworking the efforts of the day shift — the day shift trying to restore order to the edit. But the online has been booked, and so the editing eventually comes to its somewhat compromised end.

13. No boundaries

One film that I worked on the director (who was also the producer) had their own final cut pro set up at home, I would go to her house and cut during the day and she would get on the equipment at night and recut what we had been cutting all day. Eventually after a lot of arguing and me forbidding this practise, we got to a rough cut which the ABC approved. We then took a 3 week break to get some perspective and she recut the WHOLE film in a totally different direction!! We now had three weeks to finish the film and no producer to enforce any kind of  boundaries, so I tried as best I could to recut the film back the way it was when the ABC approved it and then move it on to fine cut. I did it but the film was never as good as it could have been…

The Offer

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7079147/

14. A loyal editor loses the way

One of the most painful experiences I have had as a director was working on one project over a number of years. My editor was very loyal throughout the time but just when we were getting somewhere with the structure — I thought – she lost her nerve and felt the film had lost its way.

I knew afterwards that I should have put my foot down and said “No, this is the way we are going to continue to go”. But the editor had been with me since the beginning and I felt that she should be able to have a say if she felt so strongly that the structure was wrong.  She then brought a friend in and with his backing became impervious to reason — together they proceeded to demolish the film. I lost 3 weeks editing time, my confidence, and two stone in weight until, with much support from my own friend, I was able to stand up and actually dissolve the relationship – fire the committed but by now increasingly destructive editor. That has not — nor ever will — happen to me again.

I put the film back together, had a break, found another editor who thought the structure was, in fact, working as we originally had it, and we completed the film which has definitely stood the ‘test of time’. It is still being screened today, a great many years later.

15. Mad and Bad

I have worked with two mad editors. One, an Academy Award nominated editor, fled Hollywood when Reagan was elected and worked with us on the proviso that he could give three days notice in the event of impending nuclear war. He kept the radio on at all times, listening for the warning, while nervously nibbling the plastic cores used at the centre of film rolls. By the end of the edit all our cores had little bite marks out of them, right around the rims. Despite his growing paranoia, this editor did a great job. Mad didn’t mean bad; and years later when he was psychotic and living on the streets, he stayed in my spare room for a while.

This experience left me with a false sense of confidence. My next editor was a notorious maddie, and an alcoholic but a wonderfully creative filmmaker. I mistakenly thought I could handle him.

Once this edtior had signed his contract, I discovered he wanted a job but hated the film. Even before the shoot, he began to mock the people in the film and became progressively more abusive towards me. The producer — a mate of the editor’s whom I had also brought onto the film — had contractual control of the project. And when my rushes weren’t great, the editor persuaded the producer that only HE could save the film and only if I was banned from the cutting room. And so my film got to rough cut entirely without my input.

At this point, the broadcaster intervened on my behalf. This didn’t disturb the editor who announced that since he used a unique method of working, it would be impossible to change anything in his edit. His method, or so he claimed, was that before he made a single cut, he looked at the material repeatedly and walked around thinking –- week after week.  When the final form of the film became clear in his mind, he conformed the celluloid to his mental vision, simultaneously laying several sound tracks and pulling only the exact shots he needed from the rolls of workprint. After that, all the film required was a bit of fine cutting.

I challenged him on this, as in the past I had seen plenty of trims hanging in his editing rooms, but he asserted that these had, in fact, been FAKE trims which merely served as a decoy to fool interfering producers.

When I heard this nonsense, I got the support of the broadcaster to get into the edit room by myself and run the cut with its several sound tracks. I also went through every roll of the workprint to see what could be changed.

Un-fortunately….. I found that the editor had lifted out each exact piece of film from the unedited rolls to be placed in his tightly constructed rough cut — just as he had said. It was all one interlocking whole, complete with split dialogue tracks, effects and music. It would be impossible for me – especially in those days of editing on film — to construct a new cut without going back to the very beginning. No matter how much I hated the editor’s version of my film, and I did, I would have to live with it. I took my name off the film which, in the end, was loved by none of us and was thus a complete waste of $300,000. This has been my only bad experience with an editor. Of course, since then I have always been my own producer.

16. In praise of editors:

It is not unusual for our talented, committed Australian editors to save the film – for which they rarely get the credit. One of my favourite editors was unwavering in his confidence, even if I brought him what I thought was hopeless footage. Optimistically and collaboratively, we always managed to pull it all together into a meaningful and even prize-winning documentary. One film which I produced with a first time director had such hopeless footage that this same editor then shot or created over half of the material of the final documentary himself. There was no film he couldn’t salvage.

17. A Great time

A supportive encouraging and creative director is a great person to have in a cutting room. The quality of work just gets better and better as you inspire each other and the cut’s mojo just starts to hum. You look forward to going to work, the coffee’s great and suddenly its 5.30 again! And what makes it truly wonderful is when the client turns and says. “This is great work, I love it, don’t change a thing except for that super with the spelling mistake.”

18. Avoiding Dissension

Some lovely editors habitually arrive in the cutting room with sweet buns for morning tea. Perhaps this has an element of self preservation — keeping the director’s blood sugar levels up to avoid dissension! Editors will do a lot to avoid dissension – which is a different thing from robust creative discussion.

19. Learning from the editor

I have learned a lot from the editors: for example, what is needed to make a sequence work and, for some films, the value of a paper edit.  For other films, I have learned to find innovative structures, the importance of variation and pauses, and ways of slowly working through the footage to find a deeper meaning for the film.   It was an editor who taught me to ask, “How long can this sequence really be in a film of only an hour?” It’s a lesson that applies to just about everything in life: “How long can this sequence really be in a film of only an hour?”

20. Magic

As for the magic of editing: I have cut a few films where there has been such a high level of competence, confidence, trust and mutual respect between the producers, director and myself that it allowed us ALL to take the film to a place where it wanted to go,. These films were a truly creative and collaborative experience for everyone involved, wouldn’t it be great if filmmaking was always like that.

21. Catastrophic thinking

The director was anxious. She had pushed a lot of limits and pulled a lot of favours to shoot an ambitious doco with dramatic re-creations. As the rushes rolled in she hovered in the cutting room, unbearably tense.

I wasn’t sure myself. Coverage was minimal, performances patchy, perhaps there was enough good stuff if…   but I couldn’t think straight with the director nervously pacing the room.

Finally I decided to confront the issue. I had been hearing that severe anxiety is caused by “catastrophic thinking” – letting the worst possible outcome simmer in the back of your mind. And that it can help to recognise and address it.

I told the director that her that her anxiety was making it hard for me to work – I couldn’t get a clear perspective. I said she should stop worrying and take a step back. Besides, I said, what’s the worst that can happen? The film doesn’t work, no-one wants to see it and you just bury it. Life goes on. Not that I thought this was likely, I hastened to add.

From the look on her face I guess my “worst possible outcome” was a whole lot worse than her “worst possible outcome”. It was a potential catastrophe she hadn’t thought of…  until now.

I did get some space after that. That let me find a way into the rushes, to be able to see what was strong, where performances could be held and pushed with music and sound, where they should be disrupted and shook up. Our relationship in the edit room survived and developed into a good collaboration.

In the end, the film came together fantastically. The drama and performances were strong, the composer and sound designer were excellent and the film was a great success. Many people saw it and the director was proud to own it – it was a great credit to her ambition.

But confronting someone else’s “catastrophic thinking”? It’s not something I would do again.

22. A producer speaks

I worked with two young(ish) film-makers – a director and an editor in their early 30s.   Both had several films under their belts so not first timers

The film was a first person narrative where the story-teller’s experience should be the lens through which we view bigger issues but, of course, with subjectivity, it’s often difficult to see how you come across on screen.

The edit was really painful.  Everything was one step forwards two steps back.  I’m not sure who drove who round in circles but on several occasions the editor expressed his frustration. The editor’s instincts were good but for whatever reasons he was weak with this director.

This was our advice to the editor:

1. don’t just think you are there to serve the director — your ultimate responsibility is to the producers and the film.  (Not so complicated if you are working with a single producer/director but it you are not, you may have to mediate….)

2. try to make it clear to the director that the edit suite is your space. You want to build a collaboration but you are not just an extension of the director.  The production is buying into your skills and ability as well as the collaborative strength of your thinking.

3. Always always storyboard the cut with coloured index cards up on the wall.  (our editor/director team didn’t and even when bullied into it, they didn’t really use it as their roadmap to write the story.  It meant they never really knew where they were going or why.  And so neither did the audience.)

4      Cover the walls with notes developing the story arc, motivations, character, themes etc – it isn’t just about cutting pictures it’s about writing a story

5  encourage the director to go away – to spend time away from the edit so that you can get on with things and the director can get a perspective and opportunity to think by not sitting on the editor’s shoulder at every cut.  The film needs to breathe and so does the editor!

6. an editor needs to find a gentle supportive way to be able to tell the director he or she is wrong / not making sense / has lost their way.

23. Another producer offers advice

If I had one piece of advice for younger directors or producers it is this. Don’t be obsessed with control. An obsession with control is more often than not only an expression of insecurity. As a producer you can’t direct via someone else. If you don’t support the director you are cutting your own throat. And as for directors, support your editor – you cannot control every single facet of the production or think of every good idea all by yourself. If you want to do that, write a book.,,,Filmmaking is by nature a collaborative process, which is both its blessing and its curse. Work with people who are prepared to consider and recognise a good idea wherever it came from – and be willing to do that yoursel

As a producer I have always tried to get my way via a persuasive argument rather than through control. If I could not convince a director or an editor of my point of view, then I figured either that I was not persuasive enough clearly or that I was wrong. Or that I had chosen to work with the wrong person in the first place. Any way I look at it, I have had to accept that it has been my problem not theirs.  This applies equally to the relationship of director and editor.

24. Advice from an Editor

Editing is the great reality check for the director. This is the time they are at their most vulnerable particularly if they are inexperienced or insecure. For the edit to be a success there must be mutual trust and respect. This is of course not easy in a first time working relationship and is the reason that people continue to work with those that they have a well established working relationship.

One of the great advantages of this is that it enables you to be confident in expressing opinions on what works, what doesn’t. You can be totally focused on the STORY and egos don’t get in the way or get bruised. The end result (the STORY) is of course much better.

A discussion of new delivery platforms, rights & contracts, marketing & financial returns, and the implications for Australian producer/directors.

The panel:

• Nick Doherty, Managing Editor, Television – SBS Online
• Penny Wright, Internet Broadcasting Program Manager, ABC iView and ABC TV downloads
• Stephanie Salter, Executive Producer of Multiplatform ABC
• Ray Argall, President, ADG
• Raena Lea-Shannon, Member of the NSW Society for Computers and the Law, Committee Member of the NSW Chapter of the AIMIA, Frankel Lawyers
• Michael Frankel, Frankel Lawyers
• Dr Janet Merewether, Producer/director (Screen Culture Pty Ltd), Academic (Macquarie University)

The panel will be moderated by Pat Fiske

WHEN: Wednesday 11 August 2010, 6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm start

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter, 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
Map: http://www.aftrs.edu.au/about/contact-us/sydney.aspx

ENTRY: Suggested donation $5

RSVP not required, but be early to ensure your seat.
This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

The topic

The options for viewing Australian documentaries have recently broadened beyond traditional ‘free-to-air,’ broadcasts to include online and digital delivery of programmes to the public. This session will explore the range of platforms used by the ABC and SBS to screen documentaries, and the shifting nature of their contracts with filmmakers. Online distribution models will also be discussed.

A definition of ‘Online’:

How do we define online rights? (other terms include digital rights, electronic rights, multimedia rights, cross platform rights, ancillary rights).

New viewing platforms

Find out what delivery items the ABC and SBS expect when either commissioning or acquiring programmes. This may include the documentary itself, as well as additional multimedia/digital deliverables.

Proposals & Websites

At what stage should filmmakers present their online ideas and proposals to broadcasters, and can the production of additional multimedia elements such as websites be incorporated as part of the production budget for the film?  Once a project has obtained a presale and goes into production, will the broadcasters host a page or two on their website, or design a full blown web site (and what additional rights may they require to do this?) For how long do these webpages remain on the broadcasters’ sites, what credits appear and how do filmmakers contribute to eg: the SBS Documentary Blog. How are marketing and distribution strategies developed between independents and broadcasters for the online presence?  Is it beneficial for both the broadcasters and producer/directors to design film websites, and to have the right to use segments and film trailers for online viewing and/or promotion? The ABC and SBS will show examples of webpages/sites that work best for them.

Contracts

Contracts are changing. The ABC/SBS now require the licence to screen on their main channels as well as more screenings on their subsidiary digital channels. The traditional 4 runs over 5 years has expanded to included online/catchup viewing rights, which are being requested for digital streaming. For example, SPAA’s recently negotiated terms of trade states that the ABC may request 14 days for online streaming after the initial broadcast. How are the ABC/SBS negotiating contracts with producers for delivery of programmes on the i-view/sbs player platforms?

Recoupment and Marketing

How can filmmakers explore the potential of online marketing tools (eg: Paypal DVD sales) as an alternative to traditional distributors? What rights do the need to retain if they negotiate distribution through educational suppliers such as Clickview? DVD distribution may a limited future if digital downloading continues to rise.  Will Screenrights/asdacs royalties be compromised in the future if there is less off-air educational copying, and more ‘free’ access by schools to programmes available on broadcaster websites? How can directors start to share copyright, IP and royalties with larger SA Enterprise-funded production companies in the exploitation of their films? How do the government funding organisations reconcile the demand to monetise online opportunities and at the same time seek to exploit them?

Future

What do broadcasters predict for the future in terms of online and cross platform rights agreements?  What do filmmakers want in regard to the retention of certain rights?

RSVP and see who else is attending here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116447138405162

Explore with us the new lightweight and inexpensive camera that is taking the world filmmaking community by storm.

Panel discussion and demonstration.

WHEN: Wednesday 14 July 2010, 6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm start

WHERE: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios
Entertainment Quarter.
130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
Map: http://www.aftrs.edu.au/about/contact-us/sydney.aspx

ENTRY: Suggested donation $5

RSVP not required, but be early to ensure your seat.
This event is open to the public. Parking fees discounted after 6pm, or with validated ticket from AFTRS.

Panelists, Erika Addis, Rebecca Barry, Nicola Daley and Dan Miau will explore the technical capabilities of the Canon DSLR Camera both positive & negative and processes employed in using a Canon DSLR Camera successfully in the making of Documentary Film.

Specific areas which will be addressed:

• tech specs for Canon EOS 5D Mkii, 7D, 550D
• file formats
• strengths
• limitations
• accessories available and required
• interchangable lenses
• sound capability
• transfer time
• editing
• grading

Video clips will embellish areas of discussion where we will demonstrate the positives and negatives of using a DSLR camera in making documentaries. Apart from the technical aspects, discussion will also cover the role of the DSLR camera in the creative process. Rebecca Barry and Nicola Daley will have just arrived back from India where they were using a Canon DSLR 7D on a documentary.

Come early as session is guaranteed to be well attended.

More about the panel:

Erika Addis

Cinematography Lecturer AFTRS, has worked in the film and television industry for over 25 years. Her work as a Cinematographer and Director of Photography includes a broad range of documentaries, feature films and television series. Her consistent delivery of high standard work has resulted in a raft of award wins including AFIs, awards from the Sydney Film Festival, an ACS Golden Tripod and a Kodak award from the St Kilda Film Festival.  Erika has an MA (Hons) in Film and Television specialising in Documentary and Screen Studies from AFTRS. She is presently studying all aspects of the Canon DSLR cameras.

Rebecca Barry

Is an award-winning director, writer and producer of documentary and drama films. She has been the recipient of many awards including winning the Best Student Documentary Prize at the Australian Documentary Conference 2003, the AFTRS Film Australia Award 2003 and the recipient of the AFTRS Screen Critics Circle Award for Best Director and Best Film. Her works as Director or Producer include, Footy Chicks, The Surgeon, Beats across Borders, The Space In Between, The McDonagh Sisters and “Overture. On her present documentary being shot in India she is shooting with a Canon DSLR 7D for the first time.

Nicola Daley

Is an award-winning Cinematographer, experienced with film, video and HD, and in all areas from music videos to drama to documentary. Recently she has shot her first feature film Girl Clock and is working alongside some of Australia’s most renowned documentarians, including Rebecca Barry with whom she is presently collaborating with on a documentary using a Canon DSLR 7D camera.

Dan Miau

Dan Miau graduated from AFTRS in 2003 in Location Sound Recording. He has recorded documentaries and factual TV series such as Miracles, Bomb Harvest, Bondi Rescue, My Family Feast, Australia’s Greatest Albums, and The Art of Walking. This year he has noticed a change in cameras. “A lot of productions are shooting on the 5D and 7D”.

Other specialists may be added to panel.

Location: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios / Entertainment Quarter. 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
Map: http://www.aftrs.edu.au/about/contact-us/sydney.aspx
Date: Wednesday 12 May 2010
Time: 6.00pm arrival for 6.30pm start
Entry: $5 suggested donation

RSVP not required, but be early to ensure your seat.
This event is open to the public.

NB: If you are intending to park at Fox Studios, a cheaper flat rate of $6 applies after 6pm!

Addicted to Money

Simon Nasht, Michael Cordell and Trevor Graham will explore the processes employed in creating international documentary series. Reviewing the financing and editorial considerations at work in producing an Australian program for the international television market.

Some specifics that will be addressed in this masterclass include:

1. The Story
Identifying stories that work for the international marketplace and audience – particularly in terms of attracting funding from overseas. The processes and experiences of getting  pre-sale approvals by broadcasters at different stages. The necessity of cutting and presenting materials differently for various markets.

2. The Voice
In Bondi Rescue, how are Aussies perceived abroad? In Addicted To Money, why choose an Anglo-Irish writer/presenter? What is “Australian” and what is equally at home in another English speaking market? Or non-English speaking market?

3. Series vs One-off
Different experiences and imperatives for the funding and producing of “series”, as opposed to “one-off’s” which our speakers are well versed in also.

4. Perceptions
How are Australian producers and directors perceived in the international marketplace? Are we taking a lead role in initiating new series – one-off or continuing, as opposed to adopting an existing format perhaps.

5. The Australian Element
What overseas series do you think have worked well in Australia? What Australian stories work well overseas in a series format? Is there a glass ceiling? Can we, from our distant corner, also be taken seriously when telling big international stories.

Case Studies (with excerpts)

Simon Nasht, will discuss Addicted To Money – a 3 x 1 hour series he directed on the current global financial crisis and its implications for the future, commissioned by public broadcasters ABC (Australia), RTE (Ireland) and S4C (UK) – will talk about the creative considerations of putting together a program of this magnitude, and how it was shaped for an international audience.

Michael Cordell will discuss his experiences producing the popular and long running TV series, Bondi Rescue, which has twice won the Logie for “Most Popular Factual Series” in 2008 and 2009. It was also nominated for “Most Outstanding Factual Series” in 2008.

Trevor Graham, previous commissioning editor at SBS and recently appointed East Coast executive producer for Electric Pictures, will talk about co-pro requirements for the international market from a creative writer/director viewpoint. Trevor wrote his doctoral thesis on this subject, which cites the example of Hula Girls – an international co-production which he wrote and directed for Electric Pictures in 2005, commissioned by AVRO, ARTE and SBS. This was also the subject of his doctoral thesis “Making Hula Girls – A cocktail for international co-production”.

Filmmaker Bio’s

Simon Nasht – broadcaster, writer and filmmaker

A former political reporter and foreign correspondent for The Age and the ABC, over the past 15 years Simon Nasht has established himself as one of Australia’s most experienced history documentary filmmakers, winning major international awards and producing work for many of the world’s leading networks including the ABC, BBC, National Geographic and America’s PBS. He has written a best selling biography of the explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins and is a regular contributor to ABC Radio National, The Australian, Sunday Age and other newspapers. Currently, he is a producer at Real Pictures, and previously co-producer at Essential Media, partner at Gabriel Films New York and joint MD at Pilot Productions with business partner Ian Criss in London and Budapest making trail-blazing shows like Lonely Planet for more than 70 broadcasters around the world. Simon also worked as a producer for Beyond International Group.

More About Addicted To Money

Written and presented by Irish economist and social commentator David McWilliams, and executive produced by Andrew Ogilvie of Electric Pictures in Perth, Addicted To Money is THE program for anyone who wants to know how and why the financial crisis came about, what it all means for us now, and what we can do to create a more sustainable economy. Biting and punchy, this series is a survival guide for the New Economy, presented with the wit, charm and incisive appeal of David McWilliams: a young economist who talks just as candidly to the most influential and powerful players in the global economy as he does to ordinary people around the world.

Official website: http://www.addictedtomoney.com.au
Trailer: http://www.addictedtomoney.com.au/?page_id=14

Michael Cordell – Executive Producer

Michael Cordell is one of the best-known producers and filmmakers in Australia. As a director, his documentary feature Year of the Dogs had a wide theatrical release in Australia, screened on the BBC’s prestigious Storyville and has won numerous awards. It is still among the highest grossing theatrical documentaries in Australia. Among Michael’s various credits as a producer and/or director are Bondi, The Track, Drama School, A Case for the Coroner, The National Sex Survey, Suspicious Minds and Political Football. His provocative documentary Music and Murder screened on SBS in 2004 while The Original Mermaid (SBS) won him the Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director. Michael was Executive and Series Producer on Two Men in a Tinnie with Tim Flannery and John Doyle that won Independent Producer of the Year (factual). He more recently directed Two in the Top End. He has recently Executive Produced Recruits (Ten), Dave in the Life (SBS), Anatomy of a Massacre (ABC) and is finishing his latest documentary feature Three Boys Dreaming for the ABC and BBC. Bondi Rescue is now in its fifth season, has won two Logies and is currently nominated in both “most popular” and “most outstanding” categories.

Michael was also a founding partner of Hilton Cordell Productions, a company that developed an international reputation co-producing with leading broadcasters such as PBS, National Geographic, BBC, Channel Four, Arte, France 3 and ZDF as well as all Australian broadcasters.  Their programs also screened on Discovery, Canal Plus, TF1 and NHK. Hilton Cordell Productions won many awards including a Logie. Earlier in his career Michael was a print and televison journalist.

More about Bondi Rescue

Bondi Rescue follows the day to day life of the lifeguards at work patrolling Bondi Beach, who ensure the safety of beach revelers. The show is narrated by Andrew Günsberg. There have been 46 episodes (30 min) since February 15, 2006. A spin-off, set in Bali, Indonesia, also briefly screened in 2008. Bondi Rescue has also been broadcast in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Belgium and worldwide on National Geographic Adventure. Bondi Rescue returned for a fifth season on 9 February 2010.

The Bondi lifeguards perform around 2,500 rescues over the summer period, dealing with lost children, shark scares, sexual deviants, and thieves on the beach in addition to watching the water. Every once in a while celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Richard Branson, Snoop Dogg, Steve Irwin, Bindi Irwin and the Indian Cricket Team also make appearances on their shores.

Bondi also has its Annual Lifeguard Challenge that tests the skills of each lifeguard with a punishing Run, Swim and Board-Paddle going from Bondi to Bronte and through Tamarama.

Footage for the show is shot during the preceding Australian summer (usually between November and February), with certain episodes reflecting incidents that have occurred during New Year’s Day and Australia Day. Later seasons also featured footage of lifeguard trials and training exercises from the middle of the year.

Official websites: http://ten.com.au/bondi-rescue.htm
http://www.cordelljigsaw.com/about.htm

Executive Producers: Michael Cordell and Nick Murray

Trevor Graham – producer, director, writer, commissioning editor

Trevor Graham has worked as a writer, producer and director of documentary in the Australian industry for over 25 years. His documentaries have been broadcast nationally and internationally, winning two Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Documentary and numerous other national and international film and television awards. Trevor has co-produced and commissioned works for Channel 4 and the BBC (Britain), WGBH (America), ARTE (France/Germany), AVRO (Netherlands), SBS and ABC TV (Australia).

From 2005 to 2008 Trevor was a Commissioning Editor for Documentary at Australia’s multi-cultural broadcaster SBS. He commissioned over 90 hours of prime time television; science, history, contemporary, social, political, series and one-offs. He is the Co-Chair of the Australian International Documentary Conference, and has a Doctorate of Creative Arts from University of Technology Sydney. Trevor joined Electric Pictures as a full-time east coast Executive Producer in 2010.

Quote from the DCA abstract:

The international market for pre-selling Australian programs is extremely tough and competitive. It’s a buyer’s market. Making Hula Girls demonstrates how and why the program attracted buyers (Commissioning Editors) and reveals the creative processes employed to ensure it had a smooth path through production and engaged audiences particularly locally for SBS TV.

In completing this ‘doctoral package’, I argue that Australian documentaries can succeed in the international market if producers are mindful of the need to appeal to international audiences, have a coherent knowledge of broadcaster slots and a familiarity with the tastes of Commissioning Editors they are pitching to. I conclude that there are creative restraints required by these markets and I elaborate on their impact for filmmakers.

More about Electric Pictures

Established more than 13 years ago Electric Pictures maintains a reputation as a leading Australian independent, producing award winning documentaries in a range of genres. Its co-production partners include: ABC, ARTE, BBC, Beyond Distribution, Discovery Channel, Channel Ten, Granada, NHK, National Geographic, PBS, RDF, RTHK, SBS, Sky and ZDF. Titles include: Cracking the Colour Code, The Hunt for HMAS Sydney, Gallipoli Submarine, Winner’s Guide to the Nobel Prize, Bom Bali, Super Flu: Race Against a Killer, The Black Road, Submariners, Child Soldiers, and The Human Race.

Official website: http://www.electricpictures.com.au/filmography/

The panel will be moderated by Jane Jeffes:

Jane Jeffes started her career in London’s Fleet Street, before moving to Central Independent Television and then into radio. As Head of Programmes for Unique Broadcasting, the UK’s largest radio production company, she was responsible for a wide range of programming on BBC and commercial radio. She moved to Sydney in May 2000 and worked in development and production on a range of Australian documentaries before setting up her own company, Firefly Productions. Jane is currently producing an international co-production called My America.

This event is being produced for OzDox by Sensory Image and Firefly Productions.

The Australian Directors Guild thanks Screen Australia and Screen NSW for their ongoing support.

Composing for the Documentary

Discussion with Jan Preston, Caitlin Yeo, John Gray and Antony Partos

Location: AFTRS Theatre, Fox Studios/Entertainment Quarter. 130 Bent St, Moore Park NSW.
Map: http://www.aftrs.edu.au/about/contact-us/sydney.aspx
Date: Wednesday 7 April 2010
Time: 6.15pm arrival for 6.30pm
Entry: $5 suggested donation

Music can change a whole film. It can highlight an emotion, add tension, move us to tears and tell us what is really going on. In documentary, music is an important tool to help us tell our stories.

Join our special guests in a candid discussion about scoring music for documentary

• JAN PRESTON (Australian Dynasties, The Trouble with Merle, The Diplomat)
• CAITLIN YEO (Bomb Harvest, Feril Peril, Children of Tibet)
• JOHN GRAY (Kokoda, Inspiring Teachers, Constructing Australia – A Wire Through the Heart)
• ANTONY APARTOS (Contact, Celebrity: Dominick Dunne, Are You My Mother)

This OzDox session will give insights into the director, producer and composer dynamic; how to get the most from your composer and musical score; working with limited budgets; how to brief your composer and get the best results.

Guests

Jan Preston

Jan Preston is one of Australia’s leading film composers. Her THEME to the iconic ABC TV series, AUSTRALIAN STORY can be heard every Monday night nationwide in Australia. She composed the soundtrack for all five AUSTRALIAN DYNASTIES Series on ABC TV, the 4 part drama series BASTARD BOYS, and hundred of documentaries and documentary series for well known award winning film makers such as TOM ZUBRYCKI, RAY QUINT, JUDY RYMER, AVIVA ZIEGLER, ROBIN NEWELL and JESSICA DOUGLAS HENRY. Jan has recently completed music for her 6th feature film, her sister GAYLENE PRESTON’S latest movie, HOME BY CHRISTMAS which is to be released in 2010. Jan has also composed and performed the music for 12 silent movies.

Caitlin Yeo

Caitlin Yeo is an award winning young composer with a diverse and unique compositional style. Since graduating from screen composition at AFTRS in 2003, Caitlin has written music for over 20 documentaries, 2 feature films and many short films. In 2007 she won the APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award for Best Music for a Documentary for her highly original score for Bomb Harvest, a feature documentary about an Australian bomb disposal expert in Laos. Currently Caitlin is working on Louise Alston’s second feature Jucy, and Peter Hegedus’ feature documentary My America.

John Gray

John Gray is a multi-award winning film composer. His achievements include, the European Union Film Award 2005, “Best Original Song Written for the Screen” at the 2007 APRA/AGSC Australian Screen Music Awards, “Best Original Score” at the 2007 Sony Tropfest, and ‘Checkpoint’, which won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Montreal film Festival. A graduate of AFTRS, he has written scores for documentaries, features and short films and has composed for both the SBS documentary series “Inspiring Teachers” and the historical ABC documentary series “Constructing Australia”. His features include “Coffin Rock”, ‘Kokoda’, and ‘The Bet’. John also created two pieces for the dance company “Legs on the Wall” for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Antony Partos

Antony Partos is an internationally awarded composer who specialises in blending acoustic and electronic elements in his scores. His feature film scores for The Home Song Stories and Unfinished Sky have consecutively won AFI awards and his scores for the documentaries Webs Of Intrigue and Smart’s Labyrinth (the life of Jeffery Smart) have both won AGSC awards for best music. Other credits include the features Disgrace (starring John Malkovich), Walking On Water and Soft Fruit. This year his scores for the upcoming features Accident’s Happen (starring Geena Davis), and Animal Kingdom (starring Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Pearce and Jackie Weaver) will also be released. His documentary credits include Contact, Are You My Mother, Celebrity-Tales of Dominick Dunn and The Good the Bad and the Ugg Boot.