Table of contents for Summer 2016 (80) in Screen Education

The Beaux Strategem Simon Godwin (Man and Superman) directs George Farquhar's wild comedy of love and cash. The 'Beaux': Mr Aimwell and Mr Archer, two charming, dissolute young men who have blown their fortunes in giddy London. Shamed and debt-ridden, they flee to provincial Lichfield. Their 'Stratagem': to marry for money. Lodged at the local inn, posing as master and servant, they encounter a teeming variety of human obstacles: a crooked landlord, a fearsome highwayman, a fervent French Count, a maid on the make, a drunken husband, a furious butler, a natural healer, and a strange, turbulent priest. LIMITED SEASON from October 10 Hamlet The fastest selling ticket in theatre history! Academy Award nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) stars in the title role of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy: HAMLET. Directed…

‘You know what the problem is,’ says ringleader Ginger (Julie Sawalha) when her fellow imprisoned chickens are fed up with failed escape missions. ‘The fences aren’t just round the farm, they’re up here, in your heads.’ The chickens Ginger is addressing have just decided that it’s better to give in because being stuffed in a chicken pie is at least, as Babs (Jane Horrocks) says, ‘a living’. But Ginger has faith that there’s a life out there free from farmers, rollcalls and someone getting the chop every time they fall below egg quota. Inspiring them to win their freedom, Ginger, with the help of American rooster Rocky (Mel Gibson), leads the chickens safely to a free-range lifestyle. With their first feature-length film, co-writers and -directors Peter Lord and Nick Park…

Thirty years ago in the cold, dark winter of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain – a society much more stratified and, arguably, conservative than now – two battles played out that today seem eerily familiar. On the one hand, there was the miners’ strike and the struggle for economic equality, which lives on in the Occupy movement and the writings of such theorists as Thomas Piketty. On the other, there was the long-fought battle for gay and lesbian1 rights – one that is gaining renewed popular momentum in Australia following the enactment of marriage-equality legislation in Ireland and the US. In 2015, our diverse and multimedia-saturated society is much more attuned to intersectionality, and to the multiple causes and issues that are in a constant state of contest and collision on social…

Critics generally agree that the retrospectively labelled film noir movement began with John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon in 1941 and continued through the 1950s, the ‘classic’ noir period ending with Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958).1 Thematic and stylistic elements of classic film noir include an urban setting shot largely at night (often referred to as the ‘dark city’) using low-key, high-contrast lighting to create atmospheric shadows; character types including a (usually male) detective/investigator entangled or sexually obsessed with a femme fatale; the use of tilted frames and close/restricted composition; such narrative devices as voiceover and flashback; an atmosphere of paranoia and suspense; and moral ambiguity and fatalism.2 The themes and techniques of classic noir have continued to be a part of the modern thriller, employed by filmmakers from the…

On 8 April 1811, the ship Friends sailed from England carrying 101 female convicts bound for the penal colony of New South Wales. Their crimes ranged from pickpocketing to murder, but most of them had been convicted of theft. Susannah Noon, not yet in her teens, had tried to steal four pairs of cotton stockings, worth ten shillings, from a shop in Colchester. It earned her a sentence of transportation for seven years ‘beyond the seas’. It was a sentence that reverberated throughout her lifetime; she never returned to England. Instead Susannah and her shipmates found themselves living in a new land as members of a new and unique society. Their only shackles were the vast ocean and their fear of the unknown. In 1811 there were only 100 women…

Eleven-year-old Riley Andersen (Kaitlyn Dias) is having the worst year ever. Her family has moved from Minnesota to San Francisco, and she had to leave all her friends behind. Her new school sucks and the kids are being mean. Her mum (Diane Lane) and dad (Kyle MacLachlan) are stressed out by this move to the new city. They don’t have the time or the energy to make things better for Riley. Added to that, Riley is experiencing a bunch of bewildering emotions – it’s like the feelings inside of her are as out of control as the rest of the events in her life. In Inside Out (Pete Docter, 2015), those feelings become the stars of the show. This highly conceptual film offers viewers twin narratives: we see the workings…

For some, he is simply the likeable old man with floppy grey hair who chats incessantly about nature in a softly passionate tone, while for others he is a cross between the world’s most unlikely superhero and their favourite science teacher. In reality he is Sir David Attenborough, a man whose face is familiar to so many across the globe due to his extensive and highly acclaimed work producing and featuring in documentaries filmed in the world’s most diverse and fascinating corners. But few who watch him today have any idea of just how far back his passion for nature extends, and the degree to which his work has changed and influenced the thinking of generations of people. Today, the resources developed by Attenborough are vital and trusted tools that…

WHEN EVIL IS CUTE If film itself is not a dream but, as some theorists have claimed, a mirror, then movies such as the 2015 hit Minions (Kyle Balda & Pierre Coffin) would appear to pose a significant challenge. Namely, when the title characters are bumbling non-humans who want nothing more over time eternal than to serve an evil overlord with devotion, where exactly do we see ourselves? Well, actually, a better question in terms of today’s blockbuster culture might be: Where do we not? After all, if adoration of a wicked mastermind is the defining trait at work, audiences these days more than appear to fit the bill. How else to account for the staggering box office receipts of the two films that spawned Minions – Despicable Me (Pierre…

Christopher Nolan, born in London in 1970, is perhaps the most commercially and critically successful filmmaker of the twenty-first century. Combined, his films have earned over US$4 billion at the global box office,1 yet have remained personal, thoughtful and artful, making him seem like some lone auteur, fighting a good cinematic fight against the forces of brand-managing evil. Of course, Nolan is somewhat complicit in the current state of commercial cinema. With his vivid, vital depiction of DC Comics’ eternal hero, Batman, in his Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012), Nolan took the caped crusader into a new age. His treatment of Warner Bros.’ iconic piece of intellectual property effectively served as a benchmark for endless ‘reimaginings’ to come: beginning with the origin story; treating the comic-book source text with reverence; depicting…

INTRODUCTION Since originating as a technical college in 1887, RMIT has grown into a global university offering undergraduate, postgraduate and vocational courses across a wide range of disciplines. Situated in the Melbourne CBD, the campus is centrally located and easily accessible by public transport. RMIT’s screen media programs also give students access to a range of high-quality facilities, including film, design, editing, music and sound studios, and a range of industry-standard equipment. COURSES In 2015, RMIT offers numerous undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma-level courses in various elements of media and screen production. High-achieving graduates of the Bachelor programs are eligible to complete an Honours year, while the diploma-level courses can serve as pathways to undergraduate study. Summary of courses available:* • Diploma of Interactive Digital Media• Diploma of Screen and Media• Advanced Diploma of…

What different types of emotional reactions can you have to the same event? Think of a situation that you faced in the past, or might face in the future. Write about that event in the SITUATION box. Now, think about how the Inside Out emotions would react to that activity. What would they do, if they could? Write their reaction to the situation in each of their boxes. Finally, draw a circle around the Inside Out emotion that you think handles the situation in the most appropriate way.…

As an energy source that is touted as cleaner than coal, coal-seam gas has become a significant new player in the Australian energy industry in recent years. With projections that Australia is on track to become the world’s largest exporter of gas by 2020,1 the production of another documentary that explores the issues behind hydraulic fracturing for coal-seam gas, a.k.a. fracking, is particularly timely. Frackman (Richard Todd, 2015) explores the impacts of the coal-seam-gas industry on the lives of several Australian landowners, their properties, local communities and surrounds. Fracking has been tackled in several other documentaries and feature films to date, most notably in Gasland (2010), which follows US director Josh Fox’s investigation into the dangers associated with living near drilling sites after he was offered US$100,000 to allow a…

If I had a feather for every time I’ve been asked an intrusive question about my upbringing, I’d be able to make a boa that stretched the length of the Nullarbor Plain. Why? Because I’m a ‘gayby’: the child of same-sex-attracted parents. This term is fairly new but we’ve been around for quite a while now, growing up just like other kids in any old family. It’s really the only level on which we’re happy to say we are utterly average! But there is one particularly notable difference: because we’re less visible in both the media and everyday life, people tend to react a tad strangely when you tell them you have gay parents. Sometimes it’s ‘so cool’ and ‘amazing’, but other times you’re met with uncomfortable glances and probing…

TED-Ed http://ed.ted.com Cost: free TED talks have become viral phenomena online, with a large range of topics presented on by great leaders, thinkers and creators from around the world. These talks are great for bringing ideas into the classroom, and TEDEd’s vast library of lessons is the perfect tool to help you find customised resources around TED videos. In fact, the website isn’t just geared for viewing and discussing TED videos – it also has many lessons specifically designed around educational videos from YouTube, and users can even create their own customised lessons around videos of their choice. There are two types of TED-Ed lessons: TED-Ed Originals and visitor-created TED-Ed lessons. The originals are products of collaborations between talented educators, screenwriters and animators who generate lesson ideas from suggestions by…

‘Through discipline comes freedom,’ wrote Aristotle. This paradox is at the heart of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Set in Qing dynasty China, the film asks what it means – and what it takes – to be free, contrasting the lives of two female warriors. Where one, Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), is mature, experienced and ruled by an ancient code of honour, the other, Jen (Zhang Ziyi), is young, headstrong and rebelling against the rules of aristocracy. Each grapples with the limitations imposed on her, confronting tensions between desire and restraint, inner life and public duty, and emotional freedom and physical liberty. Ultimately, the film suggests that self-realisation is achieved through balancing these extremes. Where discipline leads to denial, it can cause tragedy. But where passion is without…