School of Film and TV - Theses
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ItemHope: towards an ethical framework of collaborative practice in documentary filmmaking( 2010)There appears to be a renewed interest in the ethics of documentary filmmaking among academics and writers in Australia and elsewhere. It is also clear from my own and other documentary makers’ experience that not only are ethical decisions in our daily work of great importance and concern but that the contemporary filmmaking environment, greatly influenced as it is by the needs and demands of the television broadcasters, can militate against ethical behaviour by filmmakers, not least in their relationships with the participants in their films. The increasing ‘production line’ nature of the industry and inherent contradictions between formal release forms and the need for filmmakers to establish trust are just two of the factors at play here. This thesis begins with an examination of these and other developments in the Australian industry that are tending to undermine the work of so-called ‘independent’ filmmakers. I reflect on my experience in making commissioned documentaries and, in light of a lack of ethical guidelines available to documentary filmmakers other than the editorial codes applicable to current affairs and journalism and protocols for working with indigenous communities, I compare this with the importance attached in the field of narrative therapy, for example, to ethical protocols dealing with transparency, reflexivity and the power relationship between ‘researcher and researched’. It has been pointed out by Brian Winston and others that the key to ethical documentary making lies in the relationship between filmmaker and participant, and that generally filmmakers are left to work out for themselves what this means (Winston 1995, p. 240; 2008, p. 252). My own response has been to develop a model of collaborative filmmaking that seeks to equalise the power imbalance between filmmaker and participant and encourage the active participation and self-advocacy of the latter. In this thesis I examine this model and its characteristics using my recent documentary Hope as a case study. This film was made largely outside of the film industry ‘system’ and therefore without the constraints often imposed by broadcasters or industry bodies. Having posited the principles behind an ethical, collaborative approach I examine how its adoption worked out in practice during the making of Hope, which, although ostensibly a simple documentary about one person’s life, threw up difficult ethical dilemmas, as all documentaries tend to do. I explore how some of these dilemmas were resolved in a collaborative context and how such an approach provides space to the participant to contribute in shaping the resulting film. The influence of this approach on aesthetics is also explored. In conclusion I draw attention to the wider implications of a collaborative approach for the relationships between filmmakers and the industry they serve and note that irrespective of how we approach the filmmaking endeavour, in the end we are faced with the ongoing re-examination of our own ethical values as well as those of the industry bodies we deal with. It is to be hoped that this empirical exploration of ethics through a collaborative approach to documentary practice will stimulate further debate, not just among academics and writers but throughout the documentary community at large.
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ItemMourning becomes electric: Vida Goldstein takes on politics and When Vida met the President: a documentary film script( 2010)This Master’s thesis comprises a 55-minute drama documentary film script entitled When Vida Met the President and a 15,000- word dissertation. The two parts explore the life and times of Vida Goldstein (1869-1949) and rely on extensive archival material. Goldstein was the first Australian woman to elect to stand for parliament. In her several campaigns over 14 years she employed the latest visual technology to communicate a revolutionary political message that advocated equality for women. The thesis investigates the use of the emerging technologies of film, television, (first demonstrated in 1923) 3D technologies and the magic lantern. These technologies reproduce the messages and images of the political mass movement for woman’s equality and suffrage between 1903 and 1917. By interweaving this history with Vida Goldstein’s personal story and connections with her mother and grandmother, I identify the interface between women’s personal narratives and the political.
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ItemWriting a gangster film( 2010)Screenplay: A Melbourne crime family triggers an underworld war to which it falls victim. Thesis: This dissertation discusses the formulation of my first feature film script, Sins of the Fathers. It deals with the genesis, motives, influences and methodology employed in writing my screenplay. It details how my research into Melbourne's underworld and my passion for gangster films informed what I considered might be done with the genre and what I aimed to do differently. I explore whether the gangster genre has been exhausted and discuss the limitations of the genre. I also investigate the importance in the gangster genre of empathising with a protagonist.