Australian Studies

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Australian Studies

• Culture TV Cinema

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Cinema

• The cinema of Australia has a long history and
  has produced many internationally-recognised
  films, actors and filmmakers.

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Cinema

• Australia's film history has been characterised
  as one of 'boom and bust' due to the unstable and
  cyclical nature of its industry there have been
  deep troughs when few films were made for decades
  and high peaks when a glut of films reached the
  market.

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Cinema

• Australian film has a long history. Indeed, the
  earliest known feature length narrative film in
  the world was the Australian production The Story
  of the Kelly Gang (1906).

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Cinema

• Arguably one of the world's first film studios,
  The Limelight Department was operated by The
  Salvation Army in Melbourne, Australia, between
  1897 and 1910.
• The Limelight Department produced evangelical
  material for use by the Salvation Army, as well
  as private and government contracts. In its 19
  years of operation, the Limelight Department
  produced about 300 films of various lengths,
  making it the largest film producer of its time.
• The major innovation of the Limelight Department
  would come in 1899 when Herbert Booth and Joseph
  Perry began work on Soldiers of the Cross,
  arguably the first feature length film ever
  produced.
• Soldiers of the Cross fortified the Limelight
  Department as a major player in the early film
  industry.
• However, Soldier of the Cross would be dwarfed
  when the Limelight Department was commissioned to
  film the Federation of Australia.

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Cinema

• The first "boom" in Australian film occurred in
  the 1910s. After beginning slowly in the years
  from 1900, 1910 saw 4 narrative films released,
  then 51 in 1911, 30 in 1912, and 17 in 1913, and
  back to 4 in 1914, the beginning of World War I.
• While these numbers may seem small, Australia was
  one of the most prolific film-producing countries
  at the time.
• That is, between 1910 and 1912, almost 90
  narrative films were made between 1906 and 1928,
  150 narrative feature films were made.

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Cinema

• There are various explanations for the subsequent
  demise of the industry some historians have
  pointed to falling audience numbers, a lack of
  interest in Australian product and narratives,
  and the decision to participate in World War I.
• However, a major reason lay in the official
  banning of bushranger films in 1912.
• Looking for alternative products, Australian
  cinema chains realised that Australian films were
  much more expensive than imported films from the
  United States, which could be purchased cheaply
  as production expenses had already been recouped.
• To redress this decline, the federal government
  imposed a tax on imported film in 1914, but this
  was removed by 1918.
• By 1923, U.S. films dominated the Australian
  exhibition sector, with 94 of all films coming
  from that country.

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Cinema

• Another explanation is concerned with
  anti-competitive behaviour between film
  distributors and cinemas.
• Between 1906 and 1912 Australia's burgeoning film
  industry produced more feature-length films than
  Britain or the USA, but in 1912 Australasian
  Films and Union Theatres established a monopoly
  over production, distribution and exhibition and
  shut out smaller producers.
• That opened the way for US distributors in the
  1920s to sign exclusive deals with Australian
  cinemas to exhibit only their products, thereby
  crippling the local film industry.

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Cinema

• During the 1970s, government funding for
  Australian filmmakers was increased.
• The South Australian Film Corporation was
  established in 1972 to promote and produce films,
  while the Australian Film Commission was created
  in 1975 to fund and produce internationally
  competitive films.
• A generation of directors and actors emerged who
  told distinctively Australian stories.
• Films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Sunday
  Too Far Away made an impact on the international
  arena.
• The 1970s and 80s are regarded by many as a
  'golden age' of Australian cinema, with many
  successful films, from the dark science fiction
  of Mad Max to the romantic comedy of Crocodile
  Dundee, a film that defined Australia in the eyes
  of many foreigners despite having little to do
  with the lifestyle of most Australians.

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Cinema

• The Australian film industry continues to produce
  a reasonable number of films each year, but in
  common with other English-speaking countries,
  Australia has often found it difficult to compete
  in a marketplace dominated by American product.
• The most successful actors and film-makers are
  easily lured by Hollywood and rarely return to
  the domestic film industry.

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Cinema

• After Rupert Murdoch, the head of Fox Studios and
  an Australian, saw that the new Fox studios were
  moved to Sydney, some US producers have chosen to
  film at Fox's state of the art facilities as
  production costs in Sydney are well below US
  costs.
• Studios established in Australia, like Fox
  Studios Australia and Warner Roadshow Studios,
  host large international productions like The
  Matrix and Star Wars II and III.

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Cinema

• The Federal Australian government had supported
  the Australian film industry through the funding
  and development agencies of Film Finance
  Corporation Australia, the Australian Film
  Commission and Film Australia.
• In 2008 the three agencies were consolidated into
  Screen Australia.

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Cinema

• A recurring debate in the Australian film
  industry revolves around the necessity or
  otherwise of government support for the industry.
• In brief, the argument for government support
  maintains that a viable film industry is only
  possible if it is supported in some way by the
  government and proponents of this view hold that
  the industry cannot compete against the hegemony
  of Hollywood.
• The argument against government support is that
  the industry is viable without support and will
  become stronger if increasingly globalised market
  forces are allowed full and untrammelled play.
• Others argue that a film industry in itself has
  little value.
• The history of the industry in Australia is to
  some extent a result of the ascendancy of one
  position over the other.

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Cinema

• The Australian film industry has produced a
  number of successful actors and directors, some
  of whom have moved on to Hollywood.

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Cinema
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Cinema
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Cinema
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Cinema

• These include actors and actresses
• Errol Flynn, Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Nicole
  Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Naomi Watts, Geoffrey
  Rush, Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger, Hugo Weaving,
  Paul Hogan, Guy Pearce, Toni Collette, Emilie de
  Ravin, Judy Davis, David Wenham, Rachel
  Griffiths, Rose Byrne, Abbie Cornish, Sam Neill,
  Olivia Newton-John, Emily Browning and Eric Bana.
• Directors
• George Miller, Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, James
  McTeigue, Alex Proyas, Mario Andreacchio and Baz
  Luhrmann, Phillip Noyce, Gillian Armstrong and
  associated production experts.

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The End