Only at the movies: mapping the contemporary Australian cinema market. Only at the movies? is a three-year project that asks: What is the enduring appeal of cinemagoing and how is it changing? It will provide detailed analyses of formal film exhibition and distribution in Australia by combining economic, cultural and geospatial research with industry expertise.
Superheroes: Creative Force, Cultural Zeitgeist and Transmedia Phenomenon. Since their emergence in 1938 comic book heroes have become imbedded in our popular culture, becoming part of our modern mythology. In each form and every generation these characters serve as cultural signposts, articulating our loftiest ideals and deep-seated anxieties. The project aims to explore the historic, creative and artistic development of the genre across multiple media and its political and social significance. ....Superheroes: Creative Force, Cultural Zeitgeist and Transmedia Phenomenon. Since their emergence in 1938 comic book heroes have become imbedded in our popular culture, becoming part of our modern mythology. In each form and every generation these characters serve as cultural signposts, articulating our loftiest ideals and deep-seated anxieties. The project aims to explore the historic, creative and artistic development of the genre across multiple media and its political and social significance. The genre has been enormously successful in film, with the top 100 films accounting for approximately $13 billion in profit for the companies that produced them. The project will explore how the successful transmedia crossover further offers insight into the strategies that drive creative industries such as film, television, video games and comics. The project will work with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image to develop a Melbourne Winter Masterpiece exhibition and a series of research projects, public events and an international conference to engage both the general public and academics.Read moreRead less
Valuing Web Series: Economic, Industrial, Cultural and Social Value. This project investigates the value of web series as a form of online screen entertainment characterised by original and diverse content produced by emerging creatives. It will deploy the theoretical frame of ‘total value’ to assess the role and viability of web series: value accrued as career development opportunities for digital content makers; value accrued by the audiences who consume web series; and the value accrued by t ....Valuing Web Series: Economic, Industrial, Cultural and Social Value. This project investigates the value of web series as a form of online screen entertainment characterised by original and diverse content produced by emerging creatives. It will deploy the theoretical frame of ‘total value’ to assess the role and viability of web series: value accrued as career development opportunities for digital content makers; value accrued by the audiences who consume web series; and the value accrued by the Australian screen industry as web series contribute to innovation in a rapidly evolving global screen ecology. We have partnered with four leading web series festivals who will benefit directly from a hosting a number of forums for the discussion and dissemination of our comparative findings.Read moreRead less
Enhancing the content and experience of Interactive Childrens Television. Interactive television (iTV) as a participatory, on-demand communication provides a unique opportunity to significantly engage, entertain and educate preschool children. Through considerable industry partner collaboration and participation, this project will evaluate three distinct interactive options produced from selected children's television programs with proven success in Australia. Usability studies employing a vari ....Enhancing the content and experience of Interactive Childrens Television. Interactive television (iTV) as a participatory, on-demand communication provides a unique opportunity to significantly engage, entertain and educate preschool children. Through considerable industry partner collaboration and participation, this project will evaluate three distinct interactive options produced from selected children's television programs with proven success in Australia. Usability studies employing a variety of surveillance techniques will evaluate content design and user response. Children's viewing habits will be evaluated within a social context (the home) and a mobile lab setting using qualitative and quantitative assessment. The results will identify effective ways to produce meaningful interactivity and will encourage future industry based research.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100288
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,000.00
Summary
Geoblocking, circumvention and the organisation of digital media markets. Digital content portals including iTunes, Hulu, Netflix and BBC iPlayer use geoblocking to restrict access in certain markets. Australian consumers are increasingly finding ways to circumvent such restrictions. This project aims to investigate how geoblocking and geoblocking circumvention are shaping digital media consumption in Australia. It will offer rigorous analysis of an emerging transnational media practice, and wha ....Geoblocking, circumvention and the organisation of digital media markets. Digital content portals including iTunes, Hulu, Netflix and BBC iPlayer use geoblocking to restrict access in certain markets. Australian consumers are increasingly finding ways to circumvent such restrictions. This project aims to investigate how geoblocking and geoblocking circumvention are shaping digital media consumption in Australia. It will offer rigorous analysis of an emerging transnational media practice, and what it means for audiences, producers and regulators. This project endeavours to advance the understanding of digital content flows and inform media policy in a volatile regulatory environment.Read moreRead less
Utilitarian Filmmaking in Australia 1945 - 1980. The project plans to discover, document, analyse and compile a lasting archive of utilitarian filmmaking in Australia. 'Utilitarian' describes client-sponsored, instructional and governmental filmmaking existing outside the conventional theatrical contexts by which cinema is usually defined. Focused on the post-World War Two decades before the proliferation of video in the late 1970s, the project aims to highlight previously-unstudied aspects of t ....Utilitarian Filmmaking in Australia 1945 - 1980. The project plans to discover, document, analyse and compile a lasting archive of utilitarian filmmaking in Australia. 'Utilitarian' describes client-sponsored, instructional and governmental filmmaking existing outside the conventional theatrical contexts by which cinema is usually defined. Focused on the post-World War Two decades before the proliferation of video in the late 1970s, the project aims to highlight previously-unstudied aspects of the media industries. This is designed to deliver new knowledge of the skills and subject matter that sustained filmmaking, communication and education in Australia during a time when conventional scholarship assumes there was almost no significant filmmaking.Read moreRead less
Digital storytelling and co-creative media: the role of community arts and media in propagating and coordinating population-wide creative practice. Community arts, community broadcasting and Indigenous media producers all face the challenge of digital media and user-led innovation. This project brings these systems together to test how existing infrastructure and new media affordances can be combined to stimulate broad-based innovation through creative participation.
Investigating, prototyping and trialling interactive online youth counselling tools. This project prototypes and trials interactive online counselling tools and evaluates their effectiveness in partnership with Australia's largest youth counselling service, Kids Help Line. There is a demonstrable need for Internet counselling practice and theory to incorporate opportunities offered by new information and communication technologies, especially to engage with the multimedia literacies of young peo ....Investigating, prototyping and trialling interactive online youth counselling tools. This project prototypes and trials interactive online counselling tools and evaluates their effectiveness in partnership with Australia's largest youth counselling service, Kids Help Line. There is a demonstrable need for Internet counselling practice and theory to incorporate opportunities offered by new information and communication technologies, especially to engage with the multimedia literacies of young people. The project will investigate multi-user graphical interactivity in youth counselling and develop an evidence base for advances in online counselling worldwide. It will research and prototype graphical tools based on traditional counselling methods to improve service delivery, and benefit the wellbeing of young Australians.Read moreRead less
Informal economies and audiovisual industries: histories, dynamics, legal and policy responses. This project will uncover new information about the connections between formal and informal media industries. It will generate valuable new knowledge about innovation in contemporary media, and will contribute to policy discussions in the lead-up to the National Broadband Network.
Contemporary Indigenous film and television: new frames of understanding. Australian Indigenous film and television has exploded into the mainstream of the national media landscape over the last five years and is now a leading sector of the local industry. This research project, an interdisciplinary collaboration between an Indigenous and two non-indigenous scholars, aims to produce new frames for understanding this film and television in its local, national and international contexts. The resea ....Contemporary Indigenous film and television: new frames of understanding. Australian Indigenous film and television has exploded into the mainstream of the national media landscape over the last five years and is now a leading sector of the local industry. This research project, an interdisciplinary collaboration between an Indigenous and two non-indigenous scholars, aims to produce new frames for understanding this film and television in its local, national and international contexts. The research will result in a re-evaluation of the Australian audio-visual heritage that will result in greater recognition of and opportunities for Indigenous creative producers in the future.Read moreRead less