Are we as Australians to blame for our failing film industry?

Australian cinema is still big and we are producing the same amount of content but the audience has gotten tremendously smaller, being only 1.9% of the box office share in 2016 (Screen Australia 2017). We have an audience viewing problem, we’ve not carried on the tradition of seeing our own films. Old style screen activities should not be taken for granted but it seems that new screen activities and infiltration of new media technologies are emerging e.g. using devices simultaneously. It has been discovered that new industries are being created  and amateur content creators are producing content on platforms such as YouTube rather than traditional forms of media (Cunningham 2017).

Box office statistics should not be the be all end all. Box office importance is overstated and the audience for cinema attendance often has little regard to the success of the content (Verhoeven et al. 2015 p. 8). The audience is more diffused and has moved across platforms, so it is hard to just measure the success of Australian content by cinema and box office statistics as this can’t measure a reliable market for impact of the ‘invisible’ audience. Box office success in Australia also doesn’t account for the international success of Australian films such as The Babadook 2014 which will be discussed (Verhoeven et al. 2015 p. 9).

(Image Sourced from: https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-21665020-stock-footage-empty-cinema-hall-with-red-seat.html?src=rel/9307574:6)

But there is also the issue of distribution problems and the ‘Americanisation’ of Australian cinemas. Hollywood films receive box office success as they are promoted more heavily and are released at prime-time whist Australian cinema is left in the dust (Bowls et. At. 2007, p. 97). Film makers and their limited funding means most expenses are contributed towards the film itself and there isn’t much left for marketing. Money is the primary obstacle for the Australian film industry but how can we enable people to check content beforehand? A possible way for people to gain interest and to create hype towards a film is through screen tests and possible pre-releases to gain crowd funding which is what The Babadook 2014 did.

Access and marketing are the biggest issues for Audiences not meeting Australian cinema. The Babadook 2014, was a major international success… but not in Australia. Many Australian audiences hadn’t heard of the film such as myself.

(Image Sourced from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/40205358/the-babadook-has-became-an-unlikely-gay-icon-for-pride-month)

I first discovered and encountered The Babadook character through his representation of the LGBTQi+ community. I stumbled across articles dedicated to him, embracing him as a gay icon through being listed in the LGBT movie category on Netflix (Hunt 2017). Through this, the film gained more popularity internationally and finally gained recognition for the film itself and the fact that the film was created in Australia. But more about the film and not so much about the fictional character, it received big compliments from reviews as it is simply a well-produced film. It’s not typically Australian, it’s Low budget and it is rediscovering or reconsidering genre films. It is not a straightforward horror film as it is not about a ‘monster’ but more a psychological thriller (Bradshaw 2014) but shows the manifestation of depression, grief and mental illness. But when this film was released in 2014, many Australian’s didn’t get to experience this popular film until recent years. So maybe the entire problem for Australian Audiences isn’t the audience itself, but rather the audiences access to the films and knowledge about them prior to release. The problem may also be how the success of a film is measured and if box office success really the only way a film is regarded as good?

 

References

Bradshaw, P 2014, ‘The Babadook review – a superbly acted, chilling Freudian thriller’, The Guardian Australian Edition, 24 October, viewed 21 December 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/23/the-babadook-review-chilling-freudian-thriller

Bowles at al. 2007, ‘’More than ballyhoo?: The importance of understanding film consumption in Australia’, Metro : media & education magazine, no. 152, pp. 96-101.

Cunningham, S 2017, Australia’s screen future is online: time to support our new content creators, The Conversation, 21 August, viewed 21 December 2017, https://theconversation.com/australias-screen-future-is-online-time-to-support-our-new-content-creators-82638

Hunt, E 2017, ‘The Babadook: how the horror movie monster became a gay icon’ The Guardian Australian Edition, 11 June, viewed 21 December 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/11/the-babadook-how-horror-movie-monster-became-a-gay-icon

Verhoeven, D et al. 2015, ‘Australian films at large: expanding the evidence about Australian cinema performance, Studies in Australasian Cinema, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 7-20.

What can ‘Ozploitation’; tell us about the Australian film industry?

‘Ozploitation’ films as famously described the documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! In 2008 are the era for various genres of Australian film making (Ryan and Goldsmith 2017, p. 2). As stated in my first blog post for this course, according to Ryan (2012 p. 143), there are Boom and Busts for the Australian film industry and this was an era for major Australian film popularity. These films are representative of Australian values and constructed an Australian identity for an international audience. But in this era, many films produced were made just for the intention of profit and fast return by exploiting the ‘Australian-ness’ of our culture and values. This was due to funding for these films through schemes such as the ‘10BA’.

(Image sourced from: https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Ozploitation:_Exploitation_From_Down_Under)

The ’10BA’ Era

The 10BA era was a time when investors could claim up to 150 per cent tax concession and pay tax on only half of any income earned from the investment, so for film making, this would cover all expenses, and high profits would be earned (Screen Australia 2017). The 10BA era had many popular and internationally successful films such The Man from Snowy River 1982 and the 10BA/foreign studio-financed blockbusters Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior 1981 and Crocodile Dundee 1986 (Burns and Eltham 2010, p. 103). This was essentially a tax ride off and a boom for film production which resulted in these now known ‘Genre films’. These Genre films or ‘Ozploitation’ films are a representation of Australian national identity, reflecting the culture and characteristics of the population in the 1970’s-1980’s. Ozploitation Films can be more associated with commercial film making but in Australia it can be contrasted with being ‘art’ (Ryan 2012, p. 143). These texts may have contributed to popular Australian culture and attracted funding from Australian investors, but it is not certain if the cultural objectives of Australian films were created for major success. It is possible that films such as these were created for the purpose of existing and for public support of a national film industry (Bennet & Carter p. 163).

(Images sourced from: http://www31horrorscom.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/october-21st-howling-iii-marsupials.html and http://riotheatre.ca/movie/mad-max-2-the-road-warrior-2/)

The main categories of films discussed in ‘Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! were; sex comedies, ocker films or low budget horror flicks. But some of these movies as previewed in the documentary were somewhat low quality. But they did portray what can be done with a low budget including the successful film The Howling III: The marsupials 1987 which in my opinion looks like below average content. But overall genre films did have a bigger budget than other films produced due to the funding they received, but were seen as a an embarrassment to Australian cinema. Ozploitation films were an important part of Australian cinema, but they didn’t necessarily hold the greatest importance to Australian national identity. The 10BA however opened the floodgates for these films to be produced, which even though the film industry is currently in a bust, this has allowed for more quality content to be produced both in cinema and on the television.

 

References

Bennett, T & Carter, D 2001, Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Burns, A & Eltham, B 2010, ‘Boom and Bust in Australian Screen Policy: 10BA, the Film Finance Corporation and Hollywood’s ‘Race to the Bottom’ Media International Australia, vol. 1, no, 136, pp. 103-118.

Ryan, MD 2012, ‘A silver bullet for Australian cinema? genre movies and the audience debate’, Studies in Australasian cinema, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 141-157.

Ryan MD & Goldsmith, B 2017 ‘Returning to Australian horror film and Ozploitation cinema debate’, Studies in Australian Cinema, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 2-4.

Screen Australia, 2017, Production Business in the Archive, accessed 18 December, https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/people-and-businesses/production-businesses/in-the-archive/operation-of-10ba

 

 

Short Opinion Piece | Market failure and ‘public good’ for the Australian film industry

Australian cinema, the debated topic of art verses policy controlling the production rights of Australian films. Do we create content solely because it is Australian art telling Australian stories? Or are we creating them to comply with policy and for competing economically on an international scale. But there is still the question of who the Australian audience is and if the content created is suitable for these consumers or are the scenic shots of Australia films used to draw in an international audience? Due to the incongruence of Australian cinema and Australian audience, the Australian film industry is facing threatening all time low in terms of content produced and recognition from audience, through box office sales. In 2016 alone Australian films held only 1.9% of box office shares (Screen Australia 2017). If Australian films are not delivered appropriately to an Australian audience they will never be a hit (Macdonald 2013). I will use my opinion towards Australian films and also the view from academic sources to discuss why there is a problem with market failure of Australian films, but also why they should continue to be produced for the public good.

(Image Sourced from: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/industry-trends/box-office/australian-box-office )

I am an avid film viewer, with a fairly open-minded approach towards a new genre or foreign film. But Australian films for me have never blown me away, but I also never anticipate that they are going to phenomenal, thus I am never completely disappointed when viewing. This approach I have towards the Australian film industry could coincide with the same opinions of the Australian film audience. These general assumptions can be outlined byMacDonald (2013) as the popularity of Australian films lie within the negative preconceived ideas about the film industry. Because of this, Australian films tend to lose market share. But there are reasons for this beyond perceptions. The marketing budgets are low and the movies are not easily accessible in theatres and online. One of the main arguments for the market failure of these films lies within Australians film distribution problem (MacDOnald 2013). Theatrical releases for these low budget films do not allow for extensive market releases, only in select cinemas for a short period of time so consumers aren’t aware that they exist. Personally, I couldn’t name an Australian film I have seen advertised this year because I get drawn into high production Hollywood trailers for movies that block out any possible Australian film.

Australians are seen to have an aversion to their own films and in recent years more criticism has been shown for these films as they visibly under-performe in the box office (McKenzie & Walls 2012 p. 247). The cultural value of the content being produced or ‘art’, lack entertainment value and can not compete on a global scale. But this isn’t disregarding classic Australian cinema such as Muriel’s Wedding 1994 and Babe 1995, but more or less a generation of films in a contemporary context not having the same appeal to consumers as they have access to highly anticipated, high budget Hollywood films (McKenzie & Walls 2012 p. 248). But with the budget being significantly lower for Australian films, I believe they should be appreciated for their home grown content and Australian stories. Screen Australia, being a federal government agency and funding platform for Australian cinema “aims to inspire, inform and engage screen audiences through compelling Australian storytelling”, allowing for the films to be created (Screen Australia 2017).

(Image Sourced from: http://videoandfilmmaker.com/wp/index.php/news/screen-australia-launches-new-development-program-for-high-end-television-drama/)

Screen Australia, formed in 2008 under the Screen Australia Act 2008 outlined the guidelines for what makes a film ‘Australian’ and a compliance with these guidelines allows for government funding. This took over previous predecessors; the Australian Film Commission (AFC), the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) and Film Australia Limited and together formed Screen Australia (Screen Australia 2017). Screen Australia will contribute between 65-75% of the film budget, but the investment is capped at $2 million (Screen Australia 2017). You can see with this low budget why it is hard for Australian films to gain recognition. I personally don’t hate Australian films for their low marketing budget because as I said I do not expect much from these films. In saying this, I love a lot of Australian Television programs and watch them over Hollywood produced content. This includes Australian reality Shows such as My Kitchen Rules and dramas such as the classic Kath and Kim.

There are specific criteria for the eligibility of Screen Australia to fund content (Screen Australia 2017). Screen Australia Australian films represent the imagined perceptions of Australia to a potential tourist market through which a films setting and landscape is largely involved for economic purposes (Jewell & McKinnon p. 155). As the criteria means certain aspects of the film must be notably and distinctly Australian, this doesn’t seem to appeal with the Australian audience. But it is still important that Australian content is being made. Our locally produced films in the 1980’s such as Mad Max 2 1981 and Crocodile Dundee 1986 were prospectus films which attracted not only tourist interests but also the commercial investment of genre films of that era (Bennet & Carter 2001, p. 163). These texts may have contributed to popular Australian culture and attracted funding from Australian investors, but it is not certain if the cultural objectives of Australian films were created for major success. It is possible that films such as these were created for the purpose of existing and for public support of a national film industry to crate a distinct national culture (Bennet & Carter 2001, p. 163). Australian films are a reflection on our culture and values and even if people may not appreciate them for their ‘art’, we wouldn’t otherwise have many forms of media to portray our identity.

(Image Sourced from: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/crocodile-dundee/review/)

These genre films or ‘ozploitation’ films as famously described the documentary ‘Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! In (2008)’ are the era for various genres of Australian film making (Ryan and Goldsmith 2017, p. 2). Ryan and Goldsmith argue that contemporary Australian Horror films such as the Babadook 2014 and Day Breakers 2009 are seen to be bringing back the notion of genre films as they are gaining commercial success as ‘horror’ is a genre of film that Australians do well. As this is something the Australian audience is proud of both because the films are good but also because of their commercial success, we need to protect this. This then circulates discussion in the public sphere about national identity and relations between Australian cinema and Hollywood. This is how Australia is portrayed through their cinema abilities but also appealing to a domestic market. I personally haven’t seen these films, but I know I have seen them being discussed on social media, showing an interest in these films from an international audience.

Through research and a discussion in tutorials, I understand why Australian films are not as popular as they could potentially be. In Australia, being separate from the private industry of Hollywood, we do not have access to the funding and support that those films receive. Therefore, what we create has to be made on a small budget. And to be eligible for this funding, the content must comply with the guidelines set by Screen Australia. This is the reason why these films are seen as ‘art’ and created purposefully for the public good and purely for existing for Australian domestic market. But off course this does not appeal to a large audience as the expectations are set the same for Both high production value films and Australian films. I don’t love or hate films purely because they are Australian, there are some films I really like such as Mental 2012 as the portrayal of an Australian household is so farfetched that it is amusing to me, but I can also relate to the messages conveyed. Australian films should never stop being produced as they hold sentimental value and I know in years to come I’ll look back on these films made and accept them for what they are which people now do with ‘Ozploitation’ films from the 1980’s.

 

References

Bennett, T & Carter, D 2001, Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Jewell, B & McKinnon, S 2008, ‘Movie Tourism—A New Form of Cultural Landscape?’, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, vol. 24, no. 2/3, pp. 153-162.

Macdonals, H 2013, ‘The Real Reason Austalian Films Flop, ABC, 8 November, Viewed 12 December 2017, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/australias-film-distribution-problem/5078404

McKenzie, J & Walls DW 2013 ‘Australian films at the Australian box office: performance, distribution, and subsidies’, Journal of Cultural Economics, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 247-269.

Ryan MD & Goldsmith, B 2017 ‘Returning to Australian horror film and Ozploitation cinema debate’, Studies in Australian Cinema, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 2-4.

Screen Australia, 2017, Guidelines Eligibality Significant Australian Content, accessed 7 December https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-support/producer-offset/guidelines/eligibility/significant-australian-content

 

What are the key assumptions surrounding the production of Australian content?

The Castle, a film that has been imbedded into Australian households through the depiction of a typical family and the many infamous quotes, with a personal favourite being ‘Tell him he’s dreaming”. But it’s not just the quotes that make this film iconic, it is the representation of an unmistakably Australian film through the quintessential values, holiday locations, scenery, Australian politics and the ‘very’ Australian accents. But for content to be Australian, must it contain all these elements? Does the production of Australian content have to be solely focused around Australian issues, in Australia, for an Australian audience? This can cause an implication for the representation of the Australian film industry on an international scale as the ‘Australian-ness’ of the content may not appeal to all audiences. (O’Donnell, 2012).

What is an Australian film?

According to ‘Screen Australia’, for a film of to be considered Australian and eligible for ‘Significant Australian Content (SAC) test’ it must contain five key components:

• the subject matter of the film
• the place where the film was made
• the nationalities and places of residence of the persons who took part in the making of the film
• the details of the production expenditure incurred in respect of the film, and
• any other matters that we consider to be relevant.

For these reasons, to my surprise, in our first tutorial I discovered that The great Gatsby 2013, being directed by an Australian, technically makes it an Australian film (Middlemost 2017)? This goes against everything I understood about the Australian film industry as my interpretation of an Australian film would be something along the lines of Muriel’s Wedding 1994 or The Castle 1997. But this knowledge is coming from someone who had seen five of the 30 Australian films as discussed in tutorials. This then led me to question, why I hadn’t seen enough Australian content. It may be because I assumed that they were all focused around war and had no interest in this.

(Image Sourced from http://www.indiewire.com/2017/04/baz-luhrmann-the-great-gatsby-underrated-leonardo-dicaprio-carey-mulligan-1201799900/)

Boom and Bust of Australian Cinema

Through research, it occurred to me that Australian cinema was at a peak when I was young, not letting me have access to the content and seek it for myself. According to Ryan (2012 p. 143), a popular time for Australian films, a boom for popularity was in the 1980’s with films such as Mad Max 2 1981 and Crocodile Dundee 1986. Another point made in this article noted the importance of national identity for an Australian film, as discussed with The Castle, is how culture can foster Australian stories rather than for commercialisation. This is the art verses policy debate that allowed for government funding of Australian films to be made simply for complying with the regulations which is why there are booms and busts for Australian cinema (Ryan 2012, p. 144). Film and television are seen to dominate Australian cultural consumption, but even though this is relatively small production, accounting for 10% of films, in the cinema, it is important to preserve this for the Australian audience (Burns and Eltham 2010, p. 103). But that doesn’t mean that everyone enjoys the content as they would much prefer a high cost production Hollywood film. I personally don’t have high expectations when watching an Australian film, so I am never disappointed but also never really impressed.

 

References

Burns, A & Eltham, B 2010, ‘Boom and Bust in Australian Screen Policy: 10BA, the Film Finance Corporation and Hollywood’s ‘Race to the Bottom’ Media International Australia, vol. 1, no, 136, pp. 103-118.

Middlemost, R 2017, ‘Key Concerns of Australian Media Content’, University of Wollongong, Lecture Week 1, delivered 1 December 2017.

O’Donnel, V 2012, ‘Strewth! How Aussie do Australian cinema need to be?’, The Conversation, 30 March, viewed 7 December 2017, http://theconversation.com/strewth-how-aussie-does-australian-cinema-need-to-be-5232

Ryan, MD 2012, ‘A silver bullet for Australian cinema? genre movies and the audience debate’, Studies in Australasian cinema, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 141-157.

Screen Australia, 2017, Guidelines Eligibality Significant Australian Content, accessed 7 December https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-support/producer-offset/guidelines/eligibility/significant-australian-content