Introduces students to Australian cinema from the 1900s to the present day.
This course examines the cinema and television of Australia, givingﾠstudents a multi-faceted understanding of a range of Australian screen stories, and how these two media have evolved in Australia as popular narrative artforms, cultural forces, and as part of a global entertainment industry. Through a program of screenings, historical and theoretical seminar discussions, critical readings, and workshop exercises we will examine some of the enduring patterns, motifs, genres, archetypes, and uses of Australian film and TV, including uses by Indigenous screen creatives. We situate Australian film and TV at the intersection of industry, policy, culture, aesthetics, technology, post-colonialism, and transnationalism. As well as presenting an overview of Australian Film and TV, the course will also developﾠyour analytical, digital and practical research skills with particular attention being paid to Trove and Australian Screen Online.ﾠﾠ
PRIZE: From S2, 2022, The Valerie Joy prize ($500) is awarded annually to the highest achieving student taking MSTU2006 as part of a Major in Film and Television Studies
It is recommended that students taking MSTU2006 have already completed MSTU1001 Introduction to Film and Television. MSTU2160 Film and TV History is recommended too, but not required. Students who have notﾠcompleted this prerequisite or an equivalent course that develops skills in film analysis are encouraged to read Film Art (most recent edition) by Bordwell and Thompson (the MSTU1001 textbook) in preparation for MSTU2006 Australian Film and Television.
You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:
4 units of BA list courses
We recommend completing the following courses before enrolling in this one:
MSTU1001
You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:
CCST2310
Course offering may be cancelled unless a minimum of 20 students enrol.
I am available to consult via zoom, email, or in person after class. Please email me to set up a meeting or with any queries about the course (but please read the course profile and look at Blackboard first as you may find the information you seek there!).
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
Whilst every effort is made to place students in their preferred activity, it is not always possible for a student to be enrolled in their tutorial of choice. If you require assistance, please ensure that you email timetabling.commarts@enquire.uq.edu.au from your UQ student email with:
Teaching staff do not have access to change tutorials or help with timetables; all timetabling changes must be processed through the Timetabling Team.
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Understand key aspects of the history of Australian cinema and television and its contribution to Australian story-telling.
LO2.
Situate Australian film and television history as part of a larger history of film and television.
LO3.
Understand the ethics of filmmaking and film criticism including with respect to the representation of marginalized communities.
LO4.
Grasp how Australian film and television have been defined by practitioners, industries, critics and audiences; summarise and analyse how these ideas are formalised in the writings of key critics.
LO5.
Independently conduct archival research on the history of film and television in a focused, coherent fashion, and be able to organise research materials into meaningful patterns on which hypotheses and arguments can be built.
LO6.
Appreciate the complex cultural, technological and industrial factors that instigate change in Australian film and television, and make hypotheses about future changes.
LO7.
Clearly and concisely summarise, evaluate, and formulate arguments in writing.
LO8.
Work with others to find information and solve problems with database searches.
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participation/ Student contribution |
Class Participation / Engagement
|
20% |
Week 1 - Week 13
In person: Weekly workshops. If you cannot participate in class: While it is recommended that you submit the worksheets weekly in order to keep up with the course, the final deadline is 4pm Friday of Week 13. |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation, Reflection | Historical Film/TV Reception Case Study - Part A | 20% |
26/08/2024 4:00 pm |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation, Reflection | Historical Film/TV Reception Case Study - Part B | 20% 1000 words |
2/09/2024 4:00 pm |
| Essay/ Critique, Reflection | Comparative Analysis Essay OR Video Essay | 40% 2000 words |
24/10/2024 4:00 pm |
Week 1 - Week 13
In person: Weekly workshops.
If you cannot participate in class: While it is recommended that you submit the worksheets weekly in order to keep up with the course, the final deadline is 4pm Friday of Week 13.
There are flexible options for participation and engagement in this course, for those students who may struggle with speaking in class, or who may experience illness through the semester.
In person - in-class speaking or in-class writing in the Google Doc: Actively participate in class discussions and activities throughout the semester. This would involve responding to discussion prompts on the microphone in the seminars, and, in the workshops, participating in in-class archive research training exercises, analysis of primary sources, and writing short viewing reflections during class time, which we can then use as basis of further discussion. Those students who find speaking in class difficult will be given the option of synchronous participation using the Google Doc that will be sent out each week.
If you cannot attend class due to illness, or have not participated in the in-person class: You can earn marks by doing the catch-up worksheet. The worksheets will be placed on Blackboard in the assessment folder, and each week will have a different set of short questions and tasks. While it is recommended that you submit weekly in order to keep up with the course, the final deadline is 4pm Friday of Week 13. They are to be submitted via the assignment submission button in the worksheets folder on Blackboard.
In terms of learning outcomes, in-person participation is better, as students learn the archive research skills in the workshops (and these skills are the key to doing well in the archive research essay), gain continuous feedback within the seminars and workshops, and can talk their ideas through and test them with others, in more depth.
For marking criteria and more information please see the assessment information on Blackboard.
Academic Integrity and AI: Uses of material copied from elsewhere without attribution to the original source is considered plagiarism. This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
In person: In-class speaking or in-class writing in the Google Doc that will be sent out each week.
If you cannot participate in class: Worksheets will be available Blackboard in the assessment folder and are to be submitted via the assignment submission button in the worksheets folder on Blackboard.
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
26/08/2024 4:00 pm
Part A: A list of films and TV programs relevant to the first half of the course will be provided on Blackboard. Choose ONE from the list and do a historical reception study. Part A of the reception study comprises a short viewing reflection (you watch the film/TV show and write your thoughts and find an angle or focus on the work); a collection of primary sources about the film/TV show dating from the year of its release which you will find in Trove, AustLit, or the UQ Library Proquest database. You need to provide screenshots of each source you find, with the text and location clearly legible. Paste these into one document, with a correct full citation for each one using Chicago referencing style. Part A is your evidence. It must be submitted in order for Part B to be marked. The research for this assignment will be done in the workshops, so you will find this much easier if you attend class.
Academic Integrity and AI: Uses of material copied from elsewhere without attribution to the original source is considered plagiarism. This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submit via TurnItIn on Blackboard
TurnItIn Receipts:
Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using TurnItIn. Before submitting any assignments for this course you must ensure you have completed UQ's compulsory online Academic Integrity Tutorial.
When you successfully submit your assessment to TurnItIn you will see text confirming your submission is complete, before being redirected to your Assignment inbox. On this page you can:
If you cannot see your submission in your Assignment inbox you should regard your submission as unsuccessful. Students are responsible for retaining evidence of submission by the due date for all assessment items, in the required form (e.g. screenshot, email, photo, and an unaltered copy of submitted work).
If the submission was not successful:
Please visit this webpage for further advice on how to submit your TurnItIn assignment.
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
2/09/2024 4:00 pm
Part B: Annotation and analysis of the primary sources, with concluding reflection and an argument about what the historical reception sources might indicate. Further use of course readings can be used to help contextualise, explain, or expand upon what you find in the historical reception sources. This should be submitted with Part A attached for cross-checking. See Blackboard for details.
Academic Integrity and AI: Uses of material copied from elsewhere without attribution to the original source is considered plagiarism. This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submit via TurnItIn on Blackboard
TurnItIn Receipts:
Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using TurnItIn. Before submitting any assignments for this course you must ensure you have completed UQ's compulsory online Academic Integrity Tutorial.
When you successfully submit your assessment to TurnItIn you will see text confirming your submission is complete, before being redirected to your Assignment inbox. On this page you can:
If you cannot see your submission in your Assignment inbox you should regard your submission as unsuccessful. Students are responsible for retaining evidence of submission by the due date for all assessment items, in the required form (e.g. screenshot, email, photo, and an unaltered copy of submitted work).
If the submission was not successful:
Please visit this webpage for further advice on how to submit your TurnItIn assignment.
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
24/10/2024 4:00 pm
This essay (or video essay with written introduction) allows you to demonstrate what you have learnt in the course, and how you have thought about it. It requires you to use two of the course's weekly topics as a starting point for further exploration. You may develop an essay that draws connections across topics from the first and second halves of the course, or two from just the second half. A good way to start is to use a key discussion point from one of the weekly seminars - find something that interested you and that sparks your curiosity in some way. Find another from another week. Try to bring the two together to design a question that can drive your essay. The question for your essay should be one that you could answer through a detailed comparative analysis of two films and/or TV examples - both of which are from the library course list -- and drawing on readings from the UQ Library course list.
Your research question (including the topic weeks it relates to), should be at the top of page 1 of your essay.
No other sources may be used for this essay without prior approval. Lisa will compile a list of further approved essay sources. Email l.bode@uq.edu to have further sources for your essay pre-approved and added to the list. Essays that reference works that are not in the UQ Library course list or the pre-approved further source list will lose marks.
The essay may be submitted in written form or as a video essay with a 1000 word written introduction.
For marking criteria and further information, please see Blackboard.
Academic Integrity and AI: Uses of material copied from elsewhere without attribution to the original source is considered plagiarism. This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submit via TurnItIn on Blackboard. Video essay components should be submitted via the dedicated labelled link on Blackboard.
TurnItIn Receipts:
Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using TurnItIn. Before submitting any assignments for this course you must ensure you have completed UQ's compulsory online Academic Integrity Tutorial.
When you successfully submit your assessment to TurnItIn you will see text confirming your submission is complete, before being redirected to your Assignment inbox. On this page you can:
If you cannot see your submission in your Assignment inbox you should regard your submission as unsuccessful. Students are responsible for retaining evidence of submission by the due date for all assessment items, in the required form (e.g. screenshot, email, photo, and an unaltered copy of submitted work).
If the submission was not successful:
Please visit this webpage for further advice on how to submit your TurnItIn assignment.
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) | 1 - 24 |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 2 (Fail) | 25 - 44 |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) | 45 - 49 |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes |
| 4 (Pass) | 50 - 64 |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 5 (Credit) | 65 - 74 |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 6 (Distinction) | 75 - 84 |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 7 (High Distinction) | 85 - 100 |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
Supplementary assessment is available for this course.
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.
The Library has a number of Australian cinema titles in both its streaming services and as part of its video and DVD collection. You are encouraged to watch as many of these as you can.ﾠ
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Week 1 (22 Jul - 28 Jul) |
Seminar |
Week 1 Seminar: Situating Australian Film and TV This first seminar gives an overview of the course and expectations for the semester, and we start to think about the different factors that have shaped and continue to shape Australian Film and TV in its different forms, such as language, population, economics, politics, location, post-colonialism, genre, critical frameworks. To prep for class, please go to Blackboard and access the required materials in the learning resources folder for Week 1. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
Workshop |
Week 1 Workshop: Finding historical film reception evidence As the first major assignment is a historical film reception study, you will need to learn how to find historical reception evidence (such as reviews) in the online archives. This workshop helps you start. Before class, please check out the archive links in the Week 1 learning materials folder on Blackboard. Learning outcomes: L02, L04, L05, L08 |
|
Week 2 (29 Jul - 04 Aug) |
Seminar |
Week 2 Seminar: Australian Silent Cinema In this week we consider the changing place of Australian story-telling amid the successive reinventions of the cinema over the silent period. As the institutional form of cinema changed so too did the kinds of production able to be undertaken. We consider Australian cinema's close relation with theatre and live performance and how the circumstances of exhibition and distribution of the silent film initially enabled but later diminished opportunities for Australian story-telling through film. To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06 |
Workshop |
Week 2 Workshop: Silent Australian Cinema This week we will search Trove for sources from the 1900s-1920s about Australian films and filmmaking. What kinds of reception, commentary and reporting about Australian films appear at this time in newspapers, magazines, and other sources? Learning outcomes: L02, L04, L05, L07, L08 |
|
Week 3 (05 Aug - 11 Aug) |
Seminar |
Week 3 Seminar: The Sound Cinema before Television Cinema reinvented itself with the coming of sound, but it also made feature film production much more expensive and difficult to film outdoors, leading Hollywood to turn to controlled studio filming for several decades. What impact did this have on Australian filmmaking? We look at how technology and film funding policies set in train a limited commercial cinema, and a 16mm non-commercial newsreel documentary filmmaking strand, which was highly regarded internationally. To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06 |
Workshop |
Week 3 Workshop: Discussion of this week's topic and readings, analysis of clips. Learning outcomes: L02, L04, L05, L07, L08 |
|
Week 4 (12 Aug - 18 Aug) |
Seminar |
Week 4 Seminar: The emergence of TV in Australia Why did Australia get TV so late (1956) compared to the US and the UK (1930s)? Why does Australia have a mix of commercial TV (9, 7, 10) and publicly funded TV (The ABC)? What kind of TV and TV careers has this mix made possible? We will discuss these questions and more. To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06 |
Workshop |
Week 4 Workshop: Looking at reviews and writing on 1960s and 1970s TV We will be working with sources from the 1950s to the 1970s about television in Australia, discussing them, and thinking about how to use such sources in your essays. To prepare, find sources before class using the instructions in the Week 4 folder on Blackboard. Learning outcomes: L02, L03, L04, L05, L07, L08 |
|
Week 5 (19 Aug - 25 Aug) |
Seminar |
Week 5 Seminar: The Australian New Wave in the 1970s We look this week at how the emergence of film societies and festivals in Australia in the 1950s, and the rise of television set in train calls for a revival of Australian cinema. Governments in the 1960s and 1970s heeded the call, setting up The Australian Film, Television, and Radio School, and significant funding mechanisms which fostered an explosion of Australian storytelling on the big screen. What kinds of films emerged and what kinds of films were discouraged? How were they received, valued and denigrated? What is the legacy of the Australian New Wave? To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
Workshop |
Week 5 Workshop: Looking at 1970s reviews of Australian films This week we will be looking at reviews of Australian films from the 1970s in Australian newspapers and magazines, and learning to categorise and analyse them. Can we get a sense of what a "good Australian film" was considered to be in the 1970s? Find reviews before class using the instructions given in the Week 5 folder. Learning outcomes: L02, L03, L04, L05, L08 |
|
Week 6 (26 Aug - 01 Sep) |
Seminar |
Week 6 Seminar: 1980s commercial film and TV in Australia The 1980s was a massive boom for mainstream Australian film-making and big budgeted commercial TV mini-series. Why? We look at the international film market and national cultural policy, broadcasting, and exhibition circumstances that fostered this boom, and the kinds of mythic Australian storytelling that were popularised at this time. Watch Mad Max 2, but also the clips from miniseries in the Week 6 learning materials folder, and do the readings. To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
Workshop |
Week 6 Workshop: Discussion of this week's topic and readings, analysis of clips. Learning outcomes: L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07 |
|
Week 7 (02 Sep - 08 Sep) |
Seminar |
Week 7 Seminar: Multicultural and Cross-cultural encounters The migrant figure and the cross-cultural encounter in Australian film and TV is not new. We see it some of the films of the New Wave, and in stage and TV comedy of the 1980s. The 1990s saw a particular rise of different kinds of cultural voices in screen story telling. We look at some reasons why, and discuss such things as the role of SBS as a broadcaster, shifting cultural policies, diasporic cinema in film festivals, and waves of migration. To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07 |
Workshop |
Week 7 Workshop: Discussion of this week's topic and readings, analysis of clips. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
|
Week 8 (09 Sep - 15 Sep) |
Seminar |
Week 8 Seminar: Towards an Indigenous Screen Indigenous Australians have been recorded and used in screen storytelling by filmmakers since the beginning of cinema in Australia, with sometimes devastating results. In this seminar we look at how protocols, and collaborative and self-representational practices have emerged, what they have looked like at different times, how they've been fostered institutionally, and their significance. online viewing for this week (from learning materials folder) will be: Maya Newell's In My Blood It Runs is "an observational feature documentary following 10-yr-old Arrernte Aboriginal boy Dujuan as he grows up Alice Springs, Australia." (text from official website). To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
Workshop |
Week 8 Workshop: Discussion of this week's topic and readings, analysis of clips. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
|
Week 9 (16 Sep - 22 Sep) |
Seminar |
Week 9 Seminar: Australia and 'Global Hollywood' How did the Gold Coast of SE QLD become a location for international screen production? How do Australian screen personnel, Australian-based digital visual effects houses, and Australian filming locations serve international screen production? Which Australian actors get to play other nationalities, and which don't, and why? What impact has this international dimension to the Australian screen had on local screen stories and their aesthetics? We will be looking at these questions and more. To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
Workshop |
Week 9 Workshop: Discussion of this week's topic and readings, analysis of clips. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
|
Mid Sem break (23 Sep - 29 Sep) |
No student involvement (Breaks, information) |
Mid-Semester Break |
Week 10 (30 Sep - 06 Oct) |
Seminar |
Week 10 Seminar: Australian genre cinema This week we examine Australian contributions to particular transnational film genres in the 2000s with a focus on horror and thrillers, looking at how landscape, Indigenous issues, cross-cultural encounters, and the Australian gothic weave through. How do we explain the international popularity/resonance of such genres, and in what kinds of ways do 2010s and 2020s films differ from those of the Australian genre boom in the 1970s and 1980s? To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
Workshop |
Week 10 Workshop: Discussion of this week's topic and readings, analysis of clips. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
|
Week 11 (07 Oct - 13 Oct) |
Seminar |
Week 11 Seminar: Australian digital streaming now The emergence of online streaming services for film and television has disrupted the movie and TV industries. What is happening in the Australian context? What kind of futures are there for Australian produced content? To prep, please read/watch the required viewing/reading in the learning materials folder on Blackboard for this week. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
Workshop |
Week 11 Workshop: Discussion of this week's topic and last minute help for assignments. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
|
Week 12 (14 Oct - 20 Oct) |
No student involvement (Breaks, information) |
Week 12: NO SEMINAR OR WORKSHOPS |
Week 13 (21 Oct - 27 Oct) |
No student involvement (Breaks, information) |
Week 13: NO SEMINAR OR WORKSHOPS |
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.