Identity Definitive (I.D) - [working Title]

Group Proposal -

Nic Douglas, Karolina Kosla, Christopher Childs-Maidment, Belinda Elchaar.

The departure point for our project developed from Question 3 (a) of the guidelines: "applies to an aspect of the Australian community". Of course it is an innocent guide to help in the structuring of our projects (we know you were not trying to subversively control and limit our process Bryoni : ) !!) But when you take a close look at this kind of guide and its application in the performance industry what does it mean for our creative freedom?

Our group has decided to explore how the mediatisation of the Australian image through film affects how others perceive us and how we then perceive ourselves. Furthermore we will seek to show how these characteristics can potentially lead to a stagnation of identity within the general community and the film industry.

In keeping with the ‘interventionist’ outline of the project we aim to produce an 'Australian' film that doesn’t contain any popular, iconised characteristics of the 'Australian' identity, and then apply to Screen Australia for funding to see if we fit into the 'significant Australian content'(SAC) guidelines (you can look at the guidelines HERE).
Although the film is our ultimate goal, the main body of the project is to set up a website that tracks the films creation as it develops from the story board to the finished product. The website would offer online participation, such as surveys, blogs and opinion polls to help identifying with what people believe to be 'Australian' and so further inform our process. By doing so we hope to question people’s perceptions of identity and prompt at least an awareness of the influence mediatised 'truth' can have.

As we found in the study of Phillip Auslander there is the notion that theatre imitated the 'live' and film imitated the theatre only in turn for theatre to imitate film. It would seem that this notion draws parallels to the way the Australian identity has been lived, expressed, appropriated and then played back to us. In seeing this playback we perceive a reflection that we then adhere to; we perform in ourselves what we have perceived, however those perceptions are based on our initial performance. It's this process that provides a potential loop that could lead to the stagnation of identity and as a result inhibit the creative process.

So what does it take to make an Australian film? Is it enough that the people physically involved with the process, from writer to crew, are 'Australian' even if the film is set in Africa? Or does it mean we have to tell an "Australian" story? What ever that may be. We would be interested to hear your thoughts on what you think it means to be Australian. If there is indeed a definitive label at all.

A really interesting and clever influence that we have looked at in considering our website is the site promoting an upcoming movie D9 LINK
It draws some parallels that we think really sit well with our topic. A person is a person regardless of their origin. A story is a story regardless of its origin. And in the film industry, in our community, in the world, that should be what matters.