February 3rd, 2010 by the redset

2010 at the red set* – starting the year with a CGI treat…

thirdandseventh

One of the ideas behind the creation of this blog was to share the thoughts and discoveries that circulate via email, corridor conversations and happenings here at AFTRS – Australia’s national screen arts and broadcast School – and now that we are back in the full swing of things for 2010 and ready for the new crop of sparkly new film TV and radio students (who commence their studies in a couple of weeks time) we thought a great way to kick things off on the red set was to share a find by one of our fabulous 3D Animation lecturers  – Kit Devine:

“Very beautiful short film (12 minutes) Do yourself a favour, sit down and watch this!…….

The Third & The Seventh

and then look at the making of….”

Enjoy!!

image: screen grab from the Third & The Seventh – found online at Vimeo

November 16th, 2009 by the redset

Good to GO – how the new digital FTAs are faring…

curb_poster_506

With the advent of all of the major analog Free To Airs now ‘live’ with their digital offerings the red set thought it might be a good time to check in and see how they are traveling and consider whether more channels is translating to greater diversity for viewers or just ‘more of the same.’

Quietly and very recently Channel 7 went  live with its digital channel 7Two with content  that the channel is classifying as, ” broad entertainment …. offering all our viewers greater choice through a variety of shows with something for everyone no matter what your age. Our channel is programmed to complement Channel Seven’s existing schedule so if you are not in the mood for Action on Seven then 7TWO will offer you an alternative… maybe Romance?”

GO! went live in August with a focus on programming for the 14 -39-year-old  demographic [traditioanlly ten's domain] with shows like Gossip Girl, The Hills, Terminator – Sarah Connor Chronicles, Weeds, comedy hits like Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm and first run content like The Vampire Diaries.

The claims (read ambitions of the FTAs) are that ‘more free television in Australia will translate into increased choice for viewers and advertisers’.

“It’s a win for our audience because it offers more diversity and substantially wider viewing choices than ever before, at no cost.” said David  Gyngell from nine at the time of GO! ‘go live’.

Nine’s strategy with GO! is to  program distinctly different content to that offered on their regular analog channel whereas 7 has chosen to ‘complement’.

Channel TEN  launched ONE  HD back in March 2009 with 100% pure sport  as its alternative offer and  promotes itself as, ” Australia’s first free-to-air 24 hour sports channel”  – so a substantially differentiated offer from it’s main analog programming.

SBS 2 went live in June this year with a programming strategy  that ‘complements’ their analog offerings, “more world film and drama, documentaries, international news and sport….”

Meanwhile ABC 2 has been live since since March 2005 with a mixed bag of ‘catch up’ options and ‘alternative programming’ and will also launch ABC 3 in the not too distant future – which will be a dedicated children’s channel.

The sheer scale of the task of shifting all Australian commercial free-to-air television transmissions from anolog to digital technology has also signaled ‘a call to arms’ from the Pay TV sector as a release posted today over at PR WIRE demonstrates:

Nov 17
The Playroom commenced broadcasting three new HD channels for The Movie Network from their advanced digital media hub

As part of Foxtel’s $50 million pay-TV expansion, Australia’s leading digital broadcasters, The Playroom, flipped the switch on three new HD channels for The Movie Network channels on Sunday morning, as well as launching the Movie Network’s new Family Movie Channel (FMC). “……….

Andrew Hogg, The Playroom’s General Manager, said: “We’re pleased to confirm that The Movie Network’s new HD channels launched successfully on November 15. The Movie Network will be among the first to benefit from our new digital media operations centre which is enabling us to provide the production, broadcast, aggregation and distribution services content providers are going to rely on in the digital age………..

Asked about The Movie Network’s partnership with The Playroom, Movie Network CEO, Tony Forrest, said: “The Playroom’s facilities are unique. In addition to broadcasting our new high-definition channels, The Playroom will also play a critical role in expanding our premium content services, allowing us to take full advantage of any digital media platform we require”…..

That reads like ‘Game on’ – and now back to the question as to whether there is more choice for viewers with the new digital FTA offerings – at this point in time – it seems yes programming choices and strategies to date do seem to be offering real ‘choices’ for viewers, let’s hope it continues that way.

image: poster found online for ‘Curb your Enthusiasm’ – one of the offerings on GO!

October 23rd, 2009 by the redset

Just one week to go – 2010 AFTRS course applications November 1 deadline

makeitAFTRS.

Just seven days to go  until we close applications for our 2010 courses

With the most diverse and flexible suite of courses ever offered by the Australia’s national screen arts and broadcast School – 2010 is set to be a stellar year.

AFTRS has fantastic new Graduate Certificate Courses on offer for next year that allow for work & study ranging from the highly specialised through to cutting edge ….

Some of our NEW Grad Certs on offer for 2010 include:

+ Graduate Certificate in Animation Directing

+ Graduate Certificate in Art Direction

+ Graduate Certificate in Costume Design

+ Graduate Certificate in Documentary

+ Gradutae Certificate in Multi Platform Content

+ Graduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Practice

+ Graduate Certificate in Games & Virtual World

+ Graduate Certificate in Visual Effects

plus loads more including our fabulous and famous full time Graduate Diplomas!

Go to makeit aftrs.edu.au for full details and how to apply info

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