Sequence Analysis: Beneath Clouds

Beneath Clouds is a film about two young people escaping their surroundings. The two protagonists are at once both similar and juxtaposed, they are both quick to judge each other, never fully realising that they are similar in more than one way. The sequence i will be concentrating on is one of the opening scenes (approximately 4 minutes into the feature) wherein Lena is sitting at a bus stop talking to her friend, Ty. The clip can be found at http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/beneath-clouds/clip1/.

For the majority of this sequence only diegetic sound is used that helps to creates the monotony in which Lena is living. We can see from quick, frequent extreme close up shots of her face that she is caught in this crippling environment. Sen gives the audience a sense of her impending escape by showing a shot of Lena 01:10 minutes into the sequence, glancing up at the clouds and then to the truck driving past them. This shot cuts from an extreme close up on Lena's face to a long shot of the truck speeding past, both girls following the departing truck with longing eyes. This aids in illuminating Lena's wish to escape, with the use of many extreme close ups to emphasise the claustrophobia she has found herself in.
The point in which we see Lena's defenses crumbling and her world beginning to cave in is when her friend Ty, admits to Lena; "i think I'm pregnant". After this line is said we hear the beginnings of non-diegetic music playing softly and slowly in the the background, allowing the audience to feel the import of the moment. The girls do not make eye contact with each other, the shame is plain to see on Ty's face, this is followed by long extreme close up shots of Lena's face, Ty's face and a mid shot of two boys across the road joking around on their bikes. The long pause before Lena replies is a clear indicator of her disappointment and tangible defeat. This revokes the response "you're never gunna get out of this shithole, Ty. You know that, don't ya?". Ty leaves to join the boys across the street and it cuts to an extreme long shot of Lena walking across an endless expanse of land, this shot shows beautifully, the insignificance of Lena compared to the infinite space created in the shot. Lena passes a young girl with a child in a stroller and the un-diegetic music becomes more dynamic and emotive as the realisation of the reality of Ty's situation become apparent. The music indicates that this is close to the breaking point for Lena, the whole sequence sets up the idea of hopelessness and monotony, of sympathy and disappointment.
Iven Sen creates a tangible atmosphere in this sequence and in the whole feature. His use of extreme close ups juxtaposed with extreme long shots shows the dynamic human presence in film. We are at once important and insignificant in comparison to the wide stretching landscape.

Representing the Lanscape of Australia

Long panning shots of the beautiful landscape seem almost essential in Australian film. It is almost as if Australia is struggling to find its edge in film, its identity. Many Australian films that are filmed in Australia tend to utilise the landscape in a hope that its beauty will make the world interested. Films such as The Man From Snowy River, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Walkabout, Beneath Clouds, Galipoli, Australia, Sampson and Delilah, Mad Max and countless others. They all create beautiful shots of the land that is normally associated with hardship or work, implying that living in such spectacular places doesn't come easy. There seem to be different genres that these ideas come into play. The films about the white bushmen that live on the land as farmers, and work hard to keep prosperous and then there are Indigenous film and representations that clearly link the land to Indigenous culture and ways of life.

However, is this a true representation of Australian life and culture? is this the idea we wish to present on a global forum? If we think about films that represent city life in Australia, we tend to come across films about excessive drug use, gangs, fighting, and negative connotations. We represent suburbia through stereotypes of the 'bogan', country life through the bush rangers, where does that leave city dwellers? in a opium den?

Either way, Australian film's connection to the land should not be overlooked, it is a representation (although some what romanticised). It would seem that no matter what Australian film makers do they are always mis-representing the country in either stereotypes or sweeping presumptions. This is the problem we face, in a country so large and diverse, how is one to represent any part of it without actively ignoring other parts?

However, i think a part of all Australians can relate to these images of land and feel a swell of pride that we live here, amongst such beauty.

Doco Ethics: Bra Boys; Glorifying Gang Activity?

Although riveting and addictive, something didn't sit right after watching Bra Boys. A documentary about a a beach gang situated in the Sydney eastern suburb of Maroubra. It seemed to me to highlight the problems with documentary film practices rather than pub brawls at city beaches.
When creating a documentary there is a certain amount of trust that the viewer instills in the film maker. Trust that they will attempt to portray events truthfully and that they will attempt to be as unbias as humanly possible. But this becomes increasingly harder to achieve when grappling with issues surrounding gang activity, especially from the point of view of the gang members. Somehow this doco seems to glorify gang activity and portray crimes as protecting their brotherhood. And although Australia is fraught with underground gang activity (as we can see from the T.V. series Underbelly, which has similar tones to Bra Boys) does it then become acceptable to portray clearly one-sided views on crime?



Another theme running through the doco is race. The Bra Boys were known to have had associated in the Crunulla riots. The documentary sheds light on these events, but could it be influencing more violence towards alternative racial groups in Australia. Living in a country that has these racial tensions as a boiling pot ready to overflow, documentaries like these could be what spurs on young minds to violence as an answer to racial, and any other problems for that matter.
However bias the film is, it does illuminate issues that benefit illumination, such as issues surrounding disadvantaged children and outlets for misdirected rage. This is what happens when children work to grow up with little parental guidance. Is that what the film is trying to achieve? or is it the increasing number of gangs in Australia? or possibly for everyone to take care when at Maroubra beach?
Whatever the message present in Bra Boys, the question remains; Is it safe to trust a film if it claims to be a documentary?

Not Quite Hollywood: Is the attention to Ozploitation wanted?

Are tits, explosions and gore the main features of Australian film that we want to put out there on a global forum? Not Quite Hollywood is presenting these things whether or not we want them to be seen.
A very interesting point was made in my tutorial about the correlation between some of the nudie/sexually orientated movies and pornography. One of these films is The Adventures of Barry McKenzie which involves (like a lot of exploitation films at the time) quite a substantial amount of nudity and sex scenes. However, it doesn't seem so bad being associated with one of the most profitable industries in the world. Porn is a massive film secret, claiming to have little relevance to society. I beg to differ on this particular thought process, Pornography, like Australian sexploitation films like the /Barry McKenzie series and Alvin Purple. These films dare to show the liberation and sexual freedom of their time. After the breakdown of the production code and the implementation of the rating systems, these film had the freedom to explore blood, guts and sex. And although many feel as though this is a stain on the Australian film industry and should not be re-lived, it is simply a product of it's time. Ozpliotation films dare expose things that many shy away from, creating fun, trashy, popular cinema, cinema for the masses not just for the critic.



With the emergence of Not Quite Hollywood, it attempts to solidify Ozploitation as a valid genre by using the very successful American Director Quentin Tarintino, to share his love for these films. In an attempt to draw attention to Australian trash cinema, this doco helps Australians realise the Insanity of the stunt men in action films, the liberation of women in the nude scenes, the excess of blood and gore in the slasher films and the beer drinking Ocker stereotypes.
In a way i feel that the representation of the Australian male instilled hope into many young Ozzie men, thinking maybe they will get smothered in breast and beer all day.

Is the American Identity overtaking Australia?

It would seem that for an Australian film to have Global success, it needs to have elements of American culture. Most noticeably in big budget Australian films; American actors. It would seem that to be a success financially, we must adhere to certain formulas and put American representation in our films, even if its a matter of changing the accent, or in the case of Crocodile Dundee (which grossed $328,203,506 worldwide) , establish a skewed Australian Identity and then cross-over geographically into American representation.



With this example, we tend to ignore the setting an influence because we become too bogged down with the Australian representation to bother getting upset about the American one. Many people find the character of Mick, exaggerated and paints Australians in a comical light, that we are all stupid in the face of technology. And perhaps this thought process is still floating around in the heads of Global audiences, especially after the ozpliotation films were being produced.

But Crocodile Dundee wasn't the only box office success to utilise the American Influence. With films like Babe (earning $254,134,910 worldwide) having American accents popping up all over the place, it is no wonder that American actors are so often employed to appear in Australian films, with the money of a Blockbuster at stake.

This idea of American influences and representation in Australian film can be seen as selling out. It would seem that Australian's want our films to have our people in them. The temptation to make a film that is successful is alluring considering how little Australian films make in Australia compared to other (predominantly American films.)

If we take a look at this chart, we can see that the highest percentage of money earned at the Australian box office by Australian films in the last 5 years is 5%. So only 5% of Australian cinema-goers money is on our own films. With this in mind we can understand why we are
(this image is from the screen Australia Website;
http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/gtp/wcboshare.html) attempting to use the Hollywood formula to try and get bigger budgets, and bigger stars and leave the narrative slightly on the sidelines like in Australia, or even more recently I Love You Too

Disturbia

How do we, as Australian, present modern day suburbia in our T.V and Film? if we take Muriel's Wedding as an example we can see the portrayal of the stereotypical "Bogan" family sitting around watching T.V while the mother is slowly being absorbed by depression in her untidy, unhealthy house.



The idea of suburbia tends to arise in Australian film. We find humour in the portrayal of the Anglo/Bogan family and their dysfunction or strange ideals. As is the case in The Castle where the family is lovably strange and familiar simultaneously.

But we do get slightly more serious ideas of the Australian suburban family as is the case in The Black Balloon in which there is a family with a mentally handicapped brother. The exploration of this idea of Family in Australia is shown to us in this film and the tension builds as the family threatens to fall apart. Below is the trailer in which you can see the stereotypes of the family played out as well as the anomalies.








However, we also have family portrayals in different films that are more multicultural like Looking for Alabrandi. In this film they portray an Italian-Australian family that are struggling to discover to function. this clip shows the stereotype of the Australian - Italian.





We can also see this euro-Australian image of the family in films like Strictly Ballroom, Wog Boy etc.
There are so many different representations of the Australian family that its no wonder the population is confused about Australian film Industry... because we are confused about our own identity and how to portray it.

Beneath the Cloud of Indigenous Issues

Beneath Clouds (2002, Ivan Sen) is a beautiful, tragic portrayal of youths in Australia. It follows the characters, Lena and Vaughn as they meet by chance on their way to Sydney.
the landscape shots are breathtaking and the cinematography is inspiring, this coupled with an amazing concept and script makes it one of my favorite films to date.



There are still parts of the film that adhere to the convention of indigenous representation. This is shown by Vaughn utilising the land and his surroundings by picking corn and igniting fires. However, the idea of indigenous representation is cleverly flipped on its head with the character of Lena having an Aboriginal mother and an Irish father making her appearance somewhat white. however, Vaughn presumes she has no idea of the life of an Indigenous Australian. This theme resonates through the film and the little dialogue there is illustrates the tendency for the characters to be closed.

The similarity between the two youths is startling but the continue to judge each other, by showing these points of view we can see as an audience, society's stifling prejudices.

The film Beneath Clouds is a poignant film, exploring hardship and the struggle for a better life that is denied to so many.