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Activities: English Relevance to the Australian curriculum These activities are written to address the following Draft Australian Curriculum's English strands at the year 10 level: Literature; and Literacy. Through these activities, students are encouraged and supported to work reflectively and creatively with multimodal texts (the Making of Modern Australia clips in particular). They are asked to respond, often creatively, after exploring attitudes and values embedded in texts through technique, choice of language, emphasis, inclusion and exclusion. There are many research tasks here, and students are asked to support their views with logical arguments and evidence. Uploading activity outcomes The results of work that you do on many of the following activities may be appropriate for uploading to the Making of Modern Australia website. Want to contribute your stories to the website? If you do, make sure you check the 'Tell Your Story' section and its 'Terms of Service' first. For tips and advice, watch the video tutorials on the website. To see the link to them, first log in, then select 'Want your story to appear on ABC TV?' followed by 'Create story'. A note on audio and video interviews If you are going to do an audio or video recording of an interview, don't forget to make this clear when you ask someone if you can interview them. © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
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Episode 2– Housing Clip 1 – Home ownership counters communism Focus 1 – The language of fear and suspicion The script for this clip blends archival commentary with the series narration to paint a picture of the political climate of the 1950s. In that decade there was much general fear and suspicion of communism and communist activities in Australia. Activity How would you define the term 'propaganda'? Give some examples of what you understand it to be. Then look at a dictionary's definitions (there are several) of the term. Listen carefully to the first 18 seconds of the clip. Write down at least three words or phrases in the archival voiceover that describe the communist movement in Australia. Does the language used fit any of the dictionary definitions of propaganda? In what way(s)? Watch the first 18 seconds of the clip several times, focusing on the visual as well as verbal language. What do you think the footage was meant to make the 1950s audience feel and believe? How do you think the footage and its archival voiceover work together to create their message? Focus 2 – Neighbours and strangers The 'Home ownership counters communism' clip leads us to believe that the rise of the communist movement in Australia in the 1950s led the then prime minister Robert Menzies to support the growth of home ownership across the nation, in a sense creating an 'us and them' mentality. Activity 1 What does the word 'stranger' imply in the script? Explain the meaning of this word in the context of the whole clip, first with reference to the communist movement and then in relation to the suburban home‐owners shown in the clip. Activity 2 The series narrator states: 'Citizens committed to mortgages and home improvements tended not to be revolutionaries.' Describe the tone of voice used by the narrator. Compare it to the tone used by the archival footage narrator. Is there a difference or not? Give some examples for your viewpoint. © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
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Do you think that 'citizens committed to mortgages and home improvements' today are unlikely to fight for radical social change? Use examples from your own experience to answer this question. Activity 3 Split into groups to find out about world events in the 1950s, especially regarding: Mao in China; the new Soviet Union; Germany; Korea and the USA. Include the Cold War and nuclear proliferation. Share what you have found. How does this knowledge affect how you view the clip? How would you characterise our times (as you see them), and in what medium? Brainstorm some ideas. Activity 4 – media activity Using a video camera or mobile, interview a friend or family member about a political issue they feel passionate about. Ask a question such as: 'If you could change one thing about Australian society, what would it be, and how would you do it?' Ask them to state the topic of their concern at the beginning of the clip and then keep their response to one minute. Clip 2 – Italian migrants and a home of their own Focus 1 – Home in a new land When Angelo and Angelina De Rossi migrated to Australia after the Second World War, they faced many hardships. Activity List all of the problems Angelina and Angelo faced, materially and socially. For example, their first home in western New South Wales had 'no water, no light, no power, no sink, no fridge', and they were not made to feel welcome. Angelina's emotion is still evident in the interview as she recalls her early difficulties in Australia so long ago. Why do you think she felt she needed to hide her emotions both from her husband and her mother in Italy? Imagine that you have migrated from your country to Australia to give a better life to your family. In first person, write two letters of 200 words each to a close family member back home, describing your new life in Australia. In the first, write as Angelina did, with © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
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suppressed emotions. In the second, express the truth about how you feel and how you are coping so far from your home. Focus 2 – Creating a home Angelo and Angelina left postwar Italy with a 9‐month‐old child. They wanted to create a new home and a new future. Activity 1 Angelo and Angelina have been married for over 50 years. In the clip, rather than sit beside his wife as she does the interview, Angelo sits at the back of their lounge room, watching Angelina from a distance. Look at the way shots and lighting are used to include him. To help, you might like to look at the clip without the sound at least once. Write an account of the interview, reflecting Angelo's reactions to Angelina's story of their first years in Australia. Activity 2 – media activity To visually communicate the values and feelings of an onscreen character, a director will often surround that character with his/her belongings. This technique is called mise‐en‐
scène. For more explanation see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_scène or do a web search for this term under 'film terminology'. Over the years the De Rossis have created a home in a new land and in so doing have surrounded themselves with the things that are important to them. Imagine you are directing a film featuring the De Rossis. View the De Rossi clip and create a mise‐en‐scène list to give to the art department. Clip 3 – From cottages to McMansions Focus 1 – The 'Great Australian Dream' The Great Australian Dream of the family home on its own block of land has endured, though changed. Activity This clip opens with specific shots and techniques that take us on a journey through time and some of the values related to the Great Australian Dream. In particular, the edit presents a view about how this dream has endured and expanded over time into 'dream home' territory. © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
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What is a tracking shot? What is a montage (in filmmaking)? How is each used in the first 52 seconds of this part of the clip? Panning shots and specific camera angles are also used strategically. You might like to find out what they are, and how they are used in this clip. 2
What do you notice about how the shots of houses change from the earliest tracking shots to the shot of what we assume to be a mortgagee's auction (about 53 seconds into the clip)? 3 In a short piece of 200 words, describe what we see in the montage and explain how the images demonstrate the changing attitudes to homes over the decades since the 1950s. Focus 2 – Houses speak As the Australian nation has prospered over the past decades, so too has the size of the Australian home increased. The series narrator tells us that homes are now signs of wealth, personal achievement and status. Activity 1 What is meant by the term 'McMansion'? List the elements of a McMansion as suggested by the series narrator. Where are McMansions found in Australia? What drives people to take risks to own large homes? Write a real estate advertisement to sell a $1 million McMansion located in the suburbs in Australia. Activity 2 As well as the McMansion, this clip portrays the home of Kevin Duncan in north‐western New South Wales, a home he has lived in for over 50 years. Described as a cottage, this home has seen decades of 'music and laughter' and is full of fond memories. a
What image does the word 'cottage' evoke for you? b
Explain the concept of home as presented by Kevin and his daughter, reflecting on the value they place on memories associated with their home. How do Kevin and his daughter describe the family life that created this home over the past decades? How do the shots in the house reinforce this? c
Write a short piece conveying your own positive memories of a place that you have valued. Activity 2 – media activity How does a tracking shot that moves past a row of houses compare to a tracking shot that proceeds into the gate and up the front path of a house in evoking a sense of engagement in the viewer? © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
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Using something on wheels – eg a bicycle, scooter or a desk chair – with a mobile attached to it to take a video recording, create a tracking shot of the front of your home, your grandparents' or a relative's home. Start at the footpath and track towards the front door. Add some music to the vision to depict the mood and tone of the life lived within this house. Clip 4 – Moving into Northcott Flats Focus – From slum to 'Hollywood' Dolly Wilson says that her Housing Commission flat looked like Hollywood – so good that once she and her husband Ron saw it 'they moved in the next day'. Activity 1 What is a Housing Commission flat? Why was Northcott constructed and who lived in its apartments? Imagine Dolly explaining to her friends over the telephone that her new home 'looks like Hollywood'. Why is it so special to her? Consider why she feels this way about her flat. Then, write a three‐minute telephone dialogue exchange between Dolly and a friend in which Dolly describes her flat – and portrays the reasons behind her 'Hollywood' feelings towards her new home. Activity 2 Filmmakers often determine a colour palette to help set the tone or look of a film, to influence how viewers perceive individual characters, and to communicate the film's progress or intent. Typically the colour palette will be bright, light, pastel‐coloured or dark. Dolly Wilson's interview bursts onto the screen in colour after the black‐and‐white archival footage, and through this colour palette the audience learns a lot about Dolly. Analyse the colour palette of Dolly's interview. Describe what these colours tell you about her character and attitudes. What other aspects of the interview do you think support the choice of colour palette used during it? © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
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Clip 5 – Building their own home, c1947 Focus 1 – The drive to live together After the Second World War, home‐building in Australia was a slow and painstaking process due to acute shortages of materials and tradespeople and the need to use hand tools. Activity 1 As a young man Roger was compelled to build a home for Olive so that he could live with her. They were probably already married, and the building (as we find out in the full TV episode) took three years. Ask one or two people who were at least in their late teens or twenties during the 1950s what general Australian society expected of couples who wanted to live together. •
Focus on marriage, the role of children in marriage, where people lived while they were waiting to be married, where married couples lived while they built houses, and whether they built their homes themselves. Activity 2 Examine Australian trends in the cohabitation of young couples. Go to the Australian Bureau of Statistics website at http://www.abs.gov.au and investigate cohabitation rates and trends of married and non‐married couples using both the oldest and most recent census data available. Write a short essay of 300 words, summarising what you've discovered about cohabitation rates in your ABS research and speculating on the reasons for any changes you noticed in them. Activity 3 – media activity It is clear from this clip that Roger and Olive's relationship has weathered the test of time. They are still very much a couple. Look at the whole clip carefully again and discuss how this impression is achieved through choice of shots, setting, cutting between archival materials and the interview, and editing. Create a three‐minute documentary on companionship. Set up an interview with an elderly couple. Record their views on why their relationship has lasted over the years. Film this couple involved in an activity that they frequently do together. Edit the documentary so that, during their interview, the footage cuts to the activities so that we see them in action as a couple. © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
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Clip 6 – Australians' birthright – a home of their own Focus 1 – Constructing a view This clip displays an optimistic 1950s Australian society after the Second World War, a picture of suburban family life within modest but comfortable homes with a vegetable patch, a 'place for the kids to play' and 'newly available appliances to make Mum and Dad's life easier'. But is there an undercurrent of something else in the series narrator's tone and language? Activity 1 What does the word 'homogeneous' mean? What is the word used for the opposite of homogeneity? Would you use either of these words to describe the clip's portrayal of 1950s Australia? Why? Give reasons for your answer. Activity 2 The series narrator refers to 'a spirit of optimism that seemed universal'. Why do you think he uses the word 'seemed'? How does this sentence frame the archival footage that then follows and continues until the end of the clip? Consider how the 'spirit of optimism' is constructed within the clip's archival material. (For instance, what tone and language are used by the archival narrator; how is music used; what kinds of issues or images are included and excluded?) To help you answer the last question, you may like to draw on your knowledge of any other Education Extras clips you have already looked at. Write a 200‐word review of this clip for the National Film & Sound Archive Library. Activity 2 – media activity Write a script to promote a 'spirit of optimism' of life in Australia today. Using a still camera, take 20 photographs to support the script. Next, using your computer software, compile these images and the recorded script into a promotional clip. © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
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