There were nine graduating students’ films in the class of 2008 run by Teaching Fellow Judy Hamilton.  Red Terror, a drama, won production design, direction (Joel Jonnson), sound (Paul Browning), and tied for most popular audience film. 

The Red Terror or Qey Shibir was a violent political campaign in Ethiopia when it was in the grip of the Derg, a socialist military junta. Red Terror the 15-minute movie tells the story of a fictional Ethiopian family during the early part of the civil war which continued from 1974 to 1991.

The Derg genocide is estimated to have killed 1,500,000 Ethiopians.  During the time of the Red Terror (1977-78) the Ethiopian army forced every first-born male to join the battle against the rebellious liberation front.

In the movie Mahari, scared of the ruthless dictatorship, sends his son Alemu away to hide from the military forces. But when the army arrives and finds the son gone, they take Mahari instead, leaving behind his wife and younger son Tatek.

Production designer Liv Ask built an African village at Jimboomba - a huge undertaking involving five huts, fencing and campfire. One hut was furnished, with Ethiopian-style pottery created too.  "This is the most extensive set ever built for a Bond student movie," Judy Hamilton said.

Red Terror has its own website at http://www.redterrormovie.com  Its writer, Dawit Gebrehiwot, who now lives here but comes from Ethiopia, was director of another graduating class film, Discharged.

Polaroids of Androids (writer/director Nikki Lake, producer Jaclyn Robertson, photography Hemma Kearney, production design Belinda Davis, editor William Del Mar, sound Sarah Robinson) tied for most popular audience film.

In the 10-minute film, Abbi is a polaroid artist. Will writes greeting card messages for a living.

They are both in relationships with people they love. Then, Abbi and Will meet. They discover that they have an emotional connection, livelier than what they share with their partners. See its website at http://www.polaroidsofandroidsmovie.com

Animal Instincts (Cameron Edser and Michael Richards), about a belligerent cow and sheep, was also very popular with the audience. Cameron and Michael spent every spare moment from April to November modelling, shooting and cutting the animation in the garage at the place Cameron was renting.

Freedom, a documentary about refugees on Nauru, won best editing for Elliot Spencer. Freedom delves into the controversy over offshore processing of refugees.  It is the real story of Chaman Chah, from Afghanistan, who was detained on Nauru for three years.  The film includes actual footage showing conditions on the remote island, once forested but now desolate from phosphate mining. 
 
As well as Dawit's Discharged, the other films screened to staff, students and friends were: Wards of the State (director Casey Summerville); Centurion (writer/director Andrew Wise); Dorian’s Locket (writer/director Laura Morrison) and Farm Child (director Ashley Oberhardt).

A low budget feature film written, produced and directed by Bond University Film and Television graduates, has become an unlikely international success.  Kill Buljo, a parody of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, is the brainchild of Bond University Film and Television alumnus Tommy Wirkola who co-wrote and co-produced the film in Norway.

The privately funded, $250,000 feature film has had its distribution rights for the USA, UK and Australia picked up by independent American film studio The Weinstein Co, whose releases also include Hollywood hits Miss Potter, Hannibal Rising and Transamerica.

Kill Buljo has now sold to more than 20 countries including Japan, Poland, Turkey, Germany, Thailand, the Benelux countries, France, Brazil, Israel, Romania, South Africa, Russia, the Baltic states, Spain, Bulgaria and Portugal.

"It is almost surreal to imagine that the film will be seen all over the world, when I think of how small it was, and how we started," Tommy said.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing it dubbed into Japanese and Russian. And the fact that the Weinsteins bought it for the English-speaking territories is great, because that means that Quentin Tarantino will get a chance to see it," he said.

Bond Film and Television student Liv Ask, who worked as production designer on the film, said it felt very surreal to have their ‘little film’ picked up.

Liv was one of eight Bond students (former and current) who worked on the film in Norway from April – July last year.

The group first met at Bond University where they worked together on short-films Hansel and Gretel Witch-Hunters and Stealing Candy during their studies at the University’s Centre for Film, Television and Screen Based Media.

"Tommy was the year ahead of me at uni but we had worked on a few projects together and stayed in touch after he graduated.

"Early last year he asked me if I wanted to come and work as production designer on this feature called Kill Buljo that he’d been working on a script for.

"It was a great opportunity to broaden my work experience so I decided to defer my studies at Bond for a year and went to Norway for two-and-a-half months for the filming."

Liv joined the cast and crew, including eight other ‘Bondies’, in the small community of Alta, in northern Norway, where they stayed together in dorms.

"The people were so supportive and friendly, giving us a lot of stuff for the set, lending us their vehicles for transport and the locations we filmed at were mostly free," she said.

"It was the first full feature film for most of us, so it was tough, crazy, and a lot of fun.

"If something didn’t work, we made it work. It wasn’t a typical nine-to-five job. In Norway, the sun is up for 22 hours a day, so a lot of the time we were working without knowing whether it was morning or afternoon.

"There was a lot of improvisation. We were on a really tight schedule so we learnt to work fast and make quick decisions," Liv said.

The hard work paid off, with Kill Buljo doing remarkably well at the box office, attracting over 100,000 moviegoers and now, the attention of the world.

Off the back of their success, the group is reconvening in Norway in March next year to start work on their next feature – an ‘action/ horror/ comedy’ about Nazi zombies.

Sometimes an original idea and a love of movie-making can triumph in the face of the big bucks and prestige of Hollywood.

At Professor Robert Stable's annual Staff Christmas function on December 7, he presented his Vice-Chancellor's Quality Awards to recognise excellence in teaching, research, postgraduate supervision, and outstanding service. Two awards went to Humanities and Social Sciences staff:

International Relations Associate Professor Dr Rosita Dellios, for postgraduate supervision 

Criminology Assistant Professor Dr Wayne Petherick (pictured centre), for teaching Excellence, sharing the award with Associate Professor Terry Gygar (left) of the Law Faculty.

Prof. Russ Chess-Williams of the Health Sciences and Medicine Faculty collected the award for research excellence.

The award for outstanding service by general staff went to the e-publications@Bond project team: Peta Hopkins, Gail White, Lisa Barker, Antoinette Cass, Christine Potter, David Honeyman, Robert Wilkinson and Kimberley Layton.

Professor of Law Laurence Boulle, who joined Bond University as a foundation staff member in 1988, won the award for outstanding service by academic staff.

The year 11 Wesley College student was flown to the Gold Coast to attend a glitzy Oscar-themed awards night at Bond, where his Frequency dominated the award categories. He also won the Editing and Script craft awards and the Dean's Choice award.

James’s prize pool included the Comedy Category award, craft awards for editing and script, the Dean’s Choice award, plus the scholarship prize.

James says his passion for music motivated him to make the film: "My inspiration for the film was just trying to do something about music, as that is where my passion lies," he said.

"I was interested in how the government is starting to play a role in the music industry by placing restrictions on things because of social trends.  It’s like the government is blaming music for things that are happening in the world and I wanted to explore the impact that has on us," James said.

James’s winning entry was the first comedy for the budding film maker: "Originally I wasn’t planning on making a comedy. I thought the concept might be more suited to a drama or doco-drama, but as I started working on it I began to see the comedy potential.

"I haven’t made any comedies before so this was all new to me, but I think it may have worked," he said.

The scholarship is one way the budding film maker plans to turn his Hollywood dreams into reality. "I’ve always wanted to make movies, so the fact that I now have a scholarship to study it, just kind of confirms my direction.

"I’m really into visual art, so cinematography and visual effects really interest me.  I just plan to keep on making movies. It’s what I love to do," he said.

Director of Bond University’s Centre of Film and Television Simon Hunter was pleased with this year’s BUFTAs, labelling it "by far the best awards yet!"

"It was a very eclectic mix of entries this year. There was no common theme or style amongst them," he said.

One standout feature of the finalists’ entries was the sophisticated use of sound, which Simon described as "above and beyond what has been seen in the past".

He also sang the praises of James’s winning film, Frequency, saying it was "a sophisticated idea, executed in a fresh way."

Wesley College enjoyed a stand-out performance at this year’s BUFTAs, with James’s classmate Susannah Hale also enjoying success, taking out the award for animation.

In a bonus for the talented duo, their short films will also be broadcast to a national audience during the BUFTA 2007 special on the Aurora community channel, to be aired December 21 (8.30pm AEDT, 7.30pm in Queensland).

Category award winners were: -

Animation: Susannah Hale of Wesley College, Melbourne, for her film Waatji Pulyeri.

Gold Coast Filmmaking award for best documentary: Mason Hoffman of Pacific Pines State High, Helensvale, for Exploring the Myth of the Mummy's Tomb.

Drama: winner was James Burke of Newstead College, Launceston, for his film Gone.

Experimental: Sonny Costin of Miami State High School, Gold Coast, for The Essence of Fear.

Other: Ashley-Anne Lai of St Hilda's School, Southport, for Orpheus and Eurydice.

Winners of the craft awards were: -

Cinematography: George Picot of Newstead College, Launceston, for Last Reflection.

Direction: Sebastian Wichne of John Paul College, Daisy Hill, Queensland, for The Promise.

Sound: Nick Moir of Rosny College, Rosny Park, Tasmania, for The House.

Milena Stojceska, 17, from Merrimac State High School, Gold Coast, and Jack Campbell, 18, from Inverell High, NSW, are the 2008 winners of the John Burton cadet scholarship - a partnership between Bond University and The Gold Coast Bulletin.

The winners alternate between studying full time here and working full time at The Bulletin on a cadet salary.  "It's the best way to become a journalist," says Journalism Professor Mark Pearson.  "The scholarship is valued at $37,500.  Former recipient Alice Gorman has gone on to win the Walkley award, Australia's top journalism prize.

"Some recipients are still at The Bulletin in  senior roles.  Others have left the paper for careers in print, television and public relations."

Bond University Bachelor of Multimedia and Bachelor of Computer Games students have taken their first steps toward working in the digital media industries with two important industry linkages - taking part in quality testing a new Auran studios game called Fury, and visiting another digital media company.

On November 30, 11 students visited THQ studios in Brisbane under the guidance of Asst. Prof. Scott Knight to participate in a variety of presentations and discussions about working in the games industry.

THQ is one of the world’s largest game development studios and the Brisbane studio is home to more than 80 full-time employees.

One student commented, “It was one of those life-changing experiences and this sort of thing is the reason I came to Bond.”

Head of School Dr Jeff Brand said: “One of the strengths of the Bond is our connection with industry and government.  Our interest in educating and training students for work in producing and publishing in the digital media sector is clear.”

In December the School of Communication and Media entered a quality-testing and feedback program with Auran studios, also in Brisbane. Auran, a Queensland company which began operating 1995, released Fury, its much anticipated multiplayer online game, earlier this year and is releasing the first major update this month.

Nearly 20 Bond students have received free copies of the $90 retail version of Fury and an opportunity to comment on the first and second editions as part of a quality-testing program. “This is a demonstrable ‘foot-in-the-door’ for our students,” said Dr Brand.

The Faculty's Christmas function, organised by Executive Support Officer (Events) Anoushka Douglas, was held at the Gold Coast theme park Dreamworld.  Two of the attraction's Bengal tigers went through their paces, then after food and drinks the Dean, Prof. Raoul Mortley, acknowledged staff who have been with Humanities and Social Sciences or with BUELI for more than 15 years.

Pictures from the night are included in the print-friendly pdf version of this newsletter.

Bond student Justine Ebenreuter and her supervisor, Prof. Richard Hicks, gave papers at the sixth Australian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences at Sydney's Macquarie University this month.Justine, a current Master of Clinical Psychology student, presented a paper on the topic of emerging leadership qualities among university students.

Dr Hicks presented several papers, including his own research on the use of forced-choice items in personality questionnaires, and two papers on behalf of former students who were unable to attend.  These other two papers were on call centre operatives (stresses faced and (See abstracts below.)

Mark Jackson's and Prof. Hicks's case study asked,  "Are maladaptive perfectionist traits associated (negatively) with emotional intelligence?"

Empirical evidence suggests personality traits such as emotional intelligence and maladaptive perfectionism have direct links to the development of psychopathology, the abstract states.  The study aimed to extend prior research by determining if a relationship exists between emotional intelligence and maladaptive perfectionism, and their affect on psychopathology. 

The second case study, by Rachel Fitzgerald and Prof. Hicks, is titled  Emotional intelligence and workplace personality characteristics in a call centre environment.

The rapid rise of interest in the call centre industry has produced some interesting dilemmas for employees within a call centre. Whilst research into this area is in its infancy, this article expands the area by examining the “ideal” profile of a call centre situation, the current study explored the association between emotional intelligence and work-based personal characteristics within a call centre sample.

"Originally a further three papers were also to have been presented," Prof. Hicks said, "including two by other former Bond students—who regrettably could not attend the conference only because they had been successful in finding full-time psychology employment! 

"These papers are, however, likely to be presented at 2008 conferences.  Bond University is gradually extending its psychology research and adding to research knowledge in a number of fields."

Professor Hicks has accepted responsibility for organising the next conference which will be held at Bond University November 28-29, 2008 and it will be a joint seventh Australian Conference (ACPID-2008) and the first Asia-Pacific Conference on Personality and Individual Differences. 

One of the themes of the conference will be cross-cultural similarities and differences in personality and the implications. The Dean, Prof. Raoul Mortley, will open the conference and welcome representatives to the University.

Alicia Vallero and Debborah Smith attended the Independent Learning Association Conference at Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan.  Conference theme was: “Exploring theory, enhancing practice: Autonomy across the disciplines”.

"Whilst in Tokyo we had the opportunity to catch up with ex-Bondies," Debborah said. 

"Toshiki Tsuruoka graduated in 2002 with an MA(TESOL).  He established Ulysses English School in the beautiful seaside city of Kamakura, one hour from Tokyo.

"Alicia and I travelled there to visit Toshiki’s school and talk about Bond courses, and options for students who may wish to come here. One of his students has actually come to study at BUELI for a while. Toshiki also showed us around some of the sights of Kamakura." 
 
Watari Furusato (Watty), who graduated in 2006 with an MBA, has established an informal alumni group in Japan. His aims are to create a professional network, maintain Bond friendships, and raise the recognition and profile of a Bond degree.

Debborah said: "He studied Academic Writing with me, and organised a dinner at a shabu-shabu restaurant in Ginza with eight previous students with varying degrees – MBA, MA, Master Sports Management – but all had studied English subjects with me.

"Some travelled up to two hours to attend.  It was great to catch up with them and hear how they are almost all using English in various ways in their everyday professional lives."

Alana Brady has joined the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty as Marketing and Student Liaison Officer.  Alana comes to us from Somerset College where she worked in community relations for three years.  She completed a Communication degree at Griffith University Gold Coast campus, majoring in public relations, creative writing and media communication.

Alana was born on the Gold Coast  and studied at St Michael's College, Merrimac.  Her interests include playing tennis, reading, cooking and going to the beach.

Bond Journalism graduate Kyrrie Blenkinsop has emailed her former lecturers Prof. Mark Pearson and Assoc. Prof. Roger Patching that life in Darwin is great:  "I'm loving the court rounds at Channel 9," she writes.

"It's very exciting being here. I'm getting a story on TV almost every night.  I also had a story on Nightline and have had articles published on ninemsn.com.

She is making a name for herself: "I've been talked about in a forum on the MediaSpy website and I also get a mention on a Wikipedia site." 

Bond Public Relations Masters graduate Nick Jonsson (class of 2004, who took out the PRIA award for best student project with his Make-a-Wish charity golf day, raising $18,500) has left London public relations and is now area sales manager for Oriflame Cosmetics in Vietnam. 

Helmet-wearing has just become compulsory there for all bike riders and Oriflame is one of the companies sponsoring the campaign to promote helmet-wearing as a way of saving lives and avoiding head injuries.

He is pictured leading the nation's first helmet parade.  "I'm having great fun here," he said in an email to his former lecturer, Humanities News editor Dr Richard Phillipps.  "It's days like today that make me realise I have the best job in the world!"   More pictures are on his Facebook site.

Nick says the public relations and event management education at Bond and later work in this field is proving very valuable in his new job.  Oriflame sells its natural cosmetics from plant extracts direct to the public. 

 His wife Sofi Jonsson has joined him from London; she is working in Ho Chi Minh City for Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Computer Games and Film Assistant Professor Scott Knight has been awarded a research commission from the Australian Centre for the Moving Image to write a history of the Australian computer games industry to be part of the national Game On exhibition which will open in March 2008 in Melbourne.

The project has attracted $4,500 in research funding to the School of Communication and Media and the output will be a reference point for journalists and scholars in coming years. “I am very proud of the efforts of our academic staff to ensure the games and multimedia program at Bond has both industry and academic credibility,” said Head of School Dr Jeff Brand.

POLITICAL SPIN AND BLOGS INVESTIGATED AT SYDNEY CONFERENCE

Prof. Mark Pearson, Head of Journalism and Director, Centre for New Media Research and Education, Assoc. Prof. Roger Patching and Dr Richard Phillipps presented papers at the Public Right to Know conference at University of Technology, Sydney. It was held the same weekend as the Federal elections.

The Pearson and Patching paper was titled "Government media relations: spinning into focus".  The abstract states: "Australian governments at all levels spend millions of dollars each year attempting to manage media coverage of their activities.

"While there has been important research into some aspects of government media relations, and several substantial overseas studies, no single project has attempted to define, quantify and describe this important interface between media and politics in Australia.

"This paper marks the beginnings of such a process.  Funded by a small institutional grant, it reviews the literature to date, grouping it into the categories of ‘scale’, ‘techniques’ and ‘impact’, before highlighting the considerable gaps in the existing research and setting out the parameters for a larger collaborative project which aims to harness the efforts of several researchers working in this field."

Research Fellow and editor of Humanities News Dr Richard Phillipps presented a paper on "Politics and citizen news blogs".
 
He said: "In some countries, citizen-initiated media blogs are having a big impact, especially now that users post moblogs – images, text and video from their camera phones – instantly to the internet.

"Blogs no longer need be just political 'think pieces', as most Australian ones are – in other countries with more urgent need for political reform, they are becoming rallying calls for action.

"Content of 65 blog sites from the centre and both sides of the political spectrum was studied in 2005 and about the same number in 2007 to track changes in bloggers’ political slant where this was evident, their take on topical issues – particularly on the last Australian federal election – and who was contributing to the posts." 

Blog comment on recent political happenings and crises was investigated, also the persistence/failure rate of Australian bloggers, compared with their overseas counterparts.

PROF. PEARSON SAYS THE COURTS ARE SCANDALISING MEDIA FREEDOM

Journalism Prof. Mark Pearson presented a paper titled "Scandalising media freedom: resurrection of an ancient contempt" to the refereed stream of the Journaliam Education of New Zealand conference at Massey University, Wellington, this month.

As the abstract says, "The ancient charge of 'scandalising the court' has had resurgence  has had a resurgence in Australia over the past decade, at the very time that judges and magistrates have developed an inclination to sue for defamation.

"The combined effect is to send a waning to media organisations to take care when criticising judicial officers or the judicial process, particularly if that involves implying some improper motive on the part of a judge or magistrate."

This form of contempt has long been used by small African and Pacific Island regimes as a way of silencing media criticism of the judicial process, the paper points out: Canada does not use it now, in the UK it has not been prosecuted successfully against the media since 1931 and in the USA it does not exist at all.

Prof. Pearson's paper reviews some recent Australian and New Zealand cases where a charge of scandalising the court has been either threatened or enforced.  It considers the implications for freedom of media expression in a new era of anti-terrorism, when important questions are being asked about the fairness of justice processes.

ENGLISH HELP CENTRE NOW FIVE DAYS A WEEK

The Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty's English Help Centre, aiding particularly those students from a non-English-speaking background, has been operating five days a week for the final semester of 2007, after being at four days a week in semester two.  The three part-time staff this semester have been Susan Macfarlane, Shirley Brown and Jessica Iannacci. 

The Dean, Prof. Raoul Mortley, has confirmed that the Centre will also operate five days a week in first semester 2008.

The English Help Centre offers help with:

• understanding assignment questions,
• essay organisation and structure,
• grammar, reading pronunciation, writing and listening skills.

The Centre has its own web page.  Its email address is englishhelp@bond.edu.au.

HUMANITIES STUDENTS ASSOCIATION NEWS

JULIAN LAMBERTIN IS HSA's POSTGRAD LIAISON DIRECTOR

The Humanities Students Association has chosen Julian Alexander Lambertin, who is studying for his Master of Communication, as its Postgraduate Liaison Director for 2007-08.

Julian's home city is Cologne, Germany.  His goals in the new post are "to enhance staff-student networking, create added value for postgraduates to study at Bond, make the Faculty and the HSA a paradigm case of postgraduate integration, create shared meaning between Faculty staff and students to work towards common goals more effectively". 

His favourite quotation is from Dorothea Brande: "Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid."  He says he can resist everything, except temptation.  If any postgrad student wants to see changes, Julian says please email him.

WHERE YOU'LL FIND THE DEAN'S AWARDS PHOTOS

A selection of the last Dean's Awards photos by Teaching Fellow Mike Grenby (with captions added) can be found in the print-friendly pdf version of Humanities Faculty News, Vol. 4 Issue 3, which can be accessed via the Faculty newsletters' web page. 

Those who have joined the Facebook website can access most of the Dean's Awards photos taken by Mike Grenby.  HSA Communications Director Anna-Lee Bridgstock advises that they are now at three Facebook locations listed in the last Humanities Herald. 

NEW EVENT: ALL THAT JAZZ

This semester the HSA organised a new event which sold out quickly: All That Jazz. Bond's classy young men and women donned 1920s 'Chicago'-themed outfits and enjoyed Heineken, bubbly champagne, wine and Baileys.

Don's Tavern was transformed into a dusky lounge filled with giant 1920s-style lamp posts, fairy lights, elegant tablecloths and dishes of canapes.

The jazzy background music from Atticus Trombone Trio added to the classy feel of the night.  Handmade silhouettes of cameramen, flapper girls and waiters were complemented by the real-life photographic talent of Timothy Lee, Film and TV student and HSA's Special Interests Director.

The successful night ended with a bus full of singing Bondies on their merry way to The Bedroom nightclub to continue with the festivities - feathers, pearls, bowler hats and all!

FIRST ISSUE FOR 2008 UNDER WAY 

To contribute, just email Dr Richard Phillipps on rphillip@bond.edu.au or call him on 0427 392 568.  He will start compiling the next issue in the last week of January.