Steven Fleming

G'day from Australia, just read yer post Richard and found it inspiring. I'm still in film school and it's one of the aspects that's often neglected---ie you gotta sell yer product. It's good to take off the rose-coloured glasses & be hit with some reality. I hope to see yer film down here soon.

Cheers for all those tips Sasha, Bob Humphreys is already on my list (incidentally he was responsible for Somersault, Suburban Mayhem & Mullet as well as @ least one short that i know of called Flowergirl [dir. Cate Shortland] He also shot a great mini-series [again with Shortland & the magnificent Emily Barclay] called The Silence, his website has an extensive showreel Click here! ) and it looks like I may have to wait for those other shorts you mentioned in the Summer festivals. I completely agree w/ you re: State suckling of the film "industry" in Oz and am keen to see what the changes brought in in June or July this year will bring about. I noticed in The Australian yesterday an article about Tropfest funding films. Also the FTA w/ USA might see more money coming in this direction. There's nothing worse than parochial films and when its exacerbated by the meddling of bureaucratic Arts-grant leeches working within nationalist parameters to foster "identity"...well i just get so mad. <_< Obviously our market is just too small to maintain an introspective film club and i reckon that we'll see a return to genre films as producers have to look @ raising capital themselves. But that's enough ranting! Still haven't seen Jesse James, next pay for sure... thanks to all for all yer input!

G'day, A. (Adam, Andrew?) No not THAT Steve Fleming, i wish i had 1/2 his talent though. Should be a good Summer, the WACA's got its bounce back! Ahem! Depth of Field... I hadn't noticed that shallow depth was a patriotic trait! Of course now I'll be looking even harder. I wish I was floating in locally produced short films, but they ain't so easy to get hold of (for further scrutiny) once they've been screened @ festivals. I'd appreciate any direction to sites that host specifically Oz based material. Could an introspective shallow depth reflect that much vaunted 'search for national identity' that Australian films are supposedly engaged in? I think I'll leave that for Honours. Cheers for your comment, it's got me thinkin'.

Cheers for all your comments. All 3 have confirmed something i was trying to devise. I'm seeking to build an argument that shallow depth of field combined with Close-ups particularly of fingers, enhance spectator identification with character as this type of vision allows for an embodied sensation of touch, along the lines of Vivian Sobchack's theory. The shallow depth i think resembles that kind psychological introspection of the thousand yard stare variety. especially in CU and XCU, a kind of 'relaxed mind'. especially in combination with shots of touching. which is the realism that u mention Chris, an embodied realism that as you say David, 'mimics the psychological state of the character'. And as you say Leo 'The mind can be selective in ways a lens and camera cannot be' which is where shot choice comes in. Thank you all gents, for your comments, would you mind if i included this post in my essay? Regards Steve

Hi there, my name?s Steve & I?m a film student in Perth, Australia and I have a question to ask related to my graduating project and would greatly appreciate anyone?s input. Depth of field is known to be used for isolating objects and subjects that we wish the spectator to attend to, or conversely ignore- which could be regarded as a purely formalistic approach. However an extremely shallow depth of field might also be used to indicate character cognisance, for example as in cate Shortland's ?Somersault?, or as a means of conveying character through symbolism as in Terance malick's ?Thin Red Line?-(Colonel Tall [Nick Nolte] often had objects and actions depicted behind him in soft focus that emphasised his emotional state). I?m wondering if anyone has employed specific strategies using depth of field to convey meaning beyond the merely formalistic? Cheers