Strategic dalliances as an enabler for discontinuous innovation in slow clockspeed industries: evidence from the oil and gas industry

The concept of ‘strategic dalliances’– defined as non-committal relationships that companies can ‘dip in and out of,’ or dally with, while simultaneously maintaining longer-term strategic partnerships with other firms and suppliers – has emerged as a promising strategy by which organizations can create discontinuous innovations. But does this approach work equally well for every sector? Moreover, how can these links be effectively used to foster the process of discontinuous innovation? Toward assessing the role that industry clockspeed plays in the success or failure of strategic dalliances, we provide case study evidence from Twister BV, an upstream oil and gas technology provider, and show that strategic dalliances can be an enabler for the discontinuous innovation process in slow clockspeed industries. Implications for research and practice are discussed, and conclusions from our findings are drawn.

Digital Disruption : Cinema Moves Online

Digital Disruption: Cinema Moves On-line helps to make sense of what has happened in the short but turbulent history of on-line moving image distribution. It provides a realistic assessment of both the genuine and the not-so-promising methods that have been experimented in response to the disruptions that moving from ‘analogue dollars’ to ‘digital cents’ have provoked in the film industry. Paying close attention to how the Majors have dealt – often unsuccessfully – with the challenges it poses, it also focuses closely on the innovations and practices that have taken place beyond the mainstream, showcasing important entrepreneurial innovations such as Mubi, Jaman, Withoutabox and IMDb. Written by leading academic commentators and experts close to the fluctuating fortunes of the industry, Digital Disruption: Cinema Moves On-line is an indispensable guide to the changes currently facing film and its audiences.

'The comfort lies in all the things you can do': the Australian drive-in: cinema of distraction

Contrary to the claims of some film historians, the drive-in was not a uniquely American invention. Australian drive-in cinemas were, at least in the 1950s and 1960s, distinguishable from their American counterparts by virtue of the profusion of additional amusements (or distractions) they offered alongside film-viewing. This article traces the history of Australian drive-ins as ‘entertainment centres’ and ‘high temples of modernity’. It argues that the drive-in can usefully be understood as a mid-point between the domestic and public spheres, and a powerful symbol of post-WWII Australia, signifying prosperity, gathering consumer confidence and, in metropolitan areas, marking the path of urban development through its concentration in new, outer suburban areas.

A bureaucratic cinema: the fraught relationship between government and film

The interventions by the government in the production and circulation of film in late 1960s transformed the Australian cinema industry into a bureaucratic cinema because of its established agencies and institutions for the benefit of filmmakers. Training options expanded by the commencement of the Australian Film and Television School and the Film, Radio and Television Board of the Australia Council, which ran compulsory orientation seminars and workshops on the use of new equipments, helped the aspiring filmmakers to access money from the council's Basic Production Fund.

Outward-looking Australian cinema

Over the last twenty years or so, Australian cinema's international relations in production and policy have expanded and become more complex, while those with Hollywood have been transformed. The boundaries of the national cinema stretch much further than the national territory. Australian production and postproduction companies work in Australia with international partners or on international projects. In this article I will trace some of the material and discursive entailments of this new international turn to explore how dynamic and shifting relations between the local/national and the international have transformed the ways in which we might think about what constitutes Australian cinema, and to illustrate how relations of commonality and continuity with the international called up in the new arrangements challenge the dominant articulation in policy of difference from 'other kinds of filmmaking' as the basis of Australian cinema. I draw on Deb Verhoeven's work on simultaneously national and international films and filmmakers, and adapt Doreen Massey's concept of 'outwardlookingness' to consider Australian cinema's international aspects.

Digital intermediary: Korean transnational cinema

Since censorship was lifted in Korea in 1996, collaboration between Korean and foreign filmmakers has grown in both extent and visibility. Korean films have been shot in Australia, New Zealand and mainland China, while the Korean digital post-production and visual effects firms behind blockbusters infused with local effects have gone on to work with filmmakers from greater China and Hollywood Korean cinema has become known for its universal storylines, genre experimentation and high production values. The number of exported Korean films has increased, as has the number of Korean actors starring in films made in other countries. Korea has hosted major international industry events. These milestones have facilitated an unprecedented international expansion of the Korean film industry. With the advent of the 'digital wave in Korea the film industry's transition to digital production practices this expansion has accelerated Korean film agencies the pillars of the national cinema have played important parts in this internationalisation, particularly in promoting Korean films and filmmakers outside Korea and in facilitating international events in Korea itself Yet, for the most part, projects involving Korean filmmakers working in partnership with filmmakers from other countries are the products of individuals and businesses working outside official channels. That is, they are often better understood as 'transnational rather than 'national' or 'international' projects. In this article, we focus on a range of collaborations involving Korean, Australian, New Zealand and Chinese filmmakers and firms. These collaborations highlight some of the forces that have shaped the digital wave in the Korean film industry, and illustrate the increasingly influential role that the 'digital expertise of Korean filmmakers is playing in film industries, both regionally and around the world.

The national specificity of horror sources in Asian horror cinema

This dissertation explores the relationship between horror films and the national contexts in which they are produced by analyzing several Asian horror movies – Ringu (Japan), The Eye (Hong Kong) and Shutter (Thailand). Utilizing these films as case studies, the dissertation examines the degree to which genre cinemas are nationally-specific, and the degree to which it is possible to make genre films that can enter international markets and be comprehensible in various national markets as well. The dissertation also makes the following claims on the national specificity of genre cinema: i) The sources of frightening elements in horror films are nationally-specific. ii) There is a regional "Asian" horror because of the intertwining national histories and shared cultural elements across several Asian countries.

A silver bullet for Australian cinema? Genre movies and the audience debate

There has been a renaissance in Australian genre cinema in recent years. Indeed, not since the 1980s have Australian genre movies across action, adventure, horror, and science-fiction among others, experienced such prominence within production, policy discourse, and industry debate. Genre movies, typically associated with commercial filmmaking and entertainment, have been identified as a strategy to improve the box-office performance of Australian feature films and to attract larger audiences. Much of this conversation has revolved around the question of whether or not genre can deliver on these high expectations and transform the unpredictable local film industry into a popular and profitable commercial production sector. However, this debate for the most part has been disconnected from analysis of Australia’s genre movie heritage in terms of their position within Australian cinema and their reception with domestic audiences, and how this correlates to contemporary trends. As this chapter argues, genre production is not a silver bullet which will single handedly improve the Australian feature film industry’s commercial performance. Genre movies have occupied, and continue to occupy, a difficult position within Australian cinema and face numerous challenges in terms of reception with national audiences, limited production scale and enterprise structures, and ongoing tensions between culture and commerce.

Towards an understanding of Australian genre cinema and entertainment : beyond the limitations of ‘Ozploitation’ discourse

While Australian cinema has produced popular movie genres since the 1970s, including action/adventure, road movies, crime, and horror movies, genre cinema has occupied a precarious position within a subsidised national cinema and has been largely written out of film history. In recent years the documentary Not Quite Hollywood (2008) has brought Australia’s genre movie heritage from the 1970s and 1980s back to the attention of cinephiles, critics and cult audiences worldwide. Since its release, the term ‘Ozploitation’ has become synonymous with Australian genre movies. In the absence of discussion about genre cinema within film studies, Ozploitation (and ‘paracinema’ as a theoretical lens) has emerged as a critical framework to fill this void as a de facto approach to genre and a conceptual framework for understanding Australian genres movies. However, although the Ozploitation brand has been extremely successful in raising the awareness of local genre flicks, Ozploitation discourse poses problems for film studies, and its utility is limited for the study of Australian genre movies. This paper argues that Ozploitation limits analysis of genre movies to the narrow confines of exploitation or trash cinema and obscures more important discussion of how Australian cinema engages with popular movies genres, the idea of Australian filmmaking as entertainment, and the dynamics of commercial filmmaking practises more generally.

Stage brothers slow to resurrect a Ned Kelly myth

JUST like the man, Ned Kelly dramas have had a chequered history. A century ago they were banned from the stage and screen. Following censorship law changes, Douglas Stewart's 4 1/2-hour long 1942 radio play was a hit on the airwaves but a flop onstage. Stewart's Ned was a menacing hero/villain. Little has been seen of Ned in mainstage plays since. Matthew Ryan's Kelly breaks the drought.

"Food For Thought" Selected Design Installation DIA Homegrown 2011 Life In the Slow Lane Exhibition: Little Stanley Street, South Bank, Brisbane

'Homegrown is an initiative of the Design Institute of Australia–Queensland Branch to promote the collaboration and cultivation of local design talent in Queensland and strengthen the connection between design, plate, planet, people and culture.' Homegrown 2011 Exhibition Catalogue Excerpt

Slow horizon

“Slow Horizon” is comprised of six lenticular panels hung in an even, horizontal sequence. As the viewer moves in front of the work, each panel alternates subtly between two vertical colour gradients. From left to right, the panels move through yellow, orange, magenta and violet to ‘midnight blue’. Together, the coloured panels comprise an abstract horizon line that references the changing nature of light at sunset. The scale, movement and chromatic qualities of the panels also allude to the formal characteristics of the screen technologies that pervade contemporary visual culture. “Slow Horizon” contributes to studies in the field of contemporary art. It is particularly concerned with the relationships between abstraction, colour, signification and perception. Since early Modernity, debates concerning representation and the formal qualities of the picture plane have been fundamental to art practice and theory. These debates have often dovetailed with questions of art’s capacity to generate shifts in thought and perception. Practitioners such as Ellsworth Kelly, James Turrell and Ed Ruscha have variously used block and blended colour to engage in these formal, symbolic and perceptual potentials of colour. Using a practice-led research methodology, “Slow Horizon” furthers this creative inquiry. By conflating the reductive visual logics of abstraction and minimalism with the iconic, romantic evocations of sunset imagery, it questions not only the contemporary relationship between abstraction and image-making, but also art’s ability to create moments of stillness and contemplation in a context significantly shaped by screen technologies. “Slow Horizon” has been exhibited internationally as part of “Supermassive” at LA Louver Gallery, Venice, California in 2013. The exhibition was reviewed in The Los Angeles Times.

Brisbane : creative city, cinema city?

Brisbane stands at the cross roads of many major economic, social and cultural opportunities as it positions itself as a cosmopolitan, globally networked metropolis of the twenty-first century. In order to link and leverage the existing screen industries infrastructure into Brisbane’s creative city’s plans, the paper argues for a re-think of the existing policy frameworks that support Australian screen culture and the national screen industries. Instead of remaining premised on a separation of these two activities the paper argues for a greater recognition of the overlaps occurring in both production and consumption of screen content. By acknowledging the impact new media technologies and social behaviours and the way they are re-shaping media consumption and media production practices, film and media policy could be better positioned to complement the emerging creative city policy frameworks that are being fostered in a city like Brisbane. The paper argues that reconsideration of the culture/industry separation that characterizes contemporary policy settings underpinning Australian media and screen production assistance would not only assist in identifying crucial synergies within a creative city policy it would also invigorate policy settings for the screen industries and enable them to connect more efficiently to a shifting film and media production and consumption landscape.

Tracing the influence of non-narrative film and expanded cinema sound on experimental music

This study surveys and interrogates key conceptual frameworks and artistic practises that flow through the distinct but interconnected traditions of non-narrative film and experimental music, and examines how these are articulated in my own creative sound practise.