Sharp Images / Blurred Boundaries

Call for papers
(Download as pdf)

Since it began in 2004, the Aspera Conference has been a significant forum for academics within the Australian screen production field to discuss shared issues and exchange ideas for the development of the discipline. With high profile and popular courses throughout the country, screen production is recognised as an established teaching discipline in the Higher Education sector. Increasingly, the graduates from these courses are building careers in the film, television and video industries, as well as a wide range of related professional areas where their knowledge and skills can be applied. The Aspera Conference has been an opportunity for issues such as OHS on student shoots, the transition to new technologies and the development of a digital archive of student work to be explored.

Both with government and within the broader university sector, Aspera has also been active in lobbying for greater recognition for screen production as a legitimate form of academic research. The development of ASPRI, the Australian Screen Production Research Index, was a significant step in establishing metrics for the ‘publication’ of screen production research. The creation of an Aspera national peer review system will further support the efforts of practice-based researchers in film, television and video production.

Aspera has also been active in developing a dialogue with the screen industries, so that screen production courses are seen as more than suppliers (some say over-suppliers) of would-be filmmakers into a sometimes struggling production sector. It has sought to build relationships with related bodies nationally and internationally, including CHASS and CILECT.

The Aspera Conference in 2008 is being held at RMIT University in Melbourne, from July 14-16. The organising committee welcomes proposals for papers, panels, presentations and other sessions on the above topics or any other themes related to Aspera’s aims. We see this conference as being an opportunity to evaluate progress on many of the issues discussed above, as well as focusing on realistic and practical steps towards further developing the screen production discipline into the future. The conference will be broadly organised into three sections:

Teaching and learning in screen production courses;
Screen production as research;
Developing a dialogue with industry about the role of screen production within the Higher Education sector.

In broad terms, these have been the focus of all the Aspera Conferences. In many ways they are the core activities of Aspera delegates. However, in all three areas there are significant changes occurring in the external environment that impact on screen production courses and academics, as well as significant opportunities emerging that the conference will address.

A theme we are interested in exploring at the conference this year is the impact on screen production of digital networked media environments. Are the Web and the mobile phone just new ways to deliver traditional content or do they significantly alter the concept of the screen production professional and the way work is conceived, produced and distributed? What are the challenges and opportunities of these new environments?

Enquiries and submissions should be directed to:
Leo Berkeley
leo.berkeley@rmit.edu.au
(03) 9925 3014

Deadline: Extended to April 28th, 2008