The 2010 ATOM Victoria State Conference is bigger and better than ever...with keynote presentations from John Safran and acclaimed animator Darcy Prendegast, free entry to ACMI's Tim Burton: The Exhibition and heaps of sessions to give you the edge when it comes to teaching Media.

The conference will be held at Victoria University 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne.

Click here to register your place at the conference and book sessions online.

The accommodation partner for the 2010 ATOM Conference is Quest Collins Street Central. Click here to read about the  2010 ATOM Conference Accommodation Partner available for conference participants.

Friday, July 23
Keynote - 9.30-11.00	Presenter
Practically raised by stop motion cartoons, Darcy mixes a gritty animated stlye with a twisted sense of humour to form a juggernaut of entertainment and controversy. Being one of Melbourne's most exciting young directors, he continues to trail the globe in some of the world's largest film festivals. Darcy was a lead sculptor, assistant animator and model maker on Mary and Max. Darcy lectures at RMIT, has been selected twice for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and won the Nescafe Big Break competition.	Darcy Prendergast
11.30-1.30
“Take the red pill” – Using Web 2.0 to enhance an active VCE classroom. SESSION FULL	Jason Isma
Blowing things up with Live Type SESSION FULL	Hugh Mason Jones
Whedonesque Women: Representation in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity and Dollhouse	Brett Lamb
Digital Authoring: The way forward for 21st century learning and learners	Maggie Garrard
2.30-3.30
Open Forum: A debate on R18+ games and the internet filter	Brett Lamb and Roger Dunscombe
Basic Video and Audio Productions in the Classroom	Michael Lawton
Media Representations of the War on Terror	David Price
Developing multiliteracies and critical thinking through the use of contemporary Australian media	Maggie Garrard
4.00
Saturday, July 24
Keynote - 9.30-11.00
John Safran has won four AFI wards for his comedy documentary series John Safran's Music Jamboree and John Safran vs God. His most recent series was John Safran's Race Relations. He hosts a Sunday night Triple J radio show with Father Bob McGuire and first came to our screens in Race Around the World.	John Safran
11.30-1.30
Using Interactive Whiteboards in the Media Classroom	Russell Kealey
Introduction to Teaching Media - Your Questions Answered	Melinda Roberts and Karen Koch
Digital SLRs in the Classroom SESSION FULL	Andrew Renaut
Breaking News: The Age in the 21st Century classroom SESSION CANCELLED	Lee Burton
2.30-3.30
The National Curriculum: What it Means for You	Roger Dunscombe
Brokeback to the Future	Liza Birmingham
We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes: Psycho in the Media Classroom	Brett Lamb
Crowd Sourcing: Waves, Wikis and other Wonders of Web 2.0 in the VCE Classroom SESSION FULL	Jo Flack

I recently had the pleasure of teaching a term-long Contemporary Cinema unit to a Year 10 class undertaking a cinema studies elective. My aim was to expose students to as many ideas, styles and techniques as I could, and one of these was Bollywood film. Depending on the cultural make-up of your class, your students (or yourself!) may not be particularly familiar with Bollywood cinema, so this provides a great spring-board for new learning. But, where do you start?

I began with an introduction to what Bollywood cinema is all about. In short, Bollywood is the informal term used for the Hindi language, Mumbai-based film industry. The word Bollywood itself is a blend of the words Bombay (former name of Mumbai) and Hollywood (the centre of the US film industry). The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema, but it is actually only one part a much bigger Indian film industry. Bollywood cinema began in the 1930s and some of the glamour of Hollywood’s golden era (and musical genre) can still be seen in the films today. Common conventions of Bollywood films include formulaic story lines, choreographed fight scenes, song-and-dance routines, melodrama and larger-than-life heroes. They are sometimes known as ‘masala’ films for their excellent blend of genres – soap opera, romance, musical, action – and make a good genre study themselves.

In teaching Bollywood, you can always begin with what the students will know and connect with – why not show them some of the song and dance sequences in the popular film “Moulin Rouge”, as Luhrmann himself admits to being inspired by Bollywood cinema. Then there are always the more Westernised versions of Bollywood cinema, such as the 2004 Gurinder Chadha film, “Bride and Prejudice”, which make the style and conventions of Bollywood initially more accessible. But the real examples of Bollywood come from India itself and two great films to use in the classroom (that are both engaging and accessible) are “Lagaan” and “Salaam Namaste”. 

“Lagaan” (2001), by director Ashutosh Gowariker, is a history lesson in itself. Set in the Victorian period (1893), when India was still under British rule, the film looks at the ways in which the British Raj oppress and dominate the Indian people from the local village of Champaner. When a young village boy decides to stand up for his people, a superb battle takes place…in the form of a cricket match! “Lagaan” has it all – romance, gentle comedy, high drama and the typical musical sequences. It provides an excellent insight into the values held by different cultures and generations. As a film, it is well crafted, with a solid story, engaging characters and high production values. It could be described as a more traditional Bollywood film but was much-loved by my students, who felt great empathy for the Indian people and their way of life.

“Salaam Namaste” (2005), directed by Siddharth Anand, is quite different to “Lagaan”. It is a much more modern form of Bollywood cinema, and much of its appeal lies in the fact that it was shot here in Melbourne. (There’s definitely ‘insiders’ humor in seeing the characters dance in front of football stadiums, city shops and the local haunts we all frequent!) The film revolves around two young Indians who are living away from their families in Melbourne. Although they begin hating each other, they quickly fall in love, yet it is not all smooth-sailing. There is the typical high drama, romance and melodrama, making it a good comparison to other Bollywood texts. The film is shot and edited in a much more upbeat fashion than “Lagaan” and the song and dance sequences almost resemble music video clips, which possibly helps to make the film more appealing to a young audience.

Accessing Bollywood films can prove a little more tricky than Hollywood movies; however, Melbourne now has many Indian supermarkets, many of which also have a small film section. I found “Bollywood Blitz”, an Indian DVD store in Dandenong, to be particularly well stocked and extremely helpful in offering suggestions of what may be appropriate. If you do decide to teach Bollywood film, just remember – most run for at least 3 hours (and are traditionally screened with an intermission!), so make sure you have plenty of classroom time. Teaching Bollywood is a great way to expose students to films that they would normally never watch. It can provide a study in genre and conventions, narrative, values or simply film appreciation. Teaching Bollywood is also a wonderful way to extend your own practice beyond just Western mainstream texts, or spice up a tired curriculum.

Well it’s been a really big year in Media and the reports keep rolling in.

I became chair at the AGM last year and I have really enjoyed my first year in the hot seat. It is a privilege to serve in this position and to be a part of such a dynamic and progressive organisation.

ATOM vic has an enviable reputation as one of the leading subject associations largely because it provides one of the largest and strongest arrays of services to its members. From the awards, the publications Metro and Screen Ed, the professional development, curriculum development, curriculum and classroom support right to the list server Atom provides quality support and tireless promotion for media education. This year has been no exception.

This has been an exciting year which has seen ATOM vic look to new horizons within Victoria, nationally and internationally.

But first I would like to acknowledge the work of my predecessor, Meg Hannan. Meg became chair after Atom had suffered through a very chaotic time, it had appeared to lose sight of its goals and charter, it had an uncoordinated structure and approach and was in dire financial straights. Meg spent her time at the helm righting the ship and she left Atom in a strong and stable state. A state that has enabled us to take a more outward focus, knowing the house is in good order.

This outward focus has been one of my own goals as Chair, to allow ATOM to play its role on larger stages both nationally and internationally.
This year saw the creation of a new national peak body of media education called, appropriately enough ATOM national. This body was formed at a meeting in Melbourne last December and consisted of reps from Queensland, ACT, South Australia and Victoria. ATOM nat is composed of one delegate from each of the State branches.

Atom National immediately applied for and was granted membership to the National Advocates for Arts education – the peak body for arts education, which has two representatives from each of Dance, Drama, Media, Music and Visual Art It is due to this body that the Arts have been included in Phase 2 of the National Curriculum to be rolled out in 2012. I would like to formally acknowledge the work hard work that body did before we joined and I am very proud that ATOM is a member and I feel privileged and proud to serve as a delegate. This National curriculum work is one of the most important developments that has occurred in Media education in this country to date.

Other achievements over the year have included the strengthening and development of relationships and strategic partnerships with organisations including Screenrights/Enhance TV, the Herald Sun, AFI , Screen Australia and, of course, the VCAA. ATOMvic has also build on and strengthened its relationship with other Media bodies in Australia and internationally.

I would like to express my thanks to the Atomvic board, the sub-committees, the hardworking employees of Atom in PD and publications and to all Atomvic members for their support for Atom vic and their help in making us a stronger organisation. We will also be facing the challenge of our education officer Amber leaving at some stage this year and as we know from the struggle we had replacing her when she went on family leave, she will be sorely missed and hard to replace.

I look to a very exciting year ahead with increased participation in the National Curriculum, stronger links with other states, and internationally and the further development of strategic partnerships. Hopefully too over the course of next year we will be able to announce a star-studded international cast for our next National conference. In keeping with Rudd’s education revolution – viva ATOM!

Composition of Atom Board 2009

Roger Dunscombe Chair

Karen Koch Assistant Chair

Melinda Roberts Professional Development

Simon Wilmot Atom Awards

Andrew Renaut Publications

Board Members

Brett Lamb, Steve Guage, Victoria Giummarra, Lisa Worthy, Julie- Anne Smith. Peter Tapp and Amber Nelson.

The Board expresses it's appreciation for the services of Liza Bermingham who has resigned her Board position. Liza was a hard working and dedicated Board member and her services will be missed.

ATOM has an email list that enables media teachers to share teaching and text ideas, classroom activities and resources as well as assistance in searching out that movie that would be really good for teaching x but the local video shop doesn't supply it.  ATOM teachers have great ideas and a wealth of knowledge and this is where to share them.

If you would like to become a part of the list, select the 'teachers' menu above, and scroll down to ATOMvic Email List. 

To send an email to all people on the list (about 400 presently), you can either:

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