Pre-Production: (Why Australia)

So Why Australia?

I knew early on that I wanted this show to focus on more than one school. Since filming in one location that is dedicated to the performing arts has been done many times before. However a comparative series, let alone one that compares different series is not something that’s been tackled before in this way. However before committing to Australia I considered several options. At first I thought about comparing two schools in the UK, but I had doubts about how different and interesting that would be to an audience.

So I moved on to thinking internationally, at first thinking about Europe but then decided to be more bold. The three options I narrowed it down to were, Australia, South Africa, and Japan. Japan stood out early on since it has such a varied and different culture to our own. I noted that Japanese theatre and arts are very traditional and follow guidelines that have existed for generations, which could make for interesting and educational viewing. However there are several things to consider. Firstly the language barrier. It is unlikely that all of the contributors in a Japan based school would speak English, meaning all of their half of the show would need to be subtitled. This not only makes a lot more work for editors and producers but could also alienate some audiences. It would also make contacting the school much more difficult and I wonder about the availability of talented documentary crew in Japan that could collaborate with Channel 4. There is alos the possibility that since Japanese theatre is based strongly in ancient traditions that audiences outside of the Asian community would struggle to fully understand and connect with it and contributors. So while an option it is not a strong contender.

The next option I considered was South Africa. With a large amount of the population speaking English this already makes life easier. There are a lot of conclusions and confusing stereotypes that people jump to when they think of south Africa as a country, and this series could serve as a combat to that. However I looked in to the TV networks in South Africa, including stations like DStv SABC. But none of them really seemed to have strong similarities with the content and brand of Channel 4, this would have made things difficult as it potentially could risk the two halves of the show not matching up in content and style. I also really struggled to find any well established performing arts schools in the country. There were one or two, but from what I could see they did not reflect the structure of the UK’s arts programme in any way, meaning we would struggle to draw comparisons between events and contributors in the two countries.

So I began to carefully consider what my audience would want. I came to the conclusion that people wanted a sense of familiarity that they could relate to, but also a sense of distance and cultural separation. To me the obvious choice was Australia, this is partly due to the influence Australian culture is beginning to have on our own media. We have Australian actors and celebratoes that are all over our screens. One example would be Dianne Buswell. This Strictly Star from Australia, left her family behind in Australia to peruse her passion for dance and turn it in to a career on television. She has since made it very far in the current series of strictly come dancing and has quickly become a favorite, amongst fans. She often talks about her family and life back in Australia when referring to her inspirations and her drive on the show, and I think audiences would be interested to see an example of where this all started. There’s also famous singer Kylie Minouge. She is one of the UK’s and Australia’s most famous singers. She has been on our screens for many years, recently headlining Hyde Park and has received a resurgence in popularity and attention from audiences. She has always spoken about being proud of her nationality and mentions her life Australia fondly, so this show could give insight in to what that may have been like. 

Then of course there’s shows like I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. A hugely popular ‘reality’/competition show set in the Australian jungle. It was one of the first big UK shows to use Australia as a filming location and everyone knows about I’m A Celeb and its iconic setting. Over the years it has created an image of Australian culture through some of its trials and challenges that are related to the setting (all be it a form of heightened reality) so this show could serve to break those stereotypes. We can also mention the large amount of Australian dramas that have been shown on our screens of late such as Cargo, Doctors, Mystery Road, and Picnic At Hanging Rock. Most of these shows have been recently commissioned (within the last two years) and have been met with critical acclaim and high viewer ratings. Some of these shows have already been confirmed for a second season thanks to the boost from UK and other international viewers (and doctors has been renewed for its 20th season thanks to its popularity overseas that has remained strong all these years). So their popularity definitely makes a case for more Australian based TV.


But to add to my affirmation I also undertook some audience research of my own. Before making my final decision I set up a long running poll that gave audiences the chance to vote on what they thought would be the best country to compare. And I was pleased to see that a significant majority voted for Australia. With this series I believe I can also take on board the intense sporting rivalry that the UK has with Australia in long running events such as the ashes (cricket) the Australian open (tennis) and more. I can piggyback on this rivalry and attention and transform it in to a method of opening peoples eyes to our cultures and peoples similarities in our passions, dreams and every day struggles.