Eyes have it in owlish fantasy

This article is The Australian's report on the Australian-produced animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. It is written by Michael Bodey from The Australian.


The story begins with a background history of Animal Logic, the production studio, and its previous projects. It also describes the original books the movie was based on and the various voice talents in the cast. A few soundbites were taken from an interview with the film producer and co-founder of the studio, Zareh Nalbandian, with a mention of the box-office figures. Another interview subject was David Wenham, who voices one of the characters from the film. The two of them mostly quote and describe Zack Snyder, the director of the film, and while it may have been better to get a direct interview with Snyder himself, it's understandable since it's very difficult to secure an interview with him as he is busy working on another film at the moment.


The article then goes on to describe how the film is relatively dark and edgy for an animated film, how the Australian accents were no coincidence (it was to get government grants and made it easier for the actors to re-record their lines) and a brief summary of the plot, before concluding with an optimistic note on the budding Australian studio and a 'plug-line' for the film's release.


As a story, it is very successful in detailing the amount of effort and care that goes into producing a movie, and how it is difficult for startup studios such as Animal Logic to compete against stronger players in an already competitive industry. There were also unique insights into the financial funding, voice-acting and animation processes. As I've mentioned, it would be great if they had actually secured an interview with Snyder, but the two subjects were well-chosen and was more convenient for the reporter since they lived in Australia.


The site design is very clean and well-organised. Banner ads are few and non-obtrusive, and there's a Facebook 'Recommend' button at the top and various social networking 'favicons' at the bottom that allows the user to share the story. The Australian should be commended for its minimalist design.


However, it could do with greater user interactivity. The article is strangely absent of a main image, and it would be better if there was a screenshot gallery and an embedded video player for the trailers. There is also no Comments section for user feedback and opinions. It plays as a more high-class, 'top-down' approach serious journalistic site, but it sacrifices user interaction and multimedia content in the process.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/eyes-have-it-in-owlish-fantasy/story-e6frg8n6-1225931198803

Tomorrow, When The War Began: YOUR SAY

The article is a review of the Australian-made blockbuster ‘Tomorrow, When The War Began’ by film critic James Joyce of The Newcastle Herald. In the review, he gives credit to the source material from which the film was adapted from, namely the John Marsden series of the same name. He acknowledges that book purists will probably dislike the plot changes, and briefly compares the film’s actual locations to the description of the fictional town of Wirrawee in the book.

He also demonstrates his considerable knowledge of the cinematographer Ben Nott and the debut director Stuart Beattie’s body of work. His observations about the use of voice-over and the unauthentic Australian accents are also valid criticisms of the movie. He also infers, quite resignedly, that the movie aspires to be nothing more than an action movie, before concluding with a cheeky disclaimer under an asterix footnote.

As an online story, it works because Joyce invites the readers to give their opinions on the movie by his questions at the beginning and end of the article. A disclaimer says that the comments will be moderated and will appear “as soon as (the) editor has approved them”. He has also taken the time to personally respond to some of the viewer’s comments, encouraging a level of reader-interaction uncommon for film critics, much less online news reporters.

A sidebar titled ‘Related Coverage’ has relevant hyperlinked articles grouped under neat headings of ‘Articles’ and ‘Multimedia’, which makes navigation easy - although there are numerous banner ads in the same area.


http://www.theherald.com.au/blogs/james-joyce/tomorrow-when-the-war-began-your-say/1932590.aspx