Australian theatre and film can be traced way back to the year 1850. It began as a theatre industry majorly characterised by short, simple and live stage performances which involved a limited number of actors. The modern industry is now characterised by documented films and movies with complex themes and large cast crews.
The industry transformed and developed with time and by the year 1945, Australia had already made a name in the world’s leading film and movie industry. The industry has since seen rapid developments especially in audience population, convenience, the target audience and the quality of productions.
Nowadays, the modern cinema industry is more portable and a convenient mode to distribute artworks is a technological improvement in the theatre industry. All these transformations took place in phases and had underlying factors (Mclnnes, 2012).
The period around the year 1850 was characterized by plain acting and comedy. Most people engaged in the theatre industry were much concerned with entertaining the audience and most productions in this era comprised of short skits, comical oral presentations and acted comedies.
These were more entertaining but lacked concrete themes, thus the productions of these periods lacked professional aspects but were much inclined to creativity and comical concerns (Mclnnes, 2012). The people involved took the theatre industry as a part time occupation and some did it for fun. It was majorly for the most talented in the society who were up to entertain, sometimes at no charge.
Therefore, most presentations were short and simple to understand, with less professional contributions and complexity which catered for the entire social class fraternity. Theatres were accessible to every member of society with no discrimination of any type as they were viewed as pure social amenities.
The entry of film scholars in the theatre industry brought rapid changes in the industry such as professionalism and research to make productions that would be more appealing to the audience at various times. The theatre industry ceased to be a talent industry but a livelihood occupation. The plays were much organized and some were purely meant to tackle certain vices or issues in society.
As art demands, literal works are meant to indirectly tackle society issues. This was more common with productions of this time where producers employed various stylistic features (Moran & Viet, 2005). For instance, a play on a certain vice could only be interpreted by a critical analysis. Thus, this meant more complexity in theme development of most productions.
This was a major setback to the semi-literate class who could not interpret the articles on their own along the intended scope. This meant the literate class remained the major target group for the theatre works. Scholars also took to acting as an art and a profession making it a source of livelihood.
This meant that they solely relied on the proceeds from the audience and sale of their documented works to earn a living. Consequently, this locked out members of society who could not afford the now increased charges. Hence, the overall effect was that it led to the seclusion of the lower class in society from the theatre industry (Moran & Vieth, 2005).
Technological innovations and development coupled with a need for documentation and audience convenience gave rise to Cinema production. This was among the latest breakthrough in the film industry as a cinema allowed collection of thematically related articles, further modification and documentation of the same creative artworks into movies.
Due to the technological breakthrough, people could access the literary works at a place and time convenient to them unlike with the theatre where one needed to be available coherently with the schedule. Consequently, this made the literary works more portable and accessible to a larger population even outside Australia.
The latter was the biggest advantage of cinema over theatre and the major reason why a large population opted for cinema (Vieth & Moran, 2006). Cinema production opened up the theatre industry which was otherwise confined on stage performance to a wider scope of action.
Cinema production requires a larger geographical space for shooting as well as a large cast crew which did not only constitute actors but other technocrats involved in the whole process. This led to further expansion of the industry as it drew members from across the board since most people who were necessarily not artistes could still venture into the industry (Cook, 2007).
The overall development of the theatre industry into the modern day cinema and film industry in Australia came as a result of the swiftness of the involved personnel to respond to the changing audience requirements. For instance, when there was a need for thematic concern and professionalism in the industry, scholars like Gillian Armstrong and Phillip Noyce alongside other film writers came in.
When a need arose for documentation of the productions to suit audience convenience, the cinema industry was developed. A breakthrough in technology was a major boost to the development of the industry. This ensured that the industry was updated and at pace with the evolving world (Vieth & Moran, 2006).
In conclusion, the availability of many successful film producers and ancient actors also played a major role in the development of the Australian film industry. The latter also served as role models and always brought new talent to the industry.
They encouraged many scholars take to film and theatre production. Australia had its name among the best film producers making it easier to market their creative productions which boosted the film industry (Cousins, 2006).
References
Cook, P. (2007). The Cinema Book, Third Edition. London: British Film Institute. Cousins, M. (2006). The Story of Film: A Worldwide History, New York: Thunder’s Mouth press.
Mclnnes, W. (2012). The Making of Modern Australia. Sydney, Australia: Hachette Publishers.
Moran, A., & Vieth, E. (2005). Historical Dictionary of Australian and New Zealand Cinema. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press.
Vieth, E., & Moran, A. (2006). Film in Australia: An Introduction. Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.