The Story So Far

RECAP ON THE BEGINNING

You may of read for the last number of years, Karl has been working hard on this new project, officially called “State of Electronics”. It is concerned with the history, development and future of the Australian Electronics Design and Manufacturing Industry. Partly fuelled by his own interests in Electronics, the documentary investigates the life cycle of an industry – how an industry is born, how it develops and then how it goes into decline. It’s a subject that can apply to many forms of industries.

Junk_Electronics4

There is now a long list of interviews with many of the people who helped create the Electronics Design & Manufacturing industry in Australia as well as those who are very active within it still today. The documentary will highlight many of the individuals who tinker in their back sheds designing and building innovative electronic devices, large & small scale manufacturers, Repairers, Component Suppliers, Design houses, Technicians, Businessmen and Woman, futurists, Hackers and Organisations with the sole purpose of showing a worldwide audience the state of the Australian Electronics Industry.

The format is driven by interviews that are like “Discussions”. The topics vary from how people became involved with electronics as a child, how they developed their careers and then how they changed the world around them with innovation, good business sense etc. However, as with any good story, there is a darker side also. The Documentary is investigating the decline of the industry also. Through both economic and political change, the Electronics Industry is constantly undergoing change. World economic problems as well as technological advancements have meant the end of an era in certain sectors of the Industry, leaving jobs at risk or making them extinct! However, not everything is of doom and gloom. The documentary will also highlight individuals and companies that have been able to break through the difficulties and find their feet on a worldwide platform, delivering state of the art products and innovation.

The documentary to date has been entirely self-funded along with the generous time interviewees have given up for their interviews. Karl has decided to release some of the documentary as short episodes. They are currently being aired on youtube in the hope of raising more awareness for this little explored subject in Australia and to perhaps find an avenue to fund future releases and the full length documentary.

To date he has been fortunate to film and interview: Andy Gelme, Andrew Greatbatch, Andrew Griffiths, Dr Bill Petrski, Campbell Bickerstaff, Claire Gervasoni, Dr Chris Nicol, Dr Chris Roberts, Colin Mitchell, Dave L Jones, David Demant, Dick Smith, Doug Ford, Eugene Ruffolo, Gary Johnston, Geoff Holden, Professor Graeme Clark, Grant Petty, Graeme Hood, Ian Debenham, Ian O’Tool, Ian McClean, J. Matthew Pryor, Jonathan Oxer, Jurij Semkiw, Kay Thorne, Kevin Poulter, Leo Simpson, Lorayne Branch, Matthew Connell, Mike Osborne, Owen Hill, Dr Peter Thorne, Petar Atanackovic, Stephan Jones and The late John Spencer with many more to come.

More to follow on computers, education, technology of the future and much much more.

December 14, 2010September 9, 2015

RESEARCH

THE HISTORY OF ELECTRONICS IN AUSTRALIA!

Hello to all. My Blog has been quiet of late, simply due to the immense task of my current project! Now that my documentary covers the history of technological development in Australia, the task of researching information has been all consuming! I don’t think I realised just how big this project was going to get when I started but now that it’s underway, I’m fully devoting what spare time I have, into the documentary series.

I have had to go back to the beginning, when Australia was’t even federated, to understand how the development of an industry took place. As I have mentioned before, the beginning of “Electronics” in Australia for me begins with the introduction of the Telegraph in 1854. It’s interesting to note that Telegraphy is essentially a “digital” form of electronics and quickly spread, creating a “web” of lines across the nation. Some that I have interviewed called it the “Victorian Internet” which is apt considering that Telegraphy started in Victoria first with the first poles going in between Melbourne and Williamstown in 1853. ribbing aside, the uptake of this early form of communication in Australia was swift and heralded an amazing era. The relevance of the early adoption of technology and the spread of Telegraphy across Australia has many parallels with Australia’s current National Broadband Network (NBN) plan, which is fascinating to me.

My documentary seeks to showcase this early era by collating a series of conversations on camera and presenting them in a linear fashion along the timeline. Many of the incredible innovations that followed produced some of the most influential Companies of Australia’s short history! So much so that “Government” and these influential Companies are so inextricably bound that they may as well be considered the same thing! That’s why to understand the “State of Electronics” in Australia, you need to understand the “History of Electronics” in Australia. A good example of this influence is that of AWA (Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd). As mentioned in my previous Blog entry, their influence in Australia was immense for about 60 years and helped shape Government policy, create a Radio industry, create a TV industry, create a Research & Development ethos, setup Telecommunications in general, strategic development of niche areas of the industry, and train a vast number of individuals to become tech savvy! AWA’s demise as major player shouldn’t be immediately relegated to the history books as much of that companies legacy is still being felt today. Indeed, the court case surrounding the demise of that Company is still in progress from what I understand.

Site of the Marconi Companies test transmissions from Pt Lonsdale Victoria to Devenport Tasmania 1906

So far I have interviewed a large list of people both in Sydney and Melbourne. Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Johnston (Jaycar/Electus Distribution), Matthew Connell (Chief Curator the Powerhouse Museum Sydney), Ian Debenham (former Curator the Powerhouse Museum Sydney), Campbell Bickerstaff (Curator the Powerhouse Museum Sydney), David Demant (Senior Curator Museum Victoria), Ian oToole (Curator Kurrojong Radio Museum), Stephen Jones(VJ, Computer Historian & Author), Clare Gervasoni (Curator University of Ballarat) and Graeme Hood (Electronics Engineer Lecturer University of Ballarat). This list is by no means complete and is in addition to the following previously interviewed subjects: Dick Smith, Andrew Greatbatch, Peter Atanackovic, Bill Petrski, Owen Hill, Eugene Ruffolo, Andrew Griffiths, Matthew Pryor, David L Jones, Leo Simpson, Doug Ford, Andy Gelme, Jon Oxer, Grant Petty and Chris Nicol. In addition to that, I have filmed Australia’s first Computer CSIRAC, the Kurronjong Radio Museum collection, Silanna Semiconductor’s cleanroom and Fab plant, Blackmagic Designs factory, Observant’s assembly area, Hanna Print’s “Silicon Chip” printing line, and many, many individual labs and workspaces. It’s certainly been incredibly interesting to me and I think will be interesting to quite a wide variety of people when the documentary series is complete.

In recent weeks, I have been deeply involved in research. Each interview takes an enormous effort to research, organise into questions and then formulate a plan as to how those answer are to be included into the documentary timeline. The style I’m attempting to go with is very much driven by “Conversation”. My interviewed subjects are intercut to deliver information to the audience in both a factual and hopefully at times, “light hearted” manner! My original question is then removed leaving only the conversation in it’s place. So as each interview is researched, a constant eye needs to be kept on the Edit timeline to see what’s missing in terms of the story telling, key explanations of electronic terms and processes, historically important figures and so forth! Basically I’m threading the “Conversations” of the many into an informative ride in history, without the help of a narrator, graphics or interviewer. It’s a giant jigsaw puzzle that is both fun and daunting to put together!

This week I have quite a few more interviews planned and as a result the Edit on the project has had to slow down. On the bright side, the documentary will be quite detailed and I believe the only one of it’s kind, showcasing Individuals and Companies that have or are currently innovating in Australia. I’m very much looking forward to updating both the current Trailer and more information about the project as soon as possible, so keep checking this Blog for further updates. Many thanks for your patients! Cheers!

July 25, 2010October 22, 2015

STATE OF ELECTRONICS

THE BEGINNING!

For the last number of years, I have been working hard on a new project, tentatively called “State of Electronics”. It’s basically concerned with the history, development and future of the Australian Electronics Design and Manufacturing Industry. Partly fuelled by my own interests in Electronics, the documentary hopes to investigate the life cycle of an industry – how an industry is born, how it develops and then how it goes into decline. It’s a subject that can apply to many forms of industries including my own industry – the film industry.

Filming begun and I have interviewed many people who helped create the Electronics Design & Manufacturing industry in Australia as well as those who are very active within it still today. The documentary will highlight many of the individuals who tinker in their back sheds designing and building innovative electronic devices, large & small scale manufacturers, Repairers, Component Suppliers, Design houses, Technicians, Businessmen and Woman, futurists, Hackers and Organisations with the sole purpose of showing a worldwide audience the state of the Australian Electronics Industry.

The format is driven by interviews that are mostly like “Discussions”. The topics vary from how people became involved with electronics as a child, how they developed their careers and then how they changed the world around them with innovation, good business sense etc. However, as with any good story, there is a darker side also. The Documentary is investigating the decline of the industry also. Through both economic and political change, the Electronics Industry is constantly undergoing change. World economic problems as well as technological advancements have meant the end of an era in certain sectors of the Industry, leaving jobs at risk or making them extinct! However, not everything is of doom and gloom. The documentary will also highlight individuals and companies that have been able to break through the difficulties and find their feet on a worldwide platform, delivering state of the art products and innovation.

As the project progresses I will update this blog with further information. For now, I can tantalise you with just a few images already shot on the 5DMKII. Perhaps this is an appropriate moment to describe the shooting process. The entire documentary is being filmed on Canon’s 5DMKII using L series glass. Audio is recorded using a Zoom H4N digital recorder and the video and audio are combined in Post Production, using Final Cut Pro. Because this is such a small gear package, I am largely able to handle most of the production needs by myself. When it’s all said and done, I will write up my feelings on going solo on such a big project, however for now I can say that it is incredibly liberating, somewhat demanding but very efficient! I’m also using my iPad as my “questions note pad” and also to carry out research on the fly (even while asking questions). I’ve had the opportunity to include “others” very quickly into the Documentary by being quick to research and write new questions for them. The iPad has made this possible. It’s an amazing tool used in this manner! The last thing I should mention is the overall size of the gear package i’m using, is so small that I can (using a Defence Force term) “deploy” very quickly by air or road to carry out interviews. On the 19th of July, I flew to Sydney for two days of interviews with just two pieces of luggage!

More to come!