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For our research, we have changed our primary research question from “The rise of Asian Films in Western culture” into “the rise of popularity and exposure of Asian films in Australia”.

Exact role in the research group
As we made a little bit changes from our first topic, we our research design had changed too, there for our role in the research group had a little bit changes, and as for my part, there are also some changes, I was originally in charge of:
Explaining our research, which means I will have to answer the questions below:
1.    Why specifically do we choose to focus on China, Hong Kong and Taiwan films in Melbourne?
2.    How are SEA films making its mark in Melbourne?
3.    Why is there a growing trend of SEA films screened in Melbourne cinemas?
4.    What is it that Melbourne citizens like about SEA films?
But after a few of the consultation with Christina, we had almost changed our whole secondary research question, which means my role in the research group had changed. I’m now in charged in “the comparison of the demographics, statistics and significant changes of Asian Immigration population in Melbourne.”
Other than that, I did help on Calvin’s part, which is looking for relevant interviewee. I am able to get Billy Cheaung, from Dream Movie, who provides Asian films for Hyots to screen in the cinema. Other than Billy, I also found Joe, who is the store manager of Rong Bao Tang, one of the biggest Asian video and CD store in the CBD.
Besides that, I did all the work for getting the video done for our presentation. Including, shootings (of cause also with my group mates help) as a DOP and one of the interviewers, then the postproduction, that is editing and translating (Joe’s conversation), and also looking for relevant clips.

Progress
During the research project, I guess the hardest part for me is the process of getting the right information, because I am not good at doing research, and I do not really know where to start and what are the key words, but with the help of my group mates I manage to get things done. Other than that, my other weakness that I realized is that I do not actually know how to interview people well. I reckon I am lack of interview skills, because during the interview with Joe, I hardly able to get Joe talk, and get Joe answer things that we really need, and I am nervous while asking question. My interview skills is one of the thing I reckon I need to improve. As for my strength, I think I am actually good at making video clips, because I get to make the video more interesting that I thought I could. Some of my classmates even told us that they like our video, it able to entertain the audience and fill the audience up with information.
Besides, during the search of interviewee, I realized having connection with other people is quite important. Because for me, the contacts I got are all through connections, they are friend’s friends. I guess if without contacts, I will be spending my time waiting, and waiting for replies, and some will not be willing to meet up.

Strategies
As I did mention in my first individual report, my strategies that I have utilized in the research is to following the time line that are set. This strategy is very useful, because it will not bring trouble to other group members, as this is a group work, following the time line that we set in the collaboration report is rather important. It is also my guideline, so that I know when to do what and it is one of my motivation of getting my work done.
Other than that, I think bare in mind of what is our own task is very important too. If we overlap on other group mate’s task, it will be kind of a time wasting.

Problems
There are a few problems that I faced while doing this research project. My major problem at the earlier stage is to look for interviewers. As emails that are sent out often do not get any replies, the only thing that I could do is to wait. Sometimes the “waiting” really kind of slow down our progress.
The next problem would be doing research about our topic itself. As for me, I am not good at doing research, I often struggle to get the right information, especially demographics and graphs. It is not easy to get the latest information about Australia’s population.
Other than that, my minor problem is to collaborate with one of my group mate. To get one of my group mates to be responsible is a bit hard. The only solution is to be patient, this makes me learn how to be patient, and I realized I should rely on myself more than anyone else.

Connection and Intersections
During the progress of research, I get to understand more about the stands and roles of Asian films in Melbourne. I also realized that Asian films in Australia actually has the market, although it is still small now, but I believe it is actually growing, especially observing the box office of the recent Asian film (IP Man 2), although the audience are mostly Asians, but the population of Asians in Australia is numerous.
Other than that, I also get to understand how the film distributor makes a decision which film to bring in. At the same time, I learnt that martial art or action movies are indeed more attracted by the audience.
Besides, I learnt how to be even more patient, because at the beginning stage of the research (the process of looking for interviewers) we will often have to wait and wait and wait. Other than that, patients are also needed to collaborate well with our group mates, to prevent arguments.
As for future use, for me myself I would like to make Asian films, and I am very interested in Asian films, therefore understanding the western market would be good, so that I will know how and what to produce if I want to bring my film in to the western market.

Dramas and movies, which is more popular in your store?
Hong Kong’s movies is much more popular especially martial arts movie compare to other movies. Movies are the most salable because people often hope to watch good quality movie at home, therefore they purchase DVD from us.

How do you promote?
For movie when the movie release it already help us to promote, other than that we’ll also play it in our display television, and we’ll also advertise thru our websites.

What is your marketing strategy?
To get the movie’s DVD in to Australia from Hong Kong as soon as possible, especially for those popular movies.

Who are your target audience?
It’s a broad range, other then Asians, there’s also a lot of Australian that is about 30% who likes to watch Asian films. As you know, Australia has a lot of migrants, they are also people who will buy DVD from us. Hong Kong movies has subtitles, therefore it’s even easy for them to understand the movie.

Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, which are the most salable?
Hong Kong’s movie is the most salable.

Nowadays there’s a lot of websites that enable people to download movies, would this affect your business?
Yes of cause, therefore we now sales even better quality DVD, such as Blue Ray DVD, so that people could watch better quality movie that they will not be able to get it from the Internet.

Do you think Asian Films will be a growing market in Australia?
Asian Films definitely has their market in Australia, especially for those martial art films from Hong Kong, the box office rates and sales for those films are higher, therefore I think it’s quite a good challenge.

The growth of Asian population in Australia constitutes the core reason for the increasing exposure and rise of Asian films. There are three groups that constitute to this rise, which includes Asian international students, immigrants and also Asian Australians.
Ever since the abolition of White Australia Policy in 1973, compare to before Australia now has been transformed into a multicultural society. In the last 40 years, Australia has welcomed people from all over the world with their generous migration policy. They not only attracted foreign professional workers, but also international students who are aiming for higher education and professional development. Australia is known as the third most popular study destination in the English-speaking country, hence the number of annual foreign enrolments for the last few years has increased by 20 percent in a year. More than 60 percent of international students are enrolled in the Australian vocational education system every year, they are mainly from Asia, Africa, America and Eastern Europe (Hassan, 2010).

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Chinese immigrants in Australia has increased by 96,000 in the year of 1996 to 2006 (Sung, 2009). Meanwhile, the overseas-born population also grew by 13 percent from 3.9 million to 4.4 million people of 1996 to 2006, almost one-fifth of the new arrivals are from China and India (The Straits Times, 2009). Most of the increase number came in two waves, one of it can be traced to the political situation in China in the late 1980s, that was when many Chinese in Australia studying on temporary visas were granted permanent residency. The second wave occurred when these people are able to sponsor their families member to join them. The return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule may also have added to the growth of population, because some Hong Kong-born may now name China as their country of birth (Australian Bureau of Statistic, 2001).

Population Growth rates:
•    From the graph above, it shows that the Australian population grew by 1.5 percent during the 12 months ended in September 2007.
•    The main contributors of the total population growth are the natural increase and net overseas migration, that is 44 percent and 56 percent respectively.
(Australian Bureau of Statistic, 2007)

References:
Sung, A, 2009, TheThunderbird.ca, No More “White Australia”: Growing Chinese Immigrant Population according to 2006 Census, http://thethunderbird.ca/2009/02/05/no-more-white-australia-growing-chinese-immigrant-population-according-to-2006-census/, Viewed: 14/04/2010
Australian Bureau of Statistic, 2001, Australian Social Trend, Population Composition: Asian-born Australians, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.NSF/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/666a320ed7736d32ca2570ec000bf8f9!OpenDocument, Viewed: 14/04/2010
Australian Bureau of Statistic, 2007, Australian Demographic Statistics, September Key Figures, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3101.0Main+Features1Sep%202007?OpenDocument, Viewed: 14/04/2010
BBC News, 2009, Asia Migrants flock to Australia, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7857515.stm, Viewed: 14/04/2010
The Straits Times, 2009, More Asians in Australia, http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_331743.html, Viewed: 14/04/2010
Hassan, S, 2010, ON Line Opinion, Is Australia still a dream for International Students?, http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=9884&page=0, Viewed: 31/05/2010

Our primary research question in this research is “The rise of Asian Films in Western culture.” We will base our research in Australia, which will be easier for us to get surveys and interview done.

Exact Role in the research group:

For  working on the research, each of us got our own responsible on one particular section of the research.

We’ve got divided the research into 4 section, that is:

• In charge of explanation of our research

That is why did we chose this topic, and as much facts, statistics and data of the trend in Melbourne will be included.

• In charge of the Film Distributors/Key media practitioners

Research on all the possible film distributors in Melbourne, apart from Hoyts. Get their contact, ask for permission to interview them and collaborate with them for our surveys.

• In charge of the Surveys

Research on what questions to put in the survey, research on current trends and possibilities, analyze the data collected from the survey.

• In charge of the Copyright issues and student rights for video

If we include clips from movies and whether we could upload online.

And as for my role I’m responsible on explaining our research, which means I will have to answer the questions below:

1.    Why specifically do we choose to focus on China, Hong Kong and Taiwan films in Melbourne?
2.    How are SEA films making its mark in Melbourne?

3.    Why is there a growing trend of SEA films screened in Melbourne cinemas?

4.    What is it that Melbourne citizens like about SEA films?

As my research topic are not too dense, I will be helping Calvin on his topic as well, that is :

In charge of the Film Distributors/Key media practitioners

I’ve got another role, which is being the Director of Cinematography in our documentary production. We decided to present our research to the class in a documentary form, so that it will not be boring.

The progress I made so far:

Research

As for the research part, i did research that i should do. I researched on the Asian population in Australia, Asian cinema in Australia.

Interviews

As for the interview part, I try to look for people who are suitable for us, and people who could provide information that we might not be able to get it thru the net. With all the callings and searching, I think I am pretty lucky that I could speak to someone who gets Asian film mainly from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, and then distribute it to Hoyts. I’ve arranged time and dates to meet him individually and in a group. Questions to be asked is prepared.

Other than that, for our documentary filming, as I am a TV1 and TV2 student, I’ve got experience on shootings and what will have to be done before and after shootings. I have already spoken to David (Tv tutor/pp1 tutor) about the rules and regulations, what we need to get before we start our shootings. I’ve got the forms all prepared, and now is just to know who should i get to sign the form. Which I’ll be going to Hoyts(one of our selected location for our documentary) to ask for permissions for shooting.

Strategies that i have utilized in the research:

For me, following the time line that are set is what I’ve been doing, and also doing lot’s of research, getting lot’s of information. The time line that are set is very important, it gave me a guide on when to do what, i guess this can be an motivation tool.

I realized networking is pretty important too, sometimes if you do not have the network you will not be able to contact or interview someone that easily.

Problems that I encountered:

For me the major problem that I  faced is to contact the right person to get information that are useful and needed. Before my friend told me he knew someone from Hoyts, me and my group mates are struggling to get people to actually talk to us. Calvin sent emails to people in Hoyts, getting them to reply is hard. “Waiting” is also another issue that we encountered. People tend to drag things that they think it is not important for them, well for us is important. We often have to wait and wait and wait for their replies, and while waiting our time line will have to be changed again and again.

Other than that, getting everyone together at the same time is pretty hard. We all have our own schedule, like when to do what, therefore to suits everyone’s time is really a challenge.

How I resolve the problems:

As for the “waiting” issue, I guess nothing can be done, but to look for another way to contact some other person. Which what I did, I asked around people that I knew, and surprisingly I manage to find one, and again connections are very important!!

As for internal problem (group mates) it is quite easy to be solve, because all our group mates are very kind and we manage to understand each other, therefore problems within the groups are always easy to be solve.

Research intersects with other research projects:

Well this research had a little bit connections with the subject i took last semester, which is Asian Cinemas Studies. We are both doing research on Asian Cinemas, that will be easier, because I understand Asian Cinemas and I love Asian Cinemas.

Other than that, I think this research is pretty relevant to me, because I’m an Asian who lives in Australia, I could understand what secondary audience thinks about Asian Cinemas in Australia. Other than that, I often watch movies that are screened in Hoyts, particularly Asian films.

To start up everything, i think it is important to explain why did we choose this topic.

The reasons behind the increase of SEA films being screened in Melbourne cinemas.

I guess one of the main reason that Hoyts bring in Asian films is because that the popularity of  Asian in Australia is increasing compare to before.

These are the research i’ve done:

The China-born population in Australia has increased sixfold since 1981. Most of this increase came in two waves and can be traced to the political situation in China in the late 1980s, when many Chinese in Australia studying on temporary visas were granted permanent residency. The second wave occurred with these people sponsoring their families to join them. The return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule may also have added to growth, because some Hong Kong-born may now name China as their country of birth.

Australian Social Trends, 2001

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Chinese immigrants in Australia between 1996 to 2006 increased by 96,000.

Thethunderbird.ca, 2009

Australia’s Asian population is soaring as immigrants from across the region – particularly China and India – enter the country, official data suggests.

The data also showed that 4.4 million people in Australia were born overseas.

BBC News, 2009

AUSTRALIA’S Asian population is growing rapidly as more regional immigrants pour into a country once despised for its racially exclusive policies, official statistics showed on Thursday. China and India provided increasing numbers of immigrants, while traditional sources of new arrivals in the so-called ‘Lucky Country’ – such as Britain and Italy – suffered a decline, a review of the latest census revealed.The ‘Portrait of a Nation’ provided by the Australia Bureau of Statistics after analysis of the 2006 tally shows that a quarter of the population was born overseas.

Between 1996 and 2006, the overseas-born population grew by 13 per cent from 3.9 million to 4.4 million people ‘and featured a major increase in Asian immigration,’ the figures showed.

The Straits Times, 2009