Since I need more blog posts, and this was a suggested one: Here is the 10 things I wrote down in class that I want to get out of this course.

1. Get better at editing video
2. Make stuff outside of my comfort zone
3. Learn how to use software better
4. Get better at working on group projects
5. Learn proper terminology for media/film stuff
6. Make a movie with a fake blood special effect that puts Kill Bill: vol 1 to shame
7. Learn more about how the media industry works
8. Learn to write more realistic dialouge
9. Figure out how to have multiple bits of a video on screen at once in non-stard shaped screens (EG a “shattered glass” effect with each section showing the scene from a different angle (Multiple shots would probably be nessiary so cameras cant be seen)
10. Make firends with similar interests and hobbies to me

Those were my 10 things, hopefully my future self looks back on this and feels proud, but honestly he’ll probably forget about it in 2 weeks.

On a 45 minute walk along Swanson Street between Latrobe and Bourke Streets, these are the media interactions I encountered whilst taking special care to notice my media surroundings.

Up High

• Store names
• Billboard advertisements
• Flags (both commercial and national)

On The Ground

• Chalk notices advertising upcoming events

Foreground

• Signs
• Posters
• People on phones (texting, talking, playing games, surfing internet)
• People listening to music on iPods/phones
• People on laptops at Cafes
• People selling magazines in person
• Tibetan freedom rally, with singing and information flyers

Mid-Ground

• Screens displaying traffic info (EG: “Give way to pedestrians”)
• People handing out political flyers (Socialist Alternative)
• People playing video games on handheld console (3DS, playing what appeared to be Majoras Mask 3D)
• Framed pictures of lettuce in Subway
• Trams with ads on the side (especially phone/internet plans)
• Free wifi from shops/Testra phone boxes
• TVs playing inside cafes/restaurants (Especially sport)

Background

• Radio playing commercial stations from inside shops
• Instructional signs on how to use MyKi
• Foreign language signs above side streets restaurants.

In My Hand

• iPhone (used total of 4 times)
• Facebook (x1)
• Texting (x2)
• Checking the time (x1)

In this 45 minutes of taking special care to notice the abundance of media around us, I came to the realisation that without deliberately looking for it, its hard to notice the sheer amount of screens and advertisement that surround our daily lives. From the ground at our feet to the sides of skyscrapers, Media interactions are everywhere, and in todays world taken for granted.

In week 2’s lectorial we discussed the composer John Cage, and his piece 4’33”, which is 4 minute and 33 seconds of a pianist not playing his piano.

It raises questions such as: What defines music? Or what is silence? In class we had a short burst of silence, and discovered that the longer it goes on the louder the background noises become, electronic whirring, people breathing, cars in the background etc…

Here is a video of the performance courtesy of Joel Hochberg on Youtube.

This is my first Blog Post, apperently we are meant to do 3 a week. So I better start.

In the first “Lectorial” for Media 1, we read through an extract of a passage written by N.Katherine Hayles entitled “Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognititve Modes”.

It compared and contrasted the difference between “Deep Attention” and “Hyper Attention” and the changing trends in our society where young people are leaning more towards the latter.

According to Hayles, Deep Attention is “characterized by concentrating on a single object for long perioids of time”, for example reading a novel or watching a movie without distractions.

To contrast Hayles describes Hyper Attention as “switching rapidly around different tasks” and seeking multiple stimuli at once, for example watching TV whilst also using a phone to surf the internet.

She, also raised the issue of the rising prevalence of Hyper Attention in young people and the ramifications of this in the education system.

We also discussed questions such as whether we saw ourselves as using Hyper or Deep attention: I would definitely say I usually engage in Hyper attention, switching between multiple steams of mental stimuli in normal life, however I am also capable of Deep Attention, when a particular object has engrossed my attention fully and I have no problem spending hours on the same piece of stimuli (given thats its interesting enough).

One thing I found interesting was that in the full passage of writing (from BlackBoard, not handed out in Class) was the comparisons to ADHD/ADD and the rising prevalence of the afflictions.

That concluded my first Blog entry. As I’m currently unaware of the expected length/tone/contents required, I expect all future posts to be better than this one.