Week 8&9

 

Weeks eight and nine were the weeks that we were brainstorming what questions we wanted to ask Michelle and also how we wanted the interview to look. Because at the time we weren’t certain what content we would use and were relying on how she would answer us, we came up with these:

 

1. Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your role in the project? (what is your role?)
2. How did you get involved with this project?
3. What was your knowledge prior to your involvement with the Capitol of Marion

      Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin and have you learned anything more about      them since restoring the Capitol?

4. How have you and your team approached the restoration and revival of the Capitol?
5. What were the biggest challenges that you and your team have faced on this project?
6. What are your hopes for the Capitol in the future?
7. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?

 

The topics we wanted to look at were Michelle’s knowledge and experience with the Capitol, the architecture and design side of the project and also the architects Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin and felt happy and prepared with this question list.

 

Something that I remembered from doing other projects in a group and experienced in this project was the importance of being reliable and always getting back to people with emails and messaging. I felt so lucky to have such a reliable group and it added a real element of professionalism particularly when we were making creative decisions and organising Michelle.  

Week 10

 

Week ten was the week that we would film the interview with Michelle and we had decided on Wednesdays class to do this. We were interviewing her from 10 am until 11 am approximately and so we arrived at 9am to set up our equipment and make sure that everything was working properly. It was the first time I had ever worked in a Green Screen Room and this was a really interesting experience as we had to factor in how the lighting needed to be in order for the green screen behind where Michelle was sitting would be even and it would be easier to edit into a different background.  

 

Whilst there were lights in the room, we ended up borrowing an extra light in order to backlight Michelle a bit better and to make the most of the space as well as the tech office which was just down the hall. Having that hour before our interviewee had arrived was a perfect amount of time as we could test the camera, format the card, set up lighting and have a good ten to fifteen minutes just to check that we had brought and done everything and that we were ready to start at ten.

 

When Michelle arrived we briefed her on how the interview would run, gave her some time to read over the release form and sign it when she approved of the terms and then we got started. Even though Michelle is a project manager and hadn’t really done any media projects it was so impressive how professional she was and how well she spoke on the questions we asked her. It was actually such an efficient interview that we finished up with twenty minutes to spare which was definitely the best case scenario.

 

Following the interview we packed up all of the equipment and made sure to copy the footage on several hard drives and laptops so that we wouldn’t run into any issues in case one of the laptops had issues playing or transferring the footage over.

Week 11

 

Week eleven was dedicated to creating a plan for how we wanted to structure the project. We decided on having part one being on the history and architecture of The Capitol and then part two would be dedicated to the future of the Capitol and what its use will be for RMIT and its new audience. This is where the previous reading and collecting of newspaper articles were a great help as we wanted to incorporate some of the specific quotes especially about the architecture into the video, often because the quotes were very memorable and were a written version of oral history.

 

The document we created for the plan consisted of the quote we would plan to use, how we wanted the background to look and whether or not there was sound (i.e whether or not Michelle would speak during certain points or whether the quotes were the main focus.

 

Week 12

 

We began to work on the edit for the assignment and divided up tasks between the three of us, where my task was to edit the sound of Michelle’s interview as well as working on fixing up the colouring of her face and to edit out part of the interview that would not be used (e.g pauses, bloopers and footage where she was chatting to us whilst we were setting up to ask a proper question etc.) I volunteered to work on sound as I had had some experience with it in my previous studio when working on a short film and was excited to get back into premiere pro.

 

Whilst there wasn’t too much to worry about in terms of the sound of Michelle’s voice (we used a lapel mic on the day which caught all of her audio really well) there was still an inevitable hum that came from the rest of the room. I cleaned this up using an audio tool found in premiere pro under audio effects called the dehummer tool which allows you to control how much of a hum is heard and allows you to eliminate it entirely. I had tossed up about working in adobe after effects but I didn’t know as much about it and felt quite confident that premiere pro would be great at editing what I needed. The changing of the colours in the video was simple again: changing the brightness, warmth/ saturation etc. Having slightly underexposed footage turned out to be a really great thing as it was very easy to adjust to the levels we were after.

 

When I had finished with the interview, I brought it to my group members and they brought the parts they had worked on and we worked in one of the building nine editing suites the next day. Overall I really enjoyed this project and learning about the Capitol. Having such a historic place as the focus for a media project was new to me and I think it was the project that felt the most important because of how many lives this building had lived, but also that it was opening again for us as students and we were allowed to see it in its final stages of renovation.

 

I think it sharpened my research and initiative skills as a media practitioner, working in a group and also for something that has so much history to it and yet encourages so much innovation and creativity when exploring Oral History. Very excited to see the Capitol restored back to its filmy, shiny self.

 

Final Products

 

 

 

 

Week 4:

 

Week four was a week that we looked at editing and we had the opportunity to experiment with footage and practise different skills. Editing is something that was not my strong suit, in part because it was always very time consuming and having to troubleshoot technical issues was definitely something that I have improved at during my degree.

 

When finding stock footage of Melbourne during the 1920’s (the decade that the Capitol opened) it is clear that they didn’t need any particular editing in terms of colour grading and adjustments in brightness. I really liked the look of the black and white grainy qualities that video of that time had due to a lower quality equipment. Some might say that it wasn’t great back then compared to now and that is a little bit true but you also get a great understanding of history and how much everything has developed over the decades: fashion, film, architecture, technology and many more to count.

 

Looking over at some images and piece of footage I had, I learned in this week that I needed to focus on the pace in which I was editing things together. When I have watched history documentaries which would show photographs, they were part of the strengths of the piece and so to have them be on screen for too short a time was something I would always notice and wanted to always be mindful of for the future assignments. Another aspect that I felt distinguished video in terms of if they felt professional were fonts used. Although this is something that isn’t of the highest priority, the more and more I tried to look at each element of a documentary video, the more patterns I noticed with editing techniques and what high quality videos had that lower quality/ student ones didn’t.

 

Week 5:

 

This week we had to pleasure of going to the design building in RMIT to speak with the interior design students and some Master of media students who were also working on the projects based on the Capitol. We started off class with a little history lesson and a discussion on what everyone was working on or planning for.

 

We then moved onto looking at the current floor plans for each level of the Capitol Theatre and learned that the screening situation of the Capitol in terms of our projects hadn’t been decided yet. This prompted us to brainstorm about how we could think about the space and how our projects could be incorporated into it. This was a very beneficial exercise for me as I had assumed that there would be a main screen for every person’s video work to be shown onto and a working sound system, along with the assumption that those who would attend the opening would all be silent to watch what we had made and listen to the sound of the video as well.

 

However being told that its most likely the invited guests will be wondering around the Capitol at their own leisure was something that made us rethink what we would be doing. A lot of people, myself included had kind of assumed that we would be able to have sound included into our projects and because we had learned so much about Oral History which revolves around a person speaking about the past in some way, but because sound wasn’t guaranteed, we had to find a way to adjust. Even talking about how there might be computers or projectors in certain rooms that will show our projects brought out ideas like creating media for a particular space like the projector room for example and how this could be a really strong concept especially for a short video. Overall it opened up my mind a bit more and lead me to think more outside of the box.

 

Week 6:

 

Week six was the week that I formed my group with Isobel and Ellie and we realised that speaking to the construction team was an idea that we found to be very strong and wished to use in either Assignment two or three.

 

It was in this week that I decided to go over to the State Library and ask a librarian about the resources they had in regards to the Capitol. Luckily for me the lady I spoke to was really helpful and showed me how I would be able to organise certain photographs/ manuscripts or newspaper articles for viewing if I was after them for a hardcopy. She also showed me that when looking on the online database for images or articles on the Capitol that there was a description below that would tell me whether or not the piece was out of copyright and hence could be used.

 

The other great resource that she showed me was a website called Trove. Trove is the National Library of Australia Database and it had online access to many newspapers and newspaper articles going back to the 1800’s. As the Capitol was opened in 1924 and proceeded to be at its best in the decades following, I was able to find many newspaper articles and pieces both on Walter Burley Griffin, the architecture and how the Capitol fit into the lives of Melbournians over the past ninety plus years. The helpful part about Trove which the librarian mentioned was that due to the copyright laws coming into place in the 1950’s, everything (be it written newspaper articles or images) was not considered under those laws and is “out of copyright”. In layman’s terms, it could be used for out projects.

 

Looking through the state library database and Trove, they couldn’t have been more perfect for the research we were doing as a group. There were articles from the Amusements Section in Melbourne Newspapers informing readers on what was being shown at the Capitol Theatre, there was news reporting on Griffin, the American Architect and his journey from winning a competition to design in Canberra to working on other projects, then eventually finding his way into designing the Capitol Theatre in Swanston Street.

 

Having these articles were excellent because we were able to find early versions of what is essentially a written oral history to guide us for assignment two and three. It was a productive week 🙂

 

Week 7:

 

I am technically writing for Week seven and the easter break for this blog post because my group and I felt that we needed to meet up together to discuss a plan, so on the Wednesday during the week off we came into Uni and had a really good brainstorm. Basically we started off thinking that we could do a video that was interviewing someone from the construction team about their experiences restoring the capitol, any history they had whilst also exploring a timeline of the Capitol in its significant events and also some little details on the Architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.

 

However we soon realised that this would be too much for one video and essentially you would be able to make several videos of at least five minutes on all the topics. Because of the how long the Capitol Theatre has been built for, the history and evolution of it would allow this. We then decided that we really liked the idea of interviewing someone from the construction team as they would be able to hopefully reflect on the past and present elements on the Capitol and so there would be an Oral history there. Because looking at the amount of time we would have from now until Assignment two’s due date, it would not be enough time to find a suitable day for us to interview someone from the Capitol build (ensuring they respond in time and say yes), edit it together and organise ourselves.

 

Rather we decided that we would try out a more simplified video history project for Assignment two and plan the interview for Assignment three. Assignment two would be a montage of images and possibly old video if we would be able to find it of the Capitol throughout the decades. To accompany this, we would include some text describing the time in history that the image/ video represented and also some interesting facts about that time, relating back to the Capitol.  

 

 

Link to video:

 

 

The Two Brands I have chosen are:

 

Qantas & Air New Zealand  

 

I decided to look at Video Ads for the both of them

Qantas- Feel Like Home Campaign

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7XFafi4IGo 

 

Air New Zealand- A Better way to Fly Campaign.

Background information about the brands you chose

Qantas

 

Qantas is an Australian airline that was founded in 1920. They were the third airline to fly a jet across the North Atlantic behind BOAC and Pan Am and have established themselves as one of the top airlines ranking third in the top 10 airlines for 2019. Having such a long history, the Qantas brand has evolved with launching more flight destinations, newer and bigger planes as well as different options for seating.

Generally, their reputation is excellent as far as customer service, food and drink options as well as flying experience and due to their history they are the most well known Australian Airline.

 

Air New Zealand 

 

Air New Zealand was named the 2nd best airline in the world and originated in 1940. After being known for their less than great reputation, there was a change in the way that the company operated both internally and for its employees and flyers. Air New Zealand took away its first class and instead focused on creating a premium economy option for its flyers, proving to be less expensive, yet much more successful and liked by the public. Several employees were also interviewed about what they liked, didn’t like and what made them mad about the company and executives worked on these issues, eventually being able to not only become profitable again, but to increase their employees wages.

 

What are the key messages of the two ads that communicate the brands to you?

Qantas

The message that Qantas is presenting is that they represent home. They are a proud Australian airline dedicated to being able to fly you where you most want to be (in this case home).

Air New Zealand

The key message of the ad is focused on the idea that Air New Zealand provides a “better way to fly” with more places to fly to, great food and drink options, a quality plane as well as a loyal connection to its home country.

 

 

What are the key signs that are used in each of the ad to create the above messages?

Qantas

A key sign is the Kangaroo Symbol. This is the indexical mode of the brand as it is a connotation relating to Australia being its native animal and that they are not only proudly Australian, but that being an airline service, they wish to be connected to other countries and places. The ad itself shows images of various different landscapes that are in Australia and overseas. This suggests that the brand is in fact an airline (the iconic mode example being the Qantas airplanes in several of the shots in the video to show this).

 

 

  

 

 

The consistency of the red and white logo alludes to its history and confirms how the brand most likely wants to be able to be recognised by its target audience through its brand ads. The montages of people travelling to their desired place, to be greeted by people they care about is an important sign and image as it provides the connotation that the brand are responsible to creating those happy moments. The song for the video is very important as well. It being titled “Feels like Home” creates an emotional response for the viewer, implying the importance of being able to fly and travel to your loved ones as well as the singers soft voice complementing the visuals of the advertisement.

 

Air New Zealand

There are many signs used in the video ad. One being to communicate the pride of being a New Zealand Airline; an indexical sign of a Kiwi that is used in the advert as this one of their national animals. The fact that they are able to fly to many different places is represented. For example the use of an image of the Kiwi in LA (the sign here is one of the stars on the Hollywood walk of fame which gives the connotation that it is an American setting and is related to Los Angeles.) The image of the Kiwi near a tram on a hilly place alludes to the location being San Francisco as it is culturally recognised to be a very hilly place with many trams used as transport.

The second half of the ad serves as exposure of New Zealand’s highlights with backdrops of a Vineyard, the film set of the Hobbit, and a beach with smiling people on it which again create connotations of relaxation, entertainment and joy that make the viewer want to not only use Air New Zealand when flying to other places in the world but to also feel interested in the country itself. It can also be noted that the logo of Air New Zealand is very much a signifier of the country being a Māori koru or “fern” this is a well known type of plant in New Zealand and can be recognised from there.

   

   

 

 

Are the brand narratives communicated in a cross-cultural context? If so, explain how they are communicated cross-culturally. For example, navigate the brand’s websites in different countries and examine the differences of presentation in terms of the use of signs.

Qantas

The brand narrative is communicated in a similar way but not necessarily to accomodate all countries. The website itself can be translated into many different languages in order to check flights and view prices, and they do show the same advertisements overseas but there are subtitles or dubbed voices.

Air New Zealand

The brand narrative of Air New Zealand, like Qantas allows for people to discover their website in different countries and screens their advertisements in others countries with subtitles, however most signs remain the same and text is translated to convey the same messages about Air New Zealand.

What are the similarities and differences between the two brand narratives?

Similarities include both wanting to create a personal connection to their country and the idea of feeling comfortable there. Other similarities are how they have a positive outlook on their Brands and carry that through their advertisements. Differences include what they are focusing on; New Zealand is a “Better way to fly”, whereas Qantas have the simple “Welcome Home” logo which is much more emotionally driven.

Based upon your findings of the above brand narratives, explain which brand you like better and why.

When looking at which brand I like best out of the two, I would say that Qantas is the favourite for me. The advertisement itself looked more like a narrative than a selling of a brand which I found to be very clever and more subtle. It showcased the Qantas planes and the flying experience all in the same but with more attention on the emotional experience of flying, and the exploration of where all different people fly to everyday in what felt like more of a celebration of what the airline do and the pride they take in that. In terms of dimensions, Qantas placed the personalities associated with the brand of a higher priority, followed by functional attributes and physical attributes which I found to be very appealing as an observer of their branding.

 

 

Reference List:

Danesi, M. (2013) Semiotizing a product into a brand, Social Semiotics, 23(4), 464-476.

 

 

 

Post One:

 

From what I have learned so far, I understand Oral History to be a way in which information and history is passed down from generation to generation through stories spoken to one another either informally or through interview. Shopes (2002, p.g 3) describes it to be “at its heart, a dialogue… encouraging the narrator to remember details seeking to clarify that which is muddled, making connections…challenging contradictions”, yet Leavy (2011, Chapter 1, p.g 4) comments on the “confusion” between “oral traditions” and “oral history”: Oral Traditions refer to the passing down of stories through different generations of people, whereas Oral history is “a method of collecting narratives from individuals for the purpose of research”. (Leavy, 2011, p.g 4).

 

This implies that oral history is more focused on understanding the past as a whole, whereas oral tradition is the understanding of one’s ancestors and how they lived. There is not as much need for complete accuracy or filling in the blanks, it is more of a bonded retelling of history to keep alive through storytelling.

 

The research and finding of oral history is generally done through interview with people of whom were present in that moment in history. Leavy discusses the role of the researcher and how “(They) actively participate in the knowledge building process” (2011, Chapter 4, p.g 8). This not only highlights the influence on the interview the researcher can have but also how beneficial it can be to allow the interview to change and evolve as the more accurate tellings of history may be achieved this way. Leavy further implies at this, commenting that “research is viewed as fluid, adaptable and malleable…the goals of this research vary greatly, and might include exploration, description, explanation, theory building or social action.” (2011, Chapter 4, p.g 8).

 

Due to the inevitability that the retelling of history will be subjective in one way or another, if the researcher allows their interviewee to explain themselves and work through their memories and understandings of history, there is a better chance that the researcher will not affect the subjectivity of the account quite as much. This way there may be a more honest portrayal of the person being interviewed and their story as opposed to what the researcher wishes their story to appear as.   

 

 

Post Two:

 

An example of Oral History that inspires me is the telling of Women’s involvement and their stories in the second world war. Although there are very general accounts and records of women’s involvement in the second World War, the oral histories of the actual experiences of being in war is something that inspires me because it is more honest and interesting, but one can also further deepen their understanding and awareness of life in that time in history. Lenart-Cheng reviews the writings of Svetlana Alexievich, a writer who was born three years after the World War II but was interested in interviewing women as they had not been as included in the war history she was taught in school. In Lenart Cheng’s review she recounds Alexievich having interviewed “more than 200 of these stories by women who served in the Soviet army as surgeons, nurses, pilots, snipers, mechanics, partisans and machine gunners.” (2018, p.g 2). The writer also highlights the honesty and accuracy of the horrors of what the women spoke about to Alexievich; “These women whispered, wept, and wailed, not in public, but among themselves, and their voices were telling a different story, about a different war. A war of smells, sounds, fears and laughs.” (2018, p.g 2). This not only inspires me to explore the powers of Oral History but to also acknowledge how it can tell untold stories and really add to a bigger picture of a historic event from more than one perspective. Oral history can prevent people’s voices and legacies from being forgotten regardless of how good or bad they were.

 

Post Three:

 

Having been to The Captiol Theatre I immediately decided that whatever project I decide to do, it has to include visuals. Even if that be photos of the building from decades before or simply the iphone videos we as a class took on the day we visited. The fact that this building is a cinema and has been dedicated to cinema for so long, it would only make sense to film a video based oral history around it so that the audience is able to visualize what stories they are hearing and can picture it more accurately. Having been to Screen Worlds (first) this exhibit was really helpful in showing me how engaging a multitude of media representations can be and that the more that can be incorporated into what I make (within reason), the better it could be (potentially). This could mean having just text on the screen with the audio of an interview, video/photo montages of the theatre and possibly archival footage, as well as the interviewee themselves along with music that suits the subject matter.  

Personally, after thinking about it, I would like to make a video based project that interviews students from our class in the present day about what we knew of the theatre and our experiences visiting it, as well as exploring its history through interviewing people who were apart of it and could have more insight into its history and evolution, so that there is a link between that the Capitol was, became and is now for us as students and audiences. Having people tell their stories of how they lived through the Capitol would be an amazing part to add to our projects as although having old footage and photographs would engage the viewer, the telling of personal stories be it simple or complex in the subject matter would give the audience more context in what the building was really like to be in many years ago.

 

Reference List:

Shopes, L., 2002, “What is Oral History”, History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/

Leavy, P., 2011, “Oral History”, Oxford University Press, New York

Lenart- Cheng, H., 2018, The unwomanly face of war: an oral history of women in World War II, Slavonica, 23:1,69-70, DOI: 10.1080/13617427.2018.1473102

 

 

 

Class One:

Week two began with a tour of The Capitol Theatre. As there were around twenty of us we divided into two groups of ten and went in at seperate times, with my group taking the 12.15pm time a little later on.

As we first went into the Capitol, it still felt as though there was so much to do in terms of construction. What would become the lobby area was very much still being worked on and we were asked to put on high vis vests and hard hats whilst we received a safety induction from our tour guide Michelle. After this we proceeded to walk through the lobby and go into the actual theatre which was most definitely the highlight of the tour. They had told the people working on the building that RMIT students were going to be visiting and they were able to get the lighting working on the ceiling. Which as you can see by my panoramic  photo also happen to change colour every couple of seconds.

 

As cool as the changing ceiling had been, the other thing I remember is thinking how beautifully designed it was architecturally. Something that was really important to RMIT for this upgrade was that it could be used for 2019 but also maintain and celebrate its history. After seeing the theatre itself we looked through the different rooms including where the bar would be. Michelle told us this story about how this room we were standing in used to be called “The Whiskey Room” and that was where the men were the only ones were allowed in, so that they could speak to one another whilst being able to enjoy a cigar or cigarette and have a glass of whiskey before their show. The women on the other hand socialised a level below (there was a balcony and steps separating them). Other places we looked at were the bio box (the place where the projectors were kept and would be used to show movies or shorts) as well as where the bathrooms would be and the different levels of the theatre.

It was great to see the space in this point in time because it is very close to competition and seeing how the builders have been returning it back to its former glory is so interesting. It definitely made me more excited as to how we could create media around this space.

 

Class Two: 

Class two we focused in on Oral History. Oral History is the way in which people communicate information to one another about their history through storytelling as a way to maintain a record of it. Oral history is something that if we were to incorporate into our projects, it would be great to have as many visuals along with them as possible. This is so that the audience can have more to base what they are hearing on, but also when discussing the unveiling of the Theatre, we knew that there would be a lot of screens that would be great to use as people would be walking in and out of certain rooms. There was also the fact that it may be quite loud and so there is a high chance that it might not be an easy task to be able to listen to things when you are in there.

 

I really liked the fact that I was able to also get to know some more of my classmates during this class as we could chat together and discuss what we might like to do. Next week the plan is to start having a go at some of the camera equipment so it’ll be good to get into some practical stuff.

 

 

 

 

From what I have learned so far, I understand Oral History to be a way in which information and history is passed down from generation to generation through stories spoken to one another either informally or through interview. Shopes (2002, p.g 3) describes it to be “at its heart, a dialogue… encouraging the narrator to remember details seeking to clarify that which is muddled, making connections…challenging contradictions” and from this I have come to appreciate how incorporating Oral history into our projects could really elevate them in telling a story of the Captiol.

Having been to The Captiol Theatre I immediately knew that whatever project I decide to do, it has to include visuals. Even if that be photos of the building from decades before or simply the iphone videos we as a class took on the day we visited. The fact that this building is a cinema and has been dedicated to cinema for so long, it would only make sense to film a video based oral history around it so that the audience is able to visualize what stories they are hearing and can picture it more accurately. Having been to Screen Worlds (first) this exhibit was really helpful in showing me how engaging a multitude of media representations can be and that the more that can be incorporated into what I make (within reason), the better it could be (potentially). This could mean having just text on the screen with the audio of an interview, video/photo montages of the theatre and possibly archival footage, as well as the interviewee themselves along with music that suits the subject matter.  

Personally, after thinking about it, I would like to make a video based project that interviews students from our class in the present day about what we knew of the theatre and our experiences visiting it, as well as exploring its history through interviewing people who were apart of it and could have more insight into its history and evolution, so that there is a link between that the Capitol was, became and is now for us as students and audiences.

 

Reference List:

 

Shopes, L., 2002, “What is Oral History”, History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/

 

Class One:

 

We began the first class with some get to know you topics and learned who everyone in the class were. As with many other classes, it was really interesting to learn where everyone had come from and what they were interested in: there were editors, film makers, people who loved podcasting, someone who worked at a talent agency (mental note for later assignments that could involve actors…) and our very accomplished teacher Mark.

 

We also were asked to think about what we wanted out of this Tute and I did some reflecting. When reading all the studio options of the year, something that appealed to me the most was the mystery surrounding The Capitol Theatre. For one thing, I had never actually heard of it or ever been there despite how accomplished it is and how integral it has been to Melbourne since its opening 95 years ago. Regardless, I love learning about historic places in Melbourne and to be able to learn as well as inform others about this establishment through media was most definitely something I was interested in. After all, all 95 year olds have stories.  

 

It was discussed that we would be looking to do this through “Oral History”, a concept that I didn’t really know about. But after a quick google, it goes along the means of interviewing people about the Capitol and their knowledge of it (this could be through recording their voice or maybe even filming them). We would also be working within the genre (if we can call it that) of Documentary, as well incorporating Digital Ethnography or online research of the Capitol’s culture and the people who involved themselves with it into our projects. I am yet to fully wrap my head around all of this, but it sounds exciting to think about what we might be making.

 

We concluded our first class by taking a trip to good old ACMI to the Screen World’s exhibit. To anyone who hasn’t been I highly recommend it because not only will you be informed by the history of Film and television up until the present day, you will do so through all different means of media. There are written articles about certain artefacts in the exhibit, multiple screens showing films and tv shows, (old and new), memorabilia, props, video games etc. It was a great source of inspiration for us to think about how we want our projects to be like, what form that take and how they get their message across. I haven’t narrowed anything down yet, but it’s gonna have to be something visual.

Class Two:

 

In class two we dove into Documentary and what we thought it was and wasn’t. Here were some points that we came up with:

Non fiction, that explores a topic.

-A real event that has or is happening

-A film makers way of exploring the real world

-Documentary isn’t always objective

-It relies on interviews

-Can be dishonest or subjective

-Can be aimed towards only a certain type of viewer

 

 Documentary can also take up many types of forms including reality, web docs and factual to name a few. There was a quote brought up from John Grierson (Hayward 1996) which described documentary as “The creative treatment of actuality” and I have to say I liked the quote the more and more I thought about it. I think it was because it always reminds you that even though the usual goal for a documentary is to tell you the honest truth of give as clearer picture or whatever it is focused on, there will always be creative influence over what the audience will see and react to. Be it in how the film is stylized or what is left out of the final edit, the creators will always want a certain response from their viewer and will mould what they capture to suit that.

 

Some thoughts about the reading:

 

-It was nice to hear how the Capitol was in a way a place for people to rebuild their sense of spirit and morale due to it being built post WW1. The fact that visits to the cinema only increased impressively kind of confirms this.

 

-The Capitol was super fancy in its day, and there was a glamorized experience associated with it. From having a rare piano that could be played live, to the ushers and staff having to wear black tie attire when attending to the audiences is pretty cool to think about, and maybe even inspired some movie cinema’s to maintain that level of formality today (Gold Class?).

 

-The original architects (Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony-Griffin) were unique and innovative beyond their years. Also Marion was said to be instrumental in the design of the coloured furnishings, in particular the lighting set up that could change colours intentionally. There was a cool story about how when they screen Towering Inferno (1974) for the first time they utilized this design by turning the lights red and flashing them this colour at pivotal moments in the film. This really confirms how Marion thought about connecting the audience to the space in a way that linked them further to what they were watching and how they could feel in that moment when being in that theatre.

 

-Hats off to RMIT for deciding to bring this gem of a theatre back to life. It’ll be great to see it next week whilst wearing closed toed shoes as it is still considered a building site until later this year…

I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services 

 

Week 9 Photo Post

Week 9 Video Post

Week 10 Photo Post

Week 10 Video post

Week 11 Photo Post

Week 11 Video

 

Alexandra Russell s3662093

Words 1060

 

How do the affordances of instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

 

In the final project of the semester I was working with the social media of instagram and Instagram’s popularity as I discovered reflects its consideration of the modern day user and their desires but also their want for creative control, connection and convenience in the network.

An aspect of uploading the photos and video’s to instagram was the curating and editing process or authoring. Throughout the week 9 works the main priorities were what looked pretty and also what was easy to capture. There were two or three photos taken and one video so that there was some variety in option however I chose to author those quite efficiently and quickly as I might for my own instagram account. However as the weeks went on, I began to look at what I was doing much more differently. The editing of the photos was done with more consideration for the previous image or video. Would it work against the last post? Should the filter used make the next video relate to its partnering photo? How would everything look on the instagram grid compared to in a feed?

A defining characteristic of instagram is that it creates the affordance of allowing you to create a photo or video both as an individual thing (seeing it on one’s instagram feed) or as apart and related to a group of images (one your account). Its the idea of relating photography as a“flow” of “data” (Kuc, Kamila & Zylinska, 2016, p.g 8) and from this the author holds a lot of freedom in how they wish to curate their instagram account. That being said, relating back to the assignment, something that I learned was that although having one amazing photograph is fantastic, there is strength in numbers. By strength, I mean to say popularity and sustained interest for instagram followers, as in order to achieve this, often treating your instagram feed as though it is a brand is paramount to guaranteeing that it will gain more traction. In terms of Instagram this means using its affordances to your advantage but doing it in a creative, well thought out and consistent way.

By the week ten posts I knew that I was going for a colourful theme, I knew that I would use a door pun for each caption followed by emojis that were the themed colour and hashtags; one for the blue, one to relate to the push or pull example from the affordances reading and one random one. The physical process of taking the images and photos also changed as I was looking more at framing and changing the angle of the shot so that the images were connected but still diverse.

In the week 10 blog post on mobile photography I mentioned how the iphone has really revolutionised mobile photography in how much easier it is, but also how the casualness of taking a photo or video on your phone can be a strong affordance. I found this particularly when taking the last video of all the posts where the two guys were walking behind the colourful window. If I had been carrying a large camera with a flash then they most likely would have noticed me and either moved out of the way or not wanted to be apart of the video. Although it can be noted that they are very far away and cannot be identified, having the iphone as my video taking source was an advantage here as I could capture something I might not have been able to. When looking at Henri Cartier-Bresson in the Week 5 blog post he commented that when taking photographs of people with the cameras of his day often there were constraints such as the change in how his subjects acted when being in front of the camera. Actually going through the process of using the instagram app through my phone and making mobile photography and video I learned how there is so much more you can capture in a much easier way and it can be distributed in a much quicker way.

The distributing of the photos and videos of the account was also something that evolved. I became more conscious that in order to build up the other social media platforms that I was using for the door project, it was important to connect them through linking the other accounts. I did this through using common strategies such as suggesting the viewer check out the twitter page or tumblr page. Due to the constraints of Twitter not being the best platform to post videos, I ended up using the caption then linking the actual video back to instagram. This was something that reminded me of how easy it was to do things like embed a video or photo onto a seperate platform outside of instagram if I wanted to. Instagram is really in part so successful because it can adapt and connect to the network and other social media’s.

Instagram is easily accessible through the internet and requires a basic “network literacy”(Miles, 2012, p.g 1) enabling users to want to use it and build the amount of users it already has. Its affordances of creative tools such as photo editing and hashtags and being able to make a caption, enables a sense of power and voice to the user as well as control in what they wish to capture and how they wish it to be received. The initial constraint of a square camera limits itself when taking photographs as they can only be framed in certain dimensions, however this also is beneficial in how the content is viewed on a mobile device. When in a square frame, the user is able to scroll freely and doesn’t face any issues re uploading the image from another account onto there instagram account. Other elements are how connectable instagram photo/video sharing enables users to be. With the introduction of tagging and being able to follow other users and like/comment, the platform holds a strong social use, further creating an engagement and sense of connection to the user and they don’t feel trapped or stuck in simply a photo sharing app. Due to the affordances of instagram within the network, content is delivered faster, more artistically and for a more diverse group of reasons by a larger amount of creators.

Miles, Adrian. RMIT University, 2012. (Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge 201-208)Kuc,

Kamila, and Joanna Zylinska, editors. Photomediations: A Reader. Open Humanities Press, 2016, (pp.7-16 Photomediations: An Introduction by Joanna Zylinkska – download direct from the website)

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

🚪 #6 “Colours Theme”📗📕📘📒 the key to a good door is how easy it is to open! #rainbow #pushorpull #staytunedforyellow

A post shared by The Documenter of Doors (@dooropener2018) on Oct 19, 2018 at 5:16pm PDT

How did you author the photo or video you recorded for upload to instagram? This video was recorded on my iphone 5s with the rear facing camera so that I could watch how I was framing the video when recording. I had to move around a few times and look at the phone so that I could get both the sliding door in the shot as well as the colourful windows also. The filter I decided to use for this one was “Juno” was because there was more than one colour scheme involved in the window I wanted to ensure they all looked nice and were bright and interesting to see. The square format was a little bit more challenging as I had to decide whether or not I wanted to have the two guys walking past the window be the main focus or to have the sliding door be the main focus. In the end I chose the two guys walking as I felt it was an interesting shot to see and the sliding door was still noticeable and satisfied the brief of the assignment which was to record a door.

I didn’t use any brightness adjustments as I wanted to keep the colours really vibrant, plus I felt you could see everything in the foreground and background pretty easily. I only recorded one shot for this one as the two guys in the background were random strangers who just decided to walk across to my luck and so I wasn’t able to recreate the shot any more times. There was also no deleting any clips or shortening of the filming time. The audio wasn’t muted as I felt it sounded a bit odd to have no background noise at all and I decided to leave it in.

 

How did you publish the photo or video you recorded for upload to instagram? 

As I took only one video the curation process was more about what filter I would use and what the caption/ hashtags would be. I decided as it would be the last official video and post to do something a little left of centre. In stead of the continuing the blue theme I wanted to finish off with a colours theme, replicating this with colourful emoji’s and the caption🚪 #6 “Colours Theme”📗📕📘📒 the key to a good door is how easy it is to open   #rainbow#pushorpull #staytunedforyellow

This caption wasn’t so much as a pun but rather wordplay and a reference to one of the readings we had looked at regarding affordances through the example of a door. Ultimately if the design of something does not make it easy and simple to use, the designer has pretty much failed in their work. I left the location unknown to be consistent with the other posts and to focus the attention on the video itself.

 

How did you distribute the photo or video you published on instagram to other social media services? 

For the twitter post I experimented with the concept of not giving any real info about the instagram page, instead just leaving the caption and the link to the instagram. Having the emoji’s for the caption I think made it look cooler and might have made the user want to see what the tweet is actually about.

For the tumblr page however I used the same method as the previous video; linking the instagram page as well as the twitter account and placing the caption in there as well. The hashtag stay tuned for yellow I think makes the users from each social media platform feel some anticipation that a yellow theme could be next in the future and to want to keep interested in the accounts which was a bit of a goal for me.

 

View this post on Instagram

🚪#5 “Blue theme” 🧢🦋🐬🌎 This one’s open to new things… #blue #pushorpull #campus

A post shared by The Documenter of Doors (@dooropener2018) on Oct 19, 2018 at 3:57pm PDT

How did you author the photo or video you recorded for upload to instagram? 

For this photo I used my iphone 5s with the rear facing camera, as I had used it for the other posts and had a good knowledge of how to use it effectively and also as it affords convenience having the instagram app and allowing me to post on the internet to easily. As there was a strong reflection in the door, this affected how I had to position myself with the camera so that I wouldn’t be in the way or in shot.

As a result of this I had to move back and to the side, getting a door from a different angle then front on. I didn’t use the flash feature as I didn’t want it to be seen in the glass and also didn’t feel that strongly about using it. The filter that was used for this photo was “Clarendon” as I believed it helped accentuate the different colours and sources of light in the photo, as well as complimenting the blue theme. The filter also matched the other images that had filters used on them which was important to continue the edited photo/video look I was aiming for. The differences in how I authored this photo was in the thinking about how it would fit into the bigger picture of the dooropener account. I had to decide whether it would be consistent to the other door photos/videos, how it looked in the grid, and if it could hint at what would come next. In asking these questions I was able to see how there was a little bit of yellow reflected in the image, hinting that this might be the next colour scheme of doors that I would go with and having had two other colours in the grid, blue felt like a really fitting colour scheme to go with next.

 

How did you publish the photo or video you recorded for upload to instagram? 

I took around two to three photos for this post as I wanted to find the right angle which I felt would capture the door, the reflection and the sunlight well and this was a really beneficial process because I didn’t feel locked into the one photo I might have taken ordinarily. Plus it showed me how important it was to experiment with taking more photo’s and trying out a few more different framed shots as this can help you grow as a photographer.

The curation process was deciding pretty instinctually which one I liked the most but also how well it was taken; if it was focused, whether or not it the shot was too overexposed and if it looked nice in general, plus if I could place a filter onto it. There wasn’t a location added and I did place a caption on the post🚪#5 “Blue theme” 🧢🦋🐬🌎 This one’s open to new things… #blue#pushorpull #campus 

 

How did you distribute the photo or video you published on instagram to other social media services? 

In adding the hashtag #campus I was hoping to create some some interest in relating this photo to the previous ones which had the rmit hashtag on them. Again this conveys where it is shot but again not being too obvious about it. I distributed the image on twitter including the caption and for the tumblr post I used the photo and linked the twitter and instagram accounts with a description saying “My twitter and insta accounts for doors”. This way, tumblr followers would be able to better understand what the concept of the account is for.