In my final media works, I feel I was fairly successful in achieving what I set out to do. I intended to create work with a level of texture and compose each in an interesting way in order to highlight the entanglements a smartphone has. Each format (visuals and audio) allowed me to experiment with editing to create something new. Mobile technology has become a part of the meshwork of our relationships and unwritten rules about communication in today’s society has changed the way we relate to each other. This was something I wanted to focus on in terms of demonstrating our entanglement with technology in today’s society.

Something that I feel was successful in the final visual work was the colour scheme as the black background let me create contrast with the lighter coloured objects, and the simple layout made it easier to focus on certain things in the frame such as the smartphone. I decided on incorporating GIFs into my work, as the affordances of video and gifs are that they can tell a story through images, and the gif format is engaging and short. I also think that this format works well in regards to storytelling. Their repetitive nature is similar to the instantaneous messages we receive on our phones. This is definitely something I would like to explore in future work that explores entanglement.

Aspects that weren’t as successful include some technical issues I had with using stop motion to create GIFs: in some frames, the lighting changed which interrupted the flow of the animation. I also had some framing issues as a result of moving each object individually a number of times. To avoid these problems in the future I will ensure all objects are in the frame and positioned correctly. Additionally, using text overlays helped me to more clearly illustrate the ideas I wanted to explore to the viewer. However, I feel the frame gets overcrowded or the text is too fast at times, which might make the viewer feel overwhelmed. Alternatively, I could have used a voiceover to avoid this and to create more of a focus on the images.

In my audio work, something that worked was the use of field recording to create a sense of space. An idea I wanted to explore was how I could convey information about today’s society and its entanglement with technology through sound. I am satisfied with the technical quality of the audio, as I used a zoom mic to capture sound in separate locations (a busy footpath, a staircase, a pedestrian crossing). Combining these field recordings with the sounds of a smartphone allowed me to create the atmosphere of an urban environment, and in addition, highlight the disconnectedness of a person on their phone with their physical environment.

One of the affordances of the audio format is that revealing or omitting certain sounds can elicit certain emotional responses from the listener. By using transitions in Audition, I diminished the volume of the environment whenever the person was using their phone in order to evoke a response of isolation in the listener. However, this is something I feel I could improve upon in my future work by creating a more coherent storyline and flow within the piece. By playing around with the timing of the clips to improve its pacing, I feel it could have been less boring at times or evoked a stronger emotional response. My proposed audio work included excerpts from voicemails to engage the listener’s imagination, however, I found this did not complement the field recordings I collected as well which could be an idea I reapproach in the future.

A concept I would like to develop in future work that explores entanglement are those entanglements that do not revolve around humans, such as animals and nature as I feel this would be interesting to look into. In addition, I would like to further explore how I can use interactive and visual forms of media making.