Alexandra's Blog

Reflecting on our project work, I feel that we have been mostly successful in responding to the prompt of “How can I notice the relationships people have with their natural and manmade surroundings?” Our intent was to create a project which invites the viewer into our moments of noticing the surroundings around us, using lingering and observing as tools for noticing. I feel that we achieved this, as actively noticing and recording our surroundings allowed us to create a media artefact that performs the complexity of the changing world around us.

Thinking back on ideas from week 10, we wanted to portray the world as something indeterminate, unpredictable and always evolving. Additionally, we wanted to draw attention to both its human and non-human entanglements. Our Instagram feed allows the viewer to actively participate in noticing the relationships humans have with their surroundings by clicking on individual posts to reveal a facet of an environment. The mobile platform Instagram also allowed us to experiment with creative possibilities of making media outside of traditional linear production methods. The swipe function within a media set in particular helped us to achieve this; making graphic associations between natural and manmade surroundings prompts the viewer to think introspectively about this relationship.

In terms of production, I am satisfied with the way that framing our shots allowed the videos to fit into each overall composition on the page. The use of equipment such as the DSLR camera and microphone helped us to capture our surroundings with the best possible quality for a more authentic manner of noticing. The locations themselves were a good fit for our prompt; the park setting of Alexandra Gardens allowed us to observe subtle occurrences in nature, whereas Melbourne’s CBD allowed us to highlight the growing nature of manmade environments. In both, we were able to capture human life and the way that humans interact with their environments.

The use of static shots in our work also allowed the viewer to notice more movement within the frame especially that of people walking through these spaces. Planning our shots beforehand was something that especially helped us during production,  as we were able to determine what footage was needed. An example of this was our intention to have people walking through the frame in the bottom videos of each composition.  Something I think could have been improved upon is the unsteadiness of some of the videos where the tripod was not used, which was corrected in post-production.

In terms of editing and audio, I think that our use of diegetic sound was effective in establishing realism in our work as a piece of non-fiction media. Implementing sound transitions was an effective way of creating flow throughout the piece, and having gradient dividers worked to create a consistent overall aesthetic. A change I would make during post-production would be some of the colour grading in our work, as some of the footage is a bit on the pinker side. I feel that this takes away from some of the realism of the work where a more subtle shift in the colour would have been suitable.

Through this assignment, I have built on my knowledge of nonfiction and noticing, especially in terms of using noticing as an experimental approach to making nonfiction. By noticing changes in the movement, weather and composition of natural and manmade spaces, it allows us to create a non-fiction artefact of media that acts as a ‘changescape’ and continues to notice. Additionally, the non-linear structure of our project work allows the viewer to interact with it in a unique manner, applying their experiences of these spaces to the work. I feel that Anna Tsing’s principle of noticing is especially relevant here, as reorienting our attention “to look around rather than ahead” (pg. 22) has helped me to refine my noticing so as to pay attention to discrete details in my surroundings. As I continue from here I would like to apply these principles of media-making to my future practice and continue to think about the affordances of experimental forms of non-fiction. One question I would like to wonder about for the future is: How can I use tools for noticing in unconventional ways in the work I produce?

After completing our final edit, we are focusing on preparing for the exhibition to be held in Week 13. This involves planning what will be required to set up, run and pack down the exhibition and visiting the physical exhibition space. Before the exhibition we will also need to prepare our poster, which will include a still from the project as well as the log-line guiding our assignment. The log-line we chose to reflect our assignment is:

A tool for noticing the relationships people have with their natural and manmade surroundings is lingering and observing different environments.

We have also decided on a final name for our assignment: build | grow. I feel that this best reflects our concept as it describes the interconnected nature of the natural and manmade in our world. While the words ‘build’ and ‘grow’ reflect the building of the industrial world and growing of the natural world, it also gives an insight into the establishment of human relationships and our impulse to build and grow ourselves. This was also inspired by the ideas explored in Screening Nature: Cinema beyond the Human by Pick and Narraway, as they argue that “treating non-human environments as mere backdrops or mise en scene […] divides up the frame between the human and non-human in ways that overlook their essential interdependence and reinforces the culture/nature dualism” (2013, pg. 7). We would like to highlight through this project that while humans tend to be focused on our progression as a society, we should also stop to think about the environments around us and the impact that we are having on natural spaces.

This week we are also thinking back on ideas from Treske’s Video Theory: Online Video Aesthetics or the Afterlife of Video. In it Treske discusses online video as an “essential element of expression” (p. 18, 2015) and that we are “constantly creating, modifying and tinkering with new atmospheres of being and togetherness” (p. 19, 2015). This idea is especially relevant to our assignment as by presenting our work on this platform, we intend to create an atmospheric experience which invites the viewer into our moments of noticing in these spaces.

As we are coming to edit our footage, I am keeping in mind the feedback we received in class about how we should edit so as to best respond to our prompt. It was suggested that we should go ahead with do the second collage/composition of posts, as this would further illustrate our use of lingering and observation in natural and manmade spaces. While editing we are also considering several factors such as colour grading, visual and aural transitions, and elements such as dividers to break up the content on the page. Using Premiere Pro software we have been experimenting with several colour schemes. The scheme we are currently implementing is a ‘faded film’ effect throughout the work, which gives the footage a film-like quality. I think that this complements our footage as it creates a consistent aesthetic and enhances the natural colours found in our environment.

To edit sound we will be using audio transitions to fade in and fade out the audio of the videos in each post. Due to the nature of Instagram loops, this aims to create a sense of flow and seamlessness throughout the project. One aspect we have to take into conderation is that each part of the composition lines up perfectly in the Instagram feed to achieve the ‘puzzle’ effect. To do this, we are using the software Griddy which allows us to precisely plan out where each piece of the image starts and ends.  In addition, there is a need to crop some parts of the video out to fit into Instagram’s square post format. Therefore, we must carefully consider what the most interesting aspects of each shot are before cropping the footage. As we want to present the work in a seamless manner we have decided to insert dividers before and after the collages. Having experimented with white and coloured block dividers, we have eventually decided on using colour gradients; this is an effective way of blending the images with the white of the app background, while reinforcing the interconnected nature of both spaces.

Having now filmed the videos that will accompany each individual post, there were a lot of things that worked well during production. Lingering in each space allowed us to to pick up on unique happenings in our surroundings, such as leaves falling or the passing of cars. Observing in each space also gave us the opportunity to notice things we wouldn’t normally pay attention to. In particular, the calm atmosphere of the park was striking in contrast to the bustling nature of the urban environment. I am satisfied with the quality of the DSLR camera and the use of the microphone to pick up sounds, as well as the use of both close ups and long shots to capture these spaces; this was something I liked in Christian Santos’ creative work City vs Nature. In it he juxtaposes shots of natural landscapes with manmade objects (power lines, a spinning turbine, the pavement of a road).  This allows us to hone in on specific details as well as capture the overall atmosphere of our surroundings.

During production we also decided to alter the formatting of our page. Instead of having one large 3×3 configuration of posts (9 posts total), we will now be doing two large scale compositions 2×3 (6 posts each, 12 in total). This will feature one image of buildings and one of a nature landscape, which were taken prior to filming. We made this decision because it will allow for a clearer comparison of both spaces, and establish a strong relationship between the two environments. We also wanted to ensure sure that in the bottom row of each composition there would be some form of human activity; the aim of this is to further establish the relationship people have with their surroundings.

This week we are beginning to think about production and the difference between interactive video and video collage, in terms of how each form allows a different way of noticing. In class we discussed the interactive diary film Ceci N’est Pas Embres by Matt Soar, which uses the Korsakow software to connect its components. The web interface uses a tagging system to create possible relations between different parts, imbuing it with a ‘loose’ quality with no fixed sequences or editing. These automatic relations allow the viewer to notice new things such as similarities in the clips they would not otherwise have picked up on. In contrast, the form of video collage allows the viewer to “re-train” their eye to see discrete detail within a composition. This is best seen in the cinemagraphs of Beck and Burg whose work prompts the viewer to notice small movements within a largely still environment. While both encourage the viewer to notice the unseen qualities of an image, interactive nonfiction is different to video collage as it has a higher level of interactivity with the viewer. The principles of interactive non-fiction could be applied to our assignment as we intend to invite the viewer into our moments of noticing by having posts they can click on to interact with.

Before we set out to film we are ensuring we consider how equipment, location, duration, framing, camera movement, and sound offer particular ways of noticing with media. In order to do this we set out a basic recipe:

• Equipment: Nikon DSLR camera, tripod + external microphone. The tripod will allow the frame to be as still as possible, and the microphone will lessen any sound interference i.e. wind.
• Location(s): Alexandra Gardens + Melbourne CBD- Allows for clear contrast between natural and urbanised environment.
• Duration– Less than a minute each to fit within Instagram’s constraints, depending on movement within the frame.
• Framing– Each shot will be framed to align with the section of the composition it is a part of i.e. a close up, a long shot.
• Camera movement– Static, to reinforce its relationship with the still composition.
• Sound– Diegetic sound from each clip, to create as much realism as possible as a non-fiction artefact.

These considerations will allow us to linger and observe in each space with as much attention to noticing nature, manmade construction and human behaviour as possible.

Our development for this assignment has also been informed by the Week 10 reading by Bettina Frankham, A poetic approach to documentary. One key idea that will be guiding us in developing our prompt is her statement that “in a poetic approach to documentary, the issue becomes one of finding the balance between offering a definitive, unquestionable single pathway at one extreme and presenting a loose collection of raw documents at the other” (pg. 145).

This is relevant to our prompt as we intend to establish a connection between all of the clips in our Instagram feed to produce a holistic view of these spaces. One way of doing this is by framing our videos so that they align with a certain aspect of the overall composition, and in turn create a graphic match. This creates a relationship between both images and allows the viewer to notice this association between natural and manmade spaces. The videos in each post will also serve as individual documents of noticing.

The Instagram accounts @sweetener and @iamphoenixproject achieve this through the “puzzle” layouts of their feeds in which each post works together to create an overall composition, while still allowing the viewer to click into the posts that comprise it. These facets then become “glimpses rather than ideal chronicles” (Frankham, p. 140), creating a sense of interconnectedness through making graphic associations. I feel that this approach to our prompt would enhance our subject matter of humans and manmade and natural environments, as we intend to demonstrate their entwined nature.

Frankham also states that “audiences are becoming more accustomed to open forms that either require greater levels of interpretation and participation or that offer further non-sequiturs, adding to the overall experience of fractured daily life” (pg. 144). Similarly, Brown states in The Aesthetics of New Media Art that “what distinguishes new media art from mainstream digital art are the new possibilities generated by the Internet based hardware and software” (2015). I feel that this best describes our approach to the form our assignment will take as the platform of Instagram allows for an alternative, interactive insight into our patterns of noticing.

After undertaking our initial research, we have refined our research question to:

How can I notice the relationships people have with their natural and manmade surroundings?

We have also decided to focus on lingering and observing as tools of noticing our surroundings. This is because they allow us to spend time in spaces, and compare and contrast the relationships they have with people. Our intention for formatting our instagram feed is as follows:

A 3×3 collage of a man-made/industrial location (e.g. a building), in which each image is a thumbnail for a unique video presenting nature within surrounding areas.

In order to find research that related to noticing, nonfiction and media practice we collected a list of terms relevant to our project such as noticing & non-narrative media, nature, lingering, environment and non-fiction. The academic sources informing our development for this assignment are:

• Video Theory: Online Video Aesthetics or the Afterlife of Video by Treske, Andre, 2015
• The Aesthetics of New Media Art by Cuellar Brown, Carlos, 2015
• Screening Nature: Cinema beyond the Human by A, Pick & G, Narraway, 2013
• The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt, 2015.

And the following creative works:

• City vs Nature, Christian Santos, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj5AZPxkE5s
• Sweetener, @sweetener, https://www.instagram.com/sweetener/
• I Am Phoenix Project, @iamphoenixproject, https://www.instagram.com/iamphoenixproject/

We will be drawing on ideas from these sources as a means of further developing our approach to noticing for this assignment, and the creative possibilities afforded to us by the format of experimental non-fiction.

In class, we have been discussing Anna Tsing’s Arts of Noticing to inform our development for assignment 4. In her discussion of human noticing, Tsing describes our time as the ‘Anthropocene’, in which “human disturbance outranks other geological forces” (pg. 19). Tsing argues that humans tend to have a focus on themselves and events in their own world and neglect to pay attention to the other “worlds” around them- such as those in nature- as they do not lead to progress in society.

She goes on to state that we must reorient our attention to things we’ve neglected as “they show us how to look around rather than ahead” (pg. 22). I feel this is very relevant to our research prompt as by noticing particular aspects of nature and industrialised society, we are able to think introspectively about how advancements in society have affected natural environments. By noticing the world as “patchy landscapes, multiple temporalities, and shifting assemblages of humans and nonhumans” (pg. 22) it also gives us an insight into human behaviour and their patterns of engaging with their surroundings.

Additionally, Tsing discusses the idea of “precarity” as a part of the human experience, and that “unpredictable encounters transform us”. We would like to explore this idea by paying attention to these unexpected encounters in reality, to present an authentic version of real life. As nonfiction media practitioners I feel that this would be an effective way of producing a realistic document of media.

In class I also engaged with the biggest, big, small activity in order to outline the direction we wish to take with our assignment before the final exhibition. We determined that the biggest thing we wanted the audience to be able to notice through looking at our work is the interconnected nature of humans with the spaces they inhabit. We also laid out all of the tangible tasks we needed to achieve for our final production, which included accounting for risks during production. One risk we are considering is ensuring that we have as little involvement with what we are observing as possible, in order to produce a voyeuristic view of our surroundings.

How can I notice the relationships people have with their surroundings, with particular attention to nature?

In my last assignment my intent was to notice the unseen qualities of natural environments. I achieved this by using a combination of lingering and tuning as tools to focus on different aspects of nature. For this task, our aim is to build upon this approach in order to invite the viewer into our moments of noticing. By noticing, collecting, reflecting, and refining this idea, we intend to highlight the impact that humans have on their natural environment, in addition to those around them. I think that this is an interesting concept to examine as it allows us to create a media artefact that reflects the complexity of the changing world around us and the intersecting of manmade and natural spaces.

While developing our ideas for this assignment we will be continuing to consider how equipment, location, duration, framing, camera movement, and sound offer particular ways of noticing with media, and the development of our project will be informed by academic sources, creative works and discussions and feedback from class. By noticing in this experimental manner, we would like to consider what it allows us to do as nonfiction media practitioners.

Project work available at:

https://www.instagram.com/a.a_edit/