So today we moved to advance level understanding of Sony EX3 camera. We grasped the knowledge of Zebra, white balance, focus modes and gain. When Robin was explaining the white balance system of EX3, I mistakenly confused the difference between 3200 kelvin and 5600 kelvin white balance, later on I got the difference of both in the end, but as Robin said that, it doesn’t matter what is the right temperature for the shot, because it depends on what you want to achieve in the end.
later we reviewed each of our homework we did, regarding my work I thought the framing and placement was done nicely and the amazing incident happened in my video which was similar to the style of Lumiere brothers, as the activities in the background was finished, a bird appears on the foreground and exits the frame at exact 50th second. talk about my luck, haha. On the downside, my exposure was way blown out and the details were missing, I will be careful in my future assignments now.
In the final hour we were given an exercise to create a 50 second take which could be a ‘description’ of something familiar and common-place. or of something extraordinary and unexpected of overriding importance and overall aesthetic choices in relation to location, composition and exposure. As we watched Georges Melies artifact of card playing for inspiration purpose, our group created a scene at the nucleus space building 9. Our first take was great but a student disrupted in that take and time consumed was way less, it was a struggle with the few next takes and some actions went wrong but finally we had the 50 second take in the final clip and it went smoothly. My idea worked well, the exposure and white balance was just what we wanted. Our first placement of the camera was the other way around but somehow the framing wasn’t looking pleasant, the whole frame was cramped up and the point of view was messy as well, else we wouldn’t be facing disruption and the delays in our takes. In the end, we enjoyed what we did and were satisfied with the output of our artifact.
In today’s class, we were introduced to Zoom H4N. It is a professional sound recorder and widely used in media industry. Like we did an exercise for Sony EX3, we also had to do an exercise for this as well. This time we had to document a location by using Zoom H4N with the objective to ‘describe’ the location so that is it identifiable to the listener.
I was paired with Constance again, so we started off with the ambiance of the nucleus space at level 2 of building 9 but we listened first before recording and it didn’t felt like we were at the same area, so my attention diverted towards the blow dryer sound and i asked Constance to go inside the toilet area and record it, I thought the sound in there is common enough and so the location would be identifiable.
I think the first sound clip is pretty much identifiable, the water coming out from tap, some footsteps to approach the dryer, and then the sound of dryer itself. So one can assume well that the sound clip is from the toilet.
However the second sound clip is a bit confusing, we hear a car moving, water stream and crumpling of paper. one can assume that it may be from a park but actually we recorded at bowen street. So in this sound clip we were not successful in achieving our objective.
The third sound clip is of footsteps and cars, so its safe to assume that sounds are from a nearby road, and indeed we did captured it on Swanston street.
The last clip we recorded were of Trams, but it is a bit confusing whether it is of trams or trains as they sound more or less the same, but I think it is pretty much identifiable. Overall I believe we achieved the objectives of the exercise except for the second clip.
I listened to another Groups sound recording, it is pretty much identifiable that they are sitting in closed environment, with the chatting and footsteps going along. As I’m reflecting, I realise I did a mistake by not following the rules as it mentioned to document just one location. But then again, if we omit the first recording, then it is easy to identify that the location is a street where people walk by, cars go by and trams run along.
After experiencing Media 1 protocols of using Sony Handycam, it was time to move onto the next big thing, Sony Ex3. I entered the class with a warm welcome of Sony Ex3 and tripods. I knew at that instant that we would be doing something practical with these machines. After Robin gave us a brief intro of EX3, Constance and I went out for class exercise to shoot or document a place, event or a activity in a single 50 second take.
I was thinking as we walked out of the classroom the best place to shoot and to capture a precise moment, it should be interesting what matters the most to me. Constance then pointed me towards a dance activity that was going on Bowen Street. We rushed at it and placed the camera at a suitable position because one of the constraints was to shoot at a fix zoom of 12 mm with no panning or tilting. I quickly adjusted the focus and exposure settings but somehow it didn’t work well, the whole dance routine changed and thus the framing wasn’t doing justice with it. We were not satisfied with the output so we decided to capture the same activity but placing camera to another area. It turned out well for us, there were movements into and out of frame, significant activity going at the foreground and background, good exposure but the white balance was not adjusted so overall the tone of the image was blue.
The thing that bothered me was why 50 seconds of shooting? Why not the whole minute or 30 seconds or may be even less than that, it was later that I discovered was that we were trying to practice what the famous Lumiere Brothers did in their time. They had just 50 seconds of footage to shoot and thus we were imitating their technique to capture quality moment.
Things that I came to know/ discovered:
1, Setting up EX3 and how to mount properly on tripod
2, It’s not about the quantity of the footage, it’s the quality that matters.
3, The points of interest and the activity within the frame is important to engage with the viewer.
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
Here is our Final Project Brief 4 Link. Do share your views guys.
When I first heard of last project being a group one, I was excited as I’m a team player and my confidence boosts up as many tasks are divided amongst us. I was hoping to either get ‘mediums’ or ‘audiences’ as a topic for the final project brief. Fingers crossed and bang here comes ‘mediums’. Now other question came into my mind who would be my crew for this project, obviously i didn’t wanted lazy ones cause then all the burden would have been over my shoulders. Luckily Sandy and Kristien were my partners for this brief. Each one of us really had put a lot of effort into making this a successful project, although, our original idea was different, we were working on websiteand talk about different mediums all together then changed to produce it in a documentary style but later on with the advise from Rachel, we focused on Video Games as a medium and how other different mediums incorporate into it. It all went smooth and easy, we narrowed down to one thing and it was easy for us to showcase our final presentation being inspired from ABC’s ‘Good Game’. According to me, the successful aspects for our project were firstly the script, Kristien worked immensely on script, putting up all the educational quotes together and to present it as a script is what I consider a tough job but for him it was easy as he is into story writing so I reckon that might have been the reason. Secondly the setup for the project, I took the responsibility to setting up for our shoot, at first we decided to book a study room at building 80 of RMIT, but Rachel suggested to check out the basement of building 9 where the editing rooms are. We all loved that area, it was exactly of what we were looking for, the lcd, the sofas and the ambience, it was quite so no unwanted noise could be captured in the sound for our video. By using three different cameras, the broadcast style angles and some extra lighting, it looked almost like a tv show setup. Apart form these, everything we collected for our production dossier (sounds, bibliography, pictures, Logos and drafts) is what made the our final outcome as a success.
In terms of problematic aspects, I think being my greatest strength becomes a problem for me sometimes. Editing is where i excel but its the sound part the troubles me. During the editing stage I discovered that by using different cameras, the sounds that were recorded were in different different frames per second, one source of sound was a bit speedier than the other one. So I had to make sure that proper lip syncing is present in the video and most importantly to normalize the sounds together so that it is clear for listening. I knew that with Sandy and Kristien on board, they would help me out with finding the background score and other its and bits of it. Overall, I think for me that would only be the problematic aspect. I’m not sure if this counts as a problem or not, I have some reservations on the acting part, although Sandy and I did well as per our consensus, but I think some elements were missing that could have really made it to the next level, other then that, I think we all are like minded which maintained a good outcome of our project.
what I learnt in the making process about collaboration that might be relevant to my broader development as a media practitioner is the understanding of your team mates as it is the team work that reflects onto your projects. Listening is an another aspect to it as everyone puts their thoughts and ideas to the table. It is not about whether I like it or not, it is about whether the idea works or not? With Sandy and Kristian we made sure in our contract that we would listen to our ideas and would discuss will it work or not, and in this process i learned that you have to put your ego aside even though you want something to be added into it cause in the end, it is not about your work, it is about our work. Other than that, I believe that one must only take responsibility of certain areas where they are good at utilizing their key skills, Kristian took responsibility of writing and the direction, Sandy took responsibility of maintaining production dossier and inputting his expertise of gaming into it and I took the responsibility of post production stage. Each one of us were good at these areas and in our project it reflects that how well we did.
To comprehend, my experience has been amazing working with these guys and I’m sure that by going through this collaboration process, it would benefit me as media practitioner.
The following posts demonstrates best my engagement with the course and its key ideas and objectives:
1. http://www.mediafactory.org.au/ali-bucha/2015/03/10/media-lectoria…noticing-audit/
2. http://www.mediafactory.org.au/ali-bucha/2015/03/19/video-editing-practice/
3. http://www.mediafactory.org.au/ali-bucha/2015/04/18/the-sound-drama/
4. http://www.mediafactory.org.au/ali-bucha/2015/04/22/signs-everywhere/
5. http://www.mediafactory.org.au/ali-bucha/2015/04/29/mind-mapping-key-to-success/
In this course, we were introduced to different elements that covers in media making. we started off with making our accounts for blog posts and we had to regularly updating it with what we encounter in media making. I’ve learned that I enter into deep attention of thinking as i discovered I work best when i focus on a particular thing at one time. I also learned the Kuleshov effect in editing to create more meanings rather than using a single shot for a single meaning. I got to know that there are heaps of media texts around us, the noticing exercise helped me in connecting different texts of media and I began to question my self of why certain media is present and why we consume such mediums in our lives. Other then that I also came across the copyright issues and that as long as you have permission of the original maker and cite them correctly in your work, its all good then.
In this course, I learned how to use different stock footages and incorporate them into media making to create a valuable meaning out of it. I found it really precious as there are certain footages that you are not able to get but there are lots of free footages that can be used in your creative content. Secondly I got to have hands on experience with a sound recording equipment (zoom), I always wanted to know how these shows and film have such crisp quality sound and I’m glad I had the opportunity to gain that knowledge.
One of the most challenging aspects in this course were sounds. I struggled at the beginning to get high quality sound for my projects, but after experiencing Zoom recorders and other mic inputs, it has helped me in improving of what I wanted for my outcomes of projects including the final one but there are still loop holes that I need to cover up before I can be sure that I have fully learned the aesthetics in sound recording. Other than that, the blog writing has been a challenge. Not sounding delusional but at first I didn’t felt that I should be writing all the things that I go in between media texts and give my reflection on it as I wasn’t used to writing much in my previous education but later on I realized that its a part of a learning process and you self assess with the juxtaposition of before learning certain aspect and after learning that aspect. Now I feel confident when I write about what I believe in and what I think about certain details.
In the creative practice I discovered that I have a realist approach towards my content making process. I find really intimidating that how real can be real and what does make it real. Sounds quite confusing but it has its perks. In my projects of what I have created, I can see that I’m following the rules of realist approach in content making which is a style of Cinéma Vérité in filmmaking as I believe this is close to representing the truth of the narration.
Citation:# Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary Film. Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2010, pp.179-194 [extract: The Participatory Mode, which Nichols original called the Interactive Mode]
1. Key/significant points or ideas:
-This reading introduces to us to participatory mode of documentary.
-Around 1960, new technology allowed sync sound recording on location is called participatory mode.
-This mode requires interaction with subjects and what happens in front of the camera becomes a collaborative effort between filmmaker subject.
-Interview is a common form of encounter between filmmaker and subject in participatory mood.
-The filmmakers presence in this mode of documentary takes on aggravated importance from physical act of ‘getting the shot’ to the political act of joining forces with one’s subject, and in some bitter cases its presence takes on a highly personal and sometimes touching quality.
-Filmmakers of this mode are differentiated into two large components, essayists and historians. this gives participatory mode documentary filmmaking considerable appeal as it roams a wide variety of subjects.
2. Ideas that help me to understand documentary:
– I understand that this mode provides an immersive experience in digging out stories of the subjects in depth.
3. Questions/ Comments
I feel that incase a proper research is not done by a filmmaker then the subject may manipulate their version of stories and can provide a false narrative into the production of the documentary.
This mode seems intrusive as filmmaker actually gets involved into the lives of the subjects and that can lead to certain power and co
Citation:# Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary Film. Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2010, pp 194-199 [Extract: The Reflexive Mode.]
1. Key/significant points or ideas:
-This reading focuses on the process of negotiation between filmmaker and viewers.
-Reflexive documentary asks viewers to see documentary for what it is; a construct or representation.
-This mode in general depends on the viewers neglect of his or her actual situation, in front of a movie screen, interpreting a film, in favor of imaginary access to the events shown on the screen as it is only these events that require interpretation, not the film.
-Reflexive documentaries challenge techniques and conventions of realism such as continuity editing, character development and narrative structure.
-Reflexive documentary pokes the viewers to a higher form of consciousness about his or her relation to and what documentary represents.
-Reflexive documentary can be both formal and political perspective. In formal perspective, reflexivity draws our attention to our assumptions and expectation about documentary form itself. In political perspective, reflexivity points towards our assumptions and expectation about the historical world mote than about the film form.
-Both perspectives induce an “aha” effect where we grasp a principle of world that helpsaccount for how we understand and represent the world. This term was coined by Bertolt Brecht as ‘alienation effect’
2. Ideas that help me to understand documentary:
– This mode is the most questioning mode of representation, the representation of facts, ideas and evidence come under suspicion.
3. Comments
– This mode seems abstract and the audience may loose sight of actual issues.
Today was the last workshop for Media 1. I’m feeling kind of sad that I may not see my intellectual peers often. The collaboration that Brian talked about in this course really hit me, my problem is that I feel attached to my surroundings too soon, but then I get along with other things quickly as well, lol! Rachel was sweet enough to bring cookies for us.
Now about the business that happened in class, each of us showed almost finished drafts of our project briefs, Rachel gave us the feedback that it is good but needs an addition of text of the name of the game, quotations of scholars in this genre and correct sounds issues in the video, which will be fixed soon. Besides that I think Jack’s group really nailed it with their news style report on classification board. I’m jealous as their work is really awesome, I just hope that we all get good marks for our hard work.
Thanks Rachel and my mates for a great semester. I hope I get more collaborative work in near future and make a name in this game.
So glad that my Media one’s Project Brief 4 is coming along great. I just finished editing our finished product, just the background sounds are remaining. Our group has been really awesome working together. There were ifs and buts in our whole production period but I’m happy that everyone provided their individual effort into this project and results are in front of us. This is a picture of me setting up the camera and lighting for project brief 4.
So today my Photojournalism tutor Maria and my classmates reviewed eachothers photographs for final assignment. I knew that there is no point in turning back if pictures are not worth it since the pictures were taken in Pakistan. So I had to make sure I follow the guidelines well and nail it right on spot. Maria and my classmates loved it. They were amazed to see a part of my culture that I carried throughout, but with every praise, there are criticism, well there was only one actually, Maria mentioned I was Missing a close-up picture which was a requirement for the assignment, I didn’t took a print out but it was saved in my Laptop, I showed it to her and she gave the green signal. I think I did a pretty good job with this course. One down, two courses to go!
