This boredom and Bernadette, they are to each other as piano keys are to strings. A mechanism doomed for reaction, beginning with one percussion. It begins a simple melody, one second to each key, seconds short and seconds long, seconds nonetheless. Those that are called tempo, a measure of a moment. To measure a moment rests on your tongue, Bernadette’s taste rested on none. No measure is a measure, congratulations if you have convinced yourself that nothing in this world exists. The unsteady hand of a timid child winds the jack in the box as the notes sound uneven and to no measure. But those notes themselves are lone moments. To measure a moment. How long do you consider a moment?

The Conscious Whale:

This is the recording of the first of four voice messages I was sent one very late night (or one very early morning), which reminded me of one very important thing: It is never too late to let someone know you’re thinking of them. Whether it be an out-of-the-blue memory that slaps you in the face when you breathe a familiar smell, hear a familiar song or for no reason in  particular. Whether it be someone you haven’t spoken to in years, have never spoken to or speak to on the regular, always look for an excuse to connect with someone.

Penelope’s Theme:

This recording is of me playing Penelope’s Theme from one of my favourite movies, “The Brother’s Bloom.”
This song is important as it combines my love for piano with my love for this movie.

Keep Them Even After They’re Dead:

Being a hopeless romantic with a slight hoarding problem for sentimental objects I find it near impossible to throw away flowers even after they wilt and rot in the water they have been drowning in for months.

18 Cranes = 18 Good Lucks:

Soon after hearing of the famous Japanese legend that creating 1000 origami paper cranes grants one eternal good luck I attempted to sting together the largest cohort of paper cranes the world had ever seen. I ran out of paper at 18 cranes.
This image represents my belief in sentimental attachment to ~things~ and how I feel surrounding oneself in said ~things~ can evoke nostalgia, protection and even good luck.

This Isn’t Even the Whole Collection:

My love for film started at a very young age. Every Friday night was “grab 7 DVD’s from Video Ezy” night. My love for watching soon turned into my love for creating.

The Bear Isn’t Relevant to the Story:

The hat seen above is a souvenir from the first real film I made.

07.03.2016

“Remember, authenticity is often shitty” – Chilly Gonzales

Media texts are now used as a tool for education and experience of knowledge that would not be available to most people otherwise. However, can the media experience of the outward world be compared to, or is it less authentic, than a physical and tangible experience of living these actions and obtaining this knowledge alone?

“Our perception of reality is an act of faith based on mere fragments” – Scott McCloud

As discussed in Scott McCloud’s ‘Blood in the Gutter’, human experience often lies in a faith that things are as they are; because that is what we are told or what we assume from knowledge that we already have, and what we believe we already know. The media offers a range of platforms that can allow people to assume that reality is what is portrayed through these texts, simply because it can also offer us knowledge that we already have. Are we too trusting of media representation of reality? If we are mislead by knowledge provided through media texts, does our experience of reality change? Does this mean our experience of the world is inauthentic?

07.03.2016

“our perception of reality is an act of faith based on mere fragments”

Scott McCloud’s ‘Blood in the Gutter’ discusses some important ideas on editing and, most importantly, the audience. Visual storytelling can be hard to achieve when one assumes the audience has no prior knowledge of anything ever, but this is never the case. As Scott McCloud wrote, “our perception of reality is an act of faith based on mere fragments”.

As humans we have this incredible ability to assume that something just is. This means that we do not have to show an entire character’s body in frame for the audience to know that it is there, nor do we have to be explicit in storytelling for the audience to understand what is happening on screen.

Subtlety is everything. Have a little faith in the audience to have a little faith in their fragments. They will almost always understand.

07.03.2016

“Editing is not merely a method of the junction of separate scenes or pieces, but is a method that controls the ‘psychological guidance’ of the spectator.” – Vsevolod Pudovkin

As discussed in our second Media lectorial ~ever~, editing is not simply placing one piece of footage next to another, but an entirely intentional and purposeful connection between two frames that, individually, may or may not mean anything. Through editing, however, these scenes become meaningful.

This definition of editing is evident in Dziga Vertov’s ‘A Man with a Movie Camera’. Vertov combines a number of camera shots that depict the everyday phenomenons in the modern city of Russia (during the 1920’s). Though the individual frames may not contain any meaning alone, alongside every other shot of Vertov’s these scenes create their own meaning, which may simply be to convey the demeanor of the Soviet Union at the time.

While this example is simplistic and ingenious for it’s time, it also provides a myriad of possibility for what editing could achieve; if the manipulation of meaningless shots through editing can create meaning, how can it change camera shots and footage already contain so much meaning? And how can editing in itself be used as a meaningful tool, ie long transitions as opposed to short transitions, superimposition of footage etc, and can an editing technique have a universal meaning?

07.03.2016

When given the task of creating a self-portrait through some short film clips, audio and photos, my first thought was to create dense, concentrated pieces of media that could contain every facet of my personality, interests and inspirations. Soon after realizing that this was impossible I had to narrow my options by looking for the most important aspects of myself, that I would want to be remembered by or known for.

My main goal with this task was to choose relatively unimportant objects or shots that held a much deeper meaning and that symbolized pieces of my personality that I believe to be important, for example: The rock climbing shoes do represent my love for rock climbing, but also my desire to inspire courage in others when faced with the unknown.

The Shining: Only the greatest movie in existence.

This film and Stanley Kubrick have both been the source for some intense creative inspiration for me. Growing up on horror movies and Jack Nicholson has shaped me into the film-maker I am today. Pieces of what I took from ‘The Shining’ have made their way into every folio, every research assignment and every story I create, whether it be through the camera or on paper.

The Shoes: Only the least comfortable things in existence.

At a young age I was introduced to the sport of indoor rock climbing. As a young’n it never struck me as a sport I could be entirely passionate about, at that time every sport-related activity terrified me. Though competitive sport never was and never will be ‘my thing’, I had always loved adventure, particularly climbing down dark holes in the middle of paddocks, caving was also an early interest of mine. It seemed convenient to know how to climb back out of these holes and so began my rock-climbing journey.

The Rocketeer: Only introduced to me by the coolest guy I know.

I am certain everyone has had the experience of sharing their favourite television shows, books or films with strangers in order to form some kind of common-ground in relation to tastes in humor, in life. I believe I can learn from every person I meet, about them and about myself. I collect ‘things’, symbols of friendship, of people, in order to understand my fellow humans as well as to mark important notes I take from the experience of connecting with another person.