Angus Jones – 3658552
RMIT University | Bachelor of Communications (Media) 2020 | Climate Changing Media Assessment 5 Part 2
For this final assessment, I was interested in breaking down the traditional stereotype that surrounds my hyperobject in contemporary medias as mentioned in prompt 12. My audio piece is about the shared emotional connection that humans and plastic bottles have, in particular focusing on the unforeseeable future we experience as young adults including the uncertainties of what our futures hold; which is contrasted with the plastic bottle’s journey in the story but also in reality. Something I thought was effective in my piece was generating a serious tone for the listeners. My immediate thoughts after choosing my constraints were how I could create tone without having a visual aid to assist. Drawing upon Hendricks piece that explores the importance of metaphors and tone when framing climate media work to the public, I wanted to create for my piece not necessarily to convince people to take action, but to perhaps convince them to think of empathetic ways towards plastic objects. What I was hoping to leave the listeners of my media artifact with was a change of perspective, instead of viewing objects that eat away at our environmental wellbeing what if a relationship could be created between these objects and us? Would this re-shape our attitudes and actions taken towards preventative climate change methods?
If I were to continue on with my hyperobject and theory presenting it, or changing into a different media format, I’d like to better indulge the audience more into the actual finished product. Meaning, perhaps the content of my media work may differ based on the audience’s age, socio economical state, positioning towards environmental awareness etc. I think because ultimately my piece is trying to drawn in people emotionally, the work needs to be relatable to the audience, something they can watch or listen too and be drawn into what is being presented. Which was part of the motivation behind choosing my idea of unforeseeable futures we experience as young adults, as that was something that I felt would be relatable to university students; and then tying that unsettling emotion in parallel with a plastic bottles existence, the only difference is that we know where plastic bottles end up. Perhaps changing the actual format of the work from a purely audio-based track into just visuals, what could that entail? Maybe by simplifying the media work could the work become more compelling; people will find it easier to make a judgment call if they have a clear understanding of the essence of climate change as mention by Professor Graeme Halford’s in an Australian Psychological Society (APS) piece.
Ash Fox’s Work :
I was interested in following along with Ash’s work as he too decided to focus his work around an audio piece, through using a soundscape that documents the history of farming practises from the pre-industrial era, through to a modern era. I enjoyed Ash’s media piece as within a short time he manages to capture and illustrate both the peaceful scene of traditional farming and how it industrially morphs into a cacophony of machinery noises. I believe Ash’s work communicates to the listener that there can be a more respectful and resourceful way to achieve effective food production, calling on Tsjeng’s 2019 piece about the desperation that will haunt people if there is no food security. Ash questions the flaws in modern day food production, which I thought was affective.
Cristina Ulloa’s Work:
I was assigned to review Cristina’s work for prompt 9, so naturally I was interested to she the result of her final product. Cristina work follows the fast fashion industry, focusing on the cotton farming industry and how the large-scale production of clothing is one of the highest contributing negative factors to global climate change. Cristina’s media work provides information, split screen visuals and a slowly escalating sound track allowing her to give an insight into a problem that many may not be or understand the awareness off. Towards the end of her piece, Cristina encourages the viewers to ‘consume less with awareness’ which I thought was a nice positive send off.
Other Studio work: The-Scene-In-A-Film
I was assigned The-Scene-In-A-Film as my studio to write a reflection on. After looking through the studio’s mediafactory webpage I came to the conclusion that the studio was focused around the in-depth analysis and research into film techniques for both aesthetic and intentional purposes. After spending way to long to decided which one I was to reflect on, as all the options where of interest to me, I decided to analysis the 500 Scenes of Elevator – Research on Elevator Scenes, in which the piece analyses 16 elevator scenes in movies and surfaces the question of what if these scenes were shot in an open space instead of an elevator. Throughout the piece, it is clearly evident that student creator was interested in the composition of shots (low angles suggests this etc.) and pays close attention to the setting of the elevator and how that contributes to the narrative and relationship between characters. Overall I found this piece enjoyable to read and can understand how the setting on the elevator can communicate a range of messages to its audience.
