Media 1

I’ve never been very good at focusing on myself.
Having spent a large portion of last year trying to do just this, attempting to project what’s internalised, to apply it into my personal work ie; photography, I found this exercise a challenge.

Having made a few short clips last year out of curiosity but never any that focused on me, creating a piece of work that was cohesive, creative and playful was a struggle, largely due to the fact that I am currently on a break from photography.
For me, photography is visceral.
As I write this self-reflective rhetoric, I feel myself cringe but I’ve decided to be honest and just say it like I mean it and like this video, leave it to you to examine.

So, as Derek Zoolander once queried, ‘who am I?’

I like to blend into backgrounds, I am the fly on the wall, I pick up on your gestures and verbal inflexions, I have always observed.
Abandoned buildings and old houses are my happy place; respite from the bustling and chaotically organised world outside.
They are consistently surprising, musty, old and mouldy.
I take my time and find light in the shadows, I have learnt to live in the questions and enjoy the journey rather than the destination.

The footage I have taken is an abstraction of the current me.
Not wanting to dwell on material and mundane day to day; eating, walking etc.. I felt that the places I visited and the experiences I had in the last couple weeks, shaped who I was.
That is to say that the video is a rendition of who I am at this current point in time, not as a whole.

My images are self-explanatory at first and I suspect would carry more weight upon getting to know me more.

I like to walk around the city and find abandoned buildings and I carry my Pentax film camera with me everywhere.
I wanted to show how photography has influenced my life in a more realistic sense through capturing a window on my phone, through the view finder – wanting to represent a more naturalistic approach to capturing a scene.
Not wanting to compare myself to Annie Liebovitz by any means but it is a fraction of my life through a lens.

I assisted on a shoot last week with a friend of mine at Trentham Falls.
The sunlight hit the sprays of water and created a rainbow that caught my eye.
On the drive back we stopped in Dayelsford and a flare of sunlight bathed a green shed on the side of the road in an amber light. The colours were irresistible.

The shadows on my cupboards every morning call to me. I hazily pass my hands through them, hoping to reach out and feel them brush against my skin.

Each day I walk into the city and walk through the laneways of Melbourne, passing through the crowds and hearing the music play from a different busker every day.
By days end, I’m exhausted.
I kick my feet up and my day flickers past me as a colourful bokeh – an image I captured last week in the rain.

As I complete this reflection, I’m realising that this video, while it may not be the most fluid I have ever created, is an honest representation of my current self.
I’m noticing more of the things around me, enjoying my journeys and drawing focus to my environment much more.

Video  link

I wonder if I’d be able to make people feel something when I begin to create something in the future.
I feel I have the ability to capture and set a scene but narratives are something I do have to work on.

I watched ‘Sunrise – A Song of Two Humans’ recently.
A silent romantic drama from 1926, it was the first of its kind that I had watched that features a synchronised score.
It is ranked number 82 in the 100 greatest American films and is considered a masterpiece.
The editing differed greatly from that of the Great Train Robbery; another silent film from 1903.

The transitions and film overlays were sophisticated and gave us a sense of time and place.
My favourite scene was the opening marsh sequence wherein the man goes to the woman, after she stands outside his house and whistles to him.
This would have been an early example of the rise of the femme fatale in cinema; adopting typically masculine roles of pursuit.

 
The scene begins with a tracking shot through the marsh, a set that was made on a sound stage especially for the film.
It set an ominous tone, dark and high contrast, increasing the dramaticism.
The shot follows him through the bushes and we switch to a pan to focus on the woman who awaits his arrival.
She is lit by the light of the moon, highlighting her figure against a dark background.
When they finally see each other, they take a pregnant pause and then embrace one another.
The power play is reversed in the marsh scene as they lay in embrace.
She sits above the man and assumes control of the situation, as was set earlier by the whistling at the front of his home.
She directs the scene and controls the conversation too – ‘tell me you are all mine!’ & ‘sell your farm and come and live with me.’

The way in which this movie was edited, uses music and mastered the mise en scene to convey feelings and play with the emotions of the audience was nothing short of masterful.

The one criticism I do have of that particular scene, as it progresses, would be the conversation that takes place and takes the audience by surprise.
‘couldn’t she get drowned?’

Could this be an example of a filmmaker who was focusing on the application of mise en scene and cinematography in an age of movies that were not accustomed to large amounts of text, so what text they did incorporate was used to get to the point?
I think because that statement was so jarring, it immediately told the audience that this woman was evil; coupled with the fact that she was dressed entirely in black in the cloak of darkness, whereas the wife wore lighter clothing.

The movie sparked an idea of working on a modern day short that uses similar techniques, maybe not using celluloid but at least gestures and double exposed effects like Murnau to create moods and set scenes.
Having only had limited experience with making clips, I’m very keen to see how my styles will adapt and grow through the process of this course.

Today’s workshop was centred around getting us to network within our class and become more comfortable with sharing personal work.
Brian mentioned in the lectorial on Wednesday that he doesn’t expect that people will ever really become comfortable with sharing work but that it’s good practice and I agree.

I still remember the first few times I presented in interior design to my classes.
It was frightening and I remember getting choked up, my face flushed red, I was in shambles and I forgot my name and what year it was.
More than once.
<— me

We sat in groups, playing the game of hats again, offering garlands of compliments to our classmates who had taken to blog writing like fish to water.
I felt the blog I shared was too formal but I persevered and went head first into the pit of compliments and helpful criticism.
We took a quick full format picture to mark the occasion of the second coming of the hats, pictured below.

My writing style is much more relaxed and playful and this feels a lot more natural to me but I’m so accustomed to writing formally (plus I’m getting older..) that I struggle with the transitions.

I thought the blogs were really informative and the general consensus was that we were all enjoying the content and the course as a whole.
We were waiting with bated breath to see one of the group members’ videos but it wasn’t exporting properly, so we decided we’d just have to wait until the film festival next week.

This week’s lectorial had us look at the fundamentals of becoming professionals in the Media Industry.
Brian referenced various articles and quotes from those who had turned their passions into careers, like an ex-media communications student who had turned their blogging rituals from this course into a profession; reviewing movies they had seen.

The importance of blogging was reiterated and it’s importance defined; blogging helps form a routine of reflection and helps us to learn how to explain our ideas.
As someone who writes on occasion, I’ve always found it difficult to do something creative when I’m being told to.

We were shown a video by Cal Newport, focusing on deep work, success, productivity and work-life balance.
Cal spoke intently of passion and how one comes upon it, stating that there is very little evidence stating that we begin with a passion in life and then follow suit.
He stated that evidence we do have actually supports the opposite.
An example was given, akin to my experiences of undertaking piano lessons – someone takes piano lessons and their teacher happens to be a pleasant person who makes learning enjoyable, even though it may be somewhat difficult.
The apprentice comes back for another lesson and continues to play and then slowly realises that they are a little bit better than someone else.
This increases their drive and pushes them to continue to practice.
More time passes and they continue to grow stronger at the art and the gap widens.
Their motivation and passion increases with the positive affirmation and soon they reach world class status.

The pupil did not begin with this level of motivation but instead acquired it as they steadily progressed.
For me, the opposite occurred; my teachers were unenthusiastic and bland.
I had talent but I wasn’t in an inspiring environment. I am therefore, not a concert pianist.

The talk perfectly articulated how I felt about passion and have discussed at length with many friends over the course of the years.
So many people I know struggle with the ideas of following their passions and dreams, wondering what they should be doing with their time and how do they know if they’re on the right track.

It seems fairly simple when it’s laid out in a video for us – find something you’re good at and work hard at honing those skills and opportunities may very well arise.

In studio week 3, we focused on editing.

We went on to watch clips from The Great Train Robbery from 1903, then The Assassination of Jesse James and we were asked what the differences between them were.
The stand-outs were obviously editing styles in the way a narrative was formed and captured.

The 1903 movie was shot straight on and captured the scene from start to finish without any cuts.
Cinematography was limited and characters weren’t identified as protagonists or heroins – they were ‘goodies’ and ‘badies’ shot from a length away.

The close up of Brad Pitt, teamed with the atmospheric smoke and lighting as he waited for the train lights to come to a halt amidst the forest was mesmerising.

The lighting was high in contrast and the track (pun intended) was smooth as it passed by him and focused on the headlights.

The readings ‘Blood in The Gutter’ played to the same tune as the lectorial.
We as editors make a decision to cut and edit parts of a whole together to create scenes and make an audience feel something, or not.

We are the puppet masters and if we pull the right strings and set up the right shots, we can give people a sense that something is coming, impending doom, or a happily ever after. Filmmakers realised the power of the mind long ago – then they realised the power they could have over the mind and therein lies one of the many parts of a whole successful movie – how creative is the film maker/director in making the audience feel something.

I’m backtracking here but the day after our workshop where we discussed the purpose of media, I went to work.
Not going to be the most riveting of posts in that it’s reflective of the constraints and issues that arise in the professional realm of media.

For the most part, I enjoy my job; creating content, photography and coordinating of this and secondary media for the university’s design faculty.
I am slowly getting students more involved in creative processes, working with them to create more content that gives them a voice within the university and always learning of new ways to effectively use social media to increase their engagement.

I am currently working with international clients for one of the professors at RMIT, which means that communicating is a little difficult.
You can have as many skype conversations, write all the emails you like but sometimes you’re just not going to see eye to eye.
Our aim as a university is to show the work of the students, lecturers and those involved – nourishing their minds with as many relevant articles associated with their projects but the client is much more interested in the monetary aspect of the eventual exhibition.

I suppose I should premise this by stating what the project involves – (I’m just running with the thoughts as they appear in my mind, instead of backtracking right now).
The project is for a Malaysian company wanting to develop a smart city in Johor, Malaysia.
They have teamed up with RMIT to create various studios based around the development, each to choose particular issues such as mobility, technology, knowledge or commerce, and work on those ideas and come up with solutions.
I take the photos, find articles, post them online, likes likes likes, share share share – you get the gist.

Our ideology is one that supports students. We want to publish works that are engaging and educational, as well as photos of students working, their work and their lecturers in the act of lecturing – that is to say, this is what we communicate with our media.
The clients, on the other hand, do not share our ideology.
Currently in the process of navigating these waters but there’s one thing that we both agree upon – media is a powerful tool.

‘With great power comes great responsibility’ – Uncle Ben.

Our group took to Bourke street mall where we were assigned the task of roaming high, low and mid ground to find pieces of media.

We were initially unsure as how to approach this but eventually split up and took video snippets, audio recordings and snapshots of media we saw from various vantage points in that location.

From where I was standing, I was surrounded and inundated with media; branding and signage bombarded my periphery.
I had so many options, it’s a wonder we all settle and make a choice.

Looking up into the sky, wiring lined the sky and created grids, framing vertical advertising that ordains the classic architectures façade.
Advertising from shops that once lined the streets of Bourke are visible if you look for them. Faded by the years and weathering, they offer the eye a place to rest for a moment before my attention is grabbed by brighter colours offering me sales, bargains and discounts.

I look in my hand and I’m holding my phone, I see messages from friends, sending me links to pages and articles.
The music track changes in my headphones to a track that doesn’t fit the soundtrack to the hustle and bustle of the crowd, so I change it without a thought, then catch myself in the subconscious act. I take the headphones out and close my eyes; buskers are playing folk songs every 15 meters along the tram line, guiding trams that have advertisements for the kinky boots musical.

In My Hand

Background

Foreground (lanyard)

On the Ground

Foreground – Nagini (Group Member)

On The Ground

I open my eyes and decide to look to the ground, in hope of giving my eyes a place to rest but sure enough, there’s a coke can within eye-shot.
As I walk further up the bluestone path outside Myer, I catch a glimpse of an Adidas sticker that has adhered itself to the pavement as listed above.

I found myself at the end of Bourke on the corner of Elizabeth and a busker played a beautifully melancholy tune that reminded me of a song that reminded me of Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go on’ from Titanic.
I stood for a little while and listened to him play, then walked back up and down the street, gathering audio of the walk and the passers by, their conversations about things they had bought and things they had seen.
All audio and video footage can be found here.

In this week’s workshop, Brian asked us ‘how do we study collaboration?’ – by doing it.
He had us get into groups and write on butchers paper answering, ‘Media is..?’
Our group described media as being an interconnected map of communication, collaboration, education, various platforms of networks and also a means of manipulating mindsets, generating propaganda and a conduit by which to sell ideas and products.

Upon being asked to brainstorm and discuss what media is a few times over the first couple weeks, I’ve found myself focusing on all of the obvious and positive aspects of media and leaving out it’s draw backs.
One of the main reasons for undertaking this course is to learn the fundamentals and to then apply those foundations to creating positive means of expression, maybe even sell products – who knows.
I’d like to broaden my scope and understanding of the media industry and it’s current and future applications.

For example, I’m interested in how digital media trends such as video are transforming the way we communicate and process information.
The speeds at which we translate information and the amount of attention we will give to certain things.
Video content has been on the rise since Twitter’s periscope, with Facebook and now Instagram offering live content.

I was looking over some articles in reference to how we communicate and some trends for social media in 2017 on FORBES.
It was mentioned in class that people prefer collaborative approaches to their networking and learning of information and a direct quote from the article was, ‘Millennials want the personal touch, transparency and collaboration that the one-on-one communication allows..

For my self portrait, I wanted to represent a sense of place and how I see myself in it, as well as those who make me, me.
I see myself as an observer and so my media recordings, both audio and video, represent sounds of the places I frequent, environments I inhabit and people I meet.
My sense of awareness increased once photography became a prominent factor in my life and sounds/music/ambience/light are always on my radar.
I notice little sounds, gestures, movements, and smells; each contributing new layers to an environment and our experience within it.

I chose to represent myself as a shadow in my first image because of my appreciation and fixation with light and darkness.
How it shapes and contours, softens, obstructs and brightens form and because I prefer not to highlight myself.
I initially began photography through self-portraiture because I didn’t feel confident in photographing others and slowly the focus shifted from me, so I found this a challenge.
I took this image next to a lamp post and stood by it and noticed how similar the figures were, aesthetically and symbolically; as two people walked by me, hand in hand, licking their ice creams, they didn’t even notice me standing there – just as we don’t notice a light pole.

Work is a big part of my life, so I included an image of the Design Hub. I love the design from the outside, working on the inside tends to stifle creativity because of the stark interior and institutionalised aesthetic.

I like to go on road trips with friends and last weekend I assisted a friend with a photo project of hers, I held a reflector and bummed about Trentham Falls.
Nelle, the model, who I have photographed before, had an unfortunate fall down the cliff and cut her leg open. I carried her bags as a couple others helped her climb to the top of the hill.


I like watching old movies, French and Italian especially.
Their intimacy is really beautiful and unapolagetic – different to the environment in which I have grown up.
I find comfort in it.
– still from La Chinoise.

And this last image is a red door I like in Fitzroy – an area I frequent every day on my way home.