As Media students, we are constantly publishing and creating content. Especially in the BComm (Media) Course, we are graded on authoring blog posts as part of our degrees.

Ethics are an important element of media to always be mindful of when you are a creator. All content comes from somewhere, or someone, and it is always necessary to give credit where credit is due. We reference articles in our essays in order to minimise plagiarism and ensure that our work is authentic and original. So why should it be any different for our music, photos and sound effects when we produce media?

Copyright laws are in place to regulate the amounts of unoriginal content distributed for both commercial and non-commercial use, however it comes down to the ethical values of media and all fields within this industry. There must be a level of respect amongst all creators, for all creators.

The MEAA is a journalist code of ethics that applies to all content creators within the field which briefly commits members to engage in Honesty, Fairness, Independence and Respect for the rights of others which is followed by a lost of standards that outline the protocol that journalists (and all media practitioners) should strive to adhere to.

This semester I undertook the studio Capturing Creativity, headed by Louise Turley. Capturing Creativity encompassed the ideals of the contemporary art world as well as the codes and conventions of filmmaking, and became the intersection where art and media met in holy matrimony.

My goal going into this semester was to “embrace excellence”, to do or create something that I was truly proud of. For me, sometimes just getting out of bed and coming to uni felt like a huge achievement, but retrospectively, all the friends that I made, all the project briefs that I submitted, all the experiences that I now have as a reference point for my career are all priceless accomplishments that I never would have acquired without undertaking this subject and rising to the challenges that it presented me with.

The first lesson that Capturing Creativity taught me was to embrace my individuality, expressiveness and artistry. With a history in art and a future in media, it was essential for me to allow my artistic perception to dominate in order for me to take full advantage of this studio. This became most prevalent when it came to making creative decisions for the outcome of my visual portrait, whether that meant positioning the camera a certain way, or manipulating the background to convey a certain message about my artist. The lessons I had learned when practicing art suddenly seemed to carry a lot more weight and I found myself thinking more innovatively.

Secondly, I was taught in this class about conducting myself in a way that is professional and competent, which is a skill that I will carry throughout my career. In this course we learned how to behave on set as well as online, in a way that not only represents ourselves, but our uni. I learned about building my reputation and rapport within a community as well as how to professionally complete even the simplest tasks such as sending an email. Moreover, we were taught about the significance of on-set behaviour and the safety precautions that must be taken in order to have a safe and successful shoot. Louise also showed us how to operate Sony X200 cameras and how to appropriately dismantle a tripod to ensure that everything went smoothly when it came to actually shooting.

Lastly, Capturing Creativity pushed me to not only do more, but to be more than I had ever had to be. With little to no background in filmmaking, editing and Adobe software, I was thrown into the deep end when faced with the prospect of documenting the life of someone I barely knew. I was tasked with introducing myself, building a relationship with my artist, engaging in a manner that was friendly and professional, organising shoots, selecting appropriate locations, working around schedules, managing setbacks, booking equipment and editing footage into a fluent and succinct video portrait.

My final project, the video portrait of artist Stephanie Leigh is likely to be one of my proudest achievements to date. I knew from the beginning that Steph was someone whom I would not only get along with, but that I would be able to document in a way that was both informative and engaging. I told Steph at the beginning of the semester that I wanted the portrait to be a reflection of who she is in the present moment, comprising of a relaxed, comfortable and conversational interview in conjunction with beautifully composed visuals of not only Steph, but her environment and her work. I feel that I achieved this in the end. There were a lot of creative decisions that I had to make and a lot of selection and omission in terms of what needed to be included and what Steph and myself wanted to be included, and I feel as though I was able to find a happy medium between those three influences. I feel as though my film accurately represents Steph not only as a artist, but as a feminist, philanthropist, woman and human being.

Retrospectively, this semester was unbelievably challenging. There were as many peaks as there were pits, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The experiences that I now have came at a hefty cost, but it was well worth it when I consider how invaluable they actually are. Capturing Creativity enables me to reconnect with my creative side and taught me the value of those artistic qualities in the field of work that I hope to eventually enter into. Moreover, I am significantly more open minded than I once was about contemporary art and the people who dominate that world of work, and I feel a much more profound respect for those who make a living from their artwork. This studio has imparted me with the creative confidence to do more, be more and create more, and that in itself is something that I will truly cherish.

Last week in Capturing Creativity we looked at artists: how to become one, about Artist Run Initiatives (or ARIs), commercial galleries and the way artists make a living in the world. We visited Dianne Tanzer’s commercial gallery and her “THIS IS NO FANTASY” exhibition, as well as Gertrude Street Contemporary, and were tasked with creating a presentation on an artist from one of these exhibitions or similar.

Looking at artists as individuals, it becomes clear why they are inspired and driven to create the type of art that they do with their preferred mediums.

I chose Chris Bond as my artist to present, after feeling particularly drawn to his work in the Dianne Tanzer gallery. Chris was a student here at RMIT and earned his Honours in Fine Arts (Painting).

He is best known for his work with oils on linen and his meticulous recreations of books, magazines, art catalogues and horror novels that are hyper-realistic to the extent that you mistake them for literature. From a young age he was interested in art and “as a teenager [he] copied things obsessively with pencil – not for public display, but purely for [his] own pleasure”. Chris’s work intrigued me because as an artist myself, I understand how incredibly difficult it is to represent real life objects with a paintbrush.

“I’ve been making small paintings of fictional exhibition catalogues for shows that I’ve never had, at a range of fictional art spaces, with accompanying fictional funding agency logos, set in the past, present and future.

It’s a way of implanting myself in my work as a kind of artist of my own imagining, then using this as a basis for critique – for the shortcomings of my own practice, and as a satire of professional artistic ambition.”

                                                            – Chris Bond

I can already feel that my awareness of the contemporary art world is expanding, and with that my desire to learn more is growing too.