1. Making- Objects

2. Independent

3. Critical + Creatively

4. Blog

This has been a really awesome first semester at uni. I feel like it’s been a perfect mix of introductory based projects and tasks that also challenge us. I’ve made some amazing friends that all have very similar interests to me and I’m so surprised at how quickly it all happened! When i first began this course, I really don’t know what to expect, I’d heard nothing but good things about it and every graduate of the course that I’d spoken to had said how valuable and practical it is. So far, it seems that they’d been right. I actually look forward to going into uni everyday and attending my classes.

My favourite class this semester has been my cinema studies class. Discussing films is something I really enjoy and now I have a class where I can do just that. I’ve managed to sustain consistently high marks in this class which has been a refreshing reminder of my capabilities. I’ve really liked how relaxed our media tutorials have been. we’ve learned about sound, editing transitions, how to operate camcorders and sound recorders and many other things, but it’s all been very well-paced and not too intensive. I still have a long way to go in terms of learning how to properly use technical equipment and even programs like Final Cut And Premier Pro but I feel that I’ll get there with time.

As you can tell, I hardly have anything bad to say, I’ve really enjoyed uni so far. I guess if I had to choose one thing for me that has been a bit dry this semester, it would probably be the lectorials. I’ve felt that they haven’t always related back to what we were doing in the tutorials and that the content is quite often really bland. But really that’s the only thing that I can think of to complain about. I’m not too sure what to expect from the studios next semester but they sound like they’ll be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to creating more films and getting really savvy with cameras.

I’ve definitely enjoyed the solo based projects more than the group tasks. Not that I don’t like working with other people, it’s just that with solo projects, it’s all up to me and there’s no one who can be blamed for slacking off or for doing all the work. It’s also easier to keep on top of things as there is no one external to chase up about the project. However, working in a group has provided good practise for organisation skills and time management.

I’ve quite liked keeping a blog this semester, but I don’t think I’m quite in the habit of posting every day. It’s nice to have a record of media based things that I’ve done and so I think next semester I’d like to make more of an effort to post at least one thing a day regardless of how small or big it is.

Below are my five best blog posts from this semester:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/elle-sablotny/2015/03/18/front-row-swim-season-chase-city-ursine/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/elle-sablotny/2015/04/25/cinema-log-w6/ 

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/elle-sablotny/2015/06/04/cinema-oral-presentation/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/elle-sablotny/2015/04/28/media-lectorial-w8-narrative/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/elle-sablotny/2015/03/13/today/

Assessment Declaration

This is the scene that for me, establishes the girl as the vampire and officially introduces the film’s influences as strongly stemming from pop culture and music video. Throughout the duration of this scene, the girl doesn’t say a word but we are let into her world and are able to discover more about her than some of the previous characters that have been introduced with dialogue. After leaving the grocery store, she heads to what we assume is her home slash bedroom. Her room is entirely personalised with music posters, bits and bobs, cds and records, unique furniture pieces and even a disco ball. As she enters her bedroom, the song ‘Dancing Girls’ by Farah begins to play and the girl begins to dance. It needs no explanation and creates a visual that is both immersive and picturesque. In most films, a song or score will be included to enhance what is already occurring in the scene, however in this moment, it is about the song and how this makes the girl feel. Instead of just a snippet of music, the whole track is played out like it would in a music video. And as the viewer, we are able to immerse ourselves in the music with the girl.

Regardless of her immortal nature, which we later find out about when we realise she is a vampire, the girl’s dancing actually gives her a touch of humanity. This is one of the main reasons that I didn’t actually realise that she was the vampire at first. This sense of humanity becomes a theme within the film as she begins to fall in love with the human boy, Arash, ignoring her primal instincts that tell her he is food

The costuming of the girl makes her oddly relatable in an underground hipster, music-scene kind of way. Her short hair, stripy tee, and dark eye-liner speak of a very particular look that is replicated in pop-culture today and is actually, quite similar to Ana Lily own look herself. If you were to find someone on the street that looked like this, and ask them of their music taste, I’m sure they would respond with a myriad of 80’s bands as well as a bunch of unknown indie groups. In doing this, Amirpour has perfectly teamed the film’s soundtrack with the costuming of the girl. They are both modern and hip, with an atmosphere of retromania.

The set of her bedroom tells us a lot about Ana Lily’s interest in popular music and how she has incorporated this into the world of Bad City using props. If you look closely, the posters on the girl’s wall are actually recreations of things such as iconic Madonna portraits, Lionel Richie cover art and even a mock-up of the famous Bee-Gee’s album cover can be spotted. The fact that Amirpour has not used the actual portraits of these iconic artists enhances the idea that Bad City is a sliver of the world we know, almost a parallel universe in a sense. There is much about Bad City that we recognise from our own world yet, some aspects are altered or enhanced. As well as this, it becomes clear that one of the girl’s main interests, is music.

Like the intention behind a music clip, the focus of this scene is very much more about conveying a feeling or atmosphere than about the need for dialogue to translate an idea. When the girl enters the house of the pimp, he puts on techno music in an act to seduce her, which completely contrasts the soundtrack of her own bedroom space. The music signifies a change of location and that this is now his domain that she has entered. The music is robotic and slightly unnerving, much like the pimp himself. At first I was slightly confused as to why she chose to kill him in particular. But then remembered how she watched him mistreat the hooker outside Arash’s car as he shoved her to the ground. It then becomes apparent that the girl is taking out revenge on the pimp and that she has found a sense of duty in being a vampire. With this, a theme of feminism seems to be apparent within the film. Throughout the movie, the girl only kills men who behave in a misogynistic manner. And it is this scene that officially introduces this motif. Feminism is quite often seen as an unconventional point of view. This tells us a lot about the set up of the film and how it is made to support the notion of feminism, as hardly anything within the town of Bad City is conventional. Within the neigbourhood, there is emphasis on death and addiction, yet there appears to be no official authorities. Instead of burials, bodies are simply dumped into a canyon and left to rot and there is nothing in the film to suggest that this is abnormal, it is just the way of life in Bad City. The girl herself is a vampire who completely defies the traditional look of fictitious vampire figures and instead could pass for a plain teenage girl just going about her business.

 

 

Omg, I’m legitimately so stressed right now. I have a gazillion assignments due all at once and I don’t even know which one to complete first. I’ve adopted the habit of eating copious amounts of muesli when I’m stressed and i don’t know why, not really sure it helps, it’s really just another way for me to procrastinate but gah, I’ll be so happy when I’ve submitted everything! But at the same time I really hope I get good marks, I feel like I’m stressing so much that nothing I’m producing is actually up to standard so I’m also worried about that. But I’ll stay positive and hope for the best, I mean after this week, I’ll be all good!

Today we finally finished our artefact. I’m so happy that we got it done in time and hopefully it covers what we need it to cover. Working with Haylee and Andrew has been a great experience and I feel that today we were super productive. Today saw us filming more footage and conducting the voice overs for our short doco. The doco is now done and we just have a few more practical documents to upload to the google drive.