Author: Ellie Jamonts

Week Two: aftermath

What went well? How can I build on it?

  • Good ideas! I’m really happy with my visual representation  — in theory, anyway. They were varied; I didn’t feel like I was repeating myself. I gave myself a lot of time to think about it which I plan to continue — it’s important to respect the abstract stage as much as the planning or making.
  • I’m proud of the patience I demonstrated with the found images. That stuff takes forever and usually I avoid it. I’m glad I dived into something I knew was going to be a bit of a drag and, though it’s far from polished, it’s probably my favourite section of the three. The lesson? Stop avoiding things you think are going to be boring.

What went poorly? How can I do it differently next time?

  • Ellie: you’re not a filmmaker. At least you’ve made peace with it. But there’s no harm in getting a little sharper. You must be better than first year, at least in audio editing, because there were plenty of things that you recognised were worth fixing (even if you didn’t go through with it and do them). It wouldn’t kill you to work more on your filmmaking and editing skills because frankly, this video is beyond amateurish. It would be an insult to amateurs to call it that. Your execution is… not great.
  • Tweaking irrelevant details. That time could’ve been better spent editing out all the peaks in your audio, for instance (turns out I have a heavy “P” sound). I know this assignment was meant to be lo-fi, but my time management would’ve been better if I’d assessed my priorities at the very beginning.
  • I’m torn on the lo-fi issue. Where does it end and sloppiness begin? Is there an issue of personal pride to take in? On the other hand, I feel like I accurately (if not elegantly) represented my ideas. Self-doubt is an issue no matter what. These are questions you should be asking earlier on, not when you’re slapping together dough in your kitchen a day before the thing’s due.
  • Try not leaving your upload until the last minute!!!! Damn!!! This is your third year!!! Come on!!!!

 

Week Two: attribution for found images

 

 

 

Week Two: the weird weird world of Archive.org

Is this as dark as I think it is? Has Jewellery TV accurately captured the bleakness and cynicism of modern life?

There’s nothing I love more than going down an internet rabbit hole — whether it’s Archive.org, Wikipedia or the horrible alt-right forums of Reddit. Truly, we live in a terrifying world

Week One: Reflecting

What’s going well?

  • Since Tuesday? Frankly not a lot to comment on
  • I was looking forward to coming to class today (a good sign)
  • Read through a few blog posts; it’s interesting to see what everybody’s thinking

What should I do differently?

  • Leaving my reading until the morning doesn’t give me enough time if something goes wrong… like this morning, when I couldn’t get the readings platform to work
  • Check for typos! iPads are not great at autocorrect, although they’re better for your back than a kg laptop
  • Actually on that note my back is feeling a lot better. That’s a pro ✔️

Week One: on week one

What have I learnt so far? Alright okay. I don’t know if it counts as learning but I’m apprehensive in a good way. I’m not a filmmaker and have never pretended to be so I’m curious (hmm) about how I’ll be able to use my skillset with this form of assessment, but I’ll make it work. Can’t be worse than that time I passed Media 1 with 51%; so, progress.

I’m feeling a little argumentative, which is better than feeling placid because it means (I hope) that I’m listening critically to what Adrian’s telling us. It’s all certainly very inote resting, and it’s making me curious to learn more, which is pinging that participation goal of mine.

Self-care is also a big focus for me this year, since I spent the back half of 2016 learning about my brain and what it needs. I’m excited to put it into practice. Though it sounds a bit strange, taking proper care of myself (from the boring stuff like sleeping to the more complicated, like knowing when to let things go and not take personally) will help me make myself more uncomfortable — which is where I create best. I need pressure to make anything at all but I don’t want to freak out and burn out. See: what happened in Media 1.

I’m hopeful. I like reflecting — to a fault — so I’ll be glad to work on it in a challenging context. There’s active reflection and cop-out reflection, after all. I’m good at bullshitting but I don’t want to lean on it when I could actually be using my brain.

How long is this writing period going  to be? I’m really hungry and have a bit of a sore throat, I hope it won’t turn into a cold.

What I really hope is that the 22 years I’ve suffered my dad’s pop psychology will lead to me actually knowing how to ask questions. I  can ask a decent one already. I mean, I know how to think about these things… whether I can effectively put them into practice instead of getting grumpy and resentful is a different story. I’m not as clever as I think I am, or I’m clever differently. I don’t know but I need to figure that out and this studio seems like a decent place to do it.

God I sound really insufferable, reading back on this. But I won’t edit it, that would be inauthentic.

Reflecting on PB #4

Transmedia is a marathon. If the lengths of the readings early on didn’t clue me in (I’m kidding… mostly), PB #4 has certainly cemented it as a fact. Overall, I’ve taken more out of Story Lab than any of my other studios thus far. I think that’s a credit to the amount of scope we were afforded; we were given the foundation to have a strong grasp of the concepts of transmedia storytelling, then given the range to create something that pushed that knowledge in a practical sense. I’ve had fun. I’ve bitten my nails to the quick and I kicked a bus shelter pretty hard in frustration one time, but I’ve had fun. It’s given me an opportunity bring and build on my previous media skills, from One and Two, as well as my own personal interests, talents and research. PB #4, and Story Lab in general, has been extremely rewarding and I feel very confident heading into the second half on my degree.

In week seven, I reflected on what I anticipated and planned for Pocket Museum. I’ve boiled down those thoughts…

  1. Divided accountability (to ensure each area is taken care of & no one person is unfairly swamped) – the audio, film, website and app
  2. Pocket Museum as “a transmedia exploration of the life of John Mitchell Christie through an app, website, audio and visuals” – key phrases: immerse, explore, engage, contrast, cherry-pick, convenience
  3. A new experience: to educate and to entertain; engaging in a way that an exhibition or walking tour is not

So, how’d they go in the real world?

  1. Our system worked well; no area was neglected and, by keeping to our strengths, we worked to create something of a quality I’m proud of. Amy and Brontaë (working on the website and app, respectively) and Jen and me (the webisodes and audio) naturally drifted into pairs; I helped Jen with the filming, as expected, and Amy and Brontaë collaborated. I regret that I wasn’t more involved with their side of things – I think it’s a learning opportunity missed; also, since I didn’t know how much or specifically what they were shouldering, I wasn’t able to offer as much help as I potentially could have. I consider my duties to have been relatively light – the recording went smoothly and the editing was relatively straightforward, as were the other tasks I completed. I don’t feel that I’ve let my group down whatsoever, but I think I could have spent more time making myself useful to the others. On the other hand, we had no formal system in place for making sure that the workload was equal – generally speaking, we had a “I’ll do it, I’ll give you a yell if I need you” mentality. In future, it might be a good idea to have formal weekly or fortnightly audits to ensure that nobody does more or less than the others. I genuinely can’t say if I did disproportionately less work because I don’t have a full idea of how the others did.
  2. We ticked those four boxes! We have an app, website, visuals and audio, and each contribute a different thing to the whole or can be enjoyed on their own. We were careful to avoid too much overlap – we did have to make do thanks to limited funds and time, but what we’ve done shows a thorough understanding of the principles of transmedia storytelling. Users can immerse themselves in the artefacts by engaging with an app and website that are easy and logical to navigate. Through this, they can explore Christie’s world at their convenience, at home or on the go. The contrast between perspectives allows the user to examine Christie’s stories from multiple viewpoints and jumping-off points; they can enjoy all or cherry-pick. 
  3. I can only speak for myself, but I’ve found the content we’ve produced both educational and entertaining – and I’m neck deep and should, be rights, hate it. I believe we’ve found ways to present history – arguably dry, from time to time – in an engaging way. Although we didn’t have the resources to create a little sprite, as was suggested at our pitch, I think framing the audio from Emilie’s point of view adds a smilier levity. We’ve been careful to make this a very human look at Christie’s life, which pushes us beyond a exhibition or walking tour – of course, many of these are taking a transmedia route as well. But it’s always been at the forefront of our thinking to create an experience for people who may not be history buffs – the kind of people who might not be the target audience for a traditional educational experience. I believe keeping this requirement in mind, above all else, is what’s helped us achieve our goal.

Progress report #2

We’ve come out the other side of the worst of it. Jen and I (mostly Jen, let’s face it) filmed last week. Thanks to the miracle of Savers and an incredible historical home in Jen’s family (it truly felt like passing through a time warp at the front door, in the best possible way) we created a really beautiful historical piece – and managed to hide a modern powerpoint behind a box, so well done all round. Jen’s editing that and I have no doubt that it’s going to come out as a thing of beauty. It better, since I had to fiddle around with the cartilage piercings our actor had in his upper ear and it was pretty supremely gross.

As for me, I recorded my audio the day before and had mixed results. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll all come out well; I’m nearly through with editing and it’s made a big difference – but editing’s easy when your voice actor’s biggest problem is the huge pauses they take between sentences. The voice actor who filled the role of Emilie Christie was a pro and brought the warmth and joie de vivre I hoped she would. Also, it really interested me that most of the actors who were so so keen and enthusiastic and interested in our project never bothered to reply to the messages I left them. I know it’s not a paid job so it probably wasn’t a high priority to them, but I guess I’m just old-fashioned. I was leaving voicemails, after all.

The only major task I really have left is figuring out how to frame my audio. Something definitely needs to go underneath it, if only to combat the echo. I’m tossing up between a simple, classical piece of music and situational background audio – horse hooves clopping, city bustle, gunshots, “hey you!”s, etc. But… that might come off a little “Orson Welles presents… the War of the Worlds”. Both of these things are available at archive.org so legality isn’t a deciding factor. I suppose I’ll throw it all at the wall and see what sticks.