Category Archives: Integrated Media 1

Participation during IM1

What did you do well? 

  • This semester I did very well at learning how to condense what I learnt, read, and written, and consolidate them with my thoughts in order to produce concise but detailed blog posts.
  • I explored may new forms of interactive media, and reviewed them using various insights I had learnt through the course material, as well as strengthening my critical analysis/evaluation skills (using De Bono’s method).
  • I grappled with concepts until I really felt that I understood them (at least to the capacity I can understand them at the current time in my life/academic career).
  • I have participated fully in the group project, and tried to play to my strengths and support my team members.
What have you learnt to do better?
  • I have learnt to embrace the possibilities of different forms of media, change how I think about conceptions of film/audiences/authorial intent/making/linearity/narrative/sketching.
  • I have learnt to think about poetics, and focusing on what a work can do rather than what we want it to do.
  • I have learnt how to understand database documentary much more than I originally did.
  • I have learnt how to let go of ‘old media’ traditions which don’t necessarily apply to the current entangled media sphere we operate in.
  • I have learnt how to use the content management system of a blog much more effectively.
  • I have learnt how to communicate some of the lessons from the course material in a relatable way, as evidenced by the conversations I held with friends and family and documented throughout the twelve weeks.
What could you have learnt to do better? 
  • Time management was not my strong point this semester, and I frequently drafted many blog posts, but never went back to edit/publish them. Although eventually, I did get all of my blogs published, I could have been more responsible to my deadlines.
  • I also could have engaged with the reading materials more comprehensively, however I believe that I still gained valuable insights from them, and became more lateral-thinking and ideas-driven in doing so.
  • Whilst I did complete most of the troubleshooting posts I endeavoured to do, I didn’t use as many of the resources I said I would have (such as YouTube and Lynda.com tutorials).

You can find my participation criteria and contract here.

Week 12: Summary

And here it is: the long-awaited summary of Integrated Media 1.

Some of the take-away lessons I’ve learned over the past 12 weeks are:

  • To embrace the infinite possibilities of lists.
  • To question the Hollywood model of film and what you can achieve through the medium.
  • To understand that our current media environment is fragmentary.
  • To think about how to make things differently using poetics and meaning.
  • To think about the concept of linearity and where it sits in our life.
  • To understand that we are in a post-industrial state of media making, where all of the rules about practice and value are different.
  • To consider what an artefact can do instead of thinking about what we want it to do or what we think it ought to do.
  • To realise that it’s not about the instrument, it’s about what you can do with it.
  • To surrender any idea that you can control an audience or how they interpret a work, but instead understand that they have agency and you can empower them through interactivity.
  • To reassess how I conceive the process of making/sketching/emergence.
  • That I will strengthen my media-practice if I continue to develop as an ideas-driven practitioner.

(Image via flickr)

 

Week 11: Meeting notes

In this week’s meeting, we began file consolidation by renaming all of our files for consistency and moving them to Imogen’s hard drive. We looked at the .gifs Ren had made, but then decided to instead go with a shorter, smaller clip that had the colour drained out of it and would move as a .mov file when rolled over in Korsakow. We decided our constraints for this would be three seconds of video (with the audio wiped), and we will experiment with colour drain to get the effect we want.

We had a further discussion about the compression of each file and the size we were trying to get to. One of the benefits of how we’ve structured our shooting schedule is that we are doing our recording and post-production at the same time, which is helping us stay on top of our tasks.

When another group was presenting their second prototype, Seth mentioned something about fine tuning your fragments so well that you can then go on to mass-produce them. I think this is what we have effectively done so far – even though it has been a learning curve along the way.

Continue Reading…

Week 11: Reflections

This week seemed to give us an arsenal of knowledge for how we can think about things as filmmakers. Below are my observations.

Interface design is incredibly important in Korsakow. Think of it as mis-en-scene. You are composing a visual space, which you will use to direct people. Don’t underestimate your audiences by showing them everything. You’re creating a world which you want to invite someone into, so that they can explore on your behalf. Don’t signpost everything, because there is poetry in absence and presence. It’s about seduction and reward: that’s what exploration is.

When thinking about how you curate your k-film, you have to think about what you include and exclude (because we all know about the politics behind these actions, right?). You have to think about video, sound, and if there will be layers in the piece? You also have to consider which software/medium is right for your message, such as whether you will used a participatory form of creation or a closed database system like Korsakow. Decide what kind of linearity it will follow. Start sketching. Think about the indexing, key wording, themes, patterns and taxonomy you are creating as you go along. Think, using granularity, about your fragments as individual units – what do they look like? How long are they? Consider remix, and how they are going to be put together, combined or recombined.

As a filmmaker, let plurality and multiplicity happen. There will never just be one relation, and you won’t ever get to decide what the relation/s is/are. Listen to the content and the meanings behind it. Don’t subscribe to the colonising idea that we treat our media according to what we want it to do, instead of thinking about what it can do. Don’t invest so much in the notion of conclusion – this is not a trait that bestows quality on your work. Make a film that lets the viewer have an experience that they want and like. It’s all up to you as a filmmaker.

(Image via flickr) 

Week 10: The City Through a Window Pane

I’m going to be reviewing the student k-film ‘The City Through a Window Pane‘ (2012) using De Bono’s hats.

RED – A very visually interesting piece. There is a lot of variety and it makes me think about all the reasons why I love Melbourne. It’s the kind of activity I do mindlessly but never acknowledge (that being looking at the city through a window pane contemplatively). The entire piece is tied together by the theme of observation.

BLACK – The background image of a street map with landmarks and cartoon images is a bit too ‘busy’ for me, and it almost looks amateurish. Some of the clips are too slow to load and I lost interest quickly. Also, some of the clips had too much to look at and I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t find a pattern between which cartoons Korsakow suggests to click through to next. Some are about food or art, whereas others are about culture, or iconic Melbourne landmarks.

YELLOW – I like that the interface has a window pane built into it, however, I’m not sure I like the design of it. I like the continutiy of the text below the fragments, always starting with “I see…”. I like the creativity behind some of the clips, such as the tram clip which shows the same view from night and daytime to illustrate convenience.

GREEN – In a similar way that it uses the start SNU as an introduction to ‘set the story’, I wonder if there was any way that they could have anchored some more ‘narrative’ sections amidst all of the footage to help the viewer learn a little more about the person who is doing all of this ‘looking’ through the window pane. This could make it more personal. The music which is created to suit each clip/mood tries to do this a little too obviously/forcefully for me to enjoy. It hits the viewer over the head instead of being suggestive, which in turn puts constraints on interpretation.

Week 10: Meeting notes

During class, Imogen showed us the Gantt chart she had prepared using the software SmartSheet. We all agreed on the timelines, even though we set them quite early to allow for mistakes and competing pressures from other projects. We continued discussing project management and how we were going to share the tasks we have left to complete for the project.

We assembled our skills matrix after discussing each team member’s strengths, weaknesses and what they have to offer. We believe that we have delegated the tasks in a balanced and efficient manner in order to produce the best outcome.

We have decided that we are going to try and embrace the spontaneity of our project. The entire point behind it is to explore the diversity and intricacies of life, so we have to try not to stage, create or stunt moments from happening.We want to try and capture as many characteristics from each person including all of their nuances and flaws.

The three of us have began thinking about keyword ideas we might use, despite only having a limited number of clips. Our ideas so far are:

  • family
  • love
  • trust

We are going to try and have the shots done by next week so that we can focus on the editing, essay writing and keywords (which are contingent on the footage we record).

The rest of the lab was dedicated to listening to presentations from other groups, as well as getting some preliminary feedback from Seth and our peers after our first prototype presentation (for a bonus 5%). Seth had concerns about whether the content was complex enough, and asked if we needed to refine the question yet again. He reminded us that we need to get something ‘interesting’ out of each interview, so we might have to ask our subjects to elaborate and give personal anecdotes behind their life lessons. He also got us to consider whether we were ‘close’ enough to the subject in our filming. He suggested that we could use more extreme close-ups to make it more intimate. We did question whether he was asking us to treat each fragment too individually, as opposed to concerning ourselves with what the cumulative effect of the work will be.

We had a really interesting experience separating the video footage from the audio for the first time and listening without the visuals. It was a very different experience with the artefact, which I think helped us further open our eyes to what we are trying to achieve with the work – insights into people using only their voice and feet.

We then went outside to shoot footage for about two hours. Ren was our wonderful cameraman and got some amazing footage. I found it very intimidating approaching strangers and asking to film their feet, however we quickly learned the best way to approach and phrase our invitation. We also discovered that approaching groups of people made them feel more comfortable as they could bounce off their friends and didn’t feel so under pressure. We decided to focus the question a little more towards the notion of what advice you would give someone as a life lesson. We found that probing the question got more interesting, personal answers. We’re really looking forward to seeing how this project comes together.

(Image via flickr)

Week 10: Reflections

The first question of this week’s symposium was “how can we emphasise moments of contemplation through making our Korsakow films?” Adrian said we should encourage the viewer to discover the poetics of our K-films. Their relationship with the content will change as they navigate through the film, so create relations that aren’t literal. Remember that the design of your interface can reflect your intentions of contemplation too. He made the point that repetition is a tool that is often used to inspire contemplation (such as meditation and religious practices). Think about how you build something with your camera and your software, and open up a conversation with these.

Adrian spoke briefly about the idea of ‘gaps’ which need to be filled in by the audience. He said that the more gaps a work has, the more it regards itself as poetically higher. The less gaps, the more popularist it is. I personally have troubles with this – what about people who go against the grain and love both? For example, I have a borderline unhealthy love of binge-watching British and American television dramas – but it’s healthily balanced with academic engagement, exploration and experiment. What’s to say that something popularist can’t be sophisticated? Or vise versa?

In a discussion about Korsakow keywords, it was agreed upon that due to the fine line between showing and telling, and the respect that this deserves, it is better to make your keywords mood or meaning based, as opposed to visual based (which merely skims the surface of what relations and power a work can have). A title or a short statement at the beginning of your film can be a useful tool for giving a frame to contextualise and understand the work within.

Finally, we had a look at the Kuleshov effect, which is fundamental to our understanding of cinema. The juxtaposition demonstrates that meaning is not internet to the shot – it’s established by the relations between the shots. Therefore, meaning lives outside the shots.

(Image via flickr)