Week 5 | Finding Time for It All
Judy Wajcman, 2015, ‘Finding Time in a Digital Age’ in Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, ch.7.

This reading raised an important and concerning issue about time management in the increasingly interconnected world. These are not only related to the current time, but looking ahead it can only get more complex and convoluted.

Because of when I was born (1993), my attitude towards these new technologies is a bit two-sided. In one sense I’m excited for all of the possible innovation, and the technical side of my brain is working overtime thinking about the possibilities. But the other part of me is worried about the dependence that will develop from this, and the decline of simple skills such as face-to-face communication, which will be overshadowed by use of technology.

We will considerably have more on a monitored and quantifiable lifestyle, with all of our data being able to be utilised to generate tailored media suited to every person. I believe the ‘pressures of time’ mentioned in the readings will create a slew of psychological issues, presented as more extreme versions of cases that have happened recently. This is referring to cases of severe anxiety or stress that occurs from constant internet and/or social media use. This overexposure will proceed at such a rapid rate that is unprecedented to how the acceleration has occurred in the past. Strategies that Wajcman mentions, such as time management strategies, are useful to note but simultaneously seem to be feeding into the problem. While this may solve the issue of not having enough time, it is another method of monitoring that will track your daily activity and movements. Call me old fashioned, but this whole approach to future time management does make me feel a little uneasy.

Week 4 | Passion and Career
Cal Newport, 2012, ‘The Clarity of the Craftsman’ in So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work, NY Business Plus, ch.4.

Craftsman vs. Passion Mindsets, summary of readings

• Making key points that there are two distinct method of working. One pertains ‘what am I getting out of this job?’, the
other ‘how can I best do the job-is this right?’
• I didn’t really agree with some of the points brought up in the second method, as it is difficult to put 100% effort
into a role that you are not passionate about. It doesn’t make sense to grind away at a job if there is no benefit for
you as the worker.
• This also seems to contradict with the examples used-a musician born into a family of musicians has discovered this
‘passion’ very early on is quite different to somebody searching for their passion.

Relating this to my own experiences, I have always worked on my own projects regardless of the interest to me, and then preferences my other commitments around this. For example, I am inclined to put uni second to a creative brief that I will find more beneficial to my interests and professional development.

I think that suppressing thought processes such as ‘who am I’ and ‘what do I truly love’ are an intrinsic part in any position, and they can really shape finding a job that suits your passion.

I do like the phrase ‘be so good they can’t ignore you’ however. I find it gives me some additional drive to keep working at my skills, and that there is always room for improvement. Especially when you realise the scope of talented individuals working in your field, there is no room to plateau and disregard improvement and innovation in your practise.

Week 2 | Opportunities and Trends in The Global Entertainment Industries
Chris Lederer & Megan Brownlow, ‘’A World of Differences’: Special Report: Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2016-2020’. Price Waterhouse Cooper

The second week’s reading left me very confused and I felt as if I didn’t absorb much of the information. It was far more business orientated than what I am usually accustomed to. I found the part about the sales of physical music media quite interesting, as the data fluctuates between countries so heavily. Additionally, the fact that one singular artist such as Adele (via CD sales) could influence this statistic is particularly interesting.

The newer technologies seem like the easiest way to move forward, yet this statistic skewed by what the market is most accustomed to. This is similar to I, and many people born at a similar time feel-both technologies are available, and we are capable of operating both, but it comes down to personal choice about what is more preferable.

The reading primarily looked at ‘Entertainment and Media’, and the key trends affecting this on an international scale. There were a number of factors displayed, often within the same graph. Interestingly, the countries that had the biggest increased spending of E&M (in relation to GDP) were often the least developed, with Venezuela and Argentina topping the graph and US, Japan and Australia at the other end of the scale.

This report didn’t have a huge amount of relevance to what I studying or interested in, but in a broader sense it is always a positive to be aware of the larger situation. As somebody who is interested in travelling overseas to work, this piece is a good place to start to think about the wider implications and developments of technologies and media.

As a new studio within the Bachelor of Communication (Media)’s new structure, it has been interesting to see how Online Video Experiments has evolved over the course of the semester. As an initially quite confusing subject, I have configured a new way of thinking regarding online video consumption.

My experience prior to this course was based around practical filmmaking, working within the traditional structure of pre-production, production, and post-production. This is a fairly rigid system, and while this provided me with technical skills from a production standpoint, the process lacked a certain fluidity and freedom.

One of the aspects of OVE that I have really explored and enjoyed was the freeform nature of video creation, focusing on video as more of a concept than a structured format. Elements such as micro-video, which eliminate pre-production and configure post-production within the phone, allowed me to broaden my skills in regard to becoming more flexible with my production skills.

The structure of OVE has led me, along with my classmate Nethaniel, to develop a new and innovative video service based around the existing mobile application Snapchat. Our investigations started by exploring all of the various affordances and constraints of the app, and then applying to our own research.

12th of March 2015
BLOG POST 1

This was my first attempt of grasping the intentions of the studio, and I chose interactivity as a main topic to focus on. While this is a very broad topic, I thought it was a good place to begin, as it covered multi-platform media practices. As I discovered throughout the course, interactivity is a huge concept to cover, and while we touched on notions of it, I never dedicated any of the following projects to it entirely.

There was a conscious decision to move away from interactivity, and instead explore the practice of skate video across different services. It was after this first project that I collaborated with Nethaniel and began experimenting with a variety of video platforms.

CHANGE OF DIRECTION

The beginnings of our current project started as a collaboration of our Nethaniel and I’s original presentations-interactivity and skate video. We spent a good portion of our experimentations focusing on the technical aspects of skate video, and deconstructing that as far as we could. This included film burns, transitions, and style of cinematography.

From this point we decided to relate more directly to the studio prompt:

How have video, computers and the network shaped online video practice?

We reshaped this to:

How has video and the network shaped online skateboarding practice?

Some of the concepts we decided to explore were the process/style of skate video made on mobile devices. The impact that this had in regard to framing the content received is quite important. There is a much quicker method of production when it comes to mobile content, less planning is involved, but a greater reach is achieved as well.

ISSUES:

Some of the major issues I had during this semester were about balance. I found it personally difficult to manage projects that integrated the studio prompt, individual prompt, case study/s, as well as the agenda of each assignment. While this was hard at times, it did keep me within the framework of the subject. This was particularly helpful as it is quite easy to get lost with explorations regarding online content. The constant communication with the tutor and other classmates was a very necessary part of my successful progression through the subject. Constant reinforcement of the guidelines gave me direction through what is a multi-layered subject with many different facets and goals.

From the blog post, Conceptual vs. Achievable I discussed notions of creating something that is feasible to create, as opposed to brainstorming unachievable ideas. While it remains very important to push the envelope creatively when experimenting with online video practices, having a usable artefact to show as a prototype as a final product often changed our thinking. For example, we thought of using combining the application Snapchat with the adventure camera GoPro, and spent some time developing this idea. When we presented this to the class, it was undoubtedly a video experiment, and satisfied our brief of exploring a video practice. However, it was difficult to think of a way that this could be realistically presented, with our limited knowledge of app design and connections with either of these two companies this wasn’t an option. By drawing this particular experiment back to a more basic level, we began experimenting with what we did have access to-the app Snapchat. This then led to many video explorations, and finally to our prototype.

PROCESS OF SKETCHING

As mentioned above, I have spent the past two years creating film in a structured and planned way, with the majority of the decisions made even before touching a camera. The process of sketching turned this on its head, by using video as the primary means to investigate an idea. This would start as an idea, such as ‘how can we create effective skate video in Snapchat’, then after a brief brainstorming session, we would film a multitude of videos that involved this prompt. Our theoretical discussion that followed was informed by our video work more so than our brainstorming.

Even late in the semester, Nate and I found that we were operating on quite a theoretical and planned way, without creating any content that backed up our ideas. I found that it was much easier to explain a concept with a tangible piece of content rather than with brainstorming. This is one of the main positives I took out of this studio, and I think it will be applicable to many of my future projects involving online video as the major medium.

In addition to creating video, other visual devices really contributed to framing my work within OVE. Mind-maps, wireframing and visual brainstorming allowed me, as well as others, to visualise concepts I had trouble verbalizing, or explaining through writing. These visuals, which were often no more complicated than arrows connected certain concepts, were developed and eventually formed a key part of our prototype.

This was reinforced as a positive step to clear communication by our multiple presentations given to the class without visuals, which resulted in quite a lot of ambiguity amongst peers and the tutor. Once we began integrating simple, easy to follow visuals, it not only helped our audience understand, but helped us to articulate and formulate a more concise definition of what we were trying to create.

Here is a few of our early sketches:
Timeline Commenting
Snapchat Story
Snapchat Messenger

CONCLUSION:

From the beginning of the semester to now many things have changed. The way that I interact with online video has expanded in many senses. I think in particular the different tools and services that we explored shaped the way I create new content. For example, physically creating video that works specifically with the affordances of the app Snapchat changed my creative process by considering a much wider set of variables and affordances than working with traditional linear video.

Today we worked on our project and divided it into separate parts of the project to work on. These were:

-1000 word report, which relates to the studio prompt, as well as documenting the progression of the project over the course of the semester

-blog posts, with embedded sketches, showing the affordances of Snapchat, and how this works within our goal of created an effective skate video within the platform.

-pitch video, which will comprise the majority of the project, which will show exactly how this hybrid platform will operate. It seems unfeasible for us to manipulate Snapchat to create what we intend, as the ‘Our story’ feature is only available to businesses and large events, and definitely out of the budget for this prototype. This video will incorporate elements of Snapchat, in conjunction with theoretical elements not present. As it will be formatted as a pitch, it will be a very descriptive piece, which shows many of the features available.

The sketches that we will work on this week will show the criteria for the skate video.

After some feedback from both the panel and tutor, Nate and I have decided to move away from live streaming as the focus for PROJECT FOUR, and have to travel back towards interactivity as a primary focus. We plan to incorporate elements of Snapchat, to explore the narrative aspects of the service within skate video. Our prototype is leading towards a hybrid version of Snapchat, which would incorporate tagging and linking between users. Some of the formatting from Pinterest, which visually links images, could be applied to video.

From these videos a story of sorts could be created, which is entirely created from user-generated content. The framework is quite loose, with tagging and linking between relevant content creating the majority of the process. There would need to be some sort of moderation, as by nature Snapchat videos are spontaneous, and therefore lacking in production value. There is a similar website for Vines, called Vine.co, which collects the most popular Vines, and presents them within one website.

It is undecided how much of this platform we will be able to create, i.e whether we should make it within an existing service, or create a realistic representation of what we imagine the website/app to look like.

As Seth said, it is important to not get caught up in the technical aspect of it, which I think is very crucial for us to keep in mind as we progress with PROJECT FOUR.

Today Nate and I presented to a panel of RMIT lecturers, which was essentially the same presentation as PROJECT THREE. One of the main changes we made was developing the outcome for PROJECT FOUR, which led to more of a focus on Periscope as an online tool, whilst still taking elements from other online tools and services such as Snapchat, which emphasise creating content that is designed to only be viewed once, or for a designated amount of time.

The feedback we got mainly in regard to audience, and how this could be shown if the video was only shown live. It was also noted that the aspects of being live removes a great deal of the aesthetic quality and narrative structure of skate video.

This has caused us to reconsider focusing on live-streaming, and instead retract it a step, and re-focusing on Snapchat, and the implications that it has upon narrative in skate video.

Description of how the mechanics of the presentation on Friday works, and what differences are necessary to present to a panel the following Monday. I think I need to focus on creating more visual material while presenting, I feel this subject really hinges on the visual understanding of the audience, and because a lot of the work is theoretical, it is crucial that it is conveyed in a concise and well-communicated manner.

A definitive idea for how PROJECT FOUR will progress is essential, which is a point where we are struggling a bit in.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to brainstorming ideas regarding pushing online video, especially in regard to platforms. While broadly discussing ideas for PROJECT THREE, Nate and I found ourselves creating wildly ambitious yet creative ideas surrounding combining differing platforms, such as melding GoPro and Snapchat into a single platform. These ideas were relevant because they explored narrative with online video, which addresses both the studio prompt and our individual prompt.

Whilst these ideas are interesting, I think it will be much easier to create a more tangible idea, in order to create the sketches. A few of the sketches will not involve using a different service to test out how narrative is affected, which was the plan for the majority of the 14 works. An example of this is timeline commenting, as is popular on music-sharing website Soundcloud, but applying it to video instead of just strictly audio. This will be done in Premiere Pro, with graphics illustrating how we would achieve this if it were possible using a readily available service.