The only narration I actually enjoy listening to is David Attenborough. He is so wise and I feel so empowered by just listening to his voice. It made me think about all the types of narration there is out in the world today whether that be in television programs, podcasts, films or radio talk show programs. I would believe anything he said.

I can assure I am not the only one who only really enjoys listening to Attenborough’s voice. There was a video that came out a few years ago on YouTube. It was a short documentary clip about fan girls who obsessed over celebrities, however it was not just any old documentary. The ‘spoof’ used David Attenborough’s narration to narrate the piece, using exact footage from his previous work, so basically describing the fan girls as if they are animals. It is not only funny but so clever how the concept works so effortlessly well.

It just made me realise how the same narration can be used for completely different things and accompany completely different shots to create a specific story or idea!

 

When I think of the word ‘narration’ I immediately think of a voice over discussing an issue while videos, footage, images (any sort of footage) accompany as the visuals.

The definition of narration essentially suggests that it is an action or process of telling a story or a tale. It also suggests that it’s a commentary used to accompany some sort of visual whether that be film etc.

How is a narration different to a narrative?

Narrative is a ‘spoken’ or ‘written’ form of events, creating a story, whereas narration is the process conducted to tell a story. So basically a narrative is told through narration.

Why listen to music on the train when you have podcasts? I only recently discovered the beauty of podcasts. I have always thought that they purely consist of Ted Talks or debates; aspects of which I am not remotely interested in. I love stories. I love listening to people tell stories. I love listening to people telling personal stories.  Little did I know these could be found as podcasts! So exciting.

So over the past week I have listened to the podcast ‘Story Club’ hosted by Ben and Zoe, recorded live in Sydney. And guess what – it’s people telling personal stories!! It’s fantastic. These people are so engaging, and have the most interesting, funny and pleasurable stories to listen to. It’s exactly what I want to listen to on the way to uni. There’s only so much music you can listen to when waiting for public transport, and often I find listening to music on public transport is just frustrating because there are so many things going on, I’d rather just listen to nothing; but then I get super bored. The whole process and situation is a serious dilemma. The only time I listen to music on trains or trams is when it’s virtually empty, I have a seat, and I am staying on for at least 3 stops. When it’s busy and all the seats are taken, there is so much going on with people constantly hoping on and off, especially when I’m standing awkwardly near the door way because that’s the only spot. I always find myself awkwardly getting out of people’s way and embarrassing myself half the time by yelling ‘sorry’ because I can’t hear myself due to the music, or just getting so confused with people talking and my music. I just can’t enjoy it!!

So with these podcasts, I can actually enjoy myself because there is no distraction, I get lost in listening and completely zone out so the train time flies, and I can just easily hop out of someone’s way because I can actually hear what’s going on!

 

To help and prepare us for our annotated bibliography exercise that we got given in class today, we did an exercise on how to find adequate resources to use as evidence and back up arguments. We were instructed to use sites such as Google Scholar and the RMIT Library Search to find resources about Jamie Oliver.

These were the three questions:

1. Where will you search?

Google scholar

RMIT learning hub

2. What sources?

Books, articles, journal articles

3. Compare the content of the sources

Class and authenticity – roots, identity

Jamie Oliver is an everyman – family, children, cooks a lot with family and his children are often in his programs and ads.

Nigella v Jamie – their different approaches and qualities, Jamie healthy whereas Nigella baking

Social issues:

• Child obesity
• School eating habits
• Sugar tax
• School dinners at canteen

This was a great way to get us familiar on the types of sources we will need for our bibliographies and future research in general as we progress through the course.

This week in tutorial, we listened to a sleep podcast. The hosts’ primary discussion revolved around the curiosity of how different animals sleep. The content itself was so interesting and engaging, however it was the elements of the narration that we discussed. I found the content actually really interesting, but the monotones and dull conversation used made it so boring and hard to listen to!!! There was no music in the background and it was all just them having a conversation that was obviously scripted. It was good at times because their voices and descriptions allowed me to visualise what they were talking about, but overall it was quite boring! However, looking at it from a podcast and narration perspective, I loved how it was a scripted conversation. It made it more relaxed, but still engaging because it sounded like they knew what they were talking about the entire time.

This week we were introduced to our next assignment, PB4. This is a collaborative approach to learning and requires each member within the class to work together in their groups of 3 or 4 to produce the best outcome. PB4 requires us to

 

My group consists of Ryan, Lydia and Jason, and we have been assignment the topic of text and narrative. Initially we were extremely confused as to what direction we were going to follow in order to achieve our project. We began a brainstorm of our ideas and put them onto one big A5 page. The ideas of culture and interpretations immediately came to mind whilst doing this brainstorm, so we decided to use these as good starting points.

 

Louise then suggested that we come up with one statement as a guideline which we follow when coming up with ideas. She said that in TV she found it easier to come up with ideas once she had a title written down, because she could easily build off it and always know what to come back to, also helped her to not go off topic.

Following Louise’s tip, we came up with the title of ‘Lost in Translation’, following the idea that difference audience’s receive different information based on their culture, background or Religion, and texts and narrative set this up. It definitely made it a lot easier after we had a title, as we could easily fall back on it if we ever went off topic or got confused. I’m excited to see what our group ultimately comes up with.

After watching everyone’s PB3 videos in tutorial, we came to the discussion of that although we all had the exact same requirements and constraints stated in the brief, every single person’s video was so different from each other.

Louise then proposed the idea of technical vs. aesthetic appeals in not only videos in general, but in particular our PB3’s.

The technical being the type of shots, angles and techniques, and the aesthetic being the style and look of the video. Both of these qualities are so incredibly important in order in keeping it interesting and appealing to the audience and enabling them to fully engage with the piece.

 

In class we thought about the two qualities and what each one consists of:

Technical

• Angles ensure videos are interesting
• Setting up two cameras as a technique, running them at the same time and getting two different angles; one in front of the subject and one to the side.

 

Aethetical

• Thinking about the color composition in the shot
• The objects/ components within the shot, how are they set up
• Location – indoor or outdoor, at home, a market, beach or city
• What is behind, next to or in front of the subject in the interviewing shots; how they help tell the story or generate personality or relevance of the interviewee.

This week in tutorial we spent the first two hours watching everyone’s PB3’s. It was so interesting to notice that although we all had the exact same requirements and constraints, every single person’s video was so different.

On my table was Brad, Rosie, Riah and Hannah, and I was required to give them feedback after watching their videos. Below is my feedback with their PB3’s attached.

 

Bradley

• Loved the close ups of the erasers, great being able to properly visualise the erasers and the detail
• Maybe needed music throughout to emphasis or clarify the feeling and mood
• Good use of black and white clips
• Good use of two cameras, kept the interview interesting
• Great quirky overall theme for video, very original

Rosie

• At times the music was overpowering the interviewee’s dialogue, couldn’t fully hear him
• Nice cinematography, especially in the car

Riah

• Lovely use of old photos, created a very personal feel,
• Nice quality sound, rich dialogue and was very clear and easy to understand

Hannah

• Great shots along the water, put together nicely with fast cut editing
• Clever use of light balls, created an inspirational feel
• Music sets the mood, upbeat, electric and exciting, to match the intense rhythm of his lifestyle

This week’s interview exercise was so much fun to do. It was great coming up with the idea of having three different sections we all talk about and learning how to use the equipment including the Sony mc50 and the mini clip on mic.

We did the talking segments inside the classroom after everyone had left. This was a successful aspect as there was absolutely no back ground noise to interfere with our sound. After that we recorded all the cut away shots that didn’t require any sound around the RMIT campus. We had written down what we had said in our interview so used that as a guide so we knew exactly what shots to cover.

I didn’t necessary notice that we made any mistakes until it came to the editing process. While in editing I was going through all the shots we took and working out the ones I should use for the video, and half the time when I was speaking the microphone was extremely crackly and the sound kept dropping out, something I didn’t even realise was happening at the time. This meant I could only use half of the footage of me talking, which in the end was fine but I overcame this problem by using only the clear sounding footage. Next time though I know to do a practice shot before filming the actual one so I don’t have the same problem, and I think we had a dodgy microphone that required you to hold it where it connected to get best quality sound, however I don’t think I did this, hence why half my sound was bad quality.

Another problematic aspect we encountered whilst completing this task was that we didn’t include any reverse/ reaction shots of the interviewer – we were too fixated on getting all the other necessary shots to match up with the interview content that we forgot to include this. Next time I would read the requirements carefully and make sure everything is included.

Our establishing shot was a successful aspect as it nicely summed up the base of what we were going to talk about in the interview, and set up the location really nicely – gives the audience a visual of the environment.

 

Below are the 9 questions I asked my interviewee. I set up the camera about a meter to the left of where I was standing, and so she spoke to me not directly at the camera. I paused the camera at the end of each answer, however let it run during the question so she had lots of time to answer. Dee elaborated her answers really well, just as I designed the questions to be. If at any stage during the answer I didn’t feel as though there was enough footage or the right footage, I would ask another question to do with what she was just talking about or asked her to elaborate even more at particular times.

I specifically designed my questions to be left up to Dee to answer in her own way. I didn’t want much structure with them, I wanted to make it as flexible as possible, so the answer could go several ways and so I got the most out of each question.

 

Here are my questions:

1. Why acting?
2. Explain what made you want to act/perform in the first place
3. What is the best thing about acting?
4. Would you be able to explain one highlight in your career and why it is a highlight?
5. Can you explain one specific moment that is a highlight?
6. What have been some challenges throughout your career?
7. What inspires you/ what are you inspired by? (both in your work and generally)
8. Explain what you think the most important things in life are
9. What advice would you give your younger self?