Okay, this month I started a project that I’m excited about. Or, rather, I finished part one of said project. I want to fill up a full visual diary with polished drawings/ paintings etc. Polished. So each one has to have a decent amount of work put into it. I finished the first one in around 5 hours, and I think I’m most proud of that for this month. It was my first time ever drawing on black paper with white mediums, and it turned out surprisingly good. I am even more motivated to push myself to experiment and create more since. I also exercised more yesterday than I have pretty much all holidays. So that’s a step in the right direction.
I am also pretty proud of everything from White Night weekend. I woke up early to help my friend on a Channel 31 shoot. Did my best, learned a lot. I hadn’t worked in a studio before so I was nervous, but I knew I had to learn sooner or later. So I’m really glad I went outside of my comfort zone and learned something new (as well as helping out a friend of course!). I then went home very briefly to refresh and meet up with another friend. Then we both went back to the city for White Night pretty dang early. Got there at about 8:30. We ended up staying there until it was well and truly over. So, not counting my brief stop home, I was in the city, awake and functioning for over 24 hours. Which is a pretty solid effort I think. I’m proud of such a thing because it has legitimately been a while since I’ve done anything like that. Particularly this holidays I’ve been pretty lazy and whenever I go out or meet with friends it has been a fairly comfortable occasion, so I’m glad I went outside my comfort zone.
Additionally, I have been practicing guitar a lot more and have been learning as much as I can, both practical and theory, and I already see a huge improvement. I can play one of my favourite songs and have been getting good feedback online. I’m pumped for the next month to see what more I can do.
So, this is an old music video. It was released in 2013 actually. I watched it the day it came out. It appeared to have so much depth and symbolism and it really made me excited. I noticed a lot of people in the comments of the video referring to one article in particular, explaining the meaning behind it. It wasn’t an official release, just someones speculation. But this article became very popular and most people accepted those interpretations as solid. But when I read it… I was disappointed. I thought the music video must have more to it than that. The interpretation was disjointed and neglected to address a lot of imagery from the video, and it addressed the symbolism without clear direction or coherency. So earlier today I revisited the video and really fleshed it out from my point of view. Combining my media student knowledge with my pretentious art student ability to pull meaning out of nothing; here is my full interpretation of G-Dragon’s ‘Coup D’etat.’
We open on GD crouched over looking pretty awful. He is facing a wall and we see his hand pick up a red stone. Red being the symbolic colour of revolution. We will come back to this later.
Next, and throughout the video we see a swinging pendulum/ wrecking ball with GD trapped inside a large tower. The ball smashes against the walls, and that’s about it. To be honest I think this is the only shot in the video that could be interpreted anyway you want and it would still be correct in the context of my interpretation. A pendulum representing the passing of time as GD gets older, a huge weight hanging over him swinging around causing damage by its momentum, and my favourite, the wrecking ball trying to break the walls of GD’s tower prison confinement so that he can escape. Either way, it works in this context. So lets get into the chronological order of what is happening in the video.
Child GD is looking at a large stone structure with his right hand over his heart, suggesting that it is a tomb or memorial. We cut to current GD in the same position. This memorial is symbolic of an ideal death or the ideal memory of him. One of two death motifs in the video. This is how many people would like to be remembered. Both him and his child self have a red glove over their hearts, and are at the same tomb. Suggesting he still has the same desires for himself that he did as a child.
Next we cut to women searching around behind trees. They are blindfolded, but they are dressed in red; the colour of revolution. They are free. But their blindfolds suggest they are looking around blindly and not really seeing. They could represent the greater public, his fans inclusive. They do not really see him they are just looking and searching. This is particularly relevant when it comes to female k-pop fans, particularly in S. Korea, with the issue of sasaengs and people just seeing what they want to see, not the real person underneath the idol exterior. GD enters the frame dressed in white, but there is a red patch over his heart. This could symbolise his desire for revolution, as well as heartache for those who cannot see him as he truly is.
This leads into a shot of him at the ticket booth, drawing parallels to his music career. It shows the outside of the booth but when we switch to a shot from the inside, it becomes clear that there is a lot more hidden than once thought. Recording equipment and microphones. People are swarming all over the booth, but they are unaware of the inner workings. On their end, its just about a concert ticket or an end product, but for GD there’s a whole other hidden process involved which they may not feel sympathy for.
Next, GD is sheltering under a tree. A woman stands in the background, another woman behind her, and it appears to be more people lining up in the distance. The women are sheltered by umbrellas and are holding chainsaws. This represents the faceless, sheltered people who could destroy GD’s shelter and growth. Netizens perhaps? A person that could be involved in a scandal? It could be a range of people, but the idea is that they have all the power to destroy his livelihood, his shelter, his image, his safety, the tree. And they are lining up to do so.
After that, GD is sitting at a desk while money cooks around him. He is not cooking it himself, it is cooking as he sits there. This could illustrate the nature of an idol life, they are the image but the money is made because other people cook it and prepare it. The idea of cooking money could also symbolise the perpetual income he has now, and he just has to sit there relaxing and money will cook. There is a lot in this video that you could argue is just an aesthetic thing, such as what I am about to speculate on, but I think it actually ties in: The money is covered in black liquid. I would say the black liquid represents GD and his own emotions and being. He earned the money by giving away parts of himself, such is the life of a musician or indeed any kind of artist. This black liquid idea ties into something else later so sit tight.
Next, GD is in a dressing room, siting in a chair. But he his twitching and writhing, indicative of his discomfort for his image or the idea of an idol; reflected in the nature of the dressing room. The wrecking ball from the tower is also hanging above him, but it is perfectly still. This could illustrate how when he is not trying to break out of his constraints (as the wrecking ball was in the tower), he is just an idol in the dressing room, doing as he is told, and being insanely uncomfortable while being forced to do so.
Next are some very cool alternating shots. GD stands in front of a large image of eyes, but he is blindfolded. Shots are being fired at him, but are just hitting the wall. GD is unable to see the shots. The shots being fired could symbolise all that comes GD’s way, particularly in regard to criticisms, comments, opinions, scandals etc. But he does not deal with them, the huge eyes in the back do. I believe this represents the higher power of his company. In K-pop, record labels are a big deal, and the company handles a lot of the work for the idol, as well as making decisions for them. GD is unable to see, and thus has to trust the company to handle these things right. So in the end, he is an image, being controlled by something larger. But this is inter-cut with him in his ‘revolution ninja garb.’ Now he is covered, but his eyes aren’t. He can see, and the shots have stopped firing. Now there are many faces on the wall behind him, he is attracting a lot of attention, but now he is in control of himself and the large, overseeing eyes have gone.
Next we see GD sitting while blindfolded reporters desperately search around for him. Pretty self explanatory here; criticising the media and the paparazzi. Their desperation, their blind ambition to get whatever piece of GD they can. This is inter-spliced with the second death motif in the video. GD laying in a puddle surrounded by pecking crows and bugs. This is the current state of GD. The ideal tomb/ memorial situation that he wished for as a child and still wishes for in his heart is not here, instead he is being picked apart and consumed. Criticising the entertainment industry most likely. taking what they want from him with disregard for him as a person, as opposed to respecting and celebrating him, as it was in the tomb situation. Obvious assimilation between the crows and the reporters.
Now this is where the black liquid comes back in. The next scene has a wall of GD face masks, crying black liquid. This image was the symbol of his ‘Heartbreaker’ album; his first solo endeavor. It is commonly known, however, that GD looks back on this album regretfully and wishes to separate himself from it. The album, though praised, was an image that was decided for him. The faces on the wall all look the same. It wasn’t really him or his artistry, but more a network of people from his company and the K-pop world pulling the strings, deciding his image and what was best. The little black teardrop is the image of the album and what was reflected of GD in it. But this mass produced image has momentum, and the small back tear begins soaking his image and multiplying. This image is now widespread and continues to build on itself, as reflected in the tear. But GD is starting his revolution now, he takes the Heartbreaker mask off his face and underneath we see the real GD, drenched in the black. All that he is is shown now that he has shed that image, and he breaks the mask. This black liquid is tied to the black liquid on the money, being symbolic of GD and the emotions and parts of himself.
GD strolls through the ruins of himself, pretty self explanatory.
We return to the hunched figure from the beginning. He slowly picks up the red rock and hurls it toward the wall, breaking it. Then he rips off the old ‘skin’ as bright light shines through the wall. Again, quite self explanatory regarding revolution and rebirth.
Finally, we close on a shot of GD in his ‘revolution ninja garb,’ this time entirely in red. He is free and liberated. There are large red flags flying, again, a symbol of revolution.
So that’s my interpretation of it. Late, I know, but I didn’t fully agree with any of the other ones out there and I think this description makes the most sense in the context of the video. The symbolism in the video is consistent, with the black liquid, the wrecking ball, the red, etc. Also everything in the video ties together and builds upon itself. The idea being that GD is criticising the life of an idol; the fans, the companies, the higher powers, the media, the image, all of it. So he aims for a revolution, where he is liberated and able to reinvent himself. And this video is stunning. Like, really beautiful, everything looks absolutely amazing. As a media student, I’m a bit jealous.
Not a great start to the new year. I know I slacked off too much. I’ve been making an effort to use my 2015 planner more this year, and have been recording weekly goals in it. I need to work on discipline though. Having short-term goals is good, but only if you actually achieve them. And thus, I don’t really feel proud of anything in particular this month. Which, to be honest, is rather upsetting. I had all month to produce something and I didn’t. Instead I worked on a range of little things but didn’t fully achieve them. I painted a fair amount, but not enough, I started cleaning my wardrobe, but didn’t finish, I learned a song on guitar, but didn’t practice it, I knitted a fair amount, but haven’t finished it. If I were to pick something that I could be proud of this month, it would be a difficult task. I suppose the thing that I am most happy about doing is finally getting around to working on my current internship stuff. I’ve had it all ready for a long time but just didn’t get it moving. There is still stuff to do on that front, but I am proud I actually got it going, because I’ve been putting it off for a long time, which has been stressing me out.
Overall, a pretty pathetic month. This isn’t what I envisioned when I set myself this resolution. Even my November was pretty weak on this front. If i’m going to improve in any area, I need to dedicate myself to it for the month, and make sure I achieve something. Otherwise I’m just improving at a regular pace and the resolution means nothing. The pressure is on now, I need to make up for the previous months failures. February, come at me.
Last year I talked about the top 5 songs that reminded me of certain times in 2013. I wanted to do the same thing this year, but I listened to so many different songs and so much more happened this year that i found it difficult to separate them and narrow it down to only 5. I’m sure I could, but excluding the rest doesn’t accurately reflect the music of my 2014. So this time, I have a representative playlist of 10 songs, that reflect, in order, what I was listening to and the songs I associate with certain times of the year. Some hold special memories of their own, others are just the songs I had on repeat for a while and have thus become ingrained in my head as reflective of a certain time. Without further ado:
The final month of the year. I’ve been thinking about various goals and resolutions I want to achieve, but after enough thought, I decided what I have already been doing is a good resolution to continue with. Something created or achieved every month. That way I have freedom, but also a deadline to have some sort of finished product.
This month I hoped to have my current painting done. My estimation for it was 60 hours or so, but it looks as though it will take more like 90+ hours. I’m 45 hours in, but not finished… again. However, I am proud of what I came up with this month. I went to Port Fairy over Christmas. I usually go there every year or two. While there, I decided to take some photos and capture the space. Its very pretty and different to the city. The beaches and quiet streets were captivating. And I’m very pleased with the photos I took. I am still an amateur when it comes to photography, but I can definitely see a lot of improvement happening. Here is a selection of my favourites; the rest can be found on my Tumblr page.
For the next month and the next year, I hope to be more proactive in achieving my goals and being creative.
I found it more difficult to get things done this month. I spent a week recovering from surgery and wasn’t able to paint or practice anything really. I did work further on my current painting, however, that piece is not close to being finished, so I can’t show it as this months ‘thing.’
Instead, this month was the month of planning and inspiration. I’ve been discovering new music and sketching out ideas. I have an idea for a triptych, and I also made the decision to take up the painting elective at Uni next semester. I miss art classes and having people to discuss art and creativity with. I enjoy Media but the people don’t seem to get as excited about these things there. As well as the sketching and brainstorming that I’ve done, I’ve started creating an inspiration collage wall. Most of my door area is covered in things like this, but I’ve decided to extend it onto the surrounding wall. I found a collection of images from my Tumblr page and ‘likes,’ and interspliced them with works by my favourite artist; James Jean. I have around $70 worth of printing credit in my building at Uni, so I abused my access to the HQ design printers, and made these lovely prints.
Additionally, I have been steadily working on other little projects. I’ve started knitting again and am working on a media piece. But I don’t expect they will be finished very soon. I anticipate for December I should have finished my large painting.
I really liked the simplicity of this documentary. The first half was very interesting, but I was particularly impressed at how the second half was slow and calm, but was never boring. It reflected the old, abandoned nature of the surroundings and didn’t require extra interviews, information or effects to enhance the experience or improve the film. It allowed the surroundings to speak for themselves, only occasionally broken up by reflective speech. The choice of location and subject was also visually appealing and interesting.
Bluestone
I liked how although this film only had one subject who narrated and was on screen, they managed to break it up well. The lack of diversity in characters was not noticeable and what he was saying was interesting and well paced enough that I didn’t get bored of him, and it didn’t sound like he had been talking for too long.
The Sneakerhead Collective
Possibly my favourite film of the evening. It was very professionally done, technically it all looked and sounded really good. The pacing and script was also great; the narration being used just enough, and always having a point of interest to add, rather than simply providing exposition. It also enhanced the humor and impact of the film. Although the ‘Sneakerheads’ were shown to have spent a lot of money and time on their collection, the film wasn’t judgmental or harsh, it was more light-hearted and had a friendly atmosphere.
Train Station Time Machine
I really enjoyed this documentary, it was one of my favourites. Visually, the inside of the station would’ve been really interesting to see, but I feel we don’t need to see what is really inside it. the film encourages speculation, while also providing some insight into the history of the building. The voice overs were effective, especially how they were layered in the beginning.
Bitcoin Down Under
In my opinion, this was the most professional looking film. I liked how it had come along from the fine cut screening, and the subject matter seemed more interesting and the information more structured. Technically the film looked really impressive, and the subjects were all entertaining and informative. I was also impressed at the films ability to support the interviews with visual material, despite bitcoin being an intangible currency.
So, it is November right now… I feel I should make a post about how my resolution is going. In this post I explained that I will complete something each month that I can be proud of. I kind of combined September and October together, because, as I anticipated, they were both very busy and I didn’t have a lot of my own time to work on outside projects. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t reach any goals.
The thing I am most proud of from September is doing my first ‘internship;’ filming at the Royal Melbourne Show for Channel 31. It was very chill. I was working with people my age and some were still students. But it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun the entire time. Something from October that I am proud of is not only finishing my 2nd year of uni, but finishing my film, ‘Fans and Followers.’ I was primarily the Director and DOP, but I also shared other producing, editing and sound roles.
Through both of these experiences, I have learned so much about filmmaking; in terms of technical knowledge and experiential knowledge. So I’m proud of what I accomplished and am happy with the confidence and ability I can take away.
To hide the gain, we brought the darks up a lot to make the jumper darker to hide the gain which was most apparent there. The mid-tones were also brought up slightly. The original footage began looking more washed out and cold, so we brought the shadows slightly toward the red to warm up the image and put the pink tones back into his skin. The gain is still visible, particularly on the wall behind him. This could be fixed by bringing the contrast up further, however, this could make the shot look more obviously colour graded and unnatural. So I am content with our current colour grade.
The above footage of the crowd at federation square is overexposed, an ND filter should have been used.
Again, we brought the darks up a fair amount in this image, and the mid-tones down, to bring down the whiteness. We also brought the whites down substantially. The image began looking too orange, so we brought the mid-tones toward the blue. I don’t think this footage is complete yet. I would bring the highlights toward the blue as well as the footage still looks orange. It also looks somewhat flat, particularly the buildings in the background. So I would try to bring some more highlights into the image.
Question 5
My main goals for this course were to improve my technical skills and be more hands on in the process. I believe working in a group of two has allowed me to do that as I had more responsibilities. As well as directing, I did more producorial work, contacting some of the interviewees and coming up with questions. I was also the interviewer for this documentary which allowed me to get outside of my comfort zone, as I needed to be able to think on my feet. Most importantly though, and what I feel has been most valuable, is doing technical work. I admit this was the area I was lacking in the most at the beginning of semester. But I did the majority of the camera work for this documentary, did a bit of sound, as well as editing. I made lots of mistakes this semester, but I don’t feel overly regretful, as it is because of those mistakes that I have learned a lot in a short amount of time. Such as the different functions of the camera, what looks good, and how to fix something if it doesn’t look good. It has also been a long time since I’ve done a lot of editing, and so it was good to get back into it. Especially as I was still mostly unfamiliar with premiere.
This course exceeded my expectations. I didn’t have low expectations, but I thought it would be more or less similar to last semester. While Film-TV1 was fantastic and I had a great time, I feel I have learned so much more in Film-TV2. I attribute this to the ability to choose our own groups and be more fluid with our roles. While I did a lot last semester, I mostly stuck to producorial work as that was my role, and the other roles were filled by other, enthusiastic people. This semester I was adamant about the fact that I wanted to work either alone, or with a partner, because I knew that was the only way I would be forced to learn everything. With that in mind, my favourite aspect of this subject was the fluidity. We chose our own ideas, and people could decide which ones they wanted to work on. Our group size was completely up to us, and, particularly evident in the fine cut screening, we could attempt anything from informational, to experimental. It has given me a new appreciation and excitement for documentary, as well as independent projects, and i feel more confident in approaching filmmaking in the future.
The soundscape is somewhat cheesy. Along with the singing and gentle instruments, there are sounds of birds and nature loudly layered over it. It sounds seems to be repeated, so it may be a stock sound of ‘birds.’ otherwise they may have recorded a short bird sound and repeated it. The sound effects then pick up with chimes and whooshes enhancing what we see. Chimes and whirls support the whirling transition between scenes. Dahlia then throws her scarf up out of the car with a dramatic whoosh. The music is then abruptly stopped with the journalist’s voice, to which the visual scene disintegrates as the cheesy fantasy is broken. There are still stock sound effects though; such as cash register noises. When the book reappears, the chimes are heard once again, illustrating that it is fantasy. Whenever the journalist disproves something said in ‘Forbidden Love,’ a more jarring sound effect is used such as a rattle or a camera shutter sound. These, again, sound to be stock sounds sourced externally, and were layered over the interviews once the other editing had been completed. The whole piece is edited in a way where the interviews audio continues over the visual edits. This allows the transitions to flow better and tie into each other.
Question 2
Cmd+G, Grouping. It is irritating trying to move nicely edited finished sequences around without messing anything up, so I assume that’s what the grouping tool is for. I’ve never used it before but I imagine it makes it much easier to keep edit specific sequences and not have them become messed up when trying to move them.
Left, Step Backward. This sounds like a much faster way to undo something. it’s just one key. Definitely useful to save thought and energy.
Cmd+ Left/ Right, move selected clip by one frame. Moving the clip frame by frame, invaluable for fine editing and perfecting/ polishing.
Opt+ Left/ Right, trimming the clip by one frame. Similarly to Cmd + Left/ Right, this is good for fine editing.
Question 3
The sound in this piece informs the images. For example when the sound tempo and tone picks up at around 4:30, the tone of the piece seem completely different and the people’s live seem to be faster and more exciting that before the music change. This illustrates how important sound can be and the careful placement and choice of sound and music.
The camera work focuses on movement and obstruction. It films random people as a fly on the wall, it doesn’t matter who the individual is. There are shots of feet or people moving or walking obstructed by cars and architecture. Trucks will drive in the way of the shot, and people will turn away from the camera and we see their backs. It is illustrative of just everyday people who you have no connection to, but they are just around. The camerawork and editing reflect this well. The edits being just short enough for one character not to receive too much spotlight or interest. They are shown for just as long as if you were just glancing at them on the street.
Question 4
“Its often incredibly painful for people to talk about some of what they’ve experienced, and yet they have made some kind of choice to let themselves be filmed. In that arrangement of trust, i think there’s a space for human attention.” I really like this Kirsten Johnson quote from the Cunningham reading. I’ve had concerns through filming that maybe the participants are feeling uncomfortable or that I’m making them awkward or asking them too much. Then i try to think of ways to compensate and become super friendly and talkative after the interview. But i guess there is some mutual trust there. Everyone i have interviewed has been happy to answer all of my questions and sign over the release forms, and they know that f they don’t want to answer something they don’t have to. So perhaps they don’t feel uncomfortable at all. This is probably helped as although i cant talk during the take, all the people I’ve interviewed so far have had genuinely interesting things to say. It feels more like a conversation, at least on my end. I think in this documentary and in future ones i can push people a little. carefully, of course. Particularly with the Catholic groups, whom might be sensitive about me comparing their religion to an AFL team. But as long as there is tact, people seem willing to share a lot. I guess people just enjoy talking about themselves and their interests.
“I love when that happens in film, when you have some kind of physical embodiment of the persons inner state.” This is another quote that i like, which was actually bold and enlarged in the article. and for good reason too. The thing about effective films is they use their visual medium to their advantage. Rather than exposition, it is more effective to show rather than to tell. Inner emotions are difficult to express in this way, so its important to look for opportunities to capture this.
Cunningham, Megan. The art of the documentary : ten conversations with leading directors, cinematographers, editors, and producers, (p. 88-89, 149-175, 277, 284). Berkeley, CA : New Riders, 2005.
The final month of the year. I’ve been thinking about various goals and resolutions I want to achieve, but after enough thought, I decided what I have already been doing is a good resolution to continue with. Something created or achieved every month. That way I have freedom, but also a deadline to have some sort of finished product.
