The rough cut of our Assignment 4 artefact is almost like a small sample of what our Tumblr blog is going to be, with each person uploading one of each style of content we will have on our blog, that being one archival video and image, and one new video and image. This results in a total of 16 pieces of content, which is roughly just over a quarter of the total content our blog will have by its completion.
Here is a sample image of the blog and a link!
Despite the world idea that Zimmerman and Kaplan have posed about the world of only close-ups in with a digital filter and “ariel long shots” from drones (2020), we as a group have been able to reach that elusive mid-shot through incorporating isolated home shooting and archival footage, creating this sense of longing through powerful imagery. I think one of our biggest strengths in this rough cut is how powerful the content can be emotionally, both in the sense of longing for the days of yonder with archival footage, but especially with the eeriness and missingness of newly shot content, and how each frame feels like its missing something crucial; life.
I thin group member Adele’s photograph of a painted sun (pictured above) is an amazing example of that, as it blends that line of hope and despair really nicely, making at least me long for a more open world for the children living right now.
However, while I do really like the indirect power of choice the columns in our Tumblr layout provide, especially with the feedback from the class to up the number of them to three from two, I think our least successful aspect is not encouraging enough choice. While I think the tagging in the coming days will promote this deliberate choice further, we got some great feedback from Chelsea to consider finding a layout that allows for columns as well as a small panel on the side that highlights either our most used or chosen tags, with the power to lead off to pages filled with numerous entries from other Tumblr users who have tagged their own posts with those terms. This could also extend the infinite nature of our artefact, as well as utilising more aspects of the new media format.
A big thank-you to everyone to both Hannah and the class for the helpful and insightful feedback, can’t wait to see how it evolves our project!
Reflection References
Zimmermann, P., Kaplan, C., 2020. Coronavirus Drone Genres: Spectacles of Distance and Melancholia. Film Quarterly Quorum.