1> In what ways do you hope your screenings/exhibited/screened work (whether individual or group produced) engaged its audience and communicated a key concern of the studio?
Operation Superstar’s strengths lie in the crafty, colourful aesthetic, surreal, other-wordly characters and the fun-loving chemistry between our two main characters. I believe these qualities successfully showed a lot of heart, providing an authentic and in depth look at Melbourne nightlife as well as a delightfully absurd, funny and exciting story for the audience. Hybridising the genres of coming-of-age and comedy, we hoped to tell the story of friendship and being true to yourself, whilst still utilising the comic techniques of comic frame, incongruity, visual humour and satire; entertaining and challenging the toxic culture of individualism that perpetuates exclusion and superficiality.
2> Imagine you are going to keep working on that media piece (e.g. to screen it somewhere else like a festival, or develop it into a different kind of work, and so on) – what would be the core things you would want to improve and extend and why?
If I were to continue working on the media artefact, I would want to better develop some of the technical aspects such as sound and lighting. This could be achieved by reshooting certain scenes such as ones with heavy dialogue, recording in a more quiet space to avoid that droning street noise and increasing the lightning darker scenes in order to better see the action and details of each shot. This would hopefully elevate the film’s content and be more comprehensible for the first time viewer. I also would like to possibly reshoot scenes with certain characters in order to make the interactions feel more natural. Due to the tight turn around with the script, the actor playing DJ Ozempic was unfamiliar with his lines, resulting in a rather stiff performance that needed to be heavily edited in post. If we were to look into extending the duration of the film with more content I would want to focus more on the relationship between the two main characters, and establish their strong friendship so that, when they have their big fight, it feels even more impactful and devastating. The inclusion of more wacky characters and cool locations e.g. clubs, parties, parks would also help to document their epic night out and bring an even more absurd, eclectic tone to the film.
3> From your studio, reflect on an aspect of two other students/group’s media work on the website in terms of specific insights they produced about a key idea addressed by the studio?
The short film Trip Up, experiments with the comic theory of benign violation, as it combines the scary experience of an intensely bad trip, with the goofy antics of the characters, the end twist revealing that the disappearance of the character, Milly, and the aggressive Uber Driver where all in their heads. The film also uses incongruity and visual humour with its absurd hallucinatory visuals and kooky characters such as the pirate, whilst also captivating the audience through its cinematography. Their hybridisation of the genre’s adventure and comedy effectively engages with the studio’s idea that comedy has the ability to pair with any and all genres, and can elevate the film’s story. Rogue also successfully addresses the studio’s content. The film’s use of intensifying music, quick cuts, action sequences, and costuming/props establish the genre of the spy/action genre, parodied by the absurd main character, Agent Whyte. The comedy is predominantly seen through this character, inspired by characters such as Mr Bean and Johnny English. Agent Whyte plays with physical comedy and the theory of incongruity, as she goes against social cues and what is considered “normal” e.g. running up escalators and calling a payphone to try and use Google. Satire is also explored, as the film pokes fun at 2024’s current climate and culture, seen with the ridiculously long coffee orders, overly protective vapers and ridiculous Tik Tok dancing.
4> For the other studio website you engaged with, describe a key idea that you think the finished media/studio work communicated with reference to a specific example (i.e. a particular individual/group work)
The studio Visual Blueprinting asks the student to focus on visualising your story not merely as a textual narrative, but as a blueprint for a visual medium. The film COMITIUM explores this, using cinematography to evoke specific emotions and themes. The detail in its striking visuals, lighting and symmetry reflect the group’s effort and reinforces the studios idea of show not tell, with each shot melding together to tell a story without the need for dialogue or context. The film used visual language to communicate with the audience, utilising bare landscapes and bright lighting to establish a dream-like feeling as well as the placement of the hooded figures, paired with eerie music conveying a sense of mystery and an ominous tone. The transition from the field to the character waking up suggests the entire scene prior was a dream, only for it to then be revealed that not everything is as it seems. The film is able to present beautifully constructed tableaus that both tell an intriguing story and keave room for interpretation, whilst having the audience hungry for more.
