Category: Recording Place

3 – A PLACE WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE

I have done a terrible job of documenting this class for the past two weeks. I only have now just realised that I haven’t even explained what our outcome for the semester is. In groups we are to create a short documentary on a character based from the Queen Victoria Market. It could have been a regular customer, a roaming tourist, or one of the vendors. It could have been anyone that just frequented the space and that we were able to followup again and find them again. I had pitched the Pack Up Robots as my most interesting encounter at the Market. These were the men and sometimes women who would disassemble the multiple tents and stalls that take up in the open space market area in QVM. I would have created a piece that followed a few of these people, probably shooting a time lapse of their hard work at the market and interviewing them later on about what their day job was. I wanted to explore what else they were aside from these monotonous machines who would come in almost everyday to pack the market up.

I ended up joining a group that found a woman who works the at the Lolly Lovers’ Confectionery. She was simply pitched as a female Willy Wonka and I just loved the idea of having that magical aura and image explored. There’s another group focusing on the iconic Doughnut Truck that most people would recognise from a visit to QVM, and another working to film a flamenco performance duo that appear during the Summer Night Market. I never realised how diverse the Queen Vic Market could be in people and experiences, and how it is such a place of Melbourne culture. There are Asian green grocers, and hundreds of visitors, local and tourists, who come in and out throughout the entire day. Even when I visited the market during closing hours there were still people making an effort to make a final purchase on a good bargain. Queen Victoria Market just had a life to it that I am just genuinely excited to explore and is the place where I hope to uncover some amazing stories this summer.

2 – THE MACHINES HAVE TAKEN OVER

I thought it would be good to share my first project brief here to help inspire me to write something for the class. Reading over it now I realise I dedicated a lot of time to the one man packing away the booths at the market. I can’t remember any specific details about clothing, or even what the stall even sold, but I just have this vivid memory of watching his hands and feet move in an almost dance. I think that’s why I was so absorbed in watching just him. Anyway, if anyone from class is reading this, than know that my idea for the packing robots has a few potential candidates, because if this one specific guy says no there are about 40 others who do the exact same thing.

Languages, keys, Vietnamese music reminding me of Footscray market, this is what greets me at 3:35PM on a Tuesday evening at Vic Markets. There’s just containers of things, people and vendors alike leaving to pack up, but there are others in no rush. 3 older white ladies are haggling on the price of socks in a European language I have no chance of understanding. They want specific sizes I think, and the vendor leaves to collect more from the boxes she’s packed away already. There are trucks coming in and out at a steady pace. One leaves as two more fight to take its place. Streets packed with white vans, clean, old, rusted; used. Everything is displayed in easy to pack away containers and these vendors all work methodically, robotically to pack them away.  A man selling sunglasses packs box after box away, looking out across the street, no longer needing to think about this task. A young couple walk along the edges of the market, tattoos covering their arms and sunglasses on top of heads. They watch and walk, slowly and calmly, no real interest in the organised mayhem that’s happening. It sounds like chaos in here, echoing over the steel rooftops and concrete floors, but as time continues on we lose the growing sounds and dying sights. From this loud chaos comes cleanliness, like the vacuum that sucks everything up. We hear the madness but see nothing but order. Neat Frames and boxes, Tetris’d into more neat frames and boxes.

The old ladies from before leave now, victoriously strolling along with their carry bags and trolleys. Their shopping for the day complete, and the vendor wanting to finally go home and reap the benefits of a long day of work. The final piece are being packed away. No people talking and young men working, taking apart everything until there is nothing left.

A young Asian man works hard taking down the frames that make up the market, the barriers are being pulled apart, no true care on his face for these boundaries he’s breaking. The only thing that distinguishes him from a robot is the bop of his head as he listens to music on his headphones. He wipes sweat from his brow and takes a moment to collect the right pieces that need to be put away. Another system in place above all the chaos. First the top pieces, then the smaller sides, the long walls and finally the bottom anchor piece that ties this marquee all together. He must know the order back to front and by now have done this over a thousand times. The ease and calculated comfort in which he takes everything down only lets me assume so. There’s a slow determination, like he knows exactly how long it takes for him to get everything done.

1 – WELCOME HOME

Recording Place with Rohan Spong: A Summer School Adventure

So I like uni a lot. Not particularly the assignments and stress part, but the community and socialising part. I like learning things and I love being able to keep to a schedule. It gives me a purpose during these bleak holidays where I spend my days roaming around the suburbs and never achieving anything.

This year I chose again to do a summer semester, specifically a summer studio and boy was I in luck. It was being taught by the lovely Rohan Spong again, whom I had the previous summer semester for my music video studio. Last time was scary and stressful. It was the first studio I took seriously and made an effort in. I was finishing my first year of university and had out a lot of expectations and stress on my outcome for the summer semester, but with Rohan that class was enjoyable and a breeze. I loved it and I love it now. To this day that class was one of my university highlights. Being able to focus on only one class gave me clarity and an ability to just be a student immersed in one element.

This time around I am officially a third year student. I have a few subject to catch up on but in this class I realise that I am now one of the senior students. I know more than mojority of the students, whom mostly consist of first and second years. It has made me realise that over the course I have actually learnt and grown as a person, and in this studio I hope to use these advantages and make something I can be proud of at the end of semester.

So here’s to 2017 and the studio to come. This has mainly been a reflection of what I think so far of the studio, but I wanted to use this opportunity to process my thoughts about doing a second summer studio and if I had to sum it down I would describe it as a rewarding experience I would love to try again. Summer studio rocks, and I am genuinely excited to see the final documentary I create this month.