In the entire universe we are the ones to tell stories.

For some reason I wrote this down during Adrian’s talk and it has stuck with me for a few days now. Media is entirely useless without us human beings giving it meaning and yet he also asked us to look at media as a thing without meaning. It was a strange speech and to be honest I couldn’t really follow with most of it, but it did get me thinking about the purpose of us creating media.

I was also pleasantly surprised to be thinking about Rene Descartes so soon after completing Year 12 psychology. Thinking about thinking was never something I wanted to revisit but it did get me thinking. The whole idea of thinking is impractical because it is only doing that is perceivable. For all we know some people don’t actually think and just do, while others can only think and can’t do. It also acted as a nice motto for myself, thinking needs to lead to and action which can only then lead to a completed task. I tend to find myself planning and mulling over things I need to do instead of actually doing them. The procrastination just comes naturally to me, but with all this theory in practice talk I have begun to get some of my mojo (jojo) back.

 

Liam’s talk personally was much more entertaining, simply because of my fascination with editing and the endless possibilities it gives us. Although I am a terrible editor, I enjoy witnessing its effects immensely and am a true sucker for almost all forms of cuts, transitions and montages. In fact montages is a movie guilty pleasure of mine, any film can have a montage and I would enjoy it no matter what. But Liam’s talk got us to explore the ideas and concepts behind editing, and understand how it can only be effective due to out social and historical backgrounds. Context is everything in editing, and a simple cut has no power until society gives it its meaning. For example when you this you know it’s a chair. But at its most basic form it is actually just pieces of wood connected with metal pieces that interlock into each other. Even breaking that down, it’s a bunch of atoms in the shape of something that we as a society have chosen to call a chair. If we sent this chair back to the Triassic period I don’t think that dinosaurs would know their backsides are meant to be placed upon it. Heck half the time pets just tear it up and stand on top of objects that we understand to be things you’re supposed to sit on, but that’s only because it’s something we were taught through society. This is just my way of interpreting what Liam said about understanding the context that has already been established for objects and ideas, and build upon those to create a story.