Josie™

At the beginning of Real to Reel we were asked to write a blogpost on our ‘intentions, aims and desires‘ for the semester’s studio, in which it has met my expectations. From a previous class with Rohan I had already understood what skills he specified in, and I was keen to learn from him.

I started off the original post with discussing how I aimed to obtain a wide range of transmedia skills, in which I did gain through class activities. This mainly included various styles of photography and documentaries. As I had not studied much photography in the past, it was very interesting to analyse these varying styles and how each worked to create a sense of a place or a person.

My overall aim for the semester was to predominately build on my practical skills, in which I believe that I’ve achieved. Despite not exploring the radio platform, I still worked a lot in creating a soundscape that could easily be converted into a podcast. My interest remains in editing, both visuals and audio, so I managed to edit Anxious Art to my own contentment. As I created, directed, filmed/interviewed, and edited the film, I feel as though I got to know each and every part quite well. I chose to film rather than create a radio piece as I also wanted to build on my cinematography capabilities.

Through the filming process, I was quite disappointed with myself as I didn’t manage to have a clear list of what I wanted to film. I felt the shots were relatively un-inspired comparatively to what they could have been, and my confidence doesn’t lie in camera operating as much as editing. Despite this, I did manage to gain a larger understanding into a camera that I hadn’t used before: SONY X70. With this, conducting these interviews has largely improved my ability to conduct an interview.

My original intention was to work by myself rather than in a group, but this plan had been altered when my friend needed a group to work in. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing at all, and the film still remained my original vision while being able to work on my collaborative skills. The aim that I had to think ‘independently’ and ‘master a platform’ had still been achieved as I worked in every role available.

The aim of Anxious Art is to discuss the connection between mental health and art from three individual artists’ experiences. We did not have a bias that we wanted to portray, rather we have let three artists, who suffer from mental health issues, explain what mental health and art mean to them and whether or not they believe it is connected and how one impacts another. In saying this, we wanted the artists to remain anonymous. We still wanted the audience to be able to connect with the artists visually, so we had decided that they could do so by seeing their artwork. Besides this, I had the intention of portraying the feeling of anxiety and unease through the editing of the audio and visuals together.

Personally, I am very pleased with how the editing of the film turned out, as it has really enhanced this feeling of ‘anxiety’, which was my predominate intent. This anxiousness is prominent within the first 2/3 of the film, where the three artists discuss their mental health issues and how it has impacted them, their art and vice versa. The overlay of sounds and off-beat jump-cuts work together to portray a feeling of unease, in which the artists are discussing in their interviews. I am particularly content with the editing of audio within this piece, as it very strongly builds on this feeling of anxiousness, while not being too overbearing that the audience doesn’t listen to what the subjects have to say. It also creates an atmosphere in which the audience are able to relate and empathise with.

In saying that, we did need to work on  pre-organising shots and camera operating. In this project I was strongly disappointed with the uninspired shots. It shows how unprepared we were for filming through the repetition of shots and shots that don’t suit certain sections. I believe that this film could be so greatly improved through having taken the time to get more aesthetic visuals.

Despite this, I strongly believe that we have achieved all of these objectives, as each artist overtly has a different experience with mental health and art that they discuss, all-the-while the overlaying and build up of the soundscape paired with intensely cut visuals has worked to create this feeling of anxiousness among the audience.

Collaboration is continuously a tricky obstacle – working with the right people and distributing jobs properly based on skills and attributes. For me, collaboration is often difficult if it is not with the right people as I tend to be quite a domineering person.

I originally had the intention of completing this project alone, until Brooke had asked to join my group. Despite the fact that I already came up with an idea for the project and had started to put it into action, Brooke was understanding and still wanted to join my team as we were already familiar with one another and have had worked on projects in past studios together. This familiarity with one another helped us bypass the process of needing to gain comfort around each other, and Brooke was already aware of the domineering/leading personality that I have.

Having another person on the project particularly assisted the film in regards to interviewing and gaining access to people. The interviews that we conducted were very personal and were done with some of our close friends, therefore being one-on-one assisted with this process and encouraging the participant to open up further.

As aforementioned, I tend to struggle in groups as I put a lot of the pressure on myself to do every part of the project (pre-production, production and post-production). Evenly distributing roles was a struggle for me and Brooke, although we managed to work it out based on capabilities. With me being part-time this semester and Brooke being full-time, we really struggled with a balance and we used that to justify that I had done a bit more work on the project. Despite this, Brooke was a big contribution to the film and I would have struggled to make it without her assistance and input in the pre-production and production process.

There were no explicit issues between me and Brooke in the creation of this project, rather we understand each other and worked well together. Although in the future, I do need to work to distribute roles evenly and make sure that each person sticks to these roles. I personally need to put a halt to being so domineering and allow more creative contribution from others.

Figure 1: opening sequence, rough cut version

Figure 2: opening sequence, final version

These 10 second sequences displays the rough cut version and the final version of the opening sequence to Anxious Art. A theme throughout the film is a repetitive shot of the poster that states ‘ESCAPE FROM HELL’ that we found on one of the artists’ wall. The intention with the opening sequence, and the rest of the film, is to make the audience understand this film is about both mental health issues and artists, while also making the audience feel a sense of anxiety and unease in order to portray mental health issues through imagery, sound and feelings. It is predominately through the editing process of the audio we have aimed to achieve this feeling among the audience, allowing them to relate and/or empathise on a deeper level.

The first edit (figure 1) does not exhibit the ‘ESCAPE FROM HELL’ poster, nor does it include as much of an intricate soundscape as the final version. The first is more clean cut with the shots, and technically flows a little better. Although, this is not a classic piece, and the intent it to create tension and anxiousness, therefore this flow does not enhance these feelings and does not work in setting the tone for the opening sequence to Anxious Art.

The final version (figure 2) is clearly much more fitting to the general tone of the film. The main difference is that there is a fade from a calming shot of cherubs on the wall to a darker and more intimidating shot of the ‘ESCAPE FROM HELL’ poster. This also includes a daunting sound that I had added that sets the tone for the film, creating a sense of unease comparatively to the first version. The colour grading in the final version also enhances this overall feeling of the exaggeration of emotions that is being displayed. In saying this, the final version is not perfect as there is a clear overuse of the ‘ESCAPE TO HELL’ shot in the film. Therefore, by using this shot so early on it could take away from the meaningfulness and importance of that poster.

The intent of my observational montage is to be portrayed as a love letter to Melbourne, Carlton Gardens in particular. This can be seen through the colouring, slow pace and aesthetically beautiful shots I chose. The colouring of this short film was intended to be whimsical, soft and light with the intent of a dream-like feeling, brought back to earth with the darker tones towards at the end – in which portray the consistently changing weather of Melbourne.

Although the main focus of this piece was to display the beautiful fountains that are embedded within the Carlton Gardens landscape, images of the wildlife, nature, people and buildings were incorporated as representations of the overall environment. My intent was to embed these other aspects as subtly as possible, such as the placement of the shot of the bird on the fountain after shots of fountains that were similar to it. This can also be seen where there green-tone shots of the statues on the fountain, which are led by the green-tone shot of the bird bathing in the same water – this shot placement was chosen by tonal-matching, in order for it to flow in between shots of various aspects.

The piece is a very much romanticised view of Carlton Gardens, as aims to show the beauty that lays within taking the time to appreciate every aspect. This is why the shots that I have used are very quite long and slow-paced, which is emphasised by the zooms or still shots. The slow pace was intending to appreciate the beauty of it all. In this a range of shot types were chosen, to further appreciate this beauty from both afar and up close.

The sound was very simply done, only using that diegetic footage from the first clip’s water fountain, although this really set the rhythm for the whole piece. The fountains are the theme all the way through, to emphasise the environment and the shots that have been chosen. The sound of the fountain running sets the pace for the film, as it is slow, consistent and peaceful – it is the sound of the Carlton Gardens and fit the images that were chosen.

For this Martin Parr inspired photography activity, my group and I chose to photograph bikes around Melbourne city, as they are a signifying part of the Melbourne identity and prove to be found scattered around almost anywhere. The photo of this “JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS AND ROSE AGAIN” bike (pictured above) is a specifically iconic Melbourne bike that can be seen in various places around the city on different days.

There are many other signifiers in this photograph – the most obvious being the sign and the bike as a concept. Despite the obvious, this photo captures the statues of the lanky business men which can be found on the corner of Swanston Street and Bourke Street. These statues particularly stand out as part of the Melbourne city landscape, as most residents or tourists has crossed paths with these spooky statues at least once.

For me, the milk-crate attached to the bike can also be seen as a signifier, as I have witnessed them on many various bikes around around Melbourne. It seems to be a very ‘alternative’ look, in the way that Melbourne achieves so effortlessly (you will probably find more of them around the North side).

Greenery is also a huge part of the Melbourne city landscape, as no matter where you go you’re bound to find a tree, small section of grass, bush or a large park. The city never looks like a complete concrete jungle, and will almost always have a pop of green in the background.

As we wandered around the RMIT University City Campus in search of a subject to photograph, my group and I found ourselves overwhelmed with people but with little opportunity that inspired us. Bowen Street was bustling with people – sitting in bean bags, studying in groups, ordering their food and coffees – yet we couldn’t find a single person that truly captured our attention or spiked our interest. Until we found her: Carol, a woman that was working away in the far less busy chip shop. While many people were ordering their lunch and coffees from the cafe nearby, this woman occupied herself with jobs in her one-man-shop that only really attracted the occasional customer. Her smile was bright and her persona was inviting – the fear of asking to photograph people had left, and her bubbly personality shined through the camera! Even when we returned multiple times to photograph her, she never seemed irritated, we were just a little embarrassed.

We walked up to her and asked if we could take her photograph, where she was quite happy to participate, stating that people came here apart of the uni to take photos regularly. She did not pose for the camera (until we asked her to later on – the third time we came back to photograph her), rather Carol just continued on with the work she was doing while we stood there taking turns in taking her picture. Despite there being a camera directly pointed at her, she was more than comfortable and was never distracted by the camera, not once glancing towards us as we snapped away.