“Is intention essential to collaboration?” (Adam Hyde, Mike Linksvayer et al, 2012, p.57)

Hyde and Linksvayer mentioned the “culturally based and context based” collaboration between opposing countries Israel and Palestine that exacerbated the tension between the two countries. Emphasising on this notion of a “context based” collaboration, how about the collaboration of two opposing views on a debate that do share a common intention?

PBS Idea Channel on YouTube presents this idea that piracy shares the same intention with actually purchasing the media text; by heightening the popularity and viewership of the particular show or film. Hyde and Linksvayer didn’t mention how P2P communities and streaming services such as Spotify can create a springboard for artists to showcase their talent to a vast audience. If the artist focussed on exposing themselves over earning a profit, well then that’s where the collaboration occurs in sharing a common intention.

Linking this back to the “ThruYou – Kutiman Mixes Youtube”, Mark Ronson explains how sampling music isn’t a sign of lacking originality, but rather a way of creatively incorporating an element of narrative into the song that’s being produced. Through legalities of copyright and so forth, a collaboration of sorts occurs where one approves of using their work to be part of another song. To be honest, I’m still trying to get a firm grasp of the extent to “how…we define the boundaries of contribution” (Adam Hyde, Mike Linksvayer et al, 2012, p.56), but for now this how I perceive it to be.

Reference: Adam Hyde, Mike Linksvayer et al, 2012, ‘What is Collaboration Anyway?’ in The Social Media Reader, Ed. Michael Mandiberg, NYU Press

Narrative is crucial to the story and is therefore organised in time and space, while being directed by causality. Specifically, Ivan Sen’s 2013 mystery-drama, Mystery Road explores its plot through causal and effect, through a chronological order, and temporal duration of weeks within a one hour fifty-eight minute frame.

The film introduces the audience to the murder of a young girl in a small town, and already a disequilibrium exists. In order to establish a stable equilibrium, the effect must be found; the motive, the murderer and possibly the method. Therefore, the audience are eager to uncover the events that occurred before the plot; before the young Indigenous girl was murdered. Ultimately, the film is from the perspective of Jay, the main character and investigator, thus the plot of finding the effect becomes the external conflict.

The internal conflict occurs within Jay’s life, in trying to rekindle his relationship with his daughter. This therefore becomes part of the story in order to motivate the character to continue his investigation. Again, the audience are aware of the causal; choosing his work-devoted life over his relationship with his wife. While this time, the audience are aware of the effect; damaging a close relationship with his daughter and his ex-partner becoming an alcoholic or exacerbating her addiction.

Overall, Mystery Road has an overall story duration that spans throughout a number of years, various locations, and several story events, an overall plot duration of a number of weeks, and a condensed screen duration of 118 minutes.

It’s that time of week again where Wednesday’s workshop begun with showcasing the interviews we’ve worked on for the past few weeks. In general, I was blown away by how everyone approached the brief in such creative and distinguished ways. Having sat with the people on my table for quite a few weeks now, I witnessed how their charisma and creativity shine through their subjects. Below I reflect and critique on their individual interviews:

Imogen

• It was one of the few interviews that introduced us with an establishing shot to provide context to the interview.
• Her mum’s answers reflect how the questions were well put together.
• Her mum was confident on camera and spoke eloquently. The dog was adorable too.
• Used the space and natural lighting well.
• Background music assisted in providing a consistent tone throughout the interview.
• The dialogue would sometimes drown out due to the open environment.
• A variety of shots could have been used to break the interview, such as a combination of dialogue and visual – b-rolls or overlay

Sarah

• Kris was confident and comfortable on camera.
• The setting of the interview in conjunction with the found footage really highlighted the controlling idea.
• Use of filters such as the black and white reflected his creative personality.
• I love the establishing shot of Kris against the white background with the title.
• Great use and mix of background music.
• The sound of the interviewee was a little difficult to understand due to being drowned out by the wind.
• The audio quality varied at some parts of the interview.

Reza

• Pacing was consistent throughout the entire interview.
• A great combination between the b-rolls and the face-to-face interview.
• The framing of Ali kick-boxing was well-thought and immerses the audiences into the intensity of the training session.
• The background music complimented the fast-pace of the interview.
• Really showed his personality through the interview and wasn’t completely serious.
• The image of him winning a match followed by a dissolve to black concluded the interview nicely.
• The volume of the audio did fluctuate from the start to the middle.
• Maybe a mix of different found footage?

Lydia

• Found footage integrates well with the interview.
• The framing of original footage was well thought out.
• I liked the use of two different locations for one-on-one interview.
• I liked the way you showed the title in front of a blurred image of your uncle. It highlights the controlling idea of the interview.
• Use of diegetic sound throughout the interview kept a consistent tone and pace.
• The detailed answers that her uncle provided reflected how well she constructed her questions.
• Rather than an establishing shot, the interaction between the interviewee and interviewer through sound established the interview in a unique way.
• Some the audio cuts were noticeable.