CCM: PROMPT 12
Microcycle from Media Factory on Vimeo.
This project has undoubtedly been challenging. Getting started was my biggest challenge. I felt as though I didn’t have a clear direction for my video. I was unsure of the structure, exact tone and style I wanted to take, leaving me distressed and confused as to where to begin. Over a number of days, I gradually watched, read and researched microplastics, hoping understanding them deeper would give me some clarity. I watched a number of informative videos on YouTube, some of which I ended up taking footage from, and began shaping ideas for my project.
Understanding them myself
I had a moment when watching footage, where I saw this tumbling tube of plastics, it reminded me of a washing machine cycle, and in that moment, the idea of demonstrating microplastics became my vision for the project.
Trying to find footage of microplastics proved to be quite difficult. Many of the videos on microplastics predominately used graphics, words or someone talking to the camera. It took a lot of diving through to find all the footage I collated, and I certainly had moments where I questioned the constraints I chose. Not allowing myself to use any news footage was quite difficult, considering much of the available footage of microplastics was used in news programs.
Making climate media can be a challenge, finding the balance with emotions, and how to manipulate human response in a positive way. Nurmis highlights the stress and understanding of creating thought-provoking images and narratives that inspire change (Nurmis, 2016). Although my piece isn’t partially political, in my media making journey it’s been crucial for me to consider my tone and approach. An article by The Conversation discusses how the way we talk about climate change affects the way people think about it (Hendricks, 2017) and how this alters the reaction and response to climate media and climate issues. Emotion plays a crucial role in media, whether it is climate-related or not. Climate media, however, has a responsibility to play with these emotions in a way that provokes change and recognition of climate issues. My goal for my project is for viewers to leave from watching the video, and truly consider their use of plastic and how we as humans have built an inescapable cycle of plastic consumption.
My project illustrates the cycle of microplastics, and how they go from large pieces of plastic we use daily, to ending up in our diet. Timothy Morton is most commonly associated with studies of these ‘hyberobjects’, Morton reads ‘we find ourselves inside them, part of them yet not part of them’ (Morton, 2013), which ultimately defines what microplastics are. We are not these microplastics, yet we are in a society in which they are ingrained. Microplastics have become so normalised in product production, and we gloss over them despite their extremely detrimental effect upon our eco-systems and own health.
In the end, I think I was successful in creating something informative, and although I had severe doubts about my abilities, in the beginning, I believe I successfully created a piece of poetic climate media. Without using text, voiceover or news content, I was able to create something that visualises the cycle of microplastics. My project may be simple, and the editing may not be anything special or creative, but the most important aspect for me was educating viewers on the normalisation of microplastics and their consumption.
Reference list:
Clark, T. (2015). The Anthropocene – questions of definition. Ecocriticism on the Edge : The Anthropocene as a threshold concept.
Hendricks, R. (2017). Communicating climate change: Focus on the framing, not just the facts. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/communicating-climate-change-focus-on-the-framing-not-just-the-facts-73028 [Accessed 29 May 2020].
Nurmis, J. (2016). Visual climate change art 2005-2015: discourse and practice. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 7(4), pp.501–516.