CCM: A5 PT 2

In what ways do you hope your exhibited work (whether individual or group produced) engaged its audience and communicated a key concern of the studio?  

My main hopes for my final exhibited work is viewers find it both informative and poetic. I aimed to create something that didn’t contain an overwhelming amount of information, a sense of hopelessness or that all is lost, but to create something that would perhaps enlighten the viewer. For those in my class, I know many of us weren’t familiar in the term hyperobjects, and I can only assume people outside of Climate Changing Media would similarly be unfamiliar with it. I wanted to bring light to something viewers may not consider. In doing so, I intended to be poetic and attempted to create something emotional, yet powerful.

Imagine you are going to keep working on that media piece (e.g. to screen it somewhere else like a festival, or develop it in to a different kind of work, and so on) – what would be the core things you would want to improve and extend and why? 

The core aspects of my project that I’d ideally like to improve include the quality of content and editing, as well as finding access to greater footage (or shooting my own). Although I liked my concept, I’m aware my execution was not as great as it could’ve been. Ideally, if I was able to work on this project more, for a greater purpose (besides being an assignment), I’d aim to spend a greater amount of time on finding and creating the right footage that illustrated the narrative. I’d also hope to focus greater on the editing. Realistically, I was pretty lazy when it came to editing, and I can’t help but wonder if experimenting with different techniques and styles would add greater value to the work and make it more successful in being both poetic and informative.

Reflect on an aspect of two other students/group’s media work on the website in terms of specific insights they produced about a key idea addressed by the studio? 

Louis Boffa: Out of sight, out of mind

Louis’ video on the irresponsible disposal of electronic waste honestly left me lost for words. The use of no musical score his work added a greater level of depth and sense of poetic-ness to the video. Without accompanying audio, the realness and rawness of what sounded like dietetic sound, the video became extremely immersive and powerful. I felt encapsulated and stunned by the visual material, and the lack of musical score allowed all my focus to be on what was in front of my eyes. Providing the imagery of how our electronic waste poisons those who are surrounded by it only further pushed an emotional connection. Louis was extremely successful in creating something poetic and was able to demonstrate just because we don’t see where the waste goes, doesn’t mean it doesn’t go somewhere.

Our Fashion Will Outlive Us – Cristina Ulloa Sobarzo

Cristine’s project on fast fashion and the waste it produces was informative, useful and most definitely provided me with a sense of guilt for my contribution to fast fashion. Understandably, in a capitalist society, it is difficult to not be contributing to such a detrimental industry, however, Cristina’s video highlights how we can move away from capitalist ideals and structures put into place. Whilst providing statistics, information and visual imagery of how much waste our clothing produces, Cristina is able to provide viewers with knowledge on a problem they may not quite understand or be aware of. Rather than taking a hopeless and ‘we’re doomed’ approach, Cristina encourages viewers to shop more sustainably, to be more aware and to steer away from consumerism. I found the video inspiring, motivating and encouraging to become more conscious of my consumption when it comes to fashion and clothing.

For the other studio website you engaged with, describe a key idea that you think the finished media/studio work communicated with reference to a specific example (i.e. a particular individual/group work).

I was assigned ‘Alternative Mobile Media’ as my studio to reflect on. After reading the description, I gathered a sense of understanding as to what the studio’s focus was, and what assignments would look like. I attempted to look at a number of the works, but I found a fair few were unavailable, requiring access to a Google Drive file. I opted for for ‘talkative’, a project by Caitlin. The aim of the app is to ‘transcends language, culture, race and geographical location’, and to ease communication through the applications instant translate feature. Targeted mostly towards migrants, the app hopes to make the transition to moving internationally easier, allowing for more communication and connection to their new home. Allowing this broader communication and breaking down language barriers greatly adheres to the studio’s focus on ‘the necessity of broadening the understanding of alternative mobile media is all the more crucial’. I thoroughly enjoyed scrolling through this studio website and understanding the mobile app industry. Caitlin has definitely been successful in communicating the key ideas and values of the studio. Alternative Mobile Media most certainly seems to be an informative and creative studio, and although not being something id personally considered looking into, I can understand how bringing light to mobile media studies is crucial in the media circuit.