Prompt 4: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/lauren-bisignano/2020/04/23/ccm-a2-prompt-4/
Prompt 5: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/lauren-bisignano/2020/04/28/ccm-prompt-5-political-and-poetic-climate-media/
Prompt 6: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/lauren-bisignano/2020/04/29/ccm-prompt-6-mediating-changing-climates/
Clark, T 2015, ‘Chapter One: The Anthropocene- Questions of Definition
’, in Ecocriticism on the Edge: The Anthropocene as a Threshold Concept, Bloomsbury Publishing, p.1-28.
Ecocriticism on the Edge: The Anthropocene as a Threshold Concept, authored by scholar Timothy Clark, breaks down Anthropocene and what meaning the term both means and withholds. Clark highlights the complexity of the term and relies greatly on the work of fellow academics to structure his description of the diverse and widely used term.
Clark acknowledges the complexity and diversity of the term Anthropocene, and reminds readers of the origin of the term. The ‘force’ of the term is most relevant to the impact of human activity and how it has ‘achieved an unprecedented and arguably dangerous intensity’ (pg 1). Clark goes on to illustrate how the term has shifted over time and place, these including ‘new contexts and demands – cultural, ethical, aesthetic, philosophical and political’ (pg 2).
Anthropocene lacks readability due to its constantly evolving definition. Clark encourages readers to consider that Anthropocene asks as to view life as ‘much broader scales of space and time’ (p.13). We affect the lives of those around us, whether they be in close proximity or not. The effects of climate change will not only last through our lifetimes, but of generations to come. Clark very much encourages us to realise just how connected we are to each other and the earth, and how deeply our actions impact the world around us.
Clearly demonstrated in his writing, Clark has great hope that the arts and media making continues to create that of an ‘eco-cosmopolitanism capable of uniting people across the world without erasing important cultural and political difference’ (pg 17). Clark pushes to unite art and culture with politics (pg 17). The idea of a ‘virtual’ crowd, to the eco-cosmopolitan (pg 17) suggests unity as a civilisation, to connect together, and connect to the planet. The Anthropocene has brought upon a sense of critical reflection, and Clark continuously refers back to the importance and significance of this self-reflection in our current climate.
The main ideas present in Clark’s writing include recognising the importance of imagination, connection to one another and the planet. Although acknowledging the power and strength art and creative work holds in a political climate, he also recognises its limitations. Overall, Clark is able to explore the diversity and different ideals and meanings the term Anthropocene holds. Although the concept can be complex and deeply intricate, Clark makes a clear attempt to break down each aspect of the definition in a more accessible and understandable way.
Hammond, P 2017, ‘Introduction: ‘Post-political’ climate change
‘ in Climate Change and Post-Political Communication: Media, Emotion, and Environmental Advocacy, Routledge, pp. 1-17.
Philip Hammond’s book Climate Change and Post-Political Communication: Media, Emotion, and Environmental Advocacy illustrates the relationship between media and the political climate. With a personal and anecdotal language, Hammond explores the possibility of seeing climate change as a ‘post-political’ (pg 3) issue.
Hammond firstly claims we’ve entered a ‘paradoxical situation’ in which we’ve created a society in which our adaptations and changes contour to the existing state we’re in (pg 2). Hammond questions the way we approach the discussion of climate change, and whether our representation of it is the cause of receptive issues. He writes ‘different discursive framing might be a way to politicise it rather than reinforcing depoliticisation’ (pg 2), brings forward a strong argument. Hammond continues to explore how tying these issues of framing intertwine with our emotional response. Together these create poor reception and lack of understanding and appropriately approaching climate matters.
Hammond’s consensus revolves heavily around society’s response to climate change, hence his exploration and mention of emotion and our issues with communicating climate matters. He goes on to explore how many in Western societies are not willing to shift from the normalities we’ve been accustomed to in our capitalist society.
Through various citing’s from authors such as Colin Crouch and Slavoj Žižek, Hammond explores how our capitalist society has allowed us to find comfort with the state we’re in, ‘boredom, frustration and disillusion have settled in’ (pg 4). Rather than striving to change, we’re learning to cope (pg 4). Hammond goes on to illustrate how our lack of action stems from the depoliticisation of climate change. We’ve come to a place of compromise, and we’re beginning to close off the possibility of change (pg 5).
Lastly, Hammond argues the significance of media in depoliticisation. The ability the media has to play with our emotions and strike a chord. Media has the responsibility to be affective, appealing to our sense of change and our emotions. The deep emotional connection is crucial. Using the words and work of scholar Susanne Moor, Hammond illustrates the importance of provoking the right balance of emotions (pg 11). As crucial as messages of climate change are, the emotions they’re provoking prove to be crucial in how the information is received and acted upon.
Hammond’s writing finds a balance in explaining the relationship between the media and emotions in the depoliticisation of climate change. The structure of the text offers an accessible and understandable path to understanding political and climate media through the past and in present day.
Nurmis, J 2016, ‘Visual climate change art 2005–2015: discourse and practice ’, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, vol. 7, no. 4, p.501-516.
The focal point of Nurmis’ writing is to discuss and enlighten readers to the role art plays in a constantly evolving climate. Nurmis significantly remarks climate art’s ability to engage the public and adapt to changes in society and climate.
Nurmis greatly references the works and words of artists and fellow climate art academics to sculpt her work. Throughout her piece, she breaks down the strength and significance of art in the current climate. Nurmis argues art holds great power in society, stating ‘works open up portals of perception that invite us to rethink familiar ways of seeing global warming’. Arguably in modern society art is playing a deeper role in communicating climate knowledge, Norms quotes Brecht in referring to art as ‘a hammer to shape society with’, something that shapes and moulds how we perceive the issue.
Although art has great strength and power, Nurmis also acknowledges its weakness, in that in order to engage audiences, they still need to withhold their own motivation and care (pg 502). There are systematic problems in the way audiences receive artworks. Some question the credibility of climate art makers. Questioning their carbon footprint and their personal impact upon the environment (pg. 504).
Nurmis continuously reminds readers just how significant art is in discussing the climate. Art is powerful, emotive and especially in our current climate. Nurmis states ‘transformation will not be achieved through moral appeals, but only through a gradual re-colouring of the way we conceive quality of life and progress’ (pg. 505), she manages to perfectly encapsulate the essence of climate art and its purpose. Art ‘can ‘educate the senses’ themselves, providing a space for imagining what can be done and what the future will bring (pg. 505), art opens our minds to creativity in how we can progress and alter our societal structure. Art has an ability to reach audiences in a different way to that of the scientific and other communication fields, art can create ways for us to mitigate and adapt (pg. 505) creatively, and emotionally. Art opens up a greater emotional connection to climate change, allowing for deeper reflection and understanding about personal and systematic changes that need to be made.
Visual climate change art 2005-2015: discourse and practice, overall gives an in-depth explanation of the value of climate art in society, and how the reception of climate art can play a heavily crucial role in how climate information is received. Art has the ability to ‘bring emotion to science’ (pg. 505), and make room for emotional motivation towards a better earth. Art is a form of communication that we should not under-appreciate despite not always conventionally being political.
Prompt 5: Political and Poetic Climate Media from Media Factory on Vimeo.
Honestly, this piece of work wasn’t my finest. Ideally, I wanted this video to be a reflective and nostalgic video aesthetically capturing the environment both in mundane moments and in its beauty. When it came to collating footage I found myself easily frustrated, and nothing ever quite fit what I was looking for. I had hopes the video would look as though it was shot on film, every shot carrying a sense of photogenie.
As I discussed in my earlier post, I didn’t want to be overly pushy and dramatic, I wanted to gently remind people what we’re working for, what we’re protecting and preventing from happening. My aim for this piece of media was to showcase a number of aspects of our planet and how the simplest of things hold so much value and beauty. I briefly mention the current situation with COVID-19, and how we should take this time as an opportunity to reflect.
Reflection is a key element of my media. I wanted to create something to remind viewers what we’re working for, why we need to care for the plant and how important it is we treat the planet with the same love we give to others. I attempted to find mostly cinematic and ‘aesthetically pleasing’ shots that captured the simplest yet most beautiful parts of our world.
I’m a nostalgic person and often find myself reflecting on my life and the way life was in the past. It’s something that stems from anxiety, I can’t help but look to the past. As much as this reflection and nostalgia for a different time can be negative, I think it’s important to take time to reflect on the past. We learn from our mistakes and actions and strive to change them. The same should apply for how we take care of the planet. We should look at that damage we’ve done and work to try better, do better and be better.
I don’t want to come to a time in my life where the acts of climate change are irreversible and I spend the rest of my life missing what once was. It’s not healthy. I know many of my friends and peers feel the same, we’re growing up in a world with so much uncertainty, and it’s undeniably unsettling.
Media is so crucial in educating and informing people. It’s important to not scare people but to remind them that we need to improve ourselves and how we treat our planet. We as a society need to become more conscious and aware of the consequences of our actions, in the short and long term.
The current political, economic and social climate we are living in is undeniably, quite unstable. Environmentally, we’ve been unstable for years, but in recent months, it feels as though everything has been amplified.
It’s impossible to ignore the current climate. Just after coming off a season of devastating and terrifying bushfires and floods, the entire planet is now experiencing a worldwide pandemic for the first time in many years. I feel a great sense of disconnect, both from reality, but from others and the environment. A large portion of my time is spent inside, cooped up and away from the world it feels like. The current world we’re in feels dreamlike, nothing feels real and I still find myself having moments of ‘oh, this is really happening’. I’m in a very fortunate position where I live in a first-world country, with my family, I’m still earning money and have access to food and necessities. However, the uncertainty and physical disconnection from everybody is certainly challenging.
Although this pandemic has been difficult to adjust to, it’s certainly allowed a lot of time for reflection, questioning and thinking. This can be both a good and bad thing. My mind constantly races, but now, there is so much more concern and confusion. What does this pandemic mean for society? What happens when we begin to overcome this? What are the impacts on the environment? Are people becoming more conscious of their actions and consequences? One thing I’ve noticed is how much the environment seems to be thriving with people staying indoors more. The air feels cleaner, I see more butterflies outside my window, the world seems greener and cleaner without humans littering the environment with their presence.
I’m someone who often seeks to find the best in others, I seek for their greatest aspects and try my hardest to focus on the good in them. I think something I try to do more and would like to intertwine with my media making, is looking for the good in the world. It’s really easy to focus on the negative aspects of the climate and to focus on what’s going wrong, rather than improvements (whether they be minor or major). I definitely struggle with focusing on the positives when it comes to life and the world, it’s a habit. This class has definitely had its moment where I find myself pausing during a reading or lecture slides because I realise the severity of our circumstances.
This pandemic has really given me the time to realise just how much I appreciate the freedom and ability to travel that I have. Prior to this pandemic we could go anywhere, do anything, and explore the extremely beautiful world we live in. I’m a nostalgic person, so I definitely reflect more than the average person, and often I find myself reverting back to videos such as these, pieces of film that reflect upon moments in time, encapsulating friends, precious moments and documenting the environment.
Adrian Bliss: Super 8 – 2015
A Super 8 Video encapsulating his memories from 2015. This video still remains one of my favourites, it really ignited my love for Super 8 and film cameras.
Will Darbyshire: Scenes from Summer
One of the best content creators. Will’s ability to capture the beauty in even the simplest of things has given me the ability to appreciate the most mundane things.
There’s no denying we’re living in a scary time, COVID-19 or not. The next 20-30 years of our lives our daunting, as young people, many of us are going to watch the mass deterioration of our planet. However, before we lose this beautiful planet we live on, I want to capture and document what we have. I want to motivate myself and others to try harder to care for our planet, to remind people of how lucky we are to have the world we have, and how losing it will be more than heartbreaking.
I think right now is the perfect time for us to all reflect on what we enjoy most about the world, and how much we take our planet for granted. It’s hard to understand and appreciate the value of what you have until it’s gone. Right now I think many of us are experiencing that feeling of guilt for not appreciating regular life enough until we had to stop and change. I want people to consider that what we’re feeling now will only be amplified in the years to come as we watch our environment deteriorate and decompose. We don’t want to lose those we love, and that should include the planet we live on.
Outlining your practice: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/lauren-bisignano/2020/03/11/ccm-week-1-outlining-your-practice/
Recycling Climate Media: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/lauren-bisignano/2020/03/24/ccm-week-2-recycling-climate-media/
Good & Bad Climate Media: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/lauren-bisignano/2020/04/02/ccm-week-3-good-bad-climate-media/
The 2008 Pixar film WALL-E, directed by Andrew Stanton, is undoubtedly one of the most memorable forms of climate media my generation had the pleasure of exposure to in childhood. 12 years ago I witnessed my first major form of climate media, and to this day it still has a lasting impact. The film follows WALL-E and EVE, two robots falling in love on the dystopian, destroyed and post-apocalyptic like planet Earth. Alongside the romantic storyline, audiences are given a glimpse into the not so distant future of society and the planet.
Above: Still from the film that feels almost too real.
The film illustrates the society we are slowly heading towards. Planet Earth has been inhabitable for 700 years, humans live in a spacecraft and one small robot has been left to clean up the mess we made. This mess is more than garbage, the mess is the destroyed landscape, lack of wildlife, flora, fauna and more. The purpose of this film is not to demonstrate how we got to such a dystopian place, but to demonstrate what will happen if we don’t take precautionary measures, if we don’t care for our planet how she cares for us. The film works well in showing these values in a subtle yet powerful way. Watching the film as a child, you feel a bit scared and confused as to how we could ever end up in such an apocalyptic like world, yet as an adult, you realise just how realistic a number of elements of the film are. The film quite heavily directs it’s blame on this dystopian society on ‘twenty-first-century-style corporations, individual consumers, and technology’ (Todd Anderson, 2012), which arguably, are the greatest causes of our planets deterioration.
Arguably one of the most powerful moments in this film is this particular scene, the urgency and panic of the President, and the quote ‘I don’t want to survive! I wanna live!’
This quote, perfectly captures how many of us feel now, and how many felt 12 years ago when the film was released. Day by day we become closer and closer to living the reality WALL-E depicts, and none of us want it. Each time I rewatch this film, I find myself more and more amazed at how powerful it was and still is. WALL-E is easily one of the most remembered and talked about Walt Disney and Pixar films. Countless times I’ve seen tweets, had conversations and been reminded of this films significance on popular culture and political media.
WALL-E is a film that gives hope, that guides viewers into realising they can make a change and make a difference. Being a film mostly targeted to children, the notions and values aren’t aggressively displayed, but intertwined with humans’ emotions, nostalgia and curiosity about the future. We don’t want to lose our planet, and WALL-E is a film that holds this dearly, drawing on our nostalgia (WALL-E: from environmental adaptation to sentimental nostalgia, 2009), of a planet we haven’t even lost yet.
As for a not so great form of climate media, the film 2012, released in 2009, is a Roland Emmerich film depicting the extremely dramatic and unrealistic future we had in store for us. December 21st 2012 was marked to be the end of the ancient Maya calendar. This end to a 5,125 year old calendar sparked a lot of speculation about the world as we knew it coming to an end. Roland Emmerich is known to have worked on a number of disaster films, including Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow.
My first exposure to this film was when it came out, I watched it at home with my dad, and being 10 years old, I thought ‘surely not’, but at the same time felt a slight worry that maybe the movie wasn’t too inaccurate. 2012 depicts an end to life as we know it. The planet essentially falling apart, the San Andreas fault breaking, mass tsunami’s, tectonic plates shifting, essentially every imaginable disaster at once.
The film has never really been taken seriously, and that comes as a surprise to no one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3wjQHtLsQ0
The final scene of the the film shows the survivors fleeing to Africa, which somehow managed to survive everything. You could take almost any clip or scene from this movie to demonstrate how inaccurate and dramatic it is. Understandably, the likelihood of tsunami’s tornados and shifting and breaking tectonic plates will continue to happen as climate change worsens. However, the extent to which they occur in 2012 is not so realistic. 2012 depicts the end of the world as one big event on or around one day. Both the film itself and the theories of December 21st 2012 being our final day depict an untrue reality.
The end of life as we know it isn’t just going to happen overnight. It’s happening now. Films like 2012 depict an unrealistic reality, as though all of a sudden we’ll go from a normal planet to a completely destroyed one. The film also makes out that after all this disaster, we’ll survive, be fine and go live on another continent.
The film in no way encourages people to be more conscious of their actions, it is simply a disaster movie scaring people into what was to come in the years following its release. Understandably, I don’t think this film was made to be a piece of climate media, however when reflecting on climate media I’ve interacted with in my life, it came to mind as a not so great example.
Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 2009. WALL-E: from environmental adaptation to sentimental nostalgia. [online] Available at: <http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/WallE/text.html> [Accessed 30 March 2020].
Todd Anderson, C., 2012. Post-Apocalyptic Nostalgia: WALL-E, Garbage, and American Ambivalence toward Manufactured Goods. Literature Interpretation Theory, [online] p.268. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10436928.2012.703598 [Accessed 30 March 2020].
WALL-E. 2008. [film] Directed by A. Stanton. Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios.
2012. 2009. [film] Directed by R. Emmerich. Centropolis Entertainment.
Other links I found useful in gaining understanding:
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/12/111220-end-of-world-2012-maya-calendar-explained-ancient-science/
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-guest.html
Jem Bendell is known for his paper Deep Adaptation, in which the above quote is from. The main point of his paper, and this quote, is to provoke a deep emotional response from readers. Bendell very clearly demonstrates his belief that climate adaptation is inevitable, and the society we currently live in will soon disappear. The deep emotion and sense of urgency Jem Bendell pushes in this quote can be quite heavy for readers, it almost feels like a personal attack, which to some can be quite overwhelming,
My main take from this quote was keeping a sense of urgency and emotion, but in a less intense and overwhelming way. I believe that often the reason a lot of people avoid or ignore climate media, is because it’s overwhelming, scary and because ignorance is bliss, many choose to ignore it.
I broke down the construction into parts. First I’d start with my base layer, audio. I usually tend to start with visual material, but for creating an emotive and informative piece, finding the right audio material was crucial. Audio is extremely powerful in provoking emotion and altering how a message is perceived. I avidly searched for cinematic and emotive musical score until I came across Farewell Life (fitting title) a song composed by Nights Amore and Arn Andersson. I combined the audio with Greta Thunberg’s United Nations speech, arguably one of the most well known pieces of climate media. Greta, being a young activist and voice for many generations, speaks fluently, emotionally and with great power. You can sense her strength and passion in her voice, and this passion sparks motivation for listeners.
I cut Greta’s speech down, ensuring I kept the crucial and most powerful parts and ensured I spaced them evenly enough to give breathing space, and time for viewers to take it in. When it came to the visual material, I spent a fair amount of time on YouTube going through endless videos for cinematic shots of the planet, time lapses appealed to me heavily as they encapsulated a lot of change in a short amount of time. I wanted to showcase the beauty of the earth and what we’re risking losing. I found mini documentary which included many beautiful shots of Alaskan canals and rivers, they fit perfectly alongside the musical score and allowed for much focus to be on the audio.
I wanted to include words, quotes, posters and visual of people protesting for the planet. I found using footage of students, like Greta, was most fitting. The Guardian, BBC News and 60 Minutes were some of the channels I found provided the best clips from protests around the globe. I tried to include the best posters I saw in these videos, the messages that most reflected Greta’s words.
As for the obvious blank spots in my video, I included them strategically after the feedback from my peers and Elaine. Everyone seemed to think the cut to black I had at the beginning was intentional, at first it wasn’t, but it worked. The cuts to black allow for audiences to see their reflection on the screen while watching, reflect on the content, their climate action and the state of the world we’re in. They allow for a short moment to really listen, think and reflect (as much as you can in a few seconds). Although the breaks are only small because the video is short, I think they work well in giving that time to process and begin thinking about your actions against climate change.
Given more time, I potentially could have done more professional or complex editing that added cinematic value to the piece, but overall I’m mostly content with how it turned out. I believe I get my message across in a powerful, but not overwhelming way.
A1 Lauren Bisignano – Remixing CCM from Media Factory on Vimeo.
Climate Changing Media is in a way, unlike the studios I’ve previously completed. A lot of my previous work has been quite ‘fun’ and practical, whereas this studio heavily relies on academia to guide us in understanding a major global issue. The tone of this studio is a lot more serious compared to others, but it’s hard to not feel obliged to learn more about something so real and important in my life.
Going into this studio, I truly hope to gain a greater sense of understanding of the climate crisis, the state we’re in, and just how close we are to an apocalyptic state. From what I know now, I’m expecting a balanced combination of academia, discussion and practical work. With such a complex issue, I can understand a lot of our learning will come from reflecting on academic work of many media forms. In this process of learning however, I hope to gain a lot of knowledge and skills not only from Elaine, but from my peers.
I believe it’s important, especially in media work, to be open to new perspectives and ideas. Each person in the class has a different experience in life, and each of may differ in how we feel about, or have been impacted by the climate crisis. As a media student, it’s hard for me to not enjoy collaborating. I know for some, they prefer to work alone, but considering my field of study and soon to be career, I can’t not enjoy it. I learn the most from those around me, and I truly hope this studio allows me to open my mind to new ideas, and to learn new creative skills from my peers.
I want to be challenged by this studio. If you don’t challenge yourself, you don’t learn. This studio differs to my previous studio choices, and I’m excited to see where it takes me and what I gain from it on a personal and practical level.
Mind Map:
This week’s Wednesday class had me cringing, crying, laughing and feeling all sorts of emotions. As a class we watched Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade (2018). This film has now most certainly become one of my absolute favourites. As much as I was frustrated with Kayla and wanted her to do things differently, I couldn’t help but see myself in her. Growing up in a generation so heavily surrounded by media and online media, understanding her awkwardness, poor social skills and angsty teen addiction to a mobile phone was easy.
The society we live in now is so heavily controlled and consumed by media, and teenagers are quite evidently the ones interacting with it most. Eighth Grade demonstrates a real and true reflection of the life that many teens likely live.
As for the practical aspect of class this week, I certainly did not enjoy it as much. The Zoom F4 recorder is more so a foe than friend of mine. I don’t entirely despise audio work, but I found myself being extremely confused by this equipment. The audio however did turn out quite good, I understand their purpose and why they’re considered ‘professional’ microphones, but I still have a distaste to them.
Personally for me I really enjoyed this weeks classes. The practical exercise we did on Wednesday is something I most certainly found interesting. I found it quite interesting how the two cameras had their distinct differences. Funnily enough, the Sony fs5 camera, although appearing more daunting and scary, was actually better and easier to navigate than the Canon 6D Mark 2. The controls on the Sony allowed for much more perfection in creating the ideal shot. ISO, Aperture, White Balance were all easier to control and perfect, allowing for an overall nicer shot (in my opinion).
I also highly appreciated the sheet Paul (or Brian?) put together. The acronym LOTA POWFENGER, although a long and weird one, greatly assists in setting up the equipment in preparation to shoot the desired scene/interview. The breakdown of the steps allows for a greater understanding of each steps purpose and significance in shooting and I’ll certainly be able to refer to this acronym throughout my media career.
Vlog 2:
https://youtu.be/yCCCi0OaLYo