workshop 4+4

Posted on 30th April 2017 by macorloncito

Like every other workshop, I was expecting another activity that involved the obvious – camerawork and software editing. But alas, there was no activity to partake in. Honestly, I kind of regretted going because I already had doubts about attending due to the amount of debt I owed to my SLEEP. It’s only appropriate to do this in dot points of course!

It certainly was a chance to fix my sleeping pattern… or in this case, my non-existent one, haha.
FEEDBACK: This is probably the only factor/reason that was most important to my attendance of Thursday’s session. As usual, we were required to present our work around the table, which I still find semi-comfortable in doing so. I definitely had to document the results of what my peers around me said (note – it’s not explicitly what they said but I’m going to format it in italics anyway):
– Introduction: It was a great start ✅ A great sense of who he (my father) is…it’s a great establishment of him as a person.
– Cutaways/Transition: Engaging and interesting, again, we’re getting a sense of who he is. In terms of the pictures (aka the wedding photos in SA), try and change the transition or the way I bring in the photos so it follows the format of continuity editing.
– Blackouts: It’s good because it gives the eyes a BREAK!
– This is my own critique of my work but I should fix the audio and how abrupt the visual and audio transition can be.
The feedback definitely helped me improve refine my video a bit more. It’s really great to get insight from your fellow peers who study the same course/content as you!

Otherwise, that’s pretty much the gist of Week Eight’s workshop! In saying so before, I did regret going to an early class (I consider 11 AM early) but after this mini-reflection, I’d say this workshop was helpful in bettering not only the final video itself but the process of making one. I’m very thankful and appreciative for the feedback! 💖

lyreca

week 888888888 lectorial, reading, my death (jk), etc

Posted on 29th April 2017 by macorloncito

The stresses of university has finally creeped up to me and as a result, my sleeping schedule is basically non-existent. I’d give a detailed description of what time I go to bed but that would just be irrelevant. Anyway, the reading! The reeeeeeaaaaading. I actually approached it differently to what I usually do which is obviously read it in my head but hallelujah for technology. I made my laptop read it out for me (please refer to fig. 1). I’d say that she has a fine Aussie accent with a slight difficulty to pronounce certain words. Hah.

(Figure 1)

Before I stray away onto another topic, I was quite confused as to why we were given a reading about Harry Potter until Brian actually explained it in the lectorial. However, reading a blog post (?) about an interest of mine (which was Harry Potter) was actually quite refreshing. Not saying that the readings have been bland but this is just one of those that peaked my interests, unlike the one about the animals… As for the actual reading, I knew Jenkins was talking about the actual concept of a ‘fandom’ and how it thrives and survives in our perception of reality. I know. Deep as f*ck right? He was reflecting on Harry Potter’s large following, hence why it even has its own theme park for fans to visit and re-live the world of the story.

Now relating the reading to the lectorial – Brian’s lecture made me think about the subculture of a ‘fandom’ and how it affects and influences. I’ve never actually reflected how large a following can get (aka a fandom) until Brian mentioned cosplaying and made me rethink – “wow, fandoms are actually crazy”. And now that I think about it, I think I’ve been in a fandom myself (oh god this is super embarrassing) and I’ve noticed the relations we make between the real word and the world of -insert any TV show/movie/cartoon/etc-. From cosplaying to fan-fictions, we try to make sense of the reality we face as a coping mechanism to whatever we may be facing in our daily lives. As Brian said, it “expresses who we are while trying to relate it to the reality of the world‘.

As for the editing segment of the lecture, the class was shown what the actual meaning of a “rough cut” and a “fine cut”. To be honest, I had no clear concept of what both those cuts meant and I simply just meshed the process of a rough and fine cut. For the next time I use Premiere Pro for a major project, I’ll definitely keep these two things in mind:

Rough cuts are when you assemble the pieces of story together, cutting down anything unnecessary.
Fine cuts are for when you refine the story. And what I mean by refining consists of colour-correcting, audio mixing and checking for any bits of tiny details that piece the story together. It’s truly the time to add in your aesthetic style.

🙂

lyreca

a week eight initiative post

Posted on 23rd April 2017 by macorloncito

Like I said in week seven, I’d conclude my thoughts on 13 Reasons Why, especially its impact on myself after finishing the show. The ending left on a cliff-hanger with another death of character, leaving fans to interpret and come up with speculations about what’s going to happen next. I guess that’s how people usually cope when they’ve binged-watched a series right? The show sparked both positive and negative reviews/responses and honestly, I stand more on the negative spectrum in the crowd of opinions. In fact, my friends and I have even de-briefed and reflected on character development, plot and essentially the message it gives. We feel that it doesn’t promote a very helpful message on teenage issues – it actually just worsens and deflects on preventing suicide.

(Source)

Now look, I could sit here all day providing resources, articles, tweets and comments about why this show is an unhealthy portrayal of suicide but each to their own I guess. It just doesn’t sit right with me, that’s all. At the end of the day, it’s the content-maker’s job to entertain – a show won’t get popular like this if it were portraying boring characters with real storylines. Eh.

week 7 workshop

Posted on 21st April 2017 by macorloncito

Week seven’s workshop didn’t really go according to plan as Brian would have like it because;

Almost half the class didn’t turn up and
Only a few people had actual footage rather than a rough cut, waiting to be finalised and refined into the final cut 😂

As for the people that actually had footage/rough cuts, each table reviewed their work and from what I witnessed (which I’m glad I did), I was actually on the right track as I had the same general idea as everyone else did. In terms of how the interviewee was being shot during the segment of the questions, I also envisioned how Alex and Ellie shot theirs. They did talk about some terms that I wasn’t quite familiar with such as cutaways (I actually knew it but I just didn’t know the right term lmao). Speaking about cutaways, I plan on having at least 75-85% of those in my film, hopefully. Back to the main topic – rough cuts! Like I said, I’m glad, I was able to see some of my peers’ work because it has given me inspiration, considering I’ve done NADA.

Now for today’s main event – the shooting exercise! As it is inspired by the White Gloves Festival, we had to edit purely just on the camera, SONY MC50. At first, it did sound quite daunting to do but once we got into it, everything just seemed natural. One thing I can say that was quite difficult was planning out the story, considering there was absolutely no editing to be done on our laptops. Despite the difficulties, this was our plan of action: wing it. Okay, jokes aside, we actually did improvise with a plan in mind, of course:

Shoot the necessary scenes and immediately cut it – there is to be no bloopers involved so, we did have to delete some scenes that had a bit of slip-ups and whatnot. Here is the final product!

Okay the cover photo of this video makes me look like I’m taking a sh*t but it is what it is. I’m not usually the one to be in front of the camera, seeming as I feel very awkward and shy around it. However, this video proved me otherwise and it didn’t turn out so bad after all. I think the message here is quite clear, that the character is pursuing to be happier and more confident with herself. Not only does the portrayal of this character encapsulate the message – the camera work contributed a large amount of effort. From my analysis, most of the shots were a range of mid-shot/medium-shot, meaning it doesn’t get too personal, and therefore leaves a wide, open interpretation/judgment for the audience. However, at the end of the film, the camera work seems to be getting closer and closer to my face, which is confronting to both the character and myself irl, but either way, I’m confidently smiling. Overall, I’m quite happy with how this activity/video turned out.

lik 2017

week 7 initiative post in two parts

Posted on 14th April 2017 by macorloncito

Soooo since Brian cancelled the lectorial (thank god but gws Brian lmao), he has instructed us to write two initiative posts in order replace the lecture/reading! Luckily, I’ve decided to post the reading so it should somehow meet this week’s quota of posts, hah.

The first initiative I’d like to talk about is my experience watching TV shows/films ever since I became a media and film student. Let’s use Jane the Virgin as an example.

(Source)

I’ve becoming more aware of the cinematic/editing techniques that media-makers use in order to produce the genre of a film or a television show. In this case, Jane the Virgin being categorised as a ‘dramedy’/romantic comedy/telenovela/etc – the show is supposed to follow the elements that make up those certain genres. Being a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously, the cinematography for example gives a depiction of reality rather than an “artsy” shot you would usually see in a typical Hollywood blockbuster films. And as for the editing, it is an unconventional form with a Latin lover commentator, a type-writer font (explains events) that adds a comedic effect and whatnot. The overall production of the show perfectly fits the story that is being told. Which I really like!

Now, for the second segment of this post, I want to talk about another recent television show – 13 Reasons Why. I don’t even need to include an image of the TV show’s header because you know exactly what I’m talking about. Its hype was well-supported by a media widely used – social media! From Buzzfeed headlines to memes, those were certainly more than enough to get me curious about it:

(Source)

But you get drift, right? This is a genre that is completely opposite to aforementioned show, Jane the Virgin, and they share no similar qualities, whatsoever. Just my 2 cents! From the photos I’ve included, I wanted to discuss the social impact or the “hype” created. Thinking deeply about it, how does the “hype” even begin? Is it because the show produced such good quality that it was enough to be raved and meme’d about? That’s the obvious answer of course, but it’s hard to occur to me because eight episodes in and I’m not into the show at all. I suppose it’s the mysterious elements that keep me at bay with the show, but content-wise, it’s not something I’d look for. I feel like I’m contradicting myself so I guess I’ll just have to finish the show to find out my ultimate opinion about it. In comparison to JTV, the production is on another level in terms of how it’s shot/edited (colour-corrected, for example) – it gives more of a serious tone, which is obviously how it should because the mentions of bullying, suicide, mental illnesses, etc.

Hm. This left on a confusing (?) note but I guess I’ll have to keep you updated on my next initiative post about both these shows, especially for 13 Reasons Why.

Toodaloo,

lik 😶

#7 – the reading

Posted on 11th April 2017 by macorloncito

“They are both like and unlike” – reference to humans and animals.

The reading is discusses the profound differences between man and animals and how animals for example, possess human-like qualities in a certain aspect.

How this relates to media? I have no idea at all. But what I can make out from it is that unlike animals, man is able to create idea, therefore man is able to create. And through media, it is a form of self-creation/expression that animals are not able to comprehend. This is not to diminish the ability of animals. In fact, animals possess a quality that makes them different from us – it is their detachment with worldly stresses and issues that make them, well, animals. In a way lack of self-realisation can be burden-lifting and comfortable because they don’t have to experience an existential crisis that we humans do. Nonetheless, this inherent quality that we possess is what makes us essentially human – this is why we are able to create.

lectorial number six

Posted on 10th April 2017 by macorloncito

I decided that with the two upcoming essays on my plate, I took the week off, meaning that I missed out on the glory of Media One’s lecture, week six to be exact. I asked a few of my friends what happened during the lecture and I felt the need to include their responses or opinions of the session because why not!

I also looked at Brian’s post to and luckily it has a multiplicity of resources and links to keep me updated –

Paul’s video lecture online: I’ll be honest but I’m not entirely sure what he’s talking about in the video but assuming from the title, it’s about being a media operator, duh.
The message from the video that stuck to me the most what being extra extra early than the participants you’re planning to shoot. For example, Paul said, always be three hours early if the setting up and preparing takes an hour. And the rest totally went over my head with all the legal jargon.
I guess I missed a crucial part of week six because I know a lot happens behind the camera and that is the pre-production, legal, paperwork kind of stuff. I’ll definitely ask questions in the future about it.
After an extensive search, I was unable to watch the video provided in Brian’s blog post – he hyperlinked the wrong link haha. But assuming from the title, (and a little bit of google research) it is about the evolution of technology or rather the advancement of technology – the world wide web. There is definitely a relationship with video the reading, discussing youth’s use of the internet and such.

lyreca

why do youth share so publicly? a week six reading

Posted on 10th April 2017 by macorloncito

The concept of public versus private space, is mostly discussed on the medium that is technology. The generation of millenials and X/Y experience a new form expression that has never been experienced before by previous generations. What I’ve noticed in the reading is that it emphasised the concept of “power”, making it a reason why youth “overshare” on the internet. The reading discussed the different roles teens and adults have on the internet and that is –

adult = power/the surveillance and teen = their form of expression/the challenger against the “power”

The reading could be interpreted in so much more ways but that’s my version of it, as I tried to condense it. All in all, my opinion of the whole topic is that previous generations have always been vocal about their expressions/opinions/etc but now in the new age of technology, the teenagers of today are the ones facing the the question of “why youth share so publicly?”

That’s that?

lyreca 🤢

media outside of media 1 #week6

Posted on 4th April 2017 by macorloncito

This week, despite all the upcoming due dates for my assessments, I decided to have a Harry Potter marathon with a couple of mates. For educational purposes, of course. I thought it would help if I could analyse the film techniques and apply the content I was learning in both Media 1 and Intro to Cin. Studies. And you know what? I’m glad I did because I saw the series in a different light (or shall I say darkness in this case) – I noticed that as the film progressed, the cinematography became darker in terms of the lighting. Take this scene from Half-Blood Prince for example:

(Source)

The colour of the film has pretty much been consistent, including times of suspense such as this scene, when Harry and Dumbledore were on the hunt for one of the horcruxes. Of course, in a cinematographic and a narrative analysis, something ominous is on its way, hence why the lighting is predominantly dark.

Linking this all back to Media 1 though, I reflected on all the aspects that came into filmmaking, especially the people in charge – the director, producer, editor, and the hundreds of cast and crew making the film. I referred back to the group activity we had and realised that this is why we are assigned to group activities at university – in the university, we are exposed to people with different walks of life and experiences, much like the industry we will be entering in to. Just a mini realisation I had mid-marathon. I pretty much downed the series in 2 days. Pat on the back for doing that instead of homework! 😂

lyreca

Lyreca's blog

My media experience from 2017–onwards

Monthly Archives: April 2017

workshop 4+4

week 888888888 lectorial, reading, my death (jk), etc

a week eight initiative post

week 7 workshop

week 7 initiative post in two parts

#7 – the reading

lectorial number six

why do youth share so publicly? a week six reading

media outside of media 1 #week6