Monthly Archives: June 2017

a written reflection of 800 words

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I) what you consider to be the most successful and problematic aspects of the submitted work

Each group member had their own individual sections to edit based on what we researched, therefore, I will be mainly talking about my part – it begins with “Despite hip hop’s positive and colourful foundations…” and ends with the chorus of Superbass – Nicki Minaj. For the successful bits of my audio, I’d say that it was incorporating the music + songs/interviews/sound effects with the me speaking throughout the piece. It was well-timed and matched perfectly with what I was saying, of course. For example, within the first section, I immediately mention the apparent sexism within the music industry and with the examples I have provided, the lyrics of the chosen songs go well with each other. I believe it is because these chosen songs were all within the same genre (obviously hip hop/rap) and were not too musically different.

On the other hand, there were definitely mistakes involved within this piece. Don’t get me wrong – I am very proud of my work but of course, there was a bit of error within certain parts of the piece that kind of irritated because it was extremely hard to fix – this is something that is irreplaceable in the realm of editing, and should have been corrected during the production of this piece. It was my shaky voice, occasional stutters and my muttering. For some parts of this audio, it was difficult to make out what I was saying half the time and I had to cut out sections where I often stuttered because it did not sound great in any way! So yes, unfortunately, this is something that could have been resolved during production but certain factors hindered the solution; my laziness and the time limit (as we have booked the room for only 2 hours). Otherwise, I believe my work/section is on topic with the whole theme of our piece – Where did Women in Hip Hop go?

II) how your audio work ‘plugs in’ to concepts and theories as raised in lectures, class discussion, and reading

As this project is essentially the concept of “our attention”, our group has decided to work on a topic that has been a big thing for past generations and is still highly relevant in today’s music scene. In terms of the concept/theories that we have reflected on this piece, we have based it off the audio activities we partook in during the workshop. The audio that we heard during the workshop (My Lobotomy) had a variety of texture within the audio – from archival sound, to the atmospheric sound, everything was there to set the mood. This is what we intended to do in our piece, however, our topic dealt with music and the only type of audio we could play around with were songs, instrumentals people talking and less about the atmos, archival sound, etc. We did not have to limit ourselves in that sense but it only made sense to stick to certain types of sounds.

III) what you learnt about the different affordances of audio-based media

This was a new platform for me to work on in comparison to Premiere Pro because I have already been previously exposed to video editing softwares such as iMovie, MovieMaker, etc. I did have little experience with GarageBand, but it was mostly for using the beats as instrumentals for my videos. Audition was a completely brand new experience for me but I have to say – it was so much more easier to use than Premiere! I was honestly worried when we were introduced to a new software very late within the semester but after having a feel of Audition, it was so much easier to use. Thus, I had more access and ability to a more creative piece, without the stress of having to figure a whole new language, pretty much. I was also expecting recording the audio to be a breeze, but it was so much more harder than expected – like I previously said, I muttered, stuttered and was nervous! Getting to know the process and the “different affordances of audio-based media” was a challenging yet fun process to be a part of.

IV) and what you learnt in the making process about collaboration that might be relevant to your broader development as a media practitioner.

As my first ever collaboration in Media, I was privileged to be grouped with like-minded individuals so there wasn’t much conflict when it came to the brainstorming of ideas and the creation of the work. We all agreed when it came to editing the work and also tried to work around the constraints of the word. I have to say, a 7-8 minute piece is definitely not enough – this is the only thing that challenged us together as group members but otherwise, I have learnt a lot being in a group, which is helpful to my development as a media practitioner.

lik

workshop 11

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https://soundcloud.com/lyreca-cee/short-attention-span

Write a reflection of what you learnt about the audio editing process. What worked? What didn’t? What do you need to practice more and why? What will help with your final collaborative project?

What worked in our favour was the collaboration of ideas and teamwork, essentially. What didn’t work however was the fact that our h2n zoom was FUCKED. Excuse me for the terrible language but you’ll know what I’m talking about once you’ve heard the audio. I had to jack up the volume to its highest on Audition whilst editing. In terms of practice, it’s really just about having patience and better time management with the program. With the collaborative project, it’ll help us strengthen our bond as a team and of course, expand our technical skills with this newly introduced program, Audition! It’s not much of a headache Premiere Pro, I’ll say that.

lyreca

 

the final lectorial #12

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My commentary on this graph: The only thing standing out from this graph is the pink colour which is the CONCEPTUAL part of learning. It’s obviously not on par with the corresponding colours and here is the reason: entering this course, I had no experience with learning the concept of media, thus the conceptual process of  my learning was quite low. As you can see, in goes down in week 3 as the course starts to dive deeper in that part. Otherwise, my technical skills, my way or working/learning and my practice have developed throughout the duration of this course. I have also had ‘lightbulb’ moments in the middle of this course. That is when I’ve finally come to terms with the several requirements of the course and obviously had to work around those. This all comes in with my experience with Premiere Pro and my passion for media (practice).

What and how did you learn that you think was really valuable?

One of the most valuable aspects I learnt in this course was the technical skills we were taught: this came in with the technology we were introduced with such as downloading and purchasing Adobe Creative Cloud, getting to know the Sony MC50 camera and of course, working with little bits and piece of equipment such as the h2N zoom. Getting to know the technical components of media has definitely helped me express my creative outlet and producing something beautiful. Of course, I had a few setbacks with this part but all in all, the yellow bit in my graph has progressed very well!

Also, this course has strengthened the aspect of ‘practice’ for me. Like all the students in this course, we are all passionate (well, I hope we all are) and looking for a platform to express our ideas, thoughts and notions of the world. Learning different theories and practices within this course only further emphasised my reflections, craft, skill and finally, my desire to contribute to society and the world. In my first ever post, I mentioned a similar thought about Media 1.

What did you find the most challenging about the course?

I’ll be brutally honest here but there were some parts during this course where I struggled to express myself mainly due to the type of learning style – yes, it was a typical teacher to class environment and therefore, your opinions and work were out in the open which is why I mostly kept to myself during class discussion. Ever since high school, I’ve never really been an outspoken individual which is why this type of learning style only made it more to difficult for my ideas to be heard. Of course, this is on me as a person too and I must improve my confidence.

Finally, I found it very difficult to show my work around my peers because again, it was the type of environment where you were vulnerable to people you didn’t really know well, mainly because I had to show them a side of me that I barely show to my close friends and family. I would tend to sweat, blush and get nervous whenever I were showing them a video. This however, has obviously improved throughout the 12 weeks of the course and I’d say, despite my uneasiness with this type of learning process, it has helped become open and critical to my own work, making sure it is the best of quality.

What have you discovered about your own creative practice as a media maker?

Basically, what I’ve said for the other two questions – my technical skills and receiving criticism. The only thing I haven’t mentioned so far from my graph is the blue part which is ‘way of working/learning’. The two skills that I have mentioned before go into this process of working/learning because once I got to know these skills, my way of working and learning significantly changed. I’m not going too into it, because this progress has already been apparent in my work and my blog posts. I hope it’s noticeable!

thank you for reading as always,

lyreca 🌙