I would have to say that the whole process was both familiar and unfamiliar to me. Being in my final year, I was familiar with the whole procedure of these exercises, however, I was accustomed to them not being graded the first time. The first assignment being marked adds a whole another pressure to making your work presentable, especially for myself, since I missed the first two classes. All in all, I executed what had to be done to my satisfaction, despite a few bumps on the road in making this first individual exercise.

My motivations were already innate, as I am an avid observer of everyday life. It was just the matter of presenting in a light that I wanted it to be shown. To me, an observation is describing what you felt or what you experienced during the time. The way people can connect to your experience is by inserting in your thoughts and opinions. That was particularly the motivation behind this. As for the intention behind this, I wanted the person/people watching to see the intricacies of my observation. For example, the close-up shot of the plant – despite being a common weed, I wanted to portray the little details that make it up as a “common weed”.

Through a close-up shot, there is a certain vulnerability to what is being shot, hence, getting to know the subject a little bit better.

The second shot was influenced by the fact that the first shot did not show the wider frame. Of course, there is a closer observation to the first shot but it is also important to see the wider picture. What was also different in this second shot was that there was a new subject, which was my dog. It is almost as if the first and second shot aren’t related but that wasn’t my intention at all but rather, to show the position of the plant. My dog just happened to be the new angle of this observation.

After I had transferred the files on my laptop, I realised how big of a difference there was with how it looked through the viewfinder and on my laptop. I was almost dissatisfied with how both shots looked but it’s not like they were completely unusable. I discovered that I hadn’t focused on the subject properly, the ND filter was off (I was filming outside) and the exposure was way off. I do have my justifications behind these errors but despite that, I still realised and learned from my mistakes. As I had previously said, this individual exercise puts you through a lot of trial and error and that was the important component of this assignment. At the same time, these can also be seen as a “happy mistake” because the “look” of the footage didn’t veer too far off from my aesthetic. It has a faded film effect to it which I usually gravitate towards to in my photos and videos. I didn’t particularly do any experimental work for this exercise, mainly because I had already imagined what it would look like. Although it didn’t go to plan, there were no apparent experimental processes that I went through in order to make this.

This assignment has given me an insight as to what we will be doing throughout this semester. This was a good warm up to the more in-depth observations and short films that we will be making. Learning the technicalities of this camera will also serve a purpose for me and peers not only in the studio, but in the long run of our media careers.

In our first lesson of Week 3, Robin divulged more into the technicalities of the camera, such as the purpose of the “zebra”. It basically had something to do with exposure and how bright you would want a shot to look. We experimented a little bit in class as per the photos above – it helped us navigate how accurately a camera could depict what our eyes see in real life.

Robin had a really good explanation about the aesthetic purposes of filming something. It’s all up to you whether you want to depict an accurate representation of what our eyes see or if you wanted to stylise or change it, depending on your aesthetic approach. For example, the white light reflecting off the pen in the first image can be controlled – it’s up to you whether you want the light to reflect off the pen in your shot or make it appear how it seems the naked eye. However, technology can only do so much and nothing will ever compare to how we see things through our eyes.

In the second class of the week, Robin talked to us about the focal length and the aperture of the lens. These were all familiar terminologies because I had a phase where I independently studied photography and film through YouTube videos. It was a good refresher from Robin and I also gained a little bit more insight from a cinematographer in real life.

Shallow Depth of Field

Great Depth of Field

Just like any theory, we must put them into practice, and that is exactly what we did – Ellie and I were matched up to test out the depth of field around RMIT campus. What I found difficult was operating the camera according to the aperture because that is one of the main factors that control the depth of field. At the same time, it was also what controlled the exposure of the shot but it did take me a long time to figure that there are other controls that determined the depth of field, such as the focal length. However, it is all part of the learning curve and through this, I get to experience the trial and error of film making.

Robin’s words of wisdom for this week is:

“Discipline is in the practice of observation – you should be making it a habit.”

I finally had the strength to attend my first Media class of the semester and it was Friday afternoon’s Translating Observation. Upon arriving in class, I was relieved to see a lot of familiar faces; people I’ve worked with over the course of my degree and acquaintances that I potentially have a chance to work with.

I walked into the class reviewing group work that I have unfortunately missed out on but it was interesting to see the work that was presented, whilst listening to Robin’s feedback and my peers’ own review of their own work:

Screenshot from Exercise Two

It has been definitely productive for me to watch these videos and view how my peers’ collaboration has produced videos like these. Of course, there is a brief to follow but seeing everyone’s creative direction all mesh together makes it exciting to work with them throughout the semester.

Moving on to the practical part of the class, the operations of Sony EX-3 were also an important part of the lesson – Robin divulged into the various operations of the camera like the ND filter, the gain, peaking, brightness and contrast. These were things that I actually already knew, but hearing a cinematographer’s explanation gave me more clarity. However, putting all the theory into practice is the most necessary part of this process:

Having missed the first few classes, everyone around me was already familiar with the operations of the camera which gave me the opportunity to ask a lot of questions. The individual exercise will give me a lot of chances to discover the little bits and pieces that I need in order to be fully comfortable with the camera.

Robin also gave some really profound advice about operating a camera – and even if it is just as little as operating a camera, it really stuck to me:

“It took me nearly a lifetime to familiarise myself with the camera. This information doesn’t come to your overnight”

… or something along those lines. The reason why this stuck to me was because it took Robin years to be comfortable and master the camera, whilst we as Media students only have three months to take in as much information as we can. So it is best to soak everything in, as much as I can.

I’m looking forward to hearing more life lessons from Robin!

During the first week back, I had unfortunately missed out on the first two classes of Translating Observation, so I have no actual reflection to present from any of the classes, other than my initial thoughts of the course and my two cents of what I have “observed” prior to this course.

Life before Translating Observation was already a life full of introspection, whether it would just be a random thought or diving a bit deeper, such as realising my purpose in this world. An example of this was my most recent travels to the continent of Europe – that in itself was a realisation of my position in this world, and within that trip, there were a lot of realities that I had observed.

An observation was how insignificant your problems are comparing to what people in other countries have to endure. The political and economic state of the country is what subjects its inhabitants to live the way they are living; litter on the streets, polluted air from all the smokers, cramped apartments – these are the little things we never had to think about whilst living in Melbourne, as it is one of the most livable cities in the world. Despite all this, people still continue to thrive and adapt – the disadvantages they have do not stop them from straying away from their identity. The French have stayed chic as always, the Portuguese never stopped smiling and the Italians continued to be charming. These were the little observations that I saw throughout my trip.

What I expect to get out of this course is a more refined analysis of how I would tell a story through the multimedia mode – the smallest of intricacies, a detailed observation, improved skills of how to operate gadgets and essentially, capturing the true essence of how I perceive the world.

I have always wanted Robin to be my tutor and this semester, I have the privilege of getting to know him better through his teachings and his helpful advice. By the end of this course, I aim to be familiar and comfortable with the camera whilst projecting an accurate representation of my observation and essentially sharing my viewpoint of the world.