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It’s always so bittersweet to end a subject each semester; you’ve bonded with the people around you, gotten to know the tutor a bit but at the same time, you get a sweet six-week break so woooohoooo! I can’t say I won’t be missing much because that would be a lie – over these past 12 weeks, Media 1 has been jam-packed with so many activities and lessons to learn from. You’re probably wondering why I’ve put Homer looking at the stars in the desert right? Well in relation to the conclusion of this subject, Homer in this scene depicts just that.

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This is during the episode Mother Simpson – after his farewell with Mona Simpson, he reflects on the stars. We don’t exclusively know what he reflects about but he stares at the sky all morning. I think there’s just something profound about it, with the way the creators have executed this scene. Through a cartoon that is usually comedic and doesn’t take itself too seriously, The Simpsons present to us this scene that captures something I can’t quite describe but maybe it’s about life? Who knows though, this is up for an open interpretation with anybody. With that last sentence, that is something that I have come to learn studying Media 1 – your work can be praised or judged by anyone, a reality that comes to working in an industry that thrives on feedback. I really like how I chose this as my final initiative for Media 1. This scene from The Simpsons is a nice close up to my first learning steps as a media practitioner.

Lyreca 🌌

Introduction 

The reading begins with how this particular school is struggling financially, hence it reaches out for advertisement as a resort to save the school. Now for my initiative within the reading, it reminded to me of companies using people online, particularly “influencers” to advertise their products through them.

(Kylie Jenner Source and Bretman Rock Source)

The reading was more on the negative side of this method, maybe because of this saturated industry of shallow advertisements and commercials? Here is an excerpt from the introduction:

From the perspective of a media practitioner, we can all agree with this statement to a certain extent but in order for marketing and commerce to be effective, advertising like the above must be necessary for businesses to profit and continue in their line of work.

Epilogue 

As for this part of the reading, it continued to discuss the marketing and advertisements within all forms of media that we consume. The reading points out a question of how business should intermingle with the media also with the question of when and where. I love that in this dense piece of reading, there was immediately a word that caught my attention and it was ‘clickbait’. I think the moment I had perfectly encapsulates what the reading was trying to demonstrate – how advertisers manipulate us with attention, with even as simple as the word clickbait. Well that’s my interpretation anyway.

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Youtube is a prime example of how our attention is being grabbed by exciting titles and engaging cover photos on the videos. The over-saturation of clickbait and essentially advertisements are facilitated by the advertisers that look for ways to profit off of creators. The concept of “killing two birds with one stone” may have been a good idea at the start, but it has slowly hindered the way people create quality content. That’s just my take on the reading.

lyreca

For this week’s initiative, I’d like to discuss Facebook’s way of delivering news to its users. Depending on what type of person you are, you probably like to keep informed with the world’s current affairs or you probably don’t want to get involved at all. However, if you fall under the category of a “Facebook user”, you can’t avoid the stream of news when it’s right in front of your face. You’ll know exactly what I’m talking about – your eyes just can’t seem to help itself and immediately looks on the right-hand corner – the trending news!

Now relating to week nine’s reading, it discusses the legitimacy of news sources and from my own assumptions and experiences, people (including myself) are now becoming more and more reliant on the delivery of news via Facebook. The downside of this dependency is that the news isn’t current/live. This may not matter for those who couldn’t care less though. I decided to do more research and how the ~algorithms~ of the Facebook’s news work:

And voíla! According to the explanation, it is not an actual news headliner but more so shows the “trending” topics that is highly popular. So what I’m really trying to say is: Facebook does provide somewhat accurate news but it’s more selective on the news it provides, which obviously caters the public’s popular topic/news/headlines/etc.

hmmm, that’s all?

lyreca

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.

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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:

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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 😶

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:

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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

While I’m writing this bedridden, I’m reminiscing about Friday’s night out and I only thought to put it for Week 5’s initiative. I visited a bar in Brunswick called ‘Bimbo Deluxe’ for a friend’s birthday and yes, it was my first time at a bar (I’m more of a clubbing person tbh).

I didn’t think much of the interior mainly due to the bar’s dimly lit setting, but one thing actually caught my eye. The disk jockey’s set – more specifically, the images/videos that were projected behind him:

I really liked the touch of animation in a setting of a bar. From one of my favourite animation studio, Studio Ghibli, the DJ was projecting the movie, My Neighbour Totoro. This is something I never usually see or expect in an adult-setting (aka a bar), as animations are perceived to be for children, which is obviously an outdated form of thinking, but seeing this nice touch of childhood was refreshing yet nostalgic.

Films like Studio Ghibli are something I hope to a part of, creating extraordinary ideas with unconventional characters – almost human-like. Whoever’s idea it was to project a film like My Neighbour Totoro, you are a genius!

lyreca ✨

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“She‘s a naughty girl with a, bad habit, bad habit, for drugs!” 🎶  

– Mr G 

I finally came around to watching Summer Heights High after watching Ja’mie: Private School Girl and Jonah from Tonga a few years back. Chris Lilley is one hilarious and talented dude – the switch from character to character was just so convincing that if you were watching a random episode for the first time, you’d think it was 3 completely different people. Watching SHH also took me back to my days of primary schooling, rather than high school (I related more to Private School Girl) because the setting, the mis-en-scene, the acting of each and every character was spot-on. The way SHH is filmed gives it a documentary-style, making it more realistic and therefore, relatable to anyone who has attended Australian schooling, really.

The relationship to Media 1? This is just an assumption of mine, but the three characters were probably filmed during different times, but the editing made it seem like Chris immediately changed costumes and switched onto another character in an instant. That probably might not be the case, however, the ‘mockumentary’ style (or rather the editing) gives it a continuous style of filmmaking, giving the audience an impression of one time space, that is, a full day of school.

I definitely recommend this to everyone who’s looking for a laugh!

Lyreca 💫

For week 3’s reading piece, it was a comic! Honestly, I dread every piece of reading, especially if it’s an extremely long piece of text. Of course, this week’s reading was particularly long but was an easier read because, well, it was a comic!

The intention of the author was to display different styles of storytelling (particularly in comics) and also our preconceived notions of the stories within comics, film, TV shows, etc. What really grabbed my attention was at the beginning of the comic and how the author tackled the concept of “perception of the world through the experience of our senses”. 

(Week 3 Reading: Blood in the Gutter, Scott McCloud) 

My interpretation of this from a media practitioner’s perspective is how we can use this concept to our advantage. As mentioned in the comic, the reader/viewer can use their imagination or sense in order to piece a whole story together. McCloud also dove deeper into this practice and compared the Western and Eastern styles, exemplifying the techniques and the differences between the two influences.

This was quite the interesting read and enjoyed the break from reading massive chunks of text. It also gave a certain perspective that I myself have never thought about before – it is how we dissect media and how it plants a message in our logic.

S t u d i o  v i s i t s : Uses of Photography (This week’s initiative)

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I’ve just gotten out of my studio visit which was a Photography class with our lecturer, Brian Morris. I actually found out it was 3rd year class when one of the girls I sat with told me. I was expecting a more competitive atmosphere when in fact, it was completely relaxed in comparison to my Media 1 workshop.

In terms of the learning and the delivery of the lesson, it was very similar to the tutorials I’ve been attending. I guess there was a misconception in my mind about 3rd year classes. Getting into the content, Brian gave the class an extract of the class’ reading – it consisted of different quotes and anecdotes from several authors, and mostly depicted the history of photography and its uses. There was a discussion of what an image can do and how it projects a certain message. Whether it’d be aesthetically pleasing, a propaganda or a selfie – what can an image present?

Moving on, Brian also showed the different types of softwares used to edit images. I was familiar with some such as Photoshop, Lightshow, Snapseed, VSCO, etc. The different techniques were shown and explained i.e. the saturation, the brightness, etc. I’m glad to see that each and every simple of step of photography was being demonstrated instead of jumping into the hard stuff.

In the future, I’d also like to get more opportunities to explore other studios to get more experience and outlook. All in all, this studio visit has given a better perspective on what to expect for my 2nd and 3rd year of this Media course. Bring it on!

(I only got 3 hours of sleep so I’m sorry if this sounds quite sloppy, I’ll sleep more next time I promise)

Lyreca 👐