Tag Archives: lyreca task 4

Final Reflection for Seeing the Unseen

Posted on by
Reply

My studio experience: 

Reflecting back from the start of the semester, I only had a vague idea of what noticing was supposed to be until I had to go through four of the assessments that were assigned to us. Through the tasks that were given to us by Hannah, I was able to develop the skill of noticing both consciously and subconsciously.

From Mason’s reading, he states that intentional noticing occurs through a professional setting such as teaching a lesson, a lecture, a workshop with effort exerted throughout every session where you practice noticing. This reading taught us the art of noticing and how one’s state of mine should be whenever we are noticing certain things – from places, the environment around to the most minuscule of things such as dust, insects, the way the light reflects on objects, etc. Essentially, Mason’s reading iterates that in order to notice, you must improve and enhance your sensitivity to your own gestures, postures whilst also converting your development into research and putting that research to practice. As I can recall from our first ever class discussion, the question was raised about how we can develop the skill of purposefully noticing and if I can recall correctly, some of these suggestions included:

  • Consciously practising it every day  – this can be through photography, videography, etc
  • Research – online, offline, reading
  • Taking notes of your own observation of the world, whether it would be on your phone, notebook, anything

Through these methods, I slowly but surely applied these techniques to my work but the guidelines from the assessment tasks and the weekly tasks also assisted in my journey of noticing. One task that stood out to me, in particular, was from Assesment Three’s Experiments in Noticing. The task was segregated into three parts which, therefore, forced you to really see the bigger picture as you progressed from the first part of your experiment to the third and final part. As I used different mediums throughout the experiment, these were one of my epiphanic moments of realising the different levels of noticing – since I compiled my video and images into collages in Experiment II and Experiment III, this gave a completely different outlook on seeing the environment around me. especially when there are images side by side, allowing you to compare the similarities and differences between both.

Because of this experience, noticing has become a skill that is both beneficial and meddlesome depending on the situation that you want to apply noticing. For example, when making creative media such as music, videos, photographs, noticing becomes a handy skill to have because it allows your future audience to let them see what you saw, what you heard and ultimately, what you felt. That is one of the many perks of noticing. However, constantly notcing and putting effort into insignificant things may place a certain amount of stress on yourself and could even distract your from your daily life such as meditation, other works that do not require noticing, etc. There is an undefined rule about where you should place your energy into noticing but essentially, you should be able to ALSO practice directing the energy of noticing. It is not just about practicing the sole activity but also where you project this skill and how you would be able to switch it on or off. All in all, this my personal and circumstantial experience with noticing so yes, noticing can be an exclusive activity because you are using your own willpower to see the unseen.

My own performance in the studio: 

From having absolutely no knowledge of how to notice to becoming a full-fledged noticer when creating media, the timeline in between suggests that my performance in the studio is something like this:

And it just continues growing as long as I keep making media. Starting with the first ever, unmarked assessment, I did not do too well because of my lack of knowledge and research – I could not express myself too well because I was not used to the language of seeing things that were not supposed to be seen. Usually, it would be right in front of me to analyse and easily detect but in this studio, I had to analyse and write about things I could not see. Hannah’s feedback from Task 1 was the specificity of my work – I did what was supposed to be done but when it came to elaborating the processes of what I had done, it was quite difficult to get through a whole paragraph without having to pause. However, this was easily solved because the more readings Hannah gave to us, the more knowledge I could pour out onto my work and the more that I could also express about noticing.

When it came to the second assessment task, I became more familiar with the communication of noticing and discussing the processes of my work. However, my old habits were still around to creep on my work and had the same issue of being a “little too broad and not specific enough to the aims of this studio”. I would still need to continue reading and researching a little bit more about noticing and what it is I need to do in order to be more specific and very detail-oriented.

One of my recent feedbacks from Hannah was from Task Three – this time I made sure to be elaborate and meticulous to every aspect of my work. Because of that though, I had mistakenly forgotten the point of the studio and that was to notice the unseen. I was too invested in discussing the details of my experiments that I forgot that this experiment was about noticing and did not state what I learnt from seeing the unseen. Hannah states in the feedback that I do not clearly outline what I learn about noticing through doing these activities – for example, I could have further elaborated the distinctions between human and nature and compare my analysis/experiences of it to other people’s work.

The feedback that I have received from my peers and Hannah have all contributed to how well I performed in this studio – it has been a tremendous help to my growth and knowledge of how one should notice. We all have different methods to notice and the collaboration of ideas has definitely benefitted me. The constructive criticism has also pushed me to further perfect my own work and improve on what needs to be improved. Overall, I would say that my performance in Seeing the Unseen has been smooth sailing without too many setbacks – I have come to an understanding of what noticing should be about and that there are many approaches to notice.

The success of my final project to the noticing processes that I have used: 

Looking back at my first post for Task 4, I wrote out the ‘biggest things’ into a list in order to clearly organise my thoughts:

– Being able to notice and differentiate man and nature and I would like to be able to notice not only its physical appearance but its intrinsic value as part of the environment that we surround ourselves with, whether it be the city or nature

This assignment has helped me understand the difference between humans and nature; by separating the natural and unnatural into videos, it is easily comparable to each other in terms of the length, the type of objects/sceneries I filmed, the pacing, etc. By purposefully noticing humans, nature, human structures, plants, trees, etc, this has aided me in seeing the difference between man and nature. I also took an extra step in making sure that I not only catch the physical appearance but the components of what makes it up as human and nature – its intrinsic value in society.

Artworks and inspirations have also contributed to this process – I recently went to visit Hokusai’s exhibition at the NGV and found a passage that was relatable to my current work:

This is in regards to the “Great Wave of Kanagawa”, where you can see the nature overpowering the men in the boats. My work may not be exactly equal to Hokusai’s greatest masterpiece but we both had the same thoughts on nature and man’s differences. Essentially, what I found out about nature and man is that they both have their own features of existing in their immediate environment. For example, I walk with my dog in the video but the grass continues to stay still, unmoving and untouched.

My work allows this happen by enabling me and the audience to compare the video to the next. As I said before, the physical appearance and the instrinsic value of man and nature are both important in this process of seeing what cannot be seen by the naked eye – one must see it through careful analysis emotionally, too.

– Focusing on one aspect of an environment rather than moving around

Because this was one of the comments that I received from Task 3’s panel and Hannah’s feedback, I questioned myself why I moved around. Was it necessary? What was its purpose? Realising that I ultimately had no substantial reasoning for this, I decided to make frames and shots as still as possible without any movements. Obviously you can still see some shakiness from some of shots but in comparison to my videos from Task 3, there are less movements to see from the videos in Task 4. The power of editing allows my work to be still as possible from cutting the frames I deem shaky and using effects such as Warp Stabiliser from Premiere Pro.

The ultimate question for both these dot points is: has this project allowed you to know what you wanted to know? How? What else did you learn through the process? I would definitely answer wholeheartedly with a yes because both of “biggest things” for Task 4 has been achieved for me through the processes I went through in order to create the final product. The most important thing for me was to see the differences between and man and I was able to do through inspirations from other artworks who have changed the world – my video’s same purpose as Hokusai’s Great Wave of Kanagawa is just the first step to make my audience see the world differently. Through this final assignment, I have single-handedly grasped noticing through non-fiction whilst also making media through non-traditional methods. Non-fiction, non-traditional methods and inspiration from other works have allowed me to see and make a commentary about man versus nature.

Lyreca.

Unnatural

Posted on by
Reply

This time around, I decided to separate my Unnatural video according to the locations that it was taken. These are the locations in the following order:

  1. My home in Deer Park with my dog, Walter
  2. RMIT University
  3. The tram line along Swanston Street
  4. Flinders Street Station
  5. Brunswick: a brunch called ‘Sweet Evelyn’, a bakery in Brunswick West, Clifton Park
  6. My local park in Deer Park, Robert Bruce Reserve
  7. The Shrine of Remembrance and the Arts Precinct

The reason for this creative difference between the Natural and the Unnatural video is because of the difference in the amount of time I noticed the unnatural – I gravitated more towards filming and noticing people, buildings, structure and pretty much anything that is man-made. This is because there is already an inherent unnatural aspect in me as a human. 

When structuring my video, I made sure to categorise according to the places I took whilst also alternating between moving objects (humans, animals, machines, vehicles) and inanimate objects such as buildings, playground sets, etc. This was done in order to differentiate the variety of unnatural around us and that it comes in all different shapes and sizes. Coming from a creator’s perspective, I know that there is structure among the video, however, if an outsider audience were to watch it, it would appear as unstructured and almost random – it would be almost hard to grasp the concept of the video and its meaning. If comparing it to any previous works throughout the course, the videos pacing is almost similar to Joris Iven’s work, Regen (Rain, 1929). A more modern example is from Sofia Marramá’s Ruhr, with the movement of the tree branches being the main form of change throughout the video for long periods of time. Both works from Iven and Marramà’s is comparable to most parts of my video except with a few personal alterations of my own.

Throughout this piece, you can see a lot of movement and unpredictability of what these objects might do – an example is a girl giving the finger at the time frame of 1:55, an action that I only found out recently when I was editing the video. As for movement, an example is the change of speed at the time frame of 1:42, when I increase the video’s speed. Through this approach, it is easier to see the environment around the unnatural object (me and my dog) and how nature moves in its own way. These movements include the tree branches and leaves getting swayed by the wind and my dog’s movement because of his active attention span. Therefore, movement and unpredictability go hand in hand with each other, especially in the element of being “unnatural”. After all, the meaning of unnatural (according to Google’s definition) is “contrary to the ordinary course of nature; abnormal”. Again, the movement and the unpredictability also relates to another important aspect of the video – colour. I am not talking about the existing colours of the unnatural but rather the artificial and edited colour filter over the whole video – Fuji Eterna 250D 2359 Preset from Premiere Pro. My reasoning behind using this is to enhance the aesthetic value but also give myself a different perspective on how to see the unnatural. I did not need to do this for the Natural video because it is supposed to be natural and unchanged (in my opinion) but in this video’s case, I decided to fabricate the raw perspective of the colour but not too artificial to the point where one would not be able to notice the original version from the edited version. Using different filters and colours helps me notice the unseen features of our world.

Recording, compiling and editing all assisted in my journey to see the unnatural characteristics of our world, especially when it came to seeing how the unnatural moves in certain environments, whether it would be surrounded with its own kind or against natural spaces. Using examples showcased throughout the semester has also definitely helped in the process of creating this video – the long pauses in one location were an inspiration into taking our time to see what usually cannot be seen or when someone does not have enough patience to see the unseen. Unlike the Natural video, this requires more attention to detail and patience which is one of the original practices of noticing – rather than making it user-friendly to the audience (and to myself too), this video forces you to see it, watch it and absorb the story/information from the video. Through this final work, it brings me back to the basics, what I have initially learned from the start of the semester, resulting in a simpler, final product. That is what noticing is about – patience, simplicity and effort.

Lyreca.

Natural

Posted on by
Reply

My Natural video includes components of primarily nature, whether it be surrounded by other external forces that are not categorised as nature or purely nature itself. There are going to be a lot of things I am going to mention about my ‘natural’ video so without any further ado, let’s get into it!

Man and Nature interaction, Part I:

Influenced from my previous work in Task 3, I decided to compare the two footages I have of me walking with my dog, Walter.

  • The first footage on the left, was a result of the camera setting left on auto focus. It did not bother me too much because I wanted to capture some closer aspects of nature and that included the grass around us. With the blurred out background of me walking, the focus on the dried and somewhat green grass, it reinforces the importance of nature and that it will ultimately surround us. However, the unnatural will still coexist with natural, hence the background of myself and Walter.
  • The video on the right is the opposite of the left, with the focus of the foreground. This time, I made sure to focus on the greater areas of the location because it still displays the more features of the nature that surrounds us such as the trees, more grass and the sky. At the same time you can also see me walking and the houses around the park.  Again, it emphasises the coexistence of us and nature, coming to a full circle with both the videos on the left and right.

Change of Colour effect on Premiere Pro, Part II:

I took the suggestions from the feedback into consideration, and used the effect on Premiere Pro called the change of colour where you pick a certain object, for example, a black figure and change into any colour of your choice. As a result, all of the colours that are black within the chosen video will all turn into the colour that you choose.

Initially, I was only aiming for a single object of the video to change colour but because I was not familiar with this edit, it actually turned all the black colours around into white. Like I said, I solely wanted that one object to turn white, but the effect worked in my favour – it gave a distorted effect and a hyper-unrealistic effect. The isolation of an unnatural aspect of the natural area stands out and is a proof of how nature is grand and the unnatural is living in nature’s space, but adding that effect only reinforces that the unnatural can also take over nature, especially with the distorted white effect of Part II. Throughout my studio experience from Seeing the Unseen, I have always mentioned that white is an occurring colour in both natural and unnatural spaces but it ultimately stands out against nature.

Plants, trees, foliage – Part III: 

The third and final part of my Natural video shows an alternating video between one and other footages of different plants. It was a personal choice to choose that one video to contrast against the rest – it was one of my favourite videos.

I filmed it inside a moving tram whilst pointing my DSLR upwards, trying to stay steady as much as possible. The reason why I chose this (and is also my favourite) is that it displays both the natural and unnatural aspects of the city – with the background of the buildings and the foliage at the front, it was a good choice to use this video as the main video in between the rest.

 

Screenshot from ‘Natural’ 

Finally, the choice of music:

I decided to remove the initial audio from the videos to the low quality and instead decided to use a royalty-free sourced music online. From the website, Freesound.org, I found the soundtrack, ‘Gardensoundscape’ by Luftrum.. This was the perfect soundtrack to use because it had the appropriate sounds of nature that matched both the ‘nature in city’ and the ‘purely natural’ landscapes. Not only is it an aesthetic feature but also adds to the element of noticing the sounds in nature.

Ultimately, this video piece reveals a lot about noticing: noticing comes in different forms, hence why I have separated the video into three parts. It helps not only me, but the audience to see different perspectives of noticing, specifically when it comes to several creative outlets: a collage, a moving abstract piece and a main video to compare to the rest. In order to constantly practice noticing, having more than one stimulus assists in being able to notice the naturality of our world.

Lyreca.

 

Week 11 Feedback Session

Posted on by
Reply

Like the feedback session for Task 3, another session was also held for the Task 4 rough cuts and at that stage, I had already finished recording both the ‘natural’ and the unnatural’. I was second to last in showcasing my work. Here is a screenshot from a video that I showed to Hannah and my peers:

It was a fairly short review and feedback from Hannah but she asked me the question,

What did I notice through man and nature?

This question is a good prompt for me to reflect back on the videos that I’ve taken and is a good way to delve even deeper into thinking the whole societal notion of man and nature or even, man VS. nature. Answering the question, what I have generally noticed are:

  • Both the natural and unnatural have their similarities – for e.g. how they exist in the same realm
  • What I noticed is how we are almost surrounded by nature with the unnatural features only existing in nature with an exception of being indoors (which I did not film/record)
  • We ourselves, as humans, both exist in the state of natural and unnatural, depending on the circumstance or location

Other than Hannah’s question, here are some suggestions that I received:

  • Stillness of the camera – use of the tripod: My solution for this would be to record more stabilised shots and place the tripod in unusual and skewed places with stability, of course. As for the shaky footage that I would like to use, I can always use the ‘Warp Stabiliser’ effect on Premiere Pro.
  • Using more brighter colours in my shot: I can definitely take new shots with my subjects or the model wearing bright and primary colours. Through Premiere Pro, I can also change the colour through an editing software.

Other than the question and the suggestions, these are feedback that I received from Hannah. Overall, it was a very constructive and productive 30 mins of listening and seeing everyone’s process for Task 4.

Lyreca.

Results from Collecting Footage from the UNnatural

Posted on by
Reply

Much like the previous recording of the natural footage, I went to several locations in order to capture the unnatural aspects of the environment that surround us. It was pretty much the same process as collecting footage for the natural aspects and environment around us. I went to the same location for unnatural areas too, with a bit of varieties in the location. They were the following:

(A screenshot from one of my videos)

  • Melbourne CBD – Swanston St, inside the tram

(Image Source)

  • RMIT University
  • Derrimut – my cousin’s home
  • My local park
  • My own home

I underwent the same process of collecting these footages, however, with the different intention of what I was supposed to see and record. I made sure that I was actively seeing man-made and white structures, whilst also isolating these features around nature in some of my videos. I noticed that I gravitated more towards filming the unnatural, rather than unnatural – this could be my inherent characteristic as a “man”, and therefore, relating to more of the man-made objects that surround us. You can also see this from the position that I am moving in, whether it be a car or a tram, I am always surrounded by the unnatural. Also, these places are already familiar to me and did not require a prior research before I even planned to record/visit – I simply used my past experiences and even imagination in order to observe these locations. Going back to Anna Tsing’s “The Mushroom at the End of the World”, I think that it relates to the “unnatural” in a very different way in comparison to the “natural” aspects. Because I did not need to research beforehand for some of these places, the precarity and the uncontrollability took over the creative process of my work. I did not schedule or constrain myself to particular rules (except for keeping the camera steady) and let the environment and nature take its course. Despite the theme for my recording as “unnatural”, I allowed the observation to be natural and unforced – quite ironic isn’t it?

What does this tell you about noticing? What this tells me about noticing is that it is not supposed to be controlled all the time. Noticing everything is an unrealistic task to do and therefore, letting nature take over is a process of noticing. We do not necessarily have to be glued and constrained in order to notice but rather, notice what takes place in the natural and even the unnatural areas that surround us.

Lyreca.

Prompt/Recipe for the Unnatural

Posted on by
Reply

Recording the Unnatural Areas 

This prompt will be very similar to the natural areas prompt, with a few different elements taken into consideration.

Ingredients:

  • a camera, the same DSLR you have been using since Task 3
  • a tripod
  • a purpose to notice the unseen – in this case, look for the unnatural aspects of the environment you will be recording and noticing
  • a computer to compile and segregate the footage
  • an editing software, preferably Premiere Pro

Method:

  1. Like your research for the natural areas, do a quick Google research on the unnatural areas you will be visiting.
  2. Actively make sure that you are isolating the unnatural aspects of an unnatural area or when filming an unnatural area as a whole, include the whole perspective of the place in your shot.
  3. Like the other recipe, compile and organise the videos together into a folder and segregate the videos on Premiere Pro.

Lyreca.

Results from Collecting Footage for the Natural

Posted on by
Reply

Prior to visiting several of my location, I decided to research before visiting the area to get a better feel and knowledge of what I was going to record. It was not necessarily an extensive research of the place but rather a quick Google search of what I was supposed to be expecting. These locations I visited were the following:

  • Brunswick West – Clifton Park

  • Sweet Evelyn, a brunch place in Brunswick

  • Shrine of Remembrance and the surrounding gardens

  • My local park

By doing a quick first impression of what I was going to visit, it was easier to see past the general information of the place and delve more into the details. Usually, when one goes into an unknown place or an area that they have never been in, they see past the extremities and the specifics, making it easier to miss what is supposed to be unseen. In this day and age, technology has made it easier to expect the unexpected, expanding what one may know about a place. In week nine’s reading, Anna Tsing’s “The Mushroom at the End of the World”, she discusses the precarity and unpredictability and how it transforms us when we are no in control, even of ourselves. In week nine’s reading, Anna Tsing’s “The Mushroom at the End of the World”, she discusses the precarity and unpredictability and how it transforms us when we are no in control, even of ourselves. However, my research completely contradicts what she states – ultimately, what does that mean about myself and about my own work? Answering my own question, it is not a transformative type of work but rather, an observation and even a commentary about our world – in this case, the natural aspect of the world. Just like my recipe, I have compiled it into a file and segregated it according to the location and dates on Premiere Pro:

Just like what my recipe said, I have compiled it into a file and segregated it according to the location and dates on Premiere Pro:

What does this tell you about noticing? Through recording the natural aspects and my own analysis of the process I went through in order to record it, this tells me that noticing is not just an immediate response that we can easily manipulate at will – further research is required in order to properly document the unseen. Because it is not inherent in some of us, noticing must be practiced until it becomes almost second nature to us.

Lyreca.

Prompt/Recipe for Task 4 – Recording the Natural Areas

Posted on by
Reply

Recording the Natural Areas 

Ingredients:

  • a camera, the same DSLR you have been using since Task 3
  • a tripod
  • a purpose to notice the unseen – in this case, look for the natural aspects of the environment you will be recording and noticing
  • a computer to compile and segregate the footage
  • an editing software, preferably Premiere Pro

Method: 

  1. Prior to recording several locations, make sure you have well-researched the place via Google Images.
  2. Not necessarily constrained to one location, film the natural aspects of the several areas you have chosen – this includes all types of shots; from close-ups, wide-angles and still shots.
  3. Once you have taken the desired amount of footage, start compiling the footage together via Premiere Pro and segregate the videos by the location and day it was taken.

Some important considerations: 

In order to avoid potentially missing the purpose of noticing, try and keep the camera still to get more still shots, thus giving you a chance as a creator to notice more!

Lyreca.

Week 9 Preparations for Task 4

Posted on by
Reply

To begin the final project for this studio, we were given a set of questions in order to prompt us for the final task. From the final stages of Task 3, my plan was to create something along the lines of an experimental to a documentary film of the objects that encapsulated the theme of man versus nature. To further dissect the theme and how I wanted to execute it, these are the questions that show my plans step by step:

  • BIGGEST THING – What do I want to know through doing task four?

Through Task Four, I would like to have accomplished the practice of noticing. I know that I will not be able to fully be a “master” in noticing all things but through this studio and through this final project, I want my skill of noticing to be apparent in my work. Essentially, what I want to know through task four is the complexities of how we interact with the environment around us.

Some of these “biggest things” will be:
– Being able to notice and differentiate man and nature
– I would like to be able to notice not only its physical appearance but its intrinsic value as part of the environment that we surround ourselves with, whether it be the city or nature
– Focusing on one aspect of an environment rather than moving around

  • BIG THINGS – What do I need to do to know what I want to know

– Get the camera ready – use the same DSLR as the previous task (Nikon D3200)
– Take the shot of your subject into consideration. What tools will you be using with the camera? Tripods? Stacks of books?
– Possibly write down what your plans are for how long you will be shooting, the duration of the shots and the
– Research the location online before shooting

  • SMALL THINGS – How can I break these things I need to do into doable tasks?

Week 9: Start preparing and thinking about what you will need to do for the final task – reread the last blog posts about my plans for the final project. The following blog posts will be:

These text posts all contain my preparations and plans for Task Four and what I intend to do with the theory and the practical part of the final project.

Whilst reading my previous text posts counts as planning, I will also be needing to write down what I need to do for the following weeks

Week 10: Start recording – this consists of researching the location, going to the location and spending an ‘X’ amount of time shooting what needs to be shot. What do I need to shoot? I can begin by shooting:

– 1st location: The greater areas of Brunswick – preferably the natural areas such as the parks, areas with a lot of plants/trees/foliage. Try to isolate a piece of human “figure” within the shot. Whilst in Brunswick, you can also film aspects of the environment that make it part of humans such as buildings, structures, white objects, people (both a part of nature and man) – essentially anything that constitutes human nature.
– 2nd location: Melbourne CBD – look for a single piece of ‘nature’ within the built-in area and like the human “figure’, try to isolate that piece of nature. You can, of course, record buildings and human-like structures within the city to balance it out and find contrasts between the two.

Week 11: A few days before the consultation on Thursday, start working on the rough cut of the footage that you have taken so far – separate the video into two instead of compiling them together.

Also: keep up with the blog posts week by week! 

Week 12: Keep working on the video until it is up to its optimum style that I wanted to achieve – has it well and truly captured the differentiation between man and nature? What is truly its message as a video? What does this tell me about noticing overall?

Week 13: The video should be finished by then – only a few changes should be applied then. As for the blog posts, make sure they are all updated and well-refined. This includes grammar and whether my idea is clearly reflected in my writings.

This is where I start writing my final reflection and ultimately asking myself the question again – what is it I want to learn from noticing and what is noticing?

Update my submission folder on Google Drive. Double-check that all folders have the required files and that it is the correct files too.

DUE DATE – 20th October (Week 13)

Lyreca.