I’m a little excited today – can you tell? – because I’ve actually gone and made some media for a uni project! It’s nothing special – in fact it’s a pre-assessment so it’s not actually being marked – but here it is, done and dusted!
The brief was to create two audio recordings (20 secs each), two videos (20 secs each), four photos and 50 words of text that would collectively become a ‘creative self-portrait’.
My immediate thought was that I’m not nearly complex enough a person to be able to represent myself through abstract media creations, so true to form I decided to have a little fun with it. Referencing both my sense of humour and my love of media, I decided to imagine that my life story was being made into a biopic, and thus each of the media is a fictional or mock document related to the production of that film.
The story starts with the text. Fifty words is not a lot to work with, so I decided to focus not on the content of the words but the visual of them, and so created the title page to the script of my fictional biopic. The sardonic title “a perfectly satisfactory childhood” is self-deprecating and mocking but the script’s inclusion of the details of Australian production house Working Dog emphasises the importance of my Australian and Melburnian identity.
The first audio file is imagined to be a composer writing ‘Maggie’s theme’. Bound by my complete lack of musical skill, the piece is simple but chirpy, which I hope is also reflective of my personality.
Then come the four photos. Borrowing my friend Lucy’s mannequin (thanks Luce!) to imitate a costume designer’s studio, I picked four outfits that represent important things to me or fundamental parts of my character: my school uniform, my sports uniform, a casual outfit and my pyjamas.
The two videos are designed to look like out-takes or off-cuts from the film’s production, in which the fictional set dressers’ attempts to construct my world reflect different aspects of my personality. The shot of my bedside table (in fact my real bedside table) says a lot about me as it is probably my most personal space, while the director’s critique of the empty fridge prop jokingly references my love of food.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZNyYBki7mQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc_Gqht8U8Q
Finally, the second audio tape is simply a teasing reference to my dream job of being a top media producer. It was probably the most fun to make of all, so I hope it makes you giggle too. Apologies for the low quality guys – working on your smartphone is convenient but not necessarily ideal, and my acting skills aren’t the greatest – but thanks for watching. I know it’s all pretty daggy, but so am I so I guess it’s a good self-portrait. 🙂 Enjoy!