academic | Michael Firus

Beauty

Every now and then in one’s cinematic career, there comes moments where time stands still. These moments possess an element of sheer and blatant beauty. OK, without sounding too romantic, one such moment took place at a shoot for a documentary that I am currently creating. Over the last few weeks, I have been undertaking…

Course reflection – Michael P. Firus – Semester 1 – Media 1

Michael P. Firus – Course reflection – Semester 1 – Media 1 The pace at which this semester slipped by can only be described as disconcerting. The past 13 weeks have been my first taste if university life. Prior to my enrollment I traveled to the CBD only a few times a year: corresponding to…

PB4 Reflection – Michael Firus

Over the past couple of weeks, PB4 has been a stressful, exciting and educational experience. In some ways, it broke new ground for me, and in other areas reinforced and enhanced prior knowledge. Before this project, I had never been at the business end of a Vox pop. For the first time, I was the…

Technology and Us

It seems that humanity is stuck with technology. Literally, we’ve been inseparable from our little trinkets since our forebears realized that life would be pretty crapy and short if they didn’t rub their pair of brain cells together to come up with some sort of labor-saving device. One gets pretty excited about technology – especially…

(False) Perceptions

The first term of our course has nearly drawn to a close. Now, I must at this point discuss something that is rarely outwardly expressed. Within certain university courses, there exists an expectation that a student must, on their own initiative become an active and vibrant member of the course’s corresponding real-world discipline. Such an…

Institutions Close to Home

Mowing one’s grandmother’s lawn on a warm Autumn’s afternoon is not generally the situation that evokes an analysis of an institution’s impact on a culture’s development. However, as my gaze lowered I began to realise that the piece of equipment I was using formed a prominent pillar in Australian culture: the Victa lawnmower. The Victa…

Here’s to the Establishment

Ok, this isn’t some political statement. It is a statement about videography equipment brands. Now and then I become aware of those proponents of the big players in camera equipment claiming that start-ups and small companies are unreliable. Usually, I disregard these comments as unfounded and elitist. That was until I noticed an unfortunate trend….

Institutions in Popular Culture: Wall Street

Institutions have characters; they have their values, beliefs and floors, much like individuals. Here, I will examine the way popular culture perceives the character of a specific institution through examining a specific media text: Oliver Stone’s 1987 drama Wall Street. (Whether the film reflects reality is not considered here) While watching the film, I noted…

The Internet of Things

We have the internet, social media, the break from broadcast systems and many other contemporary catchphrases. But what’s next? Imagine a world where your air conditioner talks to your phone which talks to your fridge which talks to your laptop which talks to your underwear? Whether such a conversion is necessary is immaterial; it’s going…

5G

For clarification, the ‘G’ simply stands for ‘Generation.’ Currently only in the 18th year of my existence, I can only remember the transition to 2G indistinctly – in fact it was our family’s first foray into mobile phones. Officially 2G was first introduced in the 80s, however, remained elitist until the early 2000s. It the…