What I’ve learnt to do better/ What I have done well.

I am more aware of the relations of things and the agencies it holds – Throughout the semester I’ve watched documentaries such as- Cowsipracy, The True Cost, Minimalism. These are all environmental documentaries, besides learning about environmental issues, I’ve noticed and learned the chains of effects in these documentaries.

I’ve also learnt and applied new approach towards my readings and writings. I used to read through once and highlight the whole page. This semester, I’ve read through my readings least thrice and I’ve used the Cornell notes method to write down my notes. I’ve also applied the pomodoro writing technique (25 mins method).  I’ve explored different ways of noticing and even wrote a letter to a tree, all these lead to research and  tense blogging session. “Everything seems to be normal” but what exactly is normal?I tried by best to make it a habit to blog – For my final assignment, I’ve started blogging my WIP 2 weeks ago, thought process and drafts.

First video( Noticing 01) compare to Final video, Exquisite Corpse progression

First video- visuals and audio too literate. (very traditional way of media making)

Final video- More dense,

What I could have done better:

more practices,I struggled with new methods and concepts of noticing. Like what Bogost said in the readings “The risk of falling into anthropocentrism is strong. Indeed, I’ll take things farther” anthropocentrism is unavoidable, at least for humans.”

Sometimes I find it hard to get back into this zone- of noticing. More practices would help.

Even though this studio can be tough, it changes my mindset and the way I look at things.By understanding the relation and complexity of things, I’ve begin to understand insights and foresight of my surroundings and in general.

Grade: M/D

List of things I need to work on until the end of semester

• Consultations- get different opinions on my WIP
• Update WIP every time I work on my final work
• Give my object more agency in the final work ( try to break the conventional way of filming)
• Apply theories from reading into final work ( start listing down main quotes from readings)

What I’ve learnt

Before this studio, my world is limited to whatever that is in front of me ( the environment I grew up in, news feed online, my own problems at work/school/home etc). I wasn’t aware of other things/bigger problems in the world- I briefly read through some articles online but you can only trust online source till a certain extend right?

Through this semester, I start to learn about relations of things. Everything has relation with each other and it creates a chain of effect.  I became more aware of things outside my world. I was curious again. I started watching a number of documentaries online- mainly environmental/ socio-political documentaries like Cowspiracy, The True Cost, Minimalism, The Redfern Story, Cultivating Murder. These documentaries brought up some matter of concerns. We’ve also explore different ways of interpreting things through our assignments (Exquisite Corpse).

The future of Cinema-Cannes and Netflix to determine the future of cinema?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/10/cannes-film-festival-goes-war-netflix-fight-future-cinema/

VR and 360 videos-

Chance upon these 2 sources that discuss the future of media making ( I should stop using the word filmmaking- how many people actually get the chance to make a film?) Back to class discussions last week, we don’t have any clue how the media industry would be like (Well, we could watch “Back to the Future” for some inspiration) Everything is interrelated, new inventions such as VR draws aspects of Gaming and technologies to form a new invention. We may be unfamiliar with VR when it first launch.. At the same time, we are not completely unfamiliar with it. It may be a new experience in gaming but some conventions remains.

What would I like to understand. Why? 

1. How we apply the theories we’ve learnt after this semester/after graduation?Can we apply these sets of theories in traditional/industrial filmmaking? I understand that we are exploring different way of noticing and we focus a lot on how post-industrial works. Does it only apply to post-industrial filmmaking?
2. Which platform does our work falls in? Is it more media/filmmaking or will it be more like an art form? ( Like blue poles’ painting) The work we have done so far feels like an art that can be found in art galleries.

Class discussion- How can we apply what we’ve learnt in the future?

• Documentary making (structuring- different perspective) more control to agencies and relations to things
• Appreciating things more
• Selfishness
• General awareness( relation and things)

What do we see ourselves working on 10-15 years later? film making and communications/media industry focuses a lot on social context and even political issues around the world, Eg. Global warming, Mass Migration – we have to do something about it!

A way to start to recognise differences/ noticing. Helps to prepare us for a unpredictable world we live in (well, Trump is president, you never know what is next)

We don’t know what will happen next. We cannot assume that things will stay the same way forever. things are changing- Climate change etc. The problem with this generation- we no longer question about things around our lives because we can get things affordably and  easily? We will go to meetings one day in the next 10 years and someone will ask- What is the carbon footprint of our film? (I’ve actually produced a video for MBS Singapore about carbon footprint, MBS have a sustainability department that monitors their carbon footprints)

Matter of concerns in the world keeps changing, 100 years ago it was issues woman rights, 50 years ago it was issues of aboriginals (did i get this fact right?), there’s issues of animal crudity, gender equality, race equality etc.. What is next? Adrian mentioned something about Artificial Intelligence. example,Driverless car- at some point, machines will be given the agency to make decisions..  If cameras can make decision, what is the relationship between us and the camera?

We need to have agency in that world and learn how to shape it. Not just responding to it. We need to see things as a thing that has agencies and how it intersects one another. People in the industries may not know the chain of effect their work causes. An online shopping application is not just about hitting a sales target, it increases demands of a product, factories source for more materials and produces more quantity, leads to fast fashion which leads to global warming ( The True Cost ) I am sure most consumers have no clue about their agencies in this chain.

We don’t what will happen in the future. Theories we’ve learnt in class helps us to adapt to the changes in different industries.

Attempt using Cornell notes method on Shields- Extract from Reality Hunger 

We had a little exercise in class today.

We were told to pick an object, shoot a 1 minute video about this object. Shoot it in a way that we are describing that object. We then spent the 2nd half of the studio describing our shots.

What’s the outcome of this exercise? – Adrian mentioned that we are not thinking through our medium.

This exercise allows me to think more critically. If we were to do it another way round ( script first then shoot) I would have started off with doing some research on google and I would have relied on information google tells me instead of thinking and observing critically. Which I feel, is a big problem in our generation today. We no longer ask questions about things, we are just following a system and guidelines built by the previous generation.

During the exercise, I am amazed by how the cap on my bottle is designed in a way that it requires lesser force when we open the bottle. It’s scary how I’ve been using this bottle for the past 4 months and I never thought about it. Now I understand why Frankham says that ” A poetic application of associational form creates relationships between element that are more often felt than thought. p139″ Last week I questioned how can we not think about what we felt? Objects around us are so common, that we often take things for granted. We don’t question what is common anymore. I’ve watched this documentary called ” The true cost” over the weekend. Consumerism is polluting and killing our planet, I wonder how many consumers know about the chains of relations and consequences by their purchases. If we stop questioning what is common, it will soon be uncommon.

Anyway, back to my bottle cap. From my observation, there is an entanglement mesh network about the bottle cap alone. It is designed and engineered with sets of scientific rules ( both physics and chemistry ) It is BPA free.

Back to the importance of blogging. Our grades alone will not get us the job. it is the things that we do outside our academic schedule that reflects our character and ability. Eg. Activities like volunteering, shows that someone is compassionate . We need to keep reading and writing. the more we know about it, the bigger the topics get. Blogging helps us to understand- summary of our reading and class, reflections etc

Trails in media- thinking about it, talking about it and doing something about it. the thicker the media trail you produce the stronger you are going to be. the more we can demonstrate our skills set, the more we are more valuable in the industry. I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries lately, and i’ve been taking down notes unknowingly as I watch these documentaries. These notes allow me to reflect and think, I scribble down a list  random things from interviews, quotes and other observations. It is easier for me to remember.

ideas don’t come to matter until it becomes a thing. when things do things they become actors. gravity and time does things in their own way

I guess blogging helps to stay on the right track, with such a dense and complex studio, I find it a struggle to understand. At one point, I thought I was on the right track and at some point, I felt very lost..

I just watch two different life changing and thought provoking documentary: Cowspiracy and Minimalism on Netflix.

All my life, I’ve been thought living life the wrong way. What is a successful life? Back in Singapore, we were taught being successful- owning 5 Cs. Condominium, Credit Cards, Country Club and Cash. When you achieved these 5 Cs, you are considered a successful person. These 5 Cs were influenced by the American dream. We were taught to climb this corporate ladder, to make as much money as possible so that we can buy whatever we want- own bigger house, bigger car and if you are successful enough- own a bigger yacht. This American dream is killing our our planet and the environmental system, it is causing climate change.

1. Fast Fashion

We are too materialistic in the everyday sense of the word and we are not at all materialistic enough in the true sense of the word. We need to be true materialists, like really care about the materiality of goods. Instead we are in a world in which material goods are so important for their symbolic meaning, what they do to position us in the status system based on what advertising or marketing says they are about.- Juliet Schor

We are throwing things away not because it is no longer usable but because it no longer has social value of it is no longer fashionable. Fast fashion means higher demand in consuming goods- getting the latest trend fashion clothes in store and getting the last technology product. For example- how often an average person change their mobile phone, probably once every 2 years when our contracts end. We change our phones not because our phone is not working, but because of the way the telecom company advertise to sell their products.  We upgrade our phone whenever our telecom company tells us to ( the agency doesn’t belong to us!)

Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but what one owns- Jimmy Carter

2. Meat consumption

I was shocked to learn that animal agricultural is the no.1 cause of pollution. Did you know that Methane has a global warming potential 86 times that of CO2 on a 20 year time frame? and cow produce 150 billion gallons of methane per day. 2500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef! More facts on animal agricultural pollution here 

We cannot handle the demands of our overpopulated world and everything is changing. Food microbiologist are experimenting different ways to substitute food. Food isn’t the same anymore, i guess we will reach a point of time where food is not real. Let’s take milk for example- right now we have soy, almond, rice milk to substitute cow’s milk. I read this somewhere, I cant remember where but if we don’t stop pollution, sooner or later, we will be starting climate war where countries goes on war for resources.

Why am I blogging about this? Because everything that I was taught was a big fat lie. The American dream is not working. people are consuming more things to fill their discontentment. We work our ass off to buy expensive things that we don’t need or things that will go out of trend in a short period of time. This whole system about life is wrong and we need to look at life at a different perspective. We need to rewind and rethink the definition and meaning of things to make it right or rather to make things better. Which links to the purpose of our studio, using different techniques and approach to learn the meaning of an object all over again. To find a different connection, meaning and metaphor of what it could do. Looking at things with a different perspective and reworking things on this fast changing world. Because the world is never fully right, there isn’t just one way to do things or one way to live our lives. There are different methods and relation to things around us.

Before watching these 2 documentary I thought I would never make it big or earn enough money in the film industry. I considered changing industry, a more corporate establishment so that I can earn a steady income. I was wrong. If I could ever produce documentaries such as Cowspiracy and Minimalism, I think I will be contented with my life.

This is probably my longest post.