My thoughts on the new season of Netflix’s show Glow.

ill be honest the show didn’t really intrigue me upon hearing what the narrative was about. A bunch of middle aged under-successful women battling it out in a wrestling ring for a low budget dodgy Tv show wasn’t something I was necessarily into. Ill even admit that I watched the first season because i’d finished binging everything else and it was new and had ‘good’ ratings. So when the second season aired earlier this year, I wasn’t over the moon about its return I barely took notice of it at all. The first time I saw it appear I even though ‘fuck no’ not watching that. But desperate times call for desperate measures and about a week ago I found myself in a  weird headspace and needed some ‘me time’. So I scrolled through all the options suggested for me and through all the categories that I normally watch, but NOTHING, Netflix Australia was letting me down once again. As I scrolled I came across the second season of Glow, unhopeful that I would enjoy it because the first season just didn’t leave all that much of an impact on me. However I gave it a go. Boy am I glad I did.

This season although following a similar plot line, gave insight into deeper and more complex story lines for each character, and maybe because of this strange headspace or my empathy towards certain situations in life I found myself feeding off these story lines and investing so much into them. Im not saying I identify as a middle aged woman wrestler, I do however understand the complexities of relationships with loved ones and friends and the notion of disappointment. There was this one line in the last episode narrated by the Character Sam who plays the antagonistic director of the show, he says “you let someone in, and you make room for them…. then they go, but theres still room”, this line captivated me, and held me to my core its so true in so many instances. The relationships you make and invest in don’t always give you a return. Thats how the word of business works, never invest unless there is a guaranteed return. That would be stupid, for example time investment into training new employees the return being sufficiency and competency. So why does life work in the opposite way? You invest and more often than not the stars don’t really align in your favour and you don’t get the anticipated return, you get left with the void of even trying. There were many more instances that the show captivated me but that being my favourite I thought I would share it.

I was pleasantly surprised that Glow’s new season was much more than I bargained for and i’m now, actually looking forward to a return of season 3..

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16-3PmH_cJyobRiHK_XW7ehsCe8hkUpAg

Clip 1 ^: In Class Exercise

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19p5eb0JmSjqF-DcyKIasshuZZMGpZf6i

Clip 2 ^: Action Sequence Homework

Initiative Post:

Media 4: Small Things: Assignment 1: Initiative Post

Reflection:

I want to develop my production and editing skills, I think by taking on this studio I will be able to widen my knowledge and expand my abilities when it comes to the practical side of things. By focusing on enhancing my skill level with producing content and also being able to independently edit a sequence together I really think I will feel more confident in the future making and creating my own content. Regarding content production I’m referring to the use of the camera in a way where focus, white balance, exposure, set up and pack up are all actions I can accomplish competently and confidently. Editing has always been a hurdle for me I find it really overwhelming and confusing and I’m hoping this studio helps me get a better grip on it. Before this studio Premier Pro was foreign to me i’m hoping this class can really help me understand using the tools on that application so that i can have a better idea of how to use it in the future. My goals at the end of the day is to produce some good content and to be a competent editor. By practicing on small exercises and building up to making small projects I’m excited to be able to accomplish all my goals in developing my skill level within this class. The studio prompt suggests that better outcomes can form from working on a smaller series of projects inspired by different prompts and guided constraints, I believe that this theory that small tasks are a good way of learning how to adapt to different styles of film making as they are small goals and each time a small project is completed my skills are better for it. Thus I do believe that this way of learning how to produce and edit material will elicit better outcomes. The course aims to develop competency in production techniques and to overall teach students how to expand their ideas and skill level so that in ongoing projects and in the future there is some level of confidence, this in itself helps me as a student become more confident in my own abilities already as this class is set out to help me achieve my goals. 

Further, looking at the first and second week of Small Things it is already apparent that these skills are being developed already. Through our activities within the first week we as a class set out to film in small groups, before hand learning about equipment we were using to film with, like the tripod, how to set it up and take it down. The camera Sony PMWEX3 XDCAM, how it functions including focus (crashing into the subjects face to determine focus) and white balance (holding a white sheet of paper in front of the subjects face so the that white balance can be determined. With our new knowledge on how to use this equipment we set out to film thoughtfully composed clips. With our restriction being that we had to stick to a 12mm frame. Once we had gathered these clips we then had to edit them together, into a sequence using Premiere Pro, this for me was scary as I was unconfident in using this software I hadn’t use dit much before and it seemed complicated to me. But piece by piece I figured out how to place the different clips together forming what my first small project a 30 second clip of footage. Through this first project I discovered that I could manipulate perception of the same movement through the way the camera is framed. For example within all three shots of the sequence the subject is seated in the same position and is doing the same thing- eating.  So I have discovered and had an epiphany of sorts that you can completely manipulate and change the way the audience perceives the same action based on position of camera and the type of shot used. For example the sequence consists of three different shots, 1- a wide shot of the subject sitting on a staircase eating, in this shot the cameras position  os from the left side of the subject and creates a sense of space, establishing the setting as it gives a wide view of the ‘story’. Shot 2-  is a mid shot, becoming closer to the subject it changes the perception of the what the audience sees f the subject, once we are closer to them we can start making assumptions of the person, creating a relationship between subject and audience, even though the shot before contained the same action. The last shot 3- is a close up on the subjects face making that relationship between audience and subject even stronger, the different positions of the camera make the audience feel and interact with the footage differently, sometimes close ups provoke a level of discomfort. The second project we made was an at home exercise. Here we had to build a sequence of 30 seconds using a similar set of instructions. At home I decided to film the action of lighting a candle with three different shots. Each shot contained a different view of what was happening in the process. Shot one was a close up of the candle within the shot the action was opening the candles lid, where you can see the hand taking it off. The second shot was a mid shot away from the candle here you can see the subject (myself) lighting the candle, thus the audience can understand the action of the candle being lit. The last shot was a birds eye view close up of the lit candle, here you can see the candle burning from above allowing audiences to conclude that the action of lighting the candle had been completed. From this small homework sequence I took the ideas and discoveries I formed in class and tried to mimic them at home, what I realised was that types of camera means a lot when it comes to making footage look clear and of good quality, as i filmed this footage with my phone, also that the phone doesn’t necessarily sit well and position well for focus reasons, as in with the class project we were able to set up properly using a tripod at home i have to make a tripod out of other objects that didn’t necessarily live up to the quality of an actual tripod. Also when editing the sequence together i was still unconfident with my knowledge using Premiere Pro so decided to edit it together using IMovie, to me in hindsight this was a mistake as the program is simple and doesn’t leave much room to experiment and configure something more complex. 

In reflection I discovered that the use of shots and composition of shots can manipulate how the audience interacts with the subject in the footage. Further I learnt how to operate equipment that i had not had experience with, including how t set the focus and determine the white balance. In hindsight i will continue to gain my skill level using Premiere Pro Instead of trying to use the simplistic IMovie.

To me this image represents the Australian accent:

Quiz 1: Australian Cinema (week 3)

Natalie Aarons

For this project the key idea was to explore the notion that a place means nothing without emotion. For the last project we as a pair (Lorisa and I) had already explored the Holocaust Centre but we found that the place itself didn’t do the idea of memorial and commemoration justice. It was much more a factual place incorporating dates, numbers and interviews from survivors of the Holocaust rather than memorialising them within the place. So we decided to hang onto our key ideas and explore them deeper finding another place that would in fact commemorate a certain event within a place. Sticking to the theme of WW2 and commemoration we thought what better place to explore than the WW2 Soldiers Cemetery in Springvale. We decide to go somewhat unprepared because we wanted to be in the present there and actually feel the emotion in the space, or what we perceived the emotion as. Turning up there we noticed that there were many elements to the place, different sections of the cemetery were divided based on religion or age, interestingly different sections were cared for in different ways, and expectedly the soldiers cemetery had the most upkeep, and had the most beauty to it. the grounds were covered with flowers giving it a pop of colour, and the grass was green and maintained where as in other parts of the cemetery it was just dirt. The grounds had a peace took it that i didn’t think it would have, and the wind added to this sense of freeness about the place. the place also had lots of religious qualities to it with lots of religious symbolism used when referring to the deceased. Here religion was used to commemorate in this place.  For the last project we used sound and shadowing to really emphasis that emotion that came through he place, this time around i think we focused much more on colour and nature, as well as a lack of sound. when i refer to lack of sound i mean the absence of speech adding to the idea of memorialise where a person is remembered but cant necessarily speak for themselves. In this case the nature in the place spoke instead, the wind in the trees the crows. There was lots of light in the place, as it was set outdoors and we explored the place during the day, this natural light really gave the place a sense of peace and serenity.  the way the place is set up orderly, in sections of plaques acknowledging people in the war that they could not find or that were bot buried in the place, and also a section for the soldiers that are buried there. Its organisation allows people to understand the place and feel different levels if emotion in different areas, i know that in the area where soldiers are physically buried i had a sense of uneasiness knowing that there were bodies there.Upon reflection the place we explored for this project i think completely incorporated the idea of a place that is tied t an emotion, for people who visit this place there is some meaning attached whether it is to visit a deceased family member of like myself learn about tragic parts in human history.

Video: https://vimeo.com/271669870

Assessment 4 part 1: Going to the place

Assessment 4 part 1: Breaking This Down: Sacred Place

On Thursday we embarked on out journey to our second place, this time for our next project we were now exploring another sacred place based on the same idea of capturing emotion. as we had done the holocaust center beforehand we though we needed to delve deeper and explore another place that fit the same theme of memorial, and commemoration and what better place than the soldiers memorial and gravesite in Springvale Victoria, here they have entire sections dedicated to soldiers who battled in WW2. The memorial also has a graveyard connected to it also for soldiers who died and had served during the war. I must admit i was uneasy about going to a graveyard but all in all the place some sort of beauty to it. we captures many different things about the place through film, photography and sound recording. in particular we managed to capture the noise of birds in the distance which was a bit haunting but also gave the place some life. There was ,lots of greenery and flowers int he memorial and cemetery section, which made the place peaceful.

Here are some of the photos i captured during the process: there are more just these are he ones that spoke out to me most. based on beauty and peace.

Today we explored breaking down the ideas for our next project, using ideas from the project before which took place at the holocaust center, we took words or prompts from that project to begin to form a new idea for our next project, sacred place. Looking at words like memory, dedication, emotion, fun, sad, commemoration, light, life, encapsulate, death, we formed connections between the words and even compared them to our previous project to produce an idea for our next piece which will take place at the Springvale War Cemetery. This location ties into the idea of our first location the holocaust center, and still embraces the idea of emotion and memorial.

• Memory
• Dedication
• Emotion
• Fun
• Sad
• Commemoration
• Light
• Life
• Encapsulate
• Death

1. Running
2. Stillness
3. Silence
4. Noise
5. Depression
6. Sacred
7. Mourning
8. Beauty
9. Desperation
10. Factual

Overall goal:

• To find a location where emotion is encapsulated through the physicality of a certain place.
• Display a sense of commemoration through this destination
• Explore the relationship between places and feelings
• Delve deeper into our already solid exploration of memorial (holocaust center) by observing a new place linked to similar topics

Objectives:

• Find a camera
• Get to Springvale
• Capture the place (12 photos 2 mins of video)

Limitations:

• Time
• Travel
• Appropriateness in a place of memorial

Research to support project:

• Finding memorial sites online
• Linking WW2 to memorial site considering our last project was also based on WW2

LOCATION: Springvale war cemetery (WW2)

• Interview Joe Aarons (about his father and his feelings of WW2)
• Birds chirping
• Wind
• Survivor interview?

For this assessment we were put into groups and old to go out and observe a place or space. In my group we decided to explore the idea of a place meaning nothing to people without emotion. And what better a place that holds emotion than a memorial. We decided to go the the Holocaust museum, this place is not only a place of learning where students come to hear survivors speak but it is also a place of memorial filled with artefacts and thus along with the factual element of the place it is also charged with  deep rooted emotion. There were limitations we encountered when  trying to capture the space, the issues of no cameras or filming within the exhibit itself was hard because we had to think of sneaky ways to capture the inside of the place without displaying the museum artefacts or breaking the rules of the place. this we incorporated different idea like filming the shadows on the floor to embrace the light and even took footage of the outside.  It was also difficult balancing capturing the place and its emotion and giving away the artefacts at the museum, so for us focusing on light, colour and texture really helped us portray the charged emotion within the place without just showing photos of people or certain artefacts within the museum. we found that light played a huge role in the actual presentation of place, where spotlights were used to harsh focus on certain photos or objects. further the absence of light was sometimes used to great a more shadowed space and thus made the emotion more dark and cold, mostly these areas of the center were accompanied by information about the Nazi regime or in accompaniment of the final solution and the footage of the liberation. The process of deciding that the Holocaust museum was the place we would explore was an interesting one, we began brainstorming different types of places and always wanted the idea of emption being the reason a place may have meaning. we went from places that captured love like the Eiffel tower although not achievable) we kept brainstorming until we came across the idea of commemoration, sadness and dedication and thought that memorials were a great way to portray those emotions. thus we began thinking of different memorial sites around the world like the world trade center in New York, a famous memorial site for the tragic events of 9/11. Overall i think we managed to capture the space and the emotion within, sticking to our theme or idea of a place being nothing or meaning nothing without emotion.

Today was the first class for the sacred place studio, we delved into the idea of what a sacred place for an individual is, in terms of an early memory taking place in a certain space. I found myself reflecting upon a child hood memory of my father scaring away my nightmares with a sour apple fragrance. for some reason that resonates with my dream space, that i will associate smell with space and a space that exists in my head but not in the physical world. interesting in itself that a sacred place might not be a grand architectural site it might be something or someplace constructed in our minds. But then dreams are only snippets of reality.

the sound scape:

looking into sound in space:  sound can locate us and give normalcy to a certain place, like background voices in a cafe. sounds flows organically in space. sound has attractions. sound also places you in time, for example hearing birds can place you in the early hours of the morning. sonic space: is informative, its the white noise that brings out the subtleties like the typing on a key board in ‘silence’. Sound can also be sacred, it can give a time and place or even connect to religion, for example church bells: these a sacred sounds.

blow out: John Travolta captures sound:

• recording natural sound, using a shot gun mic.

This week we spent some time learning how to use the Mc50 cameras and tripods that the RMIT studios had to offer for us to use for our, projects brief 3.

After learning the basics in class we were sent off in small groups to make a small video with the brief of it being about Surviving as a new student at RMIT.

Here is what I was able to achieve using the camera for the first time: Password: RMIT