Week 5 – Media Tutorial ‘Documentary Activity’ (07/04/16)
Collaboration partners; Margret Tanjutco and Liwan Li.
“A survival guide to your first six weeks of university”
What problems did you encounter?
Making sure the tripod was set up evenly and that the location of the interviewees eyes was not directly at the camera but rather in the spot where the interviewer would be sitting (as they were on camera at the same time as asking the questions so it did not look as natural). I also found the answers were slightly different which made connecting them harder as the interviewee didn’t always remember what they were talking about in the first take. Also the close ups were off in terms of where the eye-line was directed at.
What were your most successful shots?
The two shot was set up quite nicely, and the establishing shots were quite candid and really gave an indication towards the setting. I think there was quite a contrast between the back light for the interviewer shot compared to the interviewee shot which didn’t make it run as smoothly but that was due to the background for the two shot being quite colorful an toned.
What did you discover about the camera techniques (eg. Composition, framing)?
It was hard given the time to really set up alright shots that at least hit what the brief was looking for in terms of practice. The close up of ‘Margret Tanjutco’ was quite aesthetically well framed in terms of rule of thirds this made the shot more interesting compared to the close up/mid shot of ‘Liwan Li’ which was must more symmetrical.
Week 5 – Media Initiative ‘Diversity in Media’ (04/04/16)
Stone the flaimin’ crows!
SBS2: Thomas the Tank Engine has a new Aussie mate called Shane
Diversity, It’s almost a compulsory thing now days- we see period dramas with not enough people of ethnicity and we start to get angry. I do however think this was a great idea, any children’s Television show that adds diversity is teaching our younger generation from small ages to respect and acknowledge cultural diversity, especially within out media industry and visual programs. As a child myself I was glad there were many programs with cultural diverse characters (Hey Arnold, The Powerpuff Girls), but then there was an era within Disney (especially aimed at Pre-teens) where characters were predominantly white and attractive but this was also due to the change within childrens’ cartoon shows and children’s shows with real life actors. It will be nice to see more diversity in the real life action shoots for children especially within Disney, hopefully more come along soon.
Week 5 – Media Tutorial ‘Adobe Audition’ (07/04/16)
This weeks tutorial was Brian teaching us examples of how to use Adobe Audition, we talked about increasing gain which can cause distortion and it’s one of the principle things with digital recorders were trying to avoid. Slightly less gain is always better than more because you can amplify but you can not take away distorted audio.
An equalizer is very important as frequency is one of the key qualities of sound. The equalizer works by suppressing or taking out frequency’s as well as enhancing some frequency to give more vocal brightness. It also helps get rid of lower signals that weren’t originally meant to be there (lower gain) for example background noises of a coffee machine or people talking.
Below is a sample image of what Adobe Audition looks like once it’s open and you are working on a project.
Week 5 – Media Lectorial ‘Textual Analysis’ (04/04/16)
Textual analysis was the main focus for Week 5’s lecture, for me a little of the content reflected on my year twelve VCE media class with the terminology; Denotation (the literal of first order meaning and it’s partner) Connotation (cultural or second order meaning).
Both Morris’s and Alan Mckee’s ‘guides’ (2001) were an interesting read- they focused on interpretation and judgement. Both the readings focused on the idea of labeling and how we should not label a text ‘inaccurate/biased’ but instead analysis the assumptions within the text, weather a piece is subjective (which is impossible not to be) or how it can be interpreted in various ways.
The activity completed in class focused on a clothing advertisement the denotation would have been a man throwing a boy into a pool but with the knowledge of ‘connotation’ we could see the advertisement was aimed at the clothes the two were wearing and the idea linked to it about comfort and freedom.
It was nice to have the repetition of the terminology replenished into my mind as it had been a while since I had talked about textual analysis especially after studying the practical Diploma last year.
Textual analysis including connotation and denotation obviously helps in the presentation of mise-en-scene especially for ‘Project Brief 3’, which is creating a short interview or portfolio on someone else within our lives.
Last year I shot a semi-professional interview as apart of my Diploma and it will be interesting to see how this independent more freedom shoot will look like aesthetically, metaphorically (especially with the layout) and technically as the equipment will be completely different (No LED kits or three point lighting, no mixer and boom mics). Below is last years completed edited and audio mixed interview.
I think my skills have been building and i’m quite looking forward to this challenge or brief so below are a few of my ideas. I want to focus this project on a subject who has the ability to travel on limited budget by using the resources he has to their ultimate potential having traveled in Europe for six months on two thousands dollars and recently working in Japan for another six months, I think it would be an interesting project to watch and alongside some nice images the subject has taken it would be aesthetically pleasing as well. The backdrop will be the subject home but in an area where the mise-en-scene can be surrounded with souvenirs from the subjects adventurous. I’ll get back to you soon.