For the workshop, we watched all of the 1 minute videos that every member in the room produced. Most of the videos seemed to be depressing and often showed shots of trains and train tracks (metaphors for “going places”). Since mine made my mundane life into an epic (with compliments given to my amazing voice-over style of speaking), people laughed and were a little thankful that they got something funny for a change.
Afterwards, we were split into groups of three. My group consisted of Samantha and Alaine, and we were tasked with practicing with a few camera angles and shots of people shaking hands. Samantha suggested to us to turn these into a story once we edited everything together. I edited everything, and Alaine was left to process the video as a “Vimeo” file and send the link to Mr. Rowlands.
The Lectorial I had this week was the last one I would have until the 14th of April due to my schedule and Easter break. We got the handout for project brief 3; a 2-minute video that combines both original and found footage about someone I know, whether it be a family member, a friend, or a colleague, provided that they have consented to it evidenced through the completed release form that is scanned and uploaded onto the blog. This is due the 20th of April, along with a 350 word reflection, a picture of me with a borrowed piece of RMIT equipment, and an Assessment declaration.
We were told that the definition of “found footage” is not the wikipedia one (i.e. Blair witch project, Cloverfield, etc.) but instead its “per-existing film footage appropriated by a filmmaker and used in a way that was not originally intended”. We were given links on places where we can acquire found footage legally (however, the footage all seemed to be pre-1970s).
We then watched a number of videos from a website called “1-minute wonders” to emphasize the difficulty of making a portrait about someone else, as well as to show combinations of found and original footage.
Brian Morris then gave a talk to encourage us to continue recording in the blog and to read the readings given to us, as well as to analyze the readings because “it isn’t a novel or a feature article so don’t read it the same way….look for argument and structure”. He said that we must look for the key argument and purpose of any piece of writing, even for ones that are 5,000 words long.