Why did I choose this studio you may ask…
When I first read about this studio it immediately attracted me. I love watching and creating documentary as I believe it is a very interesting and great art form that can be created in so many different ways and forms. I also liked the idea of collaborating with a museum outside of the university. I feel like this has given another aspect to this course, it feels more like a job rather than a university subject, which makes it more exciting! Helping out a museum that needs the help also seems like a good way to spend my time! Collaborating with other students is also something that drew me to this subject. Although sometimes challenging, its more rewarding and better material is produced in a group.
I studied documentary production last year and I believe this has given me a basis of understanding for planning, creating and producing documentary pieces. And has also given me a love a passion for creating it.
I have lots of different interests in media and documentary. But forms that I would possibly like to explore in this studio are photography, street photography and exhibits of mixed sound and photography. I believe that the Footscray Market would be an interesting place to centre a study around. There are lots of interesting people who work at the market and it very much feels like you aren’t in Melbourne anymore. Architecture in the West is also something that I believe would be interesting to study. And also religion and places of worship in the West could be an interesting topic as many many different cultures and backgrounds live in the West.
In the future I’d like to possibly be working in film. My dream since a child has been to work on big film sets. Not entirely sure how or exactly what I would like to do yet, but I’ll figure that out on the way…hopefully!
Inspiration and Influences…
I have recently read a book that my mum gifted to me about a year ago that I have only just got around to reading. It is called ‘Am I There Yet?’ by Mari Andrew. It is a graphic novel that is a guide through the ‘loop-de-loop, zigzagging journey to adulthood’. Each chapter is a different part of transitioning into adulthood, for example the first page is ‘overcoming uncertainty’. There is also ‘creating a home’, ‘love and dating’ and ‘finding a purpose’.
Like all graphic novels there is a mix of illustrations and writing. This novel has a very unique type of watercolour illustrations that are very cute! But something that you don’t see a lot of in classic graphic novels are the unique ways that Andrew presents them. Instead of a having characters talking and drawings of the scene, this book is more informative than a story. Andrew includes pie charts, pros and cons lists, diagrams, picture comparisons and so on that show a new type of perspective on a book as you wouldn’t be able to achieve this in a traditional novel. As well as the illustrations, the stories in this book are very relatable and somehow make you feel better about situations that you get in.
I think that graphic novels in general and this one do a good job in challenging how books are written. When someone mentions a book, it is always assumed that it will just be written words. Whereas obviously graphic novels include illustrations. The illustrations bring more life to the story and create a more fun and fast paced experience. It is almost like a cross between reading a book and watching a movie, which I think is cool!
I think that something that inspires me about this book is the illustrations. They are very simple, but very powerful. Some of the writing is also hand written, which I think is a cute touch. Using illustration in media like film is something I’d like to experiment with at some point and the illustrations in this book are close to what I’d like to emulate.