Sebastian Murphy

This first semester of university has been particularly interesting indeed. From the basics of a camera to the intense study of popular cultures.

And it is through these studies that we find some convention to push us backwards. I’ve learnt a lot about copyright this year, and certainly this reflects the industry. I’ve heard of it before, the notion of ‘red tape’ boxing us in, but never realised it would ever actually apply to us as students?

I’ve failed assignments I’ve worked on because of this, I’ve been told that I am completely and utterly useless at what I do, that I have no technical ability at all, and that all the hard work I put in really turns out to be nothing.

So why do it anymore? What’s the point? If you’re no good at the only thing you’re supposed to be good at, the thing that you care most about, then what good is it all? My latest film is my most technical piece yet, it uses only stock footage which is chopped, layered and spliced through adjustment layers to create a rich tapestry.

I wanted to simulate the mind…the way in which thought processes work, the notion of the birth of an idea which brings forth a mass phenomenon.

But… I saw the looks I was given. The contemptuous eyes staring back at me, asking questions; I can feel the hate radiating. Media is a rocky, fast, treacherous torrent of water. It’s forever changing and forever engulfing us in its crap.

I hope next semester is better, or I won’t make it to the end of the year.

I’ve been kicked down into the filthy hole beneath the gutters. Where the other deadbeats go.

Reflecting on my previous classes at RMIT I am faced with shimmers of laughters and shitloads of boredom.

I’ve created some of the best stuff I’ve ever done, I’ve gotten better at what I do. I’ve been frustrated and bored and angry but we’ve made it.

Class today saw the presentation of my video, to which the lengthy essay I am about to start. I shall definitely not use the hats to assess my work cuz lolz.

I hate some people already, I love others already. Such is the way of university. Noticing has plagued me in allowing me to notice the tiniest details amidst every piece of media I absorb around me. None of this collaborative contract shit, nor this hat business. I want to make and do shit.

“We can cut, copy paste and transform…. we can all create something different…tearing down the world around us”

Using premises born from the Matrix, glitch art alters the code of images in order to produce- what can only be called- a ‘glitchy’ effect.

I have to learn how to do this. The premise is amazing, it uses exploitation of a set regiment of code to create an image that is beautiful within its own right.

I just want to try using these in my next video, layering them over each other to create the most amazing visual scope ever. It can represent so much, it can be a symbol to revolution, to exploitation, to freedom, to beauty. All within the one image.

This lecture was amazing, I truly enjoyed it; I’ve never even seen such a thing

Justin, Dea and I formed this through the use of Justin as a scribe. Ideas were being thrown left, right and centre, flowing like the water through the pipes above our very heads. We decided to each choose an aspect of the ‘Technological Timeline’, Justin chose TV, Dea the Printing Press and Radio for me, with all of us tying the internet together at the end as the internet unifies all such aspects.

Jasmine put forward a unique idea, an idea which was furthered in my Pop Culture Seminar a few days later, of the views and uses of Tor, the ‘Deep Web’ and the internet as a whole. This highlights both the good and bad aspects of freely available information and products. Both of which can be used for either good or evil.

A journalist in Egypt can use Tor to document the harsh reality going on around them, circumventing censorship, regulation and potential prosecution in order to ensure Freedom of Speech. But a member of ISIS can also use Tor to unite their front and wreak havoc amongst a society. It’s a fine balance and the exact reason why Net Neutrality is such a heavily debated subject.

In my research of pirate radio stations- bringing up memories of The Boat That Rocked- I’ve found that this debate is not at all a modern one, with regulation always being a main issue in all areas of media.

Media technologies are completely and utterly interesting to research. It is through such studies we can glimpse the history of the media industry, we can learn from our mistakes and attempt to rectify them, thus creating the best industry possibly imaginable in our current era.

This movie was stumbled upon one Friday night, as I was flicking from Lifestyle HD on Foxtel, through the movie guide. It’d just started on Premiere and I flicked over, waiting to be disappointed yet again by mediocre movies Foxtel claims as ‘exclusive’, but thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.

Shot in the style of an 70’s sit-com, this movie employs the use of tracks, dollies, cut-ins and cut-outs to emulate the conflicts and contrastingly harmonious relationships on-board a space station suspended in 1976.

Thwart with internal and inter-relational character developments, this film somehow manages to pull it all off. Not for a second did I not believe in the characters’ motivations, nor the reasons for the over-prescribtion of Valium (Diazepam).

Seriously get around this movie, it was awesome, it also showed how collaborations can and can’t work, and why.