With ANZAC Day just passing on this Saturday and with it being the centenary it was fitting for Paul Gough to talk to us a couple weeks ago about memorialisation.

When a space becomes a place it becomes involved/endowed with human memory. With memorials being related to emptiness as they show and remember what has been gone. Paul made an excellent point that the emptiness in memorials ain’t empty they are layered in absence and emptiness.

A key question we explored was why do we have memorials?

A place to remember the dead, people who have passed
Focal point of grief
Place of ritual
I think also for War memorials there is a notion of “Never again”

I think a telling sign of how fundamental it is that we have memorials is the fact that after WWII they didn’t want hospitals or more functional services they wanted memorials, they wanted a place to grieve, to remember the people who they had lost. Perhaps its part of our need for “closure” and it connects us with humanity, the people who have come before us. It’s a reflection of our history.  I think there is this fear of being forgotten, I think we all want to leave our mark on the world and this may be in respect to people who have come before to say that we appreciate you and we will remember you.

Title: Mrs. Baines goes to Court

• Format: Mixed Media, Stop Motion Film, Personal Documentary – Have narrative over the top

• Proposed Length: 1 ½ Minutes to 2 Minutes

Synopsis – what ‘happens’

• The Forgotten: Highlight a story of the magistrate court that has been forgotten, not heard a lot about narrated by myself

• The various perspectives: Main Character is Jennie Baines (Part of the Suffragette Movement in the UK and Melbourne)
  Focus on her court case on Tuesday March 18^th 1919 (Will reference to her the ones leading up to it as well)

• She was arrested with Richard Long for exhibiting a red flag (International sign for socialism) at the demonstration/ “meeting” in Melbourne. She refused to pay the fine or sign the bond this lead to the first reported prisoner in Australia to go on a hunger strike

• Telling the story from various perspectives (Of her supporters, the media and her family) of the court case of Jennie Baines in 1919

• Personal: Tie it in with my personal opinions of the significance of it and the relation to our social, political situation as of today

Why 

Although the aspects of the Catherine and the case that interested me was the perspective of the female thief and criminal. What her intentions were behind it. My original concept was for an actor as Catherine Smith to tell the story and then have the characters, locations superimposed in the screen as well. Visual “Ghosts”

However not just a retelling of the story was what I wanted to show. The second story provided more of a social context and more resources to be mined as well. I found it hard to find court cases and there were the three prominent ones of Ned Kelly, Squizzy Taylor and the Eureka Stockade. Although I did want to tell a story that was less well known. I come across Jennie Baine’s story, as it was part of an online Melbourne Walking Tour. She was reported to be the first person ever to go on a hunger strike in Australia. I think she had a very unique perspective like Catherine Smith on the what was happening at the time.

From the various approaches to space/place we have looked at so far WHICH concept does it most readily relate to?


It relates to place and memory and also what we remember and forget through        history. When Professor Paul Gough came to his talk we were talking about   the very topical issue of ANZAC day and forgotten soldiers. However I think it was interesting that a couple of days later I was talking to a friend who is a producer for a political radio show on SYN and they wanted to do a piece on the people who were forgotten, like women and indigenous people as well. Using the court room’s physical objects and matching that up with old photography to lead the story and ‘spark’, ‘relive’ the events of the past.
Inspiration 

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2014/06/04/gan-gan/

Stop motion film Gan Gan

The stop motion has that disorientating effect because time is moving so quickly – in the theme of forgotten and memory it has that same feeling of things slipping again

Blight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yil33Hb9BpM
Explored the association between sound and image in a more abstract way

http://www.alfred-hitchcock-films.net/Themes/Double-Exposure-Theme.htm

Double Exposure Shot in The Wrong Man

The scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUN5c6jtTvU

Sunrise – the women scene – From 2:27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyNE3Pfq-KM

Work so Far

Researched into Catherine Smith

– Mainly through Trove and PapersPast looking through old newspapers for clues
Went to the public records office

– Looking at old magistrate registries – although unsuccessful I learnt a lot about the process of it – more about which documents to book

More Research Into Jennie Baines
– Timeline her activity

– Looking at books online regarding the women’s suffrage movement

– Finding photos of her
Looking into Stop Motion equipment and method

– Equipment that I will need to use

Did a test run using my iPhone
Although it will be a different camera I still got a feel of how it might work and saw some problems that might come up

Test Shot #1 (Morning)
Other versions – this was just the best one so far
100 Shots = 20 seconds

Lighting
It’s flickering – Whichever camera I use needs to have auto exposure off to compensate for this

The room was dim – in the afternoon it could be better
All the lighting comes from the top as well which can make the bottom – where all the shots will be quite dark – wood all blending together when you get close up
Do I want to bring in my own lighting? To brighten it up and then colour grade it later

Camera Shake

I was using my iPhone without a tripod so it was shaky
However moving a tripod for a tracking shot might not be able to get the minimal movement needed – I think for the tracking shots I will use a light weight camera on a tripod stick

Although in the final I think a little bit of shakiness or distortion with the tracking shots will add to the effect of it

Focusing

Auto focus off

Timeline

Any aspects you need help with (ie class in using a particular software, access to particular equipment etc)
I will be shooting with a DSLR Canon 60D, some people even use webcams for beginners however I want a better quality
“Canon EOS cameras with live view are probably the best choice for shooting stop motion animation. They have a large, high-quality live view image that can simulate exposure settings. And they don’t seem to suffer from overheating the way some other cameras do.”
Handheld – Canon HV40, Sony HDR-HC7
Tripod
Editing – Adobe Premiere
24 second frame rate
Colour grading

This has been the most interesting reading so far. One of the most important questions it raises it what happens when the physical site has disappeared, can we still bring back the memory? And how memory links to the physical site or place?

– A photograph (visual spark, aide memoire) can support bringing back the memory of that time, place, event

– In Seven Lamps of Architecture by John Ruskin he explains how memories are triggered through material objects – “We may live within [architecture], and worship without her, but we cannot remember without her”

The whole book: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35898/35898-h/35898-h.htm#Page_167

(This quote was in Chapter VI in paragraph II)

I liked the quote from Victor Shklovsky saying that ‘And art exists that one may recover the sensation of life; it exists to make one feel things, to make the stone stony.’ – is this saying that the meant to bring the objects alive and give it “texture” – we experience best when in that place however art can bring you back to that place and bring it alive again

I think that the memory can still stay alive through representation such as old videos, photos etc. however it might never compare to the experience of being in the exact same space again.

The phrase ‘Architecture of the heart’ refers to how we hold on to emotion in regards to remembering a place. Also others argue that memories are always anchored in spatial frameworks.

Place and memory and intertwined. When we relate this history we realise that history is shaped by what we record, curate, remember but mainly how they are recorded in a place: ‘a constructed, three-dimensional, architecture in the mind’s eye’. Then our memories are triggered by this connection to place and we don’t have to be physically in that place. Even the virtual space could count.

Hornstein, Shelley 2011, Introduction, Losing Site: Architecture, Memory and Place, Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey, England.

Last Friday we got to brainstorm in class about our final group project, which would present all our work from the semester. Our group had many ideas, some a little out of reach (time machines and such). We went able brainstorming but looking out different mediums and then linking them together such as starting with photography, video or audio individually then branching them together. We realised that choosing one medium would not be able to adequately showcase the variety of work we would produce that could range from audio to video to even an exhibition. So with the variety of work we would need to have a mixed median to showcase it.

Just three of our ideas:

1. A treasure hunt (not virtual) – using the two buildings to create an amazing race type game which groups of students can go around and view our work, get clues then it would link to the next one

2. Virtual reality app/website – virtual tour

3. Having projection screens put up in the building correlating with where the work takes place

We ended up going with the virtual tour idea/augmented reality. Here are some of the examples that we found online:

http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/whatson/current-exhibitions/melbournestory/virtual-exhibition/

http://www.frick.org/visit/virtual_tour – liked how they have the larger bird eye’s view map and then it went into each separate room so you can have a broader view of how the whole building fits together

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtualtour/#/central-hall/

https://www.youvisit.com

http://www.vtility.net/SampleVirtualTours

The main idea: How RMIT works in with City of Melbourne planning?

Here are my notes from the discussion

Place vs. space

Space – materiality, contained, defined by objects

• Opposes set of behaviours, notion about public behaviour
• Behave – manner in the which the space dictates what you do in that space – do you study, walk, talk etc. not always just manners
• Dimension – not always walls e.g. buildings surrounding a pack could add dimension
• Material
• Intent –> Program –> Inhabitation

E.g. Place makers: farmer market at primary school, festival in laneway, music festival – blues fest

 Can you have a place and no space, a space and no place?

He thinks that they are intertwined – (space and place) – how a space is activated makes it a place – Nature of program responds to place

1. The city

RMIT is “Part of a living city”

1:1000 (Scale of the city) + 1:1 (Stuff you touch) – able to plan, dictate

Spend on the money that people can touch – forget able the ceiling, computers (things you can’t touch)
I do agree, but definitely should still think about the visual aspect, not completely forget it

History of City

• Was going to be Geelong for a long time – the ships docked nicely there
• Hoddle saw where the aboriginal people were settled

The city – Unfinished project (BIG Architect) – ongoing development

• Population growth
• Seoul – 80% – 20% Rural to City – reversed in 40 years
• Australia most urbanized Cities in the world – approx. 94%
• Book – “City limits” – published by Melbourne University
• Only two books written about Australian cities in the last 20 years
• 4 of our cities – in the top 10 livable cities
• What do our cities do? –> Civic – Civitas (Romans) – how the city helps democracy

Fed square – protests for Iraq – 100,000 people – made fed square a place that was embraced – before people were just annoyed that they spent so much money on it – over 500 million for a public place

No other Australian city has a place to gather like Fed Square

RMIT – the school is open

• How do we invite the city in? Bowen Street was opened up
• Starting to look like the city – in terms of the grid – How the city organizes it self

– civic centers – organised around the CBD – parliament, church, MCG, arts centre

Grid – economic function not landscape function – so it could be divided up

How the smaller streets could be used – minor to the majors – small commerce there

Laneway culture – Meyers place 1994 – 6 degrees bar – 6 architects from Melbourne Uni couldn’t get a job – all together brought a lease

Liquor license went from $25000 –> $250, number of toilets price went down as well

2. Legibility – semiotics

Communicate these things to people

How do you get someone to behave in a civic manner?

Ability for the architect and urban planner to dictate those

How it is delivered – use of the space – research begins with careful observation not a research question – what you see and observe

Look at a way that is part of the city – how it delivers massive potential into the city – look at it not as an RMIT building but part of the city

Building 2o and Storey Hall 

Building 20 – Historic – museum but it’s a private space as well

Re-writing its own story – beginning to add to its heritage – because of the things now occurring within it

Capture point of time – restore the heritage

Peter Elliot – timber, glass, – respect, to the proportions of it

A.R.M – Storey Hall – very modern but still small moments there

In week 4, we went to do an activity at the Museum of Melbourne. We got an two hours to walk around the Museum of Victoria’s MELBOURNE exhibition. Here were some of the answers I jotted down:

What ARTEFACTS indicate particular notions of ‘place’?

Being  an exhibition about Melbourne everything indicated a notion of a place. But if we want to get really technique a lot of them would still be a space, without personal meeting for me as opposed to a place. Things that were of significance to me and I could still identify today was the notion of Melbourne as a ‘meeting place’, Bendigo, Ballarat and “Little Lon”.  It was surprising to find out the previous uses of little Lonsdale St and how it was kinda of Melbourne’s red light district.

What elements on display are distinctly MELBOURNE?

Trams, “Little Lon”, Gold rush, Luna Park, Capital Theatre box office, West Gate Bridge and Phar Lap (who had a whole section).

One of my favourite parts was the model of inside of the Capital Theatre.  I love that old 50s style cinema. I’ve always ‘loved’ the idea of older films, that were seen as ‘classics’ but honestly I never really watched many until last year in our cinema class when we were learning about auteur theory. We watched a lot of Ernest Lubitsch and Blake Edwards. Currently, being the easter break I’m having a little James Stewart marathon. Anyways, cinema has way of transporting you back into another time and that theatre let us step into the past world. That’s why I loved all the models so much like the bookstore (which I wish I could have gone to) and “Little Lon”.

What have you noticed about the WAYFINDING techniques used throughout the exhibition?
Titles, signs and descriptions
Splitting different areas into dates – although it was hard to do it in a linear order, however that might not have been the intention
It is a really open circular structure so visitor can ‘flow’ through it, its not a rigid layout

Does the exhibition take care to tell ‘multiple’ stories… what are these?
They separated the aboriginal history from the white settlement – two separate parallel histories
The “Little Lons” had different perspectives, each room was dedicated to a different person
However, it was one perspective for each location or historical event, it lacked different perspectives

How does it tell the story of pre white settlement (from what perspective is it told?)
– They didn’t really go into a lot of detail, there was an indigenous exhibition on the ground floor however I still find it strange that they would not include more, the section was smaller than Phar Lap’s section

How does the Museum deal with ‘difficult’ or ‘tragic’ stories?

– They just try to tell the facts – not many embellishments
– E.g. About the spanish flu – “saddest in Melbourne’s history” – they didn’t over emphasis that much

What ‘media’ do they use to tell the stories?

Displays, viewing objects with descriptions
Soundscape with the Gold Rush carriage
Map – digital
Location recreation
Video – documentary, film
Radio
Interactive objects, activities – like playing with the Gramophone, the big dipper ride

They even have a virtual tour on the website here. It could be interesting to do something like that for our own presentation later on, certain sections have videos or extra things like the stain glass window video.

Tracking back to two weeks ago when we went to the public records office. This was definitely a place I didn’t knew existed. So it was interesting to find out what they had there and what kind of people go there as well. They have kilometres of records, from public building plans to court cases. I would find it hard to decide what to keep and when to throw it away. Of course their space is limited however you never know when that information is useful again. They wrote this on a blog post on their website about the key reasons why they should keep the records:

•  preserve evidence of past decisions and actions;
• support transparency, openness and accountability in government;
• preserve the documented memory of government and its citizens;
• support research by providing documentary evidence for academic and research communities and the general public;
• support individuals and communities to reconnect and preserve identity and memory and facilitate redress, recovery and reconciliation

“Ned Kelly, from a prison photograph taken when he was 18. Composite image from VPRS 515P Central Register of Male Prisoners”

The most interesting part of definitely the court cases from the supreme court that they had records of, they even had evidence for some, such as pleas, poison even bullets. Some of these cases was something I was going to look into more for the upcoming semester crits.

Link to photo: http://prov.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/ned-kelly