Category: Integrated Media 1
Week 8 – Shields, David. Reality Hunger: A Manifesto
This weeks reading is by David Shields who genuinely comes across as a bit of a weirdo. The reading covers a number of different thoughts that David Shields has about the idea of collage. Some that I agree with and some that I don’t, and some that I don’t understand.
Ones that I found most interesting
342 ‘The main question collage artists face: you’ve found some interesting material – how do you go about arranging it?
317 ‘The law of mosaics: how to deal with parts in the absence of wholes’
Some that i just completely didn’t understand
353 ‘I hate quotations’
362 ‘Nothing is going to happen in the book’
Week 6 – Soar, Matt. Making (with) the Korsakow System
This reading is outlined by one of the makers of the Korsakow system, Matt Soar and his thoughts towards the evolving area of new media. As the media forms expand with the depth and development in software tools new ways to create things are introduced, therefor creating a whole new platform on which ‘things’ can be assembled.
The section regarding the relevance of Korsakow and the number of other interactive documentaries for future art makers was very interesting and makes me think of what I personally believe will be the future of interactive documentaries. I believe that there will be programs (there sort of already is) out there that will be universally popular as interactive form of documentary. On this note, snapchat is one that just came to mind being quite revolutionary in the way that it allows the users to share videos as ‘stories’ that can be viewed as many times as the audience likes within a 12 hour time frame. Unlike Korsakow, a majority of the users aren’t making these stories with the intention of making a documentary however the concept is there! I personally believe that Korsakow is a interesting program however I don’t think that I personally achieve anything from making interactive documentaries on it. I’m sure there are people that like the ambiguity and quite abstract format that allows makers to create, however I have been moulded to be more attached to the traditional forms of film and documentary making.
JAI
Sketch K Film
http://www.themediastudents.net/im1/2014/tom.lewis/tom.lewis.html
Not Family
Reading Week 5 – The Essay Film
Week 5 – Rascaroli, Laura “The essay film: Problems, Definitions, Textual commitments”
I generally found “The essay film” quite hard to understand as Rascaroli kept going between different theorists and such which made it hard to find out what was happening. Nora Alter explains well when she says “Unlike the documentary film, which presents facts and information, the essay film produces complex thought that at times is not grounded in reality but can be contradictory, irrational, and fantastic.”
The basis of the essay film inherits a lot from its literary companion while breaking free from the documentary, becoming a point between emotion and intellect. I have noticed that there has been a new wave of The Essay Film in the form of online forums on we sites such as Reddit. Television MASTERPIECES such as Breaking Bad and True Detective are two of the mostly sought into shows due to their very deep visual and intellectual cues. These breakdowns are more informal then what the typical essay film would be as a result of the platform on which they are viewed and submitted.
Personally what I believe is the main problem with the film essay is that although some arguments are backed with evidence from the film, there can still be underlying personal views and beliefs that influence the argument, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing although it makes it more of a challenge to know what you think is right and wrong. I guess the purpose of such essays is to challenge your thoughts and ideals, especially towards certain films, which when viewed impartially can be very informative.
Essay Smeshay
s3433026 – Tom Lewis – Integrated Media – Assessment Task 1: K. Film Essay
Exquisite Corpse (2011) – Hashim Majeed, Dom Bonnice, Ellie Cameron–Krepp, Kieran McGrath
Exquisite corpse is a K-Film which explores a poem by John M. Ford entitled ‘Against Entropy’ using videos as the basis for particular themes and ideas. These themes and ideas have a revolve around the strong relationship between the videos, text and audio. I had a very strong first impression of the documentary film and immediately saw the correlations between the video, text and its surroundings. I liked this because the text often related directly to the video playing and instantly made me want to participate and immerse myself into what was happening.
PATTERN
The reoccurring pattern that I can identify throughout is the relation between the primary videos and the three relating video surrounding it.. The primary video often has a clear connection with the other videos which is reoccurring throughout and helps distinguish a clear theme to be portrayed. On this particular page the quote ‘Although Some of the colours have to fade’, directly links with the four black and white thumbnails on the interface. This is a reoccurring pattern throughout the film which i definitely think helps contribute to the narrative.
The music is repetitive, in a nice, immersive way that compliments the structure of the k-film. The ambient genre of the music makes me feel comfortable with what is being showed, it doesn’t act as a distraction which I have found to be the case with a number of other K-films.
INTERFACE
The interface consists of four screens in each corner with the top left as the primary frame. I think that the simplistic navigation allows for more focus on relations with the primary and surrounding videos being showed. There is a text section running along the left side of the video’s which is creatively constructed from top to bottom. I like that it is assembled in this way as poems are traditionally read from left to right or horizontally, which compliments the ‘disorder and order’ present in the film.
The audience are able to actively participate by clicking on one of the three other videos sending them to a new screen with fresh text and video. Having four thumbnails helps the audience be more selective through the journey of the film while not being overwhelmed, and decreasing the chance of conflicting videos which i believe is key to the success of ‘Exquisite Corpse’.
CONTENT
The large variety of content within ‘Exquisite Corpse’ allows for an exciting experience and helps support the narrative function of the film. Occasionally in the early stages of the film some content repeats quite frequently but evens out as you get deeper. Through the links from one video to another the author was able to successfully use the ‘in’ and ‘out’ keywords to bring the viewer into a completely new idea while still relating it back to the previous page. For instance at one point i was on a page consisting of different varieties of ‘paths’, which then lead me to a page about light, fire and smoke after picking the thumbnail depicting a path in the daylight. These subtle relations really interested me and made me think deeper to try and make the connections. The poem itself as I see it describes an event using magically balanced clauses and sentences. The authors simplistically connect these
To Conclude, I believe that this K-film was successful in many regards, particularly in the narrative structure and relations of the text, audio and video. The authors, i feel, definitely achieved an in-depth alternative take on the Against Entropy poem that effectively encapsulates the audience.
Week 4 – Lists – Bogost
Lists could definitely be considered a experimental approach to a K-film and has been a reoccurring theme in past K-films. ‘Lists refuse the connecting powers of language, in favor of a sequence of disconnected elements.’ I like the idea of lists as it allows the viewer to connect the elements without the use of language to connect it for them.
Bogost explains the idea of lists breaking down peoples natural obsession with continuity and smoothness that language offers, the use of lists helps this by forcing sometimes irregularity of words together to offer something completely fresh and unique.
Lists are considered as a way to categorise without using too much language. They are a way to convey messages more succinctly and can also help allow much more interpretation from the audience. If you go on to right everything that you are thinking word for word the audience is going to take exactly that and not be able to do much with it. Lists can provide them with more space to think. Ambiguity is a nice thing.