Category: integrated media

Integrated Media- We’re Happy and We Know It: Documentary, Data, Montage.

“We believe that humanity is on the verge of a revolution”.
What a bold opening statement! The very first opening sentence leaves me guessing what this entrance is about. Upon reading further I discover that the reading is in fact about the revolution of DATA.
The reading then addresses the opening quotation as a quotation that was used as the marketing blurb for a  business and technology community conference in 2011.
The conference like the reading, addresses the power of data and how it is changing ‘us’ just like power of steam changed us a century ago.

  • Our computers hold and transmit records of what we’ve been doing (with our attention) and our mobile devices hold records of where we are (or what we are doing with our bodies)
  • Our devices can easily record our behaviours. This information can then be networked in unexpected and unplanned ways.
  • The ocean of data offers new opportunities for the production of new kinds of knowledge and application.

Now that media exist in digital forms and language can be transmitted through our everyday communications devices there is a great deal of definitional slippage between ‘data’, ‘communication’, ‘media’ and ‘language’. Whitelaw (2006), in Diamond (2010:1) defines data as ‘ a set of measurements extracted from the flux of the real that are abstract, blank meaningless’.

Data, Tim O’Reilly foresaw, would be the engine and the driver of the new social media internet; but by this he did not mean that our interactions, searches, likes, uploads, or tweets were the same as data. He meant that what could be abstracted from these interactions would be the gold nuggets of Web 2.0.

David Shields Integrated Media

Some points from the David Shields reading that I liked/found interesting

321. Story seems to say that everything happens for a reason, and I want to say, No, it doesn’t.
-This was an interesting point as it goes agains the traditional purpose of film. We create film and K-films to portray a meaning. Does something we create really have no meaning? We may be making something because we like it or that’s how we decided to make it at that time. But even so, you may still be able to argue that the unconscious decisions we make still have meaning, even if we didn’t intend them to.

324. The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about things

326. Plots are for dead people

333. A mosaic, made out of broken dishes, makes no attempt to hide the fact that it’s made out of broken dishes, in fact flaunts it.
-We like our creations to be perfect, and we like to feel confident about what we create. Sometimes the imperfections in film and k-films make that particular film special and different.

341. You don’t make art; you find it
I agree that all art is interpreted and inspired by other artwork and that nothing we make is purely original.

361. You don’t need a story. The question is How long do you not need a story?

362. Nothing is going to happen in this book
When we read books we read them because we want to feel an emotion whilst interpreting a story or material. We read books that have cause and effect and have action and a conclusion. When there is none of this, can we still have interest?

Integrated Media Week 8

Questions developed in today’s tutorial from today’s lecture.

1. Is there any way to establish a hierarchy in k-films e.g. how many lives you give a clip?
There is no hierarchy in understanding something before we move onto something else. You can have particular SNU’s that have particular significance in the work so they appear more than other clips, so in that sense you can have a hierarchy. What Adrian spoke about in terms of hierarchy was that when we make associations with the SNU’s in labelling them there is no hierarchy.

2. Can you please elaborate on Adrian’s spiel about Identity and Unconsciousness. Example?
A lot of our behaviour is driven by unconscious desires and because we are not conscious of them we are not aware of them. We choose to see things the way we see them because of our experiences and identity in the world. When doing our constraint tasks we chose certain things to shoot and we all chose to shoot different things in different ways. We develop themes and patterns within our work, whether that is conscious or not.

3. Can you explain what Adrian means by approaching k-films in terms of style rather than genre?
Adrain spoke about k-films being made from stylistic choices rather than genre. The genre of movies usually are romance, comedy, thriller, drama etc whereas in k-films we focus on the style of the film rather than the genre of it. In k-films we focus on the way we want to shoot our shots rather than following a genre of film.

 

Soar Korskow 06 reading Class Discussion + Generating Questions

Korsakow films rely on the maker to download the korsakow software from the web and then create film from the makers hard drive. The maker cannot embed online media into their film  and must rely on video from their own hard drive. This is a big weakness for korsakow as a lot of videos made for the web use video they themselves have not created.  If one want to share their korsakow film they need to do so through technology that is interactive such as a laptop. Thus posing the question: Is there any point to choosing korsakow as a way of creating film if it can only be viewed through limited interactive technology, which limits audience participation?

This brings me to the question, isn’t film made for viewing? We create film to portray something in a certain way for audience to see. Korsakow is interactive and forces the audience to choose the direction of the story. Thus limiting the type of technology that an audience can view it on. Someone cannot watch a korsakow film on a TV screen or an iPad, thus limiting audience interaction.

Another question we have created was that of Soar arguing that we should choose keywords based on meaning rather than visual appearance. Does this contradict the way that we’ve been using korsakow? When we create our korsakow we create pattern through the visual imagery in the video footage that we have such as ‘day’, ‘night’, ‘exterior’, ‘interior’. How do we create pattern within the footage without following what we see?

Technology is constantly changing around us. New and better ways of viewing media take over the last and korsakow is definitely not exempt from change. What is the point of having a technology that might soon become obsolete? Is there any way authors of korsakow films can preserve their works without fear that they may not function? (e.g. if adobe ceases to exist). Korsakow needs to develop a way to keep up with the ever changing media programs. Korsakow is already limited in the ways that we view it, so is there any reason to learn korsakow and use it to portray your ideas and expressions, if there is the possibility of it becoming obsolete?

Another question that the class came up with was that of korsakow’s use. Is korsakow a place purely for artistic expression, or is there any potential for it to be used commercially?  If korsakow wants to remain as a platform for making work, then it needs to consider the possibility for commercial use. At the moment korsakow is purely a platform that people use for artistic expression. Will it become more important if it takes a commercial turn? If korsakow wants to make money, I feel commercial business use would be a positive way to turn, however, if it wants to remain as a way of solely expressing artisitc meaning, then they should just keep going the way they have been.

Korsakow

Greetings fellow commuters,

Here is the Korsakow film made by yours truly:

http://www.themediastudents.net/im1/2014/torika.taylor

http://www.themediastudents.net/im1/2014/torika.taylor/Torika.Taylor.html

 

Korsakow seems to have issues with safari so I uploaded it on Firefox. Blast! I haven’t used Firefox for God knows how long! Anyhoo, enjoy!

korsakow-small-k-front-only_design

Unlecture discussions-Integrated media

  1. What is the point in redefining narrative as anything more than ‘cause and effect’?
    Something can still be cause and effect without being narrative. As Adrian explained, most of the things that exist in this world rely on cause and effect. We as humans have become accustomed to stories being narrative and told to us.  Because we have ways of telling stories, such as cinema, we assume we must ‘tell’ a story. Narrative in film is the depiction in the medium of film, of a series of events in the cause and effect relationship. Narrative media uses a story as its main motivation. When you begin to play with the ‘story’ and meaning behind the film you slowly begin to lose the narrative meaning.
    We can portray something in an abstract form in cinema that still uses cause and effect, however, make the meaning more ambiguous. When the story line isn’t clearly narrated we are forced to contrive meaning ourselves, putting together moments to create meaning.

  2. Ryan notes ‘we can never be sure that sender and receiver have the same story in mind.’ Korsakow films allow for greater freedom of interpretation. Do you see this as a positive or negative? How can the filmmaker control interpretations?
    We can never be sure sender and receiver have the same story in mind, however, the sender can provide all relevant information to aid the receiver to understand fully what the message they are trying to send means. Korsakow is a medium that we use for the purpose of allowing interpretation by the viewers.
    Korsakow is about giving viewers the ability to interpret what is presented to them in the way that they feel. In the lecture, Adrian said interpretation is like flirting. Funnily enough that made me fully understand what this question is about. Jasmine stated is Korsakow the only way of presenting a story to someone and allowing them the freedom to create their own interpretation. Korsakow has different portals to its story.
    There may be five different interface’s to click on, not every person is going to follow through the same imagery, thus, they will not generate an identical meaning. This is a positive for Korsakow because the whole purpose of Korsakow is ambiguity and emotion. We can feel like we understand the piece without understanding the cause and effect.

 

 

 

Korsakow Film Bright Splinters- essay

Korsakow Film- Bright Splinters

Upon first clicking into the Korsakow film, Bright Splinters,  an ambient and relaxing sound plays over the clips.

The film consists of eight rectangular shaped interfaces. One interface is displayed on a larger scale and is the main focus to watch. The clips are displayed with the large interface down to the left of the screen with three smaller interfaces running horizontally above it and four interfaces running vertically to the right of it. All interfaces have a rectangular shape.

The large and main thumbnail moves and is in colour. It is the main focus to watch, whilst the other seven thumbnails are black and white and still. If you hold your cursor over the still and smaller thumbnails the image moves, and you get a short preview of the video and sound. If you click on the image this visual will become displayed on the large interface frame, and the videos connected to this will be displayed in the smaller interfaces around it.

The overall feeling is that of tranquility and calm. All clips have a consistent theme of light (Bright Splinters). There is pattern in this korsakow in terms of what clips are displayed at the same time. Upon entering the film, I was presented with a close up shot of a girl smiling with light hitting her face. This clip was presented in the biggest thumbnail which served as a link to the surrounding clips. The seven thumbnails around the large one were clips of everyday city life, for example, a train approaching a station, an old  woman on a tram, the city high rises, the fountain at the National Gallery of Victoria etc. These clips have the pattern of being in the city.

I then clicked on the thumbnail of the train approaching the station. That interface then moved to the main frame and the theme/pattern of ‘public transport’ replaced that of the previous ‘city’ theme. The clips of the woman on the tram remained as that matched both patterns of ‘city’ and ‘transport’. I decided to look for more patterns within the interfaces so I clicked on a link from the pattern of ‘transport’ which consisted of people on a tram. This then became the main interface. I then found myself in new patterns which revolved around ‘people’, ‘water’ ‘movement of light’ etc . As well as finding links and connections, I also found that some of the links and connections to certain clips, were confusing and I couldn’t form an obvious pattern as it was varied.

There is something very beautiful about all of these clips. The clips captures light in the every day world. Moments that happen every day suddenly seem very important and meaningful as the ambient and slightly sad music plays over the clips.

Another pattern I noticed was that of ‘lives’ running out on the main interface. The main interface only has one life so you can only see the clip once. This forces you to move on and click into another interface.

I couldn’t find much that I didn’t like with these clips, I felt that they chose the right amount of thumbnails to choose from and I really liked the added aesthetic quality of the added sound track. I felt they had a good variety of the types of clips to choose from.

 

In particular my favourite is that of the un-suspecting old woman being filmed on an old tram. The light pours around her as the tram moves. Another clip that I like, is that of what I suspect is two people in love at the cinema. You can see the light from the ceiling on their heads and the wide cinema screen in front of them. The camera then pans out to the illuminated crowd in the rows around the person filming.

I think overall the film was made well. It is about every day life and parts of every day life such as people, the city, water etc.

 

http://vogmae.net.au/classworks/media/2012/kfilms/brightsplinters/#/?snu=503

clip about someone else, not from immediate family without using their face

Review/Analysis

This is a video about my friend Sophie. I have chosen to include three things that define her. She is a photographer and prefers to use film camera over digital, so I chose to show her using the camera. Secondly, I chose to show her playing with her necklace, which she does when she is anxious or nervous. Lastly I chose to show her signing her name.

Water from the point of view of a plant

Analysis/Reflection
I really like the idea behind this video I have created. I literally put my phone upside down in a fern that I have at home and recorded myself spraying the fern with water. I like that you can see the green leaves in the frame as well as part of my head that looks down on the plant. You can see and hear the water being sprayed onto the plant. I wish I could have filmed this longer because I think this is a really interesting way of depicting someone watering their plants.

Untitled from Torika Taylor on Vimeo.

Questions from Symposium 04

1. Bordwell and Thompson state that after watching Railroad Turnbridge a person “cannot see bridges in the same way” thus experimental films are not just art for arts sake. Can/are Korsakow projects art for arts sake, or can they effect the way people see things? Or like Rail Road Turnbridge are they both at once?

Korsakow films aren’t necessarily art for just art’s sake as they provide new ways to view what we see. They give you the ability to look at something in a new light, in a way you haven’t looked at them before through non narrative film. (Richard Serra, A Translation) states that “the physical turnbridge is the support of this experience, not its subject.”

Instead of focusing on the bridge itself, we focus on the movements of the bridge and around the bridge. We begin to focus on the visual effect it has on us. I begin to forget that I am looking at the movements of a bridge, and think that I am just looking at aesthetically pleasing movements. But then I still look at bridges the same way, just because I have been presented with an alternative view of bridges, I don’t forget what bridges are about. The film is beautiful and I like what I am watching, but it doesn’t change the way I look at bridges.

I have split views on the ‘art for art’s sake’ when it comes to the Rail Road Turnbridge and Korsakow.

Firstly, I think that, well, maybe this film is just ‘art for art’s sake, same with Korsakow. We want to make things for the fun of making them and we make them to please us, they may have no meaning what so ever. I tend to find myself drawing and painting, not because I want to convey a meaning, but because that is what I feel like doing at that time. One can look at any piece of artwork and make an analysis on what the artist’s meaning was, but sometimes there just isn’t any conscious meaning behind something. And Korsakow films, in particular the one that I watched Bright Splinters was beautiful and aesthetically appealing. And maybe that’s all it is.

But then I think, well, maybe it isn’t ‘art for art’s sake’.

If an emotion and response is provoked from the Korsakow, or any form of art, then it has done its role in connecting with people. Railroad Turnbridge was created with the purpose of  making us look at something differently, and just because it is aesthetically pleasing to watch, does that make it meaningless?

I don’t think I can make up my mind, so I guess I shall just go about my days, until I can decide.

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Things that define me

I chose my art as things that define me. I am constantly painting and drawing and art definitely defines who I am as a person. I grew up in a family full of artists so naturally I developed an interest in art. I tend to paint, draw or create illustrations when i’m happy and when i’m sad. These drawings and paintings are hung up all around my apartment.

Clip about immediate family/immediate relations

Representing my immediate family I chose a bear that was my mothers, and then mine. I also chose a framed stitching that my auntie made for me when I was born, it is a stitching of my mother. Thirdly I chose the cover of my grandfathers biography that details the story of his life and the rest of my families. And lastly I chose the frame of a photograph of my father and I in my christening dress. The frame has my named engraved into it. And thus, seeing as I cannot be with my family as I create these clips, these are things I have lying around my apartment that are meaningful to me.

Places that define me

For places that define me, I chose photographs of where I grew up. The first photograph displays the beach in front of my house in Savusavu in Fiji. I spent every day on this beach and it is one of my favourite spots in the world. Secondly I chose a photograph of the resort I grew up in. My parents work here every day and it is my second home to me. Lastly I chose the sign outside my apartment that I have recently moved into in Melbourne 201. I have lived here for a year now with a friend from school, it is where all my recent experiences have taken place.