Monthly Archives: March 2016

Media One-workshop-week one

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Getting used to blogging was hard as I don’t usually do it and I’m not the most tech savvy. We mainly focussed on getting started and getting familiar with the sites. I think the blogging will help me become more aware and to actively participate in class. It is quite difficult to blog without opinions and opinions don’t arise if you’re a passive consumer. I’ve realised that usually I’m just passively browsing photos and things written by other people, so my aggressive typing skills are refined.

David Attenborough’s “Life in the Undergrowth”

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My favourite series of the great Sir David Frederick Attenborough “Life in the Undergrowth” is a BBC nature documentary, first transmitted in 2005. This incredibly in depth study of creatures we usually turn a blind eye to; sometimes stepping on them as we saunter across the lawn, are revealed to be complex lifeforms. They have their own dirty politics within communities, dangerous “dating” cultures and oh the interspecies betrayal is unreal. Why do I need to watch “Pretty Little Liars” when I have entertaining insect drama.

I’m currently watching this first episode again as I type this (the first time I watched it was when I was 10 or so). For some reason – it might be the emphasis on male and female dynamics across different species- this show has me question our human sexuality and gender.

We’ve all congratulated the male penguins for guarding the egg while the female searches for food and the male seahorses for carrying the young; but what about insects? In this episode I found that distinct genders were rare. Conversely, most of the females were larger and the males were the “pretty ones” trying to impress potential mates with a vibrant display. But most like the Leopard Slugs and earthworms actually fertilise each other, neither carrying the dominant role, in perfect harmony. So if slugs can last without gender roles, perhaps we can too.

I had a laugh at the scorpions moonlit dance to the cleverly chosen spanish guitar backing track. Their dancing slow turned into fighting until the male stung the female to make her “drowsy enough” to pass on his sperm packet. ooo controversial. A year later she is alone and raising her babies.

This is crazy but if tiny creatures can go about their lives minding their own business and not judging other insects sexualities, and gender. We should follow in their many many footsteps. With our huge convoluted brains and dexterous thumbs, I’m sure we can pull it off.

Side note: In this series I’ve seen the most incredible physical transformations of creatures. Such as the mayfly, emerges from the water as a wet blob, and malts into a fairy-like creature. Their whole lives; birth to death; all happen within a day and they die fluttering despairingly, sapping the last of their energy source. As a very depressing kid, I thought about the mayfly and how their lives in comparison to ours are so very short. Now I see it as a nudge to appreciate what we’ve got a humans.

I’ll leave you with a great quote from the man himself:

“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

In saying that, I think we have a lot to learn from the creatures that we so often dismiss. h-SCORPIONS-MATING-628x314

Cal Newport “Follow Your Passion” Is bad advice

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I admit to being blindly inspired by Steve Jobs’ speech about following your dreams and to never “settle” until you’re happy. But recently I have found that difficult. As I am fresh out of high school and I’m very familiar with being spoon fed work and told what to do all the time. So when I started uni and no one said I HAD to do anything; I became a potato for 2 weeks. That’s why within the last few days I have been frantically getting work done that I know I could have tried harder on. This has led me to think more about self motivation and self learning. What is it that drives people to work hard at uni? Is it because they love what they do or they are doing what they love? That’s confusing. I was the one who chose to do a media course yet I still find myself slacking off too often.

From the ted talk I got that its more about the attitude you have and your worth ethic. Some people who I really admire, just love to keep busy, whereas I relish in being lazy most of the time. I think that you can end up loving most things that you try if you keep and open mind and stay passionate no matter what you’re doing. Easier said than done though.

Scott McCloud, 1993, ‘Blood in the Gutter’

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Scott McCloud, 1993, ‘Blood in the Gutter’, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (Northampton, MA : Tundra Pub)

Growing up I was obsessed with flipbooks. I used to draw on every corner of all my books to try and tediously create the perfect animation powered by …THE MIND. I was inspired by Andy Griffiths’ “Just” series and his Illustrator Terry Denton. In the corner of each book was a super snazzy flipbook animation. Flipbooks are similar to comics to me because for either to work, your mind has to join each image together with both meaning and movement.

I also read a few comics but more so manga in the early years. I still have my collection hiding at the top of my bookshelf.

One part of the comic that really caught my attention was the segment about how the reader is just as involved in the way a comic is perceived as the creator. It is because, often without realising it, we fill in the gaps with our own imagination. When a murder sequence only showed an axe being raised and the sound effect of the victim “all of [the readers] held the axe and chose [our own] spots.” This excited me because it made me wonder how this could be applied to film. Creating a sense of mystery, tension or even fooling the viewer by allowing them to come to their own individual conclusion. 

 

 

Week 2- media 1Practical

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I need to get onto the whole consistency thing when it comes to blogging but here is a post about our Media 1, week  2 practical.

Giving and receiving feedback was surprisingly challenging as my table was a quiet one. The “six thinking hats” method of feedback by de Bono allowed us to slip into different personas of critical thinking. However I did have trouble putting on the black hat without sounding like a negative nancy. I think my group had the most fun with the famous “green hat” as we enjoyed brainstorming creative alternatives to improve what was already there. The “red hat” to me was the easiest as I could just say how I felt straight away without fear of judgement. The six hats helped us avoid just saying “yea I liked it” or “well done mate.”

Later that session, we watched some clips of the self portrait assignment due in Week 4. It was really interesting to see such a diverse range of takes on how people wanted to portray themselves. I’ m still not sure what I want to do for my short clip but I’ll try to keep it simple and meaningful as Rachel advised.

Media Profile

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Explanation of media:

Photos:

  1. painting- I like to work on a messy desk because I guess mess is inevitable when you’re working hard.
  2. pontoon- this is the view from where I normally sit in the city
  3. arch- I am interested in architecture
  4. clothes-I never really noticed how much blue I wear
  5. dumpling- food is a big part of my family and one of my favourite childhood memories is of us making wontons together
  6. nightlight- lighting really interests me

videos:

I wish I had prepared for this earlier haah but I took a video of a milky and dye experiment because colours make me really happy. I used to watch “life in the undergrowth” growing up so I when I was lucky enough to stumble across a moth I didn’t hesitate to TRY and film it.

sound:

I like to jam on my guitar for funs. The city sounds are what I wake up to every morning when I make my tea as part of my ritual.