I’ve always been jokingly told that secret to being happy is to have low expectations. Maybe there is some truth to that. After reading this article I’ve realised the dangers of blinding following ones passion in pursuit of the holy grail of dream jobs. The article states that we should exercise caution with “fantasy” as ultimately, how often can reality match up to it? I too struggle with the balancing act of being realistic and going for gold. Although at this point as an unemployed student who cannot cook I’d be very happy to land any job.

I personally agree that it isn’t helpful to aim for a very narrow “ultimate” dream job as mentioned in the article because:

1. With the onset of technology and the prevalence of media, the jobs most of us will be doing in years to come may not have even been thought of yet.
2. It makes it more difficult to appreciate what you already have.
3. No one will ever be satisfied if they keep saying “well, one day…”

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On the opposite end of the argument I’m reminded of a time I went to visit the dentist.

He asked, “So what are you doing in uni?”

I replied,”Media. It’s no dentistry course but it’s what I’ve wanted to do for ages.”

We joked about this for a while and it turns out he has seen so many people drop out and quit because they didn’t love meddling with people’s teeth enough.

He ended abruptly with a dark comment, “dentists have one of the highest suicide rates.”

So there is still the danger of throwing dreams out of the window to follow a financially sturdy career or appease one’s parents.

What intrigued me the most about Bowtell’s presentation was his comment on how people, after having a lot experience with editing, can FEEL when a cut should be made. As I’m just a beginner I find that I have to watch the whole thing from the very beginning before I can notice awkward timing or choppy editing. The clip from the film “casino” which I had seen previous to the presentation when “Sam meets Ginger” was so clever it made grin creepily. Before I hadn’t noticed how heavily the revealing of Sam’s thoughts was driven by the editing; I just simply knew he had fallen in love with ginger. Maybe thats how you can tell when film has been edited well; if you gain meaning from the clip without explicitly being told or shown.

I hadn’t noticed how media saturated my surroundings were until this exercise! My group went to the state library, and to my suprise there was advertising all around us.

Immediately we were bombarded with people handing us flyers. Some for restaurants and one I collected was for city road safety. Loud trams had huge adds for Bank of Melbourne, the sounds of the trams caught people attention and helped make the ads more obvious. Up high there was a hand spray-painted movie poster for the new “Batman vs Superman” film. The spray paint had a dramatic effect and was very eye catching.

The surrounding media has become a sort of natural habitat for us now.

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.

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’, 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. 

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.