-Task Four Reflection-

Before making the final decision of Task Four, which is the last, the biggest and the most important project in this semester, there were many concepts that I was considering. As I focused on ‘the viewers’ perspective’ in Task Three, the reflection revealed that colors and lights are the two elements that have the most influence on people. Moreover, in different times in a day would cause the changes of lights, for example, the sunlight would be more obvious than lights at daytime, however, the lights are more attractive at night. Therefore, ‘colour’ become the crucial point in Task Four, to consider how does it changes at different times, which represent different effects of lights.

 

There were many methods that I can approach this problem, however, I choose to use both the video and the photos. I know it might be more complex because many people would think the photos are enough. However, I think the large plenty of photos cannot make sense. Firstly, although the photos could provide people enough time to look at, the huge number of photos would make them confused or impatient. Secondly, it is hard to focus on the specific things when lots of photos show to someone. They would forget the previous one when they see the next. In addition, photography is not a good way to compare the differences and similarities. To achieve a better result, I took a large plenty of photos at first, then selected some photos that representative to create the video. The photos which took at the same time would be put together, the timeline in the video is from the morning until the night so that people will see how the changes of lights affect ‘red’. The theme of photos is ‘daily life’, all the locations, scenes appear in the photos are the environment around us.

 

About the finished product of the video, I tried many times to make it more perfect. Fortunately, it achieved what I expected, although there is still some weakness. For the test video 1 and 2, the feedback in the studio represented that the huge number of photos is too large to make the video in a mass and could not grab people’s attention that what you want to express through the video. Moreover, the viewers are unable to remember each photo in the video. For test video 3, I tried to use issuu to make the booklet but failed. However, Premiere Pro was also worked on it but the product was not expected to be good. Finally, the video was completed by selecting photos and combining them in the timeline. In addition, from the reflection of the volunteer, the video would not only make her notice the media itself but also create a narrative story by watching the video and it is what I wanted to achieve.

 

By comparing the response from the volunteer and myself, it is obvious to see that time definitely influence people’s noticing, but each person has different degrees to the sensitive of colours, for example, I might feel lights more attractive so that I may pay more attention to red colour at night; however, Shona might feel ‘red’ in daytime would grab her attention. Moreover, bright colors are more noticeable because it would bring people more sense of strong feelings more directly. In addition, not only lights and colors have the influence on people’s noticing, the shooting angles also. The subject in the center of the location or with big size would easier to be attractive. The video applies an easier approach for me to find the relationship between colors and times (lights).

 

According to Shona’s response, it is surprising that the narrative storyline was created during the process of editing by following the timeline in the video. As the reading (Changescapes – An Introduction) from Gibson, Ross, each clip is part of a group of items loosely joined not by logic or power or use but by the gentle knot of the comma. It is possible to combine the irrelevant photos into the narrative story and cause the viewers’ imaginatively liberating which was also mentioned in the previous reading. (Bogost, Ian. Ontograhy) In my case, the photos may be limited the audience’s imagination because they would focus on the items that appear in the image; however, if combine photos together to create the video, it would give them for space to create the story.

 

The process of develop the experimental is quite challenging. It required us to come up with questions by ourselves and think about the approach to test it. The point of what we notice in usual is a necessary step to develop fresh questions. Moreover, the approaches will be used are hard to decide as well because there are multiple ways to reflect the question but we need to choose the most suitable one so that it is important to do more tests. However, looking back, it has been extremely valuable and has allowed me noticing more things that I did not notice in usual, also pay more attention to the viewers’ perspective, coupled with the ability to do the survey. These experiences might be useful for being a good media producer.

 

-Studio Reflection-

Looking back to the start of this semester, ‘Seeing the Unseen’ is such a studio that so attractive while it developed the skills of noticing through doing the process of the experimental. The questions throughout the studio are: What did you notice? Did you notice something that unusual? What can you image through the noticing? In most case, noticing is a valuable thing because it can let us pay more attention to tiny things and find more interesting things around us to make the life colorful. Moreover, I think noticing is the fundamental ability of a good media producer. Only notice more things that others do not pay attention to, the better products will be completed. Therefore, for this reflection, it is not just focused on Task Four, but have more sensitive on the semester its entirely.

• How well have you grasped noticing as an experimental approach to making nonfiction?

Through these tasks I did in this semester, I grasped noticing as an excellent experimental approach. The questions or ideas for each task are not groundless but are developed from the previous individual project. The posts provide the space to record the process and the ideas of the task, each time I notice something or come up with fresh ideas, it is a good way to write them into the post to avoid forgetting. Hannah really played a crucial role in the studio, thanks to her wonderful skills of teaching, I finished the final big project step by step. She likes to raise our interest and encourage to find more things surrounding us to develop the questions of tasks and do the experimental. Each task is related, the discovery came up from the noticing in the previous task, then to have further development. Noticing fresh things in the environment which we familiar with is exactly an approach to making nonfiction.

• How well have you explored the creative possibilities of making media outside of traditional linear production methods?

Normally, photography is the most common use method because of the advantages of stillness images, which could let the viewers look at each photo carefully. It was what I tried to achieve in the previous tasks. However, to have the creative method of making media, I combined the multiple photos together to create a video for the first time. Before I done the final production of Task Four, I always restrict myself on ‘narrative’ because I want to create the narrative storyline. Unexpectedly, the narrative of the story is naturally formed when photos combine together. The viewers always follow the logic of the video to create their own understanding. It is obvious that video may not show details specifically to people, but it can inspire imagination.

• How do the media artefacts you have made (particularly task four) come close to performing the complexity of the changing world around me?

The media I created would remind people to notice more around them because of some scenes may be common to see in usual, but people always ignore them. Moreover, the most important phrase is ‘the changing world’. Take Task Four as an example, the video recorded from morning to the evening. ‘Time’, ‘lights’ are continuity changing through the day, for example, the red colour of the traffic lights may not too attractive at the daytime because of the sunlight or other colours would grab our attention; however, it would be more attractive at night because the surrounding environment is darkness, so it makes ‘red’ looks more conspicuous. In addition, not only in Task Four, the previous tasks also reflected ‘the complexity of the changing world’. Framing, shooting angles, the changes of colors are also the elements change people’s perspective and affect their noticing. Therefore, one specific thing maybe reflects different feelings or effects at different times or in different conditions. The world is changing, nothing would be changeless