What a Shocker!

Posted on 21/05/2015 by Bucha

At the Lectorial this past tuesday, Dan played a sound clip of Girl Talk’s song ‘This Is The Remix’. Dan asked us to note down names and number of samples that has been used in it. The singers were new to me but I noted down the number of samples used, I could only find 10 samples but turned out that in reality about 22 samples have been used in that song. I was freaked out, it takes commitment and hard work to remix 22 different sound samples and mash up into one. It was a fun task to notice.

The Shooting Day

Posted on 21/05/2015 by Bucha

Today was our shooting day. I must say I thought this thing would be over in like half an hour or so but took us 2 hours to complete. It’s interesting to notice that just a mere 5-7 minute video takes that long. During the shooting process we had to face sound issues from the outsiders (people were walking in by, shoe taping, chatting). We sorted it out and then started with it. We managed to set up the three cameras, two microphones and one lightning source for that place. We connected a laptop to the lcd at the back to display footage. Kristian was holding laptop nearby the camera so that we don’t mess up the dialogues. After the filming, the footage was saved in my laptop and now I’ll start the rough cut over the weekend, whereas the rest of the crew will have to find royalty free music/sound effects to be added to the edited video later on. We are satisfied of what we have done so far, lets hope the video in the end comes out good. Rachel had a look at our video, but she would only comment when she sees some editing done.

What is Remix?

Posted on 19/05/2015 by Bucha

I never thought that remix could be considered as a serious text in media after today’s class. Remix can be defined as a global activity consisting of the creative and efficient exchange of information made possible by digital technologies. Everything we see is a remix of an original product. It’s funny when we sit in a room and brainstorming an idea and a brilliant idea pops up in mind and you consider yourself as a genius, well not really. Idea that you might have thought, is just a reflection of a precious thought unconsciously preserved in mind. According to Hindu mythology, There are total of 323 Vedhas (stories) and the rest are just a remix of it. What we have been doing all this time is just a remix of the original thought. So technically speaking, this means that there should be no copyright issues at first place. Comment below of what do guys think about it?

Feedback-Prototype

Posted on 14/05/2015 by Bucha

Today Rachel and the crew gave us feedback of our prototype that we made earlier this week. All knew it was very rough but gave them an idea of how we are approaching towards our brief 4. Rachel gave us the idea of using the basement of Building 9 as a location, we never thought of it before, so we checked it out and decided we will be going for it. Also she told us to incorporate our bibliography in our show and we covered it way early in our script.

So for next week we will be shooting for our project brief 4. Following things are to be noted before coming to the location:

I have to find footage for Grand Theft Auto and Sandy is to find footage for Resident Evil. This footage is to be used for the final media outcome.

Have hired lighting, camera and 2 tripods for our filming date.

I’ll bring my own camera from home as well which is a more professional camera.

By next meeting:

My Self: to have footage all found, and credited for GTA.

Sandy: to have footage all found, and credited for Resident Evil.

Kristian: to produce the logo for Game Scope.

Marriage- an institution?

Posted on 12/05/2015 by Bucha

In today’s lecture we discussed what institutions are and Brian put up an interesting topic “marriage”. Where I come from, people think of it as a religious thing and a right way to do for a male and female to officially interact. I for think that it is a social contract between two people to officially declare a relationship in the eyes of God. This whole phenomena is commercial as well. The business booms up for wedding photographers and planners for the wedding. This institution gives a feeling of joining a some sort of marriage club where you will be accepted by the society and be considered pious one (husband and wife is a pure relationship in the eyes of God). But one has to think where the concept of marriage came from. It is just a belief that was created just to control the masses and fabricating the fear of the unknown.

First Draft- Prototype

Posted on 12/05/2015 by Bucha

Yesterday we all met to finalize the script, location and the production for our final piece project brief 4. So Sandy and I will be hosting the final piece. The following video is a basic idea of how we will be doing this. There are some mistakes (lighting, location and script is not final yet). Lets see what happens this thursday with Rachel and how she finds it.

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Movie on 11-05-2015 at 12.53 pm from Kristian Grigoriou on Vimeo.

Group Meet up- Collaborative ideas

Posted on 07/05/2015 by Bucha

-Everyones annotated bibliography is completed and uploaded into a single doc (not yet put into alphabetical order, but that will be done soon)
-Further discussed what we found in our sources.
-Talked about ideas for artefact
-Concept of a Mockumentary abandoned
-Rachel gave us the idea to make a TV style report similar to the ABC program “Good Game”
-We unanimously decide this is a good idea.
-Brainstorm ideas, settle on showing/comparing how different mediums are used in two different games. As well as talking about how games are different to other mediums.

-We decide to use the Games “Grand Theft Auto” and “Resident Evil” because they are very different in their atmosphere, scope and use of other mediums such as sound.

-Before meeting again on Monday we have the following jobs:

Me: Find quotes and add them to the quote Doc
Kristian: write a rough draft of the script
Sandy: look for possible ways to get Resident Evil (possibly buy the ps1 classic to play on ps vita)

During our meeting on Monday at 12:00pm we aim to review the prototype script and record a read-through to see how it flows and length.

The Second Meeting- Getting back on track

Posted on 07/05/2015 by Bucha

· Progress report on annotated bibliography
1. Sandy – a bit behind because He was sick, but will be done by tomorrows class.
2. Kristian – done
3. Ali – done
· Spitballed ideas for brief, including a mockumentory about video games as a medium, looking at GTA and how it incorportates many mediums, as well as looking at Red Dead Redemtion and L.A Noire as games reviving “dead” genres in a new medium.

Our definitions of “Medium”
· Sandy: The different formats that artists can use to convey their message.
· Kristian: A channel of common intercommunication across avenues such as print, visuals and sound
· Ali: Communication tools that can change the perspective of the masses.
· Talked about the general summary of our bibliography

We will further discuss what our artifact will be tomorrow in class with Racheal for advice.

End of meeting.

Media- Manupilation

Posted on 06/05/2015 by Bucha

So what is Media? According to me, it is a tool that can change the perception the minds of the masses, whether for good or for evil. Yes, the moment you turn your attention towards your news feeds on facebook or when you tune into your favourite news channel, you are being drawn towards manipulated facts and figures. Well there may be certain truth to it, but can anyone guarantee that what is being represented on your screens is the reality?

Hitler himself said, “By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.” Media uses the techniques that provides a certain version of story and keeps repeating it so much that in the end the masses are bound to believe that it is the ultimate truth. We are seduced by the media; our taste develops accordingly and thus we are exposed to what we want to see eventually.

Which source should we trust? Well that I’m not sure of, but I do know that one should not judge the book by its cover, one should keep in mind that this story that is being shown is showing just one side of the coin, the other side of the coin has to be discovered, what is the truth in the end is all about how you perceive it.

How will you comprehend it?

Reading log- Documentary Modes

Posted on 02/05/2015 by Bucha

Citation: Nichols, Bill. “Documentary Modes of Representation” [extract: Modes & The Expository Mode] Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary. Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1991, p.32-38.

Log entry:

Key points:

-Bill provides four terms of practices in documentary making, expository, observational, interactive and reflexive.
-The observational mode arose with the availability of the mobile equipments and unsatisfied moralizing quality of expository documentary. This style allows filmmakers to record events unnoticeably but requires limited presence at the moment
-The interactive mode arose with the same mobile equipments but this style makes it more apparent for the filmmakers as it allows them to actively participate in events.
-The reflexive mode raises the audience’s awareness of the means of representation itself
-This reading focuses on expository mode, the style shapes around the commentary which is directed towards the viewer and images serve as illustration towards the narrative.
-The editing style is evidentiary
-This mode focuses on the impression of Impartiality and true judgment.
-It revolves around providing suspense to the piece of work rather than providing solution to a problem.

What it helped me to understand about documentary:
Old forms of style don’t go, they can be combined and altered to represent the work.

Comments:
This style of documentary persuades just one side of the story and thus the essence of truth lacks in the narrative unless the cinematography and editing is convincing enough.

A.R Bucha

Photographer, Editor, Documentary Film Maker

Monthly Archives: May 2015