Week 6 Reading

Posted on 27/08/2016 by Bucha

This week’s reading was about psychologist Howard Garder’s introduction to five minds for the future for which he believes that these are the kind of minds that people should develop and will be needed in future to be successful. without equipping these minds, a person won’t be well equipped and won’t excel in a modern age.

The five mindsets that he talks about are the following:

The Disciplined Mind: be excelled in at least one approach of thinking.
The Synthesizing Mind: taking information from different sources, understanding it and distributing it amongst different people
The Creating Mind: putting up new ideas, conjuring a fresh way of thinking and concluding with unexpected resolutions.
The Respectful Mind: respects different groups of people, trying to understand others and work with them efficiently
The Ethical Mind: the one who is aware of own responsibilities and finds a way to work betterment for the society without being selfish.

Garder further comments on the how we appreciate science and technology but do not teach the scientific ways of thinking or even how to develop individuals creative capacity which is essential for continuing growth of science and technology. Without having any of the mentioned mindsets, individuals would be restricted to inferior assignments, making unwise decisions, being replaced by computers for not having that creative sense and not be worthy of respect.

I agree with Garder’s statement on the five mindsets. In today’s world we are consuming media on a regular basis and the trend will defiantly rise. It’s just that we would have to depend less on technology and more on learning values of five mindsets in order to succeed.

Weekly Reading- Week 5

Posted on 17/08/2016 by Bucha

This weeks reading is “Finding Time in a Digital Age’ by Judy Wajcman. She explores how complex relationship has come between technology and time. Roughly hundred years ago, John Maynard Keynes, an economist predicted that as technology will grow, there will be more time to enjoy leisure. With technology, more work will be done by machines with high productivity and efficiency, but instead we have become busier than before. In the past, work used to be defined as a certain amount of time given and a certain code of conduct to follow, but with today’s technology, it has become more approachable and interactive that we just can’t ignore a single notification and thus have to respond to it. What were just work and personal life separate, has now become integrated into one life altogether, which brings to a question that I had in mind, how personal life has become? consider a smartphone, you have the accessibility to check emails and reply promptly, which results in constantly connected with work life.

Interesting point that was mentioned in the reading of a sociologist Juliet Schor in her work ‘Plentitude: The New Economics of True Wealth’ that she is against the long hour culture and over consumption, she says that we need to revalue our daily style and people tend to work too much, eat too quickly, socialize too little and don’t have enough sleep. I can relate to what she is saying because every day I travel from public transport and I notice that people are consistent with their interaction with their smartphone and thus there is a lack of confidence when approaching to people in real life interaction.

Although being optimistic, I do believe that technology is not all that bad, it does provide you with variations of how you want to approach the working style.

Weekly reading- Week 4

Posted on 10/08/2016 by Bucha

This week’s reading was a chapter ‘The Clarity of The Craftsman’ from the book ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You’ by Cal Newport. The author talks about two different mindsets for approaching work namely ‘passion mindset’ and ‘craftsman mindset’. Furthermore, the author discusses that the individual must focus on the ‘craftsman mindset’ which is what you can offer to the world rather than what world can offer you approach. The writer provides with motivational quotes and gives us an example of the musician who practiced at really early stage of his life and got so good at it that he was approached by a record company.

After reading this, I do agree what the writer says. In this industry, passion can only happen when you have mastered the craft. Having a passion for something can only happen once you get the obsessed feeling that you want to be the best at what you do. I’m passionate about documentary filmmaking and want to pursue my career in it. Instead of thinking about being the best there is, I should really be putting into practicing the craft so that I may end up at a top notch production house.

One of the key highlights in the reading were where he suggests ‘you put aside the question of whether your job is your true passion, and instead turn your focus toward becoming so good they can’t ignore you’ (p.39) and that don’t look at why people choose the craftsman mindset, but see how they deployed it.

Annotated Bibliography- Research Project part 2

Posted on 09/08/2016 by Bucha

These are the two remaining bibliographies that I researched:

3, Rutherford, A. (2012). “Not Firing Arrows”: Multiplicity, Heterogeneity and the Future of Documentary: Interview with Amar Kanwar. asian cinema, 16(1), pp.117-124.

This article is an interview conducted by Anne Rutherford with a Delhi-based documentary filmmaker Amar Kanwar, whose documentary provokes a special magical connection with the audience, which is not seen in most of the documentaries. The articles is addressed towards students of media and documentary filmmaking. The filmmaker gives his views that about the film being an amazing medium which utilizes sound, image, and color and that you can do anything with it. It also gives an opportunity with experiencing different lives of subjects, getting different reactions from audiences around the world and also providing a variety in the filmmaking perspective. Amar points out that obsession is the key in order to engage with audience. This obsession leads to a certain mental state of mind for example when a dancer enters into that zone during an act, the audience feels the connection and this relationship changes between the two as they enter into that frame of mind. One interesting point to notice is that the filmmaker also gave his insights to future of storytelling, pondering on the notion that the documentary filmmakers are shifting towards shorter form of filmmaking, with the only purpose to satisfy their own research and furthermore creates new types of storytelling.

The article has reasonable information and seems fit for our research purpose as the interview is from the industry practitioner itself and gives out the understanding of conventional documentary filmmaking, and also invokes to rework our own understanding of reality and the means of communicating.

4, Stoeltje, G. (2003). Light in Custody: Documentary Films, the Teach Act and the DMCA. Santa Clara Computer High Technology Law Journal, 20(4), pp.1075-1112.

The article outlines the legal issues that surrounds the licensing and distribution aspect of independent documentary films in the digital age. At current stage, documentaries are being distributed by small distributors mostly on VHS tapes, but as digital formats becomes affordable, the distributors will begin to convert the analog tapes into digital formats which also includes streaming or video on demand services. the author also informs that educational institutions are developing new teaching models like distance learning programs which can be accessed in digital form for student access. This article is addressed towards media regulators and students of documentary filmmaking. The author also discusses the technical details about current format and licensing practice, the economics of documentary practice, and the relationship of documentaries to the Fair Use Doctrine. One of the interesting features of the article is the short and long term licensing questions that are brought out by new laws and new technologies. Two bills namely the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act are also discussed in this article.

This article provides rational information regarding rules and regulation of distribution of documentaries. I believe that it is vital to know about these licensing issues as filmmaker and be aware of changing developments in these regulations to stay in the game. As technology progresses, laws will change by time too and does the platforms for delivering our content.

Week 3- Workforce

Posted on 04/08/2016 by Bucha

This week’s reading ‘Work’ by Ramon Lobato and Julian Thomas explores the realms of work environment in today’s world as mostly the workers are doing freelance work. It can be a good thing and a bad thing too. With freelancing, the workers have the freedom to work at their own pace of time, freedom for creativity and enjoying a permeable boundary between work, private life and leisure, but the expense is the experience they have in their bag and that can only be possible by working with a company.

A professor from New York University Andrew Ross said in his work ‘No Collar: The Humane Workplace and its Hidden Costs’ (2003) that although many enjoy the benefits of ‘new economy’ like flexible hours and creative control, his respondents also faced issues like over work and exploitations. This exploitation of labour is also shown on mainstream media in HBO’s tv series ‘Girls’, where the character Hannah ‘captures the experience of many aspiring media workers with working lives full of uncertainty and (self) exploitation’ (p.75)

However couple of solutions have been proposed in the reading like call for formalization of workplace and recruitment practices, along with better and more extensive government regulation. Hesmondhalgh and Baker have also emphasised that there should be unionization and a basic guaranteed income as a means to reform and a commitment that an individual will not self exploit.

I believe that if you are wealthy enough, then you may join the workforce for experience purposes as you feel yourself exploited, but for people with lower income, this is an issue as they would have to find ways to feed themselves. As long you enjoy what you are doing, then I don’t think there should be a complaining to do. Where do I see myself in all this? I guess I’ll probably be freelancing in near future and enjoy the freedom that it offers.

Annotated Bibliography- Research Project

Posted on 03/08/2016 by Bucha

Here is my annotations for our group project ‘Future of Documentary’

1, Mertes, C. (2007). Future Doc: The View from Sundance. [online] International Documentary Association. Available at: http://www.documentary.org/magazine/future-doc-view-sundance-novdez-2007 [Accessed 2 Aug. 2016].

The article outlines the challenges that documentary filmmakers face with commercially dominated media and audiences being disengaged from the message that these filmmakers initiate. The author is analytical as she argues that with the evolution of technology, how filmmakers have adapted themselves with the changes and how audiences have changed their viewing over time as well. This article is addressed towards the documentary filmmakers and academic researches of media and film field. The author also addresses on what if scenarios with regards to the future of documentary. Even though the article is 10 years old, Cara’s predictions are almost true to what she wrote like people wearing tiny cameras (action cameras) for recording and people not buying ticket to a film as theatrical distribution being morphed onto on-demand projection at any location and namely any device. the author also talks about audience being fed with consumerism and that filmmakers have to not only just raise awareness or entertain them, but also to create a culture of engagement.

The articles provides a useful rationale explaining the future of documentary filmmaking and its connectivity with the audience. Her findings are her own experiences as she is a director of documentary film program at Sundance institute. However I’m a bit concerned about her findings as they may be limited to what she has experienced in her surroundings or the films that are submitted at Sundance, That being said, her finding that documentary is filling the void left by the dying art of journalism is something to think about. This article is useful for our research topic as it gives a useful insight and provides a filmmakers perspective for our group’s objective.

2, Pyburn, R. (2016). How Emerging Technology is Shaping the Future of Documentary Filmmaking. [online] Whicker’s World Foundation. Available at: https://whickersworldfoundation.com/2016/03/how-emerging-technology-is-shaping-the-future-of-documentary-filmmaking/ [Accessed 2 Aug. 2016].

The article explores how innovations in technology is shaping the future of documentary filmmaking. The article suggests that the art of storytelling elements have remained the same but the technologies have evolved which are used as tools to tell the story. The article is addressed towards students of media. The article explains how Robert Flaherty’s ‘Nanook of the North’ was shoot with the innovative Akeley ‘pancake’ Camera which lasted for two decades after its creation which is unthinkable in today’s market as technology keeps on evolving and that if Flaherty would shoot a documentary today, he would only require a smartphone and portable audio recording equipment. The author also comments on new technologies is being used besides camera like drones for instance. As per their own investigation, 9% of filmmakers have used footage from drones and 18% have used action camera in their latest documentary. More importantly, the article talks about the role of viewers that could shift with the introduction of virtual reality as a platform to view as couple of filmmakers have made such documentaries and it seems that there will be more such in near future.

The article’s findings are reasoning enough as the author has conducted researches and surveys at macro scale, however when in surveys, there is no proof of whether the ones who filled it, did it with such intentions. Secondly no personal opinions can be heard and this survey technique is based more on quantitative rather than qualitative. This research is though useful as is provides supplementary information towards our research and potentially supports in capturing authentic storytelling as technologies develop.

3, MORTON, T, & PEARSON, M 2015, ‘1. Zones of silence’, Pacific Journalism Review, 21, 2, pp. 11-32, Communication & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 2 August 2016.