Click here for fun

Our week 7 studios were open for our project presentation to the panels. My partner Dyy and I both presented our similar interests about framing and have developed our idea for a short film experiment. Upon exploring previous activities such as the gallery ramble, the 50 frames and investigative essay, both of us are inspired by the setting aesthetics of our photographs while interested in valuable theorist ideas. Our idea is based on Vertov’s idea of camera as extension of men and whether or not film can think. We are intended to portray this by using point of view shots of the character’s perspectives and include several test shots. What we are trying to acheive here is also using camera movements which then everything in the frame moves just as when an individual runs and views the surroundings. Along with dark settings and chirascurro lighting, this will assist our horror-genre approach in our frames aesthetics. These test shots comprises of different angles and perspective to compare to the original “point-of-view” shot and each of us will edit these footages differently according to our own perception or thoughts.

These are some of the feedback we have received from the panel:

• How do you reflect on the process once you’re done?
• Is it possible to make the film in sections, reflect in parts — do sketches

So… cinema studies has been interesting. A lot had been going on, just that I haven’t really post anything here about it :/ Though one main assignment is our group project to present a blockbuster popular movie of our own choice and explore its contents and ideas. Thus, Hanna, Olivia, Monaliza and I, being in a group, chose The Blair Witch Project, 1999 by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick. Based a realistic style and processes, both directors had filmed these infamous actors in a real-world setting and actually deprived them of food. This is to create the more natural realistic film, where audience might have even thought of the film as being a series of found-footage of the Blair Witch. Moreover, these actors are carefully chosen from new infamous actors to encourage more of the make-belief these people really got lost in the woods kind of thing.

Our week six studios focuses on the 3D cinema and the exploded frame. The Lumiere brothers had been known for experimenting with 3D cameras and cinematography. The first ever public screening of a 3D cinema was in 1922 with a film called The Power of Love. But the future becomes the present in a blink of an eye even since the 1950s. 3D films got popular then until during 1989 and on with films such as Back to the Future as well as Jaws but the popularity eventually died. 3D framing acts as the invisibility of style where as it was introduced, made popular and that trend was the shelved to be applied again even in the recent contemporary world of the cinema. These new introduction of new kinds of cinema is a progression within its history. Just like the French New Wave and the New Hollywood that eventually died, even if it’s invisibility of style remains, because they themselves causes the new emerging genres and the Blockbuster. Each film style influence each newer ones and inspire new younger directors. To link these shifts to 3D as Dan mentioned, “all cinema is about optical perception and our comprehension of space” and these different cinematic styles are evolving towards the 3D experience that had shifted as a result of experimentation of new technologies and thinking outside the box.

What had blew my mind about this week’s inspirations is the screening of partly documentary-short narrative feature This is Not a Film by Jafar Panahi. With all the restrictions and government banning him to ever direct a movie or even write his films and internet websites blocked, he opened my mind to a whole new dimension of thinking outside the box. “What if when we can’t show a film, we tell a film?” Panahi demonstrated his idea of an unmade film in this piece using his living room and tape to “draw” the set, acting out his characters and describing his screen play. What he had done not only inspire me as a media practitioner but motivate me to be unique as films within the cinema is evolving and where cinema is heading.

For the past month Perth was 20 degrees C even in its winter. It was homey, it was fresh, it was fun. Perth was nice. And now back to Melbourne, with its almost-everyday-cloudy gloomy weather during the winter.

First day of Creative Advertising lecture on monday was quite chill. Thank God it was just one hour. But the following days of this week have left me dozed off thanks to the wonderful pain of chills given from the winter’s temperature and the wind. Well hang on, this will totally help; knowing that assignments are starting to be due the following week. So like it or not I’ll have to stay awake. Okay I’m exaggerating too much here and on the bright side, we are going on an excursion to the National Gallery of Victoria this thursday for our On The Frame studio. At least that’s what making me excited at the start of this semester. Furthermore, meeting past colleagues from the last semester as well as new mates gave me a boost this first week. 

My Learning Graph

How much I’ve learned in this course…

 

• Green– How much is learnt about making media objects/stories
• Blue– Ability to work independently in unfamiliar ways/systems/new tools
• Black- Thinking critically and creatively
• Red– Understanding of the role media blog to me

 

The Top 5 

Way Back to the Monroe Time

What is Editing

Listen To Me!

Genre(mixes)

The Satirical New & Old iPhone

Final Reflection So Far

Here I am posting this last blog this semester. Wow! This semester went so fast as in a blink of an eye. I have learned so much, ominously, especially having a little knowledge in media production. I have taken media courses in high school, but definitely not one of the best students in class. However, being able to choose breadth or different courses relating to our own interest has motivated me significantly throughout the semester.

Learning broader and deeper concepts in Cinema Studies course has developed my previous knowledge about the world of cinema. Watching The Wizard of Oz, experimental films like Koyaanisqatsi, or even learning mise-en-scene and shot aspects might be a little repetitive. But having discovered great films and filmic terms that I’ve never heard before has been one of the most things I’m interested in. Hence, my passion in the cinema world. Media, being a 24-point course started off nice and easy. As experimental and abstract style has been my primary interest in filmmaking, I decided to base by first two project briefs with an ambiguous sense of content and was quite happy with my brief #3. Despite that I was already getting a hang of editing in iMovie, producing these two short films has made me learn heaps amount of techniques as well as being inspired by what was obtained from Cinema Studies. And when I think of it (having a light-bulb moment here), all these courses I’ve done are all connected. Last of but not least, Popular Culture explores substantial amount of ideas about social networking, music videos or films that are relevant to the Media and Cinema Studies. Plus, I’ve undergone at least one group work in each of the courses while annotated bibliography appeared in two of these courses. Seems to me that Media & Communication is like a spider web, each strand having similar characteristics yet in different placements.

Being a mostly hyper-attentive learner, I don’t learn well in silence or should I say “less noises”. I watch and observe, communicate to get ideas and need some breaks once in a while. During the semester, getting ideas presented in my projects required me to go out and explore the world while collecting inspirations. As Rachel had mentioned in our Lectorials it is important to “notice” what’s surrounding us, I noticed that our break is coming real soon and very excited to “ideas-shopping” for the next coming semester.

What were the most challenging aspects of this course? I found that getting out there and present my work (and myself) to the crowd is nerve-wrecking. Confidence had been the challenge in every presentation that I did even when I’ve somehow overcome it previously. But throughout all the courses in this semester, having done video logs, group presentations and individual film performances had helped an improvement on my courage.

I’m sure that we’ve all done this somewhat regularly in producing a media artefact. Sometime we have started off blank and have no idea whatsoever, not even really know how to use a movie editing software. It surprises me though, that of all those “light-bulb” moments of creativity came mostly accidental. I’ve always wondered how a split screen is complemented and yet, discovered that vertical split screen can have an overlapped shots horizontal with a vertical shot (as complemented in Brief #3). Therefore, creativity not only comes from inspirations and a remix of those ideas but also accidents in experimental techniques.

One of the first assessments in our popular culture course started off as blogging and v-logs. Also relating to week 12 lectorial here. Focusing my idea on social networking and smartphone technologies, I did my video log based on a satire written in the past as a high school activity:

I love my IPhone 4s.

Its plain white colour, silver bitten apple logo on its back, its long touchable screen and soft slippery textured round button below its screen I have pressed 12 trillion times… Maybe more. Continue reading →

Here are some of the ideas that Daniel discuss in our week 12 lectorial (Yayy! last lectorial of the semester):

• Technological determinism is a valid way of looking at the world
• Humanity is in charge of its own future
• Innovation and progress is hindered by scientific regulation
• Machines are becoming too intuitive/intelligent
• Dust has negligible matter, but it has great power

Focusing on dust and its negligible matter, technological inventions has been assembled with these materials taken from our earth. Hence, it has great power in the world of technological determination and innovations, encouraging us the reliance to these resources. “…allowed dust to do the work: a temporal, slow compiling by the non-human particles as a work of art installed at the museum, ‘a purposeful inactivity'” (Parikka 2013). Obsession with resources, with what we take from the earth not only significantly build a constant progression but we also need to think about the people who literally obtain these resources from the mine. They are the ones breathing the dust into their lungs, having to live with the consequences of their own health. These people may have been the ones collecting materials for the consumers’ media materialism such as having an iPhone, computers and etc. Likewise, our planet itself is affected while geologists study and examine how the planet works and our impact on it. We’ve all heard of the global political issue; the climate change, the ‘dying planet’. See dust is only wall few materials but as obsession with collecting these resources occur, it has an enormous power in the impact of our earth and on us as ones living within.