WE HAVE DECIDED NOT TO DIE

But have they decided to create no narrative?

Week 8’s lecture was brought to an end with a perplexing short film that challenged the very idea of a narrative. As our guest speaker informed us, a basic narrative can be broken down into three parts:

-character development

-plot

-resolution

If these three things come into play, then we have a story.

However what happens when it isn’t obvious? Do we need to learn the characters name/background/motivations/aspirations? Do we need to have a solid and clear set-up, conflict and resolution? Does a story need to make sense? ‘We have decided not to die’ is a story, simply because it evokes individuals to use their imaginations to fill in the blanks. It caused me to wonder if all three characters were connected or if it was symbolising something or was deliberately intense for some reason. Even if its not logical or easily understandable, we are forced to make up our own mind. All I had to do is go to the youtube comments to find comment after comment of everyone’s opinion on what is the meaning behind the piece. I believe that it is this willingness to contemplate the film that makes it a narrative.

On this Monday morning, the class came together and got into our groups to start discussing our final assignment. Georgia and I started to brainstorm ‘Audience‘ and the possible directions we could take. Project Brief 4 is now starting to become clearer to me. We brainstormed today how there is an overlap between audience and producers with the wide range of forums we have access to such as Youtube, Soundcloud and blogs. We also thought about reception context which refers to how an audience will perceive the text depending on their background and prior experience which would be interesting to talk about. The next step for the group is to begin our annotated bibliography which is 1200 words including five references each. This next step makes sense as we will research and start to nut out the direction we want to take.

Monday morning madness,

Today we had a film festival style class in which we viewed each others creations. It was obvious as we went through the class’s different approaches and interpretations of the task that we have a very talented, creative and determined group. It inspired me all over and made me want to do the task all over again so I could simply try out a different approach.

We then all formed groups and gave each other feedback on our films. Some tips for me were:

1. Camera position: I needed to put George on the right side of the camera. So he would be looking across and therefore the audience would be able to see his whole face rather than just the side. I will do this right next time.

2. Sound: Next time I need to use a recorder as well as the camera so I can eliminate and reduce as much as possible the hush of the background air. By using a recorder also hopefully I will be able to get the best quality recording of the individual’s voice as possible.

Madi Langridge’s film was a favourite of mine. Amazing editing and use of found footage. Next time however, if she would like to improve it, she could try and incorporate more of her own footage she has filmed herself.

Found Sound: https://soundcloud.com/passionate-imperfection/land-of-ice-and-snow

Found Footage: https://archive.org/details/6119_Lost_and_Found_01_00_49_17

In Project Brief 3, I had some trouble finding an individual to base my assignment on. However once I got in contact with George and had a meeting with him and spoke about the task he turned out to be an ideal individual to interview.

The most successful part of my video would have to be the small shots of his surroundings as I think even though I could only capture limited footage of the Factory Antique Market, I think I showed enough for the viewers to grasp at what George surrounds himself with. The most problematic part of the editing process was trying to decipher what to use and what to throw away. I had way over two minutes of footage and it was really tricky trying to cut down and decide what angle I was going to take with the information I put in the video.

I also had particular trouble with the sound. The background hush of the air was quite frustrating when I wanted just George talking. Next time I’ll pay close attention to this and try and minimise the background noise.

When producing the portrait, I found that it was easy for George to start to reel off information about a supplier or an artist that he loves and start to explain and talk about their life which was interesting but I had to keep asking questions about his own life to make sure I get enough footage to create an accurate depiction of him.

One thing I have learned from this experience is to be very aware of yourself when you are filming another person. It was very easy for me to fall into the trap of replying and acknowledging what George would say, which later when I try to use just the footage or audio of him speaking would sound naïve with my comments in between his points.

I really enjoyed this task and was definitely thrown in the deep end. However considering my lack of experience and having never done anything like this before, I am proud and happy with the end result.

This lectorial followed on very nicely from the Week 5 readings regarding collaboration. Rachel Wilson spoke clearly about the difficulties that come with working in groups but also the possibility of creating something impressive. One thing that she touched on stuck with me and that was the importance of setting clear objectives at the beginning of the task. That way the entire group has a plan, goals and an idea at the direction they are heading. These goals should be attainable so each member has the ability to fulfil their responsibilities.

I feel like collaboration is going to be a major factor in this course, so it will be up to me to learn how to be good at it.