Premiere
I’ve had such a love hate relationship with Premiere. I was so stoked to say goodbye to it for a long time at the end of production of my SAT for VCE Media last year but last Friday I welcomed it back into my life like a needy stray cat that prefers your backyard to all the others on your street.
We had a rocky reunion as my computer tried and failed four times to download the program, however a very very surprising gift of a new computer remedied this and I was up and ready to go. It took a bit of getting used to as I’ve previously used an older version but I’m slowly getting the hang of the new updates. I forgot how much I love editing, it’s endlessly frustrating and nit picky but the satisfaction when you get it right makes all the angry yelling worth it.
All the tutorials we’ve been linked to were super helpful getting back into the swing of things, especially because my previous uses of the program were self taught so actually being told how to do things was a welcomed change.
De Bono
In Friday’s tute we had a look at one another’s work using Edward De Bono’s “Six thinking hats” tool of giving feedback. I’d kind of learnt about this way of thinking in primary school but, not so surprisingly I couldn’t remember anything past what colours were involved. In media, the tool of the six thinking hats is used to give and receive productive feedback from others. Giving feedback on another person’s work can often be hard, as people are generally emotionally invested in the work they produce but using this system it’s much simpler to give the right feedback in an appropriate manner. Personally, I’m terrible at making any criticism of another persons work. My go to response to “What did you think?” is – “it was really good” or if it was bad – “It was good”. So it’s fair to say giving and receiving criticism is a skill I will need to develop throughout Media One, and De Bono’s six hats are a great way to start the process.
The Twin Peaks of Media Today
David Guantlett book “Making Media Studies: The Creativity Turn in Media and Cultural Studies” (2015) discusses the shift in the way media is studied in todays society, from learning about media to learning with media. The extracts from the book assigned as this weeks reading covered two topics. The first, the books introduction, looked at how media exists today and the second covered the kind of knowledge we need in order to progress forward as a society.
What stuck with me from the first extract was the idea that there is now two peaks in media, the optimistic and pessimistic. The optimistic peak of media is that media today is empowering. Anyone has a voice to share their opinions, ideas and beliefs with the world. We’re provided with a platform to influence change and take initiative to leave an impact on our world. Online petitions, viral videos and even trending hashtags have some power in changing the way people think and making a positive impact in the world.
However, where there is good there is bad and that is the pessimistic peak of media. Gauntlett mentions computerised capitalism and I think this has a variety of meanings. I don’t have a lot of knowledge on this topic so I’m coming from a very very basic understanding, but it’s becoming common practise for huge companies such as Facebook and Google to retain peoples personal data to use it for financial gain. I don’t think anyone is on board with this but it’s something that happens often without peoples knowledge. This invasion of privacy for the financial benefit of others is a really negative aspect to the use of media today. The other thing the phrase “computerised capitalism” made me think of was the culture around buying technology. I’ll focus on Apple to keep things specific. Apple releases at least two products a year, generally new versions of existing products. It’s totally accepted behaviour in our society for people to buy the newest products regardless of the condition of the older model they own. As a society we have a need to own the newest technology, and companies such as Apple capitalise on this.
The second extract focusing on what kinds of knowledge we need was really interesting to me. This knowledge (about knowledge) is something I think everyone in our generation needs to be aware of as it becomes our responsibility to make real changes in the world. In order to make serious, beneficial change you must first have an understanding of the current systems in place. It’s all very well to believe in equal pay or even just something as general as “equality” but without your views being backed by a bank of knowledge you won’t be able to have an impact. Social activism is becoming so prevalent among millennials and thats such an incredible thing to see in our life time, but the knowledge of ways of making legitimate change isn’t as prevalent. I feel comfortable saying I have minimal knowledge of politics in Australia and I acknowledge that’s something I need to change as I’ll be voting for the first time in an election this year. This reading reiterated to me how vital education is in changing systems of injustice and I think I’m better off for having read it.
Morocco doesn’t exist.
This week’s reading really messed me up. I don’t have solid enough proof morocco exists. Why do I think a bunch of lines placed in a certain way is a face? That doesn’t look anything like a face!
The concept of closure I think is not something a non media student (or practitioner) would ever consider although it is definitely something we all do. How boring would films be if literally every single piece of information was shown and there was nothing left for us to put together ourselves. In different genres of film there’s certainly varying amounts of audience closure (I’m not sure if that’s how that should be phrased). For instance, in a psychological thriller perhaps more would be left for the audience to realise themselves as it’s assumed that they are willing to do so by watching such a complex film. Conversely, in a romantic comedy where the audience does not expect to have to think to hard about the film, there will be less for them to put together themselves.
The comic dabbled in some philosophical thinking, stating “I have no guarantee anything exists outside of what my five senses report to me”*, it was this kind of idea that made me drop out of philosophy in high school after two weeks. I don’t love questioning what I know, it freaks me out too much. However in this context I could handle it and it only freaked me out a little bit. Outside of my own senses, and therefore experience, my only knowledge of the world comes from a complete trust in what I hear from others (including the media) and this wasn’t something I thought I’d have to consider during this course.
*Scott McCloud, 1993, ‘Blood in the Gutter’, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
lofi self portrait
Three audio clips:
- My parents cooking dinner – This is a sound I’ll come home to most days, I love spending time with my family and I think this sound is the best way I could represent this without embarrassing any member of my family.
- Me typing on my laptop – I spend way too much time on my computer so this is a sound I hear for many hours a day most days.
- Cafe ambiance – I get coffee once a fortnight with my friend Jacob, I thought I’d record it today cause I think your friends shape who you are, I also go to cafes very often so I guess that’s part of my identity. The little giggle in middle is more of my identity coming through, it was very hard for us to sit in silence for twenty seconds to record this.
Three Videos
- I took this at the International Women’s Day rally on Tuesday. Feminism is a huge part of my life and I thought this video was a good way to encapsulate this.
IMG_0365 from Holly Karas on Vimeo.
- This was at a David Bowie tribute night. Bowie had a huge impact on me growing up and his music is so so important to me.
IMG_0286 from Holly Karas on Vimeo.
- This is the walk from my house to the train station. It’s technically not edited cause I didn’t do it in post! I do this walk at least once a day so it’s a pretty big part of my life, at least until I get my licence.
IMG_0328 from Holly Karas on Vimeo.
Six photos:
- I spend most of my time at home in my bedroom. I think a persons bedroom is really representative of their personality. I’ve moved heaps of times in my life, this is my most permanent house so far and the bedroom I’ve personalized the most and I’m really happy with it. I’ve got stills from my favourite films that inspire me to want to go into film-making on the wall beside my bed kind of as ongoing motivation, I know this is kind of lame. My bed is the most comfortable bed in the world I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.
- This is my dog Taffy, although we’ve only had her for six months we love her enough to make up for lost time (she’s eight). I think I feel the same way about Taffy as a parent feels about their new born baby. This photo represents not only my love of dogs, my love of Taffy in particular, but also my love of animals wearing not animal clothes. All three of these things are super important parts of my personality.
- I go to the Workers Club every Monday. I love having a beer or two (or several) with friends and this is one of my favourite places to go. I didn’t take the photo but I’m in it being super candid, the photo is representative of my aesthetic.
- I go out once a week for breakfast, although my bank account begs me not to, I always get eggs benedict. I could literally drown in hollandaise and I would be so happy.
- These girls are so important to me and have helped shape the person I’ve become, I’m super sad three of them don’t live in Melbourne anymore. This photo also shows a bit of my terrible terrible sense of humour, the pose we’re doing is “woman laughing with salad”
- My family is a huge part of my life at the moment and I love them so much. This is my dad and my grandpa, I’m very close with both of them and so happy to have them in my life.
50 words:
- “Put some skates on, be your own hero” – Maggie Mayhem, Whip It (2009)
- “It’s all happening” – Penny Lane, Almost Famous (2000)
- “I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All be Feminists
These are all quotes with significance to me. I chose to use quotes for my 50 words as I think as a writer I haven’t really found my voice yet so for the moment I can share others to express myself. The first two are from movies that inspired me to pursue film-making, but the lines themselves really resonate with me. The quote from Whip It is so simple but I find it so empowering. The quote from “We Should All be Feminists” kind of symbolizes a milestone in my life as I didn’t identify as a feminist until I read this essay so it was instrumental in the way I view the world today.
Holy Motors
So there’s a lot to unpack in Holy Motors. Obviously I’m not going to cover it all in this post because there’s too much so I’ll just pick bits and pieces. I’ve spent the last 12 hours trying to figure out what I have just watched. Even after reading an article SBS posted on the movie, a “cheat sheet”, I still have little to no understanding of the film.
On the surface, I think Denis Lavant’s character is employed by a voyeuristic (I don’t mean this in the sexual sense of the word I just can’t think of a better one) company or person (The man who appears in the limo at one point) to live out various scenarios for the viewing pleasure of others, maybe the people in the cinema at the beginning of the film. This idea of the film’s plot is kind of undone as Lavant mentions he doesn’t see the cameras anymore. This kind of made me think, was there ever any cameras? Is he hallucinating this whole thing? There were so many points in the film when I assumed the ending would be he wakes up and it’s all a dream.
Clearly the film has much deeper meaning than this basic plot. I think there was a lot of commentary on how people represent themselves, the mask we put on when going out into the world. In the case of Lavant’s character, and even Edith Scob, they very literally wear a costume or disguise, but in reality people make various choices in the representation of themselves to the outer world. For most of the film, I assumed the man we see leaving a house and saying goodbye to his children is Lavant’s true self. It wasn’t until he arrives at his last appointment that I realised this wasn’t the case, and he has the most intense acting job ever.
Another thought I had while watching Holy Motors was how quite slight changes could be made to it to make it a “Hollywood” film, potentially a comedy. My thought process is, in showing the preparation for each character and reducing the amount of “appointments” Lavant had during his day, allowing each to be developed more, the film could appeal to a wide audience. Also removing a lot of the darker elements of the film. One thing I found unnerving about the film was the incredibly level of detail and planning in all of the character’s Lavant plays, yet his only preparation is a quick glance at a file. I think what I’m trying to say is the elements and choices that construct the film form in its actual state could in part be used to create a similar film with a much different meaning.
Holy Motors has a clear pattern in it. To use the example from this weeks reading, Holy Motors form would be
ABCBDBEBFB… continuing however many times he got out of the car (nine?), B being his time in the Limo. Without this constant return to the Limo I think the film would be unwatchable as it the only pattern the audience can clearly see and seek comfort in its repetition.
I also want to discuss one scene that particularly struck a chord with me. When the least terrible thing a character does is steal and eat flowers from graves you know you’re gonna be in for a rough ride. This scene was so difficult to watch for so many reasons but my biggest problem was the high level of misogyny. Lavant’s character literally picks up and takes a woman, dresses her in a make shift burqa before undressing in front of her. Seeing an erect penis without any warning is an incredibly jarring experience. However, this scene follows probably my favourite moment of the film when Lavant eats sushi in his limo dressed as his character for the next appointment, I found the juxtaposition very amusing.
That kind of wraps up what I wanted to say about Holy Motor for now. A quick side note from this weeks reading – I never realized the fate of Ms Gulch in The Wizard of Oz is never explicitly stated, are we meant to assume Dorothy actually killed her? What happened to Ms Gulch??
Media is everywhere!
Our assigned area for the media observation task was Fed Square.
Media up high:
- Billboards
- SBS sign
- The big screen
IMG_0315 from Holly Karas on Vimeo.
On the ground:
- A little ad at the tram stop
Mid ground:
- Information screen
Background:
- Flags next to St Pauls
- Branding on buildings in Southgate
- Music playing in Fed Square
Foreground:
- People taking photos on cameras
- People checking their phones
- Advertising on trams
In your hand:
- I checked my phone four times
And here’s a photo of group bonding:
A quick reflection:
Media is everywhere!! It was predominantly advertising which isn’t shocking but it was interesting to really notice just how much advertising (and media generally) we are exposed to on a regular basis. It took a bit of time to actually notice what is and isn’t media because normally it’s just part of the scenery. Also it was really hard to make this post including all the photos and videos.
week two initiative
This image essentially sums up my view on the mediated vs unmediated communication debate. People who believe we’re becoming anti social as a society as a result of the increasing role of social media in our lives are on par with cavemen finding fire scary. I truly believe online connection is just as authentic as face to face relationships, if anything it increases our access to friends worldwide. Since my best friend moved to England two months ago we’ve spoken more than ever through Facebook and FaceTime, sure I would prefer to hang out with her in person but this is still authentic communication and connection.
I think there’s definitely an age gap between the two sides of this argument. I could be perpetuating an unfair stereotype but from my experience I’ve never seen a millennial on the “unplugged” side of the debate. I’m very aware there are many baby boomers who have adapted to the new forms of communication we encounter in our daily lives, but there’s still the group wagging their finger at the beginning of a “back in my day” lecture.
It’s very cool that we’re alive at a time of such change in the way we interact and communicate with one another. We’re able to access so much information instantly and I think that can only benefit our generation as we become members of society with power and influence.
However, to contradict myself slightly I do think we lose some of the excitement of the unknown. We’re exposed to so much of the world through the internet, television and movies that when it comes to seeing things in person we may be underwhelmed. This reminds me of a quote from “Gone Girl” – “It seemed to me that there was nothing new to be discovered ever again…We were the first human beings who would never see anything for the first time.” This is potentially a downside to the amount of information we currently have access to, but it is certainly outweighed by the benefits.
week two lectorial – part one
I think I might split up this post into two parts cause that’s kinda how the lectorial was today. So editing. Editing is a role in film production I’ve enjoyed in the past but never learnt about in that much depth I’m a bit of a self taught editor with scraps of theoretical knowledge. It was cool to watch the clip from “Casino” (Martin Scorsese, 1995) while actively trying to notice the editing. The clip used natural editing (I’m a bit rusty on my terminology, thanks VCE Media) so generally the viewer would not be incredibly aware of the cuts. Conversely in a film like “Whiplash” (Damien Chazelle, 2014) more stylistic editing is used so the audience would be aware of the cuts.
Jeremy Bowtell, today’s guest lecturer, also spoke about the key functions of editing – emotion, story and rhythm. Previously I’ve only really thought of editing as an aesthetic tool but these three functions now seem glaringly obvious. Editing for the purpose of emotional manipulation is especially a concept I haven’t thought of before but now I will be very very aware of it when watching anything.
If I post this before the week two lecture it still counts as week one. I saw a “Hail, Caesar!” at the cinema the other night and it made me think about how in that context, I was completely focused on the film (deep attention, you could say) where as if I was watching it at home on my computer there is absolutely no doubt I would be playing candy crush on my phone at the same time. It’s interesting how different contexts can promote different styles of attention.