Week 4: Workshop 4

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What I found particularly interesting about this weeks workshop was the Kuleshov effect. As, we’re currently taking a closer look at editing techniques, I am beginning to understand the power that editing has in conveying meaning and bettering the product all together.
As we get closer to presenting the Self Portrait 2.0, the issue in my mind is solely editing. At this point in time, I only have an idea of what I wanted to convey in this assessment and no footage or media which should be more of a priority, however, what’s really bothering me is how to incorporate still images into the video without compromising flow. It’s been suggested to me to just use crossfades between image and video, however, I still think that, unless it’s stop motion, it can disrupt the flow.

I think that, once I get down to filming and shooting what I need, I need to think critically about how to edit them seamlessly in without this minuscule part of the assessment bothering me.

Week 3: Connection 3

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This weeks electoral on copyright was so relevant for the week. As probably everyone knows, Robin Thicke and Pharrell were S-U-E-D for the illegal use of copyright in their misogynistic hit song ‘Blurred Lines’. They were sued for $7.4 million dollars which I personally don’t think is enough seeing as such a terrible song grossed $14.8 million dollars, but we can’t win it all.

This is a terrible song that really just shows that equality of the sexes is still a massive problem in a society that has supposedly moved beyond the objectification of women. What makes it even more terrible is that it plagiarised an old and much loved song. The ‘artists’ of this song claim it to only be ‘derivative’ of the Marvin Gaye classic. Well, whether or not that is true – I really don’t want to go and compare the songs for myself – I think Thicke and Williams deserved what they got.

I leave you with this beautiful parody of the song by the Aukland Law Revue:

 

Week 3: Lectorial 3

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Copyright is the biggest headache.
Usually, when I’m creating a Media product and I need music or a soundtrack for it, I tend to not bother with bands that are with a big company like Sony or whatever. I always look at places like Triple J Unearthed for many reasons. Firstly, it is that it’s much easier to get permission from these artists to use their music and usually you can just get (unofficial) permission from them through a Facebook message. Secondly, they usually offer it to you for free as they just want their music heard which I think is admirable. And finally, I’m a big supporter of underground music and especially Australian music, so if the use of their music in some stupid video I make helps out, I am more than willing. Really, no point signing forms and paying heaps of cash to some fat corporation when you can actually get good music for free and easily elsewhere.

Anyway, keep your options open, you don’t always need a One Direction track for your videos.

Week 3: Workshop 3

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In this weeks Workshop, we analysed and criticised each others lo-fi self portraits. What was most interesting to me was the similarities between most of our self portraits. Most people had sound recordings/videos/photos that included some form of public transport. As Jasmine pointed out, it is a big part of our daily routine. I personally believe that travelling on public transport is probably on of the only places where people can do their own personal and critical thinking, so I understand how people identify with the sounds or the movements of a passing train.

I had my own issues with presenting a self-portrait to what is essentially a group of people that hardly know me. This is just my own personal uncomforted with revealing too much about myself to people. So, essentially, I found that making jokes at my own expense helped me to present to people and I truly envied those who could simply just say what each media form represented about them.

I hope that as I feel more comfortable with this group of people I’ll find that I can perfectly portray to them (without jokes) what I am trying to represent about myself. I think that’s important when making a media product because, although it is presented for the scrutiny of the audience, I think it’s important to start from an honest place.

Week 2: Connection 2

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It’s interesting how much you notice when you actually intend to notice.
Living in a world that is incredibly fast paced and digital it’s easy to dismiss the things that are trying to speak to us or that we just don’t see as relevant. When you aim to sit down and notice what is being advertised to you and what is trying to speak to you, it’s easy to really see how inescapable it is.

Because the media is so diverse and is always inescapable, it does cause us, as humans, to connect with each other more. Some people would argue that the media limits our face to face contact, but the power the media has had in revolutionising the way we connect is undeniable. It’s amazing how I could go to university, or to work or even at home and connect with someone about one of the few things that we had noticed that day. It’s even amazing how our brain picks and chooses what we notice and what we simply just see and find irrelevant but can come into your mind out of the blue. For example:
‘Like, i’m not sure but I swear that Glue Store is having a half price sale. I swear I saw a sign in the window as I walked past’

Week 2: Lectorial 2

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Notice me, notice me, notice me.
As the Media 1 cohort set out to notice media as it surrounds us, I, along with the people in my group, ventured forth unto the fortress that is Melbourne Central. It did not take long to ‘notice’ the media that surrounds us. We sat for five minutes in the food court and had already filled in more than half the worksheet given in that one place alone. Here is just a few of the media we noticed:

  • menus
  • lighting
  • shop promotions
  • Melbourne central clock sounds
  • exit signs
  • school uniforms
  • newspapers
  • promotional bags
  • branded water bottles
  • branded t-shirts
  • train announcements
  • train timetables

What I found most profound was that, although I see these things all around every single day, I never really NOTICED what they are really telling me, or their significance at all. Living in the this modern media generation makes being subject to the media almost inescapable. Using all of the senses, we could analyse all of the media that we were immersed in, even if it was the sound of Mariah Carey from someones earphones.

Lo-Fi Self Portrait: Aim

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Throughout this piece, I aimed to convey the parts of life I find satisfying and find an abundance of pleasure in. I tried to show my own child-like sense of wonder through my video of a favourite place of my sisters and I when we were younger and how all four of us find so much enjoyment in climbing rocks through a creek. Both videos I have chosen show feet travelling and exploring a different place. I have been brought up to love adventure and to explore even the places that are on my front doorstop, so I thought that these videos were a perfect example to convey this love of exploration and adventure.

The selected audio clips are sounds that I love. Firstly, I recorded my mother  speaking on the phone in her first language (Maltese). This is a sound that I’ve grown up with my whole life and overtime I hear Maltese I feel at home (even though I can’t speak it myself). The second recording is that of the rumbling of a crowd. Before seeing a performance I like to hear how the rumblings of hundreds of people are turned to complete silence just by one persons presence on a stage; I feel like that performer has so much power handling so much attention. This brings me to my chosen text. I chose an excerpt from a song that comedian Bo Burnham wrote about his own profession and I completely relate to this. I too understand how attention is craved like a drug

The photos of the Enid Blyton books and of the cubby house are all relics from simpler times where I was allowed to build and immerse my imagination. The last two photos were chosen to portray the little things in life that fill me with contentment.

Lo-Fi Self Portrait: Text

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Have you ever been to a birthday
Party for children?
And one of the children
Won’t stop screaming
‘Cause he’s just a little
Attention attractor

When he grows up
To be a comic or actor
He’ll be rewarded
For never maturing
For never under-
Standing or learning

…

I must be psychotic
I must be demented
To think that I’m worthy
Of all this attention

Of all of this money, you worked really hard for
I slept in late while you worked at the drug store
My drug’s attention, I am an addict
But I get paid to indulge in my habit

– Art is Dead, Bo Burnham
  Album: Words, Words, Words (2010)

 

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