So currently I’m sitting on a bus en route to uni this morning. Instead of falling asleep like I usually would, I’m doing my best to stay awake so I can squeeze in a blog post. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is!
Looking around me, I would say that about 80% of my fellow bus riders are looking down at an electronic screen in front of them. This got me thinking about how our phones, tablets and laptops are influencing our social nature in public situations.
Many people passionately argue that these devices are making us anti-social and isolated as they cause us to miss out on life and reality around us. They might have a point, as yes, no one on this bus is having a conversation with the passenger that sits next to them, and yes, the vast majority are somewhat oblivious to their surroundings. I too sit here with my eyes fixated on a screen, ignoring the fellow that sits beside me. But honestly, before these devices came to exist, was it really so different?
There are many more logical ways of explaining this ‘lack of social interaction’ instead of just jumping to the conclusion that technology is swallowing our souls. For example, before we carried phones or tablets on public transport, it was a book or a newspaper that grasped our attention. It is by no means a new notion that we wish find more productive and engaging things to do whilst on the commute. Furthermore, one of the very first lessons we are taught as kids is ‘do not talk to strangers’. We didn’t do it in the past, and we’re not about to start now. Thus, I do not think that new technologies are the blame.
Whilst travelling, these devices enable us to be a lot more fruitful with our time and lives. Instead of awkwardly talking to the stranger next to you, you can engage in a meaningful conversation with actual friends and family via Facebook. Instead of aimlessly watching the cars go by, you could catch up on your emails and take care of last minute work. In my case, instead of passing out and going to sleep on this cold and early morning, I can write a blog post!
Something for any technophobes out there to think about.
Last semester in ‘Editing Media Texts,’ a particular assignment presented us with a remarkable challenge. The task was to create a ‘audio visual self portrait’ which was somehow representative of who we are. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. The specific requirements and criteria we had to meet made the project deceptively challenging. For one, the piece had to contain content sourced entirely from the public domain, either non-copyrighted, or published with a Creative Commons license (due to last week’s readings on copyright, I thought this would be an appropriate time to post this!). To make matters worse, the piece had to strictly contain seven still images, two video images, no more than 50 words of on-screen text and four sound files – trimmed, treated and mixed. No more, no less. We were also encouraged to make the video close to two minutes as possible, although it could not exceed this limit. With slight apprehension, I accepted the challenge (yes, I realise I had to do it to pass, but that doesn’t sound as courageous), and after what would cumulatively add up to be days straight of work, this was what I was able to come up with!
Laura Doguet Audio Visual Self Portrait from Laura Doguet on Vimeo.
Just in case it didn’t translate, I will briefly explain what my intentions were with this piece – although like anything else, it is of course open to interpretation. The video is basically representative of my development and growth into the person I have become – from the shy, self-conscious youngin’ I used to be, to the confident and positive person I am today. I attempted to achieve this with particular focus on colour and pacing. By beginning my piece entirely in black and white with quite slow, dramatic clips, I aimed to denote my previous personal state. As the music builds and heightens, I made the visuals intensify simultaneously, with bursts of colour beginning to appear. The colours appear more vividly and frequently as the film progresses, representational of progressive personal transformation. As the song finally reaches its climax and ‘drops’ to the upbeat and joyful track, I aimed to create ‘explosions’ of colour to symbolise the bubbly and colourful person that I am today. Overall I was happy with what I was able to achieve, and ironically I feel like my editing skills definitely ‘grew and developed’ as well.
To see a full list of attributions and sources for the material included in my piece, see the full video and description by clicking here! Peace.
