Experiment One – Introduce Yourself

More often than not I am too pre-emptive with my choices and what I expect from a class, I feel that in this studio I can be more free with my thoughts.

I’m still unsure what exactly I want to get from this studio, I’m excited to see what sticks.

I do know that I want to approach it with an open mind and let it take the reins and present to me what it does, then I can take away what aspects I like best and adopt certain skills to suit my own experiments and works.

Experiment Two – Take It Apart

Click on google docs link below

*In order to see written process of dissection, click ‘show more’ on comments to the right of document*

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pw3To1CysW9DkhPEgBYAZaS6RJHfXb8F9o1LzBWJXSI/edit?usp=sharing

Experiment Three – i feel

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i feel

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‘Unglitch’ What stood out to me most about this project was the way it was presented. I loved the sheet and projection of the video. I’ve always been opposed to the idea of facing the advance in technologies when it comes to AI as I find it quite daunting, however, this representation of it made it seem reasonably simple and easy to digest. It was interesting to consider how AI has made its way into our everyday lives, and how advanced it can be. I really liked the composition of the video, with ‘I’m not a robot’ notifications interrupting images, something everyone is very familiar with when using the internet. I liked the way they juxtaposed everyday footage of civilians swimming, people in the countryside with AI. The website was also very immersive and the interviews were really interesting. The pop up questions looked very early 2000’s in their layout, with old style mac pop up boxes. I liked how everything was stylistic yet practical.  

Another project I was drawn to was ‘The Many Lives Of The Capitol’. Having attended the capitol in previous classes for screenings I was intrigued to find out more about its history. The video was very informative, they spread out the information in a way that was easy to understand.  

‘Something in the nothing’ is a poetic experimental film showcasing the trite yet beautiful aspects of life. I really resonated with this video, I felt that it was very calming to watch and had meditative elements to it. I liked the use of sound and imagery. It was very poetic and visually encapsulating. 

Reflecting upon the Entangling media course comes with looking into various affordances of the different media used and chosen formats for our multimodal project. I’ll take from relevant course readings and stories investigated in and throughout the course of the semester that raise the question as to why we chose to use different mediums or media modes to bring our project to fruition, this will allow for an in depth analysis. 

Over the course of the semester we have looked at an array of Multi-modal non-fiction creative stories that have reflected my own thoughts on storytelling. Inspired by ‘My grandmother’s lingo’ and the use of limited text to put an emphasis on the imagery and audio. I could imagine it being transformed into a children’s book that adults could also gain insight from. In the future I’d like to explore a more scrolly telling approach, similar to the way the story of snowfall was expressed through scrolling, clicking and listening. I believe the concepts I have would fit that medium and style.

I remember attending the Immigration museum. At the time there was an exhibition on immigrants fleeing from war and conflict. My favourite space included multi-modal nonfiction stories on survivors. It had rooms with projections of interviews, interactive questionnaires and memorabilia along the walls. I enjoyed the digital and physical aspect of the exhibit and that’s what inspired me to create a zine for my final work. It is something people can hold and flick through, while using their device to visit links to videos, images and audio. For the exhibition I’d like to have a projection or screen handy for stills and moving images, with the zine sprawled across a table in front for people to read and engage with. Another exhibition that really inspired me was the ‘Althea Mcnish’ show in London. Althea Mcnish is a renowned textile artists from the Caribbean. The show was extraordinary. According to ‘The Introduction’ (cite Victoria and Albert Museum. (n.d.). V&A · Althea McNish – an introduction.)  ‘Althea McNish (1924 – 2020) was amongst the first, if not the first, designer of African-Caribbean descent to achieve international recognition. Her designs injected much-needed colour and life into the post-war fashion and textiles industry from the 1950s onwards’. Her designs were ones that I could imagine being tattooed, textiles and tattoo art combine together quite nicely. Her etchings reminded me of the sketches you see as a tattoo artist is developing flashes to transfer onto skin. It made me think about tattoo art as a phenomenon in the art scene. As you walked through the exhibition there was audio plumbed through the floors and visuals along the walls. I was handed a small zine at the beginning of the exhibition.The zine had pages in conjunction with the rooms you viewed throughout the show. It was really valuable to have something to take home to remind me of the show. I would like to include that in our exhibition as it gives the audience something to hold onto, to remind them of the stories they read/watched. I still have the zine to this day and flick through it occasionally to bring me back to the space/environment of the show in London.

Stepping beyond uni and showcasing the project In the real world seems daunting but it’s very notable for further development. I would love to see the zine purchasable in a bookstore like Metropolis in curtain house, or see it published at the NGV book fair. This would allow for further consumption of a physical book that has links to video interviews and audio to emphasise the story. I think it would also be useful to publish a digital version of the book, like an e book that people could read online. Not everybody would have access to the physical book so having it digitised would broaden audience consumption. Along with the online book, I’d include moving image at the top of a website similar to the snow fall article we read earlier in the semester. It was engaging and brought the story to life in a way that gave the writing some visual context.

Imagining how I could improve the work comes with a few challenges as I feel as though the work is still in progress and has a lot of potential to have its core topics and themes reach an apotheosis. Developing the work could be having the project exhibited at a festival in the form of a tattoo stall where people can receive small, simple tattoos of their liking and read/engage with the zine while getting their tattoo, similar to how you read a magazine when you’re at the hairdressers. The stall would be inside a tent, with projections over the walls creating an immersive experience where the overall aura is that of a sterile, cool lit tattoo parlour. I believe the multi-modality of the project could be improved, while the zine would include qr codes linking to different media modes, we could create a website with scrolly telling instead, this would consolidate the project under the one format. It was said in assignment three that there was some vagueness around our concept. I would like to improve that by focusing on one subject’s story about their tattoo career and how they navigate through the art world to create a series of works for clients ect..

I have always been drawn to working in groups as I enjoy delegating tasks and finding out what assets team members can provide to the task at hand. I enjoyed the times in class where we would share our ideas with each other about different multimodal stories we looked at in class. I always find it interesting to hear others’ interpretations of various works and bring forward my ideas on what stands out to me about a media work, usually it’s the story itself or the medium used to convey a narrative. While working on ‘Stories beneath the skin’ a concept I generated through my love for the tattoo world and the subculture. I found it hard to express my ideas and thoughts on what the project to come to be difficult at times as I was still in the developmental stage. Once the idea caught on with my other group members we got traction and started interviews with tattoo artists from Naarm/Melbourne and gathered our ideas about how we could present our work. It was hard to take on the role of ‘the initial idea creator’ as it put pressure on me to have it make sense from the beginning. There were occasionally gaps in communication, as a group we struggled to get various tasks completed due to inevitabilities of absence and sickness. 

‘Stories Beneath The Skin’

references:

‘home made tattoos’ book from RMIT library

SBS (n.d.). My Grandmother’s Lingo. [online] SBS

www.wmgallery.org.uk. (n.d.). What’s On | Exhibitions | Althea McNish: Colour is Mine | William Morris Gallery.

‘My grandmothers Lingo’ was a very engaging interactive animation where you are brought to the next chapter once you’ve spoken a word from the Indigenous Marra language. It’s a language part of the estimated 90% of indigenous languages in Australia that are now endangered. As you move through the piece you are required to make an attempt at pronouncing different words of the Marra language, it is challenging but incentivises the audience as you gather more of the narrative and you’re taught more as you read. The roughly ten minute experience was launched by SBS a platform that enables stories to be told from a diverse range of narrators and writers. The narrative is part game, part documentary and it follows the story of Angelina Joshua from Ngukurr in southeast Arnhem Land. Her purpose is to rediscover her grandmothers language.

‘My Grandmothers Lingo’ used different media forms that were interconnected to consider how gaming technology, like voice-activated interactions can engage diverse users with underrepresented indigenous stories. I found that the animation and narration seemed nostalgic, beautiful and airy as you could see different illustrations appear on the screen coordinating with the story being told; like animation of a river and birds flying just after getting a word correct. The narration allowed for tone and colour to be added to the words, it brought the story to fruition. Throughout the story, text is used sparingly to create a strong atmosphere, I felt more engaged by the story even though the text was limited. There wasn’t much multitasking needed as I would listen and read a little bit that popped up on the screen, it allowed me to immerse myself in what Angelina was speaking to. It was rewarding when I’d get the pronunciation correct and gain more insight into the language and story of Angelina’s grandmother and culture of her world. It told a personal story but also commented on societal issues around indigenous languages being lost.

The work used animation and illustration instead of photography, this could have been for cultural reasons. The illustrations were authentic and seemed child-like adding to the dreamy and innocent appearance it had. It raised the question as to whether the purpose of the piece was to teach or raise awareness. I think it successfully did both, it taught but also disseminated the facts about the widespread loss of indigenous peoples native tongue.

I thought the conclusion was really powerful because you could pin your location on a map, adding a star to the constellation of places where Marra has now been spoken. It’s not a language lesson necessarily, you won’t leave My Grandmother’s Lingo with any full sentences however it brings a humanity to a culture and its language through the simple action of asking you to say its vanishing words aloud. It is engaging and makes the audience understand and listen carefully.

“The Avowal” by Denise Levertov

This piece is part poetry part artwork. The poem was written by Denise Levertov for For Carolyn Kizer and John Woodbridge, and its purpose was to recall the celebration of George Herbert’s Birthday in 1983. Along with the poem is an acrylic painting done by Calida Garcia Rawles. The painting and poem compliment one another to bring the poem to life as it’s about swimming and the painting is of a girl in the water. It’s engaging as the short stanza of the poem highlights the beauty of being amongst water.

The composition on the piece is simple and easy to follow. You see the large, clear acrylic painting in high definition, with the short poem below it. First your attention is brought to the painting and then to the short poem beneath it. The poem is quite ethereal and exerts a feeling of calmness, similar to the painting.

place entangling media 1

This work of mine centres on a story about a place and takes a ‘literary journalism’ approach. It uses visuals, photographs and text to portray the story about a special place someone I know goes to, to seek peace and a sense of belonging. I’ve used images of the place along with text to support my story, the writing is poetic. I was inspired by the reading on Joan Didion ‘Slouching toward Bethlehem’ and the poems she has imbedded in her non-fiction stories that seem to have a fictional side to them.

Next time I could add in some moving image to highlight the space through hand held shots. I’m happy with the way I composed the piece, I feel as though the repetition of the marble stacked above the writing gives the piece a sense of what the space is like in real life, through composing it this way it adds a visual effect that compliments the writing. The story is of someone I know who enjoys visiting this place and sketching out the marble archway. I wanted it to be a fast paced story that was simple and easy to engage with, nothing too long and drawn out, like Joan Didion’s work I wanted it to be short and sweet but impactful, not excluding any details.

I wanted the reader to feel immersed in the journey and story.

To identify whether or not my product is trans-media I took to understanding Jenkins ideologies around what trans media is. Scolari refers to Jenkins as the primary definer of TS. According to Jenkins the act of  trans-media storytelling relies on the process in which ‘important parts of a fiction story get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels, to create a unified and coordinated entertainment experience’ Trans-media texts extend the narrative and avoid schisms as the story must fit together and avoid contraction. I decided to create a multimodal audio-visual letter (teaser) that could act as a bridge between seasons to give some closure to the audience and foreshadow what events/moments could unravel in the next season. It’s an unofficial text, created by a fan as opposed to an offical text that could be used as a part of the company. Normal people started out as a book written by Sally Rooney. It was well received, and made it to the screen to become an Irish romantic psychological drama limited series. It was produced by Element Pictures for BBC three and Hulu. The miniseries follows the relationship between Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal), as they navigate adulthood from their final days in secondary school to their undergraduate years in Trinity College. The series was primarily written by Rooney and Alice Birch and directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald.  My piece uses different media and languages to participate and contribute to the construction of the trans media narrative world. According to Daniel Chandler,  semiotics provides us with a ‘framework and set of methods’ across practices which include gesture, posture, dress, writing, speech, photography, film, television and radio. They unify the text and bring it meaning I decided to use speech and film to convey meaning. The speech is slightly robotic which adds to the semiotics that it has been created by a fan, it isn’t as official. The speech is also in Irish so it remains consistent with the characters voices, so it feels like you are listening to Connell and Marianne talk to one another. 

I found it interesting to think about trans media texts from an economic perspective, as it may govern a producers thoughts on how to gain interest from a wider community and thus gain profit. In the case of economics Jenkins states that “a  good trans-media  franchise  attracts  a  wider  audience by pitching the content differently in the different media. The Matrix can be seen as an example of this. The Matrix universe is entertainment for the age of media convergence, which integrates multiple texts. It creates a narrative so large that is can’t be contained within one medium. The Matrix told stories disconnected from the primary arc, it also filled in the blanks and reinforced the story of the two sequels by adding on media through animated shorts, comics and video games that the Wachowskis made intentionally on other mediums. It also allowed for prosumption as media consumers were able to produce and consume laterally as opposed to unilaterally. Newer forms of prosumption occurred with those associated with web 2.0, through the Mcdonalization of the internet where Ritzer suggests  anyone can consume and produce simultaneously, putting consumers ‘to work’ in creating fan fiction, comics and videos. My work could be considered to be part of web2 2.0 as I have created a work from the perspective of a fan. 

I decided to create an audio-visual letter (teaser) that could act as a bridge between seasons to give some closure to the audience and foreshadow what events/moments could unravel in the next seasonIt allows for participatory media. It adds to the story world by giving the audience something to latch onto, as the season ended with less closure than fans had hoped. In my extension of the story Marianne has moved on and Connell hasn’t, he still wants her in his life. It’s an unofficial text, created by a fan as opposed to an offical text that could be used as a part of the company. It would appear on YouTube as a short video fans could watch. Fans would appeal to the story because it follows the narrative, yet adds closure for the audience as it speaks to change. The fans of Normal People would also like the structure of my piece as it goes between the two characters in the form of a letter. 

The Economist. (n.d.). A faithful, careful adaptation of Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People’. [online] Available at: https://www.economist.com/prospero/2020/04/29/a-faithful-careful-adaptation-of-sally-rooneys-normal-people

obo. (n.d.). Transmedia Storytelling. [online] Available at: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199756841/obo-9780199756841-0174.xml.

Scolari, C.A. (2009). Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production. International Journal of Communication, [online] 3(0), p.21. Available at: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/477.

‘SNOWFALL’ 

Snowfall was a very engaging, long form narrative we looked at in class. It also happened to be multimodal, the narrative was broken up with images and videos. This gave the consumer agency over the story, as you could choose to read parts and watch parts. As Henry Jenkins states in ‘Convergence Culture & Trans media storytelling 2009’ The reader/consumer ‘cease control over the media technology’. I felt that I was able to cease some form of control over what I read and watched. I also felt that I was participating with the story, as I’d click to watch a segment of something, or swipe to see a montage of photos, and thus had a level of control over what I consumed and what I chose not to consume. The elements it involved weren’t overly interactive as the story unfolded in one way through the act of scrolling downwards. There was text, images, audio and video included in the story. These elements brought value to the story as the reader/viewer could connect multiple forms of media with the one story, emphasising the impact the avalanche had on peoples lives. It was a beneficial way to tell the story as it ‘drilled’ in the narrative and used different media modes to heighten emotion, it made me feel levels of melancholy. I felt at times the amount of scrolling became overwhelming, and my attention span didn’t last for the entirety of the story. At the time it was released people would have had more time to scroll and read, but in this day and age hyper attention is a dominating factor. It did however stand out more as a story, because there were multiple things to interact with, through the different design options. You could tell it was a multimodal story from the get go, as there was a moving image at the top of the page, displaying snowfall, quite a beautiful sight. This gave the consumer some visuals to keep in mind while reading the piece. The relationship between all the elements used enhanced the story as it was backed up with auditory and visual cues. I found myself relying on my memory as I approached aspects of the story, keeping the visuals and audio pieces in mind while reading the narrative. The ‘Dowling’ article proposed ‘Snow Fall’ as a shift in the paradigm of online journalism. No one had ever seen anything like it before, it was a ‘one block’ narrative that offered different people stories presented through extensive imagery in a contemporary way, video and audio. The reading suggested the promotion of the story was very unusual at the time it was made. It was an ever changing mediascape – ‘new’ forms borrowing from older forms, similar to the notion that there are ‘no new stories to write’.In the article it suggested that Snow Fall ‘Broke the rules’ but still stuck to the journalism rule of ‘following the story’, in order to conceptualise it and get it made. I found that the reading gave me more insight into the story and raised the question whether media makers should break conventions? and are the changes actually beneficial (and for whom), or are they just for the sake of changing the dynamic in telling stories.

‘MIND MAZE’

Mind Maze is a nonfiction zine displaying the importance of conserving graphic art posters used to promote club events, as they usually end up on the floor of a club and forgotten about. The ring bounded book appears like a school notebook, as the consumer you flick through the quality paper pages, it feels luxurious but juxtaposed is the gritty layout, with etched graphics scanned onto pages and club event posters designed by Maryos Syawish. It is a multimodal piece that carefully combines imagery (drawings) and text. You can see the airbrushed graff style pieces behind the text which is similar to something you’d see scribbled in the bathroom of a club so it fits with the context of the story. It gives insight into the graphic art scene of Melbourne through Maryos Syawish’s stories of club cultures visual identity and the importance of celebrating it. As the reader I felt a sense of nostalgia as I recognised some of the posters from events that had happened in the past. The yellow background of the pages brings the text forward and highlights its importance.

MEDIA WORK #1

mealtime 1 final

This is a story of a meal that holds a lot of significance in my family. From as early as I can remember my family have celebrated food and coming together to share meals. I wanted it to seem naive, so I had the text handwritten as though it was coming from my younger self. I was inspired by the yellow background in a zine called ‘Mind Maze’ as it gives contrast to the text and makes it stand out to the reader. It involves itinerative making, as it isn’t a linear story. Instead it gives anecdotes from different times the meal has meant something to myself and my family. It acts as a sort of time capsule that implements photos from the past and photos from the present. The incorporation of video allows the consumer to participate in the unfolding of the story. I used epub to deliver this story as I wanted it to conform with the form of an e book with pictures, hand written text and moving image, through doing this I was able to convey the story of a meal that is significant to me. Next time I think I would incorporate more writing, but I think it’s easy to be immersed in the story when there is less text, sometimes less is more in the telling of a story. I went about it in a route similar to ‘My Grandmothers Lingo’ where I focused on the aesthetic/imagery composed with small amounts of text to lend the story.

MEDIA WORK #2

For this piece I scouted different friends and mutual friends, that had stories they felt comfortable sharing with me. This particular friend would prefer to keep his identity anonymous for the sake of his story, however not taking away from the story he has to share. I decided to use a mixture of audio and still images for this piece along with music I composed and recorded myself.

mealtime 1pdf

1> In what ways do you hope your screenings/exhibited/screened work (whether individual or group produced) engaged its audience and communicated a key concern of the studio?   

Overall, I hope classes outside ‘The scene in cinema’ enjoyed the dashboard of research projects based around elements of cinema that are prevalent in drama film. I hope that my research project on how a car scene is covered in a shot demystified the process for people clearly, so that the next time they found themselves watching a scene in a car, they could have some idea about the options the DOP went with to capture the scene.  I also hope my research project is engaging and keeps the reader interested and feeling as if they’ve learnt about an aspect of cinema that’s often overlooked. 

2> Imagine you are going to keep working on that media piece (e.g. to screen it somewhere else like a festival, or develop it into a different kind of work, and so on) – what would be the core things you would want to improve and extend and why?  

I would love to try presenting my work through a different medium where I can give more examples through moving imagery, scenes from movies ect… Perhaps a video essay or explanation video would be a great way to demystify how car scenes are shot. I think it would be a little more effective, as a lot of people learn and absorb information visually as opposed to reading a long document. For my idea to be expressed in an environment outside of a Uni class effectively, I feel as though creating a video would be the most engaging option that can be watched at anytime. I’d also like to structure it so you could start the video from any point based on what aspect of the topic you wanted to learn about, so that if it was shown at a festival people passing by wouldn’t need to watch it from the beginning to understand. I also love editing and making cinematic film with a strong mystique and style, so it could be nice to incorporate more of that into my project. I often learn about film and how different scenes are covered through videos of professionals or students explaining what they do and how they do it, so I would have a lot of material to use as reference.  

3> From your studio, reflect on an aspect of other students/group’s media work on the website in terms of specific insights they produced about a key idea addressed by the studio?  

Jennifer’s work ‘Mastering the montage in Hot Fuzz’ was a helpful read and well structured. I was drawn to the topic, I’ve always wondered if there is a particular method to constructing them and incorporating them into cinema to enhance tension, motivate the audience or provide rapid information. I didn’t know montage scenes had been a part of the editing world since the 20’s as I associate montage scenes with 21st century film, like Hot Fuzz. Interesting that Edgar Wright uses montage scenes within his films to enhance the comedic aspects of his films and push the narrative, I’ve also seen montage scenes that are more earnest and emotional. It’s good to know that a montage sequences can be imbedded into any film genre. I have watched Hot Fuzz before but didn’t pick up on the eighteen montage scenes, so that can go unnoticed at times. Like Jennifer mentions, montage scenes offer the audience with a lot of information in a short period of time, this engages the viewer and pulls them in to concentrate on what is being said and shown. I like how Jennifer structured her research project by using ‘Hot Fuzz’ as a case study to pull examples from and focus on with detail as opposed to speaking about montage generally.  The six different modes of montage also provided insight into the complexity of montage as an editing technique and how it can be manipulated to suit any scene and event.  

4> For the other studio website you engaged with, describe a key idea that you think the finished media/studio work communicated with reference to a specific example (i.e. a particular individual/group work)           

 Miss fisher and the problem of the prequel podcast was a great studio to gain insight on through the extensive body of work that had been put together by people in it. Funnily enough I had been assigned to this studio, had a class, and moved into ‘The scene in cinema’ due to it clashing, which turned out to be the studio for me. However, it was nice to see what the studio brought together. I noticed how most students included behind-the-scenes imagery which is great because it shows you the level of professionalism and care that went into shooting, writing and producing the once pre-existing work, to adapt it into a piece of audio work ready to distribute. It’s so fantastic the class were able to receive briefings and feedback from the company that worked on all of the ‘Miss Fisher’ franchising. To have people involved with the show and marketing of it consider your work would be such a great learning opportunity, that allows insight into what it’s like to work with clients who expect different things if you. A students work that I really enjoyed was George Lako’s ‘Melbourne at Night’, It has an  Eery element brought on by the subject matter, but is shot in a really beautiful and careful way that encapsulates how the city isn’t as dormant at night as some may think. George’s Lakos’ work was a three-minute-long video with a range of b roll footage of the city at night, with juxtapositions of angles and depths. There is an eery and unsettling aura created by his filming style and choice of soundtrack, which is not dissimilar to a scene from Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, in fact it seems like George’s film could slot into a more modern and ‘now’ episode quite perfectly.