In what ways do you hope your exhibited work engaged its audience and communicated a key concern of the studio? 

I wanted to ensure viewers felt they could make a real change by using local causes and organisations with accessible and relevant topics to their community. Combining this with international causes, allows them to broaden their awareness of human rights issues and participate in global causes. By focusing on the call to actions involving writing, I hope to draw on the audience’s connection to the films in the festival and the positive power of supporting causes through writing.

 

Imagine you are going to keep working on that media piece, what would be the core things you would want to improve and extend and why?

In future projects, I would like to explore the use of testimonies or interviews in the first person to add a real connection to the topic, I found this a very powerful tool. I would like to generate my footage with real writers and images of the NJC court and gallery and PEN Melbourne and the interaction with its community, a more authentic side of the project.

 

Reflect on an aspect of two other students/group’s media work at the event in terms of specific insights they produced about a key idea addressed by the studio?

Break the barrier (gender and identity):
What worked: excellent graphics help the narratives and provide a meaningful message to the audience. Music choice and use of colours help communicate a positive message to the audience.

What could be improved: Although the use of colours references the LGBTIQ flag, it is difficult to read the text in the final message, such as the website address. The voiceover has different audio levels that interrupt the message.

Disability you can make a change:
What worked: Use of atmospheric sounds against a black background conveys the experience of the protagonist effectively. The real-time images of a man walking downstairs, helps us understand the daily life of those with a disability. Overall the work communicates a powerful message that is easy to understand.

What could be improved: Images of graphics related to universal studio film credits are confusing and out of context. The images of a broken mirror could be perceived as being negative referring to a damaged or difficult life, rather than communicating a more positive message.

 

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.

Exploring the Studio ‘Demagogues, doubters and douchebags’ allowed me to consider the importance of the voiceover in a documentary or audiovisual work. Voiceovers can play an essential role in the narrative of the work, however some critics attribute the use of a voiceover as a failure of visual elements.
James Rogan, award-winning director notes,

“Voiceover should be a vital component in the documentary bag of tools, not a default setting” – A useful technique… been blunted by overuse… Voiceover is often essential to a documentary. Sometimes, it is brilliant’ (2018).

He continues to explain how voiceovers are valuable in journalism, for adding comedic effects and communicating complex ideas. I agree with Rogan’s observations, that voiceovers can be used effectively, but are not the only method for communication in a documentary.

An early example from the studio that caught my attention was “For Covid-19” by Anhar Al-Shameri, Jana Politis and Emma Welsh. In this exercise, the mix of footage related to the current COVID -19 pandemic was overlayed with narration from the documentary “For Sama” by directors Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts.

The Narration is dedicated to the director’s daughter Sama and is based on the story of a mother and daughter in the middle of the Syrian conflict. This is juxtaposed with news media images on the current pandemic COVID-19. It is obvious both conflicts are different, the narration works well with the emotions such as fear and helplessness of a parent and child in both scenarios.

An example from the studio that demonstrates the use of voiceovers is Natalie Campbell’s work about Blue Gum Farm. In this audio-visual work, there are three projects with the same footage, but each with different voiceovers.

Video 1: “Georgie”, the role of the voice-over in this video is informative and with an educational experience for the viewer, the images suit the narration and I would classify as a formal piece.

Video 2: “Caitlin”, uses archival sound bites combined with a voiceover interview. The sound bites are based on information and facts, while the interviewee lets us discover an emotional testimony that contradicts the views of the opening narration scene. Overall the voiceovers in this work are educational and informative with a personal element that the audience can connect with.

Video 3: “Samson” is an experimental approach, with an autobiographical narrative in first person, that completely changes the way you view the footage compared to the previous works. The narration does not literally match the footage, however, the story and emotion captured in the first person is engaging and allows us to draw connections to the voiceover and imagery in a natural way.

With this studio I am able to value the importance of the voiceover in an audiovisual work, understanding the different roles that it plays and its impact on the overall meaning.

REFERENCE:

Rogan, J, 2018, ‘Voiceover should not be the default option for docs’. Broadcast, Jun 6. London.