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Constrained Task 1 (Week 5) from Mia Campion-Curtis on Vimeo.

The film I chose to write about for this essay was Traffic Light, produced in 2010, found here http://vogmae.net.au/classworks/2010/TrafficLight.html

Interface
The design of Traffic Light is incredibly simple, with each screen featuring three equal size videos across the middle third of the black screen, and no background music. These videos are still images until the mouse is hovering over them, in which the video begins to play (with the accompanying ambient sound). However as every frame is the same, the viewer often hears the sound of the next clip before they load, depending on how fast each of the clips load. Traffic Light features no title page, and simply ends with no final clip. Traffic Light is simple and straightforward, which is a change from many Korsakow films, which attempt to tell a story and use complicated layouts to do so. Traffic Light merely uses Korsakow as a program which helps to list the different ways in which people move around Melbourne, may that be by foot, tram or train.

Content and Pattern
Traffic Light shows different form of transport at different times of day. These forms of transport include trams, trains, and walking. The clips are shot from a variety of perspectives, and feature both shots where the camera is still, and where the camera moves around. Apart from the overarching theme of transport, most of the clips do not feature a particular storyline or recurring motif, however there are a few small collections of videos, which share a theme.
• Clips which feature a group of friends as they wait for and catch a train. These clips are obviously set up by the creators.
• Clips which feature people sleeping on public transport. These clips are clearly candid, as evidenced by the shaky camera work and fingers in the screen etc.
• Clips of people walking around RMIT, which are also clearly candid.
• Small close up clips of grass and dirt, in which it is revealed later in the clip that they are near tram stops.
These clips allow the viewer to consider the different ways in which they travel in their everyday lives. The heightened level of noticing, which has been discussed throughout the semester is explored through this Korsakow film. Transport, for many people is simply a way to get around, and the surroundings are not even registered as something worth noticing. Traffic Light provides a vehicle for allowing people to begin to notice their surrounding during their morning and afternoon commutes.

Traffic Light provides the viewer with a way of noticing the small moments of joy in public transport – whether that be the sun shining as you walk down the street, your friends making a joke as the train approaches, or people blissfully unaware they are fast asleep on a tram. It showcases both the joy and frustration of Melbourne’s public transport system, showing both train delays and empty carriages for just you and your friends.

The incredibly simple layout and content of Traffic Light is incredibly effective in communicating the authors intended message. Korsakow has provided them with a simple way of communicating ideas in an intriguing and powerful way.

Renee Farar’s interview with Matt Soar, just a few weeks ago discusses his artistic processes and his work with the Korsakow program.

The most interesting aspect of this interview was the discussion surrounding the limitations of publicly broadcasting interactive documentaries. Soar discusses two ways in which they can be broadcast, those being;

• Florian (the creator of the Korsakow program, using audience participation and laser pointers. However, this didnt work, because people didn’t use the system properly (Soar discusses people pointing them in Florians eye)
• Letting the Korsakow film go on autoplay, which Soar found incredibly frustrating because the film took a long time between clips

Soar discusses how this is the “Achilles heel” of interactive documentaries, as they are hard to hard to broadcast to an audience of more than one person. Once there is more than one person viewing the film in a single viewing, it becomes more confused and less dynamic, because the film’s creation of meaning is solely determined through how the audience chooses to view the film.

In the first week of tutorials for this subject, we were given the opportunity to view Korsakow films made by Integrated Media students in class. As we gathered around the computers in groups of two or three, it was hard to fully understand how this could be considered an engaging way to create films, as there was more than one person’s opinions to consider when choosing which clip to play next.

I think one of my main problems with the Korsakow program is that it can’t be broadcast to more than one person at a time. As a media student, you are quite often creating products for mass audiences, may it be films, or even articles. It’s hard to reduce your audience to one person and leaving their understanding and interpretation of your film dependent on their mood at that particular moment in time.

This is something I’m going to have to remember when creating products for this subject in the future.

Constrained Task 3 (Week 4) from Mia Campion-Curtis on Vimeo.

Constrained Task 2 (Week 4) from Mia Campion-Curtis on Vimeo.

Constrained Task 1 (Week 5) from Mia Campion-Curtis on Vimeo.

In the film Clown Train how does sound contribute to the atmosphere of this film? Describe what you heard? Can you make reference to another genre film and how they utilise sound to create tension and a unique filmic space?

Clown Train creates tension within the film, in conjunction with the flickering lights and the dialogue. The flickering lights and accompanying sound create a high level of drama within the film. The ambient noise within the film also adds to the creepy feel of the film.

While slightly different, the non-diegetic film in Jaws also creates a high level of tension within the film. The trademark soundtrack creates a unique filmic space which is specific and recognisable to the film.

Select from one of the readings, up to but not including Week 5, and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you. 

The reading I chose was Alten’s (1994) on sound design.

• “…the sound designer is responsible for the overall sound of a film or video” (Alten 1994, p.5) – I think this is incredibly important to realise, as we are just about to go into our film project. Often, the score of a film is left to last or forgotten until the last moment.
• “A trumpet or violin played loudly and rapidly at a high pitch could also suggest excitement, agitation or gaiety – perhaps agitation in deader acoustics and gaiety in livelier acoustics” – I think it is important to recognise and utilise the versatility of each instrument and what they can bring to a film

Question Three is answered on blackboard

“Welcome to Pine Point” an is an excellent example of an interactive documentary, released in 2011 by Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge. It chronicles the story of a mining town called Pine Point and the memories of the people who used to live there. It combines photographs and video footage, as well as interviews from the people who used to live there.

Pine Point was a prolific mining town, which produced high quantities of zinc and lead. A town was created around the mine in 1963, and the town was closed in 1988. The town, which had a population of 1225 in 1971, had all the basic amenities of the town – houses, shops and schools, as well as an airport.

The documentary, which has a simple click through interface, is an interesting way to demonstrate and represent the memories of the people who used to live in this town. Because of the interface there is only one way to navigate the story, which gives the whole documentary a novelistic or photo album feel.

One of my favourite parts of “Welcome to Pine Point” was the stories of the people who went to the high school, and the follow-through of their present day stories. The most touching was that of Richard Cloutier, who was a self confessed high school bully, who in the time since Pine Point has developed MS and now spends his time documenting the stories and organising reunions of the people who used to live in Pine Point.

The most interesting visual aspect of “Welcome to Pine Point” was the archive footage of the town of Pine Point when it was an actual town and the streets of Pine Point today. The buildings and infrastructure of Pine Point were all burnt down on the closure of the town, leaving the streets paving the way to nothing.

In conclusion, “Welcome to Pine Point” was a really interesting interactive web documentary which provides an excellent example of online story telling.

Constrained Task (Week 4) – Slow 2 from Mia Campion-Curtis on Vimeo.