Class | Michael Firus

Textual Analysis of Click-bait

A textual analysis of the click-bait that populates shady ‘free-services’ sites and out-of-pocket online news outlets… you know the kind. Denotation: if an alien was to analyses this, they would note the following: the advertisement is constructed very simply with a hand-drawn image and comic sans font. The two-part spread features a slightly overweight Caucasian…

Audio Recording: a Wrap

Sound Recording Exercise; A three-way interview out in the field and in a simulated studio setting: In the evening sun, things couldn’t have bene more relaxing. And for three newly christened sound recordist walking around the CBD, it seemed fit that the best thing to compliment this moment was a smooth chocolate milkshake. But class…

4’ 33″

Listeners of this track fall into 3 basic camps: the confused, the intrigued and the annoyed. I have to say I am a synthesis of all three. John Cage’s 4’ 33″ is… well watch the video: (no cheating now, all of it) So which deem are you? In 4’ 33″ the performance is the sounds…

“Cakes (and sound) have layers” – Donkey (Shrek 2001)

Ok fine. So the quote doesn’t quite go like that. But perceived sound does indeed have layers. These layers can be defined in three categories: Figure – focus of interest (immediate) This would be like talking to a person face to face Ground – setting or context (support or middle) This would be like the…

Sound – Not Just Heard?

With all the discussion on the importance of sound, I began to wonder what a member of the deaf community could contribute to the discussion. My sister, Caroline, is 13 and has been profoundly deaf since birth. This means that she can hear almost nothing of the things we take for granted unaided. She can,…

Sound affects (not effects)

When someone has the same notification tone as you do, we all occasionally experience a split second where it seems that it must be us getting an unexpected message. Some of us are even on the way to checking the screen before realize that we aren’t quite that popular. This first-world problem intensifies with the…

Visuals for a Haiku

Haiku, for the uninitiated, is a very short type of poetry. Originating in Japan, it has been adopted as verse in its most distilled form. Traditionally in print form, Haiku poetry consists of three lines or phrases. The first line has five syllables, the second 7 and the last 5 again. This week in RMIT…

A shift in Media – Unpacking David Gauntlett

The media environment in which we find ourselves is constantly changing. It is changing at a rate that surpasses that of any other field of the humanities, arts and mathematics. I can make such an audacious statement is because as an entity, media is created and consumed on a scale which surpasses that of any…

On Comics and Cinema – Scott McCloud’s ‘Blood in the Gutter’

The idea of closure as described in Scott McClouds comic ‘Blood in the Gutter’ is an interesting one and was discussed at length in our workshop. McCloud defines ‘closure’ as “(the) phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole”. He gives the example of the gutter (the empty space) between comic panels as being…

Melbourne Central – A Media Audit

Most likely, as a seasoned inhabitant of a bustling metropolis, you give absolutely no thought to the constant bombardment of media that you sometimes unknowingly wade through during your morning commute. Thus, I present a survey of all the types of mediated interactions/communications encountered during a casual stroll through Melbourne central. Up high: Art installations…