The week eight tutorial was the first tutorial I missed due to being ill, It’s strange how far behind you can feel even after only missing one class. Nevertheless the Media 1 blog was a savior having all the content discussed in class online helps me stay in check and once I was feeling slightly better, study, research and begin working on project brief four’s annotated bibliography.

The tutorial involved checking in with collaborative contracts (In my case Michael Firus and Gloria Chen). Group 4 (which is was presented with the theme ‘Mediums and Technologies’) seems to be doing quite well.
We have launched and are actively using a Facebook group to share content as well as making sure nobody uses the same sources for their annotated bibliographies.

Our tutor Brian Morris also explained how to use the RMIT Library (and eLibrary) to collect resources to do academic research. This is for the annotated bibliographies and the overall project, it re-enforces that the sources we are using for information are creditable as well as verified.

Finally in the tutorial there was a briefing on audio essay techniques through examples from Radiolab (http://www.radiolab.org/).  The momentum in the audio essays was maintained through the use of overlays of separate audio pieces or mixed and re-edited vocals to give the piece pace. The easier part of an audio essay compared to film is that mixing and overlapping audio is much simpler without always needing to add a visual counterpart. This is especially when a presenters content is good but content must be slashed.

As there was no media lectorial this week due to ANZAC day, it seems only suitable to post a video from the day in which thousands of Australians stand to sing the national anthem.

Asha Carrington:
1) Found footage matches the characters personality, lively narration with a story that had a climax and conclusion.
2) Outside shot possibly less bright and more saturation to bring out the color and life of her performances. More close ups on interviewee.

Aine Hamilton:
1) A nice simple use of found footage that interacts with that the narrator was discussing.
2) Parts of interview were slightly over exposed (higher f-stop) possibly less natural light and more use of an interior set up so that you have more control.

Stella Cooper:
1) A very good mix of overlays and narration, this fitted together quite well and added color, life and adventurous into the piece. Good to see the themes clearly layered out within the piece.
2) The Audio was slightly over amplified thus the gain needed to be lowered and possibly the audio equalized. The audio for the music also needed to be slightly lowered so It didn’t interrupt any of the narration.

MAC Cosmetics accused of appropriating Native American culture in new “Vibe Tribe” collection

MAC’s new collection of cosmetics is reaching out to a certain type of audience- that being the influential young adults who consistently want to look more ‘bohemian’ at music festivals in order for society to accept them as a spiritual individual. For this particular advertisement (a Summer 2016 campaign) MAC commented saying the imagery was inspired by “Art, outdoor music festivals, and the colors of the desert.” No reference to the Native American culture? Then why choose to use aspects from the culture in order to promote a cosmetic product? Hence we look back at the target audience for this answer the fact that they are specifically promoting the product to individuals attending events such as ‘Coachella’ really admits that a large part of cultural appropriation lies deeper within our society- within younger generations who are less inclined to pay respects to historical cultures. To read more about the article click the title above in order to gather an opinion.

Filmed on a Panasonic LUMIX GH4 with Tripod. Audio- Rode VideoMic and edited with Adobe Premier Pro CC (audio files mixed on Audition).

Choosing my subject was quite simple generally I think about people who have a passion and drive on a subject they’d be willing to talk about but what I didn’t take into account this time is whether they’d be able to properly articulate that on camera. Although my close friend is quite talkative as soon as the lens was pointed the words started to stutter, in future this has given me a learning experience as to always create a test demo with a subject before committing them fully to a project.

When I was editing the hue on the wide shot was more intense then the close up which caused extra editing in terms of color correcting and even though the hues were lowered and more blues added to tone out the strong saturation of red it still wasn’t as white balanced as the close up shot was.
The most successful aspect was the mise-en-scene especially aesthetically- I choose to shoot in a room where I could control the amount of natural light and mainly use electrical as this gave me more power over what the intensity and brightness would look like on screen.

The problematic aspect was the interviewee was quite camera shy and less articulate than his real life personality, this made cutting and mixing audio together more of a challenge this also made the footage more relaxed with less momentum which didn’t suit the themes of ‘travelling, Japan and sports photography’.
I managed to overcome a lot of this by mixing audio and adding extra overlays to cover the mixing, this made the interviewees voice sound faster and gave the piece a stronger momentum and created a more precise meaning. Also to take note the choice of audio was a risk I was willing to take, originally a Jazz piece was chosen but ultimately this dragged the pace of the film down, thus I switched to a track that had the speed I wanted but also vocals- my main issue was to make sure the vocals didn’t distract from the subject this meant fiddling with the audio and remixing the track to suit my liking. 

Key notes would be once again to create a test demo with your subject on screen before filming further as well as understanding that the creative possibilities of storytelling expand beyond visuals and audio, It’s so important to make sure the subject has enough engaging substance so that the target audience will be drawn in throughout the whole piece. Creating this piece really makes me want to delve more into the realm of lighting and especially expression within lighting (mood lighting) as well as color pallets although these were also aspects I’ve been wanting to explore for a while. I’d love to create more of an art-house portrait that contains a less conventional narrative structure and one with more interpretative means.

In terms of broader development my main note would be to always edit and have time to re-shoot in case any footage or feedback you receive from a teacher, producer, director isn’t the type you were hoping for. The feedback I received really helped me reedit my whole piece although I did not have the time to re-shoot, I also believe in overshooting when it comes to extra footage than undershooting so if anything goes wrong and you’re under timed or some of the footage doesn’t fit you always have extra to fit in.

An in depth analysis on Non-narrative documentary storytelling was the focus during this weeks (Week 7, 19th-23rd of April) reading and lectorial. The reading was an extract on Non-narrative documentary: ‘Non-Narrative Documentary’ film in D. Bordwell and K.Thompson, 2006,  Film Art: An Introduction, pp. 342-370.

As a brief reflection I will highlight certain aspects of the reading that introduced new terminology, it can be noted that there are two types of categories that fall into documentary film making one being ‘Categorical form’ and the other being ‘Rhetoric form’. The latter is created with an argument in mind whereas the first is more simple and factual. Obviously information is important as we enter into project brief four which will not only focus on collaboration (as discussed within the lectorial) but also skills involved in documentary media making. It’s quite interesting to see how the mise-en-scene develops depending on which form you choose to take, in fact ‘argumentative’ documentary film-making can be seen and sometimes is a form of propaganda as generally there is a major media biased involved weather that be either political, economical or environmental ect.

I found Bordwell and Thompsons views on types of form on abstract film an interesting discussion. The film as a whole is generally organised around colours, shapes, sizes and movements within the images. This doesn’t have to be linear in order to create a message (which can be generally open to interpretation). Although for this task our pieces must be must more structured in the ways of research, narrative and argumentative.

1. What is the ‘controlling idea’ (Robert McKee) of your portrait? In other words, what is the most interesting thing about your participant/interviewee that you want to communicate?

The participant or interviewee that I’ve chosen (Patrick McGovern) is an aspiring sports photographer who has recently worked in Japan. The main concept I aim to communicate is his experiences throughout his voyage as well as his drive and passion for photography (especially noting his skiing and snowboarding photographs) and what it is to capture the adrenaline.

2. How is your portrait film structured? (Remember there might be multiple forms of structure employed) E.g. Discussion and depiction of an event or process? A Journey? Use of voiceover narration? Other?

The journey is represented through a visual interview that includes overlays and voiceovers. The piece begins with a character introduction then introduces the main topic of the piece ‘photographer’ and finally the environment Japan (as well as the experiences surrounding the place).

The piece finishes with a conclusion which states he will return to Japan to continue his work later in the year.

3. What do you want your audience to make of your interviewee? (e.g. What are you saying through them and/or human nature, human folly, or noble human inspiration?)

I want to note the interviewees passion to travel and inspiring the audience to follow their own dreams and what inspires them. The audience can learn more about the cultural diversities in travel from a young adults perspective traveling alone and how you make connections along the way. It’s an insight into travelling abroad and following your hobbies in pursuit of the career you truly want.

4. How is your portrait being narrated? Why? How does it affect the structure?

The interviewee is the narrator, this adds a personal connection from the subject to the audience, and always the participant to explain his stories with his own words in his own unique style.

5. What role will the ‘found footage’ play in your portrait? For example, reinforcement? Ironic counterpoint? Contrast? Comparison? Other?

Found footage: (Snowboarding, Nissim Farin, Archived, FootageIsland (Royalty Free)), (Archived Cycling Korea, Night Cycling Creative Commons Licence) and (Beachfront B-Roll- Camera Lens (Royalty Free Stock Footage)).

The found footage is used in the intro to highlight the interviewees passions, it gives a quick adrenaline rush into what the sports are like and how they look presented by other people in similar environments. It’s a reinforcement but also contrasts the interviewees own footage as they are rapidly paced and his narration is quite slow, this allows the piece to ease up and the audience to be quickly captivated without them slipping away within the opening moments of the short biography.

6. Does your portrait have a dramatic turning point?

There are two notable changes, one aesthetically (as well as audibly) which is straight after the introduction and into the found footage and the second being the narrative- which progresses after the photos the interviewee choose to display, this causes the piece to which change pace and give us an insight into the culture, diversity and scenery of the place described (Japan), It also causes a shift in the piece’s tone as he focuses more on his personal experiences travelling abroad rather than the issue of sports photography itself.

7. When does this turning point in your portrait and why? At the beginning? At the end? Two-thirds through?

The first, is at the beginning right after the interviewee labels his hobbies and the second which is more notable and less speedy is after the overlay of photographs or during the period they are shown, roughly two thirds into the piece.

8. How does your portrait gather and maintain momentum?

Jump Cuts, fast paced imagery and overlays to contrast the narration of the interviewee, including this the audio was mixed to cut out many ‘blank’ spaced moments between speech to give the narration more of a flow and overall pace, this keep the momentum stable and allows the audience to be able to keep attentive.

Also I deliberately choose to change the music from smooth Jazz to upbeat Progressive deep house as it’s a style the interviewee likes but also again helps contrast his voice and create speed to the film, although the lyrics may take away some moments in the piece I increased the audio game (still keeping it equalized) so that you wouldn’t mainly focuses on those vocals.

9. Where will your portrait’s dramatic tension come from? The gradual exposition of an overall situation? A volcanic, climactic moment? An impending change or crisis? The contrast between what the interviewee talks about and the found footage?

There are a few climatic moments, the first is with the found footage and music combined to create a rapid change of pace which brings the piece to a difference level, there is then an impending change within the narrative to see where it will venture especially once his photos have been shown and although the interviewee does not talk about the found footage specially it’s speed compared to the speed of his voices goes hand in hand to create a lingering tension in pace which works by balancing out each other.

10. Does the portrait have a climax and/or resolution? Outline them.

The piece builds its own tension and climax especially between the visuals aesthetically (fast visuals, slower narration) but also narrative why as the interviewee changes his tone after pondering on his hobbies he begins to speak about his distinct moments in Japan and how he was able to connect with people of a difference, race, sex and those who weren’t even able to speak English, the piece resolves with the fact that he will soon return to Japan to continue what he loves- including photography.

Let me think of ways I can write an academic analysis on my editing skills so far, too be honest there’s so much information I wouldn’t even know where to begin but for this post’s sake and for the sake of my beloved readers I shall start with ‘Project Brief 3’. I should also note this is a personal reflection therefore I will be using it as a reference on my own learning skills as well as a personal reflection on myself as an editor

Originally when I go to choose my interviewee or subject I think about people who have a drive to talk about something they are passionate about (which I knew the participant in mind had) so I had no problem getting him to talk- that is until I put him in front of the camera.
The truth is people who are articulate in life aren’t always going to be the same on camera, that goes the same when saying subjects with captivating stories aren’t always the best ones to tell them. My learning experience from this is to always make sure I create a small demo piece with the interviewee in mind before asking them to commit to a full interview or project.

After my interview I knew the pace the subject was talking at was too slow for my audience, to be more blunt my ‘hyper attentive’ audience (which the majority of our/young adult generation is) and who I knew would most likely end up watching this.

All I can say is thank god for other mediums. By the end of production I knew this piece would now really rely heavily on visuals (especially the aesthetics), jump cut editing and ways to mix the audio underneath the overlays so that the interviewees voice would sound naturally faster without any ‘silent’ spaces- I believed overall this would create a stable momentum for the piece.

Below are examples of the overlay being used to hide my chopped up/mixed audio, and thank got it worked I believe I did it to the best of my capabilities with the footage I had at hand.
Now to another note; going back and reediting my work after receiving feedback was difficult at first, I was a little bit confronted with how I would change the pace and what risks I would need to take in order for me to be able to first off add in found footage (as my interviewee didn’t refer to it or the footage I did have him talk about it wasn’t usable to my standards) and secondly create the faster pace. Pace, is important, momentum is important and overall a climax is important and when I went to show my rough draft I knew there was barley an exciting climax or change in the piece.

This is why I completely rearranged the introduction- with the added found footage and a whole new track (replacing the slow Jazz audio I originally picked out) I had a whole new idea that would delve into new perspectives, after a few hours of re-editing finally the piece was able to gain a meaning and most importantly display a narrative that flowed.

The Jazz had changed to Progressive house (with vocals I knew were risky in a documentary based piece), I knew I needed audio that would ultimately give this project a different life than the one it already had, I also added in more overlays and new snippets of found footage, I spend more time removing the audio silences (as previously stated) and restructuring the story so that the conclusion was solid (as previously in the drafted edit the interviewee drift off leaving the piece with an unsatisfying ending).
Overall this was a test of my editing capabilities a massive learning experience in handling feedback and taking it constructively in order to produce- and have the confidence to produce something with a new perspective out of the same material.

This project has also influenced me to look back on previously viewed materials especially action sport pieces in order to take the influence of pace from them (as well as their narrative structure), as within my feedback my practical filming is aesthetically pleasing but the content and tempo of the project needed more of a push, ultimately the drive to be inspired also helped me find visually pleasing royalty free found footage, so again overall I am quite content with the re-edit of my project although I know there are still quite a few hiccups.

As a teacher  last year once told me “Editing is never complete we only say it is done when we have run out of time”.

I use to be- and still am, a fan of certain types of anime. Especially television and film series that focus on conceptual ideas and or thinking as well as futuristic soceities (this would include shows such as Cowboy Bebop and Fullmetal Alchemist).  Thus it was no surprise that when a live-action re make of the film ‘Ghost in a Shell’ was announced that I was more than interested.

The original anime ‘Ghost in a Shell’ directed by Mamoru Oshii was created in 1995  (more than twenty years ago), as IMDB fronts as it’s sysnoposis the film is about“A cyborg policewoman and her partner [as they] hunt [for] a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.”

It is surprisingly a very philosophical film and possibly not to far off from our own future. One of the films main themes focuses on rise in technology. The film itself is set in 2029 were society has become“interconnected by a vast electronic network that permeates every aspect of life.” 

Questions the film pose are, “What exactly is the definition of ‘human’ in a society where a mind can be copied and the body replaced with a synthetic form?”, “What exactly is the ‘ghost’ —the human soul— in the cybernetic body, or ‘shell’?”, and “Where is the boundary between human and machine when the differences between the two become more philosophical than physical?” For some these questions may be confronting but for me personally they are ideals I think about quite often, hence my interest in the film and future project.

The protagonist of the film is Major Motoko Kusanagi (草薙 素子) who is a a fictional law-enforcement division of the real Japanese National Public Safety Commission as well as an augmented-cybernetic human. The character can be seen in the above image, recently it was announced she would be played by Scarlett Johansson. To many this was extremely controversial.

Although Scarlett Johansson is Polish-american (western) and the film is of Japanese heritage- this comes as no real surprise. Generally speaking the American film industry (especially Los Angeles based and major studios) have always aimed to keep their majority of characters western so that the masses of un-racially diverse Americans can relate to these redesigned commercially produced characters. This is consistently happening and examples are foreign remakes of films that never needed to be re-made to begin with. A prime example is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there are two versions one Swedish the original and another American, both very similar and both received mainly critical acclaim the main difference; language.

An article I read recently gives an interesting insight into why Americans watch less foreign films and are less tolerable to foreign languages on screen.
“As so many American independent films use short theatrical runs to promote their ancillary releases, “companies are releasing 30 movies a year because of VOD [as well as other platforms like Netflix],”the marketplace [has become] so crowded, that the theaters that would be playing foreign-language films don’t have enough room.”

In regards to all this and referencing back to the film ‘Ghost in a Shell’ what you may not know is that the android protagonist within the film was in fact based off a western ideal of an american women. The character in the 1995 film was also intended to have an androgynous face which did not show much emotion thus leaving the character more open to interpretation.

Overall I believe in keeping to a level of tradition, if you are creating a film based off source material of a different culture it is important not to appropriate that culture as well as giving respect to the original material.
In this case it would be casting an actor with Japanese heritage, instead of artificially creating the aesthetics of the race which a VFX production company associated with the production are apparently working upon- this would be to give Scarlett more of an aesthetic Asian character design, (tests were done with the company Lola VFX who also did the aging affect on Brad Pitt in the ‘Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ but they have yet to confirm their involvement).

For more information on the project click this link here and It will guide you to the original sourced article.

A few crucial steps to writing a critical analysis and or evaluation is to understand your target audience. In this case it will be lecturers, tutors and students- although from the lectorial understanding we are also writing for any whom happen to stumble across our blogs so we must write as though these people have not always read the materials we have.

What I have learnt from this weeks lecture (week six) is that I must (in order to form a habit) is to not only reference the readings but also write about how they interconnect with each other and how all the content we are learning comes together to form a broader picture.

The substance of what is in the post must also be checked, in reflection to the lecture I remember that there must be a key point in that every post- a push and pull. This would be to create a piece that has balance, purpose and meaning and overall create an argument or point.

My focusing point for this week would be how should I go about improving my writing, after finishing high school I went into a Diploma that required almost no theoretical skills (essay writing, referencing and critical evaluations included). For me this means I’ve lost touch in my writing, I believe in order to regain the structure that I once had and wrote with I must continue readings outside of the original set list.

How often do we pick up a book and analysis it without having to write an assignment, at my age hardly ever. I think for me it would be important to start analyzing books I read and really breaking them apart in order to understand how to write better reflections because these posts as stated aren’t just meant to reflect there meant to be argumentative and include critical thinking.

Finally I also believe to always be aware of the reading biases and when reflecting on a reading write what the biased would have been on that particular author this will help create an argumentative piece without having to pull very far.