In week three of Real-World Media, we explored the relationship between technology and humans as artists.

Leftover from week two, we confronted what was the sociably accepted nature of AI and programs, that being unbiased, neutral mechanisms. Instead, we posited that the inventor of an AI or program shapes its nature, purpose, and artificial moral bottom lines. A programmer, based on personal moral values and ethics, may program detrimental AI that can, in Eisikovits’ and Stubbs’ words, ‘easily become subject to an addictiveness and attention-seeking imperative rather than more transcendent artistic values’, or cooperative AI that can show ‘a Renaissance town with a steampunk twist.’ (Eisikovits, Stubbs, 2023). Ethics determine how data is collected as well.

After generating AI art, we manipulated the AI images through a process called ‘glitch art’. The exercise tested the value of a piece of art through its process of creation. Through AI, it only took a simple prompt and it was done, hardly providing value and meaning. In contrast, creating glitch art was what I would describe as manually creating AI art, as we took AI art, and transformed them, suddenly granting them meaning. Showcasing how ‘AI is not sophisticated enough,’ or programmed to ‘evoke a sense of wonder’, a function only unique to us (Eisikovits, Stubbs, 2023).

Over-reliance on technology erasing our artistic process is detrimental to artists. This fact was made clear when the class was performed a digital detox for 10 minutes, and play with arts and crafts in what Syvertsen and Enli call ‘resisting media and regaining authentic life’, ending our week artistically renewed (Syversten, Enli, 2019). We live in technology, not around it.

Reference List

1. Eisikovits N, Stubbs A (January 13^th 2023) ‘ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and the collapse of the creative process’, The Conversation, accessed 13^th March 2023. https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-dall-e-2-and-the-collapse-of-the-creative-process-196461
2. Syvertsen T, Enli G (2019) ‘Digital detox: Media resistance and the promise of authenticity’, Convergence, 26(5-6):1269-1283, https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/10.1177/1354856519847325

In week two of Real-World Media, we explored media technologies in relation to time, and how we use media to link ourselves to a point in time through nostalgia.

In the face of corporations like Apple releasing a new $500+ iPhone almost yearly to the integration of iPads, laptops, and other smart technologies into our classrooms, we ask ourselves ‘what really qualifies as ‘old media’?’ and the validity of the term. Through creating a timeline in groups, we listed any media we can remember. I listed game consoles, yet a group member listed record players and radios in the 2010s, what I saw as ‘old media’. Simone Natale explores my error in thinking in her article ‘There Are No Old Media’ where she emphasizes that ‘the social use of a medium can never be examined in isolation from the use of other media’ as a medium like radio, which began as clunky speaker boxes, transformed, and integrated with technologies like cars, computers, smartphones, and TV, renegotiating its place as ‘new media’ (pg.589).

Likewise, the way we renegotiate with ourselves also determines a media’s place in our lives as contemporary or obsolete. In class, I created a timeline of function for a constant piece of media in my lifetime, the ever-evolving Nintendo 3DS/2DS/DS family. Through my childhood and teenage years, I’d buy the latest DS to keep up with the latest games, yet now I modify my 3DS to play and archive older Gameboy and DS games. Through nostalgia, I use my new media to interact with old media, acting as ‘symbols of a simpler, more carefree time, and, in some cases, a time when people were beginning to develop their own values and understanding of themselves’ (Knorr 2019). Nostalgia destroys the concept of ‘old media’ as it gives value to media that is demoted as old media because of their interpreted lack of value socially.

Reference List

1. Natale S (2016) ‘There Are No Old Media’, Journal of Communication, 66(4):585–603
2. Knorr A (08 February 2019) ‘Why Nostalgia For Video Games Is Uniquely Powerful’, Kotaku, accessed 09 March 2023. https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/02/why-nostalgia-for-video-games-is-uniquely-powerful/#:~:text=The%20word%20“nostalgia”%20comes%20from,frustration%2C%20joy%2C%20and%20pride.

Memory retainer

Smartphone notepad

-stored memory of dreams onto my notepad like a dream journal

-did it in an attempt to recall concepts, feelings, and imagery from my dreams to use in my writing

-started writing them on my iphone in 1/9/20 (earliest document)

Photo – pic of my completed FF8 save file 8/9/20

I was at home, 20 years old, still in my adv dip of professional screenwriting, jobless

I posted it to show my friends that I had beaten FF8

Celebrating beating FF8

I was feeling happy, satisfied, emotional, inspired

It was night time with no particularly noticeable weather

I feel happy and inspired by imagery I remember from FF8, and sad that I cant play FF8 for the first time again

[PHOTO GOES HERE AT SOME POINT]

Crude pic of my FF8 save file.

In the dark late hours of the morning, I was emotional, inspired, and satisfied at finally beating Final Fantasy 8. As a writer at the time, my mind was full of iconic imagery that inspired my work for next year’s written projects. I’m happy i beat the game, but in some way, I’m sad that I can not experience the game for the first time again. At first I got filtered and dropped the game for half a year only to pick it up again and break its battle system to hilarious results. If i were to play it again, I would probably exploit the game’s loophole immediately, knowing what to do. It sounds fun, but it’ll be different and never the same.

In week one of Real-World Media, Dan introduced to the prompt: ‘Do we really need the digital to be creative?’, which we approached through analysing our intentions as artists, how we interact with materials and vice-versa.

Technology gradually inches away at an artists’ agency, with recent advancements in AI generating ‘images to spec in seconds with only a few keywords and the click of a button’ (Jonsson cited in Harris 2023). We now question what really is ‘art’? Tim Ingold’s ‘The textility of making’ (2009) discusses this through the hylomorphic model, an authoritarian model where form is ‘imposed by an agent with a particular design in mind’ (p.92), and the textility of making, an alternative ‘intervening in the fields of force and currents of material wherein forms are generated’ (p.92). The ethos of the hylomorphic model coincides with technology, where the ends justify the means, prioritizing intention, while textility resonates with craftsmen, who surrender themselves to their materials (p.92).

This dichotomy was explored through two class activities. One was crafting origami where the paper refused to bend the way I wanted, so I simply let the paper fold itself naturally, fearing it would rip. My origami barely looked like its intended form, yet its unique imperfections made it mine. The other involved editing shots together to music. Filming was aimless, but I received intention through my music, shaping my work, seemingly incoherent to anyone but myself. Folding origami emphasized textility, while editing the video emphasized Hylomorphism. Technology evolved to accommodate intention perfection as arts become a core fundamental of our societal architecture, while traditional tools become outdated, yet continue to maintain relevance with passionate craftsmen.

Reference List

1. Ingold, T (2010), ‘The Textility of Making‘, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34: 91-102, accessed 02 March 2023
2. Harris G (28 February 2023) ‘AI will become the new normal’: how the art world’s technological boom is changing the industry’, The Art Newspaper, accessed 03 March 2023. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/02/28/ai-will-become-the-new-normal-how-the-art-worlds-technological-boom-is-changing-the-industry

What media do you use every day? (5)

-computer/smartphone – youtube/twitch – entertainment

-computer – CLIP STUDIO – drawing

-computer – Blender – creating 3d models

-Switch/PS4/Computer – games – entertainment

-sketchbook – drawing – expression *

-Computer/iphone – discord/whatsapp – communication with friends/family

Research

YOUTUBE

global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. In October 2006, YouTube was bought by Google for $1.65 billion. YouTube’s worldwide advertising revenues amounted to 7.96 billion U.S. dollars in the fourth quarter of 2022, representing a seven percent decreased compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. They are interested in money.

NINTENDO

Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops and releases both video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as Nintendo Karuta by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. Nintendo’s game consoles and games are manufactured inhouse. Currently makes 349.51 Billion in profits, hosting some of the biggest franchises under their corporate belt. They are interested in making products based on their franchises to maintain profit and a loyal fanbase.

DISCORD

Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called “servers”. As of 2021, the service has over 350 million registered users and over 150 million monthly active users. Their headquarters are currently situated in San Fransisco, America. Discord increased its revenue by 188% in 2020, and is expected to generate more than $200 million in 2021.

Data collection

Youtube and Google uses your search history to target advertisments geared towards you, mold its algorithm to reccomend videos similar to what you watch, and sorts your data into their analytics to study and act accordingly. Google and Youtube are both connected heavily.

Nintendo collects data through google as the nintendo eshop, an application where an account is required to purchase nintendo games online, is connected to google, collecting data on purchases, game popularity, sales, and demographics. This data is then sold to 3rd parties to be used in targeted advertisment.

Discord collect information about the device you are using to access the services. For example, this includes information like your IP address, operating system information, browser information, and information about your device settings, such as your microphone and/or camera.

Affordances

Youtube is often used for research purposes by students and content creators alike.

Hierarchy

You need either a smartphone or computer in order to access Youtube and Discord. You can access Nintendo’s services on their game consoles like the Switch and 3DS.

For our Augmented Cinema studio showcase, two short films stood out to me in how they approached the studio’s ideas, concepts, and rationale of the encroaching presence of VR in our industries, social media, and personal lives, highlighting the potential temporary positives, and long-term negatives.

Tantrum, by Ricky Chen, Hue Thy Hoang, Karina Luk, Lucy Liu, and Christina Yang, stood out to me as a short film that delivers a promising gambling narrative. I touched upon the group’s week 9 presentation, so I was floored by how it nailed the gambler iconography excellently, focusing on neon lights, cold night skies, and warm indoor lights. The narrative is where the film hits home the hardest, with the tension rising as the game progresses, only for both to lose, logging our protagonist out of what is revealed to be a VR game, back into his house devoid of colour and his partner. In my eyes, the short film succinctly addresses how, as AR and VR becomes more involved in our lives, so does nesting grounds for sinister practices. Online gambling is already a serious issue we fight back against through raising awareness, so to create an isolated environment through VR, more people are prone to fall for predatory practices and loopholes utilized by companies, as well as our own morbid curiosity.

INPUT/OUTPUT, by Ewan Hicks, Nam Tran, Thomas Matijevic, Niall Heaphy, and Malachy Lewis, portrays a simple story about the allure of the infinite potential of VR, and how it can suck us in. The most standout moment of the film is Doug’s descent into VR, visualized through a trippy sequence of ever-transforming AI-generated art. Although there’s a scene where Anastasia bluntly states the benefits of the technology for ‘engineering, therapy, [and] social events’, I feel that the film emphasizes just how important it is for the technology itself to be safe for such uses. If VR is used for therapy or important jobs in the industry, what will happen when an exploit is discovered? Personal and professional info leaks, or perhaps attacks tormenting those in their safe spaces, where the blending of reality and virtual works against the health of its users. The short film highlights the dark fact that the corporations that provide us with VR technology may also be the corporation that will sell us out for money, be it by delivery of an unfinished product, bribery from shady companies, or very serious invasions of privacy for data. In any case, its role will be prominent.

I decided to view the Automated-Decision Making studio showcase as it wasn’t a concept I thought I was familiar with. However, after finishing both videos, I now have a clear understanding of the key ideas explored in the studio, and just how heavily it relates to me as a user of media sharing apps.

The algorithms behind The Alt-Right Pipeline, by Finn Hurley, explores how the YouTube, through its unmoderated algorithm, allows videos that preach harmful, outdated, and reactionary viewpoints, and just how simple and quick it is to fall down the rabbit hole. The video communicates the vulnerability of YouTube users, through the platform’s insistence that anything that happens is the responsibility of the user, shirking off liability for anything that happens. It is scary, as one with older and younger siblings, for it feels like those I care about aren’t being granted the protection they deserve. However, in recent years, in reaction to these alt-right videos, there’s now a lot more left-leaning videos, as if equilibrium has occurred.

The Truth about TikTok, by Lachlan Bahr, explores the complex and adaptive algorithm of TikTok, and how it pigeonhole’s its users. Its fascinating that, despite TikTok’s secretive nature, Bahr manages to identify the core mechanism of how the app decides what its users see and don’t see. Although it doesn’t cover an issue as scary as Hurley’s video, it communicates the lengths the company goes through to understand its users, even if their methods fall in grey areas. Although I don’t use TikTok personally, both my little sister and mother do, so the key ideas I’ve gleamed from the video allows me to inform them of how the app works, and just what kind of data the app lifts from their usage.

Through these two explainer videos, I’ve gathered that the Automated-Decision Making studio is about how we can identify how algorithms work and creating videos that brings awareness to the practices enforced by corporations, tip-toeing the line between curation and privacy invasion.

Film

Reflection

what I’ve gained from this studio and assignment

For our assignment #4 immersive media short film, we made a film called ‘Dependency’. Our film communicated a key concern about the two sides of VR rehabilitation that we have been learning throughout this studio, specifically virtual rehabilitation from physical and mental trauma to heal psychological wounds. Our film engages with the topic of relationships and the emotional scars that can be made after one comes to an end with the hopes that the audience may form an understanding of the positive effects of VR rehabilitation like emotional improvement, help with coping, and reducing anxiety, while also highlighting the negative effects of VR rehabilitation like isolation, escapism, and a dependency on a world that ultimately doesn’t exist. This project is presented in the ‘between two worlds’ concept that we have been exploring during the semester through the use of colour grading, contrast, and jarring cuts between the two. There were two narratives within the film, the story of Jim’s reluctance to return to reality when Rex, his neighbor, insistently extends and invitation to him, and Josh’s story of slowly realizing the world around him is too perfect, unreal. These two narratives become one during the climax when Jim and Josh become one, confronting the façade and accepting that his beloved Maya is dead and finally leaves his room. The VR rehabilitation allowed Jim to feel happy, but when it turned to isolation and escapism, he knew that he had to put down the headset. As a group, we decided that this was the best narrative to capture the rationale of ‘between two worlds’. If I were to keep working on this project, I would have liked to transform it into a short web series that explores the ‘between two worlds’ concept in a plethora of ways, with romantic relationship break-ups being but one of many topics I’d explore such as the death of a loved one, political, economic, and racial anxieties. Essentially a more wholesome Black Mirror. I feel confident that I could tackle this concept individually because during my time in the studio, I was able to improve my skills in Premier Pro, Adobe Audition, and Adobe After Effects, all the while experimenting with 360 cameras, boom mics, AR apps, VR headsets, and different types of cameras. Cat was kind enough to provide a plethora of production checklists for this assignment as well which taught me greatly about what exactly I need to include in the production of my works. The studio has given me the knowledge and skills to stand alone, and in a group when it comes to my future creative endeavors both technically and thematically.

Production

For this project, we split responsibilities based on our skills and availability. During pre-production, Lachlan, Addison, and I oversaw conceptualizing, scriptwriting, and storyboarding our film, while Adrian procured the technical equipment and props, and Isaac scouted filming locations in preparation for production.

Pre-production

The first script draft was written by me, that was a modern dark comedy take on A Christmas Carol. The second draft was by Addison, which transformed the story into a widow’s struggle to accept the death of his lover, leading him to escape to a virtual reality. The third and final draft was by Lachlan, who ironed out the small details, expanding the script a full 4 pages, which was done while I was drawing up the storyboard, resulting in a rocky week where the amount of work I needed to do fluctuated unpredictably. Collaborating with Lachlan and Addison during this stage was insightful as the concepts I introduced in the concept art and storyboards was incorporated into the film, as well as repurposed to further expand on the ‘between two worlds’ rational we’re exploring in our film.

Scripts

Script (First-Draft)

Script (Second-Draft)

Dependency Script (Final)

Concept art

Storyboard

Mid-production

During production, we had on-set roles assigned to us. Lachlan was director, Isaac and Adrian were directors of photography, Addison was technical director, and I was art director, but I played sound recordist. I was only available for day 2 of production, however, I was effectively able to work together with everyone. Although my job was to only hold the mic, a lesson from Cat about Decibels, distance, and audio quality had me acting very careful with my distance and visibility, which proved exhausting after multiple takes. Individually, this project would have been shot on a smartphone for as cheaply as possible, but through collaboration, we were able to organize and execute a professional production schedule, with a full cast of actors, catering, and a myriad of forms we had to sign. Also, being face-to-face allowed us to better argue our points for script changes more effectively, transforming the ending of our short film to better reflect the studio’s ‘between two worlds’ rationale, eliminating the supernatural aspect from our film.

Unedited unused footage

Raw audio recordings (later spliced together into one monologue)

Post-production

I wasn’t part of the primary post-production team, which was a role divided between Addison, Lachlan, Isaac, and Adrian as per Cat’s recommendation. The distinction ‘between two worlds’ was best emphasized through colour-grading, jarring cuts, as well as blending VFX into the background. Meanwhile, as the artist, my job was to create the poster that will represent the film. Through collaborating with Lachlan’s and Isaac’s creative vision, I was able to produce a poster that communicates the core of the film, one man ‘between two worlds’, reality and virtual, through colour and harmony.

Colour-grading

VFX

Film Timeline

Film poster

Through collaboration, constant communication, and a shared passionate vision, my group was able to organize and execute film production that evolved from a weekly group project and into professionalism, all the while exploring the ‘between two worlds’ rational and how VR and AR transforms our lives for better and for worse. We were able to adhere to the prompt provided, while also being the most creatively we’ve ever been. All semester, we’ve acquainted ourselves during individual projects and weekly classes, and this assignment was the culmination of discussions and activities done as a table group.

Week 9 Presentation 

One of the week 9 presentations that really caught my eye was the Cyberpunk Yakuza concept by Ricky, Thy, Karina, Lucy, and Christina. The plot revolves around a game played by the bosses of two rival gangs in a future gaming world, with the caveat that the real-life equivalent of the characters feel damage as well. The concept borrows aspects from the cyberpunk and yakuza genre, two genres extremely popular right now with the Cyberpunk 2077 game, Blade Runner 2049 film, and the Yakuza game series, creating a project concept that is relevant to modern standards of cinema trends, and highlights the ‘between two worlds’ rational we’ve been exploring throughout this studio through adding stakes created pain receptors borrowed from Ready Player One film. However, as the storyboard artist for my group’s project, I was disappointed to see that, after such a gripping, cinematic concept presented through eye-catching slides, they then show us a storyboard that just comes off as uninspired and flat. I was expecting dynamic shots, close-ups depicting struggle and agony often associated with crime and gambling, and a storyline that pays homage to such genres through tension and subversion. The story seems very cut-and-dry so far. While it can work as a cautionary tale in line with the studio’s rationale, most media that involves gambling tend to go in a whole manner of directions, ultimately ending with the protagonist, against all odds, pulling a win from out of nowhere through sheer skill and luck. Viewing this concept really taught me how the addition of a second genre to my work could open possibilities in how my story unfolds. If I were given the reigns to complete the other half of this story, I would have depicted the protagonist’s downfall through cyber-enhancements that, while it provides just enough power to beat the rival boss, comes at the cost of the protagonist’s humanity and money, emphasised at the end when we return to reality, finding a man who has given up his physical reality for a virtual one. This finished story I’ve presented further explores the ‘between two worlds’ concept, while adding in the issue of online gambling and pay-2-win practices, a very relevant issue in today’s exploitative online games industry. This hypothetical exercise highlighted the lengths our group underwent to further explore the ‘between two worlds’ rationale as well. The original ending of our film involves our protagonist, now sober from virtual addiction, leaving the room when he is stopped by the voice of his lover coming from the headset. We ended up changing this ending for it humanizes an ultimately dangerous scenario, implying that the virtual NPC is sentient. This went against our goal to depict the positives and negatives of virtual rehabilitation, as well as makes our film part of the supernatural genre. We didn’t want to infect our serious story through senselessly exploiting emotions and muddy our rationale. I sincerely hope that Ricky, Thy, Karina, Lucy, and Christina explore these concepts and conventions discussed, and look forward to how they truly tackle the ‘between two worlds’ rational at the screening, and how it compares to mine.

Blog Links

WEEK 7 BLOG POST – HISTORY OF AUGMENTED CINEMA: 1950s TO PRESENT DAY

WEEK 8 BLOG POST – HISTORY OF AUGMENTED CINEMA: 1950s TO PRESENT DAY

WEEK 9 BLOG POST – HISTORY OF AUGMENTED CINEMA: 1950s TO PRESENT DAY

WEEK 10 BLOG POST – HISTORY OF AUGMENTED CINEMA: 1950s TO PRESENT DAY

WEEK 11 BLOG POST – HISTORY OF AUGMENTED CINEMA: 1950s TO PRESENT DAY

WEEK 12 BLOG POST – HISTORY OF AUGMENTED CINEMA: 1950s TO PRESENT DAY

Week 12, the final week of our classes, was focused on finalizing our assignment #4 short films. We didn’t have to attend Cat’s Tuesday class, in favor of having more time to complete the post-production process of our film. My area of responsibility for the project revolved around pre-production, so my schedule was light this week, as the post-production role was shared equally amongst the four other members. I used this time given to us on Tuesday to prepare for our studio website submission, which included a poster and a short summary. There had been some different artistic visions when it came to what the poster should look like. Lachlan wanted a bombastic poster like Ready Player One‘s, however, I wasn’t good at graphic design, so I played to my strengths and created a poster that was simpler, yet communicated what our film is ultimately about: a character-focused drama revolving ‘between two worlds’, the real world and the virtual world, with the poster showcasing how virtual rehabilitation can bring happiness as well as destruction upon oneself, a rationale we’ve been covering in our studio. This poster job allowed me to play around with gradients, as well as learn to argue my artistic interpretation of the film to my group, increasing my skill in CLIP STUDIO and overall persuasive techniques.

I sadly wasn’t able to attend Friday’s class due to illness, so I worked on my individual reflection instead. I hope to meet everyone for the final time on Wednesday’s studio screening.

Week 11 was continuation of our assignment #4 short film project. I didn’t attend Tuesday’s class in favour of finishing the storyboard, which I managed to produce 14 pages of within four days. The workload was unexpectedly gargantuan as development on the script fluctuated between 4, 6, to 11 pages. My time was spent providing action text, dialogue text, scene cuts, and shot time estimates. I am only available to attend Sunday’s production, so I wanted to make my presence on the set ephemeral in a sense. My hard work on the storyboards bore fruit as Lachlan, the director of our project, didn’t shy away from praising my work, and even invited me to provide concept art for a project of his over the holidays. I feel like my hard work allowed me to create invaluable connections with others.

On Friday, Addo and I collected the equipment we will be using this weekend. I’ll be using the boom mic, so I was taught how to record, stop, and keep the mic and wires out of the way of production. Cat, along with some very helpful production tips and recap, taught us about effective mic ranges and decibels, as well as a checklist of sounds to look out for during production such as appliances, reverberation, environment, and equipment, which I noted down in preparation for Sunday’s recording session. If I mess up recording, I’ve basically doomed my group. We also had a rough-cut showcase, which was a great opportunity to test out our recording equipment quality settings.

Week 10 was about finalizing the pre-production checklist of our assignment #4 short film. On Tuesday, we studied blocking, shapes, Dutch-angles, and montages that’ll help with our short films. Our film is only 7-minutes, so montages may be a vital timesaver to portray character development. Our story is one of a character’s slow realization that something’s off in his reality, so a Dutch-angle, as showcased in class, should prove effective in visually communicating discomfort. I’ll be working on the storyboard and character sheets this week. During class we prioritized collating all of our documents such as scripts, plans, checklists, and feedback into an organized Google Drive doc for easy communication and accessibility. None of us want to act so we’ve posted a casting-call for actors. It was hard for me to do my work as I can’t exactly bring my drawing tablet to class, so I spent the rest of class researching how I can communicate pans, blocking, butch-angles, and montages into the storyboard.

Friday was a recap on what we went through on Tuesday as well as Camera ISO showcasing how lighting can affect the quality of your film. During my assignment #2 music video, the quality of my video suffered greatly due to obtuse lighting. It bugged me greatly, so understanding the ISO triangle is invaluable and how I can manipulate it through my camera and Premier Pro should improve my colour-grading capacities. I received feedback on my character concept art which embarrassed me as it was called ‘anime-like’ by Addo.