Due to the Labour day public holiday falling on a Monday, we didn’t have a lecture or tutorial. However, the lecture slides were made available online for students to read at home.
This week’s lecture was focusing on ‘affordances’ which nicely tied into the course prompt:
“How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?”
This focus on affordances were supported by the readings which were:
Norman, D 1998, The design of everyday things , Basic Book, New York (Sections: Preface vii-xv; Chapter one pp 1-13; Chapter 4 (constraints) pp 81-87; (computers) pp 177-186).
The author of this weeks readings, Don Norman, a cognitive scientist and usability engineer, explains early on in the book The Design of Everyday Things that although people are often keen to blame themselves for having trouble with a products function, it is not the fault of the user but rather the product is poorly designed as designers don’t completely consider the products relationship with the user. I found myself falling victim to this since reading it and have been seeing why my interaction with products are being tested.
Norman focuses on user-centered design and explains the meaning of ‘affordances’ through simple videos. Norman defines affordances as:
“Perceived and actual properties of the product primarily those fundamental properties that determine how the product could possibly be used. It is the relationship between the person and the product and what the person can do with that product.”
But to understand affordance you must also understand conventions:
“A convention is a cultural constraint, one that has evolved over time. Conventions are not arbitrary: they evolve, they require a community of practice. They are slow to be adopted, and once adopted, slow to go away. So although the word implies voluntary choice, the reality is that they are real constraints upon our behaviour. Use them with respect. Violate them only with great risk”
Taking both these terms and applying them to the class prompt I can begin to think about the affordances of Instagram. Seeing how people are actually using it and how its relationship with users affects the way photos and videos are shared online, which is being guided by conventions stemming from traditional print media.
We started our first tutorial of Networked Media on the first day of Semester 1, interestingly before our first lecture. In the tutorial we briefly discussed what the rest of the semester would consist of and what was expected of us and the aim for the course, which is to:
“think far more critically about the media you use”
Then the lecturer briefly introduced themselves and their career so far. Students then introduced themselves to those around them.
This then led nicely into the “meat of the sandwich” which is the course prompt for the semester:
“How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?”
In small groups we discussed what we liked and disliked about Instagram then shared those thoughts with the class whilst the lecturer noted them down. Our group liked how Instagram takes most of the best features of the other major social media platforms with features like direct messaging, disappearing photos and stories. However, we didn’t like the self-centered behaviour Instagram encourages with people getting caught up in the likes and followers number games and the impact it can have on mental health.
We then briefly read the text Software Literacy. Education and Beyond from pages 1-12 and discussed different points of it in our small groups and then presented those thoughts to the class. The lecturer mentioned this reading was the last reading of last semester but for this semester was the first reading. I believe this was done because the article outlines the software foundations that our modern society is now built upon and that to understand these terms and theories makes understanding more complicated and specialized areas of software and social media easier.
During the lecture we discussed the differences of authoring, publishing and distributing media online compared to traditional media and social media. Essentially in traditional media each one of those areas has a more defined section. For instance making a film: production is authoring, editing is publishing and distributing the final product throughout cinemas is distributing. Where as in social media it is a more abstract process as authoring, publishing and distributing is done with a couple of button presses and filters.
Then we returned to the course prompt to round off the end of the lecture.
The camera movements in this piece were very subtle and stable. Although they didn’t make it more immersive and, in my opinion, weren’t really needed. For my own future VR work, I would try to make the camera movement more justified and purposeful but could use this piece as inspiration of how to pull off camera movement without it being sickening.
“Isle of Dogs Behind the Scenes (in Virtual Reality)”
This piece combines multiple filmmaking technologies to create one seamless behind the scenes look at the making of the film. It combines virtual reality, time lapse, stop motion and computer-generated imagery. Experimenting with multiple filmmaking techniques together is very useful for my own future VR work as it often takes many different technologies and techniques to create one finished and polished piece of film.
The suspense building in this piece is exhilarating and creates a very emotional response from the viewer. It places the viewer in a diving mask in shark infested waters which blurs the line between the character and the viewer as the viewer feels as if they are the character. Our group experimented with this idea in our assignment, however I think going forward, more emotionally heightened narratives and direct dialogue to camera would create a stronger bond between viewer and character.
360 FILMMAKING TIPS:
Put a lot of thought into the set, because the entire set is going to be seen.
Because the entire set is going to be seen, the crew can’t hide behind the camera. So, find a room or something that obstructs the crew from being seen by the camera.
Because the crew will be seen, most of the equipment will also be seen which includes lighting. So, try and film in a location with lots of natural light.
Try not to move camera, VR can already be quite disorientating. Camera movement only makes it more disorientating unless they are very smooth movements.
Try to have a reason/purpose for a cut because fast cuts make VR viewing even more disorientating.
Stand the correct distance away. Too close and you’re out of proportion. Too far, and you can’t be seen.
Test shots in the VR headset especially for video quality, but also for actor’s distance from camera, performances, audio, how it will look in VR and how immersive it is.
Rehearse scenes because they tend to be longer than normal filmmaking.
Boom mics will be seen by the camera. Either record audio with the inbuilt camera microphone or try and hide lapels or other audio recorders.
VR is a new frontier for filmmaking, try and make the most of it.
PREPRODUCTION:
This stage was very stressful for our group as the idea we came up with seemed very ambitious. At the start of the assignment when we settled on creating a zombie musical in virtual reality (the world’s first we would later come to realise), we were full of confidence and excitement. However, a few weeks had passed where we didn’t really have a clear understanding of what we wanted to achieve. Details like whether we should write lyrics, have hand to hand combat, getting actors and a filming location were still up in the air later into the process than we would have liked. This became very apparent during our class presentation pitch where we realised, we weren’t as close to completion as some of the other groups were. This was a good lesson in time management as a group and that an organised preproduction makes filming and postproduction easier. This made us panic and try to think of other ideas we could quickly shoot as our original shoot date was fast approaching. We eventually decided after much deliberation to pursue with our original idea and once tasks like writing the script, choreographing dances and finding a location were getting completed, our original ambitious idea seemed achievable. However, we still had difficulties with getting actors. We initially sourced actors through Star Now. 18 applied and they were all offered roles expecting some would drop out. Unfortunately, all 18 dropped out meaning the night before we had to source friends and other actors to be in it. Luckily though we were able to get six actors together to play the zombies. We later realised that six zombies suited the piece more and made it easier to direct. This taught us to run with the punches and adapt on the fly. After all the trials and tribulations of achieving our piece I’ve learnt that not every shoot is going to be easy to pull off and often the more difficult it is to achieve the bigger the sense of achievement is.
TEST SCREENINGS REFLECTION:
We showed a rough cut of the film in class to other students. The other students seemed to enjoy the film and its comedic elements. Especially the middle dance battle scene, which confirmed to us that the idea was worth pursuing. Due to our struggles with preproduction about whether we should abandon the idea all together, this taught me a valuable lesson that ideas shouldn’t be discredited because they seem difficult to pull off. Pursuing the idea until its completion proved worth it once we saw the reactions of the other students. Also being able to complete an idea that seemed difficult made it extra satisfying to see it completed and gave us an extra sense of accomplishment.
300 WORD REFLECTION:
Due to the setbacks during preproduction, specifically with our Star Now actors dropping out, production was mainly done on the fly with friends we could source the night before and on the day. Because it was late notice for most of the actor’s they had to learn the dance before shooting, in between getting their make up done. Luckily though one of the actors was studying musical theatre and had strong dancing skills meaning they were able to help the others with the routine. If the actors had more time, they would have been able to rehearse longer and know it better, but with the time they had they managed to do a really good job with the dance. In my future productions, sourcing actors won’t be left as late ensuring everything and everyone is organised.
A phrase we found ourselves saying quite a few times during the entire production process was; “This is going better than expected”. Due to our ambitious idea and relatively delayed preproduction as well as the hurdles that kept getting in our way, we really didn’t have high hopes for the outcome for this project. However, we persevered through all our difficulties and in the end created a piece that was definitely “better than expected”. This taught me to not discredit an idea if it seems ambitious and to try and overcome the difficulties that come up along our way.
The most vital thing I learnt in this process is the importance of delegation when collaborating with my group. Although a lot of our project was completed with all group members present, we did find that when we delegated smaller tasks that don’t require all group members present we completed the project more efficiently than if we were to meet up to complete every little task together. Each group member simultaneously being able to work on a single smaller task that when together create the overall project, created a more efficient workflow. Tasks like writing the script, choreographing the dance and sourcing music were all delegated to individual members. The delegation skills gained from this project will help me in the future with collaborating with others both at university and in the professional industry.
This week our sketch was to film a music video in virtual reality. This was meant to get us thinking about how virtual reality can be used with and accompany music especially for music videos considering they aren’t many music videos in virtual reality. Our group decided on the song ‘bad guy’ by Billie Eilish. Because the song has a very rhythmic bass we decided to use a pixilation stop motion method for all the shots. We filmed the sequences in one shot so each individual member could then cut them up how they wanted later in post production. In hindsight I think we should should’ve tried to think of other uses/methods in addition to the pixilation stop motion and try and use the virtual reality to it’s fullest potential for the music video.
This week’s Wednesday class I couldn’t attend because I was sick. However, I was told that Sam Tate from Phoria was a guest and gave an informative lecture on the realities of the virtual reality industry and its possibilities. The class then were divided into groups and discussed XR ideas that expanded beyond film and into real world application.
The ideas that our group pitched to the class was an interactive augmented reality Aladdin roller coaster ride for Disneyland. The idea was to combine the exhilarating nature of riding a roller coaster with the immersive experience of augmented reality. The ride places the users in the roller coaster but when looking through the augmented reality goggles looks like you are on the magic carpet with the Genie flying around you whilst traveling through the sights of Agrabah and being right in the middle of the extravagant musical numbers. Overall, It was a useful experience generating ideas and practicing pitching ideas to other people.
In last Friday’s class we talked about different movie genres that could work well in 360 video/virtual reality form. We discussed a wide variety of genres then narrowed it down between thriller/horror movies and musical movies. After much deliberation, we eventually decided to combine both ideas.
Our proof-of-concept/test film is a virtual reality video where the user plays the role of a new student at a performing arts school. Initially everything seems like a typical experience at one of these cliche ‘cheesy’ types of schools, but then it takes a frightening turn at the end as everything isn’t at it initially seems.
I think as a stand alone concept it works well in seeing what aspects this genre-hybrid horror musical does well and what needs improving on. I think acknowledging the camera as if it’s another actor is probably what works the best and keeps it engaging for the viewer. However, the static nature of the camera is something we need to address more in terms of choreography and staging. Overall though I think this idea has potential.
This week we worked on making a virtual reality documentary that helps bring awareness to an issue that we discussed as group earlier in class. Our group decided to make a virtual reality documentary on single use products focusing specifically on single use coffee cups.
We decided to shoot from the perspective of the coffee cup which I think worked as the audience member gets to see the short life of a single use coffee cup. We did make sure though to try and reduce movement whilst walking and drinking from the ‘coffee cup’ so the footage wouldn’t be too sickening to watch.
The ‘Limitless Frame’ is my first studio and something I was looking forward to as I was excited to explore the possibilities and opportunities that 360 video and virtual reality have to offer. It isn’t something that I have much experience with in terms of both viewing it and making it, so this class is my first time working with this kind of technology.
Our first exercise this week was to familiarise ourselves with the Samsung Gear 360 video camera by shooting some test footage for a haiku video. Our found this experience a great learning opportunity as the main difference of 360 video, compared to traditional video, is being able to shoot in every direction at once which causes you to be aware of the entire environment instead of just a single frame. This means that a lot more thought has to be put into ever shot as everything will be seen. I found the actual shooting quite trouble free, however I had technical difficulties trying to connect the camera to my phone and downloading the stitching software. I’m excited to see how this technology will be used this semester
