Author: phoebehewertson

A1 Post 3:  Reflection on Deadpool Kate Middleton

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For my A1 Post 2, I created four images of Kate Middleton; one of her with actor Hugh Jackman, and three depicting her as the Marvel character Deadpool. I used the website HotPot to generate these Ai images, which uses the OpenAi program. The HotPot Ai image generator is free and I was able to choose the image style, put in a small prompt and the images popped up within seconds. I had to tweak the prompts a few times to get the image I was desiring, as sometimes the Ai ignored my request all together or only produced an image for half of the prompt, but for the most part it was adequate. 

Given the nature of this task, I thought these images would be sufficient and that the generator served its purpose, though I do not think these photos would disinform most people if presented without a disclaimer. I think the images are simply not visually coherent, nor thematically conceivable, and would not convince anyone who is not visually impaired or anyone who knows anything about the Royal Family and Marvel Studios. The images are highly satirical and I feel that that is obvious; a disclaimer should not have to reassure that for most people. I think it’s plausible that some people could believe these images if they had poor vision, a disinterest in current affairs and/or poor online literacy, and there are definitely people who fall into these categories online because of the internet’s accessibility; most people are online.  

Ai generators are so obtainable and user friendly, and I think these factors make it impossible to ensure people won’t use this software for inciting harm or spreading disinformation, especially about public figures and about the ongoing wars/invasions happening globally. In such a polarised era, it seems apparent that people would use – and are using – Ai generators to fabricate evidence that backs up their opinion or agenda. We have seen this in the wake of the invasion of Palestine and war in Ukraine; people – hackers, governments, businesses –  falsifying existing images for propaganda or public disillusionment (see Inside the Kremlin’s Year of Ukraine Propaganda). Deepfakes have been used to depict country leaders stating something, converse to their genuine view, that aids their oppositions; showing that misuse of Ai generated content is capable of inflicting great harm (Bergengruen 2023). 

In creating any fictional art of others, I feel there can be ethical concerns. Though, in the case of Ai generated artefacts, I think the content is more realistic and thus holds more weight (potential impact). A concern therefore would be the real world effects, of sharing the artefact, on the people/object depicted in the work. The content could even fall into invading the privacy of the person, or defamation, if they were to take offence. In that sense, another concern would be properly attributing the use of Ai to the creation of the image, and making it clear the artefact is a work of fiction; this can be done through a disclaimer and clear referencing to the software/author used. 

References

Bergengruen V (2023) Inside the Kremlin’s Year of Ukraine Propaganda, Time website, accessed 20 March 2024. https://time.com/6257372/russia-ukraine-war-disinformation/

A1 Post 2: Disinformation Artefact: Deadpool Kate Middleton

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Kate Middleton Spotted in London with Australian Actor Hugh Jackman

15 March 2024

After weeks of speculation surrounding Kate Middletons health and whereabouts, she was spotted with husband William heading to Westminster Abbey last week. Since the image of the couple surfaced last week, things have a taken a bizarre turn that nobody expected.

fig. 1

The paparazzi’s that have long been scouring to snap a shot of Kate have graced us with an image of Hugh Jackman and Kate Middleton leaving a bar in London city centre just hours ago. The photo has sparked more controversy, confirming for some that her disappearance was a result of infidelity, though no one thought it would be her that was cheating.

Kate Middleton the New Deadpool?

22 March 2024

fig. 2

It has now been a week since Kate Middleton was spotted with Hugh Jackman, and neither of them, nor the Royal Family, have spoken out about just what in the world is going on, yet the pieces are slowly coming together. Just this morning, an anonymous  member from the crew of the new Marvel film, Deadpool & Wolverine (set to release in July 2024), has posted a photo that has gone viral. The photo appears to depict a woman in the Deadpool costume, which has caused public confusion, as Ryan Reynolds is the face behind the infamous character. Conspiracies are growing and people have began to spread the belief that this masked woman is in fact Kate Middleton herself. We here at SpillingTheTea News don’t find it too far fetched of a theory, as no other explanations have been provided and none other than Hugh Jackman himself plays the Wolverine. Their rendezvous makes sense now, doesn’t it?

What is Kate Up To?

23 March 2024

fig. 3

The anonymous poster has struck again, this time confirming that what we all suspected was true; Kate Middleton was the female in the Deadpool outfit. The new image shows Kate Middleton dressed as Deadpool, this time without the mask, driving away from the set of Deadpool & Wolverine. So, what does this mean? and when will the Royal Palace speak out about it?

The Royal Palace Confirms; Kate Middleton is the New Deadpool

25 March 2024

fig. 4

In one Twitter post alone, the Royal Family has brought these weeks of speculation about Kate Middletons whereabouts to an end. Here you have it folks, it was all a publicity stunt! She is alive and well and an actress now too apparently? Not a good look for the integrity and legitimacy of the Royal Family, but nonetheless we’re sure it’ll drive the films sales. We’re not sure who designed the Deadpool themed gown, but it’s not a good look for them either.

That’s all from us here at SpillingTheTea News, finishing this three month long segment special on Kate Middleton’s whereabouts. All we know for sure is that we never want to here that name again! 

References 

Stuart R and Rimmer M (2024) Kate Middleton apologises over royal photoshop fail, saying she ‘experimented with editing’, ABC News website, accessed 12 March 2024. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-11/princess-of-wales-sorry-over-royal-photoshop-fail/103575140 

Figure 1: Image generated using OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 from the prompt: Kate Middleton and Hugh Jackman caught by paparazzis.

Figure 2: Image generated using OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 from the prompt: Kate Middleton in a Deadpool outfit on a film set.

Figure 3: Image generated using OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 from the prompt: Kate Middleton in a fancy dress with a Deadpool outfit underneath.

Figure 4: Image generated using OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 from the prompt: Kate Middleton caught in Deadpool outfit hiding in car.

*This blog post is a work of fiction. It contains disinformation about Kate Middleton as Deadpool and was created by OpenAi using HotPot Ai. It is presented here as part of the coursework for TRUTH BE TOLD, a studio in which students consider disinformation. See: COMM2626, RMIT University, Melbourne.*

A1 Post 1: Reflection on the Reading

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1.

McIntyre’s chapter What Is Post-Truth? (2018) defines the ways in which truth can be subverted, the differences and magnitudes of these subversions, and the real world impacts of these truth subversions, or Post-Truths. The reading deals with examining intent and belief of the people spreading “truths” based on their emotions — and the emotions of others — to add to their argument, using Donald Trump as the main case study. More generally, the reading pushes the reader to consider the information they consume and look at facts shared from within their context, not as they are presented to you (out of context) (McIntyre 2018). McIntyre imparts a disconcerting realisation, in an overwhelming individualised age: “the real problem here, I claim, is not merely the content of any particular (outrageous) belief, but the overarching idea that—depending on what one wants to be true—some facts matter more than others.” (McIntyre 2018:10). The opening chapter sets-up the groundwork for an argument that denounces the distortion of truth and seeks to bring meaning back to facts and science. McIntyre sets out to understand how and why this occurred and what can be done for a better future, one where people do not fall victim to manipulation and lies.

2.

An ongoing source of disinformation prior to Trump’s inauguration is the conspiracy theorist debate around the legitimacy of the 1969 Moon Landing. This theory follows the belief that America staged the moon landing to ensure they won the Space Race, to appear superior to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. A study conducted in 2022 found that a quarter of surveyed Europeans believe that the moon landing never happened, showing that disinformation has lingering effects (Science Business 2022). This example shows that disinformation can shape and solidify peoples opinions and ideologies, especially affecting people’s trust in government organisations. 

3.

Since Trump’s inauguration in 2016, disinformation has spread heavily through social media platforms, notably through Facebook and TikTok — and its impressionable young audience (Scientific American 2022). Living through the COVID-19 pandemic was a shared experience, one where isolation sent people online to reconnect. The hysteria surrounding COVID-19, as a result of its scale and the constantly shifting advice and information, meant that people were more susceptible to disinformation relating to COVID (Meppelink et al 2022). Widespread disinformation meant that people believed Coronavirus was a planted bioweapon for population control, or that the vaccines had trackers in them; creating a distrust in governments, scientists and causing people to disregard legal restrictions and health advice, having an exacerbating effect on the pandemics impact (Meppelink et al 2022).

 

References 

McIntyre L (2018) Post-Truth, MIT Press, Cambridge. 

Meppelink C, Bos L, Boukes M and Möller J (2022) ’A Health Crisis in the Age of Misinformation: How Social Media and Mass Media Influenced Misperceptions about COVID-19 and Compliance Behavior’, Journal of Health Communication, 27(10):764-775, DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2022.2153288

Science Business (2022) Conspiracy thinking: 25% of Europeans say the moon landing never happened, Science Business website, accessed 11 March 2024. https://sciencebusiness.net/news/covid-19/conspiracy-thinking-25-europeans-say-moon-landing-never-happened

Scientific American (2022) Experts Grade Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube on Readiness to Handle Election Misinformation, Scientific American website, accessed 12 March 2024. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-grade-facebook-tiktok-twitter-youtube-on-readiness-to-handle-election-misinformation1/

A5 pt2 Studio Review

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Uncomfortable Filmmaking Studio Website Review

What’s Going On Alice?

Keira Gardener

What’s Going On Alice? is a short film by Keira Gardener that explores “how creepy live studio audiences and laugh tracks would be if they existed in real life” through the protagonist, Alice (Kiera Gardener 2023). The film follows a three act structure, with the first act showing the fake show format, the second part hinting at the cracks in Alice’s reality and the third act revealing the illusion of Alice’s reality through the addition of ‘the Audience Member’ — an unnamed member of the laughing track crowd that has materialised into Alice’s apartment, and thus into the show. 

In her reflection of the making process, Kiera noted how she “wanted to play around with the feeling of paranoia for the most part, [leaving] questions unanswered and endings unfinished” (Kiera Gardener 2023). In this sense, Kiera focused on creating discomfort in her film through the films content and form, as the film imbues the audience with a distorted sense of reality — like that of The Truman Show (1998) or Fractured (2019) — and lack of trust in the protagonist’s perception of reality. Additionally, the film is aware of itself as a form, and comments on this through text, laughing tracks and fourth wall breaks. 

A key affordance of the uncomfortable filmmaking approach is the ability to create discomfort through any means of breaking film conventions. Although this enabled any interpretation of creating an uncomfortable film, it also meant sometimes trying to fit too much in, thus undermining the effect of the film to make an audience uncomfortable. Kiera (2023) reflected that she “learnt that you can always add more, play around with footage in different ways, [and] experiment more, even when you think you are done. I also learnt however that you need to know when to stop adding and be happy with what you have created.”. Through experimentation we learn what works and what doesn’t in film, and that was a core lesson of this studio; to experiment beyond the finish line and try new things even when we are content with the current piece. Kiera was effective in communicating how experimentation was additive to the process of making What’s Going On Alice?, and how it meant that her final film was better as a result of this pushing of her boundaries.

Explore

Wren Hartley

Wren Hartley’s short film, Explore, is a mockumentary style fiction film — I think about an outsider arriving in Australia and being amused by the wildlife and culture here — presented through a robot voiceover and archival footage of animals, maps, Australia and the UK. The film intermittently cuts to a blue screen with a beeping noise drowning out the voiceover and ambient music. Throughout the film this continues, with no particular consistency or reasoning.  

In his reflection of the filmmaking process, Wren touches on a key ideology of the Uncomfortable Filmmaking studio that Kiralee instilled within us; that ‘uncomfortable filmmaking’ can simply be the discomfort of the creator in the making of their film. Discomfort in trying something new or unfamiliar, discomfort in the inability to make something, discomfort when things go wrong and how to adapt to that. I feel that without noticing it Wren experienced this discomfort in the making of his film, as he noted that: “after writing a few scripts and starting to put [the footage] together [the] idea wasn’t really working. I also had a big problem with time, and had to ditch my own filmed footage which I know will impact my mark but I think was the right decision in the end”. Additionally, Wren mentioned how there is a plot and meaning behind his film, yet upon viewing Explore, the content is not explicit to the viewers, or at least to me. This falls into the uncomfortable filmmaking experience, as as a viewer I am unsatisfied with the lack of palpable information that I can read into or understand. I think Wren was very successful in making an uncomfortable film, one that is simultaneously confusing and deeply humorous.

Real People, Real Lives Studio Website Review

Real People, Reel Lives conveyed the significance of film as a format to tell people’s stories through documentary style cinematography. Life in 35mm, a short film by Ellesha Atukorala, Karmen Pei and Yixuan Huang, follows the story of Yuci Zhang and her passion for film photography. Similarly, Jessie Rowes, Vallon, told the story of Tasmanian farmer Jo Lee’s passion for flower growing and her life living and working on her farm. Both stories are based on real people and their experiences, they are nonfiction and told through a singular perspective. In the case of Life in 35mm and Vallon, the documentary is about a sole person — “Real People”. Through this, their voice is given a platform, meaning that they are a co-creator and co-writer alongside the director, as they dictate the story of themselves that they tell. Unlike journalism or exploitative documentary, Real People, Reel Lives clearly aimed to portray the subject accurately and to their perception of themselves. The short form video style, or reel, underpins the content of the studio; the documentaries are short in length and thus more engaging for young audiences, they are sweet doses of reality. The ‘reel’ format also seems to dismiss the general ‘A roll and B roll’ structure of documentaries and has made the films more fast paced and textured. Both Life in 35mm and Vallon have a wide range of shot types, scenes and settings, yet they are cohesive and stick to one aesthetic. Overall, I think Real People, Reel Lives’ focus as a studio was to create short, engaging documentary style videos in co-creation with whomever they were making the film about, and based on Life in 35mm and Vallon, the studio succeeded in teaching and portraying that.

Life in 35mm

Ellesha Atukorala, Karmen Pei & Yixuan Huang

Vallon 

Jessie Rowe

Post Week 12 — Final Film Reflection 🎀

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🍒 feeling seen through art 🩰

Overall, I think we were successful in creating a film that could make an audience uncomfortable. It is an awkward film to watch; it lingers on shots too long, it lacks audio, shifts colour gradients, follows no evident storyline, and Jaime’s performance enables the viewer to know something is off yet what that is is not evident in his delivery. The piece idles in providing the audience with much information; it takes the entire film to reach a sense of understanding within the viewer as to what might be causing Jaime’s altered reality. This lack of information creates viewer interest, as they struggle to grasp what is going on and why it is occurring. I think because there is no real answer to these questions, the viewer is able to let their mind fill in the blanks, ideally causing them to question what is coming next and piquing engagement. Additionally, there should be a degree of audience sympathy for Jaime in his loneliness, engaging the audience in hope of a resolution for his character. As the film is experimental, I feel it will elicit some sense of angst within the viewer. The film lacks conventional scenes and camera movement, Monika frequently looks straight through the camera and at times it’s cringey. This must have an effect, be it positive or negative, it’s uncomfortable. 

I feel that we missed an opportunity to get creative and further the discomfort in our film by not focusing on the affordances of editing. I like how our film turned out but at times it feels a bit categorical and resembles a montage. My favourite part of the film is at the end when it cuts between Monika and Jamie’s separate scenes, and I think we should have used more techniques like that throughout the film to create texture and create discontinuity. Taking this approach would require further pre-production planning to acquire ranging shot types, but I feel it would add length and quality to the piece.

Pointers from Andrei Tarkovsky on shot types and viewer immersion, (some) things we did too;

  • Long takes build viewer immersion
  • Sound design puts us in the mind of the character
  • Embrace the abstract
  • Build character through action
  • Build “pressure” before cutting

A fun little video to finish the studio 🍾🥂

Thank you Kiralee! Yay

Bibliography

Studio Binder (2017) ‘Mastering Shot Lists: Andrei Tarkovsky’

, Studio Binder, YouTuber website, accessed 12 October 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjslwz0Yb2Q&t=5s

The School Of Life (2013) ‘Alain de Botton on Art as Therapy’

, The School Of Life, YouTube website, accessed 14 October 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFnNgTSkHPM

Creative Collaboration

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As this is my first short film I found having a group to work alongside allowed me to learn new skills and hold positions I wouldn’t As this is my first short film I found having a group to work alongside allowed me to learn new skills and hold positions I wouldn’t have been confident doing on my own. Collaboration created a culture in Media 2, and not just within our group of three for the assignment, but also within the wider media degree and friends across differing studios. I found a lot of guidance and help in these people, as they supported all our ideas and helped out on shoot as extras and characters. However, a challenge I’ve found in this networking is how I compare my creations and processes to that of others, but fundamentally these relations have enabled me rather than hindered me, and for that I am grateful. In the smaller scheme, I think working in a group to make a film has its negatives; creative differences, differing levels of control, differing timetables, etc, but for a beginner I think it was necessary and I felt I learnt a lot, whilst making friends. As Jaden and Joey are both second year I also gained a lot of general practical skills, mainly regarding equipment, that would’ve obstructed my filmmaking processes had I not been working with them. I would like to eventually create a film on my own, to be able to change and style everything the way I want it to be, but I will only be able to get to that level through collaboration and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Some pointers for next time on creative collaboration:

1. Ownership

2. Dependability

3. Trust

4. Structure

5. A Shared Vision

6. Fun (got dis down pat)

7. Candor

Bibliography 

John Spencer (2017) ‘The 7 Keys to Creative Collaboration’

, John Spencer, YouTube website, accessed 30 September 2023. https://youtu.be/2DmFFS0dqQc?si=BPFEfd6zrTGe4M1O

In the editing booth

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On Thursday last week, we finalised our second shoot. We shot all of the footage to form our intro and fill story gaps of scenes we missed shooting the night of the party. This shoot went smoother, given it was only Jaime acting and we had more leeway to play around with ideas and shot types. Additionally, if we had creative differences, we were able to shoot the scene twice and decide in post what looked better, so overall this shoot was simpler than our first shoot. Post the shoot, and into Week 11, I’ve been working on the editing of the film. My aim is to have a rough cut done by Tuesday week 12 to show Jaden and Joey, and we have booked an edit suite to finalise some elements of the film I was unsure about, and to generally get their feedback. I really like the editing process, it is something I have taken to prior to this degree. As this is my first studio I feel I am still adjusting to Premiere Pro as a program, and this larger task has really helped to advance my skills and knowledge. However, it has had gross effects on my laptop and I do not enjoy rendering 45 minutes of footage… I have found, being the sole one editing for the most part without any input, I’ve been able to make a lot of creative decisions, which I feel, for a collaborative film, should probably been made as a group. I don’t think the edit will be an issue, but this is why I want a rough cut done by Tuesday, so that Joey and Jaden’s ideas can be adapted too and the film can be altered, making the final cut inclusive of everyone’s ideas.

Short Film  

How Do Geese See God? has come to look reminds me of a short film my friend once made, as there’s similar content, visual styles, techniques and audio. I wonder if this has been a subconscious inspiration for me in the process of making Do Geese See God. He hadn’t uploaded it anywhere – I uploaded it as Unlisted for the purpose of this blog post – so it’s hard to reference, but for the purpose of credit:

‘Unnamed’ by Olivier Martin (2020).

Bibliography 

Adobe (n.d.) How to crop a video in Premiere Pro, Premiere Pro website, accessed 7 October 2023. https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/video/discover/crop-video-in-premiere-pro.html 

Oliver Martin (4 September 2020) ‘Unnamed’, Personal Communications.

p05t party (sh00t)

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On Saturday of week 10 we shot the majority of our footage. This consisted mainly of scenes of Jaime, our main character, and Monika, his romantic interest, secluded from the party. As well as some general party scenes where Jaime is isolated. We’re now in the edit process and planning for our shoot with just Jaime on Thursday, where we will shoot the preliminary scenes of Jaime prior to the party. Maybe also some scenes to cut in with the footage that we didn’t get on Saturday, such as Jaime in the bathroom alone, and things that can be edited in to seem like it was shot at the party. This will be easy as we didn’t use the bathroom as a setting at the party and Jaime will be the sole character, so he can wear the same costume.

I was really quite happy with how the shoot went, I’ve never been to, or been a part of a proper shoot before and it was quite fun for me to play around with shots, settings and scenes. We didn’t plan out everything minute by minute, so we had a lot of creative freedom to work with. One thing I would do differently next time I work in a group to make a film, and with general group assignments, would be to define specific roles for each group member prior to the shoot. We had laid out an understanding that everyone would contribute to the scenes, and there were no real limitations to what we could each input, but I felt that it was hard to decide whose creative direction was what we would go with when everyone had input, and especially when there were extras/actors there needing to be directed. I think it caused a bit of delay in shooting, but we got there in the end and we all agreed upon the footage that was shot. It just would’ve been smoother and easier for our extras/guests to conceptualise the scenes if we had had a more clear cut direction.

Additionally, I think the Didos were not the right lighting for our setting, as there were tight spaces, minimal power points and we were mobile with the camera. I felt that it would’ve been easier to use LED light panels to create a more general and even light effect, rather than the direct light that the Didos provided. However, I did like the high contrasts that the Dido provided in some scenes, so maybe it would’ve been better to have both light sources. I’m not too sure about these things and lack experience with equipment, but I just feel that it would’ve been better to have consistent lighting set up around the house, and that would’ve been easier with more light sources.

No real qualms with the process, I had a lot of fun and feel like I learnt a lot. I’m looking forward to our shoot on Thursday, I will try to implement, or more so understand our roles going into the shoot. Although, I think because it’s just one actor it’ll be fine to all contribute, it was just hard/awkward in a setting with multiple others and a lack of direction.

LIVE, LAugh LOVE🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸

Visual Parallels

When choosing these frames, the cinematography of these scenes and even the performances, we followed our intuition and understanding of general human interactions, but in the edit I can see how synonymous these shots are of most coming-of-age romance films or even more generally student films. I feel it’s a big cliche but nonetheless I like how these shots came out, I think they feel sweet and authentic.


for all that we've been through; — Alana Kane & Gary Valentine // Licorice Pizza...

Download Almost Famous Drama Film Wallpaper | Wallpapers.com

Bibliography

Anderson P (director) (2021) Licorice Pizza [motion picture], Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Focus Features, Bron Creative and Ghoulardi Film Company, United States.

Crowe C (director) (2000) Almost Famous [motion picture], Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures, United States.

Post Pitches, Pre Party

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Post Pitches

In week 10 we pitched! Yay!

Our pitch went well, with the absence of Joey, and helped me to understand the creative freedom we have with this project. I like the fact that alcoholism doesn’t have to be the tie holding the whole piece together, and rather it can be experimental in its content. It also assured me that our concept is credible and achievable, and hopefully it’ll turn out well!

Pre Party; Planning 🛀🏻

Equipment Borrowed for our shoot on Saturday:

  1. Sony FS5 camera
  2. Dedo Lights (terrified about the party setting lmao)
  3. Boom Mic
  4. Zoom Recorder
  5. Reflector

Release form for all our guests/extras 🕺🪆

Do Geese See God Personal Release Form

Props to acquire

  • drinks…
  • ping pong balls
  • red cups
  • kiddy pool?
  • pizza to provide for our guests if were rich & kind enough

Things to note for our guests

  • Dido lights are very hot, please stay away from them and have no liquid around them
  • Dress colourfully (for colour grading purposes)
  • Try not to visually take away from the main character
  • Don’t look into the camera

Ciao Bella ! 🪬