AugCr reflection

I thought that I would not be able to experiment with filming equipment in this course at first, but I was completely wrong. After this week, I had another thought about the course, it is not just about Gen AI, it’s more like a place to try new things and learn from each other to create my own media. This is my favorite class so far as I got a chance to use a camera and microphone. I used professional filming gear a few times when I was in college, however, there were so many buttons and settings that I forgot quite a bit but the camera I used that day was much easier to practice on. We formed a group and walked around school to film an experimental piece which helped me learn a lot from the group members. Everyone in the group takes turns to use the camera and try different roles in the filming crew. We also discussed our final assignment, and I got a lot of feedback and advice that are helpful for my working process. Overall, I really enjoy this class as I can work with cameras and audio gear, which is the best thing to do in the media field in my opinion.

This is the last week of the course, I was very busy with all the assignment, I chose to do the last assignment individually and it was not as easy as I expected. I want to experience with many new filming and editing technique which took me a lot of time, I feel a little regret choosing that at this point because I think I should do something simpler. I am trying to finish this assignment by inserting many AI generated media and ensure the realistic of my final piece.

For this week’s class, we had an opportunity to visit The Hideous Replica exhibit. This is the second time I went to an exhibition and it did not disappoint me. There were some pieces that really caught my attention that I will discuss further below.

The first thing that stood out immediately when I entered the room was a “machine” with 2 strings attached to many poles with hands on it. Daniel stepped on the small platform and started to pull the strings, his action triggered the strings to pull, and all the hands clapped, a round of applause was made while we burst out laughing. Then we got a chance to try the “machine” one by one. It was really fun, nonsense, and creative at the same time.

Another work that I really liked was the one that takes up the largest space in the main lobby. The one that has three huge monitors and 4 projectors. The collaborations of light, space, and sound create an unsettling feeling but aesthetic. This work is so amazing that I just stood there for about ten minutes straight or even more, to find out what it was about, However, I still did not understand what it meant but that was still one of my favorite pieces as I always love abstract artworks.

Last but not least, from the dual-monitor-piece, take a left turn and then one more right turn, was the “Shadow Tresses” of Liang Luscombes. It was placed in the darkest space of the whole exhibition. At first glance, it looks like a shadow of a monster’s hand in a dark forest, trying to grab something, and it all happens behind a curtain. When I took a few steps forward to see what was behind the curtain, I realized that it was a small moving light source attached to a thin stick, in front of that is some nylon-like stuff to create the monster hand. It was simple but really creative.

For the upcoming presentation, I am planning to discuss how AI should be considered as a closed companion rather than just a tool and my ideas for the big assignment.

Overall, I really enjoyed this week’s class, It was really informative and triggered my creativity when I was in the exhibition. I feel great attending that class as I nearly missed it.

This week, we had a chance to share our thoughts and experiences about working with generative AI and the key ideas of these tools. At first, I thought this assignment would be fast to do until I started to do it. I got stuck when it came to the point “What is my key idea about AI”, I spent sometimes to scanning through all the slides from the first week to finally realize that, AI is more than just a tool to use, it is more like a companion to creators or artists, by inform it our ideas, it will visualize and generate new possibilities to finish their works. I agree with most of the people who said that it was challenging to work with AI. Personally, I struggled a lot at generating media. Many times I feel confused and get tired of these tools, especially when the results do not match my vision, or even the first frame of the results comes out perfect, but just a few seconds later, it transforms into a super chaotic video, forcing me to re-prompt and generate over and over again. For this assignment, I tried to insert the media that I had generated in the past to help viewers understand what I had been through, I also inserted some scenes of the videos on YouTube, to show what I wanted to do for my final assignment. After the presentation, I was given some feedback to help me gather all the ideas and do better on my final assignment.
On Wednesday, we had a special guest coming, Professor McCosker. We discussed our experiences with AI generative tools. It was super informative as I learned more about different tools and how to use them properly.
There was a motorcycle advertisement in Vietnam that was published a few years ago I was really fascinated by its special effects, such as the “Tetris building or the “color pathway”, I tried to generate it by RunWayML, even though it did not look exactly the same as in the video, but it still great and the result came out the way I did not expected, and I think that’s the great thing about AI.

In the eighth week of Augmenting Creativity, we are given 30 minutes to brainstorm about our third and final upcoming assignment. I have written down some ideas for the presentation happening next week. Then we had a special guest coming. She gave us a speech about her background and ways to approach and use Generative AI and machine learning models, as well as a quick overview of GANs – Generative adversarial networks, which is the key point of her speech today. She first talks about the Richmond birding butterfly and the reasons why they are about to extinct. She also talks about the complex habitat of the Bull Oak Jewel butterfly, it’s can only be seen in the old Bull Oak trees where there are lots of ants. The reason is that this kind of butterfly only lays eggs on the stem of the trees when ants are present. The caterpillars of the Bulloak butterfly rely on the ants to provide protection. With the research of butterflies, she led to the results of how GAN is working and how can we cooperate with AI, then displayed the butterflies research in the community center, and she then received hundreds of hand-drawn flowers. Those drawings are used to train a GAN.
After the speech of the special guest, we had a chance to look at everyone’s assignment two submissions, which is “The Machine Ate My Work”. It was amazing as I saw others’ creativity. One of the things I learned from my classmate is the ability to use sound effects in the video, I did not think of that when I did my video. Overall, that was a fun and very informative class, I really enjoyed it.

In my third week of Augmenting Creativity, I had been taught how to do the first assignment properly, Daniel showed me how to submit my video and also created a folder for us to upload all the generated videos. I had a chance to discuss my ideas with my deskmates and Daniel, which help me a lot to improve and smooth out my ideas. Daniel gave me a lot of feedbacks and example for the best result. After sometimes considering which aspects of AI should I choose from, I finally came up with the idea of AI helps us in our daily task, I would talk about Alexa – a companion to make life easier. However, I decided not to discuss about it normally, I want to exaggerate it and make Alexa do more complicated task. Daniel like my ideas and suggest that I can use generated AI to create videos that Alexa can not do such as “Alexa, make me breakfast”. I did not think it’s that hard to generate a short piece for my video until I actually do it. It was so complicated because I need to typed down the prompt super detail to get the correct media generated. Moreover, I got so stressful due to the lack of time so I had to request an extension for this assignment.

In the same day, we also discussed about the lesson will be taught next week, and we got sometimes to work on our assignment. Overall, I think it’s a very informative afternoon. I fell happy with my final piece for the assignment even though it did not reach my expectation, I still feel great because it’s the first time using generated AI in my work.

In my second week of “Augmenting Creativity”, I got a chance to play around with Leonardo.ai website, which is a website to generate media based on the prompt that typed in. I got really interested about it as this is the first time I truly learned about generated AI. I have used ChatGPT a few times to generate pictures but it just for fun. I have learnt that Even changing a small detail in the prompt can lead to a whole different image generated. As a person who loves making films and advertisements, I think I would use Leonardo.ai a lot in the future to generate pictures for my storyboard, which helps me and my crew to get exactly what I want to create.

I got to generate my self portrait in this class, I did not think it’s that hard until I started to do it. I got really annoyed when I can not generate my own appearance, which I think it’s the easiest thing to do. I got stuck when did not find the right word to describe my nose, eyes, ears or my glasses, but in the end, I finally generated one that looks like me in the 30s. However, I consider it a win. I really enjoyed that class as I have learnt how to use Leonardo.ai.

By the first time looking at the course name “Augmenting Creativity” I thought this course is about how and ways to be more creative, I will be taught how to have more ideas or a new mindset to make media. However on the first day of class, I was super confused by the slide with codes on it. I was a little regret my decision enrolling to this course as I prefer to study something that I can work with camera and editing software, not about coding or AI. When I was in high school, I was really bad at coding so I got really worried about this course,  but I know coding is very helpful for my future career so I decided to continue this course even though I know it would be very challenging. I have never use any generative AI tools yet, but I have tried ChatGPT to help me with my everyday question, such as how to make a meal, or where to find places to capture pictures in Melbourne. I found it really helpful as it provides answers with high quality and a short wait time. ChatGPT had been updated recently and having an ability to generate images.

By the end of the class, I realize that this course is not just coding but it’s about working with generated AI, I feel really interesting and into it a lot. I am hoping to learn more about how to use AI tools properly and ensure people will never be replaced by technology. I also expect to use AI correctly to help me with my hobby and even my future career which is a director. It might help me to create a moldboard or even story board, it should save me a lot of time with amazing pictures/media.I have always love to use AI in my everyday life, it helps me a lot. So maybe after this course I can know how to use AI tools properly to utilize it full potential. I re-consider and did not regret my decision at all because I know working with AI will support me a lot in making videos.

I got introduced with some AI tools to try at home, I tried one of that, which is Pika and this is what I generated after class. The prompt is”a color changing flower, glowing in the dark under the sea, with tiny fishes around.”

It was a sunny and windy day, i walk pass a crowded street with my good old camera, tried to capture some photos just for fun, after about half an hour wandering, i discover a small alley nearby. It was quiet and peaceful in that alley, there were two girls enjoying their coffee and talking, looks like they have been friends for years. I approach with shyness and ask them if  can took some photos, they were so welcoming and that was the first time i took photos for people i met for the first time. After shooting, i use all my courage to talk to them, asking why they agree to be my model, they answered with bright smiles on their face, they saw my shyness when i approached and just want to make my day,q they appreciate my courage to ask, not just hide in a corner and take photos without their noticing. Then i realise, we are all human with feelings, they were so kind to me, just want to spread the joy, human with friends who tried to enjoy their day with a coffee. I feel better after talking to them, we follow each other on Instagram and sometimes texting.

Then i continue walking and capture this photo which i really like, a girl who was in a rush, running down the train station, maybe she was late for work? Or maybe she just love to run, we never knows. I rally want to approach her but she was so busy that i worried that i will annoyed her, so i just grab my camera and took some photos. The contrast of the bright sky and the shadow of the way down to the train station really interest me.