I realise that this is a terrible photo and the sign across the train tracks is barely visible. But this is exactly what is bothering me. I love ads sometimes even they they just want my money but this Spec savers board has me squinting. As someone who is short sighted I already find it hard to read big billboards. The only way I could read that poster was when I asked my friend what it said (we were very very bored). You’d think that an ad company selling sight to the foggy -visioned would make their advertising a little clearer.
I’m sure all avid watchers of anime have gotten around the concept of bright-haired teens bouncing around the romanticised streets of Japan with the occasional hail of rose petals. But that’s just one genre of anime.
I watched a fair bit of sailor moon as a kid and I just accepted that they were Japanese. An alarming amount of anime film adaptions cast our favourite characters with white actors. Why? Apparently asians just don’t have the screen presence. Some examples include Avatar the last Airbender, Dragon Ball evolution, and of course just as I thought we were turning a new leaf with the whitewashing; the new Death Note movie.
If we take a look at western animation it becomes clear that race and cartoons are more about context of the character than design. A more familiar example is The Simpsons, we know that they are a causation middle class family because of the context of their lives and its mentioned explicitly in the show. But they don’t LOOK WHITE they are literally yellow and the asian people on the show are literally white.
If people can mould their perceptions around meaning rather than what they literally look like then I think we can do it with anime.
This may not seem like a serious issue but it has negative effects on the film industry when it comes to casting white actors in place of asian actors. People often make the excuse that its not a lack of asian roles but a lack of asian actors that cause the imbalance of race in Hollywood cinema. But this is not true in my opinion as casting agents can easily find fresh faces to debut in films. This has been done countless times with white actors in order to make the characters seem more authentic without any pre-existing expectations from the actor’s track record.
Yet for some reason we keep seeing this happen:
In the comments of this article were extremely divided, but either way most were not happy with the announcement of Wingard’s role as the iconic Light Yagami.
Growing up I never used to see that many people who looked like me in movies or TV shows. I’d get excited when I saw a mildly asian character in a cartoon. But often they were kungfu masters. When we played power puff girls in primary school I was always butter cup because she had black hair. Don’t get me wrong, we had some quality TV shows growing up that educated, entertained and enthralled us; but I still felt like I needed a little representation. The closest I had was the blue haired slightly ethnic Shane from Tracy Mcbean. He was the doubtful but loyal sidekick of Tracy; a pioneer for young girls venturing into various fields of science. But what about Shane?
So are anime characters white? I mean really she’s a dazzling blonde with eyes that take up a 1/3 of her face. If you believe that a moon princess can come down to earth to save the world with her powerful talking moon cats; surely you can believe that she is Japanese.
Listening to the audio essay from radiolab was a new experience it felt different from a straightforward podcast I’d normally listen to. Many audio devices were placed in the piece which got me thinking about creative ways we can implement these in our own work. Momentum was maintained by the constant overlapping of voices of the hosts and guests. The hosts played many parts: introducing experts, interjecting their own thoughts in anecdotes, providing comedic relief and even acting as a voice for the audience in questioning experts for us.
Music was used in a very practical way to establish time. When we were hearing information from long ago there was vintage music for example the 40’s vs the 70’s.
Sound effects I also found engaging were the dolphin calls, cats purring brain waves. The brain waves converted into sound made visualise the undulating and sometimes erratic electric activity in the brain.
This audio essay had a complex array of sound textures.
I’ve realised that it is important to choose a topic or a style of portraying a topic where sound can be effectively used to prove a point or paint a picture.
Adam Hyde, Mike Linksvayer et al, 2012, ‘What is Collaboration Anyway?’ in The Social Media Reader, Ed. Michael Mandiberg
“The intensity of these relationships can be described as sitting somewhere on a continuum from strong ties with shared intentionality to incidental production by strangers, captured through shared interfaces or agents, sometimes unconscious byproducts of other online activity”
Before reading this, I had never thought of online “non-interactive” activity as a form of collaboration. This is because I don’t often see others as having a similar goal to me especially when we haven’t met.
This reminds me of pinning boards on Pinterest. Boards are a compilation of photos and links to more pages organised by topic. On Pinterest like a communal cork board you can pin and unpin sources. Other can view your board and then take your pins and place it on theirs. In a way, although not very personal, all Pinterest members areworking together to create similar goldmines of photos. When I first made an account I found that it was very easy to find some treasures already nicely compiled for me. Soon enough people were pinning from my own boards.
Mob mentality can be dangerous especially online. Derren Brown’s show demonstrates how quickly a group of dehumanised people can escalate to violence and deliberately harming others. On his show he gives people masks and sits them in a group as an audience.
But on the other hand mob mentality can be good. It has become a trend to make FAKE “social experiment” Youtube videos that shame a particular group of people or are very biased in proving common view. They gain views because as cruel humans we enjoy watching others become embarrassed online. If we were to see this happening in real life we would act as individuals and intervene. On youtube where generally our only trace of identity is our user name and chosen photo we can indulge in prank videos all we like. However, the ever chaotic comment section sometimes proves to be useful in exposing videos for what they really are. On some videos more observant viewers point out flaws and the injustices of the video. The up voting system youtube has where you can like a comment so it stays atop the mountain of comments to be seen by all the viewers allows particular viewpoints to be shared. In a way this is a form of teamwork as the more educated viewers are helping others shine the light on the truth. Popularising vital information about the falsities of sensationalist media through anonymous up voting is one of the greater parts of strangers “working together” for the sake of avoiding ignorance.
Our first meeting went smoothly however we decided that we need more time for each one in the future. Focussing on the idea of how different companies create entertainment for the public with an institutionalised mindset was difficult because of the vagueness of the topic. After much discussion we realised that kpop and MTV have strong and starkly different ideals for how to reel in fans
The purest idea of an “Idol” encapsulates the south Korean pop culture mindset.
We discussed the repercussions of scandal when these idols are exposed in comparison to MTV stars who thrive off debauchery. MTV seems to host shows that make the general public feel better about themselves while the kpop scene creates idealistic models of pop culture to look up to.
It seemed like our conversation had gone a bit off track until Rachel reminded us of our brief: INSTITUTIONS. I do however think that the “star factory” process of creating a desired and perfected product. Kids are taken an train for years to become kpop stars and some never even debut.
As for MTV the use of youths for our entertainment is not unfamiliar. Shows like “16 and Pregnant” star girls facing the struggles of motherhood, their dramas becoming our whimsical amusement.
I was walking down Swanston st and I was shocked to see quite an unconventional sight.
A line of eerily masked still figures shrouded in black fenced the side of Flinders St carrying open laptops and phones. They were wearing Guy Fawkes masks so I assumed it was something to do with the online hacktivist group Anonymous. Turns it out wasn’t them, but it did have an anti-establishment sort of vibe. They had created an attention grabbing scheme piggybacking off the well established internet vigilante groups.
I had come across these confronting vegan videos before on Facebook and I found them quite invasive of my casual scrolling. One minute I was looking at my friend’s birthday party album, the next I was watching a chicken being strangled to death through the lens of a hidden camera.
To me, exposing highly disturbing content can go two ways; either your attention is forcibly attained then you proceed to try and find out what the issue is, or it completely shuts the you down as it is ‘too much’ to swallow.
The protest had brought this idea into the context of a busy street. They were literally screening graphic images of animals being killed on their laptops holding them open for the public eye.
I’ve noticed that vegans typically get a bad (tofu) wrap for being too insistent and boisterous about their seemingly cleaner lifestyle. I struggled not to roll my eyes when my friend declared that she had found enlightenment through a revolutionary salad that looked like an angel’s garden.
As a desperate media student hunting down things to blog about I was excited to pursue these masked plant eaters. I noticed that passerbys watched from the corner of their eyes as they briskly paced away from the group. Then something strange happened. A lady holding an iPhone filming the process took off her mask and basically humanised herself. I talked to her for a bit and some other curious people started asking questions. Another lady took off her mask and laughed, “its ok we aren’t scary!”
The striking scene of uniform masked people in a line had done a good job of intimidating but hadn’t allowed people to approach them for information; which I think is vital if you’re trying to convert/convince people.
I was lucky enough to talk to the guy who organised the whole protest and he certainly had a lot to say. He passionately urged that no decent human would run rampant in the streets stabbing dogs or kicking pigs, yet we allow this to happen by acting as passive consumers. We blindly fuel the the industry without questioning their methods.
The main message is that if we as consumers don’t see what goes on in the slaughter houses we don’t feel like a part of the atrocious crime of the cruel killings.
One thing I found strange about this whole set up was the stark contrast of ideas they were selling. The clean and happy vegan lifestyle vs the dark images of graphic animal slaughterings. I was handed a pamphlet with a smiling lady who looked like she was a modern snow white; friends with the happy forest creatures and one with nature.This tactic of shocking people with horrific imagery then providing a pleasant alternative is quite clever and well thought out. I definitely did a double take on my way to McDonalds and have since flinched a bit at my ham sandwiches. I think that I’m on my way to part-time vegetarianism if anything.
In the past there has been controversy about whether or not it is ethical to use shocking photos/ videos without a warning in the news. But now with the fusion of social media and hard news: that barrier of protection has been removed. Now no one is safe from seeing shocking content even in their facebook feed. Perhaps we have already become desensitised.
They handed me a business card with the title of a vegan documentary.
I think that if you believe in a Hell it would look something like this. You’d be put into a group with Satan, Hitler and Joseph Stalin and assigned a task that’s due in a week about the difference between amphibians and reptiles. You’d have to make a poster with your members and you’d be marked individually. Everyone would probably try and lead while you sit there in a pit of fire trying to make up a realistic bibliography fake dates. The stuff of nightmares.
Today I experienced what I’d like to think of as the most preventable and unnecessarily complex issue I’ve ever faced when it comes to group work. We had barely begun our first meeting when tragedy arose. The situation snowballed into a horrid melodramatic debate fuelled by impulsive jabs worthy of a heated episode of Dr. Phil. The meeting ended as quickly as it had begun. If you’re wondering what had caused the chaos it was something very controversial indeed. Yep, it was our meeting place.
-gasp-
Each group member had staggered their arrival into the city and up until this point we had had consistent and reliable contact in our group chat on Facebook. I sent quite an innocent message inquiring where everyone and quickly received a message with someone’s location. I waited with them for more than an hour for the others to arrive assuming they had read the chat. But as it turned out they had been waiting together in the opposite building tempers rising at our tardiness. But we weren’t late we were just blindly waiting for them close by. Apparently they didn’t have any internet to check the chat and had gone by the original meeting spot, not having seen the update.
Of course a group member stormed in, eyes watering with the the sting of betrayal as I retracted in fear.
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?”
“H-here…?”
And so the interrogation and accusations began. Never have I longed more for clarity and good communication.
If nothing else, I’ve learned that a steady online connection =a steady team.
an optimistic update 3rd of May ’16
Things seemed to calm down very quickly after we had a quick chat and decided to not let history repeat itself. Group project: today was astronomically better in terms of work distribution, idea sharing and general progress. We all arrived on time and got started very quickly. We had a list of things to do and we checked them off as we went. A group member brought along a friend to play devils advocate and randomly throw questions at us to help us full proof our idea.
I’ve been put in a lovely group of 4 (the one and ONLY group of 4) with Isobell, Kris, Joss.
We quickly established an overall group goal to achieve a better grade than our previous one; which for us was a distinction at least. I personally would like to think of a creative way to approach this and have a lot of fun with it.
After receiving our prompt INSTITUTIONS immediately the discussion of typical corporations came to mind like schools, prison and the ABC. We wrote these down. But then we started talking about less obvious organisations that act like institutions such as UFC, talent scouting agencies and churches.
We agreed that kpop factories have a great media presence so It would be interesting to have a look at that as an idea.
I’ve always had a terrible fear of showing my work because unless its “perfect” the thought of anyone seeing it is too cringeworthy. And my work is never perfect so of course viewing our PB3 portraits in class was a challenge. The class was so friendly and accepting of the great work we saw I started to feel a lot better as we went down the roll all the way to “v.”
After getting into groups I received some great feedback that I will use to improve my next project
Since I dealt with a sensitive and controversial topic to some, it was suggested that I should tone down my portrayal of Charlotte as a raging gay. I decided not to because I felt that it is an essential part of who she is. I suppose I could next time find a way to not seem like I am criticising others (ilke Christian youth groups). In retrospect I should have asked Charlotte to emphasise that it was just the one incident. It was also mentioned that I should have used more stock footage as I was meant to have at least 30%.
The others appreciated my choice of colour using orange in most of the frames. I managed to somewhat create a sense of unity within the short film by keeping the colour pallet similar in each frame. They enjoyed my use of different music to change the moods during the film.
In reflection:
Personally next time I would cut out some of Charlotte’s responses so I have more room for relevant questions. I would also cut down the audio intro at the beginning (with all the news reports and speeches so I can have more of Charlotte’s voices. I thought the over laying of voices was done to a satisfactory level but I hope to make it smoother and more natural next time. Making this made me realise the difficulty in balancing the magic of spontaneity and organisation. I did have a rough storyboard but that got discarded pretty quickly. Next time I’m going to storyboard after I film. Maybe I will organise all the shots by naming them on sticky notes then arrange them on my wall like in Mistaken for Strangers (2013) directed by Tom Berninger.Another thing with organisation is placing the footage into folders. I should have done that as I was adding them after each shoot.
