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Today we were given Project Brief 4, which is a collaborative portrait of a “media idea”. I’m in a group with Emily and Katrina, and from our first discussion in the Workshop today I can tell I was pretty lucky with the random assignment of group mates because they are both totally switched on. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve.

As part of the group process we’ve been asked to complete a SWOT analysis on ourselves, so here is mine.

SWOT analysis

Strengths: I’m glad we were assigned the Texts & Narrative topic, because I feel like I have a strong working knowledge of media texts (cinema, music, literature, television) and, in particular, the history of film.

Weaknesses: I’m not a super creative person when working alone. I respond best to group brainstorming exercises and feeding off other peoples’ ideas. I also tend to take over if I feel like no one is taking the lead and if I feel strongly about something.

Opportunities: I’d really like to use this project to genuinely collaborate with other people, just to see what the process is like. I’ve seen what I can do if I’m working on my own, so I’m really keen to put our heads together and come up with something that honestly reflects the entire group, rather than just collecting individual contributions and smushing them together.

Threats: I can’t think of any threats in particular. I have a pretty flexible schedule and am happy to travel for meetings and the like, so I hope I’ll be a good group mate logistically.

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Media 1, Workshops

Media survey

March 10, 2016Bradley Dixongroup exercise, state library

I was part of a small group of students that went to the State Library and performed a survey of all the pieces of media we could find.

Most of the media we found were, in some way or another, advertising. There were banners and signs on shopfronts, stickers and posters on walls and the ground, branding on clothing, and a whole lot more. Clearly advertising is a giant producer of all the media content we’re exposed to on a daily basis (and probably rivalled only by our own smartphones).

Inside the library there must be hundreds of thousands of books, DVDs, digital files and the like, as well as information posters, pamphlets, video screens, advertisements and more. I think it’s safe to say that I could have counted literally millions of pieces of media in this exercise if I had the time (and the inclination!).

But, happily, on the outside of the library I was actually surprised by how little I could find. I think being a government-funded cultural institution (with a beautiful patch of grass out the front) it contained less media than the other locations surveyed – Melbourne Central, Emporium, and the Bourke Street Mall – which would be jam-packed with advertising and signage over every inch of usable space. Seeing the beautiful stone facade of the State Library was great – until you notice the giant banners of advertising on it.

It was quite eye-opening to realise just how surrounded we are by media every day. Until you actually take a step back and consciously take notice of it all it can be easy to ignore.

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