In ‘Project Brief 2’ I was trying to communicate certain aspects of my character that I thought defined me best, I did this by creating a montage of photo’s and videos of certain landscapes, places, hobbies and people that I can relate too or that have influenced my character.

I found the editing process useful in being able to link and ‘flesh out’ my ideas. A time in my video where this worked particularly well was with the two ‘Bob Dylan’ photos, one a longer shot, the other a close up, these two images correlated to my soundtrack and added depth too and enhanced the significance of my narration.

By having one piece of edited media as the final assessment, I was able to juxtapose various types of media in order to enhance the effect of both. I opened up my piece with footage of my Grandpa (someone whose character is reflected in mine). Following that footage was a quick paced, photo montage to a soundtrack, by having these two contrasting sections, I not only created variety, but also a correlation for the viewer to associate meaning too. With unedited Media, this becomes difficult, however when cuts and various images can be placed together threads can easily be made.

In hindsight, I feel as though my ‘Joke’ interlude was not the best creative choice, I was trying to reveal a more playful aspect of my character (and to slow down the tempo of the media piece after the quick cuts at the start). However, it feels a bit clumsy and doesn’t quite contain the continuity or rhythm that the rest of my piece has. In saying that, I am glad I experimented and attempted to change the pace, if it wasn’t there, my piece would become bland, uninteresting due to repetition.

I think my creation process was warped; I began my project by filming places and things that held meaning to me, instead of brainstorming and coming up with a cohesive plan. I added in narration and soundtrack later, which meant I had to change the length of my cuts.

William Merrins article ‘studying me-dia: The problem of method in a post-broadcast age’ highlights the shift from a Broadcast to Post-Broadcast world. In our current post broadcast world, the consumer has too much say, we create, dictate and manipulate media in order to suit our identity. We no longer accept what is offered for the majority, however we instead mould what we want to consume based off our own hobbies and interests.  Due to the individualisation of ME-dia, the ability to gain to gain empirical data is effectively rendered useless.

Mr Merrin begins his article as if the worlds change to ‘thin media’ is an issue, the fact that ‘media is spread over every digital outlet’ should be something to be celebrated, not fretted. Yes, we can no longer bond over the same article, author, radio show. However we can experience more of what we enjoy, share and communicate our love for it. Consequently we not only consume but add too our selected media’s presence in the world. Media consumption is no longer passive, it is now very much active. By creating and sharing our playlists on Spotify, we become our own disc-jockey’s, asserting our taste of music to friends, family and the general public.

Merrin states that the ‘The tenth problem is that of generalizability’, do we need to generalise now that we are in a post-broadcast world? I don’t think so. The knowledge acquired through empirical evidence, is not of assistance because there is too much individuality tied up in media. Media is no longer a condensable ‘thing’ but a part of modern life, it doesn’t need to be congested, it just needs to be.

This article links in with the ‘noticing’ activity I participated in during the lectorial, media is everywhere, it is a part of our environment.

Another thought, perhaps a solution to this issue, could be to do more case studies and not look to generalise but gain detailed information on how individuals manipulate the media they consume.

Audio:

I use my first audio clip to show a more down to earth side of myself, in contrast to the other ‘media bits’, my dialogue highlights that I do care what others think of me, and that I do want to be perceived as ‘genuine’.

In my second audio piece I read a children’s book to my sister, this shows a more playful, childlike, enthusiastic side of myself. Because my sister has a disability I have read to her all my life, so this is demonstrating my role as a brother.

Video:

I use my first (comedic video) to tell an unfunny joke, unfunny jokes are what I do best.

My second video, (talking direct to the audience about what I like) was inspired by the clip of ‘mistaken for strangers’ that I saw in the first lectorial, I really liked the direct ‘no frills’ approach in order to show my personality.

Photo’s:

– I use the motif of green and the theme of nature in all my photo’s.

– I did a lot of the photography in the parklands outside my house, a place that is tied up in my memory, that influences my identity.

All the things I truly wanted to express; the beauty I saw in the sun setting over the eucalyptus trees and how the distant smell of burning wood meandered across the parklands, conjuring up beautiful, warm images, that gave a new life to thoughts I had thought in the past.

With my first project ‘Media Self-Portrait’ due on Monday, I gave myself a week to conceive and produce specific media (fitting the constraints) that I thought best suited me, this task, though seemingly easy, proved harder than it seemed.

For me, the obvious place to produce a fair portion of this project, was in the parklands outside the back of my house, the place I have called home all my life.

As I rode my bike along the tracks, searching for the images and sounds closest to my heart, All the things I truly wanted to express; the beauty I saw in the sun setting over the eucalyptus trees, the sweet, romantic nature of the gentle autumn air and the way that the distant smell of burning wood, meandering across the parklands of Diamond Creek, conjured up nothing but beautiful, warm images and gave a new life to thoughts I had thought in the past.

This place, to me, is my sanctuary, a place I go to clear my head,  in every tree and field fragments of my memory lie waiting to be reflected on once more.

It is a place tied to song, happiness and sadness.

And here I was again, on my bike, taking a short cut behind the wetlands, trying to ride as steadily as possible as to not jerk the camera and hopefully take a perfect 20 second video that can merely show a hint of how I feel, a hint of my identity. With every attempt I began to fully realise how impossible this would be, there is no image in the world that can capture my perspective and do justice to my thoughts and memory.

But then again, revealing my inner thoughts and memory wasn’t the aim of the project? My aim is to create a self-portrait through photo’s, videos and sound recordings. Regardless of what auto-biographical art I make, there will always be a difference between perception and truth. I am not trying to replicate how I truly feel; but how I want others to feel about me. I’m creating a self-image for myself based off my own judgements and just hoping to get as close to the truth as possible, even though I know with a camera, in this particular scenario, I can’t.

As the sun lowered below the horizon, and darkness fell, I continued to ride and I returned home in love with a place I’d fallen for so many times, leaving the burden of my artistic frustration in the fields and trees.