Week 3- -Media is a public practice-Reading-Thoughts

A case study on ‘Tagged’ questions the ethical decisions that pre-occupy documentary film makers. The essay was written to explore how ethical issues are interwoven into the aesthetic and discursive structures of  film  due to the filmmaker’s choices. The essay examines the ‘Ideological Argument embedded in the aesthetic choices of the film’. It looks at Ethics encoded into the text and encountered in the course of production. Early on in the essay, it is deemed Tagged is ethically fine ‘In acknowledging its subjectivity it makes no claims to present the absolute truth’. However as the essay continues the author, Donavan, conveys how easily participant rights and consent can be broken, and shows how deeply moral decisions affect the text and the rights of the participant. If consent is granted in one context, does it still apply to another? Is is questions like this one that gave the essay its premise

‘This is an extension of the concept of the Gaze, the notion that the space between the camera and the subject of the camera is a space in which power relationships occur.’ Potentially a film maker could belittle an individual or portray the person subtly in a negative light depending on what else constitutes the shot e.g. music, framing, shot size……Even if they don’t do this explicitly or through words.

Documentary filmmakers are constrained, bound by ethical decisions and how they respond to these decisions manipulates their ‘voice’ as artists and interpreters. The style of the documentary, the music used, sound FX, intertitles all conveys the directors ethical stance towards the subjects and story. Filmmakers are also bound by constraints such as money, time and various other broadcasting constraints.

A question I would like to pose, but not necessarily answer is How do these constraints effect what is created? Do these constraints add more pressure for the filmmaker to ‘Do the right thing’, Should they be constantly revised in order for all films to be completely ethical? And if so, would this take away creative license and unique documentary film-making?

‘The unprivileged camera style is ‘a style based on the assumption that the appearance of a film should be an artefact of the social and physical encounter between the film-maker and the subject’. In ‘Tagged’ the film maker, in order to capture events as neutrally as possible, sacrifices perfect framings and angles. This is an example of an ethical decision made by the film-maker that affects the aesthetics of the film. By doing this he ‘captures a sense of being present’ and adds to the observational style of the film. The film-maker didn’t want to view or portray the teens from Bankstown through an opinion or ideology, he just wanted to present the truth. In order to do this Tagged uses an ‘extremely long take’ which goes against the traditions of standard documentary film-making. By doing this and including imperfect shots in the film, the audience is reminded of the filmmaker’s humanity and like them, the filmmaker is an observer who is ‘fallible’ and ‘rooted in physical space and society’.

What degree of creativity can a documentary maker bring to a film without obscuring the truth? This issue is correlated to the question, How much mediation is considered ethical? In Tagged the film maker has a duty of care to his participants which he followed, he wanted to see individuality co-exist with ‘collaborative respectful relationships’ in the film, and consequently find the truth. This was done was through the use of conversation. As the essay contends ‘conversation initiated a process through which original knowledge could be generated’. ‘Taggeds’ conversation is documented over the space of four years allowing the viewer to see genuine changes in the participant’s demeanor and attitude, potentially due to age and additional maturity.

Finally, MacDougal based his ethical decisions in order to not only present the truth, which was against the Media’s stereotype of Bankstown teenagers, but to also convey the ‘richness and immediacy’ of his encounters with young people from Bankstown.

 Lost in La Mancha/Editing.

In Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s documentary ‘Lost in Mancha’ about the ‘making of’ Terry Gilliam’s unfinished film ‘The Man who killed Don Quixote’ the two film-makers use a similar observational style as written about in Kay Donavan’s case study of Tagged. This ‘fly on the wall style’ characterized by long takes and imperfect camera angles was done in order to give the viewers a truthful depiction of the film set, and from first notice this appears to be the case.

However, in the editing room, it appears that the directors wanted to comment on Gilliam’s ‘mad’ approach to creating films in a negative manner. This is done through the use of juxtaposition, the director’s pair scenes of Gilliam laughing madly with fellow members of the crew showing deep concern over the financial and logistical state of the film.

This assertion is also supported by the films form, it starts off by stating Gilliam’s past failures as a director, setting up the audience’s expectations, and as the film progresses with time these expectations are met. Instead of having a respectful relationship with its subject, ‘Lost in Mancha’ mocks and satirizes. Unlike ‘Tagged’ it appears that the films aesthetic choices are less bound by ethics and ethical consideration, this could potentially be due to the subject matter. The topic of ‘Bankstown’ ‘one of the most culturally, racially, socially, and religiously diverse areas of Australia’ should be dealt with more sensitivity and more respect to the truth, than Terry Gilliam’s madness. Another key difference is the fact that Tagged is a case study dealing with four unique individuals lives, in order for the viewer to gain a truthful representation of what it is like to live in Bankstown. ‘Lost in Mancha’ is not specifically about anyone, and was initially commissioned to be about the making of a film and due to this, it is shot with less intention and isn’t initially (during the shooting) impacted by the film makers views or values, which are only asserted in the narration, an aspect of the film that was written and created in post-production.

Another fascinating thing about ‘Lost in Mancha’ is that Terry Gilliam had to re-give his consent after he saw the film, and reportedly he loved it, even though it portrayed him in a negative light. It may have been due to the film-makers knowledge of Gilliam that influenced their ethical decision making in the film, if they knew he was going to like the way in which they portrayed him, they had far less ethical and moral constraints.

Tutorial

In my tutorial today we had our first look at editing and discussed project brief 2. I will come out and say from the start, I am a huge fan of editing, I think it’s one of my favourite aspects of media-making. To be able to link images that hold meanings of their own together to create brand new meaning is a heap of fun. In my project this was my approach, I collected a whole heap of videos and images that I believed represented me and through the use of narration and music I gave my project a whole new (deeper) meaning.

I also enjoyed the editing activity where I had to make cuts based on shape, this was challenging but really cool. I was reminded of the famous ‘A Space Odyssey’ cut  from the opening sequence, when I was doing my task.

Media is a Public Practice

Unlike the essay on ‘Tagged’, Anne Lennox spoke not on how ethical decisions impact the creative work, but on specific aspects of copyright and copyright infringement. In reflection, due to the fact I am constantly making new pieces of Media for various assignments to know the very basics of copyright will no doubt help.

Something that stood out to me was to do with infringement and how it relates to the substance of the work not necessarily how much it is used (quality rather than quantity).I thought of the of ‘Men At Work’ song ‘land down under’. Though ‘Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree’ was only a small riff at the start and end of the song, Men at work so blatantly copied the melody that is became an infringement, with Larrikin Music receiving 5% of Royalties from 2002.

Annotated Copyright Notes taken from Anne Lennox’s Presentation

– Is automatic in Australia, you don’t need the little c, its commonwealth law.

– Ideas and facts are not protected by copyright, what is, is the form, what is actually created, not the concept. So it is easier and cheaper for people looking to adapt to draw thematically and conceptually from other pieces of art rather than borrowing actual dialogue or images. If elements of a story is deemed substantially similar to another work copyright infringement can still kick in.

– Whoever has created the work owns the work, unless you are doing it for a company, they may own it depending on the contract. They will talk about ownership in the contract, be aware of this, so you know what you own. You are bound by the terms you signed off to.

– Duration of copyright, life of author+70 years, Public Domain refers to when copyright has expired. For example Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a copyright free novel and available to access in the public domain.

– Creative commons has a public domain license, which means creative commons licensing allows other creators to adapt their works. For example if I gave a song I wrote a creative commons license, I would allow others to use my song for free, as long as I got credit for it.

– Moral rights: If you use someone’s work you owe them credit, think of academic essays. The right thing to do is give the person credit.

For sampling, things get messy. If works are in the public domain, moral rights still apply. Integrity, honour and reputation, someone is not allowed to ‘mutilate’ in their adaption someone’s work. There are little cases of these in Australia. An example of this would be someone sampling, a Glenn Miller song that is in the public domain and not giving him credit, this would be illegal due to the fact moral rights still apply.

Interesting Quote

• It is your relationship with the person that makes things interesting, not the technology itself. It’s the connection that is interesting, not the ‘media’. I found this quote cool because I can relate to it. I guess with the most meaningful and significant music, movies, radio excerpts…… are meaningful and significant due to connection; people feel as though they can relate to and understand the people or characters that the media are presenting and representing.

Workshop 2

In today’s workshop we looked at various approaches of giving critical feedback. By donning the ‘Yellow Cap’ we say what worked well, by donning the black cap we say what didn’t work well, by donning the red cap we said out gut feeling/initial reaction and by donning the green cap we suggested alternative. By giving feedback from these different perspectives we give the creator a broader insight into what he/she has produced in order for the creator to learn. This method is also handy in stopping superficial responses, for example someone saying a certain creation was really good, when they didn’t think so.

In this workshop I presented my first project and even though I felt embarrassed, I learnt something that influenced how I went about in creating my next project ‘project brief 2’, instead of presenting myself in a relatively plaintive way (which I did for project brief 1), I used various images to represent myself in a more abstract, unique way that I think I demonstrated better in project brief 2.

Notes on Noticing:

– Reflection is a vogue term for ‘learning from experience’

-Reflective practice requires ‘living in, not mere occasional attendance’

– Noticing supports ‘picking up ideas and trying them out’

– Disciplined and practical approach to enquiry and research

– Disciplined noting is about effort, it’s an active thing.

– Marking is a heightened form of noticing, you are more likely to remember something if you mark it and

-Recording requires additional motivation.

Media is everywhere-can you even see it?

-Marking and Recording: These are heightened forms of noticing. Make a list, be intentional with what you are looking for.

– Your blog is a diary of intentional noticing.

Media 1, Lectorial 2, What is Media?

Media is not a ‘thing’ out there

‘The media are not so much ‘things’ as places which most of us inhabit, which weave in and out of our lives. Their constant message and pleasures seem to flow around and through us, and they immerse most of our waking lives’.

In this post-broadcast age, as individuals we are defined by what media we consume and interact with. Artistically and practically media is a big part of not only our environment but who we are. Through media I can share and listen to my favourite music and films, I can text, call and message friends, I can find out world news, book holidays, buy clothes……….all this is all at the touch of a button.

Even when interacting with the outside world, media is everywhere, places are constructed and in turn defined by it. In the Lectorial Exercise-‘Media is everywhere’ my group spent 45 minutes to an hour in the RMIT building noticing media. Some things we found are: Virtual Cue Checker, Interactive Service, Feedback Machine, toilet sign, projector of rmit info, information sign, rooftop design, advertising/print, vending machine, ipads on stands, elevator noises, radio, music, Pokémon posters……..

These are all things that we experience, but don’t notice every day. This activity is correlated to John Cages, four minutes and 33 seconds which forces the audience to have heightened awareness of their surroundings. Generally when listening to music, an individual isn’t thinking about the chair they are sitting on or what’s going on behind them, however when Cage did this live (and no sound occurred) people began reacting too and noticing their environment. In our exercise today a similar thing occurred due to our heightened awareness and focus on what we were supposed to be doing (noticing). This was certainly an eye opening experience.

Something, I found particularly interesting in John Masons ‘the disciplines of noticing’ was account 7 ‘Natasha’. In everyday life, when a child does this, you presume they are being demanding and dismiss what they are doing entirely. However the narrator draws significant meaning from the everyday scenario ‘the remembrance was of the feelings which welled up in me’. This demonstrates that making a conscious effort when looking at the ordinary can not only be thought provoking, but can explain/justify certain behaviours and behavioural patterns.

What do you think of when you think of Media?

1. Film
2. Advertising and the various media involved with it.
3. Radio
4. Writing
5. Rupert Murdoch

What others said

Dissemination, globalisation, art, publicity, propaganda, books and paper, technology, journalism.

 Interesting Thought

The media can also confine us, pigeon hole us, targeted advertising, in a way it is paradoxical. Due to the now streamline nature of media; we are forced to create a self-image based on how we interact with it. For example, if we wish to share music on Facebook or Spotify, people make judgments on us based on what we share. If our timeline photo on Facebook is the colour green, individuals won’t see the individual as playful as someone who has the colour Pink. Though post-modern media grants us freedom, it can also confine us. An example given in the lecture was with iPhone cases, when we go to the store we have quite few options to pick from, lets say 30, we still end up picking an option that we believe says something about ourselves, that corresponds to our tastes and who we are. Currently, media does a simular thing, when we consume we choose to represent ourselves with that product, in turn pigeon holing ourselves

 Notes taken from the Lectorial on, ‘Media ‘texts’

– Sites where meanings are generated through the manipulation of materials and codes.

– Do not simply ‘picture’ or ‘reflect’ a reality where meaning resides.

– Dorothy Smith- argues for considering ‘textually mediated communication, action, and social relations’ as integral parts of our social environment.

– We generate some perception through media, for example our idea of London, I have images and places in my head, but I’ve never been there.

– Premodern society: Social world predominately through, face to face interactions and direct experience.

– Modern society: Predominantly through media/texts. Maps, books, newspapers.-Globalization and rapidisation of media text have made the world easily accessible, people are connected through media.

– We are moving away from an old model of media and communication, it is no longer purely sender-medium-message- receiver. It is a stream of reciprocal creativity and interaction where the consumer (now the prosumer) can interact with and respond too various texts. Media no longer has a linear, one directional flow.

Lectorial Audit

– Newspapers

– Screens everywhere

– graffiti

– phone/facebook

– posters

– handouts

-traffic lights

– buskers

– business cards

– Googling

MERRINS ARTICLE

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.

Questions asked spawning from Merrins article

– William Merrin, ‘studying media: the problem of method in a Post-Broadcast age’. There are more producers and smaller, niche audiences. In this Merrin piece he states that the individual has all the choice, control and freedom.

How do we use Media to produce our identity? How do we use it to change the world?

The media can also confine us, pigeon hole us, targeted advertising, in a way it is paradoxical.

– Think about Media as a place, as something that helps work out particular social relations.

Example: Shibuya, Media bombards you. How does Media give identities to places?

How can new media shift/mould social identities, how does this new technology effect the culture?

Media can normalise particular activities, for example ‘Punk Music’ the press can contain it, demonise it or make it appear harmless.The ‘Image’ of punk is controlled by media. If it wast for the media, we may see Punk as organic.

1. Katherine Hayles’s essay ‘Hyper and Deep attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes’ emphasizes the power that 21st media has. With this apparent shift from Deep Attention to Hyper Attention her essay made me think about the cost of this new form of media consumption, though supposedly more ‘painful’ surely reading a classic novel bears more significance and meaning than a continuous yet gripping bombardment of flashes, beeps and constantly changing screens. Though I’m being dramatic and probably a bit too opinionated, my frustration is warranted, I have picked up ‘100 years of Solitude’ about 100 times, yet I’m only up to page 40, my mind seemingly unable to focus on the ‘blandness’ of ink on paper, regardless of how much I actually want to read the book.

If this is a problem for myself currently, It will certainly be a problem for students in the future, no doubt a hybrid type of education needs to be introduced in order to preserve and potentially strengthen the necessity of Deep Attention but too also provide quick, fun and easy learning through hyper attention- Potentially each class could start with an educational ‘games’ section followed by a more straight forward lecture or reading task.

We ended the first lectorial of Media 1 by watching a clip called ‘Mistaken for Strangers’ which presented Tom Berninger, the metal loving, amateur horror movie making brother of The Nationals lead singer Matt Berninger. This clip had a nostalgic, sombre tone throughout it and for no reason in particular it made me feel sorry for Tom and empathise with the apparent normality of his character (disclaimer: I have only seen the first five minutes of this film). This ties in too what I want to get from ‘Media 1’ I want to be able to produce honest, raw forms of Media designed to promote empathy and create unexpected connections between the audience and what there consuming.

First Tutorial

Due to the panic and rush that was my first week of university, I initially forgot to write a blog post on my tutorial; however I can still remember my initial nerves and struggles.

Apart from an introduction task where we talked about a member of the class we just got to meet, the majority of the time was spent setting up the blog.

I will be the first to admit that technology isn’t my strong suite and setting up my blog was a struggle, but what made things worst was the continual question floating around in my brain asking: Am I supposed to be here? Have I made the right decision? These questions were hesitantly answered when we received our Project Brief 1 task, which genuinely excited me; I was very much looking forward to creating the work due to the fact my want to self-express was a key incentive for me when trying to pick a course.

I left the city for home that day with more excitement than I entered it with, hoping that the days of setting up blogs and websites were over (for the time being) and the days of being able to create had just begun.

Lectorial 1

In a previous blog post I shared my thoughts on ‘Hyper and Deep Attention’ which explored how modern day media has manipulated how people learn, in this post however I will focus on myself and what I want  to gain from the course. Written in red is my annotations after the lectorial justifying what I wrote down.

Dear Future Self,

I want to be able to communicate better and become a better public speaker. I think the ability to communicate abstract ideas coherently is a skill I would love to gain. When I did Drama at school a big issue I had was scripting too much, I kind of hand fed the audience character, plot….rather than showing them or presenting my ideas in a more symbolic and interesting way. With this course I know I will face this issue again, so it would be great to be able to learn from past experiences and improve as the course progresses.

I want to ‘know’ how to make films. I do enjoy watching films and television, there’s something about all the different aspects of the art form that really appeals to me. The music, acting, setting, lighting, it’s a montage and collaboration of all these things that work together to not only entertain but create meaning.

I want to become more coherent in expressing my thoughts. This links into the top sentence of communicating better.

I want to improve at using technology, computers, cameras…….. Apart from garage band, windows movie maker and point and shoot cameras I haven’t really explored many media making technologies. I am quite excited for future semesters where we get to use all the different, professional equipment. On top of this excitement, I am also sure I need to improve, to be able to communicate ideas through technology, I need to know the technology.

I want to be able to understand people better through learning This is kind of a loaded one, I feel as though the more I learn the more I figure out things about the world and others. This week’s lectorial talks about learning and how it gets re-defined due to technology and time, so as this course progresses I hope to figure out a few more things about the world that I can use to influence my work.

I want to be better at Editing. I surprisingly love editing, it’s great to be able to have pieces of pre-existing art and mix them together to create something new. Certainly a fun thing to mess around with and it kind of reminds me of what DJ’s do with music.

Create a network of people in the industry. I heard this one being said and thought it was a very good goal.

I want to learn about career pathways. I still don’t know what I’m going to do after Uni, so this is a big one! I think as the course progresses I will start to gain more of an understanding.

Gain an understanding of audience. Audiences are tough! But they have a lot of control over what media gets made. Media makers create for audiences and for target demographics, so this research and understanding is priceless and something that will no doubt be tapped into as the course progresses.

Presentation skills. In my first tutorial I was nervous talking in front of my class, so this is something I really need to work on.

Media is Re-Learning (how, where and why we learn)

1. Learning and the studio model:
2. Learning and the discipline:
3. Learning inside and outside the class
4. Analogy, Practice, Repition, Mimicry, Failure and Metaphor
5. The gift, iteration, presentation, feedback
6. Learning and hierarchies

Quotes from ‘Selfie’ article

It is also, she believes, just another way to tell a story through social networking: “Instead of saying you’re going to work, a photo of you in your uniform does that.”

According to Dr Rutledge, we enjoy opportunities to experiment with different identities – and the selfie allows just that. “We all want to be able to ‘try’ on a new image and imagine how we would feel as that part of ourselves,” she explains.

I found these quite interesting in relation to self and how as individuals we mould our self-image. It’s also cool because it kind of justifies the selfie.