Category Archives: Media 1
Blog posts relating to semester one Media
Assignment Two
Week 12, Reflection
This week the production of our film draws to a close. A new title was given to the project and it’s on it’s way to being finalised. We watched the rough cut and I thought that it was perfect. It seemed to be completed. However a few decisions needed to made regarding which scenes should and could be cut. It’s strange how something never really seems to finish. I thought we were with the rough cut, all that it needed were a few touches. But we continued to find things that could be done to make it better. Cut a scene down here, slow it down there, add another clip. These changes could go on forever, but no matter how small they improved the film in the most obvious ways. I’m upset that I can’t be there to see it finished, but I’m excited to see how all our work came out in the final cut.
Observation #14
Stepping into the door the real-estate agent greeted us, taking our ID and phone numbers. She handed us a piece of paper as we made our way into the lounge room. We left as she repeated the process with the couple behind us. My family and I split up. My dad went straight out the back, my mum to the master bedroom, and I to the bedroom at the back. We knew exactly where to go. Over ten years before we lived there. The floor was tiled then, the walls were purple and there was an island bench in the kitchen. Now the floors were boarded, the walls were white and the kitchen was open. Photos of strangers lined the back walls of the living room, exactly where photos of my own family once hung. The rooms seemed so much smaller. The two car garage where my siblings and I would sit until the late hours of the night, watching T.V and playing the pool table had been walled up. One side was turned into a ‘man cave’ the other kept as a single car garage. The garden where my swing set once stood was grassed over, and even if the bathroom, the bath tub seemed smaller. So many memories haunted me after walking through the house. It use to be my home. Now I couldn’t decide whether it felt as though somebody had taken over my space, or I their’s.
Film:
The film would feature an older woman, looking through the gates of a place she’d once known. Perhaps it’s a house. It would be shown from her point of view, as we see flashbacks from her childhood in this place. The audience would grow attached to these memories, they’re warm and comforting. One particular image shows the woman as a child, baking a cake with her mother, happily making a mess and dipping their fingers in the cake batter. Juxtaposed against these memories will be what the woman sees. Perhaps the wall she used to bounce a ball against has been knocked down. Instead of her mother, a stranger cooks in the kitchen, swatting away her own child who wants to taste what his mother has made. The ‘present’ will feel cold and strange against the warm, almost familiar feeling of the old woman’s memories. However it won’t necessarily be bad, the ‘present’ will simply just show another way that is completely normal to the new family.
Observation #13
The sky was just beginning to grow dark. Under the roof of the overpass I almost didn’t see her. Floods of people, desperate to leave the station and go home hurried towards either side of the walkway. Standing in the middle was a young girl. I only saw her for a split second. I saw her wide grin, her two adult front teeth were just starting to come through. Her innocent eyes gleamed with excitement. She stood as tall as she could, she kept her back straight and her head high. Her pigtails swung gently against her ears. She held a box, one hand supporting the bottom, the other holding the handle on the top. On the front of the box was the unmistakable face of a ‘Freddo Frog’, the word ‘fundraiser’ was printed in red underneath. Off to the side, away from the crowd stood a man. I could only assume he was her father, who had taken it upon himself to drive his little girl to the station so that she could sell $1 chocolates to the stress washed workers on their way home. The rush of traffic pushed me out of the way. As I reached the entrance to the carpark, and the traffic had more room to move freely, I looked back. Nobody had stopped for a chocolate.
Film:
I’d focus on the feeling of disappointment by making the audience feel it. I would film a montage of clips, starting with an extreme close up that would establish the audiences expectation. As it zooms out the true object is revealed. A cross dissolve may also be used. For example the shot might show the soft fur of a teddy bear, as it zooms out, it revealed to be a dirty rag in an ally.
Observation #12
Was that always there? I’ve been here so many times, I’ve stood in this exact spot and looked at that exact view so often before this, yet I’ve never noticed the fence. Perhaps it is new? I ask about it. No. No it’s always been there. So why am I only seeing it now? I contemplate it for a while. I recall the many memories I have of this place. I see the fence now in the memories. Is that only because I just realised it was there? I try again, this time I imagine what is behind it. The tops of the plants peak over the fence, but I can’t picture how they might look below that. Maybe the fence was there the whole time. How strange.
Film:
The film would be a still video of a common place. Perhaps the outside of a cafe. The image blinks every second, and every once in a while something in the image changes in a minuscule and subtle way. Completely unnoticeable unless you knew what to look for. These changes occur throughout the duration of the film. The aim would be that the audience doesn’t notice the changes, until the entire image looks completely different from where it first began. I would hope it creates the same bewildered sensation to how I felt in the observation.
Media 1 Reflection
I began this semester with some idea of where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to do with my life. I realise now that there are so many options, and now I know even less about that then before. I have been able to practise with a few basic aspects, and this I’ve been able to determine what I like, and what I’m not so sure of. Something else I have learned is how to use editing software such as Adobe Premier. When I first tried it I was incredibly frustrated. I had my slow and ancient computer, which didn’t handle it very well, and took it’s time completing the smallest action. However as I experimented with it a little more, I got used to it and became comfortable with the idea of editing on something that wasn’t iMovie. I actually tried to use iMovie to quickly cut down some footage, I discovered that I now preferred Premier to iMovie. I wouldn’t say I’m a pro at it, there’s still so many things I need to learn, but I’m definitely happy with where I am now in relation to understanding Premier. In contrast to this, I’m still not sure about Audition. I was away for the audio interview we did in class so I had to do it later. Because of this, I was only able to experiment with it very quickly, it seemed to take so long to edit thirty seconds worth of audio. I’m sure with more practise, I’ll feel more confident with it. Something that also came to light through the semester was how I learn.
I used to think I was one of those lucky people who could learn equally as well by theory and practical work, but this semester helped bring to light that I’m much more confident when I’m creating something. Although I was okay doing theory work, I could understand them fairly well, it was when we were doing practical work such as the haiku and audio interview , that I felt like I was learning something solid. I also work much better, and feel more confident when I’m working in a group. I enjoyed making the self portraits, however found group work more enjoyable. I think working in a group is so much better because there are so many ideas and possibilities to work with. It’s easy to share your own ideas and get feedback, and it’s also nice to learn and share each other’s knowledge. I feel like my most successful work (over all my classes) have involved group work. My favourite production so far is the ‘Surviving University’ interviews that were done as a production exercise. While I was working individually I often felt worried that I had interpreted the brief completely differently, being in a group meant that there were people there to reinforce my ideas or set them straight.
There were only a few things that really stuck out as challenging. The biggest for me was maintaining my blog. Four posts a week seemed like a lot, and even though there were so many readings, lectures and workshop activities I found myself not knowing what to write or how to write it. This resulted in a bad habit of keeping drafts right up until the posts were due. For the first three project briefs I also felt as though I wasn’t as creative as I could’ve been, I didn’t experiment or test myself with how I can present my work. I think a lot of these problems was due to the fact that I didn’t really do any pre-planning or organising. I usually just went with the flow and I think this limited my creative process and the final piece. Something else I noticed was how fast the semester went by. Last year in VCE, everything was paced slowly, we worked on a single topic for at least three weeks before moving on to the next. The pace of this semester seemed so fast, every week there is so there was a lot to take in, and I feel like I wasn’t able to truly grasp a concept, unless it was something that interested me personally.
Looking back on the past semester, I now understand what I’m best at and what I need to work on. Although it seemed very fast paced, and the twelve weeks went by so quickly, I was able to work on my own personal goals and experiment with the thing’s I’m interested in. I really enjoyed every second (even the stressful ones). It opened my eyes to a lot of ideas and possibilities and I’m excited to see how I go next semester, and in the future.
We Finished! Meeting no.12
Wednesday 1st of June 3:30-6:00
…sort of. Besides a few little touch ups on the bibliography and our reflections. We collected all the footage we needed and were able to finish the audio and video essays pretty much at the same time. It’s such a relief to have it all finished. We spent the time finalising the small things, organising our folders and working on our Production Dossier.
Annotated Bibliography no.6
Berry, R., 2015. Serial and ten years of podcasting: has the medium grown up?. CECS-Publicações/eBooks, pp.299-309.
Berry illustrates how the introduction of Podcasting threatened the nature of Radio while also opening many opportunities for the latter. The texts recounts how podcasting allowed anybody wishing to produce their own content could do so easily, and reduced the restriction of content that had been enforced on broadcast radio. Richard Berry is a senior lecturer, teaching Radio Production at the University of Sunderland. He also involved in community radio and is the Spark FM Station Manager. His experience in the field of radio broadcasting and production means that he is reliable in providing information about podcasting and how it impacts radio as a medium. This is useful information for our project as it involves the evolution of radio entertainment and technology, it will help create a timeline and outline the effects and benefits of podcasting within media society.
Annotated Bibliography no.5
Chapman.CC, Handley.A., 2015. Podcasting: Is This Thing On? in Content Rules: How to create killer blogs…and ignite your business. Wiley. 26 April 2012
In chapter 17 of her book, Handley highlights the benefits that podcasting provides for companies. She outlines the affordances of podcasting and the advantages it provides for the audiences as it enables them to continue on with their everyday routines while simultaneously consuming media content. She also touches on what makes a podcast enjoyable and how they can narrow their content towards specific audience’s. In the chapter, Handley refers to Mitch Joel, a blogger and podcaster who has experience in the field. Ann Hadley herself is a Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs while C.C Chapman is the founder of Digital Dads, a company that produces content about raising children in the digital era. The authors’ knowledge and experience in the field allow their information to be reliable. Although the text focuses mostly on how one can produce interesting content for their own podcasts, some pieces of information may be helpful in understand the affordances of podcasting and how the medium evolved from radio.