LIZZY IS DOIN' THIS

I’ve never considered dust as poetic, of holding more weight than the passing of time.

But isn’t that enough? Dust is the signifier, the smallest indicator. A clue, a teller of time and place. It’s companionship is relentless. Dust is natural, and man-made.

Dust is the exposed and the exposer. We find dust, but dust also finds it’s way to us. Dust breaks boundaries and trespasses.

“Dust shares a lot of qualities with air as well as breath — they each force us to rethink boundaries of individuality as well as space. You cannot confine air and breath in a manner that our more stable contours, like skin suggests.” Parikka, J (2013)

Parikka’s essay on dust exposes some of the hard truths about media consumption and materialism. There are unending effects, spanning further and further than our media allows us to see. The essay took me a week to read, returning repeatedly to it’s poetic verse and unforgiving truths. I felt guilty sending a text message. Sometimes I wonder what writing like this is aiming to do. But it reminds you that your actions are bigger than you can see. There are consequences for what we do, and what we’re able to do is only due to the consequence of others actions. This reading has brought me back to our first Lectorial, and what I want to get out of this degree; of which so much soon-to-be obsolete media material exists for and within. This essay really reminded me that I need to make everything I do, every action, every purchase worth it. Worth it for the landfill it will almost certainly become.

Media materialism is not only an approach to thinking about media (duh), but it can also be incorporated in a persons way of thinking about history, the economy, politics and the world as a whole. Vague, yeah. Some of the main ideas or elements of media materialism relate to technology (as in computer code or microwave rays), technique (such as the uniquely human traits and skills that are needed to use tools, like turning a screw) and culture (the subgroups within the population and how they use technology).

Media materialism is also concerned with the fear that technology is going too far, and haven’t we all seen the results of these fears. I know I have. When I was younger and myspace was gaining in popularity among my peers, I wasn’t allowed to have one ~ my Dad had heard about a woman who had met someone online, via the site, and been murdered. My Dad didn’t quite understand the few steps in between those two events (having a myspace account, and being killed) were the cause and effect factors that meant that poor girl was killed. No, my Dad was absolutely certain that if his daughter even looked at the myspace homepage I would be immediately dead. It was a telltale sign of the fear the generation before mine held because of the speed of technology’s advancement within the last 50 years.

It got me thinking, what would a world be like where technology was allowed to develop itself in response to the world it exists in? I thought of the movie Her by Spike Jonze, which took me two sessions to watch because it opened up a world of ideas and possibilities that I hadn’t previously considered and it was a little too real. It’s not unlikely that we will see the invention of a technology with the power to act, respond and learn the way ‘Samantha’ did in the film. Here’s the trailer, definitely watch it if you haven’t already.

I was unable to make it in to the workshop this week, but I have received the learning graph Jasmine handed out and plotted the semesters learning on it.

1. How much have I learnt about making media objects/stories?

During the semester I’ve found that the focus on narratives was really helpful in me garnering more of an idea about the ways to approach media making, in a way that will allow me to tell stories. A lot of the techniques and theories about editing we learnt have been really helpful in the way I now look at making media.

2. What is my ability to work independently in unfamiliar ways or with new systems and tools?

This semester I have learnt everything I now know about filming and editing. The previous experience I have had in these fields, was at a much lower level of expertise than I’ve been shown this year. I have shown, through my experience in making during the course that I can successfully set up and film, relatively good quality footage, on my own.

3. How much do I understand and think critically and creatively about what I make?

Obviously, my ability to understand and think creatively and analytically will always be growing, improving and changing the more I learn, create and engage with the world around me, especially in regards to becoming and being a media practitioner. Although I can see, already, an improvement from the beginning of the semester to now in my ability to think about creating in a creative, individual and interesting manner, although that is only the beginning and I still believe I need to work on my ability to make from that thinking.

4. What is my understanding of the role/value of the blog to me?

My understanding of the role of the blog, and it’s value to my learning experience was lacking at the beginning of the degree, but from PB3 onwards I felt more motivated to create something I could be proud of at the end of the semester, so from about week 8 onwards I do feel as though my posts have

Our PB4 is coming along really well! Looking forward to our final meetings over the next week to really pull it all together.

I love emails.

I love receiving them. I love sending them. How professional! There’s nothing quite like typing a well spaced email with actual (or attempted) sentence structures and lots of words – or abbreviations. Whatever! The world of emailing is a world of possibilities. Few activities surmount reaching someone through a platform in which you greet people with your first and last name, separated by a full-stop! It is a very adult thing to do.

Having and maintaining control over two email addresses can be a little overwhelming at times, but I can’t complain. I am the one who does adult things that require adult email addresses. Uni is one of those things, and although s3541897 doesn’t have the same ring to it as eliza.mcevoy, I love all of my email addresses the same. Last week sometime I received a few emails in my uni folder that were quickly filed into the bin folder to keep my inbox looking so fresh and so clean. Immediately after doing this though, Justin exclaimed that he had been granted a double pass to the opening of the 2015 St Kilda Film Festival just by replying to the very email I had just binned. I had betrayed the thing I love so much! Quickly I scrambled to the bin and retrieved this email, hastily flattening the creases and replied.

Success! A double pass to the opening night was heading my way too.

I love emails.

The opening night arrived and Justin, Sally, my friend Alex (a budding filmmaker at VCA) and myself were there, among all of the beautiful and artsy people that go to opening nights of film festivals. I guess we’re those people now too. We were shown an array of short films ranging from horror to quirky or just plain eerie.

It was really cool to see what people can do with a (really good) camera and a vision. All of the films were shot brilliantly, and I found myself really noticing the establishing shots, framing and the transition from scene to scene as well as the character development. I started the course this year with little to know knowledge about films or even the beginnings of making a film. But 11 weeks later and I find myself able to enjoy watching films on a deeper level, noticing things I never would have before and coming away from the opening night really excited about creating more over the course.

LECTORIAL AKA HOW TO CARRY AROUND EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT AND FEEL LUSH AND PROFESH

Unfortunately Julia and I didn’t make it to this weeks Lectorial as we were very busy feeling super professional and caring a lot about the camera and tripod we had borrowed from RMIT.

^Here is a picture of me being ~professional~ during PB3, just to give you an idea^

Yesterday we had our first interview with Jess Junor from RMITV. We filmed in the one of the lower ground edit suites at Building 9 and things went really well. Julia had contacted Jess throughout last week and sent her through a copy of our questions and organised the location and time of filming. Jess was lovely and had some really great answers to our questions. The interview went by swimmingly and she even commented on how well we did with the use of the cameras, saying that she was never that confident in her first few weeks at uni using the equipment ~ and look at her now! What can I say Jess, Jasmine taught us!

Earlier today we trekked in the relentless rain, brandishing crap umbrellas all the way to Classic Comics, hidden away somewhere near Pellegrini’s (and trust me, my stomach was rumbling). Alex had organised with the guys from CC to come in for the interview via emails last week. The questions Alex had crafted for the guys were slightly different from the ones Jess had been asked, and although they were tailored to the comic book industry, they still endeavoured to answer the overarching question of our research which is,

What external and internal restrictions influence media institutions, and how does this affect the media they create and the audience they engage?

Both Guiseppe and Jarrod of Classic Comics answered Alex’s questions and I found their input to be pretty interesting, especially for someone who knows absolutely nothing about comic books.

And as if our day hadn’t been ACTION PACKED enough, Julia, Alex and I then loaded up our gear and trekked across to the Standard Hotel in Fitzroy to carry out our next interview with Mark O’Toole, regular flat white drinker at my work and screen writer and producer for the ABC (we’re more concerned with the latter). After arriving and having a celebratory drink for making it unscathed through 3 interviews, Mark met us and we headed up to his office, above the bar. The office was full of memorabilia and the kinds of things a writer would collect in a room, above a ramshackle pub, that he’d been writing in for 15 years.. you could imagine.

This interview went particularly well and Mark had some really interesting things to say about his involvement writing within and for huge media institutions like the ABC. I guess you’ll just have to watch this space to see what he said….

Week 11 ~~~ and it’s my first time buying a coffee on campus, should I be horrified or happy with this fact? Anyway the coffee was fine and made the prospect of meeting Jules in Building 9 at 9 slightly less painful.

During our workshop it was the second time the groups were asked to present their progress on Project Brief 4, after spending all morning with Jules and Alex working on mastering our questions leading up to our first filmed interview for the piece this afternoon, it was a nice break to take a step back and have a look into each of the other groups and their work.

We workshopped the questions we’re going to ask our interview subjects and showed our very lo fi first draft of our prequel comic book. The feedback from Jasmine seemed positive and reminds me that every chance we get to bounce our ideas off of other people is an opportunity to build on our ideas.

The other groups who showed their WIP’s highlighted how many different approaches to PB4 there really are – still the group doing Mediums is probably my favourite approach, just the sound of Dans voice on the podcast and the seamless editing of sounds and this is only the draft! I’m really looking forward to seeing their PB4 come together.

Although we are yet to have anything tangible to project to the class, I’m really looking forward to getting into filming our interviews this afternoon!

Kinda like the NBN. Amiright?

Last night I had a look at the readings on Institutions up on the blog. I found the one on the public broadcast service in The Netherlands to be a little lost on me, especially as I’ve been focussing so heavily on our PB4 research, which is really localised to Australian media institutions and the relationships and regulation that define them. Although I did find the reading on the uptake of the National Broadband Network (NBN) to be super interesting and relevant. Especially because it is something that truly affects us, as Australians (especially Australians studying media, huh!) And especially as it’s our generation who is going to have to deal with the repercussions if the Coalition do manage to pass the mixed method approach in which they/we will be relying heavily on very old infrastructure to make this approach work.

Am I missing the point here? Why are we, as a first world country, still debating about what internet speed or data allowance we should sign up to? No one else is doing that. And yes, maybe the initial stages of the NBN roll-out and building will take time and cost money, but doesn’t everything? Especially things that are built for reliability, longevity and INTERNET? The thing I’m using to write this blog, complete this degree, learn about ~anything~ and stay connected with family and friends. Shouldn’t we just suck it up and commit to building a country-wide internet service that isn’t a ‘patchwork job’ or a bandaid, that will inevitably leave us reeling and much poorer in the long run when it fails?

Brrrrrrr.

Enough on that. Today, Jules and I spent a considerable amount of time doing admin duties and rounding up our interviewees for PB4. Although we still can’t hold anything physical in our hands to prove we’re working on it, I am feeling mentally exhausted but also excited after a lot of emails were sent, phone calls made and questions asked. Finally! Next week we begin our filming and I’m really excited about some of the people we’re going to get a chance to talk to. So far we are definitely interviewing:

Jess Junor, general manager of RMITV

The owners of Classic Comics, a well-renowned comic store in Melbourne’s CBD

Mark O’Toole, screenwriter and producer whose most recent ventures include Spicks and Specks(ABC) and Black Comedy(ABC)

Also there are a few other interviews in the works..WISH US LUCK

So this is it, the lectorial of utmost importance to my PB4 group. Brian gave us a really intriguing talk ranging from the beginnings of ‘institutions’ as we know them, examples of social institutions, to recent examples of popular culture drawing inspiration and story lines from well-known public institutions.

Here is a little round-up of my notes:

• Institutions is a term stemming from sociology
• The study of institutions revolves around the organising structures in society that are concerned with the principles, values and rules that inform that particular inst., as well as the social, cultural, political and economic relations that can affect the institution

Looking at institutions involves looking at the way structure and agency working alongside or against each other.

Brian gave us the example of traditional marriage as a social institution and asked people in the room to start yelling out some examples of what we know about marriage as a social institution. I thought that this was a helpful exercise, although I don’t truly believe that ‘marriage’ was a good enough example as I don’t find it very relevant or important in today’s society.

Branston and Stafford described institutions in the media as

> Enduring, involving a history that performs and also constrains them

> Regulate and structure activities

> Are ‘collectivist’

> Develop working practices

> Employees and people associated are expected to share values

> Public is aware of the status of the institution

Here are some of the notes that Alex came up with for us to present to the class about our progress with our research into PB4.

Here are some exerpts from our notes….

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KEY QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED BY THE FIRST THIRD OF PB4:

What are media institutions?

What guides how institutions generate media?

How do institutions form an industry?

How does a media institution become a social institution?

What are examples of these theories in action?

PLAN:

Introduce the concept of Media Institutions ~~~ Define it.

Introduce specific institutions as a focus: Walt Disney, Marvel, DC, News Corp, ABC etc etc.

Discuss the relationship in Media Institutions between artists and businesses.

Discuss business mandates within Media Institutions.

Show how institutions influence and control the media they produce.

Demonstrate that a Media Institutions key focus is to function as a business and to generate profit.

Demonstrate that Media Institutions rely on being socially relevant to continue being a

successful business.

Demonstrate and explain how such businesses models then become

successful and why they were successful.

Proceed to explain that successful business models within institutions then

become copied and replicated in the same or similar manner among other

institutions within the same medium. Therefore forming an industry – moreover,

forming critical industry norms.

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Sticking to the theme of posting screenshots of pictures of myself from Instagram, above is a picture that my work posted onto their account to promote one of the new fresh-squeezed juices on the menu, paired with a fresh rap squat from yours truly, it truly is a great way to spend $6. Really bad jokes aside, I think that the rise of social media as a new form of free advertisement for any kind of business, company or movement is a really interesting one. Like I’ve mentioned before, LBSS Cafe and their heavy use of Instagram alongside an easy-to-navigate, regularly updated, attractive and unique website, where tweets and tagged Instagram photos from others can be easily found, I think that it’s a true testament to the digital world we live in (not to mention the ridiculously healthy cafe culture that has Melbourne, and probably the world in its grips); that a well-thought social media presence could be the make or break of a cafe in Abbotsford. It’s not something I’m mad about, being somewhat of a digital native and full time supporter of Instagram, but it is somewhat bewildering to notice the full effect an online platform can have on peoples lives. For my pop culture elective I made a short vlog about Instagram so I thought I’d pop that in here because there’s nothing I love more than communicating my point over various platforms. Enjoi