18/5 WEEK 11 WORKSHOP || CAFFEINATED

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!

13/5 WEEK 10 CONNECTION || GETTING THERE..SLOWLY..

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

12/5 WEEK 10 LECTORIAL ||INSTITUTIONS

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

11/5 WEEK 10 WORKSHOP || SKELETONS IN THE MEDIA CLOSET

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….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6/5 WEEK 9 CONNECTION || FOOD AND RAP SQUATS

IMG_2423Sticking 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

 

5/5 WEEK 9 LECTORIAL || WHO CARES ABOUT THE AUDIENCE?

I am the audience, who cares about me?

There has been a huge change in regards to the audience in a post broadcast world. The audience has moved from citizens > consumers, and active audiences are prolific, with the rise of social medias and platforms that are accessible and easy to navigate. User generated content is at an all time high and media producers, advertisers, commercial broadcasters, government policy makers and sociologists, psychologists and theorists alike, among others, all need to pay attention to this shift in engagement, production and use since the broadcast era.

The active audience, as a relatively new concept, has dramatically shaped the kinds of media that are prominent in todays society. Without the innate need to contribute, create, share views and promote passion it’s no wonder that something like Instagram or Facebook are so widely used. It’s because they’re platforms that can be truly manipulated to reflect the users views, I don’t believe any media now would survive if it didn’t reflect the audience that engages with it and I guess that is the main difference between a pre and post broadcast era.

So, what am I an active audience or fan of? I guess I’m a fan of food, coffee and wine, I love music and I’ve definitely fan-girled before. I’m not sure that there is anything that I am a truly passive audience or receiver of anymore. Because if there is anything I enjoy, or dislike, I am probably likely to voice my opinion somewhere, whether it be on this blog, on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. And it’s not even just in the way of ‘voicing opinions’ through written or spoken word, audiences now move in waves of appreciation or defamation through social-media signifiers such as ‘liking’ or ‘following’ or doing the opposite of this and denoting things, objects, sites, people or causes from our ‘liked’ items, distancing ourselves from things we don’t believe in.

4/5 WEEK 9 WORKSHOP || W.I.P. MY HAIR

During this weeks workshop we had to ‘present’ to everyone what we had come up with thus far in the way of PB4. Coming up against all the other groups WIP’s our paled in comparison but I’m not worried, we are filming the majority of our project so a lot of planning has been going into that. We did let the class know our three main focus areas and we presented some of the things we’d read while completing our annotated bibliographies to contextualise our ideas.

During this time we also gave ourselves a rough timeline of things to complete over the next few weeks. We’ve also started playing around with ideas of who we could contact to interview for our report. We all racked our brains and started jotting down names and getting contact details.

One of the things that seems to be recurring during Media One this year is comic books. I’ve never talked or listened about them so much in my life. Although I know almost nothing about them, I’ve found myself really intrigued about their history and longevity ~ especially now with all of the multi-million dollar blockbuster films being created. In Alex’s annotated bibliography research he came across some great readings about comic books, and through talking to him we’ve realised he has a bit of prior knowledge. And what a vault to open! Especially in regards to media, distribution plus the effects of audiences, regulation and changing technology!

We had the ~~v clever~~ idea during this workshop that perhaps we could make a small zine or prequel comic to compliment our doco, this idea was received well by Jasmine and our class and I was feeling very inspired and excited!

As a group we concluded that we definitely needed to talk to some comic books guys for this project brief. Alex informed Jules and I that our initial idea of who to contact were ‘dicks’ and that we definitely shouldn’t talk to them (how were we to know), instead Alex let us know about a small scale comic shop called Classic Comics, us girls put our trust in the boy for once and after the workshop we headed over to the store and asked the guys whether they’d be interested in helping us out ~ which they absolutely were! So phew, first interview sorted and we’ll be heading in with our fancy filming equipment next Tuesday.. now to hunt down our other interviewees…

28/4 WEEK 8 CONNECTION || GET LIT

Beautifully, almost as if it were meant to be, this weeks movie and focus in Textual Crossings (my lit class) was The Black Dahlia and adapting prose, and how sometimes it just doesn’t work. The main focus throughout Textual Crossings has been about looking at how the story world of certain narratives can be manipulated and extended so as to allow for new narratives to be told. Essentially, the backbone to any adaptation or cover is the want or need by the creator to extend from the original story world.

Sometimes this does not always work out, and this weeks screening focused on that using Brian De Palma’s 2006 The Black Dahlia in which the narrative of the original story becomes convoluted and confused as it weaves in and out of original, with a heap of super unhelpful casting choices and non-sensemaking plot lines leaving the audience completely baffled, exhausted from trying to keep up and bored senseless by Scarlett Johansson.

A simple google of ‘The Black Dahlia and why it’s the worst movie ever’ gave me this WONDERFUL piece, including all you need to know about the movie which I will put here:

The Black Dahlia is based on the novel by Elmore LeonardJames Ellroy, which centers around a true crime unsolved mystery that occurred in Hollywood in 1947 when a young would-be actress was found gruesomely murdered. Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart play two Los Angeles detectives who become increasingly obsessed with the case. There’s some kind of love triangle between them and Aaron Eckhart’s girlfriend Scarlett Johansson. Then Josh Hartnett sleeps with Hillary Swank. Something else happens. Aaron Eckhart is murdered when he is trying to murder Scarlett Johansson’s ex-boyfriend who got out of jail. Something. There’s…a clown painting. Josh Hartnett moves in with Scarlett Johansson and she asks him to fix a broken bathroom tile which is how he finds a bunch of secret money, so he sleeps with Hillary Swank again. Then something happens and I don’t know. He’s in a house? There was a porno and the porno was made in this shitty house and it turns out that Hillary Swank’s mom killed the would-be actress because she’s an alcoholic? She shoots herself and then later Josh Hartnett confronts Hillary Swank and she has an Academy Award you know, for best acting? And he shoots her. Because something happened. He was like “did something happen?” and she’s like “yes,” and he shoots her for it. Then he goes back and Scarlett Johansson is always wearing a neglige because of World War II or whatever. The end.

Narrative is important, people.

Anyway, here’s a really bad rap song that plays in my head when I think about majoring in literature (lit) studies, have fun

28/4 WEEK 8 LECTORIAL || NARRATIVES

Today Daniel spoke to us about narrative, and just how important causality is to the telling of a story.

|||EVERYTHING IS STORY ||| STORY IS EVERYTHING”|||

It was the lectorial I’ve found the most engaging so far, Daniel presented some really awesome videos to contextualise the concepts he presented. Especially after working on Project Brief 3 recently, and attempting to create a logical progression of events and ordered sequences to create a plausible narrative about someone, the difficulty of making a story flow as well as the importance of doing so became very evident.

Daniel described three important elements of causality

1. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

This takes time, a character cannot simply be dropped into a scene and the audience expected to know how or why they are there, or how they will affect the narrative. When new characters appear, Daniel described that there will often be an event that will establish some of the characters traits or their background – which allows the new character to emerge from a blank canvas and become a fully formed character to the audiences due to their reactions to said event. I had never really critically examined the way characters are introduced into narratives, but the way Daniel phrased this happening during the Lectorial made a lot of sense to me.. (When I’ve done all of my PB4 Annotated Bibliography readings and have some time to watch something guilt-free I’ll be sure to keep an eye out on how characters are introduced, and their development)

2. PLOT

The chronological sequence of events within a narrative obviously contains the clues that allow an audience to submerge themselves into a story that they aren’t a part of – I guess that this is imperative to good storytelling.

3. RESOLUTION

The culmination of all of the preceding action. And how angry are you when you sit through a film for 2 hours and none of the problems presented are cleared up at the end and you’re expected to face the harsh light of day outside of the cinema and act like everything’s okay. It’s not. Maybe resolution is the most important element of narrative, to leave the audience with a good taste in their mouth.

A QUOTE FROM THIS WEEKS READING

“The stuff of story is alive but intangible” Robert Mckee, Story, p135

Humans have long since been motivated to pull apart a story to understand how and why they are made. Why do we do this? Daniel noted Aristotle as one of the oldest known literary critics, whose writing on narrative, matter, genre, theme, dictation, melody and spectacle among other things paved the way for literary criticism, and his writings are still of importance today. This made me realise how little I know, of Aristotle and his writings, maybe that’s something else I can look into when I have some free time.

At one point in the presentation Daniel compared the stories of religious figures such as Jesus, the Prophet Muhammad and Buddha as containing elements of the heroes journey, as described by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with A Thousand Faces, much like those found in modern pop culture references like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Star Wars.

A succinct summary of the heroes journey from The Hero With A Thousand Faces:

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man”

Justin and I paired up, as per usual, for the class activity in which we plotted the emotional highs and lows of The Lion King, and then attempted to rate the characters according to prominence during each act of the movie. I struggled a little with the character prominence due to the amount of time it’s been since I saw the film, but the overall activity was great to do. At the end a few groups plotted their findings, across a range of different movies, on the board and they all followed a similar format, ranging from high emotional intensity to low over the course of the movie. I can’t think of a film off the top of my head which keeps the emotional intensity on high for the majority of the film but it would be exhausting to watch.

Daniel mentioned that there is no such thing as an original idea, only the re-telling of a story in a different way and it is this – the way a plot is told is the exciting part of story telling.. Is this another reference to post-modernism? The way stories are told follow certain themes or patterns which gives audiences an idea about what to expect, and if audiences can recognise the signs they will have some idea of what will happen in the unfolding of the narrative.

Daniel showed us Red Hot Riding Hood, Tex Avery’s 1943 cartoon re-make of the well know folktale. I thought this was a great example of different ways stories can be told, giving a re-imagination of time, place and characters.

To finish off we watched Daniel Askill’s We Have Decided Not To Die – a drama short, containing three wordless acts named

birth

between

re-birth

It is a chillingly lovely film. An abstracted narrative, stretching some of the rules described earlier, but nonetheless I believe it is a narrative.

A short activity followed where we listed some of the elements of the film which pertained elements of narrative or non-narrative.

IT WAS A NARRATIVE

  1. resolution: all three characters were shown in succession at the end, tying their stories together
  2. sequential, logical sequence of events, Birth, Between, Re-Birth
  3. “everything is a story”
  4. Thematically connected, water breaks, cars break, glass break
  5. Pattern of representation, parallel stories
  6. Each scene had a climax

IT WAS NOT A NARRATIVE

  1. Non-representational element, nothing explicitly said
  2. State of constant chaos,
  3. No character development
  4. Tension between art and narrative

27/4 WEEK 8 || TWERKSHOP

Most of our workshop time was dedicated to working within our PB4 groups and starting to plan our approaches to this investigation. We were given some butchers paper and pens and given some time to just brainstorm ~ to think about our research area in broad terms and then begin to refine our topic area and discuss the way we would eventually present our project. The guidelines for PB4 aren’t defined definitely, I guess to allow groups to really focus on the various skills brought from each member, leaving presentation method up to interpretation so each group can choose a mode more suiting to their research.

Initial Brainstorm 27-4-15

Immediately, Alex, Julia and I knew we were going to make something film based, as that’s where their interests and skills lie ~ I was and am quite happy to do anything really because I’m not really sure where my skills lie at the moment and I’m not opposed to learning something new through this project brief.

We divided ourselves into 3 main areas of research

~REGULATION~

~AUDIENCES~

~THE INSTITUTIONS THEMSELVES~

We refined our collaborative contract in regards to our dispute resolution mechanisms ~ something I hope we don’t need to use ~ and we brainstormed our approach within the idea of using film. We came to the conclusion that perhaps a documentary or report style of film might suit our project as the more we thought about our areas of research, especially regulation, our research would best be shown through a filmic representation of facts. Perhaps using interviews with people within certain media institiutions would serve as a backbone for our facts, also to help the information flow a little more freely and break up perhaps just the sounds of our own voices.

We also begun our research on our annotated bibliographies which are due next week. We decided that perhaps we could split into our chosen areas of research within the huge and relatively vague banner of ‘institutions’, so Alex took over researching media institutions themselves(such as Disney), Julia took regulation and I went for audiences.

HERE GOES