Communicating and creativity #2

A path of research leading to project brief four; information gathered and ideas prompted by reading. 

Negus, K & Pickering, M 2004, ‘Chapter 1: Creation’, in Creativity, Communication and Cultural Value, 1st edn, SAGE Publications Ltd., Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 1-22. 

  • Where does creativity come from? Are your ideas really yours or do you just acknowledge and use them when they float into your head from some external source? Divine intervention – muses?
  • John Lennon: “real music … the music of the spheres, the music that surpasses understanding … I’m just a channel … I transcribe it like a medium”
  • Modern, self-initiated creativity hand in hand with sense of authenticity – why we despise plagiarism. Less of a problem in Shakespeare’s day, for example (he ripped off everything & was still a genius)
  • Is the creativity in thinking of a new idea or improving an old one? Both? Neither? Are there any new ideas?
  • Creativity and individuality – why do we look upon those who create in a group as lesser creatives? Obsession with assigning all great works to an individual, an auteur – even films to a single director, as if everyone else involved had nothing to do with the outcome
  • Can anyone create alone? How much should other people be credited? Bouncing off ideas, asking the right questions, simply listening? A dog can listen, can a dog be a co-creator?
  • Tension between real (dull) life and creative (vibrant) interpretation – are you then miserable if you can’t make or appreciative creative work? Do we expect too much because we’re raised on art? Happily ever afters, for example?
  • Can never really express what’s in your imagination – the germ of an idea is always polluted when you try to put it into words

Communicating and creativity #1

A path of research leading to project brief four; information gathered and ideas prompted by reading. 

Katz, D & Kahn, R 2008, ‘Communication: the flow of information’, in Mortensen CD (ed), Communication Theory, 2nd edn, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, pp. 382-389.

  • If we increase and improve communication channels, will we really communicate better and solve so many problems in society? (Communication as education)
  • Well, maybe not – communication can create as well as solve problems, eg. revealing a side of someone’s character previously unknown
  • So is it better and more peaceful to live in the dark? Is ignorance really bliss? Is bliss a worthwhile goal?
  • Image, smokescreens & spin – if you can communicate something attractively, you might not need to fundamentally change or improve it
  • An organised social system implies the restriction of communication – a formal organisation includes a limited number of people (such as the social construct of a family) and therefore limits communication by limiting the channels
  • Pure, unfiltered communication only possible through anarchy? Even then, society still exists – limited by human factors i.e. you can’t meet everyone
    • But this is the only societal model where it’s hypothetically possible – goes hand in hand with the destruction of mass media
  • But to unfiltered communication doesn’t mean good communication – needs structure to have meaning (even structure as basic as language)
  • “Preaching to the choir”, then, to communicate effectively – is this frustrating? Limiting? As an artist?
  • The coding process: we bring our own assumptions and pre-determined judgement to anything communicated to us – not to mention pack mentality, “us vs them”, in an organisation
  • To move from pack to pack, communication must be translated as if these groups were speaking different languages

Studio & field

http://federate-radio.weebly.com

 

 

Every Great City
Studio
 

What makes Federation Square tick? Why do people go there instead of somewhere else? I don’t know if these are questions you can answer in three and a half minutes but it’s all about the journey (of discovery), man.

Featuring Satie’s Fantaisie-valse

great city

            I really struggled to think of new ideas for A3. Ultimately, I’m much happier with the route I took for Every Great City than Bored, Stressed, Stuck in a Rut (which I’ll discuss in that reflection). After my feedback from A2 I realised that I needed to find a focus rather than “misc Fed Square”. What could I do and how could a structure it in a way that was varied and compelling to listen to?

 

I was worried about getting enough to texture in – and, as these things usually go, I ended up with more and better texture than my field piece. I was inspired by American-style informative, explorative podcasts like 99% Invisible, which hop between producer narration and different vocal and recording textures. I’m aware that my piece is a very rough approximation of this, but it prompted me to think about the different ways information can be gathered and displayed – a phone call rather than a straight interview, the different tone my voice took on when I was reading from the internet. I’m proud of this piece, as amateurish as it is, because I see it as another step forward in my learning.

 

After some thought, I decided that the easiest way to create an examination was to ask a question. That came easily enough to me; since Fed Square is a hub for people to congregate, I would ask why. However, what was originally intended to be a serious piece was pushed into (arguably lame) comedy when my sources failed to come through – specifically the real psychology major, who was unwilling to have her voice recorded. The brusque phone call was actually recorded with an “actor”. It was inconvenient but very good experience to see how a failed idea could spark a new one and turn the piece in an entirely different direction.

 

I also worked harder to include a sense of structure in my piece based around the idea of acts. First, the so-called study, and then the casual interview with my grandma, finally leading into my reflection and sleep-addled realisation. Listening back, I’m surprised by the gulf between vocal textures; as I was recording, I imagined that my voice was essentially the same all the time. The differences between semi-scripted narration, reflection, middle of the night rambling, on the phone and reading other people’s comments was a pleasant surprise and has given me lots of ideas for future textural diversity.

 

Overall, I think this piece demonstrates a rate of learning that I’m satisfied with. It’s not especially polished or professional but I think it shows crude development of structure and texture. Moving forward, at least.

 

Bored, Stressed, Stuck in a Rut
Field

Federation Square is full of people killing time and (sometimes) brain cells. What do they do when they’re feeling chronically bored and confused? Your producer explores her own frustration and lack of inspiration through the ideas and opinions of passers by.

 bored stressed

I think the limitations present in a location like Fed Square paired with my own level of skill come across without subtlety in this piece – not just literally, as I frame it around my own frustration (a concept I regret because I think it’s been done to death and isn’t funny or interesting – obviously it was born out of desperation). Listening to it, the editing is choppy and uninspired and my monologues sound tired in every sense of that word. I’m glad at least that I pushed myself beyond the mistake from A2’s Just different – rather than creating a monotonous rhythm of one vox pop snippet after another I managed a slightly less, but still very monotonous rhythm of vox pops interjected with my own thoughts, along with the (very minimally) different texture in the final reflection on the nature of the space.

 

When it came to editing, I felt very limited by the material I’d gathered. I went in feeling very vague and, even though I tried to flip that on its head, what I did gather was often repetitious or too convoluted to use. In hindsight, a moment to rephrase the questions I was asking and a few more interviews with these new questions could have provided more material to use. More conscious thought about texture would have also helped, although I did make a few attempts to gather different sounds. I have also learnt that “keep doing what you’re doing, just act like I’m not here” works about as well for audio recording as it does photography and videography; that is, not at all.

 

It’s a small thing, but I’m pleased with the way I managed to tie themes of stress and boredom (which are obviously free of location) to Fed Square itself. I think this is a piece that’s relevant to the space its in.

 

In this case, there isn’t a particular work or reading that I took inspiration from. I spent a lot of time listening with care to those in the Drive as well as my usuals and, aside from creating a piece of fiction I didn’t feel equipped to execute, there was nothing that sparked something for me. In honesty, the work that had the biggest effect on this piece is Just different, which I mentioned above. The paralysing effect of only having an idea of what not to do as opposed to what I could do comes through loud and clear.

 

In future, I’ll plan ahead and look at any future work I may need to do in order to pace my ideas. Racing into A2 meant that, by the end of A3, I was drained of inspiration. I think I could also benefit from having a stronger idea and rough plan of what I want to end up with, which is something I’ll experiment with for A4. While I’ll revisit it and remain flexible based on the raw material I gather, I think it could be helpful in guiding my questioning, field narration and collection of ambient sound.

 

 

Producer & participant

“Recording yourself recording yourself recording yourself” – producer 

I wander through my memories of Federation Square as well as the place itself, reflecting on minor teenage rebellion, poorly maintained bathrooms, the people I see and, more than anything else, the strange drive we all have to record these poignant, pointless moments.

 Screen Shot 2015-08-17 at 4.16.46 am

I was interested in exploring Federation Square as a collection of memories and experiences rather than a place in itself, so I decided to focus on my own history with it for my producer piece. I have a lot of memories associated with it and decided to explore those as well as including location narration to expand on the idea of Fed Square as a shared space.

After Just different, I knew I needed more variation and textures. Wandering around Fed Square with a microphone didn’t exactly yield the content I expected and was frequently derailed as I followed my train of thought. I had to rethink my piece around the material I had since I wanted the location narration to have that improvised element in contrast with the studio recording. I’m happy with the segments I isolated as I think they help round out the sense of a populated space without taking the focus off the producer.

I knew I would feature my voice almost exclusively, which is why I felt it was very important to include a section of pure ambient sound to set the scene. I decided to have so close to the beginning of my piece to create a sense of the space the listener could picture for themselves, creating a sort of stage for my anecdotes. I wanted to fix the piece firmly in its location to avoid it turning into a series of reminiscences and random observations. I’m happy in theory with the idea, but I’m not sure about my execution (like so much of my work in this course so far).

I’m satisfied with how I’m progressing in Media 2 but I know I still have a long way to go before I’m at a level I’m satisfied with. I want to focus on the complexity of my work and experiment with different textures and elements, but at the moment I’m struggling with finding a way to make them work cohesively. I think, like most of the media skills I’ve been exposed to so far, it’s a matter of exposure and practice.

I loved the way Dear Birth Mother and Tupperware intertwined different vocal textures and I took a lot of inspiration from these pieces; especially DBM, and the way it used the letter as a backbone for the feature. I wanted to have a similar sense of structure, which I don’t think I managed to achieve; it was too tempting to segment my piece into rough themes. I think losing that semi-formal structure did take away from my piece but with only three and a half minutes there wasn’t a great deal of time to establish a solid structure anyway. It’s an idea I’d like to explore in the future.

 

“Just different” – participant 

An abstract collection of voices from around the world tied together at Federation Square think aloud about their lives, in Melbourne and abroad, and come to the conclusion that perspective is everything.

IMG_2369

I didn’t know what I would get out of the people at Federation Square, but I knew I wanted to ask them about their lives, in Melbourne and abroad. I didn’t have a strong idea of what my piece would be and let myself be guided by the thoughts and ideas I recorded. I spoke to some extremely interesting people but there was very rarely a common theme that linked them beyond the city we’re in and the fact that they might not necessarily have originated here. I didn’t really have any set questions I was seeking out answers for, although since so many people were travellers that became something that I focused on.

In many ways, I was disappointed that people were so positive (that, or were negative in a way I don’t plan on distributing) – I think the material I gathered ended up affecting the balance of the piece. I would have liked to have explored people’s thoughts on the negatives of Melbourne more than I did.

It’s made me realise that in order to get a truly balanced piece I need to ask better questions. “What do you think about x” isn’t enough – I need to be specific, and ask directly for the pros and cons. I also noticed that a lot of answers I received were nearly unusable since they were taken out of context. You can barely, if at all, hear my voice, and when I asked a question the interviewee usually launched into their answer without referencing the question. For example, a two-way conversation about if they’ve enjoyed their travels translated when recorded to “Yes; all over, lots of – ; no, I don’t think so… I enjoy it a lot, I think I’m getting better, but I wouldn’t say that; pretty much, yeah.” Not helpful.

I was influenced by Just Another Fish Story, which has captivated me the most out of any of the listening that we’ve done. I like the way all those different voices and experiences came together to give real texture and depth to the story. I wanted to try something like that around a shared experience – in my case, the experience of being in Melbourne. I think my piece has a vague sense of structure but nothing approaching the beautiful sense of flow Fish Story has.

Recording was a hurdle for me. I went out with a Zoom recorder and a shotgun microphone – which I feel are good tools for the level of technical skill that I’m at – but need to work on harvesting a clear and balanced sound. Obviously, I need to record in mono next time if I’m using a shotgun mic with the Zoom. By the end of the course I’d like to expand on my skills to produce a sound closer to what I want but at the moment I want to focus on my structural and textural skills.

T-e-x-t-u-r-e

I wanted to explore texture further after this week. It strikes me, like many things in this course, that you have to immerse yourself to properly understand and learn – reading and conversation only goes so far.

With this in mind, I listened to my favourite podcast episode of all time to hear what the team at 99% Invisible use to create texture. I don’t love this particular episode because it has a fascinating topic or includes brilliant & captivating characters; I love it because it demonstrates the power of radio. At the end of 20-odd minutes, you realise you listened for 20-odd minutes to the story of reinforced concrete. And you enjoyed it. I took a closer look at ‘Rebar and the Alvord Lake Bridge’ to see what kind of techniques it uses to stay captivating. You can listen here.

Music
Background music is used to set the tone for the speakers and their place in the story arc. When the ‘villain’ of the piece (time and poor upkeep combined) is introduced, for example, the atmosphere of the music shifts to be more ominous.

Location & style
A variety of voice recordings are made. Roman Mars narrates from within the studio and then moves out into the field or onto the phone to interview experts.

Rhythm 
There’s a distinct rhythm between the studio and field records, narration and interview. The situation is introduced from the studio, then the listener is taken on-site; the audio moves between the two to provide exposition and context for what’s being said in on location.

Humanisation
I don’t know if it’s specifically texture but I noticed that anecdotes – both personal (and semi-irrelevant) and from history – are used to frame a dry and impersonal topic in a human light.

A1 reflection: Aw, saw Beyonce

My chief emotion during this assignment was frustration. Frustration with WaveLab, frustration with myself, fortunately no frustration with Bee who was a delight.

It’s clear to me that if I want to succeed in this subject and in future endeavours I need to master WaveLab. That could be easier said than done since there are so few online resources. There were things I wanted to do with my audio piece – in particular, tidy fades to make the piece lest abrupt – that I simply couldn’t figure out how to do. Exporting my piece was another problem.

That said, I can’t lead a software-centred witch burning without acknowledging that also held myself back. I listen to a lot of radio documentaries but I realise that my listening has been mostly passive. I know what good radio sounds like but I haven’t focused on what makes it so good. In future, I’m going to listen more carefully and when something strikes me as really working I’m going to take note of it. Not to copy what they did, of course, but to understand how it works and why.

Another concern I have is around copyright and fair use. I did use music in the background of the piece and I’m not entirely convinced what I did was up to scratch. It’s something I’ll have to learn about very carefully and specifically and I realise that if my assignment infringes copyright I’ll have to take it offline.

It wasn’t all terrible. I knew I would have an interesting interview with Bee and I was excited to use what I got from her. It’s interesting, but I didn’t realise the amount of pressure I would feel to represent her accurately. It would have been easy, for example, to pick out all the stories from her life and travels when things went wrong and to use those to paint her as a bit of a whinger. That wouldn’t have been accurate at all but it was important to include a few of those stories to add depth to the piece. I think I kept the balance between positive and negative fairly well, but like anything it’s a skill I have to practice.

Overall, I enjoyed making the piece when I knew what I was doing with the software and I’m looking forward to working on more.

10501746_10152491940719462_3742696252252641641_n

Designing the experience

Technology has always had a hand in designing the human experience. Fire kept us warm when before we’d been cold; iPhones kept us entertained when before we’d been bored. Technology – along with fashion, which is intertwined – defines our conception of an era. The Victorians had their steam trains and uncomfortable corsets; Medieval Europe had churches that took 200 years to build and men in tights.

building a cathedral header

Cathedral building in the Middle Ages

The developments in radio’s mid-century New Wave interest me in the way the reflect other media of the time. The parallels between cinema vérité (which I have a personal vendetta against but have to acknowledge as an important part of cinema history) and the New Wave of radio are fascinating to me. The portability of technology revolutionised both these forms of media but still seem so bulky and inconvenient to modern ideas. Logically, I can look at the technology of the day and say, “Yes, I get it, I can see, I understand this 100%”, but trying to conceptualise the limitations and sheer physical presence (acres of tape!) makes it seem like an overwhelming enterprise.

p01n73th

David Attenborough sound recording in Indonesia in the 1950s

I suppose I’m spoilt by the availability of technology today. From where I’m sitting in the lounge room, I can count at least three (the TV might record sound too, I think) means of getting my voice ‘on tape’. Still, even though the possibilities feel limitless – I could, at this second, record and upload a podcast or create any variety of media – I realise that in spite of the innovations of the day, humanity will always face the same problem: laziness.

 

 

 

Brainstorming

photo

In between my scrawl and poor photography we had a few solid points come from our in-class brainstorming session:

  • Democratisation of the radio process
    • Podcasting
    • Relatively cheap and accessible software and hardware
  • Building in the secondary experience
    • Radio engaging with world around rather than including it passively eg. making a piece of radio based around a particular train journey that weaves in with what the listener would be experiencing
  • Childhood experiences
    • Audiobooks
  • Subliminal messages and the Illuminati
    • Common knowledge
  • Experimentation and innovation
    • Tied in with democratisation process
  • Immersive experience

Revisiting mode theory

An elective that really only won out because I didn’t want to SWF a friend has turned up some unexpected good luck. True Lies (which is a great subject, 10/10 would recommend even at the risk of creeping out a new friend) introduces Bill Nichol’s documentary mode theory, which I learnt is as useful for radio documentary as it is for TV and film. I thought I’d refresh my memory on each mode…

Expository
Traditional, ‘voice of God’ documentary, which addresses the viewer directly to advance a point of view
eg: Night Mail

Observational
Attempt to observe without influencing the ‘social actors’. Forwarded by technological innovation (handheld cameras, microphones etc)
eg: Don’t Look Back

Poetic
Examines relationships and patterns by sacrificing cinematic conventions
eg: Berlin: Symphony of a City

Participatory
Involves the filmmaker through interviews and other interaction with the social actors
eg: Louis Theroux

Reflexive
Calls on audience to challenge their views and accepted ‘truths’ in filmmaking and in the world (self-conscious and self-questioning)
eg: Man with a Movie Camera 

Performative
Emphasises subjective elements / how knowledge can be expressed to elicit an emotional response (rather than the facts of an event)
eg: Michael Moore

These modes can overlap and it can be difficult to box one piece of media or a media maker into a single mode.