Tag Archives: self portrait

PROJECT BRIEF 2 REFLECTION

Overall I am happy with what I produced for my second project brief. There’s plenty of stuff that could be altered, but I managed to convey what I wanted. There’s no doubt there is too much going on though. I struggled to cut down all the footage I had into the space of 1 minute. I think by the end of filming I had roughly 20 minutes of footage and 100 photographs. Although it was nice to have this amount of material to work with, it just made it harder to select which bits had the most meaning. I need to learn to be more focused with my approach.

Going around the classroom, everyone seemed to do a pretty tidy job. The quality of the footage varied quite a lot, but the basic principles were all in place. Playing mine out loud, I probably needed to adjust the volume levels a bit more before exporting. This was something I experienced a bit of trouble with. Over the next few weeks, once I update my computer, I plan on spending a lot of time filming and editing to boost my skills and get them up to scratch for project brief 3.

– Gabriel

PROJECT BRIEF 2: MISCOMMUNICATION

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The footage included in my self-portrait was shot in Ballarat, my hometown, and Melbourne (I still spend some time in Ballarat). When it came to capturing the footage, I had pre-meditated shots in mind, but it wasn’t until I started editing that I began to focus on themes. I have broken it up into two parts. The first half focuses on influence, education and growing up in Ballarat, and the second half focuses on confusion, creation, and reflection in Melbourne.

The first sequence of my father singing, hanging towels, and the photograph of 2 generations of brothers, symbolises his influence growing up, by spending time with family. The red, white and blue towels are a subtle hint at my being a Western Bulldogs supporter. Terrible decision… Dad always played music, which developed into a passion of mine, which becomes obvious in the second part (my music being the background track).

Flicking through school photos of myself is an explicit depiction of growing up, education and moving on to a life of independence. Dissolving into an unsolved Rubik’s Cube signifies how scrambled I felt after school. I then felt settled going to university completing a degree in Music Industry, hence the solved Cube followed by a piano being played. It wasn’t until after this course that I felt like Music was more of a hobby than a profession. The photograph of my computer with ableton loaded on the screen, and my RMIT certificate in the background represents this.

The lyrical content of my dad’s song playing in the background: “Don’t change me, I can’t be changing, chasing other people’s ways”, is about focusing on achieving what you want to do. The audio at the start links with the audio of the closing shot where I am listing my likes and aspirations as a 4 year old. Reflecting on this, travelling to outer space is a metaphor for dreaming big, and that is something I am happy to do.

‘Miscommunication’ is the name of the song in the background of the second half of the clip. I feel that it goes well with the footage because without this explanation, everyone would have a different interpretation.

– Gabriel

BRIEF 2: THOUGHT PROCESS

When I got wind of this assignment, quite uncharacteristically I instantly had an idea. I imagined the final piece being a sort of mixture or at least being influenced by this:

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And this, which Thump on YouTube describes as “like a Wes Anderson Movie on techno and acid.” Pretty spot on?

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I created a small mock project to try out some ideas, and it was looking like it had potential. After a few days though, I was struggling to think of ways that these quick cuts would represent my personality. I found myself just waiting for inspiration to strike, and it wasn’t a pro-active approach to the assessment. I was stuck in the mindset of making something cool rather than meaningful. Back to the drawing board…

All this editing talk coupled with the inspiration courtesy of Ross McElwee’s ‘Time Indefinite‘, I have decided to film/photograph everything and anything to build up an archive to work from. ‘Blood In The Gutter’, although focused on comics, definitely applies to film. Going from panel to panel is the same as going from shot to shot in a filmed production. I like the openness for interpretation in comics. I haven’t read many, but this reading opened my eyes to art of story-telling and difference in western and eastern traditions. Now I plan on transferring this interpretation concept to my project brief. Editing to ensue…

I’m still pretty keen to make something that binds the music videos above, but maybe for a later project.

– Gabriel

SELF PORTRAIT REFLECTION

In my LO-FI self-portrait I presented myself through character traits, lifestyle choices and personal opinions. I captured objects and situations around me that were relatable rather than constructing situations myself. Other people in my group opted to capture situations with a bit more thought. They were well constructed, succinct ideas relating to their personalities.

Operating under the different caps was an effective way to gain feedback where we might not have normally received it. Everyone gets nervous when being put on a pedestal. I am happy enough to present myself to the world though because I encourage criticism. It creates growth. My group mentioned that I could touch up my photography skills and create scenes better representing my attributes more so than my opinions. This is what I want to focus on.

If I were to do this task again, I would certainly put more thought into the photographs particularly. I need to learn to be more concise in my photography. I would like to be able to let the photographs do the talking rather than explaining what the photographs mean.

For the next project, I am going to take on board what my peers said and try and create something in more depth and with more flair.

PROJECT BRIEF 1 – LO-FI SELF PORTRAIT

“A noise annoys an oyster, but a noisy oyster annoys an oyster more”

This is a tongue twister that my dad’s mate Tony taught me when our families went to Wilson’s Promontory all those years back. Thinking of it now takes me straight back to memorable Summers.

This sound clip is of the daily routine of buying groceries to get by day to day.

The second sound recording is of myself playing piano and singing some lyrics I was messing around with at the time. I will never give up playing music.

This photo summarises my opinion of how restricted the Australian Music Industry is. With such a small population and large land mass, It’s hard to establish yourself as a professional musician – almost a sacred profession…

Which has led me to consuming music at parties. This photo is more though about the emptiness that I have felt recently since my housemate moved back to Singapore. This was his last gig. From now, his music will continue to play, but he will not be present.

I think I am quite a sharing person, which is certainly necessary in any sharehouse. Bread makes up a lot of my meals. I am poor.

Recycling stacks up when you are forgetful:

This is my view walking home each night through the back alley. I lost my keys recently and haven’t been proactive about getting another cut.

The smoke represents my often smokey/unpredictable nature. Sometimes good and sometimes bad…

TUTORIAL DISCUSSION – SELF PORTRAIT

We’ve been asked to compile a self portrait made up of a variety of mediums. The catch (like the one below) is to do it without explicitly providing an image of ourself. I suppose the idea behind this is that a person’s identity online can be vastly different to their identity in real life. I guess it’s just a chance to be weird and creative too. Which is always fun.

It will be a challenge capturing character traits, but it will test our ability to think outside the box. My music background says the audio clips should be my strong points, but I can almost guarantee these will be the most difficult of the lot. Some serious thinking will be required for sure. My early ideas include recording a rehearsal, recording a commute to uni, or recording some piano. These are all things that audibly represent my day to day activities and hint at my character build up. But, they aren’t the most original… Visually, I might literally use some smoke and mirrors to capture some mind-boggling scenes. Who says I can’t be a magician? I just hope I don’t lose my mind over it.