Project Brief 3

Trying to be abstract? This new two-minute portrait is about the journey, interests, personality and identity of someone I know who is funny in a serious way and intriguing.

I have shown his journey exploring nature by juxtaposing the original footage of his action with the animal found-footage. As a geology student, he had to travel all the way to Geelong in a 2-hour ride just to get some fossil samples. So I thought it would be fun recording his journey… and ended up falling asleep on the bus to Jan Juc beach. Making the connection between plane footages is an issue. Though, what I’ve discovered along this problem is that there is an ambiguity and the planes footages do have a relation in presenting Samuel’s 15-hour plane ride journey. Having to travel across the globe from Colombia to study here in Australia.

Editing the film is one of the most challenging and unsuccessful processes of this project. As I’m of a little experience in editing tools, it is difficult to stick to the original plan. For example, putting the credits in as a neat line is a pain as there are issues with the tools not being able to be clicked. Not knowing how to fix this issue, I have came up of another alternative which causes me to copy the credits in the word document and then pasting them back. Another problem experienced is adjusting the sounds recorded (with Zoom H2/N) to match and give harmony with the videos. Yet, having to try editing tools as I go helped me learn new techniques such as overlapping two footages in one screen and encouraged me to develop my creative possibilities as a media practitioner.

To film someone about themselves takes courage to show whom they are in public. There are ethical constrains that we all need to consider as it is about someone else and thus given consent is crucial. Even then, the person may not agree in certain footages or actions to be put into frame. This is why the interview I have conducted assists me in making negotiated decisions while overcoming problematic constraints. These processes have allowed me to discover more about a person as well as myself through inspirations for creative possibilities. This project has also made me learn to overcome issues with alternatives. Finally, I’ve realised that everything is hard before it’s easy!