Follow the Yellow Brick Road Ep. 6 – “Back to Square One”

Tues 17 May – Meeting 6

“Back to Square One”

Audio essay is done! (I adjusted volume of segment and added music while Yi Wen edited the sound effects.)

“So what is the video essay about?” Brrrr, déjà vu.

We decided to expand on a subject we brushed over in our audio essay: Instagram.

It seems we’re back to where we started: photojournalism, personal creativity + communication and marketing + influencers (well, pretty much)

Lesson of the Day: Sometimes, you just gotta carry on and do the dirty job. Deliver the work.

Click here for Ep. 7

Follow the Yellow Brick Road Ep. 5 – “New Discovery”

Thurs 12 May – Meeting 5

“New Discovery”

We took advantage of class time to record at the basement studio in building 9. So cool!!! *Girl Fan Drooling Mode* Each studio cubicle is almost sound proof and we had privacy.

Technical Challenges:

I got to practise using H2N Zoom. We took note of testing its gain in relation to the distance with speakers’ mouths. We rehearsed before official recording.
Although it was on dual-channel mode, it seems one side recorded better than the other. So I decided the louder speaker should face the poorer side of the mic.
Sometimes, we needed to rerecord segments because: 1) trip of tongue 2) unwanted sound effect from holding script 3) H2N Zoom not working well.
At the end of the day, our rough cut had many noticeable inconsistencies.

Lesson of the Day: *blank* (I’m not sure)

Click here for Ep. 6

Follow the Yellow Brick Road Ep. 4 – “Building Camaraderie”

Tues 10 May – Meeting 4

“Building Camaraderie”

Audio essay rough cut is due in two days and we have not recorded anything. Fortunately, I’d drafted the script. I thought it was a good idea to meet at my place so we can eat chips, feel more relaxed and be more comfortable with each other. I remember Rachel advising us to “grab some coffee” and build team spirit. I don’t like coffee so I hope chips is a better alternative.

And it worked!

Compared to our previous meetings which was a lot of talk and no action, we completed the script today. We agreed that Hattie and Yi Wen would be the radio hosts. So I suggested they edit the draft to suit their speaking style more naturally.

I’m happy we got to chat a bit about our personal interests like Yi Wen’s sneakers and Hattie’s favourite Hayao Miyazaki animations. I hope we won’t hesitate to voice any disagreements about the project anymore. Cheers to team effort!

Lesson of the Day: Good communication requires time, nurture and practise.

Click here for Ep. 5

Follow the Yellow Brick Road Ep. 3 – “Re-Defining Our Focus”

Thurs 5 May – Meeting 3

“Re-Defining Our Focus”

Finally!!! We have found a more specific topic.

Here’s a brief summary of how it happened:
I wanted our media product to engage young adults and not just university students. So I suggested a more informal design, like that of a radio show. Not everyone has heard the podcast introduced by Brian, so we took time listening to Radiolab. Then, while browsing their site, I came upon a blog post which vaguely explains how using our phone cameras decreases the ability to store memory.

Voila! Our Research topic has surfaced! We are going to record “Mediums and Technology”, a radio program series! And in this episode, it’s specifically about “how the phone camera affects our memory”!

Enough with the exclamation marks. On to work. I better draft the script before we end up changing the topic again.

Work delegation this week was more general. Since we have a specific project statement now, we tasked ourselves to source quotes and references about the relationship between photo-taking culture and memory process.

Lesson of the Day: When you know everyone’s running in circles, it is ok to step up and play mother hen.

Click here for Ep. 4

Follow the Yellow Brick Road Ep. 2 – “Defining Our Focus”

Thurs 28 April – Meeting 2

“Defining Our Focus”

Based on the previous meeting, we’ve narrowed our theme of “Mediums and Technology” to: vlogging, photography and online media publishing.

Brian says it’s too broad though. Yeah, I can’t seem to answer the question in my head, “so what is the audio essay about?”

We decided to focus on the camera; how the changes in the physical camera has expanded its functions and types of users. We also established sub-topics: specific points of evolution of camera, photojournalism, fine arts vs personal self-expression, photography. Then we delegated research: significant changes in photojournalism (Hattie), visual examples of photography as fine arts vs personal self-expression (Yi Wen) and how businesses come to rely on photography (myself).

I’m not very interested in the digital camera as a tool, actually. But I should be more open. Furthermore, two-thirds of us are passionate photographers.

Challenge yourself, Grace! Anyway, you can’t run from the camera now that you’re into editing {=_=}

Lesson of the Day: Trust your team members! It is ok to be in doubt. We support each other.

Click here for Ep. 3