Category Archives: Uncategorized

be our guest

Ideas:

Homeless of Melbourne – Sit. Chat. Listen. Share. Seems like a good group, I like the idea of them being a local organisation. The Humans of New York theme they’ve got going on is easily recognisable and works well. Interviewing a founder would be very interesting but I wonder how deep it goes. Is it a career in social media?

Pedestrian.TV – Very popular in youth culture. I’m fairly sure nearly everyone in our year level would know who these guys are. Any one of their writers would be good as a guest but I’d ultimately love to hear from the founders. Might be hard as they’re based in Sydney but maybe a Skype conference? A Melbourne rep? Still waiting on a reply from them.

Broadsheet – Local to Melbourne, kinda classy. Haven’t heard back.

Mediaverse – This one is my idea and I think it’s cool because it’s so different. These guys don’t just post on social media about various stirring topics, they analyse our reactions to the stirring topics and shoot that off to brands. Very sneaky, and definitely a pathway no one really knows about. No reply from them yet either. Am I bad at emails or

Used this template of Ned’s and tweaked to each company. You be the judge –

Hi there,
I am a graduating student from RMIT University, finishing a Bachelor of Communications (Media) at the end of this year. We are currently in the planning stages of hosting a seminar designed to showcase some potential career pathways for students once they graduate. The seminar will be an informal discussion with some directed questions to a panel of industry representatives who we are inviting to come and share their knowledge with us. We would love a representative from (insert company name) to come and share with us some insight into what working in your specific industry and comment on some social media trends and how to effective market and promote yourself within a constantly changing social media landscape.
We would love to hear back from you at the latest by Wednesday 12th of August, if you would be interested in participating in our event. This is an opportunity for you to promote and explain the inner workings of your company to like-minded students who are interested in entering the industry within the next 6 months. You will be a special guest of RMIT University and we will promote your involvement around campus and via our social media outlets as well.

the death of a ghost – studio reflection

This is the end of a life. Dramatic, yes, but our whole theme is of ghosts so it’s just. I’ve come to the final halfway point in my university career and feel as though the closer to the edge I swim, the deeper the water gets. Can I get onto dry land before my feet stop touching the bottom? I need water wings or something.

Ghosts and Space has definitely been adding to the water. If I continue with my swimming analogies, then my work during the classes are the egg-beater kicks. I’m surviving, floating, not going very far. In my soundscapes, I’m half doggy-paddling, half breaststroke. I’ve gotten further in bits and bobs using my knowledge but it hasn’t been a smooth freestyle or backstroke.

The sound piece I’ve created was finished when upon first presentation, and only required a little cleaning and touch-up, such as the voice-acting and period relevant soundtracks. Even so, I do wish I’d spent the extra time I’d had on creating a side project that could have possibly overtaken this one. I could’ve gone in a different direction, swam a little harder. My biggest regret is not branching out into something I haven’t done before. I toyed with the idea of an interactive photo with sound hotspots, but the feedback Courtroom Colours received at the pitch let me feel safe in creating a soundscape. It is what I do best creatively, yet to let me down – my career aspirations involve sound, music, and radio. However, this studio has somewhat brutally let me know that if I don’t entirely work towards what I want, making soundscapes is something that’ll only get me through university and stay as a hobby whilst I lead teams of burger-flippers. A bright future. Smart and successful Imogen.

You can listen to my newly named piece ‘Dead Air’ here.

The piece still leads its listener through the fuzzy history of the Magistrates’ Court of Melbourne. As I said in an earlier post, the aim here is to let listeners create their conclusions of court trials whilst having relevant memories and experiences evoked by the ambient sound effects. It is pure as a sound piece, and one I believe is unique of my peers. Whether the effectiveness of sound comes across in the virtual tour, or if the listeners do not engage because the sudden lack of images is disconcerting (or boring), I am unsure. All that I can hope for this project is that my love of story within sound comes through, and that at least one person makes the complete journey through it.

At least all my peers will be forced to a short snippet of it. I’m still toying with which “highlight” of the sound narrative is best at representing both the Magistrates’ Court and my own interpretation. As it is a teaser for the real deal, my best bet would be the Ned Kelly trial but it could also be revealing the peak of the piece, leading to disappointment on listening. This idea will float for a while longer.

As for my work with the classmates, I’d say it all came together in the end. From generally sitting alone in the room on the days I did manage to show up, to finally learning everyone’s names, to the point where I have now volunteered to present next week’s exhibition with Ellen; we have cohesively moved from students to colleagues with a common goal. The website created sort of lumped itself together but actually looks less student-ish than I think we all expected. The layout was something I helped work on, choosing how our content would appear on each page. After dealing with Adrian Miles’ reluctance to give us the layout we wanted originally, I fumbled around until the current site resembled something close to the desired. My final piece in the model will be placed next week at the exhibition, where everything will finally be shown. I don’t even know what half of our work looks like. I believe it’s just something that can’t be visualised until we actually all come together and present. That’s exciting.

All in all, I think we’ve all made it to the point where our work has begun to depart from its humble student roots and instead represent our potential as media makers in a (hopefully) paid world. We have this studio to thank, I think, and the degree itself. The final semester’s studios claim that they’ll prepare us for our exit from schooling – if it’s anything along the lines of Ghosts and Space, then we are swimming with goggles, wetsuits and flippers.

courtroom colour – brief 3

The prototype for my Ghosts of RMIT work has become one of my favourite forms of media – soundscapes. Soundscapes allow so much flexibility in creating your ideal image in which my ideal image is no image at all but the one in your head. For popularity’s sake, I hope to work in a 360° panoramic photo to supplement the ambient narrative.

This particular soundscape is a crossover of sorts, being less ambient/immersive and more like a short radio documentary. It is a piece that highlights key events or “colours” that occurred throughout the history of the Old Magistrates’ Court on the corner of La Trobe and Russell Streets, Melbourne. The soundscape begins with the earliest documented court transcription that I could find and ends in subdued static, an attempt to symbolise what is now an RMIT University building’s years of disuse after the Magistrates’ Court was relocated.

As I am an audio lover, it’s nearly always a no-brainer for me to pick sound as my message medium. I know that I should perhaps branch out a little more into the visual world (which is where the panorama comes in) but I believe it’s my forte in comparison. This project was absolutely inspired by the Alter Bahnhof video walk and the Hungry Ghost walk.

The Alter Bahnhof video is one that we briefly studied in class and I studied a lot less briefly at home. It’s described as an alternate world where reality and fiction combine eerily, helping coin the term “physical cinema”. The viewer is instructed to hold their phone up as though the video on screen is a live stream of their reality. Instead, they are led throughout the train station listening and watching a story unfold before them that they’d never have known otherwise. It’s a beautiful immersive piece that successfully combines audio and video. Due to this perfect mesh, I’ve taken the idea of leading a tour with audio narrative to my own project but toned it down a little – a 360° photo is not quite a video but I hope it still gives the uncanny sense of being right there.

My other major inspiration is a Sydney ghost tour of Surry Hills created specifically for smartphones. It’s an app called the Hungry Ghost tour and was created by Mei Tsering with soundscape credit going to Nick Wishart whose other work is absolutely worth checking out, particularly his CeLL project.
http://artsabout.org/artists/nick-wishart/

Concrete Playground describes how to use the app as this:

“After downloading the free app on a smartphone and heading to start point Bourke Street Bakery, individual theatre adventurers are introduced to a sleep-deprived Eddie, who is curious to unearth a troubling family mystery. Eddie finds out more about his Chinese ancestry and tries to feed his Hungry Ghost, and with every step, rarely told stories are uncovered about the early Chinese community who called Surry Hills home.”

I was really enthralled with the idea of being physically led through a suburb whilst listening to stories from a rich yet little known history and Building 20 could easily have a similar thing created for it. This is how I came up with the idea of taking the listener through the ages by highlighting a few key events – some are nearly common knowledge, like the Ned Kelly and Squizzy Taylor trials, whilst events such as the introduction of female clerks during WWII and the Court’s inception as the Court of Petty Trials should really be brought into light (or rather sound).

To me, soundscapes are fantastic in representing history. They offer the chance to combine freedom of imagination with certain narrative boundaries. With a film or recreation, you’re being told what happened and what it looked like which is important when reporting on history. With the Magistrates’ Court being well, a court, I believe it’s important to allow our audience some liberty in their history lesson. With a soundscape, I can let my listeners create connections with the story they’re hearing and their own experiences – a user may imagine an enraged Ned Kelly in his iconic bushranger get-up shouting over a tumultuous crowd inside the court room instead of being shown a stuffy procedure where everyone is dressed and acting respectably.


Next up with this project is the 360° photo. Using a software called Pano2VR, I aim to have a slow rotation of the photo going for the same length as the soundscape where the user can tap on certain sections for more information on the event being played in the soundscape.
VARIATIONS
1. User controlled rotation – may stop the user from listening to the full piece as they may only be involved in the photo
2. Auto info – brief information pop ups as the soundscape plays
3. Pause on info – if the user wishes to read more, then the soundscape may loop the section that it is playing
4. Tap driven soundscape – cut the soundscape into sections and have it optional to only play each event as it is explored within the courtroom.

I may need help with this software and am also considering upgrading from Garageband (it’s a little clunky but gets the job done) to something more professional such as Ableton Live or Logic Pro if the soundscape is to be released and/or incorporated into the app and website.

reviving ghosts – brief 1

The judicial precinct of inner city Melbourne has very recently come under scrutiny, particularly the area located on the corner of Russell and La Trobe Streets. The building currently standing there is Building 20 of my own university, RMIT, and as with most other RMIT buildings it was not built for the purpose of tertiary education. The site was built upon first in 1842 with a structure much more modest than the one existing today for the purpose of hosting the Supreme Court of Victoria. A few years later saw the building become the Court of Petty Sessions before being completely replaced by the Magistrates’ Court in 1910. This court is the same stately building that stands on Russell and La Trobe as a part of RMIT University. The photo below shows it in its early years, when the streets were emptier and blocks were undeveloped._5BMelbourne_Magistrates_Court_and_Russell_Street_Magistrates court

 

IMG_3362

 

 

 

 

 

Building 20 stretches along both streets for nearly half a block in either direction and holds an impressive height for a building over one hundred years old. Visiting in the late afternoon allowed me to view the foundations in a delicate, warm lighting that flattered its architecture and played down the grime accumulated on ledges that were hard to reach.

IMG_3364It personified an old and proud man who has reached the end of his working abilities, not necessarily providing a welcoming atmosphere but standing in patient silence. Had I been able to enter the building to explore, I’m sure it would have been just as grand on the inside IMG_3366but that is only speculation seeing as it is now a building employed by RMIT. I felt as though the space was private and sacred, similar to a library. Trees surrounding the building helped mask the signs of street life and gave off an autumnal feel – the lighting was very rich (though the photos don’t show it) and served to highlight the delicate balance between care and neglect. I felt like I could imagine how stately it would have been as the Magistrates’ Court. You can definitely see the history in the building, particularly when you compare the archway to this sketch of it below.

sketch of courts

IMG_3367Night time was a very different story. Going off the photos, I wouldn’t have immediately placed the sketch as the same place. Viewing buildings in darkness can have a very intimate effect but that is not the case with Building 20 and it’s definitely due to its structure. An imposing building even in the warm afternoon light, Building 20 looks like the intimidating court where many people were sentenced harsh punishment it once was. Behind the walls of the court are notable ghosts – Ned Kelly was sentenced to death and Collin Ross was punished for crimes he never committed. However, there was hardly any sign of activity or life within the thick walls and I felt quite alone though the street was busy. IMG_3370The trees block out light from the street so the shadows are quite deep and eerie. Standing inside the archway no longer made me feel pensive, instead I was uneasy. There was nowhere to stand that didn’t seem exposed yet it still seemed like something could be hiding in shadow. It was an uncomfortable sensation and it was no better on either sides of the building.

IMG_3369

The morning sun was similar to its afternoon counterpart, though its ambience was closer to that of the night. Building 20 doesn’t have much going for it if it’s only tolerable during a few hours before the sun sets. What was hidden before was now shown in stark contrast, dirt and growths exposed by the bright light. There was activity everywhere on both Russell and La Trobe and it was not conducive to viewing the building peacefully. I couldn’t see the beauty that was there the afternoon before nor the unsettling solemnity from the night and the modern street signs clashed with the old limestone. It was displacing. However, I did finally find refuge in the archway again. Most court sessions would have been held during the day and from the photo below, it seems like they would’ve progressed without having the street bustle interrupt them. This could never been the case now with the constant flow of people walking, talking, taking photos – an audience that is ready to attack whether they know it or not. It made me feel almost sad for the building. No one notices the history hidden behind the walls during the day, and no one dares during the night. If Building 20 were a person, you would break down their walls, but that’s not a viable idea seeing as it is part of the National Estate Register. I’m unsure as to whether Building 20 would be better off celebrating its deep history more or if it will only survive the future by continuing to truly only open up for a few hours every day (weather permitting).

 

References:

Dalton, Simon. The Old Melbourne City Watch House: Fast-forward to the Past [online]. Agora, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2008: 60-62. Availability: <http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=490096764027465;res=IELAPA> ISSN: 0044-6726. [cited 12 Mar 15]

 

meeting ghosts

“Sense of place refers to the more nebulous meanings associated with a
place: the feelings and emotions a place evokes. These meanings can be
individual and based on personal biography or they can be shared. Shared
senses of place are based on mediation and representation. When we write
‘Calcutta’ or ‘Rio’ or ‘Manchester’ for instance, even those of us who have
not been to these places have some sense of them – sets of meanings
produced in films, literature, advertising, and other forms of mediation.”

This studio will focus on how we determine the difference between a space and a place. It will somehow also incorporate ghosts? I have to admit that I’m confused, though that could be because I’ve only just arrived back in Australia from Thailand.

Going on a before and after tangent here, Thailand is a country worth experiencing. I expected the classic Australian party destination, a non-stop harassment of senses and cheap, fake delights. I now associate Thailand with stark contrasts in poverty and consumerism, selfishness and blind ecstasy, and Nike shoes.

The country is wildly different to Australia and I have to say that it was an abrupt realisation. This class would have me study a singular building at my university that I’m not particularly keen on knowing about, but my head is still reeling from the whirlwind tour.

3

sometimes i want to be alone

sometimes i want to be asleep

sometimes i want to hide the fact that i ate all the natural confectionary snakes once curled up in the kitkat jar from my housemate

DEAR BLOODY DIARY

Wednesday – Lay on floor and wonder at ceiling’s level of cleanliness. Miss out on free grilled meat-in-bread. Radio buddy and I am stumped for radio ideas.
Thursday – Politics tutorial at 9:30am. Opt out of friend’s birthday so I can get some rest and homework completed for the next day.
Friday – 6am start. Most of the day is spent crushed in the backseat of a classmate’s car. Destroy evening (and demeanour) by watching ‘The Notebook’ on television.
Saturday – Begin training for new employment. Listen to Sims 2 OST compilation for most of the afternoon and wish for flat bread-based foods covered in nondescript protein layers.

Sunday? Who knows? Anything could happen – wondrous adventure is at my every turn.

mog is a sog