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Seeing the rest of my media classes finished projects has helped me understand the processes that other students go about producing material and editing. Jordan’s back and forth between produced interview and found footage, meant his film was able to take a cohesive aim while following two parallel paths. A great example of conversation, investigation and reflection can be found in Tyler’s memoir-esque piece. Meanwhile Jennifer’s  visual representation of her partners’ tunnel vision was a confronting way to portray perspective.

I also heard of the interesting ways that people recieved my project, above all their feedback gave me an insight as to how my piece communicated meaning. Generally people had said that the piece was powerful, evoking an emotional response, though it was lost effect through my attempt to overcrowd and clutter leaving no time for audience reflection. I think then that I’ve achieved my goal in moving the audience through the content material, guitar track and editing, but next time I will focusing on exploring less concepts in greater detail being simple yet not simplistic.

Feedback summary:

• The flow and sequencing of the piece efficiently established a premise and consistently evolved and unpacked the concept in a way that would otherwise be illogical without that consistency.
• The separation of sequences (i.e. outfits, stop motion) meant many multiple aspects could be conveyed while following a central theme.
• Focus was drawn to the important parts of the film by the framing, timing and overlaying – particularly in reference to audio.
• The use of the male perspective on body image was detrimental to the focal point as a young, female demographic.
• Some experimentation with the use of silence and the slowing of material would strengthen the impact of the scenes they are used in and further develop the response to the other scenes by contrast.
• More consistency is needed in the audio levels where it is not used for effect – i.e. interview.

My portrait is a representation of my partner Eloise Vincent, focusing on her struggle to find self-confidence and identity in a life of pressure and routine. For this project I took a more abstract approach and attempted to challenge conventions in my communication of meaning through this film. I hoped to create a piece that displayed the subject as an individual – through the stop motion mirror scene and the constant portrayal of unique image and voice – while also communicating the context of a greater issue, “body image” – through the interjections and commentary of archive footage; techniques of contrast and compliment that will be useful for future projects. Here I discovered how to simultaneously convey two (or more) messages through editing, taking a leaf out of guest lecturer Liam Ward’s “Art of Persuasion”.

The main hurdle in the process was locating suitable “found footage” that would compliment my general idea while being powerful enough to evoke audience reaction, interestingly I feel they became integral to the meaning of the film. The final section where the archive video getting fit plays from “think not about image” to “I am okay as I am” is the most successful aspect as it draws the viewer back to the relationship between “body image’ and our subject as intended through audio and visual edited together from separate sources. Conversely, the opening passage of the film created a mood and meaning that I hadn’t intended, problematic to the finished project. It lost some effect through intensifying audio clips and editing that I hoped would portray an increased tension and feeling of claustrophobia but while not paralleled in the visual aspect seemed cluttered and out of place.

Initially I was worried that my material, seemingly disparate in content, form and genre, wouldn’t create one cohesive piece. However, I underestimated the impact of “the gutter”, as editing with intent to create conversation between materials (through layering, sound bridging, repetition and varying transitions) produced a cohesive film that spanned genre and transcended convention. This incidentally revealed the ability of post-production work to create, change and challenge meaning of raw materials. I will continue to develop my understanding of the production and editing processes to communicate multiple messages and begin intentionally creating media that can be read and received in different ways by an audience.

Her black and white photo still sits alone on the maple wood mantle. I’m lost in this fading memory that perhaps would be better off forgotten. Her calming voice speaks to me, helping to guide my family. In daydreams I brush her soft blemished cheek and her eyes still weep. I will never truly know her; how she laughs or the reasons she smiles. If I truly looked into my mother’s eyes after all these years I’d surrender to tears that would make me feel warm.

Nobody knows the day I was born so I celebrate the 27^th of May, today. It was in 1967 on this day when our own nation recognised us as citizens with thought and reason. We were forced from our families, the stolen generation. Schools will not teach it and soon we will become the forgotten generation. I know that mother was a maid and father died shortly after I was taken. I love my children endlessly with the subdued fear that they could be taken at any moment.

“Have I ever told you Catherine?” I implore. “How full your eyes are, and how much that comforts me.”

“Yes, you have,” she smirks. “You were thinking about her weren’t you?”

“The photo. I can spend hours…”

“Can I get your help to cut the cake? Quickly?” she asks, looking down. “This one could come any moment.”

I kiss and thank my boys James and Charlie, a peck for Catherine and one on her strained belly for the unborn Boddah.

“HOLY SH… UH CRAP!”

Catherine cries in exasperation, her water breaks and the room starts to shake. My mind races in a panic and I stare again at my mother’s picture to restore balance. I am in this moment. I am here and I always will be. My smile, my voice and my eyes will forever comfort my children. Nobody can change that.

James fumbles for his seatbelt, the car kicks into gear, Catherine moans and Charlie cries. I race the red light and park the car, we rush inside and I scribble on a form. The kids sit down, the benches crowded and Catherine finds her bed. She takes my hand, she breaks my hand and the doctor says she’s doing well. My mind races, my vision blurs, sounds become distant and Catherine’s all I see. Her face strains, her back arches before she collapses in relief. Boddah’s in my arms, I cry fresh tears of sadness and joy, I hold her to my chest and I feel warm. I am here.

Catherine turns to me and wipes my tears “Are you okay?”

“Yes” I manage. “She has her eyes.”

This week in Media 1 was the first time we were able to create media in class time. We were asked to piece together a small edited clip to the theme “colour” composed of online archival footage on a program that we had handy or were familiar with. It was a welcome change from the housekeeping and beat-around-the-bush trivialities of previous weeks. It was my first time using video editing software so I would have appreciated some more teacher involvement but faired okay from intuition and the help of peers.

The software I was using is the simple free-to-mac iMovie, which on first impression appeared tidy, organised and user friendly though soon proved otherwise. As I feel is the downfall with most mac programs was its ability to make the simplest components hard to find by instinct. For example to start editing video one must first create an event, within which you create a movie, within which you import clips, within which you can start a timeline process for editing. Initially this is unnecessarily complex but with time the process became faster but still seemed unnatural. This set-up would be useful for somebody who simultaneously works on numerous large-scale projects.

iMovie offers simple and straightforward cutting, ordering and playback features. However it fell short in many simple areas. As my project was based around “colour” I found it frustrating the lack of a palette to apply to frames and had to rely solely on contrast and saturation (this was further antagonised by the inherent fact that most archival footage is black and white.) This would be less applicable to everyday videos but would be a simple addition that would please me greatly.

The program is also quite limited in what you can manipulate with raw footage. I was left high and dry searching for ways to flip images and reverse playing order. I was told by friends that the adobe premier pro is much better software that offers a wider range of techniques and applications. I was however able to speed up, slow down and add transitions, titles and texts from a large sample library. Though this was useful to play around with in a relaxed project it would become frustrating from a professional perspective as you are completely unable to add your own designs or templates, you’re even roadblocked if you want to align the text as subtitles.

One positive for the program is its efficiency with basic audio. The ability to easily extract audio footage from clips is supported by the simple process to record or import other audio and sample from a large library of apple sounds and loops. The structure of the timeline also makes it easy to match the audio with video or vice-versa and cut or fade to suit.

That seems a harsh criticism of iMovie considering this is my first time using video editing software but my peers also hold a common opinion that it leaves much to be desired. Nevertheless, here is my iMovie edited footage titled “Tickle Me Pink (Just Another Day In The Office)”. It is inspired by a movie about a book, based on a true story of a psychotic cow who wants to plunge the world into never-ending black and white, who can only be thwarted by a time-travelling plumber who can change the world by jumping on turtles. The characters in this film are animated and any likeliness to persons living or dead is unfortunate. Enjoy.

In a group of 4-6 we were seated around tables to compliment and critique each others self portraits (mine can be found the next blog down – be as constructive or destructive as you like, I can take a metaphorical punch.) Our excuse to be as ruthless as possible was kindly gifted to us by the teacher when she instructed us to answer while under the cover of a “criticism cap”. The colours and characteristics are as follows:

Yellow: Sees the things that work and what they liked (you have to tell the mother that her baby’s cute right?)

Red: The gut responder, how it affected them on a personal level. (the sympathiser who yawns when you yawn.)

Black: Criticisms for aspects that didn’t work. (Tread wisely)

Green: Creative alternatives and suggestions (Like black cap but not as rude)

I think that it was an efficient platform to be able to discuss each others ideas and was able to receive some great feedback. We saw through each others works that we had similar thoughts; that the text component was the most personal as it was a concrete way of expressing conscience. We found alternative ways of introducing concept; Jordan’s way of finding himself through other people or Ellie’s running theme of her eyesight.

Looking forward to the next brief I need to find a way to bring the aspects together as one cohesive unit. At the moment they are separated in sections but as suggested at the table I will consider playing with an idea of “duality” the contrasting or opposing sides of my life, the push-pull effect found. I’m going to work on the video aspects to provide better quality film and mess around with some editing.

Overall I’m happy with where the portrait is at the moment but there’s still plenty to do.

Following is the first brief of my Media assignment, an original creative self portrait. It is broken into four main themes and mediums:

1. “You(th)” – Images
2. “Dogs, Rabbits and Foxes” – Audio.
3. “Head Over Heals” – Video
4. “Utopia” – Text

On each will be a small explanation of the ideas and components behind each piece and it’s relevance to my self portrait.

YOU(TH)-

A portrayal of the haste with which we grow up due to pressures from our family, community and above all, ourselves. I got my first part time job at 13, left home at 15 and continued through work and high-school to university. The only time I’ve felt discriminated against is for my age.

“KANGAROOS, RABBITS AND FOXES”

These two pieces are representations of my cultural heritage, Italian, Aboriginal and British. It portrays the influence they have on my interactions, lifestyle and perception. The focus is on the historical conflict between the British and Aborigines and the struggle to preserve indigenous values and beliefs in a modern society. They are titled “Static” and “Rabbits” respectively.

“HEAD OVER HEALS” –

These two videos are for probably the only stable thing in my life, my partner Ellie. Thanks for playing the lead role in what will continue to be an amazing experience for as long as we’re both lucid, and hopefully for some time thereafter. I love you to the moon and back.

“Utopia”

‘This is the world he made for himself when the real world was not enough’ (Krist Novoselic). My creation through music that is never limited by context, is impervious to deprivation and that thrives beyond reality; composed by billions of hearts and minds: human and animal, living and dead.”