WEEK 9: CONNECTION 9

As a big fan of Australian Comedy, I’ve begun to notice the real core of GREAT Australian Comedy. That is that it’s a reflection of the audience it’s broadcasted too. We’re a nation built on satire and idolising the underdog. The simple suburban family or the flamboyant house wife become so satirised by the media and the comedians who present it, that it becomes something that is iconic to us. We, as a national audience, love them because it’s us that’s being represented. We know those people, we are those people. Chris Lilley’s material wouldn’t be as popular as it is if it wasn’t so relatable. Teenagers wouldn’t love his content as much if they didn’t all know someone exactly like Ja’mie King or had a teacher like Mr G.

As a nation we’re an underdog. We’re awesome, but we’re sometimes forgotten amongst the powers of the world. But the media that is created for us, reflects what we are – simple people, no bullshit. And we love it. 

My favourite Australian film of all time is The Castle. Even the way it was produced and filmed is so typically Australian. It was filmed in less than 11 days and on a budget of $750,000. That’s amazing. Something just so small about the typical suburban family becomes one of the most iconic films for Australians. Although it wasn’t acclaimed globally, I don’t think the rest of the world could understand the world in which Kerrigan’s inhabit. It focusses on the main demographic of Australians – the working class- and represents them in an accurate and entertaining way.

In my opinion, this is what we, as filmmakers, should aim to achieve – a reflection of the audience we are creating for.

WEEK 9: LECTORIAL 9

Audiences.
It’s my firm belief that the audience is the most integral part of making media. Media is all about communicating so I believe it’s the media’s job unto their audience to create relevant content and to engage their audience. After all, it’s the audience that gives them the opportunity to roll in cash.

I’ve always found the idea of passive and active audiences very interesting. Mostly because it’s interesting to see how the media affects them. Nowadays, audiences are more active – they don’t always believe what they see on television or what is written in bold letters across a Facebook newsfeed and, thanks to social media, are given platforms to voice their opinions in ways that weren’t available beforehand.

Media is powerful – it is one of the most dangerous tools that humans have created. Their are many theories surrounding how much power the media has over an audience. In my personal opinion, I believe there are constant shifts in the power the audience has over the media and the power that media has over the audience. Brian provided this quote for us to dwell on:

The question is how texts … establish relations with their readers as well as representations of whatever their subject matter might be. (JOHN HARTLEY 1999: 493)

I think, in creating media for a mass audience, that it’s important to consider what you’re reflecting and what it means to the audience. My favourite part of government regulation laws is that Australian content is encouraged to be produced and broadcasted by television networks. What would the point of Australian television be if it didn’t reflect Australian culture and people. The media can have negative effects, sure, but it’s also a method in which people relate to one another.

WEEK 9: WORKSHOP 9

Alright let’s present what we’ve got so far.
Alex, Eliza and I have made a lot of plans – plans that go above and beyond the calling of Project Brief Four. However, at the moment, they’re mostly plans. We want to do a lot of filming and a lot of interviews and develop some sort of documentary or report that relates to the topic of institutions. In presenting, today, it seemed like, from what we were presenting, that we didn’t know what we were doing or that we hadn’t thought a lot about it – honestly it’s quite the contrary. We talked about the main areas we researched in our annotated bibliography and divulged some of the interesting information we had come up with and how we wanted to develop this into a media artefact.

WeeklyPlan_4_5

As a group we came up with a timeline and aims to reach by the end of the week so that we were on track and all putting in an equal amount. As a group, we’re working really well together and really enjoy bouncing ideas of each other and coming up with things to complete. We decided that we wanted to interview people who worked within different media institutions and came up with names of the people we could get in touch with and even started contacting them. I’m really excited about this because, first of all, I think this will set us apart from the rest of the class because we’re putting in a lot of effort to go and see people and interview them but also because we get to talk and see a real insight into the lives of people who work in the media

For myself, it’s been a dream for a long time to do screenwriting, as seeing as both Eliza and myself know someone from screenwriting backgrounds, I’m really interested in what they have to say. Even asking them questions about how it is write with media regulation controls etc really intrigues me and I can’t wait for these interviews to happen.

We also had the idea to create a zine. This is the only concept of the Project Brief that I’m not completely clear on. But Eliza and Alex seem pretty excited about it and they have a pretty clear idea of how it should look and what it should say, so I have no objections to it.

Let’s do this!

 

WEEK 8: CONNECTION 8

I have a fondness for watching long winded television series. I never watch series that are still being produced and you have to wait weekly for the next episode and then a year for the next season, so inevitably, I watch shows that are at least five to ten years old. I think this is because I like to watch it all at once, and emmerse yourself in the characters as they are and how they come to be throughout the series.

Once, I decided I would watch the entire series of Malcolm In The Middle – I mean, it’s not a groundbreaking series but I just really felt like watching it. Anyway, I ended watching a season a day and I loved watching how the characters, especially the child ones, developed from being 11 year olds into adults. It’s my belief that the characters drive a narrative, because, if you think about it, and you taker what was taught about  causality in yesterdays lectorial, it’s usually the person that is doing the action that develops into a sequence of cause and effect.

Usually this is driven by a characters personality and what they believe and feel. Bringing this back to Malcolm In The Middle, I found it interesting that, as the seasons progressed one of the characters main traits (that was not prevalent or as developed in earlier seasons) came to be the cause of their detriment further along. For example, Malcolm’s narcissism and intelligence often caused him to alienate others.

As I said before, Malcolm In The Middle isn’t some sort of breakthrough program that deserves to be recognised academically or can accoladed for smashing through social boundaries, but I think, as a narrative it reflects life as it is. It’s an exaggeration of a dysfunctional suburban family that anyone can relate to.

WEEK 8: LECTORIAL 8

EVERYTHING IS STORY. STORY IS EVERYTHING

I think this story and story making is a big part our humanity. From a film to a book to even the stories you overhear fourteen year old girls telling each other on the train, stories help us to relate to one another as humans. From a young age, stories become a vital part of our lives and even the stories that were so important to us as children have resonated into adult life. Our whole life is surrounded by stories and storytelling and, as Dan said, it’s what really separated humans from animals.

CAUSALITY = CAUSE & EFFECT

This is how  Narrative progresses.
Through causality, the characters and the plot develops and a resolution is met. Dan points out that these (character development, plot and resolution) are the three key elements of causality.
1. Character Development: here we are introduced to a person, a blank canvas, someone we know very little about. Throughout the story, the audience discovers who this person is, what their motives are, how they see the world and why they have an importance to the story. Good characters and properly developed characters become what we, as an audience, find most relatable. For example, the introduction of the character Dolores Umbridge into the Harry Potter books had left the readers hating her more than they hated Lord Voldemort. Why? Because everyone knows a person as sinister as Umbridge and related to Harry’s hatred for her. Character development can also cause shifts in how people see characters. In the start of a television series, you might feel as if you really like a particular character, but by the end of season two, you can do nothing but hate them.

2. Plot: the skeleton of a story. Every intrinsic aspect of a story revolves around the plot. According to Dan, the plot revolves around action; a person carrying out an action, the action itself and the person that the action is done to.

3. Resolution: Is it always a happy ending? This is the last point in a sequence of cause and effect. It is where the action ends and, usually, most plots and sub plots are resolved. A resolution can leave the audience satisfied, hungry for more, or just plain confused.

“The stuff of story is alive, but intangible” (R Mckee, Story. Page 135)

In the end, stories are just thoughts. They are created from memories and experiences that the human story-teller develops in their brain. However, in saying that, they are still very much alive, because, although it may just be a story, it has the ability to touch your heart and your soul.

WEEK 8: WORKSHOP 8

and Project Brief Four did commence…

I’m overall, really happy with my group. I’ve been paired with Alex and Eliza, and to be honest, I think we’ll make a stellar team. Our topic is ‘Institutions’ and I think we’ve all got a really good grasp on the concept itself and ideas are already forming for us. Our thought process is as documented below:

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The concept itself is quite difficult and very broad, but I’m thinking positively about it. I think the key is not to stray too far away from ‘institutions’ as the root of the assignment and always come back to it as the question. It’s very easy to be sidetracked by subtopics when the topic itself is so broad. I like that the presentation method for the project brief is undefined – leaving it to the skills of the group. I’m not sure I give too many exceptional skills as I’m really more focused on filming, miss-en-scene, framing and editing. I think Alex and Eliza have similar skill sets, so maybe making a killer video would be the best use of our strengths although I was hoping that I could be taught some new skills by my team members. I think we’ve decided to create something in a sort of documentary or report format as we feel that our research will suit an informative sort of presentation

As a group, I think we’ve delegated our time and resources well and we’re on track to making some real progress. I’m interested in seeing where the research and the concepts we come up with actually go. Hopefully, after finishing the annotated bibliography we have a firmer grasp on the direction we’re going to take and come up with something EXTRAORDINARY to create.

As far as the Annotated Bibliography is concerned, we decided that delegating a topic to each of us so that our research is unique and we cover as much information as possible. I’m taking care of Media Regulation, Eliza is looking at audiences and Alex is looking at institutions themselves. I think this is a very good way of covering information as it gives us some ground to cover and ensures that we are getting information on all parts of the topic.

I’m really looking forward to working more with my group and I’m especially looking forward to making something brilliant with the work that we’re doing.

WEEK 7: CONNECTION 7

Jasmine, in this weeks lectorial, talked about sound which got me thinking about sound within film and tv and how it’s utilised. Sound for me, as an aspiring filmmaker, has always been a difficulty that I find hard to overcome. I’ve talked about this on the blog before, but even though I am confused by the technicalities of sound, I do find it very interesting – especially when it’s been manipulated by filmmakers to have particular meaning or to put their audience in a particular position. I also find it very poignant and very masterful when filmmakers utilise silence. Sometimes, when silence is used, it can have a more dramatic effect than having the scene or sequence filled with sound.

When thinking of films that use silence in a masterful way, my mind always goes to Tom Tykwer’s 2002 film Heaven. This film has minimal sound and when it is used it is quiet and creates a world of suspense. The final scene of this film is particularly tense – it has little to no sound. It begins with the background sounds being muffled so that all that can really be heard is the sound of the helicopters propellers and the gunshots. As the closing sequence progresses, however, sound itself is completely omitted and it compliments the stillness of the camera shots. I feel this is a powerful use of silence and really draws the audience to be sitting on the edge of their seat. The audience is focussed in a state of suspense as the silence makes the viewers wait for something else to happen.

 

If I’m being entirely honest, I don’t really enjoy this film. I do think, however, it is made beautifully and I very much enjoy how Tykwer has developed and enhanced the narrative of the film through the use of sound.

  • Mr. Mister. (2009). Heaven (Tom Tykwer – 2002) – leading up to the Final Scene. [Online Video]. May 24th 2009. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDLNnCwq4dQ

WEEK 7: LECTORIAL 7

According to the reading from G.Branston & R.Staffords ‘Approaching Media Texts’ (Ch.1) in The Media Student’s Book, the word text as deriving from the word ’tissue’ in latin. I think this is very poignant. If you look at ‘text’ as a tissue, I think you can really relate it back to society itself. When I first read this definition, my mind didn’t go to muscles tissues or anything biological, but more towards paper tissues. It might sound silly, but tissues are always there. There in your home, they’re in the doctors office, they’re on planes, even KFC wraps them up and gives them to you for free as ‘hand-wipes’ (God bless them for that). That’s sort of how media and media texts are too, all in different forms, they’re there whether you need them or not. I think that the forms the media takes can be described as this thin layer, like a tissue, that engulfs society and one in which we all rely on from day to day.
Texts are the forms in which the media manifests itself essentially – we use it for a manner of things, but most basically to communicate a message of some sort.


I found Brian’s talk this week particularly interesting, I especially enjoyed talking about semiotics, and picking apart images. I think I enjoyed this mainly because I get a kick out of analysing things, especially images that are seemingly mundane. I think it’s interesting to look at how photographs are set up to communicate messages. Even the most spontaneous photo can relay an array of messages. A task I did once a few years ago, that was made to help understand the messages that images portray to us was to simply look at people’s profile pictures on Facebook and analyse how they represent themselves. It’s interesting to note that just by the way in which a person holds themselves or what is in the background, a lot about the person in revealed.

In more sophisticated forms of media, however, the layers of what a creator is trying to portray is very deep. In this modern era of technology, the media is layered with subtle messages and is supposed to speak to the subconscious mind. This is most probably more because our culture is extremely consumeristic and to sell a product our subconscious mind becomes the easiest target. Despite this, however, looking at how things were advertised towards the general public during WWI and WWII is very interesting  in comparison- especially the propaganda.

WEEK 7: WORKSHOP 7

The presentation of Project Brief 3 proved to make me feel nervous once more. I think that’s just the nature of presenting something that you’ve created – whether you’ve put hours and hours into it, or just fifteen minutes. What was my main worry was that, compared to others, the quality of what I had filmed was not up to scratch, however, I was holding on to hope that people would look at it as that I had made it look textured and that it was fitting with the concept of the film (ie. post-modern arty).

Most of the criticisms I got were quite positive. I was mostly happy with what people had to say about the Project Brief but I was more keen for them to tell me where to improve rather than what I had done well. First of all, though, my audience didn’t pick up on the quality of the filming, in fact, they thought that the graininess of the film added to the film. I was very happy with this, because it’s a relief that fellow filmmakers weren’t judging the quality of the footage. I was also commended for how fluid the transitions between found footage and original footage. However, I did find it concerning that people didn’t know the differences between the footage I had taken of  my sisters art, and the art that was found footage.

In addition to this, the few criticisms I had mainly detailed the shortness of the film. This worried me too when completing the task but I ran out of exciting original footage and I did ‘t want to overuse the found footage. My own criticism of the piece would be the lack of sound other than voice-over. Although I did receive a compliment about how what was being said in the voice-overs matched the visuals (which I spent quite a while perfecting), I think I need to broaden my horizons when it comes to sound within the films I create. I want to feel more comfortable with using music in my films

 

PROJECT BRIEF 3: A World Without Art

Through my experiences, though limited, in creating films I always find that dealing with and appeasing the actors that you choose is the most difficult part. Especially if, like in this Project Brief, the actor is doing you a favour. I chose my older sister, Isabella, as my subject for this portrait because other than being accessible, she has very interesting views and opinions. Although she was a fabulous choice and gave me a lot of information to work with and consider, she was my family which meant the dynamic between actor and director was obviously not quite professional. This meant that I could only get limited footage of her face and bedroom as she frequently became annoyed with me. Maybe, for the next assessments, I should steer clear from relying on my family to be my subjects.

Besides all of this, I very much enjoyed creating this particular project. I got an insight into my own sister’s life and she had a lot of opinions that were easy to pair with found footage. As my sister is an artists, it was pretty simple to find found footage that included a lot of colours that complimented the recorded interview. I tried my best to make what was being said match the footage that I had filmed or found.

The biggest issue I have as a filmmaker at the moment is that I’m not very good with using music. I began this assessment knowing this and I decided to firstly attack this component before anything else. I, however, no matter how much time I spent trying to locate an appropriate and relevant musical track to play along with the footage and voice-over, I was never content with what I had chosen. In the end, I gave up on it. I think, in future I am going to need to either collaborate with people who are more competent with sound or spend a lot more time teaching myself to use it properly.

I always find that, when creating films, writing down plan after plan after plan always makes the production and post-production jobs a lot easier. This is what I found easier with this Project Brief compared to the last. It gives me, as a director, something to follow, and the actors something to abide by. I’ll definitely be planning a lot more before the production process in future.

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