a written reflection of 800 words

Posted on 1st June 2017 by macorloncito

I) what you consider to be the most successful and problematic aspects of the submitted work

Each group member had their own individual sections to edit based on what we researched, therefore, I will be mainly talking about my part – it begins with “Despite hip hop’s positive and colourful foundations…” and ends with the chorus of Superbass – Nicki Minaj. For the successful bits of my audio, I’d say that it was incorporating the music + songs/interviews/sound effects with the me speaking throughout the piece. It was well-timed and matched perfectly with what I was saying, of course. For example, within the first section, I immediately mention the apparent sexism within the music industry and with the examples I have provided, the lyrics of the chosen songs go well with each other. I believe it is because these chosen songs were all within the same genre (obviously hip hop/rap) and were not too musically different.

On the other hand, there were definitely mistakes involved within this piece. Don’t get me wrong – I am very proud of my work but of course, there was a bit of error within certain parts of the piece that kind of irritated because it was extremely hard to fix – this is something that is irreplaceable in the realm of editing, and should have been corrected during the production of this piece. It was my shaky voice, occasional stutters and my muttering. For some parts of this audio, it was difficult to make out what I was saying half the time and I had to cut out sections where I often stuttered because it did not sound great in any way! So yes, unfortunately, this is something that could have been resolved during production but certain factors hindered the solution; my laziness and the time limit (as we have booked the room for only 2 hours). Otherwise, I believe my work/section is on topic with the whole theme of our piece – Where did Women in Hip Hop go?

II) how your audio work ‘plugs in’ to concepts and theories as raised in lectures, class discussion, and reading

As this project is essentially the concept of “our attention”, our group has decided to work on a topic that has been a big thing for past generations and is still highly relevant in today’s music scene. In terms of the concept/theories that we have reflected on this piece, we have based it off the audio activities we partook in during the workshop. The audio that we heard during the workshop (My Lobotomy) had a variety of texture within the audio – from archival sound, to the atmospheric sound, everything was there to set the mood. This is what we intended to do in our piece, however, our topic dealt with music and the only type of audio we could play around with were songs, instrumentals people talking and less about the atmos, archival sound, etc. We did not have to limit ourselves in that sense but it only made sense to stick to certain types of sounds.

III) what you learnt about the different affordances of audio-based media

This was a new platform for me to work on in comparison to Premiere Pro because I have already been previously exposed to video editing softwares such as iMovie, MovieMaker, etc. I did have little experience with GarageBand, but it was mostly for using the beats as instrumentals for my videos. Audition was a completely brand new experience for me but I have to say – it was so much more easier to use than Premiere! I was honestly worried when we were introduced to a new software very late within the semester but after having a feel of Audition, it was so much easier to use. Thus, I had more access and ability to a more creative piece, without the stress of having to figure a whole new language, pretty much. I was also expecting recording the audio to be a breeze, but it was so much more harder than expected – like I previously said, I muttered, stuttered and was nervous! Getting to know the process and the “different affordances of audio-based media” was a challenging yet fun process to be a part of.

IV) and what you learnt in the making process about collaboration that might be relevant to your broader development as a media practitioner.

As my first ever collaboration in Media, I was privileged to be grouped with like-minded individuals so there wasn’t much conflict when it came to the brainstorming of ideas and the creation of the work. We all agreed when it came to editing the work and also tried to work around the constraints of the word. I have to say, a 7-8 minute piece is definitely not enough – this is the only thing that challenged us together as group members but otherwise, I have learnt a lot being in a group, which is helpful to my development as a media practitioner.

lik

the final lectorial #12

Posted on 1st June 2017 by macorloncito

My commentary on this graph: The only thing standing out from this graph is the pink colour which is the CONCEPTUAL part of learning. It’s obviously not on par with the corresponding colours and here is the reason: entering this course, I had no experience with learning the concept of media, thus the conceptual process of my learning was quite low. As you can see, in goes down in week 3 as the course starts to dive deeper in that part. Otherwise, my technical skills, my way or working/learning and my practice have developed throughout the duration of this course. I have also had ‘lightbulb’ moments in the middle of this course. That is when I’ve finally come to terms with the several requirements of the course and obviously had to work around those. This all comes in with my experience with Premiere Pro and my passion for media (practice).

What and how did you learn that you think was really valuable?

One of the most valuable aspects I learnt in this course was the technical skills we were taught: this came in with the technology we were introduced with such as downloading and purchasing Adobe Creative Cloud, getting to know the Sony MC50 camera and of course, working with little bits and piece of equipment such as the h2N zoom. Getting to know the technical components of media has definitely helped me express my creative outlet and producing something beautiful. Of course, I had a few setbacks with this part but all in all, the yellow bit in my graph has progressed very well!

Also, this course has strengthened the aspect of ‘practice’ for me. Like all the students in this course, we are all passionate (well, I hope we all are) and looking for a platform to express our ideas, thoughts and notions of the world. Learning different theories and practices within this course only further emphasised my reflections, craft, skill and finally, my desire to contribute to society and the world. In my first ever post, I mentioned a similar thought about Media 1.

What did you find the most challenging about the course?

I’ll be brutally honest here but there were some parts during this course where I struggled to express myself mainly due to the type of learning style – yes, it was a typical teacher to class environment and therefore, your opinions and work were out in the open which is why I mostly kept to myself during class discussion. Ever since high school, I’ve never really been an outspoken individual which is why this type of learning style only made it more to difficult for my ideas to be heard. Of course, this is on me as a person too and I must improve my confidence.

Finally, I found it very difficult to show my work around my peers because again, it was the type of environment where you were vulnerable to people you didn’t really know well, mainly because I had to show them a side of me that I barely show to my close friends and family. I would tend to sweat, blush and get nervous whenever I were showing them a video. This however, has obviously improved throughout the 12 weeks of the course and I’d say, despite my uneasiness with this type of learning process, it has helped become open and critical to my own work, making sure it is the best of quality.

What have you discovered about your own creative practice as a media maker?

Basically, what I’ve said for the other two questions – my technical skills and receiving criticism. The only thing I haven’t mentioned so far from my graph is the blue part which is ‘way of working/learning’. The two skills that I have mentioned before go into this process of working/learning because once I got to know these skills, my way of working and learning significantly changed. I’m not going too into it, because this progress has already been apparent in my work and my blog posts. I hope it’s noticeable!

thank you for reading as always,

lyreca 🌙

the final workshop #12

Posted on 30th May 2017 by macorloncito

The workshop began with its usual formalities and such, however I sat with my group members this time around – Alice and Izzi! The purpose of this workshop (well, for me) was to work on our rough cuts so the ~REAL~ audio people could come in and critique our work. I managed to get a minute’s worth of work done in the 50 minutes of time we were, which I’d say is pretty good progress:

And finally, these two lovely radio people finally came in to listen to our audios. We had to set up this cool audio thingamabob where we could listen to the audio all at once. The first piece of audio was about ‘Social Media and its Unreliability’. Okay, that’s not the exact title but that’s what I got off of it whilst I was listening to this beautifully edited piece of work. It was conversational, engaging and interesting – this group made sure if wasn’t just the three of them simply talking – they took their time to piece every bit of section together. It honestly made me kind of nervous considering our group has done NADA in terms of putting everything together.

It was our turn to present our audio – we started off with Izzi as she researched the information of hip hop’s history. Next was myself, discussing hip hop’s distortion of its messages and finally, Alice asking the question of “where did women in hip hop go?“. Of course I wasn’t expecting praises because honestly, our work was very segmented and didn’t sound too-put-together just yet. Otherwise here are the dot points of the feedback:

Clear sections in the segments – changes of pace and have a break in between to give the listener a break
Topic change/section change – it’s an opportunity to change the beat, cut the beat, etc
Equalise the volume throughout the three different audios (of course, once we have pieced all of them together)

The feedback from a professional was very helpful and educational about the process of editing an audio – I will definitely put these pieces of advice into my work! Before it was time to go, we asked Liam for some final ~*words of wisdom*~

“Great job, guys”

Thanks Liam 😂

lyreca

lectorial 11

Posted on 25th May 2017 by macorloncito

Week 11 – one more week til freedom! Jokes. Who am I kidding? I’ve got at least 3 weeks until my freedom. A guest lecturer came in today, with the title and name of Dr Ramon Lobato and we both had something in common – we’ve step foot in Swinburne University, hah! Asides from jokes, he had a really interesting lecture about the form of entertainment Australians used, and that ranged from traditional TV to our computers (Netflix and Youtube for example). Here is a picture of the notes I took:

(Courtesy of Lyreca Corloncito aka ME)

What I got from the lecture and lecturer was facts and information about how fast society has changed to adapt to the advancement of technology. From the early cable TV to Netflix where you can pretty much watch anywhere around the world, we have come so far as media community to truly cater and even become more advance in the upciming future. Who knows what we’ll have in the next 10 years, heck, even in the next 5 years!

A very short post but there’s nothing more for me to say – I think the photo says it all with what went down with the Wednesday lecture.

lyreca

workshop number ten

Posted on 13th May 2017 by macorloncito

It started off with us listening to a 20-minute piece of audio called “My Lobotomy”, which honestly didn’t feel that long because it was so interesting and engaging. Now that I’ve Google searched it for the image, I’m actually wondering if what we listened to was just an excerpt from the actual memoir. Nonetheless, I believe I got the gist of the actual story from that piece of audio.

(Source)

This piece of audio had the full package of what you would usually imagine when reading a very detailed experience of what undergoing a lobotomy would be like and its aftereffects. When I say the “package”, this includes the sound effects, spot sounds and music. From what I observed whilst the audio was playing, I hear a lot of background noise that established the setting of the scene of the interviewee. Rather than a studio-based interview, it was mostly an on-location interview. Here is a more condensed observation of the audio and is also some notes I took during the class discussion:

Story Elements

Focus/Theme: Lobotomy – “The ramifications of a 1940s procedure…”
Hook: Why should you sell it to someone – what makes it interesting”
Plot: His personal journey – looking for whatever he lost.
Setting: Mostly in people’s living space (nursing homes, their own homes)
Conflict/Tensions/Obstacles: Villains in the story – the doctor and the step-mum

Sonic Elements

Narration: Just Howard (the MC), mostly.
Studio Interviews: Nope. Most of the interviewees are old, lobotomised and adds more element/emotion.
In-field/Location Interviews: Yes – similar to the previous point, it adds more realness to the situation and somewhat shows their vulnerability.
Music (Ambient/Diegetic/Non-diegetic): Piano/classical music, peaceful/sad/old/reflective music
SFX: Not much sfx – it would only trivialise the matter and add an almost “cheap” sort of effect
Location/Amos: Sound of the environment

I’ve pretty much reflected on the piece in my introduction so I believe there is no need for further conclusions I presume?

lyreca

lectorial week 10

Posted on 11th May 2017 by macorloncito

I decided to do something very different today and take notes via this platform (aka on this very post itself). So the following you are about to read is a very raw and a real-time approach for Week Ten’s lecture:

Space

creating space – they way we are addressed e.g. in radio studies, it is discussed as if the radio is talking to you
the listener is always in the center of the piece; modes of address is how to position the reader within the space

The Spoken Word

fantastic on media – very real and raw, perhaps it even encapsulates the essence of the person, their story, their voice
there many inflections of the VOICE… you can manipulate it in many ways, play around it, etc
it can cut through so much, including emotions, feelings, etc

Music

too much music in your piece can ruin your message
but music has strong cultural associations and can assist your project
compositional techniques of music is powerful
cultural baggage of music – how do we perceive music???

ACTIVITY: TYPE OF TEXTURES IN THE AUDIO

Example #1: Babies of Colour

Human voices – ‘reading’ voice,
improvisation in the studio,
establishment of the setting (background noise),
fly-on observational,
location interview – location narration

Example #2: Not entirely sure about the title but it relates to War/Enlistment…etc

Narrator – read voice + scripted
Music: Pre-recorded
Archival sound/atmospheric sound/SFX

It was interesting and definitely a privilege to get insight from Ms Brettle’s experience with radio and being a specialist in audio! There were new terms I’ve learned including archival sound, atmospheric sound and so much more. Other than that, all I can say about Week Ten’s lectorial was that it was uncomfortably stuffy and hot in that lecture room. That’s all.

lyreca

the workshop for this week #9

Posted on 7th May 2017 by macorloncito

Everyone entered the room with a somewhat anxious gut feeling, mainly because it was time to pick out the groups. I’ll be honest but I zoned out during the discussion so I don’t even remember what Liam and the class was talking about in detail. However, I’d still like to list down my vague recollections of week nine’s workshop:

the collaborative contract template
the project brief for assignment #4
what an annotated bibliography is
what is a SWOT analysis? personal experience: i did business in like year 10 and psychology in VCE lmao so I do have a fair knowledge of how to use a swot analysis
and how to use a zoom hand recorder H2N

What I actually want to focus on this blog post is the group aspect of the workshop: meeting our group members. We decided with the old-fashioned “picking out from the hat” method. I low-key preferred this method rather than choosing our own group members because it enables us to expand our horizons and let’s us get to know new people! And it actually worked quite well in my case because I got paired up with the people all the way on the other side of the room – people I’ve never had a social interaction with.

Now, the beginning of our collaboration was getting to know the H2N recorder. It’s so complicated for a mic recorder and I’m actually not sure why it has to be? In comparison to the Sony MC50, this microphone was hard to get around I was fortunate enough to be paired with someone who has had experience with it (shoutout to Izzy!). We went out to the hustle and bustle of Swanston St and recorded all sorts of things for the activity – from trams to interviews, we wanted to encapsulate our experience at RMIT! I’d say overall that it was a good teamwork as a starter despite the absence of our other group mate.

lyreca 🐹

the lectorial for this week #9

Posted on 7th May 2017 by macorloncito

I was actually planning to merge the reading and lectorial post together but i realised that the topics discussed were so vastly different. Let’s talk collaboration. We had a guest speaker this week and I’d like to deeply apologising for forgetting her name but she is definitely a familiar face. Here are some notes I wrote down and took to very serious consideration:

Employers are looking for people who “like working collaboratively and enjoy working as part of a team” This is very true for ALL industries. You’re bound to work with other people no matter what job you undertake – two heads are better than one after all and one person can’t single-handedly operate a whole organisation.
Careers in media mainly consist of collaborative jobs – it is a BASELINE skill set. This should already be a preconceived notion if you are in any way interested in entering the field of Media. Massive productions require people of different abilities and talents in order to produce whatever is needed to be produced. This does not only apply to movie productions but also as radio stations, publications, etc.

(Source)

Here is a lame stock image of what “TEAMWORK” looks like!.In a perfect world, all teamwork would look like this – smiles and mutual agreement with one another. But in a REAL world, everything has its pros and cons:

PROS

Having a good leader, feedback – making ideas better, spreading the workload, teaching each other things

CONS

Having a ‘dictator’ in the group, creative differences, lazy team members, conflict, project lacks unity or eventually dies because of no ownership

No matter what group you may be placed in, whether it’s with your friends or not, everyone is going to encounter situations mentioned above. As a part-time perfectionist, I try my best to stick with the pros of teamwork but alas, not everyone is a perfectionist. What you can only do to manage and cope with collaboration is having experience. I guess that’s why universities are big on teamwork, huh? That’s really all I can say and reflect about teamwork. Inside and outside of education, we are constantly interacting with different people of different walks of life and to me, that is what collaboration is about.

lyreca, 2017

👩‍👦‍👦 <– a team!

the reading for this week #9

Posted on 7th May 2017 by macorloncito

For those who were too lazy to read the reading (TL;DR lmao) it was basically about the failure of MEDIA LITERACY doing its job. And what is its job, you ask?

It’s

critically asking who is publishing the content
whether the venue is respectable
and biases the author may have

One example I’d like to talk about is one of the most recent event – the United Airlines “incident” involving a POC (Person of Colour) and the police. For those who have been keeping up with the recent news over the past five years, racial issues have rose significantly in several media outlets with headlines of police brutality and their abuse of power. The combination of a POC getting harmed by the police was enough to spark several news outlets reporting about it. Some sympathise for the victim whilst others decided to demonise the victim (maybe because he was Asian? there could be many reasons for that but I believe it was because he was a POC).

Now you see where I’m heading with this, right? News outlets have the power to expose the stakeholders but it is out job as an audience to detect the favouritism of media, I suppose. Otherwise, I can’t say too much about news agencies because I don’t know what goes beyond their mindset and motives.

lyreca

Lyreca's blog

My media experience from 2017–onwards

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a written reflection of 800 words

the final lectorial #12

lectorial 11

workshop number ten

lectorial week 10

the reading for this week #9