Unfortunately due to Kim’s absence and an ill-timed medical appointment I missed out on a whole week of GOITWADGT (yeah, I have to think of a better acronym . . .). Thursday we were due to present our video essays to the group for reflections and feedback so obviously I’ll be doing mine in class on Tuesday (remembering to bring my dice of course!).  But what with newfangled gadgets these days such as the interwebs I’m fortunate to be able to catch up on some of the others’ essays on their blogs (those who have posted them, anyway). I’ve included some below so you can see just how good my classmates are; I’m reluctant to show you how outshined I am but it’s fantastic to have such skilled and creative people around me to give feedback and push me to produce the best work I can.

Dan’s video essay on Birrarung Marr (the Yarra)

In a more recent post Dan was really critical of this piece, saying that it wasn’t technically or creatively up to scratch. I think he’s being quite harsh on himself. While the ‘argument’ or ‘discourse’ of his essay isn’t necessarily as clear as it could be, I understand the general message he’s trying to convey (the dangers of the over-development and urbanisation of the area) and I think this is aided by a dramatic tone throughout the film. I think his editing is quite successful – it’s pacy and synchronised with the music which gives the whole film a foreboding, rhythmic feel that’s really effective.

Fab’s essay on the Camberwell Markets

I think Fab really nailed the concept of an essay film – structurally and aesthetically it’s very similar to the stuff we looked at in class, with her voice and perspective guiding us through the film. Aesthetically I really liked it; I’ve looked at some of Fab’s photography on her blog and admired it, particularly with the interesting subject matter that is the Camberwell Market, and I think she’s used her eye for framing well in this film. I find it interesting that she went with the theme of nostalgia as a starting point, rather than going straight to discussing the market; I think that was a really novel approach to looking at it and I wonder how much that will form a part of her final project.

Okay, so I actually couldn’t find any others – only about half the class’s blogs are linked on our homepage and most of them haven’t uploaded their essays to their blogs. Which I totally understand – it can be hard to surrender your work up to being viewable by the rest of the world (including creepy classmates like me who stalk your work wearing a pink dressing gown and listening to jazz on a Sunday morning). But I’m glad I got to see these two and hopefully on Tuesday there will be a few others still to present so I can see more of my classmates’ work and get a sense of where they’re all heading for their final projects.