Media 1 (2016)

Firstly I want to note the similarities, before I went to the location I expected a busy atmosphere with traffic due to the central location. This expectation ended up becoming reality, there was quite a lot of traffic with a heavy flow of noises that seemed to linger throughout the park despite its size. I’d say the quietest spot in the park was actually the center of the oval (of course this is because there were no matches or practices on at the time). Differences would be that I expected a few more trees then what there were but It was still a nice location in such a central part of Melbourne.

I think in terms of recording data there are obvious similarities like both of us using photography, a difference between the way we recorded would be the shape of the photographs and camera. I used a Panasonic Lumix GH4 and Sarah used an IPhone5s (both of these have pros and cons a main one being convenience and size vs image quality). My photographs were rectangular and Sarah’s were square which also creates a difference perspective when viewing the photographs. Finally in terms of collecting, I also recorded some environmental sounds with a Zoom microphone. It was interesting to note that it wasn’t a main part of Sarah’s observations as it was to mine.

FAR RIGHT: A photograph I took of the flora in Princes Park.

RIGHT: Sarah’s photograph of flora. Very similar macro perspectives.

I think Sarah used a more convenient method (using an iPhone) which is an object that is easy to carry around and pull out when needed- where as I like to shoot most of my university projects with my Panasonic LUMIX GH4 camera. I think this is a personal preference, I know I like to use my camera as the more I practice with it the better I become with it (and there is never enough practice).

In terms of observing the media captured I think we had similar thoughts as stated previously we both had macro (close up) perspectives of the place and we both took images of things that stood out to us.

I think working on this project has given me an understand on the ways of collecting media; finding commonplace was an important part of my collection. I wanted to find patterns and themes that related as well as contrasts. Of course my themes included rubbish in which I collected various forms of rubbish left within the park.
Again as stated in the ‘prompt’ post my inspiration was from Patrick Pounds exhibition and the way he collected media and the interconnecting relationships between those sets of media. Viewing the collecting as a whole creates a whole different meaning than an individual image. In my case viewing all the images of rubbish shows a completely different situation than just a single image. I like that an image verses the collection as a whole can create and change the way we view the media.

‘Reflection’

Reflecting on my series surrounding light, it is interesting to see what aspects of ‘light’ jumped out at me.
I found the more intricate the lighting situation was, the more it played with my mood.  I found a split in a curtain has more meaning than open open curtains themselves as the twinkling lights that go through the gaps created a very predominant feeling of ‘morning’ or ‘dawn’ compared to light  flooding in.

I found the way I collected my images was by reflecting back to my prompt and focusing on ‘light’ and ‘ambiance’.  I learned that in our surroundings, aspects that we aren’t always aware off make great inspiration and are beautiful mise-en-scenes. It’s always good to choose something to notice that you aren’t always aware off to inspire aspects in your work and to build your creative attitude as a whole.

In regards to thinking about final questions, I would wonder if it’s harder to notice more precise themes compared to broader ones. For example instead of just light, setting a more precise theme- light in dark place or abstract shadows. I think finding similarities in precise themes can be more rewarding as it means you’ve been focusing harder.

‘Noticing’

 Similarities, all photos as stated in my prompt focus on ‘light’ and the way it is manipulated in a space.

Notes: Dark, black and white lighting creates a somber mood, almost ominous- I think this is mostly likely due to the lack of color and (over exposed) natural lighting.

Notes: Chiaroscuro lighting early in the morning presents a ‘dawn’ feeling (a freshness to the day), the flags create different shadow lengths which made me feel entertained and happy. I also liked how the light was soft, the filtering of the light through the top and side of the curtain created a very angelic atmosphere.

Notes: I took this photograph due to the colors that were presented through the frosted window, I like how they blended together and no objects could be seen as a whole and rather everything melded. It felt calming the way the colors blended together.

Notes: The warm hues my salt lamp emits always makes me feel calm, relaxed and happy. The way the light glows seems natural and earthy which creates a very neutral mood. Warm light always makes me feel more comfortable than lighting with bluer hues.

‘Prompt’ 

“To notice can be taken to mean the same as ‘to perceive’, even ‘to sense’ in the most general ‘sense’ of that word.”
Mason, John. Researching your own practice: the discipline of noticing, (p.29-38). Lodon, Routledege Falmer, 2001.

Did you really notice, or was it a reconstructed version your mind created after someone prompted you to remember. What is it really to notice? Attention, detail, memory, recollection, to observe- to notice is to be aware.
For myself; noticing and awareness is a daily activity, I believe in meditation- the flow of awareness (both self and environmental). To accept your surroundings and notice objects, sounds and even energies. “Noticing can be sharpened, can be developed and refined” (Mason, John). Yet in this case I will note that meditation is to be one with the present, in regards to continuously noticing and being able to recall various aspects of observation, one must be consistently intertwined with their environment and self.

To inspire us for this first task we were taken to the NGV Ian Potter Center in Federation Square. We were to examine the exhibition “Patrick Pound: The Great Exhibition” and take in an understanding of what caused Pound to compile specific photographs, what were interesting about the photographs as well as other aspects of noticing. As Pound says, ‘to collect is to gather your thoughts through things’.  What I came to terms with at the end of viewing the exhibition was that individuals have similar behaviors through time as well as many photos have interconnecting themes that you may only see if you are spending time and really looking into the photographs. “Objects that are seemingly redundant or overlooked are meticulously collected by the artist and put back into ‘use’ in these museums.”
 After completing the readings on noticing and visiting Patrick pounds exhibition; I wanted to take into account the way we can interpret mood and atmosphere and what evokes a certain ambiance. In pounds exhibition he had a series of photographs that all had one reoccurring theme- light (from lamps, cameras ect).
I want to compile a series of photographs on light that create a certain atmosphere or emotion, especially thinking on the relationship of shadows and chiaroscuro. I think we forget how much lighting plays in the way we feel and it will be interesting to see how lighting in every day settings look when compiled, what stands out and what creates character and why certain ways of lighting create character. To do this I will be taking mainly photographs of different rooms, specifically settings that present a particular mood, potentially how they connect and why they present that particular mood.

Week 11 (Thursday the 18th of May)

Editing in the studios is quite tedious, not the editing itself that’s really easy- but the long hours in an environment that doesn’t allow you to eat, plus sitting down consistently. Honestly I wish I was editing from home and hopefully our group can make a compromise so that we may be able to do this. Booking the studios is another reason why I want to work from home- it’s hard to book them in for long periods of time, especially near the end of term. I don’t want our film to be below standard just because we didn’t have enough time in the editing suites.

I have my own monitor and a second laptop at home, I’m a fast editor with quick turn-arounds and I really enjoy editing late at night, I see it as sort of a hobby even- to wind myself down and relax. I’ve edited a lot at university before, I daily produced a show for RMITV called Offbeat in 2016 which involved a lot of editing and exporting then handing in the content to Channel 31, so I have edited at RMIT and I know the computer systems quite well.

Despite this I still think editing from my own home environment on an external hard-drive makes more sense, as our group can just pass the hard-drive around and everyone can edit at their own pace. This is one of the hardest things about editing in a group; it’s that you all really need to be available at similar times so that you can go over how you’re going to edit the piece. I find this to be a little frustrating.

I know green screening and keying the film so that it looks elegant will take time and I have to say i’m not that excited for it as I’ve been quite unwell and hope I don’t have to spend long hours at university.
Pray that I can edit from home as I’ll be doing the majority of that edit. #pray4tash

Until next time.

Week 8 (Thursday the 27th of April)

We had planned to shoot today but unfortunately there was a change in events that caused us to re-evaluate our shoot date. The fashion student whose garment we were using was involved near a set of house fires that included her residence, this meant that she would be unable to join us at the shoot and wasn’t able to access her garments.
We used this situation to our advantage- we re planned (in detail) what we needed to film, how we were going to film, the locations and times of filming and the models who would be wearing our garments.

Despite the shoot being cancelled, Lisa, Emily and I still turned up to University to have a group discussion- this meant that we were able to film more behind the scenes footage to add to our film, overall this would capture conflict and we would be able to add that into our film to show that creating a visual piece isn’t always as easy as it may appear to be.

Week 7ab (Thursday the 20th of April)

Our pitch was a platform for delivering our unique concept.
You either do something outside the box and fail or do something safe and never grow. I’d rather fail- and so began a good connection with classmates who wanted to experiment with their film work.
We worked hard thinking, collaborating, and building a group relationship as well as a passion towards to our film.

The ideas remain strong with the only aspect we really need to work on is planning- and by this, I mean booking a set/location and scheduling in times for both the actors and ourselves. I think pre-pitch we knew what we wanted to use as a location, we just had some bad luck with booking the studio as it seemed to always clash with another class and was booked out in advance.

Luckily we have overcome ‘this issue which is a really important aspect as it was the main set back. Another setback is that one of the fashion students has had a house fire and was unable to shoot on the 27th of April as we had originally desired. Dispute this Lisa, Emily and I all still arrived at university to discuss and break down step by stop what we were going to do and to make sure everything was well organised as time is always of the essence.

Furthermore, our pitch really gave insight into experimental ways of thinking (in regards to different ways of filming). Camera angles, mise-en-scene (especially props), editing- these so much that you can alter to make something out of the ordinary.

Overall our next shoot date is the 4th of May, we’ve prepared well and hopefully we can see the shoot through with all of our full potential.

Week 6 (Thursday the 6th of April)

Collaboration with Emily, Lisa and Kasia is going well. We’ve been working on our pitch which is almost completed. I’ve been drawing storyboards in order to grasp different concepts we could potentially use. I like to focus on the style of the out fit that the fashion student has provided and incorporate that into the experimental piece in a way that provides a statement for the film.

We want to display emotions and have a piece that provokes a certain atmosphere. One that includes mystery as well as femme or femininity. Lisa has been working on producing whilst Emily and I work upon mise-en-scene and set design as well as cameras, lighting, audio and other gear. Overall we are ready for the page we have a very good understanding of what we want to achieve and I believe idea is quite different it is unique and it won’t necessarily be easy but it will be something that we can look back at and have learned different skills from.

Week 3 (Thursday the 16-17th of March)

Our focus this class was learning about filming techniques, this involved experimenting with the camera and learning it’s settings- a game of trial and error. I’ve already done a lot of filming in my Diploma of Screen and Media so I knew how to use both RMIT’s cameras and the one I want to film with, my Panasonic Lumix GH4. This make the class breezy and relaxing.

Our group Emily, Lisa, Kasia and myself decided we didn’t want to use the footage from the tutorial for our project so scheduled a time to meet outside of the studio so we’d be able to do some more filming- preferably in a more exciting location. We set to meet up in Brunswick street as there is a very certain ‘style’ and feel that emulates from that location. The goal is to create a video for our project that is fun, vibrant and reflects a very ‘chick’ street fashion. I’ll be set to bring my Panasonic whilst Emily is also bringing a camera. Although I am bringing a Video Rode Mic we probably won’t end up using it as the video will be overlayed with music and no audio will be needed. I do know from experience it’s always better to over prepare then under prepare.

Capturing Creativity is a studio that delves into the production of artistry. A summary of this semester reflects on the process of meeting, discussing and collaborating with local Australian Artists who have exhibitions and works within the contemporary art scene. The process of creating our short documentaries began by meeting and discussing ideas with our artists. My artist was Justine Khamara her current exhibition was ‘Stratum’ on at ArtOne mere days from being allocated her name. Of course, this meant that I had to jump into action straight away from receiving her contact details. My first instinct was to ring her up and gain as much biographical knowledge on her as possible so I could paint my own portrait of her lifestyle and art and choose a direction in which to take my documentary. After our initial talk, I created a simple production calendar and timeline in which I aimed to accomplish everything.

As my first shoot was within a short time period I decided to use and equip myself with my own equipment to make the process not only easier but more moveable with just one individual- myself. It really didn’t take long to film Justines hanging, I knew exactly what I wanted to film and how I wanted to portray the art. Her art was minimalistic so I recognized the footage of it would be quite simple, very black and white which is the two shades most predominate within the film. I used this to my advantage and really thought about the stylization of how I would be editing what I was filming whilst filming. My Panasonic LUMIX GH4 was a good choice to use the quality came our amazing and I wasn’t lugging around heavy luggage all day by myself.

Once the filming of the hanging was completed the second part of the filming was more complicated, it included filming Justine for an interview. I wanted to film her in one of RMIT’s studio rooms so that the canvas would be as neutral as possible but many of the studios were hard or unable to be booked. In this instance with the help of my tutor Louise Turley I was able to book a room within Building 9 at RMIT and set the room up accordingly with how I would like it to be. The crew only consisted of Stephonie Yeoh and myself which all in all was more than enough, I was good to have Steph there as she helped carry equipment from Building 8 which was down Bowen street and quite heavy. I loaned out an LED lighting kit and Zoom mic but when I got to the stages of setting up the Microphone I realised the tech desk had forgot to book it in and loan it out to me, as Justine was already arriving I used my Video Pro Road Microphone instead and I believe the audio still came out quite well. In fact, the hardest challenge was editing Justines narration as it wasn’t as fluid as one would have hoped and getting audio that was both descriptive and paced was the main challenge.

If I’m too reflect less on of the physical process and more on the mental learning I found this studio to be really enjoyable, I like how the pace was- It was very independent and we weren’t tied down to doing a particular thing as I could see and note in other studios. It also gave many students the ability to work on their own individual projects placing us in the position of the producer and director. It was also so pleasurable learning about different people’s artistry and many of the local galleries within Melbourne’s scene. I especially liked our trip to Gertrude Contemporary, I hadn’t visited too many contemporary art galleries beforehand but they were definitely something I enjoyed especially after being to MONA in Tasmania (one of the reasons for my interest in this studio). The way students thought was also a positive aspect, there was a lot of debate and discussion (especially on the meaning behind many pieces within contemporary art). It was good to see people passions when working upon their projects. I crewed on Katrina’s shoot which was different, it was interesting to see how her artist had evolved in regards to my own. He was very different especially within his views and values and had a precise way he wanted to be represented which was different from Justine who did not mind and wanted to me to choose my own form and take initiative.

Overall this studio has taught me a lot about my own creativity, It will be sad to have it officially come to an end but I now know what I really enjoy about film making. I enjoy documentary- telling individuals stories, especially editing them and piecing together a narrative. I also really enjoy watching originality form and ideas become reality. I hope in the future that I am able to continue working on projects that have a high form of originality.