This is the Word of Rachel

May 13, 2015 — Leave a comment

Thats Life : 13-05-15

After submitting the practice components to Project Brief 3 several weeks ago & now firmly surprising it to the back of my mind while I focus on more pressing matters, I was surprised to receive the feedback / mark for it today.

Having received a grade of 65/100 I was both happy and unsatisfied with the result. My happiness drew from the fact that I had passed the assessment and that other people felt the portrait was palatable. My displeasure drew from the fact that I had poured so much time and effort into the artefact to only receive a grade that I was not happy with…that is not to say that it wasn’t a fair grade, for who am I (as an undergraduate student) to pass such judgment.

The comments received in conjunction with the grade proved to be the most influential part of the assessment and the part that I will draw from in future projects. I feel that Rachel gave an appropriate judgment of the piece, especially in regards to the framing of the shots, as this was one area I was unsure about.

With some reworking and reformatting of ideas, I feel that in a few projects time I will be able to produce a piece that both I and my contemporaries are happy with.

– donandsherri

Baby Got (feed) Back.

April 23, 2015 — Link — Leave a comment

After presenting the Media Portrait for assessment in front of the whole cute, we then had to show it to our select small groups and critique each others work.

The feedback I received from my peers was generally quite positive and reinforced some ideas that I had about the media piece. The only negative aspect that was highlighted about the media artefact was the inaudibility of my Nonnas accents. This is something that I thought to address, however I felt that if I added in subtites to the piece, this would have detracted from the whole feel.

– donandsherri

࿕ That’s Life ࿕

April 22, 2015 — Leave a comment

That’s Life acts to serve as a depiction of the life of my Nonna (Maria Martin).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131862728@N06/sets/72157649792260083/

That’s Life – the media portrait of Maria Martin proved to be a successful attempt at capturing the short, but highly important, part of my Nonna’s life spent inside the Consentration Camps of Nazi Germany.

The first and most successful aspect of That’s Life would have to be the interview process itself. Managing to get Maria to sit down and categorically dissect (probably) the most horrific part of her life, and doing so without taking a break or needing any time to process the vivid imagery was a feat in itself. Having captured nearly 2 hours of footage spanning from her early childhood through to her young adult life, this meant that a lot of editing would be required. The second successful aspect of the portrait came from the successful editing of the original footage to get a media piece worthy of her life.

Contrary to all the positive aspects of That’s Life were, obviously, the negative components. Having come from an audio background, I thought it would be a good idea to cut, edit and mix the audio tracks before touching on the video. This proved highly problematic, as I then had to sync all the video back to the audio to create continuity. An error that I will not likely reproduce in the future.

The practices and procedures that will resonate the most in future media compositions will be proper prior planning, efficient editing skills and a repertoire of poignant questions for the subject of the portrait.

A Portrait Paints 350 Words

April 21, 2015 — Leave a comment

12:17am 21-04-15

This was the time that I finished editing the media for the portrait of Maria Martin.

It only took one week to capture the footage required, edit both the audio and video and add in all the required components to make it flow. This short time span acted as both a positive and negative aspect to the portrait. Having to make judgement calls on cuts so that things could progress meant that time management and editing skills became more succinct; however the overall quality of the media piece may have taken a detrimental blow.

I will be uploading the portrait along with the 350 word reflection later on this evening.

watch this space.

– donandsherri

It’s A Set-Up

April 1, 2015 — Leave a comment

Week 5.

Time is slowing down. Work load is increasing. Urge to kill is rising.

Having navigated the first weeks of the Semester with relative ease, it has now managed to sink its metaphorical teeth in and bite down, hard, on any glimmer of hope that I had about the course being that easy the whole way through. However I find myself oddly excited by the idea of the work that lies in from of me; this may be due to the engagement I have with the course.

Project Brief 3 has been unleashed & in this weeks lecture, Brian has addressed the best ways to prepare for this task at hand & the best ways to perceive the creative process.

Rather than having ourselves as the puppeteers of the whole project, Brian urges us to think of ourselves as a part of a nonhuman collaboration with the mediums. As part of a greater working at hand.

This notion is an interesting one and does seem to hold some compelling arguments on its side, however, in regards to the controlled environment of the media piece I wish to capture, I feel that there is more of a dictatorship occurring than a nonhuman collaboration. I am open to see what unfolds though.

– donandsherri