Please READ ALL of this to the end and take the time to digest it – apologies for the length but it is all relevant.

Some things to note:

Any questions about particular studios should be sent in the first instance to Studio Co-Coordinators:
Brian Morris,  brian.morris@rmit.edu.au &
Paul Ritchard paul.ritchard@rmit.edu.au

[no, you haven’t missed it … the ballot link is coming … ]]

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE CONTACTING US SAYING YOU ‘DON’T HAVE PERMISSION TO ACCESS THE BALLOT FORM’
You must submit your response from/while logged in to  YOUR RMIT email account:

>>>THIS IS THE LINK TO BALLOT FORM where you should enter your preferences.

KEY DATES

• • Wed 5 Feb – Students advised of their studio allocations including class days and times [these will be automatically entered in your myTimetable]
  • Mon (5pm) 10 Feb – Timetable preferencing for your other courses closes (note that this system is not ‘first in, first served’ either)
  • Mon 17 Feb – myTimetable re-opens for adjustment/re-allocation of your other courses (studio changes not permitted)
  • Mon 2 Mar – semester one classes begin

**Do not fill in any preferences/times etc for your Media 3 or Media 5 course in myTimetable preferencing at any stage** – these will be pre-filled for you after that initial timetable system preferencing period finishes on 10 February.

Thanks for reading to the end!

UPDATE: GO HERE for description book and ballot form.

 

Allocation to media studios is determined by a balloting process for each semester in which students nominate their top three choices from a much wider range after reading the studio descriptions booklet.

These are the relevant dates for this process for semester one allocations next year:

• Fri 24 Jan – Studio Description Book sent/available and Ballot opens
• Fri 31 Jan (11.59pm) – Ballot closes
• Wed 5 Feb – Students advised of there studio allocations [these will be automatically entered in your myTimetable]
• Mon (5pm) 10 Feb – Timetable preferencing for your other courses closes
• Mon 17 Feb – myTimetable re-opens for adjustment/re-allocation of your other courses (studio changes not permitted)
• Mon 2 Mar – semester one classes begin

Communication about the ballot will be via student email but also posted to http://www.mediafactory.org.au/studios/.

Balloting will only be accepted for correctly enrolled students.

Any students in China at the time of the ballot who are unable to access the ballot form link due to internet restrictions may email me during the ballot period with their preferences.

Wishing you a happy and safe break from your studies and look forward to seeing you all next year in the studios.

Here is the Allocation list for semester 2 media studios and here is the Timetable_Media Studios Sem 2 2019_3 Jul (updated ).

You should now enter or adjust your myTimetable preferences before next Monday (1/7) at 5pm.

*PLEASE DON’T ENTER OR ATTEMPT TO CHANGE YOUR MEDIA 2/MEDIA 4 (STUDIO) TIMES*as these will automatically be entered for you. Don’t click, change, touch or think about them – please. They will automatically entered for you.

For all your other courses where you can preference classes make sure you don’t pick times that clash with your two studio classes (as per the timetable you can download in this post).

If there is still a clash with a context lecture/screening or an elective course you will need to change the other course (your core Media course, aka the studio, is first priority – it is a BComm Media degree you’re studying for … ). Often you can take those other courses in a different semester.

We’d appreciate if don’t write asking for a change of studio because you don’t think it is the right one for you – the allocation doesn’t/can’t work like that. We allocate as fairly as we can based on what we get in terms of preferences and its a complicated beast – but it works pretty well overall in terms of the feedback we’ve had

. All the studios are wonderful. They offer lots of opportunities to pursue work and ideas that interest you within their specific frame. This degree gives so much more choice than any comparative Media production degree in Australia – keep that in perspective.

Here is the Media Studios Book Sem 2 2019 link again.

Happy studio-ing

Thanks

Brian Morris

Paul Ritchard

(Studio Co-Coordinators)

Please read all of this and take the time to digest it – apologies for the length but it is all relevant.

Some things to note:

Any questions about particular studios should be sent in the first instance to Studio Co-Coordination, Brian Morris,  brian.morris@rmit.edu.au

[no, you haven’t missed it … the ballot link is coming … but first …]

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE CONTACTING US SAYING YOU ‘DON’T HAVE PERMISSION TO ACCESS THE BALLOT FORM’
You must submit your response from YOUR RMIT google account:
The easiest way is to log into your RMIT google drive. We’d suggest having one browser (eg Chrome) for your RMIT email and google drive and another (eg Firefox or Safari) for your personal stuff. You may need to log out of your other personal google accounts before logging in to your RMIT google drive.

>>>THIS IS THE LINK TO THE BALLOT FORM where you should enter your preferences.

KEY DATES

• • Studio descriptions released:  Wed 5pm, 12 June
  • Studio ballot is open:  Thurs, 13 June – Wed 19 June, 11.59pm
  • Allocations released:  Mon 5pm, 24 June

TIMETABLE – preferencing for second semester is open from 19 June – 01 July  [Semester 2 begins Mon, 22 July]. It is not ‘first in, first served’.

**Do not fill in any preferences/times etc for your Media 2 or Media 4 course in Timetable preferencing at any stage** – these will be pre-filled for you by us/timetabling after that initial preferencing period finishes on 01 July.

->Just make sure you enter preference times for Story, Place and Media and your context course that do not clash with your allocated studio – once notified on 24 June.

(*And a reminder for students new to studios, the studio *is* your Media 2 or Media 4 class for the semester – there isn’t anything extra. You will just have the two scheduled classes each week for the studio. For your information, here is a copy of the semester 2 studio timetable (still subject to change) for semester 2. It might not be obvious but we definitely don’t allocate students according to their timetable preferences).

One final, FINAL thing – the streaming of studios:

This semester we’re beginning to implement a process by which the studios are badged in the descriptions as belonging to one of three streams: craft, community, conceptual.

It builds on our recognition of patterns of past studios in terms of their orientations to production, media studies etc; staff discussions about what approaches characterise the BComm Media; and student feedback and requests to do something similar to this in terms of signalling what kind of studio they are preferencing.

Here are some initial parameters which will obviously evolve as we iterate.

• craft  – studios that have the exploration of a specific media form, genre or set of making techniques at their heart (though they still draw on appropriate theories – practice-based and scholarly to drive that making)
• community – any studio involved in a partnership with an organisation external to the University; any studio involving a collaboration with another program at RMIT
• conceptual – have a strong emphasis on concepts/ideas which drive the making in the studio: often in these studios students will have quite a degree of choice in the media form that they can explore those concepts through

This is a transitional semester for the streaming. We’re moving eventually to a system where we may require students to take at least one studio from each stream. But we won’t be making that compulsory for current students. 

Happy reading and preferencing. Thanks for reading to the end!

This only applies to students who will be enrolled in Media 2 and Media 4 . (If you are going in to Media 6 you’re doing something different to a studio in your final Media ‘capstone’ course).

• • Studio descriptions released:  Wed 5pm, 12 June
  • Studio ballot is open:  Thurs midday, 13 June – Wed 19 June, 11.59pm
  • Allocations released:  Mon 5pm, 24 June

TIMETABLE – preferencing is open from 19 June – 01 July  [Semester 2 begins Mon, 22 July]

Do not fill in any preferences/times etc for your Media 2 or Media 4 course in Timetable preferencing – these will be pre-filled for you after that initial preferencing period finishes. Just make sure you enter preference times for Story, Place and Media and your context course that do not clash with your allocated studio (once notified).

**NOTE – the Studio Ballot and University Timetable Preference system are not ‘first in, first served’.**

The studio ballot form will be available at this website on the day it opens. You will need to be logged in to your rmit email/google account and logged out of any other google accounts to have permission to access it.

REMINDERS and NOTIFICATIONS will be posted on this site as well as sent to your student email (though that depends on you being correctly and currently enrolled in Media 2 and Media 4 for semester 2).

Inquiries to the Studio Co-Coordinators – Brian Morris and Paul Ritchard.

Here are the studio ALLOCATIONS and here is the studio TIMETABLE.

You should now enter or adjust your myTimetable preferences before next Monday (11/2) at 5pm.

PLEASE DON’T ENTER OR ATTEMPT TO CHANGE YOUR MEDIA 3/MEDIA 5 (STUDIO) TIMES – these will automatically be entered for you.

For all your other courses where you can preference classes make sure you don’t pick times that clash with your two studio classes (as per the timetable you can download in this post).

Before anyone contacts me about wanting to change or clashes with context or elective courses please read the FAQs.

Thanks

Brian Morris (Studio Coordinator)

PLEASE read this FAQ before reading Pitch Book and submitting choices to Ballot
Most notably point 3 in How Does the Ballot Work:
You will get to complete more than one studio in your degree. Don’t feel that there is only one studio for you. Be open to being surprised about what you might enjoy and benefit learning about. You can’t guess everything that is coming from a course title, description and outline. Value diversity in your degree experience as much as specialisation (just like employers do)

Please Note
We reserve the right not to allocate students to new studios led by staff who have taught them in a studio before.
If a studio is similar to one you’ve done before than it is advisable not to nominate it as a preference. Variety is important for everyone.

Here is the Sem 1 2019 PITCH BOOK.

If you have a query about a particular studio email brian.morris@rmit.edu.au and I will forward it on.

PLEASE READ BELOW BEFORE CONTACTING US SAYING YOU DON’T HAVE PERMISSION
You must submit your response from YOUR google account:
You need to be in your RMIT account to access the ballot. The easiest way is to log into your RMIT google drive. Also, I would suggest having one browser (eg Chrome) for your RMIT email and google drive and another (eg Firefox or Safari) for your personal stuff.

If you still have problems with the ballot please contact us and we’ll enter it in for you – do not get another student to do it.

This is the BALLOT link where you should enter your preferences.

 

KEY DATES

• 24 Jan – Studio Pitch Book and Ballot opened
• 1 Feb – Ballot closes
• 6 Feb – Studio Allocations published
• 29 Jan (9am)  – 5pm, 11 Feb (5pm) – myTimetable opens for preferences
• 12-19 Feb – RMIT allocation
• 20 Feb -18 Mar – Review and Adjust your timetable
• 4 Mar – Semester 1 classes begin

 

Semester 2 2018 Media Studios

ENTANGLED MEDIA
EVERYONE’S A CRITIC
IT’S NOT ROCKET SURGERY
LIGHTS, CAMERA, (INTER)ACTION
MATERIAL CHOREOGRAPHIES
SCREEN AND SENSATION
SEEING THE UNSEEN V2
SONIC MATERIALITIES
THE NEWS IS A JOKE
THE SCENE IN CINEMA
SMALL THINGS
UNTOLD STORIES: PEOPLE, PLACES & OPEN SPACES
WITNESS

Studio Descriptions Booklet | Sem 2 2018

__________________________________________________________________________

Studio outputs and reflections below:

ENTANGLED MEDIA
 site
An exploration of storytelling using multiple modalities

WHAT THE STUDIO ACHIEVED Students began to develop a critical appreciation of the affordances of various kinds of media — digital and otherwise — and how they might be used together in an entanglement to explore questions both about media making and about larger cultural, social and environmental issues. They developed an iterative media making practice that found patterns in and responded to the research they undertook about their chosen issues and objects; to the limitations/affordances of forms and physical spaces; and to the ideas and work of their peers. The work culminated in an exhibition around a theme, which emerged from the semester’s work: ‘dis/entanglement of the self’.

STUDIO PROMPTS How might we craft stories that weave in various modalities — sound, vision, text — to see connections in new ways?
How might entangled media storytelling help us tell new kinds of stories in the face of massive changes like the Anthropocene?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO  To begin to develop a critical appreciation of the affordances of different media and how they might be used in conversation with one another. To begin to develop an understanding of how different kinds of entangled media might be used in different contexts; to tell different kinds of stories. To develop a practice of collecting material through various media towards a question or story, noticing patterns as they appear, and crafting larger media work with those patterns.

__________________________________________________________________________

EVERYONE’S A CRITIC
Criticism, expertise and cultural value

HEAR ME OUT – click to see zine

STUDIO PROMPT
What is criticism and how does it differ from other kinds of writing?
What is the role of the critic in contemporary culture?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To investigate and interrogate the particularly of criticism as a form of writing. To develop a portfolio of critical reviews in different media. To develop a nuanced understanding of the role of the critic in contemporary culture. To reflect on your own voice and persona as an emerging critic.

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________

IT’S NOT ROCKET SURGERY site
Communicating complex ideas

STUDIO PROMPT
What are the challenges and creative possibilities in communicating complex ideas, scientific processes, or philosophical concepts to online video audiences?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To understand what might constitute high-quality content in this context. To collaborate with experts in other fields, in a dynamic situation where your own media production skills are an integral element. To explore and reflect on the political, ethical, and philosophical implications of these type of communication processes.

 

 

 

 

 

________________________________________________________________________

LIGHTS, CAMERA, (INTER)ACTION site
Exploring the creation of interactive media art with sound and video

WHAT THE STUDIO ACHIEVED
This has been Lights, Camera (Inter)action’s first run in the Studios program, and the semester began with an ambitious brief: for students to become conversant in the Max programming environment, to enable experiments in communicating and interacting with audiences through visual, sonic, tactile, gestural, and textual methods.

Working as individuals and as collaborators a delightful variety of work was made, diverse in form – interactive installation works, stories, games, instruments, and puzzles – and diverse in tone and content – some light, fun, and comical; some mysterious, challenging, and thought provoking.

 

 

 

STUDIO PROMPT
What experiences can we create when we invite the audience to affect the things we make in real time? What is the role of the audience in making the meaning of what they see and hear; in both traditional, static forms, and using responsive technologies? How do we create work for unpredictable results?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To develop the skills necessary to create interactive media art, using the Max visual programming environment. To experiment with making connections between various media, on technical and conceptual levels. To experiment with methods of user interaction and control. To explore audience agency as a domain of creativity.

__________________________________________________________________________

MATERIAL CHOREOGRAPHIES
Figuring bodies, animating words

AIMS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE STUDIO

To explore various ways language figures in the process and production of moving image works.

We worked with language in all ways apart from writing the classic screenplay. We adapted poems, we wrote stories, we read for inspiration and we talked at length!

We then made works and played around with how words might sit alongside the works. How can language open up meaning rather than limit or determine the kind of ‘reading’ or experience audiences might have with the work?

We wrote responses to the works in the form of poems, stories, critical pieces, creative pieces. And then we sometimes made other works based on these responses in a circular and iterative practice model.

“I met more challenges than I expected and overcame the challenges that I did expect, which were terrifying. I was given the opportunity to develop in myself and experiment with mediums and concepts that were truly new to me.”

“I’ve really changed since the start of this course, so much has happened: I made my first experimental film; then I made three more, I learnt about how a screen can mean more than you think; like literally, a screen can also mean the absence of a screen which was weird”

To work outside of dominant frameworks of writing for screen and making screen works from scripts.

We used a range of prompts for inspiration, focussing mainly on material practices. We thought about how bodies move within the frame; how live bodies and moving images interact in live performance spaces; we played with texture, light, movement and sound as our compositional tools.

“Rather than fixating on a material outcome, we were challenged to truly inhabit the process of creating itself.”

To investigate the potential of cross-disciplinary collaborations.

Each brief completed by the students was done in a group with a mix of creative writing students and media students. We reflected on the nature of the collaborations after each brief and what each discipline brings to the team.

“The Milestone Briefs were abstract, they were purposefully complex and focused on the exploratory. This made collaboration not only necessary but vital in understanding what the briefs were asking.”

“The process had become so immersive I hadn’t realized we were lost in it together.

The briefs required our participation, our different expertise and every perspective eye on the minute details.”

__________________________________________________________________________

SCREEN AND SENSATION site
Experimental screen production

WHAT THE STUDIO ACHIEVED
During Screen and Sensation 2018 students were tasked with individually working on two film projects across the 12 weeks of semester. During this process, through screenings, discussions, experiments in video making and critique we honed various research topics, areas of interest and pursued technique and craft. Students focussed on a wide variety of topics ranging from dance on film to expressionism, psychoanalysis and horror. Tokusatsu (live action drama making heavy use of special effects – think Power Rangers) even made an appearance alongside genre explorations into mumblecore and ‘clapter’ comedy. In this studio the freedom to play and pursue interests was balanced by rigorous technical tasks and deadlines and the requirement that you stand up and articulate your ideas to the group through presentation and pitching – an essential and foundational skill for young media makers.

STUDIO PROMPT
How do we translate our motivations and inspiration into exciting and engaging screen experiences?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To develop the core production competencies in both individual and collaborative contexts To develop an understanding of the filmmaking process from story conception to edit To explore the possibilities, constraints and challenges of short and experimental film aesthetics.

__________________________________________________________________________

SEEING THE UNSEEN V2 site
Noticing the world with media

WHAT THE STUDIO ACHIEVED
In the Seeing the Unseen V2 studio, students developed research projects in response to a series of prompt words brought up in the key readings throughout the semester: lingering, vanishing, encountering, wondering, tuning, and priming. In response to these prompts, students iteratively produced a project and found experimental forms to invite viewers to attentively notice the environments within their work. The projects made included: experimental short films, video collages, interactive Instagram accounts, and online interactive films. From making these projects students developed an experimental way of making audiovisual nonfiction, alongside an understanding of how these works may draw attention to some of the complex relationships which commonly go unseen in the world around them.

 

Also, a link to a great reflection on the semester as a whole from one of the students.

STUDIO PROMPT
How can media artefacts emerge through practices of attuned noticing?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To grasp noticing as an experimental approach to making media. To explore the creative possibilities of making media outside of traditional linear production methods. To create media artefacts which come closer to performing the complexity of the changing world around us.

__________________________________________________________________________

SMALL THINGS site
The learning of filmmaking inspired by prompts and guided with constraints

WHAT THE STUDIO ACHIEVED
From Tierra – The studio guidelines states this studio is about “the learning of filmmaking inspired by prompts and guided with constraints.” By filming and editing short video clips every week or so, I have gathered this new found knowledge of the technical aspect of media as before coming into this course, I was only familiar with editing and the preproduction stage of the creative process but never the technicality of it. I believe this studio has widened my passion for media and has made me realise what my strengths and weaknesses are and that was by constantly doing diverse projects that focused on specific things, helping me figure it out.

Because of the frequent small video projects we had to make and edit, it allowed me to learn and develop so much as a media practitioner and has made me more interested and passionate about this course. One of the many things I learned is lighting; I’ve never had any experience with setting up lights before but because of this studio, I now know about 3 point lighting and the importance of light set up. Also, part of the process was to cast actors for our final pieces. It was great to learn how to put out a casting call, work with actors.

STUDIO PROMPT
Could a different approach to the learning of filmmaking – Working through a series of projects inspired by prompts and guided by constraints that investigate different facets of film production – elicit better outcomes?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To be able to critically analyse, through the making of film and reflection on that, traditional and industrial production methods. To develop competency in production techniques and to think more expansively in relation to ongoing projects. To incrementally and iteratively design your own method of working.

__________________________________________________________________________

SONIC MATERIALITIES site
Experimental Sound Design

STUDIO PROMPT
How and why do we stratify and symbolise ‘meaningful’ and ‘interfering’ sounds? How can we creatively engage with technology, transduction and spatiality to construct affective audio works for media?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To understand concepts and histories associated with experimental sound design. To explore the implied cultural implications of noise and spatiality and investigate their uses as affective devices in media. To develop skills in composition, recording and sampling with both digital and analogue formats. To employ practical skills in sound design and experimental composition and understand key terms and techniques with audio processing.

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________

THE NEWS IS A JOKE site
The persistence of television comedy news

The News is a Joke Studio examined the popularity and persistence of comedy news programs. In doing so they gained not only a thorough understanding of the production techniques and conventions these shows employ, but the ways these programs use satire and parody to critique news media. Over the course of the semester, the studio pitched, researched, and developed their own comedy news program, titled Early Afternoon, which filmed entirely in the multi-camera studios. The crew of Early Afternoon turned their satirical eye to topics including gambling in sports sponsorship, political climate change, and local council budgetary woes

STUDIO PROMPT
What are the possibilities that comedy news programs offer in terms of public pedagogy, political discourse, and television satire?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To investigate the appeal of television comedy news as a form of entertainment, and how, as a form of television satire, it may contribute and respond to political discourse and social/activist issues. To develop, research, script and produce a series of comedy news segments. To work in and explore the creative potential of the multi-camera television studios.

__________________________________________________________________________

THE SCENE IN CINEMA site
Studies in camera coverage

STUDIO PROMPT
How is a drama scene constructed; and what are the traditions, functional imperatives, and expressive possibilities associated with the terms, “coverage” and “decoupage”?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
For students, engaged in practical work, to pursue original research with a view to developing an appreciation of film craft in cinema history and an informed theoretical perspective. For theory and aspiration to be tempered and informed by practical experience. For film craft itself to provide the tools and impetus for theoretical, and practical, investigation and development.

 

 

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________

UNTOLD STORIES: PEOPLE, PLACES & OPEN SPACES site
A documentary collaboration with Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West

Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West

WHAT THE STUDIO ACHIEVED
Untold Stories: People, Places and Open Spaces fulfilled the aims it set it to achieve and proved to be a rewarding and engaging experience for the students. The semester-long residency and collaboration at Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West resulted in a series of small experimental works using the archives and five major community-based projects around issues of contemporary and historical relevance, which included websites, videos, audio pieces, interactive maps and photography. These were exhibited at the museum in an event opened by the local mayor and attended by friends, family and local community members. The material recorded as well as the final projects have been added to the archives and included a web-page on the museum’s site. This was a great achievement and public visibility of their work was appreciated by both the students and the museum.  

STUDIO PROMPT
What stories are untold, obscured or forgotten? How can we make documentary media that challenges, disrupts and re-energises local sites, people and experiences as important parallels to dominant histories? How can archival material be repurposed to create relationships with the present to communicate ideas and experiences that are polyvocal, immersive and necessary?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO
To learn the skills to make documentary projects; audio, video, installation, bookwork or interactive.
To explore and interrogate the relationship between historical events and current social, political and cultural climates.
To work creatively with an arts institution and produce content for them.

__________________________________________________________________________

WITNESS site
Representing truth, proof and authenticity

STUDIO PROMPT How do we mediate place, historical events and our own memories as we bear witness to the changing conditions of the world?

AIMS OF THE STUDIO To explore documentary practices as tools for testimony and historical witness. To experiment with a range of technologies and platforms including mobile phones, camcorders, internet and 360 degree filmmaking for expressing visual memories of personal knowledge as historical knowledge. To create work and develop and curate an exhibition around a theme.

 

 

 

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________

 

Hi all

This will work for your work attachment. We’ve had many students complete these tours with wonderful results. This is our facebook group to share experiences

Get into it!

Below is a program summary and link for more information.

Actuality Media leads global experiential education programs for people who want to tell stories that matter. Our students travel around the world to learn and practice the art of nonfiction storytelling. On each trip, students produce documentaries that feature the work of international changemakers during a month-long outreach. In 2019, Actuality Media is taking student crews to India, Belize and Vietnam. All the program details including behind-the-scenes photos and alumni reviews are at http://actuality.media/outreach.