This week we looked at Editing. Editing is in fact not about fixing things, as the lecturer stated, it is about breaking things up. As editors if we put two shots together, we say that there is a link or similarity between them. Something that when combined creates or enhances the story we are trying to tell.

We cut things out, move things around and make way for new connections our audience to experience.This was a different way to think about editing and I really enjoyed looking at something that I as a media student don’t always stop to admire and look at.

During the lecture I learnt about something called The Kuleshov Effect: The idea that for film editing 1+1 equals 3. Even though we cut up two clips and edit them together, often they can have another meaning and in saying this, the phenomenon highlights the idea that we can find more meaning in an edited sequence than in a single still shot. We were told the story of how in the soviet film makers snuck in old footage to edit together as they could not afford new blank film. It was really cool to understand more of the historic side of film making and editing. This lead on to the next question of the lecture…

Why do we edit? 

As soon as you break footage and cut it up, you begin a creative process. Its to introduce gaps. Generally the wider the gap between footage the more challenging it is to the viewer to see how these video clips are connected. an example of this was a scene shown of an early American Film titled The Great Train robbery clip and a Jessie James film starring Brad Pit. The difference between them -In The great train Robbery, everything was filmed in one shot. In the newer film there were several cuts, and also was examples of slow editing, adding to the suspense. As we discussed the differences in class, Liam talked about how during the early decades of film, a cut generally used to signify the end of a scene. However nowadays there are several cuts in a sequence, and this is generally expected from an audience today. In fact quite ironically, in can make a film quite unique to have limited cuts in today’s world.

Looking at Rhythm and Pace

Another aspect of film that we looked at was editing to Rhythm and Pace. Often this does not always have to coney an absurd amount of meaning and help engage audiences emotionally. Sometimes it can serve as a cue for the pace of the sequence of even the film as a whole. We looked at an example of this in the film Cabaret. In the scene Liza Minelli is performing a high energy, fast paced Jazz number. As the rhythm and beat are heard from the instruments and her singing there are numerous cuts to different angles of Minnelli’s performance. This shows us how music can be a key component in the choices we make as editors. As a scene, the editing to the rhythm of the music was a sharp addition and really made the scene flow.

Editing to establish pace is often something that I have used in the past and has often worked quite well for me, serving as a fun challenge in my amateur skills as an editor. We concluded the first part of the lecture with answering the question. As editors we do what we do to figure out how we can see create meaning from editing together new clips. This lecture reconfirmed to me how important editing is and how much of a difference it can make to ones work if done really well and following patterns and rules in place.

“Blood in the Gutter”

The Reading for this week was less of a reading and more a very long narrated comic strip (and a very cool one at that!). The piece by Scott Mcloud looked at the idea of closure. Closure is when our minds connect, finish or fill in the blanks visually on something that we may only see parts of. This is something we do everyday. It is crucial for our survival and takes several different forms. Some simple such as a cartoon cut off at the waist (we use closure to assume that they do have a body even though we cannot see the lower part of it). Or sometimes a more substantial form, e.g. a circle with two dots and a line = a face.

Comic books are a great example of this. As there is limited use for detailed illustration, we are made to assume or fill in the blanks. This is where the idea of The Gutter comes in. The small area between two panels (little horizontal lines) in a comic strip is referred to as a gutter. There is nothing within it, but it still makes meaning regardless because our brains assume something must be there. This is an article I remember reading part of in my high school media class, yet it was really cool to look through it again and get a better understanding. Here is a little example of closure within a comic. Its also to be noted that this can be used in film and television as well as other types of media 🙂

There are different transitions such as

Moment to moment transitions: e.g blinking. It is slower. These types of transitions where

Action to action: e.g someone picthes the ball, and someone hits it. There is a sense of cause and effect, and an implied order.

Subject to subject: Someone passes the finish lines, then a stopwatch sounds off

Scene to Scene: e.g space and time cutting from Paris, to Milan there is a transition to the different space. Another example being

No secular: No logical connection to anything at all. This creates a different meaning for the viewer

Something that i’ve been interested in talking for the past couple of weeks is the idea of colour in film and what it can do for us as audience members and media makers.

Last year when I was researching the director Wes Anderson for my high school media project, I saw immediately how he often repeated several colour schemes throughout his films and how striking they were visually and in the ways they conveyed meaning.

This lead me to a website discussing a new trend within the film making scene. In the last twenty years or so a trend of the combination of oranges and bluish tones within the Mise en scene of the film has become quite mainstream. Examples include Night at the Museum, Transformers and Step Up:

So, why is this combination to lovely to look at? Well if we have a look at the colour wheel:

We see that Orange and Blue are directly opposite one another and naturally cancel each other out. One represents a warm and the other cool. Which in a film to have that variety of potentially cold characters, but compelling emotional relationships or another representation like this is what we love to experience.

I remember watching Laurence of Arabia for the first time last year and seeing the vast desert scenes with the orange, sandy landscape combined with the light blue desert sky was striking to look at. It was a massive step in film making for a film shot in 1962, and followed the same idea, possibly without meaning to. Blue and Orange, or orange and blue. However you word it, its a trend in colour grading. So for the Future film makers out there take note. Colour, at least for me will decided whether or not to see your movies. That and the story, good looking actors, soundtrack etc. etc. etc.

For this weeks tutorial after uploading our self portraits for project brief 1, we looked at a classmates post of her own self portrait and analysed in in terms of the six De Bono thinking hats. These hats were a way of giving feedback to our classmate about all areas of her project and had different uses per colour.

And to be completely honest, her blog was one of the best and funniest blogs I and my classmates had ever seen. It was really cool to go through and see how she decided to represent herself and the amazing commentary that justified her creative choices. I found the de bono hats to be an effective way of analysing and critiquing someone else’s work. My Tutor talked about how ultimately it is a great skill to have; it improves our work, and gives us the tools to use feedback from others and see how it can be useful to us. For my portrait, this was what I received from others.

Blue: The planning behind the way the Melbourne Central location was included into some of the audio and footage was effective, as it could flow well if edited together.

Green: Creativity wise, maybe instead of drawing or creating pictures of the Panda and the My family stickers, I could have looked at finding other representations such as different objects or metaphors to portray this.

White: There is a diverse range of facts represented in the self portrait.

Yellow: The footage of the Melbourne Central glass roof was very striking to look at, the typing audio was a nice contrast to the train sounds. The visuals felt very well thought out and were fairly simple to connect to the commentary explaining my uses for them

Red: Overall the self portrait was nice to look at and conveyed a sense of family, love and excitement for the future.

Black: Weaknesses or things to be improved upon included, making sure that the footage was all shot in the same way so that the transition between these clips would be smoother in the future. The escalator footage of the hi sign could have been a bit stronger, or at least the reasoning for choosing this as one of the videos.

It was great to have more opinions on my project as I was able to see things from a more objective view.

The second part of the Tute was looking at our first editing technical exercise which I become more and more excited about since we were to start using Premiere Pro. I’ve used premiere Pro for the last few years in my high school media classes and feel really confident in editing things together on that program. This week we were to go out and make little 5-10 second video’s, upload them to a share google drive folder with the rest of the class and make a small haiku film with selected music. This once again was to represent something about us and was the first big collaborative project we have done as a year level. I for one was very excited about it.

Last weeks lecture was really interesting to listen to. From the assigned reading material this week David Gauntlett, “Introduction to Making Media studies” we looked at the evolution of our uses for media and how we are becoming much more interactive than our predecessors so much so that it is changing our definition of it. Brian spoke about how over the past few decades, media early on was created by producers and communicated to consumers who for the most part, were to watch and analyse what that media does for them. For example during the second World War 2 years, the use of different mediums as propaganda for the general public, who watched adverts in the cinema, read messages in the newspapers and listened to them on the radio.

When he spoke about models of media and communication, it immediately reminded me of Communication theories of media influence I had studied in high school. In particular; The Bullet Theory, first created in the 1920’s and 1930’s by The Frankfurt School which suggests that the media is completely influential to audiences and they in turn are completely passive. This theory could generally be supported by examples of propaganda in the 1930’s as consumers did not have the power that they do now to decide the mediums they look to for information. Newspapers, and later television stations were the only technologically advanced areas to dictate what we saw and how we thought.

This brings me to the reading material of the lecture. Gauntlett discusses several statements and quotations from others sources such as the idea that we should no longer look at media as a degree of channels communicating closed messages to its intended audience, but a series of triggers to create, converse, experience and “make things happen”. Nowadays so many more people are creating things and doing so to sometimes simply connect. We have access to social media where someone posts about an issue or idea on their minds. This is publish on a public platform where others can view it (indeed there is still an element of reading and analysing media). The trick is, is that now we can comment what we think of this post. We can share it with others and it can truly inspire us to write a post back, or photograph another representation of an idea. Something that really resonated with me in the lecture was the idea that media flows through and around us. It is everywhere, and sometimes we do not even notice it. After getting some class members perspectives on Brian’s lecture and the readings, he assigned us a little challenge.

We were to form groups and go into a location within the CBD and take photographs and recordings of media that we could find. My group was given the Bourke Street mall, so we started the task. It was quite amazing to step back and see how much media was truly around us, and even at all different levels of eyesight and types of media. There were flags advertising the Melbourne Museum, moving posters on the trams, brand logo’s for each shop on the strip and even graffiti, something that I generally categorise under arty random expression of something, could be classified as media. What was cool to see in shops such as Myer or David Jones was the combination of different mediums into one. For example a video for Myer, including music and text. It seemed when you really looked around, anything with a combination of text, photography, footage or music could be classified as media. Although if can be argued that there can be a negative side to this new side to media creation and use, I think as Gauntlett concluded in his writing that this is the people naturally want to create things, share them with others and create a spark for themselves so maybe if we keep things of our best intentions and sensitivity, there could be a real beauty to where art and media are headed.

    IMG_5811-2b4d18e

For my first media project: I wished to convey the following things,

-I am family orientated

-I love artistic mediums

-I’m really proud of where I came from

-I’m really looking forward to this new part of my life

I feel like I had some good ideas when it came to how I was going to represent certain things about me and was really happy with how my audio came through on Soundcloud.

I thought that some of the images naturally needed explaining which added a little bit of intrigue to my self portrait. Things I would have like to improve upon or change slightly were technical aspects, and time management skills:

-Making sure I held my camera for the same way for each photograph and video so there is consistency.

-Working harder to avoid shaky footage

-Working on the lighting of the photographs

-Planning a more cohesive, connected set of sounds, images, footage etc.

Overall, though I was happy with the final product and thought it represents me quite well.

The Following are my three pieces of audio: 

Audio 1: Was the sound of a Metro worker announcing when a train will be scheduled. This is to convey what I have a terrible sense of time and direction. I heavily rely on announcements and google maps in order to get to places, particularly in the city.

Audio 2: Is the sound of a train pulling up to Melbourne Central. This represents that I take the train in a few days a week into the city and how it has become a more regular mode of transport for me this year.

Audio 3: Is the sound of me typing on my laptop. This sound conveys that I am frequently using technology and interested in it. I also wanted to convey that I frequently enjoy writing and typing my work onto my laptop.

https://soundcloud.com/user-609308610/typing

The Following are my three pieces of Footage: 

The first piece of footage is of the clock in Melbourne Central, as it is opening due to it being 9.00am. I decided to use this clip as I really love vintage pieces, be it jewellery or furniture and thought this was a great example. I also thought the footage of the nuts and bolts of the clock was really lovely to capture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI9OHaLo0dc

The second piece of footage is again in Melbourne Central and is of the large glass ceiling, above the clock. I thought this was really industrial looking and wanted to convey that I am really fascinated my architecture and interior design. Its really interesting seeing how time periods can change through interior design be it of a home or a public building such as this one and how there’s always this cool combination of traditional and modern designs.

The third piece of footage is of an escalator hand rail, and as the escalator was moving I noticed that someone had written “Hi :)” on it with white out. I found it quite funny and wanted to convey that I am often distracted pretty easily, but am also inspired by the world around me.

For my Media Brief 1: My Self Portrait, the Text I have chosen to represent me, is the following joke;

Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine…

A corny joke I know, but for me this type of humour is something that represents the family I am from. I was always raised to laugh at the good and bad moments in life. Humour, be it a Dad joke or a snide witty comment is something that brings my family together. We tend to prefer watching media that is humorous such as Goggle box, Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, or simply Have You Been Paying Attention? Its a life value that is really important to me and has definitely defined me as a person.

Self Portrait Images: 

These are my Images

Image 1 This image is something which represents where I come from. It is my letter box (Number 8 🙂 and the house it belongs to is where I have called home all of my life. It has been where I have become who I am, making several mistakes along the way, but learning quite a lot as well. Home is my safe place, where my family is and where I have worked my hardest, both physically, mentally and emotionally and is a place of great comfort. I grew up in a quiet household with two really hard working parents a fussy cat and some amazing siblings. This photo felt right to use as it also conveys I am from Suburbia, where you are able to fully see the stars when it isn’t cloudy and your neighbours are about two steps either side of your house. I went to Kinder up the road from this letterbox and am so proud to in a small house that has really good bones.

Image 2: This image is a photo of my High school badge that I wore in my final year. It symbolized a chapter of my life that was six incredible years long and was the place that I realised how much I loved media and artistic subjects in general. I was guided by some brilliant media teachers throughout years 10,11 and 12 who helped me understand the basics of media influence, Premiere Pro as well as the Production and Story Elements of Film. During my school life was also where I developed my love of English; both writing and reading texts be it for my studies or in general. This badge also represents somewhere that I have grown up and become an adult, allowing me to embark on this next stage of my journey; University 🙂

Image 3: This image is a picture I drew out of black fine liner of a Panda. The reason I drew this was to convey that my favourite short film is a Film Called “The Panda” By young film maker Jack Wilson Lee. I first saw it screened in the finals of the Top Screen Competition, which is a VCE Media run contest, whereby media students who had created a film from the year before during their studies could submit it to Top Screen and the best films would be shown. Now on Youtube, “The Panda” Follows the story of a semi retired old hero who dons a Panda mask in order to disguise himself, receives a call from his boss, that there is a figure”The Duck Night” to be captured  and a handsome reward involved. I loved this film because visually it was really impressive, the story was intriguing and it made me further enjoy the idea of film making. It has remained a film I look at for inspiration and with high regard as to what can be possible if you work hard at your craft.

Image 4: This image, like the others was taken on my mobile phone camera and it is of the second Harry Potter novels “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”. I wished to convey that this is my favourite book series as when I was much younger, it was the first series that I finished every book from start to finish. I was very much obsessed with these books during my reading of them and this was certainly a factor that has influenced my love of storytelling. These books also taught me a lot about the ideas of conscience and sacrifice, as well as what it can mean to be selfless (even in a highly dramatic, over sensitised sense.) Out of all of the books, my favourites are the 2nd and 7th Books, which I found to be the funniest and most touching towards the end.

Image 5: This image is inspired by the my family stickers that you tend to see on cars where people subtly outline those in their family. For my there are seven members in mine, including myself. My Dad is the Chef and the driving instructor. My Mum is the cleaner, organiser of multiple lives, my eldest brother in the tradie of the family, my middle brother is an app developer and my youngest older Brother is currently studying to be a doctor. I also have a twin sister (who is blonde) and she is currently studying science. In my house people are constantly coming and going but Saturday night roasts are usually what bring most of us back together. As I mentioned earlier in my chosen Text, family is something that is really important to me and we have always been a really supportive, household, something that I have always really appreciated and will continue when I have a family.

Image 6: This image was taken on a Wall in the RMIT city campus. It is of an hourglass and I have chosen it to represent how I love the Musical “Wicked” which derives from The Wizard of Oz, that features an hourglass during the scene when the wicked witch has captured Dorothy. Wicked was one of the first musicals I was lucky enough to see as a kid and watching the live energy and passion of a production like that onstage was the most incredible thing ever. Musicals were what awoke a passion of musical theatre for me and I have been lucky enough to work behind the scenes on school productions as well as going to see bigger ones in Melbourne and overseas.

After beginning my first media one class for the semester with meeting those whom I sat next to and being slowly made to feel enthused by the aspect of lectures, we as a cohort were asked to write down a list of five things that we wanted to improve, learn or be better at in the art of media towards the end of the course and at the end of the degree. So, here’s what I decided on 🙂

At the end of my course I wish to be able to

1. Make a quality short film- because I have tried this before and made one for my high school media project and wish to better my skills to a higher standard.
2.  Have a better knowledge in sound both in pre and post production- As it is generally assumed (and was mentioned by Brian) sound can often be where media makers fall short in their projects often due to a lack of practical knowledge or attention to that area which I am also very guilty of.
3. Be better at editing- This is a general one, just as I wish to be a generally better editor and again raise the standard of my projects and the look of them.
4. .Being more proactive in media making (bettering the skills to approach people and create more unique stories with depth). Basically improving my networking skills.
5. Be better at cameras: operating them, understanding their true capabilities, lenses, shutter speed the works.

At the end of my degree I would like to be able to

1. Be a valuable employee to a media company or another company of some kind.
2. To have a solid work ethic and be able to meet deadlines/ due dates with clear organisation and detail.
3. Have the tools to be able to create media
4. Have a digital CV of work to use
5. To be confident in my abilities as a Graduate bachelor of Media and Communications.

Whilst they are slightly big goals, I know they’ll take time and that is perfectly ok, I’m looking forward to the ride.

Part 2 of the Lesson

After we shared what we had written, everyone in the class was given an article to Read:

“Hyper and Deep Attention: the Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes” By N. Katherine Hayles.

The article delved into two established ways of cognitive thinking Hyper and Deep attention and the ways in which they differ, prove to be advantageous, disadvantageous and useful towards the world of media making. In Layman’s terms, Hyper attention is suggested to be the concept of being able to swap ones attention onto multiple tasks at once. These thinkers adapt far quicker and easier to several “things” going on around them i.e seeking the desire to scroll through Facebook, watch television whilst listening to music.

The Deep Attention thinkers are the opposite to this. Generally preferring to focus on one task at a time, the article comments on the association between this type of thinking and the application of it to the Humanities field. Whilst both have their qualities, within the discussion I had with my classmates, I generally came to the conclusion that I have an uneven combination of the two. As the article looked at the growing trend within the generations Y and Z that Hyper attentive thinking is becoming more common, so much so that educators are considering changing their teaching styles to accommodate it I can happily confess that I do find myself using more than one electronic source of information. And when I’m not, there is a sense of anxiety associated sometimes as though I’m not doing enough or I should be doing more than one thing, which is pretty absurd.

However at the same time, I have found that if I am focusing on one thing, then I am more likely to complete it to a higher standard and with all requirements adhered to. Cognitively working through and focusing on tasks one by one, has always been the most successful way to achieving something, which makes me wonder, if my generation has created a slight issue for itself? It was really interesting to discuss what people thought of each cognitive thinking. I noticed that a lot of people find the hyper way of thinking often to be disruptive and lacking in strong advantage over Deep attentive thinking. Deep thinker will often be able to notice things others do not, or fix mistakes that they don’t pick up. As a film maker or editor this process can generally require such qualities. Whilst it is true that with the world and how we take in media is constantly changing it is natural that we will have to adapt to its quick pace. However at the same time, personally I feel as though it is important to work hard at the deeper thinking side of our brain capabilities. After all, in the words of Ferris Bueller,”If you don’t stop to look around at the world, you could miss it”.

Welcome to your brand new blog at Media Factory .

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

For assistance, visit the edublogs User Guide. (Or come to class.)