Project 3 Assessment

During today’s lecture we looked over our next assessment, Project Brief 3. In this assessment we complete a portrait of somebody else, similar to what we did in the previous projects but turning the camera out to capture another individual. I’ve been looking at interviewing my friend Lucas so I did a mind-map of things I could ask him about in this video. These include his punk history, his deep spiritual beliefs, his move to Melbourne, his fortune-telling ability, and his celibate lifestyle. Below is my mind-map.

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And here’s a picture of my chosen subject in all his dignified glory.

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Media 1, Project 2, Written Reflection

In this video I was attempting to communicate my self-portrait in sombre reflection.
My soundtrack is compiled of four audio tracks, representing different aspects of my personality. The shoes on the pavement provide a rough beat while giving the impression that I wear heels which implies femininity. The humming is my own voice and a melody I developed for this piece. The tune and repetition add a mood of contemplation, it also shows my musical pursuits. The other vocal track is two tracks cut together – I was merely thinking out-loud into my phone’s recording device and edited together relevant thoughts. The dialogue is about returning to my hometown and family. The purpose of the soundtrack is to contrast the video; it is quiet, reflective, personal and about my background.
In juxtaposition to these – the videos are of my share-house and the aftermath of a recent party. The final shot (which begins with a slow zoom out from a dark-haired doll marked with a lipstick anti-cross) is self-referential – it’s destructive, disembodied, and surrounded by party remnants. My friends, my current home, socialising and my party lifestyle are all intrinsic to my sense of self. But this is in contrast to the part of my personality which requires solitude, identification with family, and self-reflection. The video is in effect showing two waring sides of myself, in addition to how my lifestyle is an issue of contention within my family.
The title and opening photographs demonstrate this in an abstract way. The skin represents intimacy – and the marks are all remnants from my social life. The tattoos in the 1st and 3rd photographs were done by friends at parties. So to was the “ALL IS HELL” ink in the 2nd photograph. The lipstick on my boyfriend’s hand is because he is a constant in both my social life and intimate life. Though I’d say these photographs did not show clear enough meaning and therefore are my least successful media component.
Overall my Marks On Skin video is give insight and significance into important but contrasting parts of my life.

Week 4

This is the aspect of this recent assignment I am most proud of. It’s four audio tracks edited together on garage-band. It took me quite a long time to create and polish.
It includes a sample of myself walking in heels, and at parts this audio included very loud wind noise and passing cars. Though this added an element of distortion which I liked at first, when I layered the other tracks these noises overwhelmed the quiet voice.
The other tracks are myself humming a melody I wrote for this assignment in my bedroom, recorded in my bedroom on my phones audio clips function.
The final tracks are train-of-thought one-sided dialogue. I recorded different segments of my voice and edited them together at points I thought was communicative and over-arching.
I’m quite proud of the overall result, and think it adds a sombre ambience to the piece.

Week 3

I found this tutorial very frustrating. For an aggravatingly long time I was trying to import my found footage into iMovie. Much to my dismay I couldn’t import it after such a long period of time, and gave up in anger. However, with my dear friend and housemate’s help I was finally able to import it into iMovie with an undignified amount of joy.
Here’s a screenshot of it imported at last.

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Project 1 Components of Media

Through my choices of content I believe I have quite accurately given insight into my life through this multi-media collage of a self portrait.

1. My two audio clips are the processes of song-writing I go through when creating a work. They’re both very rough and in the early stages of writing – without accompaniment or effects and in the space of my bedroom. Apologies but I haven’t put these on my blog because I don’t like to publish my music in a public domain before it is completely finished.

2. My fifty words of text are all messages I sent to friends in the past few weeks. It shows my self-deprecating nature, passionate love of food and contradictory relationship to socialising.

3. My four photographic images show my personal aesthetic and interests. The first image is a photograph of a hand-cut collage I made as a present for my niece’s first Christmas. The colours here and in my other pictorial media show my penchant for overt-femininity. My second photo is candidly of my bedside table (quite self explanatory). The third is of some equipment I use to make jewellery, another pursuit of mine, and the violence of the nail through the dinosaur toy shows my dark sense of humour. And the final image is my copy of the book ‘Science Of The X-Files’ – simply because I really like the X-Files and equate my sexual awakening with crushing on David Duchovny as a preteen.

5. My first video is a composite of objects around my bedroom. I chose to have no sound in the clip because I wanted to focus on the individual items, the reiteration of colour and line and the contrast between the front-on and aerial perspectives. There’s an aerial shot of myself in the final frame, but I blend in with my surroundings and it reinforces my being at one within this space.
The second piece of video is of my friends at an out-of-hand party where everybody got tattoos. My friends (especially the ones featured in this clip) make a valuable contribution to my self portrait because they have influenced and supported me. There is no better reflection of myself than my closest friends. The speed of the cuts and the quick changes in music are reflective of the snowballing nonsense. Also the background music indicates my taste; Elvis, Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra, Donna Summer, The Gun Club, The Velvet Underground etc.

Self Portrait Text

Text Messages From Me:

“Come round. Bring snacks. I ate but want to eat more and justify my gluttony with company.”

“The party’s still going downstairs but lol I’m eating in bed. OH MY GOD WHAT PIZZA DID YOU GET?”

“The only person that calls me is the delivery guy when he can’t find my house.”