Category Archives: LIGHT-BULB MOMENT

Even my dreams are square

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In Michelle Brown’s lecture about resumés, job applications, CVs and cover letters, something clicked for me.

In the past, I had often disregarded the importance of the cover letter for example. The fact that its function serves to give a snapshot of who you are in turn illuminating the rest of the application had been overlooked on my part.

I had another bash at it just as an exercise, not for any particular job application, but just as I said, as an exercise. My aim was to experience the separation of a rocky long term marriage between the cover letter and its better half (the cv), and to experience them as single entities as opposed to pseudo clones of each other. I also wanted to use the word “I” as little as possible which really keeps you on your toes like that game where you can only ask each other questions (Please see the link!)

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-Sx4W2cKlU 

It was interesting to think, how the process became less of an arduous chore and, wait for it… and enjoyable process!

I jumped straight onto my LinkedIn page that kind of looks like a construction site or a mishmash of different rubbish that I’ve done, stupid tweets and a whole bunch of endorsements that don’t seem relevant any more and I began to update.

In deconstructing and then reconstructing their relationship, I became a marriage counsellor’s of voice of reason for this troubled love triangle.

I discovered a way to connect these ir/relevant Linked endorsements, that have been attributed to my work as a performing artist, to my experience in office jobs and, by extension, study.

I never saw this is possible, in fact, I was on the brink of deleting the account, and all the endorsements, and starting afresh. Good thing I didn’t, because these endorsements have been critical to my page’s impact.

Oh and there’s another thing! We were in courage to use buzz words, or action words as Michelle called them. I feel like at this stage, I may have to use them sparingly as I would be loathed to come across to a potential employer as a big shot/hotshot that is both megalomaniacal, and worst still, following a cold square platitudinous template.

‘What an elephant isn’t’

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In a 1991 lecture, actor and comedian John Cleese states that, “I always find that if two (or more) of us throw ideas backwards and forwards I get to more interesting and original places than I could have ever have gotten to on my own”. Although this is a powerful statement, I kind of feel like Cleese is preaching to the converted somehow. It resonated with me far less than other moments in the speech. Though not because I didn’t whole heartedly agree with it, but because I feel as though collaboration is innate. Further, the passage where Cleese describes ‘what an elephant isn’t’ (03:36) took my thinking into far deeper and more interesting places than collaboration.

For instance, collaboration has been the cornerstone of my creative existence! For as long as I can remember, the notion of bouncing ideas off a willing friend or associate has led to some of the biggest accomplishments of my life. Through attending university, team work is as much a prerequisite as it is a necessity, be it academically or socially.

Just this morning, I ran into a buddy and class mate Brydan who roused me from my morning, sleep-with-my-eyes-open-keypad-mash at the RMIT Student Hub. The interaction was social until it soon turned into an invaluable meeting that would significantly enhance my assignment and the way I think about writing character

At the time, a tiny fraction of my brain that was awake was attempting to ascertain why Final Draft was exporting unreadable .sex files as opposed to PDF’s. Brydan offered some advice on the issue and at last! A PDF was produced revealing the first pages of my script. He then asked if he could read it and without hesitation, I handed him my computer so that he could view the page on the screen.

After thoroughly reading my short script, ‘Buddy’ Brydan discovered an important aspect to one of my characters that I hadn’t (and probably wouldn’t have) noticed. Through profiling the character Treehorn’s socio-economic status, we worked out that he was from a wealthier family than first thought. Brydan deduced this by noting that in the script, Treehorn had had a gardener working on his parents property in the past which therefore implies affluence as groundskeepers are costly. Brydan quizzed me on this and as I responded to Brydan’s query, Treehorn changed. Not into a different character, but rather into an enriched version of what I had already created.

And there you have it, through collaboration new layers have formed opening potential pathways for further narrative. But this is just one example of a collaboration! I feel as though collaborations such as this one happen all the time. What I think Cleese is doing well in his lecture, is instilling common sense. I feel as humans, we have an innate urge to collaborate which is possibly why we’re so glued to social media but I digress.

What I found most interesting about Cleese’s lecture was the deduction of what creativity isn’t rather than what it is. “It’s easier to say what creativity isn’t. A bit like the Sculptor, who when asked, how he had sculpted a very fine elephant, explained that he’d taken a big block of marble, and then knocked away all the bits that didn’t look like an elephant”  (03:36). This statement reminded me of the world that conceptual sculptor Rachel Whiteread forms in her exhibitions. Whiteread creates giant plaster casts of empty space. This concept of envisaging negative space, I believe, could allow people to get out of their heads, fret less about the unknown and stay true to the present and in turn themselves.

Though, as I am still exploring the affordances of such existential thought, nay… as I am still baffled with such existential thought, I decided to spare myself the brain-melt and delegate the  excursion to my characters. They can be the ones to explore this, somewhat Cartesian, thought labyrinth like Guinea Pigs that are alive but only on the page. If my character Treehorn applies the thought of negative space, to defuse his disturbing, turbulent, mercurial thoughts to calm the storm that rages within him, perhaps we will be graced with a blissful leitmotif that balances out the story’s overall carnage. Otherwise, there’s just no relief.

Overall, Cleese’s statement has contributed to the expansion of my creative thinking and could potentially influence significant components of the world that I hope to create.

– Cleese, J 1991, A lecture on creativity, https://vimeo.com/18913413//.

– Parry, F 1971, The Shrinking of Treehorn, Holiday House Publishing.

– Whiteread, R (last accessed 23/3/2017) – http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/rachel-whiteread-2319

Indelible Mental Tattoo

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Amy Hanley possesses something that many great artists used to see them through their resounding yet tortured careers; experimentation, fearlessness, freedom of expression, imagination and an oppressive constraint (in this case time).

This audio piece spoke numbers about Amy’s willingness  to try new platforms in media, dissecting 20 minutes of CSI style grilling into a montage of an almost unquantifiable amount of unfinished phrases with a topic theme centred around lies and deception. Interwoven were interjections of low fidelity recordings of Amy’s own voice which was recorded separate, subtly parodying mass media’s urge to create, distort and manipulate the facts to benefit their own cause.
Amy’s piece was about, well… it was a romance, it was a tragedy, a bleeding-heart nostalgic tirade, it was a phyco-analysis, a revelation,  a coming of age, a tribute to McLuhan’s ‘media being the message’ notion, a colossal car chase scene from Kojak, an unrequited duelling banjos challenge, a story about the person you respect the most, a reality you resent, an ode, a eulogy, and a statement of jest and hyperbole… well, at least I hope they was!
This audio montage was an indelible mental tattoo that has given me the courage to embrace true sonic expressionism.

Semester 2 Has Begun!

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Getting straight into the the nuts and bolts of what to expect for the rest of the semester gave me the sense that we should emerge from this leisurely holiday gait and be prepared to hit the ground running.

Our tutor, Kyla Brettle, gave an informative speech on the concept of New Wave Radio, though, being an avid podcast listener, many of the points discussed were not so new to me, however, I had several light-bulb moments relating to the historical topics expressed by Kyla about radio’s progression through the years.

In class, we had the chance to practice our interviewing skills on a Zoom H4 recorder, preparing us for our first assignment. We were asked to buddy up with a fellow class member and interview them about their lives. I got the chance to interview Amy and Jarrod, though, I opted to focus on Amy’s story for the assignment… I didn’t mean to fob Jarrod off but I had already devised an idea for Amy’s self portrait.

Editing The Llamas on Protools

Editing The Llamas on Protools

Dan’ s Final Blog

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In this blog, I will discuss what I feel I have learned, how I learn, the challenges that emerged through the course and what I discovered about my own creative practice.

With the ever expanding digital universe, I feel it is imperative to keep up to date with all IT related mediums. From the moment I began constructing my blog page right up to this minute, I am learning new ways of navigation around online digital platforms. The necessity to remain digitally well groomed has brought upon new organisational skills; for example, Google Drive. This information ‘cloud’ model has opened up new opportunities for me already, for example, I have used Google Drive for other Uni subjects and spread the word to my peers who haven’t yet discovered this resource, and further to this, I now plan to implement it on a future production that I have been considered for.

My learning has also been extended through a conscious effort in calculating my personal media consumption. What this has revealed is that my media intake has evolved through the years, not only because of the available technology at hand, but due to my constant flux in desired platforms; for example, back when Facebook had its explosion in 2009, it was a primary tool for my media receiving and dissemination, but now, FB has receded in importance as my priorities have shifted.

Marshall McLuhan’s work has been a great discovery, since I read a passage in an art reference book about “the media being the message” this lightbulb moment has remained with me as a media metric. This notion is relevant to many contemporary examples and it is a testament to McLuhan’s prophetic foresight.

The way I learn is through repetition and association. Nowadays, I’m normally fine in remembering people’s names as I had struggled with this in the past therefore had to overcame this deficiency. To remember names, I repeat the aural sound of the name and then put an image or separate person to the face. Rhyming words have been useful when recalling names, for example, Mike is the guy who owns the bike, but even if Mike does not have a bike, I endeavour to remember him as ‘the bloke who could benefit from owning a bike’. Through  my time in the Media One course, I have had the opportunity to exercise these methods of learning and memory.

As classes and lectures can feel as though they are running at a breakneck pace sometimes, I often turn to my peers for there views, however I must remain aware that all advice should be received as a subjective remark rather than a factive statement.

I closely follow peer blogs to try to gain a clearer understanding of what was expected, though admittedly, I feel as though I have let this challenge get the better of me, I appreciate having the opportunity to implement this practice but I feel as though I may have fallen behind. It was however refreshing to have lecturer Dan insist that we scrawl a 15 minute stream of consciousness blog in a lectorial. I had conjured up some poignant thoughts about ‘the significants of dust’ though, WordPress (I’ll withhold the profanities that I used at the time) ‘checked-out’… it was an error that, had it been a person, was staring me in the eye with its middle finger raised, all the while blowing me disingenuous kisses. I was lucky to have had empathic friends sitting next to me whose work at some stage in the past had similarly failed to save ending up in a million pieces above the room.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) - Mel Stuart

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) – Mel Stuart

With regard to my own practice, chiefly audio, I have been fascinated by archaeological acousticians Trevor Cox and Rupert Till’s work in uncovering sophisticated acoustic methods employed by prehistorical humans. For me, this was conformation that societal preferences in communicative forms sometimes favoured quality over gratuitous hyperbole.

A Train Trip To Our Ancient Roots (2010)

A Train Trip To Our Ancient Roots (2010)

Spellbound – Stream of Consciousness

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“To paint with a finer brush”, that was something that my acting teacher constantly told us in class. Explore the minute detail in something small and seemingly insignificant, and make it huge for you.  For example, imagine the feel of a blanket that you got when you were a child and see if that brings up any dormant emotions, or think about shaving cream on your skin and how your pours react to it, one could concentrate on the joint of their little finger and feel how it reacts with the surrounding tendons. Now, the lights are up and curtain is drawn so. . . walk on stage and perform!

There is infinite power in the stillness that is produced from heightened concentration in a performer, as the mind is still and blank, the eyes are therefore relaxed the breathing regulated and the person is ultimately calm. The senses are heightened, reactions became honest and the viewer is able to fill in the action void with their own take on what the character is thinking and will eventually do. In relation to the points addressed in Daniel’s lecture, dust seems small and insignificant, however, if one thinks about it, dust holds many things; fibres of fabric, microscopic organisms, flakes of skin, hair, tiny minerals… and if you keep thinking about it, what shape are they? Are they spherical, slate shape, crystal shape, spiky? The variations are immeasurable! So, according to my teacher, after several hours of this sort of heightened concentration, you are now unshakable in front of a camera or a large audience. Having witnessed and experienced this for myself, I have developed a new sensitively for the power of insignificant detritus.

The dust can make you sneeze, the dust can impel you to wipe it off the bookshelf once in a while, but it can also turn a performance inside out and back to front and leave viewers spellbound.

Wordle Is Now In the Lexicon

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Today in class, we were required to report on our  group’s P4 progress, we received very positive feedback giving us confidence that we were on track. One respondent commented on the sound spread of the podcast as it projected through the speakers and Jasmine said I had a nice voice for radio. Naw, shucks folks, I’m speechless.

One  team presented their work which introduced me to a new word, wordle.

It is astonishing just how many words have landing into the ever-growing lexicon that owe their meanings to the constantly advancing digital era. These words have been tried and tested and eventually accepted as terms that are pertinent to our language and communication. Some examples being, the re-branding of the word spam, the annoying security step that is captcha, the quirky, cute and sometimes necessary ditty known as an emoticon – and many many more.

As I have become infatuated with mediums (this is our P4 element) , their uses and their malleable forms, this word wordle  got me thinking about text as a malleable medium.  Text has evolved in new ways that need to be acknowledged otherwise brilliant concepts like wordles will go undiscovered.

 

Wordle is now in the lexicon

Wordle is now in the lexicon

Flow and Heightened Consciousness

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For this week’s reading, we explored the notion of collaboration and enabling conditions that contribute to flow and heightened consciousness within a group.

According to Keith Sawyer, there are 10 enabling conditions that contribute to flow (2007) and, as this notion resonated with me, I thought I’d investigate these 10 points in relation to my experiences.

How could these points be contextualised?

My preterition of specifics in these examples is very deliberate as certain issues may still be in contention.

1 The group’s goal – I had conceptualised a band in 2004 and had few people to work with. Through several audition sessions, I eventually decided on the troupe that I would later work with. However, it eventually became apartment that everyone had different goals and inevitably the group dissolved.

2 Close listening – Is total engagement, blocking out everything that is superfluous to the task. We do this in acting by spending prolonged periods of time before a performance engaging in sensory visualisation and relaxation.

3 Complete concentration –  In music, a progression change in a song can be led by an individual. Every member should be fully engrossed in their task however, it is important that they keep an ear out for the cues that lead the group into the next part of the progression.

4 Being in control – (Being granted autonomy) In a  workplace where I was granted permissions to recruit, train and coach staff autonomously resulted in an efficient and positive team. However, a friend of mine has experienced the opposite whereby the figure in charge micromanages tasks, putting their own mark on my friends work causing frustration and a blockage in the flow.

5 Blending Egos – Skyhooks front man Shirley Strachan said in the 1975 hit album, ‘Ego Is Not a Dirty Word’… and it’s true! Everybody has one but it is not necessarily about big hair, vanity and tight trousers; it is a force that drives humans toward a goal. So when egos blend with the right chemistry & balance, it can result in a powerful collaboration. Having worked in several scenarios where egos were miss-matched, I had become lucidly aware of the importance of ‘blend’; therefore, now when selecting people to work with, not only do I look for talent and poise but I also ensure there is a mutual respect for ideas.

6 Equal Participation – (Personal destruction of a group) An organisation that I had been a part of experienced issues where some staff, despite having the same ranking, were favoured over others giving a large portion less privileges intern causing friction, hindering overall flow and ultimately leading to attrition.

7 Familiarity – (With the craft and each other) Within my course at RMIT, I am slowly learning the language of how things work thus I am understanding how to engage better with fellow students and teachers and the like.

8 Communication – In my current position, I had made a pact with my boss that, in light of my varying situation with uni and family, I would keep him informed of any changes as they arise. This agreement is beneficial for both parties as my boss will be able to plan better and I feel that the company has my back so to speak.

9 Moving it forward – (Keep moving the conversation – listen closely – accept fully – extend and build) An esteemed friend of mine is a talented singer song writer who recently asked me to collaborate on one of her projects. I was of course much obliged and relished the opportunity. The elements to her success were quickly made apparent when, in a creative, brainstorming conversation, nothing was out of the realms of possibility. Any idea put forward by members of the group… no matter how absurd, would be considered. She would listen intensely and respond with, “Let’s go with that and see where it takes us”. The ideas flowed freely and the sessions were brimming with positive morale.

10 The potential for failure – (Prepare) In theatre, we thoroughly explore all the possible things that could go wrong; the most common would be forgetting one’s lines or cues. In this situation an actor should be trained to improvise as close to the intention of the script as possible; however, when I was singing with an orchestra in 2002, I became so nervous that I came in 4 bars too early; I was singing 4 bars in front of the orchestra! As it was highly unlikely that the orchestra was going to improvise around my mistake, I had to engage in 4 bars of humming, scatting and la-la-la-ing to allow for the orchestra to catch up.  I almost instantaneously became a better musician as I vowed to never let that happen again. This experience has definitely contributed to my heightened awareness. My failures have nearly always resulted in an essential learning experienced that are frequently referred to when working in a group setting.