1. In what ways do you hope your exhibited work (whether individual or group produced) engaged its audience and communicated a key concern of the studio?

My hope for my final exhibited work is that I can convey my message about the harm of Invasive species in a clear, yet poetic format. In the vast expanse of hyperobjects affecting the planet, Invasive Species are an issue that could initially be ignored by audience goers due to a perceived idea they are not causing severe damage. I wanted to break down this perception of viewers and confront them with a question to think for themselves upon. After seeing the real damage these species cause, are they really harmless in the long term? I wanted to demonstrate to viewers the broad reach invasive species have on the country alone, spanning from land to sea and everything in between. I didn’t want to bog viewers down or distance them with several statistics. Hence, the idea was to convey this purely through footage and as few words as possible. I hope my video can encourage viewers to reflect and seek out more knowledge behind my three species, encourage them to take action, and be mindful of the impact caused by something so small.

2. Imagine you are going to keep working on that media piece (e.g. to screen it somewhere else like a festival, or develop it into a different kind of work, and so on) – what would be the core things you would want to improve and extend and why?

Something I would really want to improve upon in my video is more footage and formatting. I liked my use of overlaying footage, but I also would have wanted to include my complex images. For example, using multiple images and videos on screen to create a sense of the overwhelming presence of these creatures. It was challenging to find the ideal footage for my video, so I had to work with the constraints of what I had and the assignment. If I were to put more time into the video, I would want to refine my editing skills and seek out more footage to use, potentially going out and capturing my own footage as well. I think making the video longer would have helped my message to set in better than the length it is now. I would have wanted to include more home-styled footage to display just how personal this crisis is to its viewers. The balance between types of footage is important, and I worry I didn’t achieve this balance as well as I would have liked in the end. I think I could have done more to make the video informative and convey my message better, but overall I am happy with it.

3. Reflect on an aspect of two other students/group’s media work on the website in terms of specific insights they produced about a key idea addressed by the studio?

Louis Boffa – Out of Sight, Out of Mind
I was really blown away by Louis’ film, depicting the reality of e-waste and where it all ends up in the end, the harm that it causes to people and the environment despite mostly being unseen from the public eye. I love the lack of music within the film, using only diegetic sounds that would be located in the environment, such as the factory processing rhythms heard at the beginning. The use of editing to provide juxtaposition to the burning of the e-waste by locals to the image of a lung x-ray and coughing, in particular, was one of my favourite scenes as it feels painful to see. Again showing the unseen damage being caused by this waste. Using split screens to show various angles of scenes at the same time was also a fantastic way to demonstrate the scale of this issue. Louis did a tremendous job with this video. He really conveyed his message in a clear poetic format that fully illustrated the harm of e-waste without words.

Ash Fox Farming Soundscape
Given I had to initially provide feedback for Ash, I was excited to see where he took his idea, especially since it looked like it would go beyond the conventional video format like most from the class. I was surprised to see he had changed to do a soundscape instead, but I thoroughly enjoyed his work and was blown away by the quality. Ash’s soundscape creates a wholly engaging atmosphere showing the development of the farming industry. Listening to the sound of farm animals and tools fade into the industrial machines quickening in pace creates that environment where you can picture the before and after. Listening to the machines speed up created so much tension that clearly demonstrated the idea of the overproduction of food and the detriments this is causing to the world. Listening to these sounds with your eyes closed allowed me to be fully enveloped and overwhelmed (in a good way) by the sounds of the machines, farming, and production. Ash has created a fantastic piece of audio that really showed what can be accomplished and the message that can be spread with sound alone.

4. For the other studio website you engaged with, describe a key idea that you think the finished media/studio work communicated with reference to a specific example (i.e. a particular individual/group work).

I was assigned to engage with the studio ‘Infinite Lists’ to reflect upon. Reading through its description on the Media Factory page, I was definitely curious to see where the students took their work for this. The idea of exploring how different listing practice can create media artifacts felt both confusing, but intriguing to learn more about. Each group had made fascinating works, all connected together under one theme. My particular favourite was ‘Overwhelmed’. Each creator had created a different form of media related to the theme including film, a soundscape, an Instagram and a Tumblr. Each captured the theme in its own way to create atmospheres that accurately encapsulated the feeling of being overwhelmed. Not only that, but the linktree they were connected to gave me full control over which media format I desired to consume. I got to decide what I would view and how. The group was able to convey its theme to me through these different formats well as were the other groups. I think the studio overall was very successful in teaching its students to utilise this listing format to create an engaging artefact that gives control to its viewers to see and understand its themes how they choose.