project brief 3

My best friend and partner in crime, Micha Dylan Koster is a well travelled young man with many extravagant stories to tell. Creating a media portrait of him has been challenging and exciting, and I am feeling confident and proud of the final result.

The process of making this video began with narrowing down the most distinctive elements of his personality and finding which events and experiences have shaped him most. Through interviewing him with RMIT’s Zoom Microphone, I was left with around 15 minutes of audio to edit. This allowed me to grab phrases and notable comments that reflect importance to Micha or help to portray his persona.
An overall theme I wanted to use was the idea of cartoons and country and western style, as the film and tv industry is a large part of his life and underneath, he is truly a cowboy, (shown in the boots!).
The microphone was also used to record pulling on the boots and walking off, which I slowed down by 60% to match the footsteps of the turtle. These images and ideas helped me to portray the laid-back, easy going side of Micha, through all his travelling and constant change he has become someone who lives in the present, taking each moment as it comes and trying not to feel stressed. The jazzy background music also displays this level of relaxed funk as well as having a rhythm that drives the piece through, reflecting how Micha has constantly been on the move.
By splitting the turtle cartoon and segmenting it throughout, I feel it added a lot of continuity rather than having a sequential effect.
The main video where the subject is lit and the background is black was original footage, recorded on my camera at home with lighting. The aim is to portray how many times he has been forced out of comfort and home, into a new alien environment. Micha returns to his original position, showing he is able to constantly adapt.
One section I used was images of smoking a cigarette, while the audio covers his parent’s break up and how that has had a lasting effect on his life. I tried to display the irony as he says “I am still happy with the decisions I made”, while looking directly down the camera to show he is aware of the harm he causes himself.
The final shots of Micha photographing the Library clock display his creativity and ease while doing something he loves. His passions to reach out to the world as it is today and help them to see it how he has are inspirational and displayed through his natural flare with a camera.
I am happy with the outcome of the video, I feel the timing of the audio with the video works well in combination with the over all flow. I came across a dilemma while editing; the better and more smooth I would make it, the less likely the effort was to be appreciated. Once I managed to make seamless transitions in the audio and cutting out words such as “um” and “like”, it was practically unnoticeable in places. I hope that the darkness of some of the films does not take away from the effect, as my recent Self Portrait was very dark in many places and while I was presenting I was unable to see some of the images I used. Even though some of the audio feels thrown together in places I would not have scripted it if I were to do it again. The fact that the dialogue is very natural and sounds like a montage of an interview is great because it managed to capture my initial hopes for the video.
I found searching for old footage very difficult, until I had all of my original footage and was able to see some continuity in the project.
I would have liked to filmed the interview as well as just recorded it because at times the dialogue is too important to show something busy or distracting, and a simple shot of his face or him speaking may have added the simplicity to put emphasis and focus on the words.

However, overall I am very happy with the outcome and feel it is a big improve on project brief 2. I had awesome fun doing it and can’t wait to start the next!

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