My Self portrait video aims to collaborate all aspects of my experiences, surroundings and passions into a visual, moving collage. I’ve used videos and text of my experiences overseas, which juxtapose the sounds from my home in Melbourne in an effort to highlight and the ways in which those experience influence my current life. I’ve tried to show quick, short jump cuts that exhibit my images, identifying an overwhelming way in which my passions and surroundings can inundate my life. Images flicker between the bicycle clip as way of showing there ongoing impact on my ever changing life. The sounds of are used to represent the present; sourcing sounds of my everyday social encounters and daily routine, differing from many of the video and image based artefacts in the portrait.

In this self portrait I’ve aimed to also be very discreet with what the viewers are seeing, i didn’t want to show each image, video, sound or text in an obvious or overtly “in your face” kind of way. Ive tried to draws parallels and aline certain sounds with certain images in an effort to place ones own interpretations on the video. I think that the recorded typing of text played over the moving image in the mountains is the most intriguing part of the portrait. I believe it works well in presenting text as a flowing thought and stream of honest experience in a visual way.

I found it hard to create an high quality portrait, in the sense that most of my images and videos were sourced and developed on my iPhone which doesn’t have the best quality. I was disappointed that this came through, and it was difficult to change the quality of the moving images however i believe I’ve done the best with the equipment i had.

Although the portrait may be regarded as random or arbitrary i have tried to place and order all the elements in a cohesive way, and i hope this has come across as sincerely to viewers as it has to myself.

Scott McCloud explores closure as the “idea or phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole” in the comic ‘Blood in the Gutter’. When we understand or group together images to create meaning, and it is often implied and understood by the viewer through preconceived experiences and ideas. Closure in my understanding is based on our assumptions, and presuming we can predict or draw conclusions from the proposed images. In comics we give the images context because of its surrounding images, and the writer therefore does not need to explain every detail. We can apply this same idea to film, as closure takes place 24 times per second as each individual image is collated as a whole and context is created. For project brief 2, we can assume closure when apply all elements of sound, text, image and video and hopefully an understanding will be drawn from the people who view it. It is amazing to think that closure is almost an automatic response our brain makes, as we make associations and conclusions from the placement of two images. This shows how important alinement in editing it, an entirely different meaning can be formed if a different placement is created. This is similar to what Liam Nord spoke about in editing, and i suppose that the harder it is to create closure, the more the viewer needs to think for themselves and produce their own individual idea, meaning or context in a situation. Different types of cuts and bigger gaps in the relevance of each alined image is a particular style of editing i would like to use. As McCloud explains, subject to subject or scene to scene transitions are the most common and often used in Western media, i would like to try to use a more abstract form of alignment in non-sequitor or aspect to aspect transitions. Blood in the Gutter is a comic and therefore is very different from film, but the fundamentals of closure can be taken and applied in any form of media.

Since this weeks lectorial I have been thinking a lot about the art of editing and how creatively it can be used within the narrative and symbolism of film. The film Babel directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, won Academy Award for Best Film Editing in 2006 by their two editors Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione. The intercutting film, that follows many different stories is woven together through creative and fluid editing. The evolving stories that progress in the film are matched together in the succinct editing. The editing leaves a mass amount of suspense and climax, often cutting one story at the height of interest. Alejandro González Iñárritu says in an interview that “movies become art after editing,” and i have to agree with this because i have seen it first hand.

Babel contrasts sharply with Alejandro González Iñárritu’s newest film Birdman through its editing techniques. Birdman appears to be one long continuous shot, flowing through the entirety of the film. Of course there are edits between footage to create this effect, however it us unseen to the audience. This limited number of edits in Birdman creates a completely different effect. There is a lot more emphasis on the special effects, with animated characters and flying scenes as defining moments in the film. I thought both of Iñárritu’s films were amazing, both with very different editing styles to create success in the outcome.

“Editing is deliberately breaking things. Breaking things to create meaning” Liam Ward explains the importance in what editing does. Liam expresses the significance of editing to create art in film. The less obvious the meaning behind the juxtapositon of two images, the more the audience need to work at in finding a meaning or connection. This can be viewed as having higher complexities and having a higher quality, it forces the viewers to draw from their own knowledge and experiences and link them to the ideas of the film. The art of editing is so intricate and precise, its something i really look forward to perfecting and learning about. Ward contradicted the idea that editing’s purpose is just to fix what went wrong in filming, as it is an art form in itself and can illuminate the message behind a film or tv series. I think that the entire narrative of a film can be easily changed when taken to the editing suite. The exercise we did in our lectorial stressed this, as we used short ‘moveable’ situations (e.g i drank a cup of coffee, I tripped on the curb, I skyped my parents) and alined them with ‘turning points’ (e.g a bomb went off in the city or a crashed my car into another car). Each time we arranged these parts in different sequences, entirely knew meaning was made. This in essence was quite obvious, but it was something that we needed to be reminded of in the form of creating media. I feel really passionate about editing and i know that editing can be used in a highly skilled way especially to create comedy. I’ve been apart of a group that creates sketch comedy and often comic timing can only be mastered in the editing stages. Their have been many times when the editing wins over an audience, and an actors abilities are defined or heightened through these editing techniques.

I represented an honest portrayal of what I think defines me. I used images of my home life and representations of my family through text and experiences that I then shared with the group. These media’s caused me to look further into my reasoning behind my choices.

Others showed a somewhat deeper and others times more surface level of themselves, much as I did. Their multi media’s caused them to explain and thinker deeper into their experiences and the meanings behind each image, text, audio, or video. These media’s caused reflection and explanation and often revealed personal thoughts and feelings.

These files became a virtual explanation of everything that I feel characterises and identifies who i am. To someone viewing them without explanation or no knowledge of who I am maybe wouldn’t make a lot of sense or be of much importance, but for me it represents a lot. However saying that, I believe one could learn a lot about me from a surface level when viewing my ‘self portrait’, as some aspects are very self explanatory, while others have more meaning behind it.

Were you nervous?

What did others say?

Was it useful?

What was tough and why?

Could you improve?

I was nervous showing the group my ‘self portrait’ as it’s a somewhat intrusive and personal reflection of myself. However, there is a lot that I’ve included that I’m proud and excited to show others. I hoped that people would enjoying seeing my self-portrait, and the feedback was helpful positive. I was offered advice to maybe have a more constant flow between my photos and this was constructive. I was confused as to what I was going for in my visual representations, and to think of it as a cohesive group of photos was helpful. I think I could improve on this brief by maybe being even more honest with myself and revealing a more underlying layer of my thoughts and actions. I felt I did this through the text I have written but I could have expanded on that further.

I aimed to develop my self portrait through looking at my life in a holistic sense. Through the perspective of myself but also through the perspective of others, and how they view me. I’ve started with audio experts that demonstrate my everyday life, with a familiar sound of the morning train announcement, as well as myself and a friend caught in a moment of hilarity. I’m very passionate about film and art and have obvious visual representations of these in my photos, as personal reflections of myself. From the perspective of an outsider, i’ve included a photo from my house as well as my hair, elements that very much define me in a very different way. My house as a aspect of family and home life. As well as having that redhead tinge as an identifier of who I am. A video of my trip in Morocco represents my past experiences in the respect of living abroad. The most exciting yet challenging part of my life was moving away from Australia and i believed this video highlights some of the best times i had while away. The final video is an expression of friendship with my closest friend through a flip book that made us both laugh.

I quickly realised that I would be an outcast for the next month of my life, not only because of my colour, but because I am a female. Frustration built as a woman stood in front of me staring, not just looking but staring, motioning a crowd towards me as I stood in anxiousness and irritation.

Copyright, honestly is something i never think of, ever! Listening to Anne Lennox, (Senior Coordinator Copyright Management + Digital: University Library) speak last week was an eyeopener in terms of working in media in a professional sense. Its hard to draw the line between being inspired by something or someone, and actually using someone else’s work. Appropriation is an amazing thing that lets artists change and make something there own, but destroying the reputation and meaning of a piece through breaching copyright, can easily overlap in some cases. Everything i’ve ever written or made in some way has been heavily influenced by someone i know or am in awe of, its hard sometimes to make the distinction between copying and appropriating or being inspired by. The example of ‘Men at Work’ being sued because of copyright breach in terms of basing a small part of the ‘Kookaburra’ song in ‘Down Under’ is a sad look at copyright being over amplified, in my opinion. Could this not be considered a use of appropriation, using something in a difference context and applying unique differences. I agree that an artist shouldn’t morally or ethically deface or embellish someone else’s work, however in instances like this the ‘Kookaburra’ song was used as a tribute and used in a respectful way. I believe whole heartedly in copyright laws and the introduction of automatic copyright laws in Australia, however sometimes, unfortunately maybe it can go too far?

I felt a bit lost in terms of the idea of creating a ‘creative self portrait’. It seems almost indulgent and maybe not a very honest portrayal of myself, if i am creating it. I was stuck when thinking of myself in terms of what describes or defines me, as i thought of this as something close friend and people around you are more aware of than you are yourself. In our tutorial we were given time to fully explore project brief one and plan out what we could gather for our self portraits. It has taken me longer than expected to understand what the purpose of this project is for. However i think now I’ve come more to terms with the idea of projecting myself in an honest way, but also showing others what i want them to see about me. It in some ways this could be an intrusive exercise, but really what it comes down to is expressing myself and creating an abstract representation of myself. Ive become more excited by this element of the project and being able to identifying things in my life that i enjoy or that have shaped. It seems like an engaging and thought provoking way to begin this media course…

In this tutorial we began gathering information and ideas for the collaborative side of Project brief 1. Images, text, audio and video of representations of ourselves.

The Discipline of Noticing – John Mason

This article on noticing really bothered me. I discovered essentially that i find it hard to notice intentionally, how does anyone really take the time to sit down and solely focus in on one thing. Yes i wish i could do this more intently, however what is the problem with filtering more and being open to more in our environment. We have been forced through out new age of intensely mediated information, to absorb a lot more around us. I think its to be congratulated that we can absorb more and take in more, we have broader minds and more access thus we can build up research options and offer more back to society. However on the contrary we do need to take the time to focus in and ‘notice’ more specifically. The activities provided in the reading are some what affective in understanding how to focus, with simples things based on posture, position of body and focusing on one single object or topic. The most interesting part of the article to me, was that we need to ‘write it down’, record our noticed efforts and see what that mean in a broader sense, we tend to remember more when we record and this is something i think i could do, particuly in terms with this course. I need to notice more in terms of my studies and recored what i’ve learnt. In studying media I think we need to be equally as good at filtering through information as well as being at to focus on a single thing, through the practice of noticing.

Mason, J, 2001. Researching Your Own Practice: The Discipline of Noticing, London, RoutledgeFalmer.