This weeks tutorial focused our attention on project brief 4 and the collaborative process that is this assignment. I was very disillusioned with PB4 when we first received it as i had no grasp of what it was asking us to do. However after discussing with my group in further detail we have come to a common understanding of what we want to get out of the assignment. Our topic ‘mediums’ is so broad that we have decided to focus on the medium of sound specifically and the communication it delivers to an audience. Sound as a medial concept has adapted over time from traditional radio and music platforms to modern podcasts and music websites. Through some of the research I’ve done today I found it interesting to see that radio news and information is now delivered through online podcasts. Information is now so readily available to audiences through podcasts and other medias. Sound is a media that has gone through the transition to a modern medium in an effort to be simplified and able to reach more people. I’ll be conducting more research on specific forms of modern sound mediums such as music sites like Soundcloud and Spotify and well as audio book and other learning devices.

I watched this terrible show today, in fact I’m still watching it as i type this blog post. What made me keep watching? I know its horrible, its fair to say the acting is crap and the story line is the most unoriginal narrative I’ve ever sat through. For reasons i will not go into, i will not expose the name of the retched piece. But it got me wondering how hard it really is to create a compelling narrative that is equally original but believable. I mean are there any ideas that are truly original, just like Dan was saying in this weeks lectorial, no matter how abstract or crazy an idea is, someone else has probably had the same idea before. But it honestly frustrates me when something is so crap and its being produced and shown on tv. I mean honestly did no one ever just hint to producers or the funders of the show, oh maybe this might need a re-edit, or does that actor really know what they are doing. I think, particularly in Australia we see re-hashed TV shows and particularly reality programs on TV all the time. Yes we have a small industry and its difficult to fully support all programs as everything can be seen as a risk. But to have no courage at all, just plays for boring TV that delivers little or not originality. I just wish that Australia could produce more original content in the form of television, so far most of this comes from the ABC. Hopefully funding to more creative projects will come about in the next few years. Perhaps as young savvy media students that we are, we could create our own ways of doing this.

A genre of film that can be characterised “by low budget production values and amateur actors, heavily focused on naturalistic dialogue”. I’ve taken a particular interest into mumblecore as an emerging subculture to independent films. There is a authenticity and realness to they way these films are shot and directed. Actors that I’ve seen in big hollywood films are suddenly subjected to a normality and I am able to be apart of the story of the film. I’d love to be able to replicate this style of film in an attempt to create a inclusive and open nature in the storyline. I think i can connect with these films as they are very ordinary in their subject, they are uniquely simple in there ‘disasters’ and the characters actions and reactions are so reminiscent of our own. Happy Christmas directed and written by Joe Swanberg is my favourite  mumble core films. With big stars such as Anna Kendrick and Melanie Lynsey, i honestly didn’t expect much from it but was overwhelmed by the inclusive and naturalistic elements of it.This film opens my eyes to the simplicity that film can recreate, grand gestures and unrealistic turn of events isn’t what makes people connect. I felt apart of the characters lives in Happy Christmas as they were so relatable and normal, and a sense of tragedy, comedy and happiness were all achievable in a new kind of way. Often mumblecore uses unknown actors or people who have never acted before again to amplify the storyline and normalcy of the storyline. What’s being dubbed as Australia’s first mumblecore film is Pretty Good Friends directed by Sophia Townsend. I’m looking to see what the film is like and whether an Australian representation takes on an alternate approach to the genre.

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi2030873113/

I am really happy with the final edit of the 2 minute video I produced for Project Brief 3. I think that I projected exactly what I wanted in terms of my subject and her overall persona as well as aspirations and passions in life. The black and white colouring of the video has a nice cohesiveness and links a lot of the vintage style found footage in with the original footage. I think I’ve integrated the these medias in a proficient way, as the found stock footage gives visual meaning to what my subject is saying. It breaks up the interview style of the video and gives it another level of intrigue and entertainment. The song choice I’ve used also assists in projecting the nature of my subject and adds an almost comedic element, which is exactly what i wanted to present about his person. It produces a mellow and relaxed view into the portrait in an attempt to highlight the relaxed environment this portrait was filmed in.

The most problematic part of the video is definitely the sound, I found it hard to not create an echo, as the location has larger concrete surfaces. And the parts I’ve externally recorded sound are very different and confusing when aligned with the video sound. Editing was also difficult in terms of sound as I couldn’t mange to remove background noises and buzzing or link together dialogued sound. In the future I would like to use lapel microphones or a boom in order to cancel background noises in an interview setting.

I’ve discovered from creating this portrait that any subject can be interesting and viewed as special, one just has too ask the right questions and be interested enough. I felt like the questions I was asking my subject were very basic and standard however the alignment of the questions and the way they edit together can become very interesting and take on different meaning. Project brief 3 forced me to think a lot about the visual side of framing and setting up the shot. An interview can become boring and flat when shot is isn’t thought about from an aesthetic point of view. I was conscious to choose interesting locations and background shots in order to set up the frame and the subject within the frame, which I believe enhanced the look of my overall video.

Today’s tutorial focused us on sound and the technical side behind recording sound. Recording sounds and completing this process ourselves forced us to think or how it could be recorded at its best. I’ve created a table showing which sounds we recorded and how we could have recorded them better and whether we would use them. I didn’t realise the extent to which sound needs to be isolated in order to get the best out of it. We recorded truck noises and talking, that has a lot of background atmospheric noise, if either of these sounds were needed indiviually, we would need to cancel out background noise. This is much easier process if done in pre-production opposed to post production.

Our most successful recording was the ‘street’ noise, which entailed recording a natural, atmospheric noise on Bowen street. The main reason why this was so successful as because there was no background noise interference, as we were solely recording background noise. The sounds of cars, people and construction resulted in a really organic piece of sound.

As i mentioned before it was difficult to get an isolated or ‘clean’ sound and i will be more aware of this in the future when it comes to choosing locations to record sound, as that is a main contributing factor.

I found this video hilarious, the use of a cat as an informative tool in describing to viewers what a scholarly source is. This video was shown to us doing this weeks lectorial, as a tool to use in the form of how to use scholarly information,but i found joy in the video in a different way. The use of a cat created a light and absolutely hilarious subject to an informational video, it caught my attention and i was intrigued. It gave a comical twist to a not so interesting topic. I always think its very smart when people can think of an intertwine an idea and carry it out through the entirety of a piece. For example the cat is presented as different staff throughout the university community, at one point appearing as a lecturer, teaching and pointing to a board. The cat points to the board that reads as if they are teaching maths, using symbols and brackets etc, except that the board reads ‘meow’ in a scrambled view. Again, genius and resonates with me as a viewer. Comedy is a good source of encouraging memory. I always remember content that is funny, mainly because i want to remember it, and because it makes an unintentional lasting memory. The creator behind this short informative video should be applauded as i am now fully aware of what the RMIT library has to offer on scholarly information; what it is and how i can access it. And cats have never been more hilarious

Rachel Wilson spoke on Collaboration and what it means to us as Media students. She outlined the the important factors that contribute to collaboration as having a unified goal, good communication and being open minded process. I spoke about how i don’t generally like group work in my previous blog posts, however Rachel had some good points in which collaboration can work well with certain individuals. Also outlining her resistance to work with some people, as often collaboration needs to be between specific people or particular groups. Its very apparent that this lecture was stressing the importance of collaboration in the media sphere, and that its the drive behind extraordinary work. I found the lectorial reflective of my own opinions, that collaboration has to come about from having a unified goal. Often I believe that this isn’t something that happens freely through some groups of people. I think collaboration as a necessary process and produces the best film and television, but it needs to be between the right group of people. Some people bring out the worst in each other, or have different works ethics and opinions. Collaboration is only successful when every person is fully invested and has something to offer, not only through ideas and thoughts but time and willingness. This is why re-occurring collaborations between actor/director Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and Martin Scorcese and Leonardo DiCaprio always create intriguing and successful films. The right collaboration gathers the right ingredients to spark a creative and innovative result.