After brainstorming, shooting and editing I have finally made my first 1 minute video for University. Originally I had the idea of shooting things that I liked: weightlifting, cars and food. Afterwards I would use the footage to tell people what I liked and narrate it through text and background music. However this idea was very literal and bland. I had to come up with something better. Through lots of revisions and extra recording I came up with some more metaphoric and engaging to the audience.

The video that I am submitting is literally me at work editing a video. However with the use of little text and visuals people being to wonder what this is all about. The question is what am I actually editing? People begin to wonder through the hints of self doubts and  random photos of my life what this all means.

SPOILER ALERT…

I am actually editing myself. The sequences are all the media I have taken and become the building blocks to my self-portrait. ALL of the visuals from photos to text are representative of me and when you put it all together through the sequence you an idea of who I am. Me editing myself is a metaphor to my own personal development through the experiences I go through.

Technicalities:

This is the sequence I have generated with all the footage I have compiled, cut and manipulated:

Key framing for the second title:

There were two shots where I did key framing. I used it on the second title to give a jump cut effect and I did it on the second last shot to give a zoom and speed up effect so it can go into the next shot. These two shots were important because this is what gave it the looping effect where I am making video of me editing myself making a video etc. This idea is inspired by Christopher Nolan’s film “Inception” where the main characters enter dreams into another dream to achieve an objective.

Overall I edited the sequence with a lot of jump cuts to five that instant effect with the shots and speed up the video. However at the very end of the video I placed a slow motion shot just to show contrast and give the audience a little break.

As week 4 was approaching to an end, so was the time to hand in my work.  Throughout the week I have been trying to record and capture as much as I could so I had more content to work with. The more that I had in my hands the more flexible it was for me to do my assignment and produce higher quality content. Furthermore I made a greater effort to show my friends and family of the work I have done so far to find out what I can improve and make my video and blogs better.

All the initiatives that I have taken throughout the week are all ideas explored form day 1. Brian the lecturer as really emphasised on the blog and how powerful it is as a reflective tool. These blogs have allowed me to collect my thoughts and brainstorm new ideas on how I could improve myself as a creator. I cannot just sit there and let the work come to me, I have to do the work myself and the opportunities will come. During the start of the course I dissed the blog, now I am slowly coming to terms with it and enjoying a little bit more.

During my talk with Jeremy about my video, he has given me a lot of good constructive criticism. The points that he made about how literal my video was really forced me to think outside the box. I thought to myself:

“how can I make this more engaging to the audience?”

I got my head down and started thinking of new ideas. I ended up ditching the recycled cut and taking out a lot of text. This time the video will be hinting at the audience, leaving them to interpret the themes inside the video.

At the start the workshop we had a little discussion on our though on passion. A lot of my thoughts and ideas have already been addressed my Week 4 Lectorial blog post. After the discussion we continued our work on PB2. At this point I have done most of the work: brainstorming ideas, shooting and editing. During the class I did a little bit of editing and I asked him a few questions:

” Even though this song is copy righted, is it okay to use a few seconds of it?”

“Is that not considered Sampling?”

He replied by asking me where it mentions that in a legal context. I tried finding a law that addresses the issue, but Jeremy already being in the field for a significantly longer time than I have probably already had doubts that it was true. Initially I thought it would be okay because I have heard so many hip hop artists sample a few seconds of lyrics from famous songs or words from impactful speeches. Now that I have clarified it with the tutor I had to take out the copyrighted sample from my assignment which were lyrics from the song “Big Spender” by ASAP  Rocky and Theophilus London.

“I added my previous editing work into this video to show what the video was leading up to, is that okay?”

He replied along the lines of: “why would you not make more original content, rather than recycling old ones”. If I had used the recycled edit at the end I would have made my video more literal and less impactful.

During this week’s lecture we watched a video of Cal Newport’s talk on passion, which extends from the week’s reading “The clarity of the craftsmen”, which is written by the Ted Talk’s presenter. Personally I found this to be a very interesting subject. His account’s on peoples pursuit for success within their “passions”, was very reflective on my life. Newport suggests that passions are something that is developed over time through hard work and success, not given.

When I was studying to be a personal trainer, I started with the idea that I was passionate about fitness. However as I got deeper into the field I figured that the world catered to fitness was something I was not so passionate to train others anymore. In contrast, when my brother bought a camera few years back, I started experimented taking photos. I never identified myself as a passionate photographer, I just wanted to try it out. I never forced myself to do it but I enjoyed doing it because I was willing to learn and improve upon this skill. Over time photography developed in making videos. After getting a job in a studio these skills were needed and had to be improve. I cultivated my photography and videography in a fun and positive environment. I then realised, this was a passion I just ‘stumbled upon’ as Newport mentions in his presentation about Steve Jobs.

I found Newport’s article to have a lot of truth. However there are always exceptions and there is plenty of evidence out there that suggests that passions can be a start to something, and in many ways can help us funnel into the direction of success.

Newport does mention, which I find very relatable, a lot of downfalls to follow blindly into your passions. The one that made a big impression was the fact that little slips a long the way to achieving success could lead to bigger doubts on the legitimacy of your love for the passion.

Week 3’s workshop really kickstarted my motivation to do PB2. The camera and lens that I currently have limited myself to certain shots I could take. However I knuckled down and thought about how I could use my editing skills and make best of the situation to produce good content. Expanding on this idea, we can look back to the week’s lecture. Liam…? He generated such an impact on the audience with two pictures he got from the internet.

There is no need to over complicate a story for the sake of complexity. Unless you are trying to show case your editing prowess or insane camera technique, it is unnecessary. If the shots that you show the audience are relevant to the narrative then it will always be more impactful than diluting it with extra special effects like slow motion for no apparent reason. The story is what gives the shots a meaning.

The one minute mark and the additional parameters set for the task, makes it very exciting. Although it may be restrictive, it forces you to think what is important to put on the video and how it reflects you as the individual. The video, at the end of the day, is related to me. It is easy for me to record myself talking for one minute about my life, but it defeats the purpose of the whole task. Is time to knuckle down and think outside of the box.

“Diamonds are formed under pressure” 

Today we did the usual “lets explore the reading” and then follow up with “lets do some DIY editing”. Amongst the typical university life in the classroom, my laptop charger exploded. I immediately panicked, but I told myself “do not worry, lets get another charger on Gum Tree”. Using search and looking up photos and specifications I was able to find myself a new charger by the end of the night. This event had Week 2 written all over it… You know, with all that talk about how easy is is to create content and put it out there and how it is everywhere – up-down, left-right, in my nose and out my bottom (only kidding).

No charger meant that I had no laptop for the workshop. Rather than sitting there having a chat with friends and having a cry, I decided to go to other people and look at their work for inspiration. I was so used to seeing media in high quality formats, but as I see my friends work it was all pixelated and the audio was very low fi. They may not of have had the best equipment, but I was still drawn to their content…

“but why?”

“It is not aesthetic at all”

I am being a very harsh on the looks of their work but I have to admit content was very good. The ideas and concepts were all there, it just needed a little touching up. Some simple editing could easily fix it. It was a humbling experience and it shows that:

“Its not about the equipment you have, it is what you do with it” ( Quote from Aphex Twin)

The film “Framed” shot entirely on iPhone 4s

From that day onwards, I brainstormed a few ideas and learnt new editing techniques for Premiere. Be prepared for some new content for the future!

link to image: http://www.zacuto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/319956_10150435405121340_779161339_10419885_1899056796_n_opt2.jpg

In this week’s lecture we got into the nitty gritty of fundamental film making techniques. One of the lecturers, I think his name was Liam…? I am terrible with names, but lets get back on track now. He was exploring the idea of changing the order of shots to produce a variety of effects on the audience.

The first image shown was a potato with a large sprout diverging to the right. He then immediately jump cuts into the next image which was an oddly similar placement and shape of Donald Trump caught in the wind. A very “candid’ photo of the President I would add. The switch between photos produced a very comedic effect, and the whole class was in a state of laughter. I had a little chuckle I must admit. Even maybe a little tear…maybe… Does not take a lot to make me laugh to be quite frank.

Similar Idea to Donald and the Potato URL: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/d9/e8/75/d9e87594cd266c8cb7b3832a8a52487d.jpg

If the lecturer were to put Donald Trump first and showed the potato second, I do not think the comedic impact would be on the same level. Having the potato first would set up the Donald Trump photo for a greater punch line, because it would be much more unexpected.

Ploughing through the lecture we were given a narrative exercise to do. A bunch of writing was jumbled up and we had to figure out the order of the story. This was a complicated exercise, and the fact that no one finished further proves that it was not a simple task. We later discuss the exercise and it was common for everyone to use common formalities of basic story writing to fit the pieces together.

After settling into university life, I was able to knuckle down and focus on the work. I came here to learn what creating content was all about. However the things that I have made so far, although good practice, were bits and pieces of different works of other people. I would smash down these ideas and somehow made it into my own. I know it is great and to use inspiration and ideas from others (legally of course), but I would like to further develop my own skills to produce quality and ORIGINAL content.

One thing that caught my attention from my fellow students was self-produced music. My friend would showed  his self-portrait in the library. I plugged in my earphones not knowing what to expect. He had this amazing hip hop beat, it was very catchy and easy to listen to on repeat. I asked him:

“where can I find this song?”

He responded with:

“I just made it on Garage Band on my phone”

A very simple design: Garage Band layout on iOS

I was amazed how easy it was to produce music. Of course, my friend is musically talented, but how Garage Band was laid out, I just needed a sense for rhythm and I would be fine.

In this week’s workshop we had a discussion on the reading about media in the real world. This reading had multiple implications that related to the collaboration of content creators to the downfalls in the modern media. Media is so easily accessible, which is great for emerging content creators. However, where there is a massive population of content thieves, a lot of this original work becomes a big loss for creatives in terms of finance. This idea is explored in fourth implication in the week’s reading.

Media today is evolving so rapidly. As the media platforms improve drastically, so does the war on piracy on the creator’s end. Creators are finding new ways to make their media more accessible and affordable, without compromising the quality of their work too much. Popular You Tubers have ad revenue and other means to finance their work. Similarly, You Tube has introduced a subscription system, just like Net Flix, for more premium content. Using this subscription system, paying just over ten dollars a month, it gives the audience a peace of mind of price and accessibility to good content. All of a sudden the masses can pay and enjoy media on their laptop to their phone for a small price. No one wakes up wanting to steal from the hard work of creators, it is just for many of us we cannot afford it and then resort to other illegal means.

“Single by 30” by WongFu Productions This picture was an advertisement for WongFu’s first series on the new paid subscription sector “YouTubeRed”

Later on in the workshop we put on our thinking hats and critiqued our self-portrait work. I hear a lot of positive comments, but I was looking out for negative comments. If I can eliminate as many problems in my work as much as possible, it can only get better.

In week two, we moved away from ‘house keeping’ activities and got down to business. In this lecture we brainstormed ideas and thought about “what is media?”. The whole class participated, and gave their two cents on what media could be and what it can do. We came to the conclusion that it was not just one single thing, but comprises of many different things. Media is a broad subject and can be and can effect its audience in the following ways (points made by the class):

• Creativity
• Information/knowledge
• Though provoking
• Influential
• Reflection of society
• Intersectional
• Interactive

Points that I made myself:

• A medium for expression
• Education
• Story telling
• Propaganda
• Vicarious

Halfway through the class we transition from ‘what media might be to ‘how we think about media’.

My life greatly revolves around media. My thoughts and ideas have all been translated through the images I take, the videos I post and the blogs that I write. Media today allows us to publicly express ourselves in an instant. We know a lot more about each other than ever before. New media is also gives an easier access to greater opportunities compared to traditional media.

After the lecture presentation finished we were told to do a media exercise. This task was meant to make me realise and understand that media is everyone and comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Media is so accessible, which means that anyone can reach out to their audience in a matter of seconds.

These are the photos that I took that illustrate the way media is presented to us: