This studio forms an assignment from weekly media making exercises that are started in class and finished outside of class, along with weekly blog reflections.

ASSIGNMENT #1: Weekly exercises and reflection (15%) – Due Friday 11.59pm, 9 August (Week 3)

Assignment 1 – 15% of your overall mark

In this assignment you will use in-class exercises to begin thinking about how media might be used to give a more active ‘lived-in’ sense of the body.

Submitting your Assignment

Please write a post that contains the requirements listed below, and hyperlinks to each weekly post. Then past the URL for this post into the ‘Website URL’ field in Submission Section.

You must submit your assignment through Canvas by the due date via the submission within the assessment.

Assignment 1

You will submit 1 blog post that contains:

1. Development (250 word minimum): A short discussion/description/synopsis of the work you aimed to create for each of the weekly exercises in weeks 1, 2 and 3.
2. 3 short media works: You will embed into this post the 3 short media works you made in weeks 1 – 3 in response to the class exercises.
3. Reflection (350 word minimum): You will write a short reflection that considers all of the following questions. It should make reference to (and correctly cite) at least 2 ideas from the weekly readings.
   1. What changed between your initial ideas to respond to the class exercises and the media works you ended up making?
   2. How did you make use of the affordances of the different kinds of media to try to highlight or heighten the different experiences of the senses?
   3. What is one thing that worked well about each of your media works? What is one thing that didn’t work quite so well about each of your media works?
   4. How are your ideas about the enacted body developing as a result of making these works?
4. Links to weekly blog posts: You will include the hyperlinks for each of your three weekly blog posts.

This studio blends assignment 1 and 2, requiring weekly submissions that together make up the two assignments.

ASSIGNMENT#1 & ASSIGNMENT#2 [5 videos + short reflections worth 6% each – 30% of your studio grade in total)

For the first half of the studio we will all be producing individual weekly online videos for our studio Youtube Channel [RMITMedia VidConStudio2019] and writing/recording accompanying short reflections that will posted to your individual mediafactory blog.

You will make 5 videos in total. They are due weekly from Weeks 2-6. They will each be worth 6% of your final grade. [Week 2 responds to Week 1 classes and so on].

Videos will be due Tuesday, 12pm (midday) each week (from Weeks 2-6).

Your videos must have a decent proportion of appropriate quality sound and vision (given you are Media students in a production-oriented degree). We will discuss technical expectations more in class. Suffice to say here that relying predominantly on a mobile phone here will not be acceptable.

The maximum length for your video will change and be specified in the prompts.

Your videos must conform to Australian copyright requirements. We will remind ourselves of these in Week 1.

Each video will be an investigation of form, style and communication – i.e. you will be asked to make videos in the style of different specific online creators or genres each week. This is a way to learn new making skills but also deconstruct some of the production practices of well-known online video (and other kinds of media) makers. A portion of our weekly studio class will be set aside for analysing the creator/genre of the week for the next video and practising by actually doing some of the work.

There will a series of prompts for each video that you must respond to. Some of these prompts will relate to work we do in class the week before. We will record some of the footage for your video in class exercises started in class time (though they may need finishing out of class hours). If you miss that class you will need to do the equivalent work/exercise on your own. Prompts will be available on Canvas at least 9 days before the due date.

Each video must be accompanied by a written reflection on the past week’s studio class (also due weekly on that same date) . The reflection should be 150-250 words and focus on a couple of key moments of learning (rather than trying to cover everything). I’m particularly looking for reflections/insights that cover both the conceptual and media making elements of the studio. It should also include at least one production still showing a key recording setup.

[If you haven’t done any or much reflective academic writing before then see this helpful guide – Reflection / Blogging / Writing]

Each video and reflection will be assessed on the following criteria:

• • success in addressing all the prompts comprehensively (relative to the time constraints)
  • production values: technical competence in shooting and editing
  • creativity in approach, storytelling, individual style
  • insights via reflection (concepts addressed by the studio; the creative practice; related learning)

Please note:

Videos 1-2 will be assessed within a week of posting.

Videos 3-5 will be assessed as a group after Week 6.

Example video prompt:

PROMPTS FOR VIDEO#1 + REFLECTION (due Wk2, Tues 12pm (midday)

CONSTRAINTS

• must be as close as possible to the typical vlogging style of the vlogbrothers
•  (Links to an external site.)
•  (see some examples below) – oh, and note that you will be addressing Brian (Studio Leader) instead of Hank or John [so yes, start with ‘Good morning, Brian’ and finish with ‘I’ll see you next Tuesday’]
• overall length to be 3-4 minutes
• must include up to a minute’s footage from our in-class two shot interview exercise (‘vlog interview with a classmate – surprise questions’) 

WHAT SHOULD THIS VIDEO BE ABOUT?

• a vlog-style video about you and online media – i.e. how has your identity and life/sense of self/values been shaped by online media?; what kind of online media do you regularly consume?; what online media do you love making and why?; what do you most want to get out of going to vidcon and being part of studio studying it? (note: you don’t have to absolutely directly answer all these specific questions one by one – they are here to help give a sense of what that topic ‘you and media‘ might address … which is another way of saying it should be a reflective account of you and the media not simply a list or description)
• it’s vlog-style this week so it has to be predominantly piece-to-camera [PTC] (check the examples from the vlog brothers below and imitate)
• we will recap copyright issues in our first class – you should be across these by now but a refresher is good for everyone

AND A WRITTEN REFLECTION AS WELL

• Each video must be accompanied by a written reflection on the past week’s studio class (also due weekly on that same date) . The reflection should be 150-250 words and focus on a couple of key moments of learning (rather than trying to cover everything). I’m particularly looking for reflections/insights that cover both the conceptual and media making elements of the studio. It should also include at least one production still showing a key recording setup.

ANOTHER THING

• for this vlog, students are welcome to record/present in their first language (and include subtitles if not in English)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES/REFERENCE POINTS

• we will talk about [‘deconstruct’] the significance, history and style of  vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green, in Week 1 classes
• examples of what you should emulate

~

This assignment asks students to begin to articulate their thoughts about what they think the studio is, and to develop some research and media making that explores some aspect of the studio’s core ideas.

ASSIGNMENT 1

Please write a post that contains hyperlinks to each post then past the URL of that post into the ‘Website URL’ field in Submission Section

You must submit your assignment by the due date via the submission within the assessment.

Assignment 1 – 20% of your overall mark

Prompts for posting

1 Write about what you want from this studio? What do you think this studio is? Outline your goals and desires. Consider the Studio Prompt, Brief and Aims – (minimum 300 words)

2 Reflect on the findings from class exercises and homework (choose 2) and embed the videos in your blog post.

There should be some moment of discovery, an epiphany – If you didn’t have one that was naturally occurring, then you haven’t reflected enough. (minimum 300 words each)

It doesn’t matter if the video is not highly polished. Perhaps if you’ve made different edits you could include the different versions

Compress your edits using these (http://www.mediafactory.org.au/film-tv/post-production/) instructions – Premiere – Compression and Export for Online found on the Film-TV Blog. Then upload it to the relevant folder in the Studio shared google folder and paste a clickable hyperlink or embed it in your blog using the instructions here – follow all instructions – especially aspect ratio

3 The initiative post – This post is for you to research and write on anything related to the aims of the course. You could do some shooting and editing, then upload it to your blog and reflect upon it. Anything…. (minimum 500 words)

You could write about something technical – Exposure, White Balance, Focal Length etc.

You could write about some form of film or media – reality tv, the latest film you saw, your favourite tv show.

You could write about something you noticed – something on the tram the other day, something a friend of yours did etc

Hell, you could even write about something you saw on the internet – Good or bad – as long as you write on something that inspires you.

It must be reflective in nature and not just a description of something i.e. it must help you grow as filmmaker.