It was quite a struggle to put this self-portrait project together as I found it difficult to express who I am as a person in just one minute of media footage. I’m definitely not a photogenic kind of person and rarely have pictures taken of myself. It would have been a great help to have a professional cameraman work with me. I’m not the most artistic person when it comes to taking images of myself or other objects.

The aim I was trying to achieve with my project was to go with the theme of what is most important to me, which is my family and friends. I included video footage of myself surfing when I was over with my friends in Thailand. The other video footage was a video game night with my nephews. I tried to make the project entertaining by editing the footage in small segments so it keeps the audience guessing to what is coming next.

I also included a voice over as part of the audio, which briefly describes a very tiny summary of my life. I tried to include the footage equivalent to the mood of the voice over. The music over the whole project was done recording my guitar on the apple program Garageband. I thought this would be a good way to express the type of music I am into and how this reflects me.

Overall I think that the project somewhat achieved what I was trying to portray about myself within the specified format. I was generally happy with the editing of the video footage and thought it worked well crossing between the two different videos. I also thought that the music blended in nicely with the video and wasn’t too much of a distraction. But I wasn’t too sure whether my voice over audio was up to scratch. Maybe the gap between each voice over audio was a bit too long but I didn’t want to ramble throughout the whole piece and sound cliché. I was also having problems with the editing of the sound on the imovie application. I didn’t want the project sounding like a whole lot of noise. But I’m quite happy with the end product and thought it was a great learning experience.

One of my fellow students Jen Farrow recently won a pitching competition and was granted some money to make a short film.  She mentioned the achievement in the lectorial class and asked if anyone was interested in getting involved in the making of the film.  I was sitting next to Jen during class and asked her if I could have a look at the script.  She was happy to send it to me so I could give her feedback.

I read the script and thought it was a very good and entertaining script for a short film.  But there were a few moments in the plot that I thought could be changed for the better.   So I gave her some feedback on the script and Jen was happy to take my advice and went ahead with most of the recommended changes.  She invited me to the filming which was over 2 days.  I couldn’t make it on the first day but went to the second day instead.

Jen and the crew did a brilliant job with the filming of the scenes.  It was a great learning experience and I thoroughly enjoyed the day.  I was the “boomboy” for most of the scenes and it was great to meet new people who share similar interests to myself.   Another fellow student Jordan was one of the main characters and he did a great job.  I can’t wait to see the finished product.

During this lectorial we had two guest speakers Adrian Miles and Liam Ward.  They are both staff members in the RMIT media program.  I found Adrian to be an intriguing man with interesting views regarding why we are here and the future of media.  Although I didn’t agree on everything that he said, Adrian really did hammer home some truths about the media industry.

He made the point that we are studying at university to learn how to be innovative leaders in the media industry, not to just learn how to use computer programs or push buttons.  Adrian was also talking about how technology is effecting the production of media and making certain aspects of the sector redundant.  But his theory on the thought and idea process was really insightful.  During my life I have met some people with all these wonderful ideas and thoughts. But rarely do these ideas and thoughts ever come to fruition.  I don’t want to be one of those people, all talk and no action.  The main reason I’m studying at university is to make my dreams and ideas become a reality, not just another thought.

Liam Ward was quite an entertaining speaker who talked about the process of editing.  He mentioned that editing is the process of deliberately breaking things.  The ability to choose the right pieces in the final product is the essential skill of the editing.  His brief chat about the editing process made me look at the subject in a different light.  It isn’t what you just leave out, but also what you decide to leave in.

During this class we were working on our self portrait assignments.  I am still trying to work out what kind of media to include in my portrait.  My goal is to have the theme of friends and family which are the two most important aspects of my life.  I am including footage of my nephews in this assignment playing video games at my house.  They recently moved to Queensland and I miss them heaps.  I am still getting my head around learning how to use the iMovie program to put the video together.  The lynda online tutorial was a great help in learning the program though and made it easier to understand iMovie.

Brian came around the class and was giving everyone feedback and advise on the work that they had done so far.  I found Brian’s advise very helpful for me and plan to implement some of his ideas on my assignment.  I just wish I had my own cameraman during this project as I can’t take photos to save myself.  I look at other students work and some have great artistic flair.  But there is no way in hell i’m going to perfect the art of selfies.

During this weeks lectorial there were three guests present to give us information and advise on certain aspects of media.  Our first guest was Anne Lennox who works as a senior co-ordinator for copyright management at RMIT.  She briefly explained some of the copyright laws that will most likely effect us during our studies.  It was interesting to hear some of the restrictions that applies to making certain projects.  From what I gathered money does the talking when It comes to using copyright content depending on popularity.  I couldn’t believe the news though that some forms of media are copyrighted seventy years after the artist’s death.  That just seems ridiculous to me and was obviously legislated to protect the corporate interests.  The law restricts artistic freedom and severely penalises people who decide to break them.  The artist has to have some form of protection. But in my opinion the work should be public domain as soon as the artist is dead.

The next guest was Kyla Brettle who is a current lecturer at RMIT for documentary.  She was informing us on her experience working in the media industry.  Kyla has made documentaries for different formats including television and radio.  She has travelled around the globe in search of enthralling stories to tell.  Kyla explained how she found it difficult at first to talk to strangers due to being  an introvert.  But she had life changing experiences travelling the world and enjoyed sharing people’s stories.  Her speech made me inspired to maybe look at making documentaries in the future.

The last guest was another lecturer at RMIT.  His name was Paul Richard and he was talking about his experiences of working as a producer.  Paul was also telling us about experiences other students have had in the making of media projects.  It was quite an entertaining talk with his philosophies on how to be cool and not be a tool.  He also advised the class to be well prepared for future projects and always be ready for the worst case scenario.  Overall I found the lectorial informative and inspiring at the same time.  It is always great to hear the experiences of people who have worked in the media profession.

During this self-portrait exercise I was trying to capture my personality/lifestyle traits from the different forms of media materials required.  It was quite a challenge to come up with media that relates to who I am as a person but overall feel content with the outcome.

TEXT

I patiently wait for a revolution to come.   Where governments serve the interests of the people, not the interests of multinational corporations.   Where the environment is more important than profit and growth. Where inequality is non-existent and corruption doesn’t flourish.   Where materialism is frowned upon and not adorned.   One can always dream.

PHOTOS

Each year I meet with my English friends somewhere overseas.  One night during each holiday we have “Shit shirt night”.  Always a joyful occasion full of adventure  and drunken antics.

At a friend’s dress up party with where I played the role as film producer.  Hopefully I achieve to become a successful producer in real life.

Sadly I have to put up with this traffic congestion every morning on my way to work.  When are they going to make jet packs commercial?

I took this picture at work and thought it was metaphoric of myself.  Trying to blossum out of the industrial wasteland where I am currently employed.

AUDIO RECORDINGS 

I recorded this audio while I was playing on my guitar with my friend.  It is quite obvious to see why I didn’t make it as a rock star.

I recorded this audio while playing a video game online called Destiny.  Once again the weapon I crave for was not awarded to me.  I think most Destiny online players can relate to this frustration.

VIDEO RECORDINGS

Unfortunately I was unable to add my video pieces on this blog as they exceeded the upload which is limited to 20mb.

John Cage was an American composer, musician and artist who did a composition called 4’33”.  The performance involved sitting at his piano for 4 minutes and 33 seconds while not playing a single chord.  The audience were not aware that this was his intention.  The aim of his piece was to challenge the perception of silence with the idea that “everything we do is music.”

I watched the clip on youtube and thought what a waste of time that was, I wish I could have that time back.  To me it just seemed like pretentious rubbish. To be such a talented musician and be best known for a composition which doesn’t include a single note just seems absurd.  But the performance was more intended to be thought provoking in analysing human behaviour.

It does leave the question is there ever such a moment of silence?  The art of listening is becoming a harder skill to acquire with so many distractions in the modern world.  It does make me wonder that maybe I have never had a silent moment in my life.  Even when I’m lying in bed in what I thought is complete silence, my breathing has rhythm and my heart beats loudly.

Within every city, wherever we look, whatever we hear, different forms of media flow through the atmosphere.  It can vary from listening to a protest, observing constant advertising or just using an app on a mobile phone.  We unconsciously absorb so many aspects of media without even realising it.

OUTSIDE STATE LIBRARY

UP HIGH

• Corporate bank logo
• Children’s book festival flags
• Security cameras

ON THE GROUND

• Political Demonstration (Free Tibet)
• People reading books
• People using phones
• Various clothing labels
• Graffiti

MIDGROUND

• Trams with advertising
• Multinational corporate advertising (Nando’s, Subway)
• Feminist posters
• Computers

BACKGROUND

• Public transport workers handing out leaflets
• People taking pictures
• People having conversation
• Constant noise of transportation
• Buskers

FOREGROUND

• Clothing brands
• My phone beeping
• Music

IN YOUR HAND

• Mobile Phone (camera, text messages)
• Media assignment sheet

I was quite excited to attend my first lectorial and was impressed with all the new facilities and equipment within the room. Gone are the days of a blackboard and chalk. I was quite intrigued at the music playing during intervals. I’ve never experience anything quite like that and found it a bit odd at first. But after a while it was kind of soothing and made me feel more relaxed.

The article on Hyper and Deep Attention was an interesting read. I would consider myself more effective at deep attention, which made me reflect on whether this is due to my age. I really don’t like multitasking and like to take my time on getting things done properly, one task at a time. There is nothing more agitating to me than people who constantly check on their smart phones during conversation. Whether this is a problem with people who have hyper attention is up for debate. But from my observations I find this tends to happen a lot more with the younger generation. Maybe I’m becoming just another grumpy old fart.

I’m the type of learner that enjoys having interaction with a class rather than listening to a teacher ramble on for too long. I find that I tend to lose concentration if a topic is being discussed that doesn’t really interest me. I also like doing activities in collaboration with other students. I also find getting feedback on my projects is a great and informative learning tool.

The most challenging aspect of this course will be trying to get the best marks possible in all my subjects. I have to believe in myself that I have the ability to excel in my chosen profession that leads to a successful career.   My dream is to write or help produce a successful television series that keeps the audience hooked and entertained.