For my Project Brief 2, I tried to convey how I feel and what goes on in my head on a daily basis. Not EVERY day but most of the days these are the things that got the best of me. A bit too deep for the first project? I think so too but a lot has been going on in my life since university started and I really feel like this project helped me in somewhat release all my anxiety into the project. However in some ways also added to it because this is the first major assignment for Media 1 and of course I wanted to do the best I can , I do feel like I could’ve done much better. In my previous blog posts I have strongly expressed how terrible I am at explaining concepts and expressing how I feel using my words, but here goes nothing..

At first when we were first told about this project, I had honestly no clue what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. Once the ideas started flowing I really wanted to show a softer side of me, with a more mellow feel to my video. However life got in the way of that. The usual sudden wave of life struggles and obstacles triggered the anxiety in me which in the end is clearly shown in my sequence. The first thing I added to my sequence was the audio of me tapping my pen on the table which represents 2 things, my heart beat and the clock ticking. This gives the video a sort of beat and momentum to it as well as hopefully engage the audience into the suspense of each tap. So I wake up in the morning with a burning fire in me to do life, I’m excited to see what the day has in store for me which is represented by the match being lit up. I used the fast forward effect to project how I feel that my day just goes by in a blink of an eye…and throughout the day, anxiety starts kicking in. It starts from attending classes and feeling like I’m not good enough for this course, to problems back at home. I tried showing this in a three part continuous sequence which starts of with the slow ocean waves followed by the boiling water and then me crushing an egg. My original use of the boiling water clip was to show the bubbly side of me and the egg to represent that I am “hard on the outside soft on the inside” but after the change of plan, the egg at the end of the three part sequence now represents that if I put too much pressure on myself, I will eventually crack. The day then is coming to an end and I am slowly winding down to yet another emotionally stressful day with the background audio of a crowded place to represent all the different thoughts in my head, all the damn overthinking. It ends with me mentally and physically burning out for the day.

I feel like I have successfully conveyed the story I wanted to tell with an implicit meaning behind it. Given more time and I would’ve gotten better footage and really try to show me as a person overall and not just this negative vibe that had taken over me whilst doing this project. Throughout this project I discovered many fascinating effects like rewind, fast forward and more. Looking forward to learning more editing techniques, being able to show a more creative side of me, and learning how to reflect on my projects better.

I have yet to learn how to do this blogging thing. I honestly feel like my blog posts don’t show or really portray how I reflect on this course and I find myself struggling to express how I feel through words. I am hoping that through the weeks my blog posting skills will improve and that I don’t look at it in a “I have to write this because it carries marks for my final grade” but more to the fact that I want to reflect on what I’ve done that week and to be able to express how I felt towards it better than I have for part 1 of this semester. Reading other students’ post does make me feel a little shitty but IT IS OKAY ! I’m a work in progress and I am enjoying this process of learning new skills and shall continue to be amazed by all the new knowledge I learn every week as well as learning from all the creative and unique bunch of course mates and last but not least be more participative in intellectual conversations and discussions about readings and topics I don’t quite understand , yet.

Coming into this weeks workshop I honestly felt pretty shit in a sense that all the assignments are due soon but my head just wasn’t in it and just really demotivated because I know I can do better. After sitting in for awhile, this weird wave of ideas just kept flowing while everyone else was discussing the readings and I had the sudden urge to scratch my original PB2 and re do it, which I am sort of doing so YAY FOR MORE STRESS! Wasn’t quite sure what to change just knew I wanted to. After showing Liam what I had so far and getting some feedback and critics, I had a clearer idea of where I wanted to go with this piece and how I wanted the message to come across.

 

Reflective Practice- In all honesty , I was really struggling with the whole blogging thing as I have never been very confident in my writing skills which includes reflecting on lectorials, workshops and so on. It’s not that I don’t understand what is going on , I understand clearly what goes on in lectures , just when it comes to writing a blog post on it , I find myself sitting in front of my laptop for hours starring at a blank “new post” page on the blog. So I was extremely worried as to how I was going to accomplish writing 3 blogpost a week in this course because I never really understood the why we had to do it neither did I know how to do it anyways. However today’s lectorial really helped me understand more on the reflective practice that we do in this course and why we do it, it also gave me a better idea as to how I should write my future blog post and the importance of documenting our progress.

“Follow your passion” – something I was told pretty often last year when deciding which bachelors degree to do. In terms of education , I have never really felt passionate about a certain area of study therefore somewhat never felt like I could be as successful in the career path I have chosen as compared to others who are more passionate about what they are studying. However the video of Cal Newports “Follow Your Passion” is bad advice presentation broaden my perspective on things and how passion grows as you build and improve your skills. It gave me a little motivation in contacts with finding my passion in this course throughout the next few years in University. I do love learning new things, new skills and after just 3 weeks in this course I have learned so much and am so keen to to see what is in store for the rest of the year.

I’ve been watching a lot of daily vlogs on youtube lately but it has never come to my attention to observe the editing and to think about how our minds make assumptions and somehow know how to fil in the gaps and cuts in between frames to understand the message  that you-tuber was trying to carry out. Since starting this course I’ve learnt to pay more attention to the detail whenever I am watching youtube videos and movies. Another thing I am mesmerized by is how much editing can change the meaning of something for example by cutting out certain parts of a movie or if the ending is left hanging, it could simply change ones perspective on the whole meaning of the movie.

This weeks workshop was pretty much everyone just trying to figure out how to use premiere pro. It went from “oh I think I got it” to “oh shit where did my project go”. We started off by watching a some classmates haiku exercise and was asked to give feedback. I have honestly never been put in a situation where I have had to give feedback therefore I have still yet to be comfortable with giving other people feedback. However I am open to receiving feedback as it helps me improve. Learning about the different types of “ hats” we have to put on was really interesting because of how much it can make a difference when paying close attention to details in the video and putting on the right hat to give feedback. We then proceeded to work on our project briefs 2 and it was nice to see everyone on my table helping each other out with premiere pro as well as also being confused and frustrated together whilst doing it. Seeing examples of other students’ project brief 2 from previous semesters was super beneficial as I was a bit stuck as to how my video was supposed to be like.

Editing – I used to think editing was all about fixing the videos I had compiled, such as cutting out the parts I thought particularly boring or parts that I personally did not like. But today’s (15/3) lectorial changed my whole perspective on editing. Editing as quoted by Liam is the process of deliberately breaking things apart.

Meaning- In the context of visual communication, how do people create meaning from an image? Before todays lectorial if I were to see the photo of that rotten potato that was projected today, I would’ve described the meaning of it primarily based of what is in the frame of the image which is simply just a potato that has gone bad. But when a photo is put adjacent to another , meaning can be found from outside the frame as well. What we see from outside the frame fills in the meaning of what is inside the frame, which for example was the similarity between the photo of Trumps hair and the rotten potato. This lectorial opened my eyes and changed my perspective on how I look at photos and also how I edit videos. For this weeks reading “Blood in the gutter” I particularly enjoyed it much more than others. This is because I’m a visual learner and finds it hard to absorb things from just reading words. It was interesting to see how when different illustrations are put in a sequence that it creates a story in which (hopefully) readers understand. I found the similarities between the lecture and readings was in terms of creating a gap and filling it with meaning and different content to create different emotions for the viewer as well as how the editing and illustration of things show viewers/readers that time and space has passed within the story.

In the lectorial this week we were given an activity outside of class to walk around a specific location given to us and to observe the different types of media around us. It also gave us an opportunity to meet new people in the lecture. My group and I were given City Square. During that activity I couldn’t help but to notice 2 things , first being the difference between the media types around that area as compared to areas such as Melbourne central or Bourke St. The types of media in City Square were more traditional, for example banners imprinted on flags, posters, billboards and so on as compared to Melbourne Central and Bourke St which included more modern media and advancement in technology such as computer based and digital advertising. Another thing that caught my attention was how the majority of people on the street was drawn to their digital devices. It made me realizes how much of a negative impact and influence social media and or digital devices has on society. It was kind of like a slap in the face that I shouldn’t glue myself to my iPhone all the time and take time out to appreciate and admire things that happen around me and not just in my phone.

My first attempt at using Premier pro for the Haiku Exercise.

To me, family always comes first and for the past 9 years my family has only consists of my mum , my older brother and myself. These 3 rocks represent us and how we have been each others rock throughout the years, supporting one another through the good and the bad times. I stumbled upon these rocks while walking around by myself, feeling kind of homesick and when I saw these 3 rocks it reminded me of my family back home and how they are always there for me. Another representation for this photo is that I have learned to be somewhat independent since living here on my own and I’m able to stand on my own , however I am also a dependent person my mother and brother to hold me together when I’m feeling weak.

My initial idea for this representation was something that when combined or put together, softens. Which would mean that we can put up a strong face to the other people but when we come together we are more vulnerable in a way but I realized it was hard to photograph as well as write my explanation more elaborately

 

Since I was little I’ve always been afraid of the dark and till this day I still strongly fear being alone in the dark or even walking back home at night. This photo was taken about 11pm at night and it is a walkway that leads to my apartment. I always feel like I’m participating in a speed walking competition whenever I have to walk back home alone. This walkway somewhat represents how I feel towards entering first year of university, fearful but I have to go through it to reach home well in this case is do well and get my degree. In this photo, along the walkway are other people, strangers, on the street which in this case are other students going on this journey alongside myself as well as streetlights along the walkway and through the rest of the journey to guide me so I do not feel as fearful. These lights represent friends, tutors, lecturers family members that will guide me through the journey and even though I am a fearful person , I know that I can get through it with them.

I feel like I went a bit off topic with this one but it somewhat shows that I am a fearful person.

 

An ambivert is a person who has a balance of extrovert and introvert features in their personality. I have always seen myself as an extrovert as I consider myself pretty outgoing despite being a little shy at first. I love going out with friends , going on adventures, taking on different challenges and exploring new things. However over the past year in particular I have really seen the introvert side of me show, I find myself wanting to stay at home more and enjoying time to myself while occasionally having a whole regular Dominos pizza and binge watching movies or television series’ or sometimes just laying in bed and winding down after a busy day or week. This photo represents me standing on both sides and embracing that sometimes I would want to soend my whole day out and about but am also allowed to not want to go out and just have time to myself.

 

This represents how I’m a bit too hard on myself sometimes and tend to put too much pressure on myself at times , most of the time it’s unnecessary stress. This is honestly not my best idea for this representation however it was the only thing I could think of.

 

In literature , the sea represents life and its hardships. As it may be quite calm sometimes but also becomes raging and even deadly in a split second when the waves occur. The waves represent the struggles and obstacles life throws at us. When life gets to me I find myself getting a little demotivated but I never give up. At times when a sudden change of weather brings upon giant waves it seems like its impossible to swim forward much like when in life an obstacle is thrown at me , it may seem impossible to get through it but I feel like I am someone who does not give up easily and sometimes the solution could just swimming back to shore or in this case taking a few steps back and evaluating the situation.

When I first captured this video , I took a photo as well for options and couldn’t decide which one to use. However after deciding which I was going to use, I realized it was a bit hard to explain and that it went a bit off track

Hard on the outside , soft on the inside-

I think of myself as someone who tries to be tough and puts up a brave face like everything is okay when in fact I’m a real softy inside. This ties in with the quote “hard on the outside , soft on the inside”, and to me what represents this is an egg. What I feel that this video can represent is also how if I were to be under too much pressure and stress , I will crack and be an emotional mess . Just like the mess a broken egg has made.

Bubbly-

So in this video it represents how when you first get to know me I am pretty shy but slowly when you get to know me a little bit more , the more bubblier side of me shows. So it starts with a little simmer and then increases to a boiling bubbly pot of water. I had two ideas for this one which firstly was the boiling water and second was using dish washing soap.

Motivated-

Tennis has always been a big part of my life, but over the past year injuries have gotten in the way of something I love doing. This video represents how my motivation to start training again once burned out but watching the Australian Open this year really fired up my love for the sport again. Thinking about having to train to get back to where I was and the level I was at reminded me of this quote by Mia Hamm that a friend once showed me and it said “I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match”. So this quote was at the back of my head when I thought of the idea of representing my motivation through a lit up stove