Before starting this course I would passively consume film and tv not never really payed much attention to the techniques being utilised. It’s amazing how you a technique such as editing is just a seamless part of consuming media and I only became more aware of it throughout the course.

For instance, I probably wouldn’t question myself whilst consuming media.

Questions such as : What is the director/editor trying to convey/communicate with this editing technique OR why did he edit/cut that scene the way he did?

In my other subject Popular Culture in Everyday Life, we analysed ideology’s in reality tv. This relates to editing in a sense that it is heavily edited to convey a particular ideology. From the switching of shots between actors , long shots to display who is around, using a still shot of a location to show a progression of time to music to show mood and create suspense.

And through all this it has taught me to be a more analytic, more engaged viewer.

 

‘At the most, the animal’s gaze flickers and passes on.

They look sideways. They look blindly beyond. They scan mechanically.

They have been immunised to encounter, because nothing can any more occupy a central place in their attention.’

In regards to week 7 reading, I was a little confused when I first read it and just did not get the relevance of animals in context with what he had been learning in class. After reading it a couple of times, I soon realised what it’s relation was.

 Bergers discusses how we as consumers of media, blindly accept and input all information that is presented to us. We tend to continuously consume all types of media, from TV, radio, ads to social media to the point that where the struggle to communicate and connect with one another is slowly but surely reaching it’s high point.  As learned in week 2 when we encountered media around the city, it has taken our ability to understand meaning but instead responding to most things as ‘indifferent’.

How does animals caged/trapped inside a zoo relate to us? Well, we too are trapped, trapped by our roles living in a consumerist society. I asked myself why animals though? well then it dawned on me that it is because of what us humans have done to them. Isolating them from it’s own species, downgrading them to circus acts, exploiting them for profits just that the space that we have been trapped into is our social media platforms.

For example, Facebook. Behind all that likes, shares, ‘pokes’ and a hypothetical ‘wall’ separating one another is there even a real connection between the people on each side…?

The discussion here is that, are we just putting ourselves on display/ for observation such as the animals in zoos?

Slut shaming.

I came across some photos/comments on social media that really got me thinking.

It saddens me to see that people choose to put other young women down for the way they dress, how they embrace their bodies/image on social media. Comments like ‘you dress like hoe/slut/whore/’ or even ‘you’re asking for it with what you’re wearing’ makes me so disappointed at how narrow minded people are these days on social media these days, particularly instagram.

I am not speaking on behalf of myself as I find myself to be a more conservative dresser however it just annoys me by how one can be put down, criticised for embracing her curves/ flaunting what her momma gave her ..like power to her ! If they choose to post a photo on social media that shows a little more skin than what society deems to be appropriate, they are not sluts/whores/hoes.

They are simply just confident & should not be put down for being comfortable in their own skin.Everyone deserves to be comfortable in their own skin whether be it their image on media platforms or in person or whether they choose to wear 10 layers of clothing or 1.

My point is that media platforms should be used to spread positivity, share creative content, be inspired to create. Not putting people down or criticising for the content they choose to display/ create.

 

 

What I found to have played a big role in the submitted work turning out successfully was the fact that every group member contributed in editing and sharing ideas. The successful aspect of the piece was the ability to include everybody’s ideas/visions into the piece whilst still forming a story line. Moreover I feel like we successfully managed to cut down the use of narration to explain our scenarios and the meaning of the piece and just focusing on sound effects. We hope that the use of more sound effects and noises of the environment will guide the listener through an experience and figure out the meaning behind our piece.

In terms of problematic aspects, transitioning all the clips to make it sound as one or sound like a journey/experience for the listener was one of the struggles as some parts of the piece had many different sound effects involved that we recorded and used online sources therefore we had to make it sound realistic and all in the same atmosphere. Another problematic aspect of the piece that was more of a personal struggle was the fact that adobe audition and my laptop kept failing me. From losing clips, laptop shutting off before I saved my work to Audition jumbling up my clips (?) but thankfully turned out alright in the end.

Our audio work was based around ‘a day in the life of’ someone with a short attention span and just everyday life distractions caused my social media/technology. Therefore the theory of making the piece an experience was something we really held onto throughout the process of creating this piece. Whenever we were to listen to each others edited clips, the listener would close their eyes to imagine the scene out in their head and see if we’re able to experience it to the fullest. Another topic highlighted in week 9 lecture that we tried to maintain as a group was the importance of collaboration. Without the cooperation within the group, we would not have been able to produce what we did, the ability to communicate and meet up almost every week to discuss our project was very beneficial and I’m glad we were all on the same page.

I’ve learned that audio actually plays a larger role in any form of media than I thought. Before this assignment I did not realise the significance of audio-based media as I just didn’t pay attention that without audio, a video-based piece would not be as impactful. Since starting this assignment, I’ve been paying more attention to the audio of any source of media I come across and sometimes I’d mute a video to see how I felt throughout the experience and the difference was uncanny. It really changed my perspective on how much the audio effects my emotions, my thoughts and the experience.

Things I’ve learnt in the making process in terms of collaboration, firstly, is communication. Communication is key when it comes to university group work and in the future with clients and colleagues. During this assignment, communication at the beginning was not very strong but the more meetings we held and online communication, we build a stronger relationship as a team as well as create friendships. Without communication, our creative visions wouldn’t have been able to be portrayed in our piece the way it did without any objections/drama. Another key thing we learned and stuck by was having a clear objective within the group which meant knowing what our goal was as a group. From the goals being clearly established, everyone believing in the idea, having an that idea is attainable and achievable to knowing the future potential of the piece, which means knowing and creating that room to move or possibly change in the future. With that being said, when we presented our drafts, we were able to change a couple of things without ruining the whole point of the piece after getting feedback from the industry experts. Moreover, it is important to put down your pride and hear out other group members ideas/thoughts although you may think you have the best one or the one you strongly want to go with. This is because it gives you opportunity to develop our skills as a group and as individuals for a professional career and to learn more affectively.

Taken at one of our last group meetings 🙂

(730)

For this weeks workshop we had the privilege of having an expert in the industry named Jon to come in and give us feedback and constructive criticism on our drafts for Project Brief 4 audio piece.

He gave us a few pointers/corrections we can take into consideration for the scenes/clips we presented to them and below are some of the following:

1. Do we want our car sounds to be more realistic (such as the sounds keys turning on the car and the car door closing be at a distance from the mic to sound more realistic) Or do we want it more abstract where it stands out more (eg. the keys and everything is right next to the mic)
2.  Would we prefer certain scenes to be cut short where it seems unrealistic or drag in longer but possible bore the listener for that part of the piece.

Jon then reminded us again that it was all our own creative decisions we need to make as a group and to discuss which feel we are going for.

Some tips Jon gave us to improve our piece

Eg:

• increase of volumes in particular areas that should be taken note off

Thankfully there was nothing too drastic that needed to be changed and we were grateful for Jon’s feedback. As soon as our turn was up, we were jumped right back onto our laptops to fix and or discuss whatever needed to be.

What and how did you learn that you think was really valuable?

The things I learned that i found mod valuable in this semester would technical skills wise. Before starting this course, I’ve never even heard of Premiere Pro/Audition nor knew anything video/audio recording equipment such as the H2N Zoom we used for pb4 as well as the sony mc50 for our pb3’s. Blogging was also something very new to me,  learning how to express myself creatively with my words and reflecting weekly on what I’ve learned has really affectively helped me realise how much I grow as a future media practitioner.

What did you find the most challenging about the course?

Blogging was definitely one of the larger struggles I had this semester as said in the paragraph above as I’ve never diligently had to write/express/reflect on my progress until starting this course. Another struggle was definitely comparing my work to other course mates, I did that for awhile and all it did was made me feel shit about my own not realising that I have my own creative vision, my own element in my work and that they also may have had experience before this where as I had never done any projects like this before. Lastly was the constructive criticism based on different coloured hats. I would say I love complimenting people work when I really enjoyed it however giving negative or constructive feedback sometimes felt very mean of me even though it was asked of us.

What have you discovered about your own creative practice as a media maker?

I discovered a love for editing video pieces (even tho premiere pro was a pain a lot of the time). It was a very enjoyable experience editing whenever I learnt new techniques or effects to use in my videos. I discovered that I may be creative in some way as that was something I often put myself down for throughout the semester.

Big thank you to liam for being so helpful, understanding and encouraging!

As I am sure everyone is aware of the suicide bombing that took place a couple of weeks ago in Manchester, UK. My heart goes out to everyone who was a victim of this horrible incident . It warmed my heart to see how many people are using social media for the better in this situation.

There have been countless amount of articles on the negative effects of social media such as cyberbullying and lack of social interaction within society, I know this as I had to do research on it’s negative impact of social media for my PB4.

However when images of Manchester locals with the spirit of kindness running to the rescue and offering homes, phone calls, transport and etc. went viral on the internet, it amazed me to see how much good social media could do regardless of all the negative effects it has had over the years.

From posts regarding finding their friend/family, free transport services for victims, opening of homes to free usage of phone/phone charger to make phone calls home/loved ones.

Below are some heart warming viral images I came across.

 

 

In the beginning of this weeks workshop, Liam played a very interesting audio piece for us ..a lot of the different clips were overlapping which made me very curious as to what is the meaning behind the piece. It turned out to be about an abstract piece on individuals and their gender.

Followed by the activity of the week which was to create an audio piece entitled ‘Attention’ in our respective groups using Adobe Audition. AA was a bit hard to adjust to after using Premiere Pro for most of the semester but slowly getting the hang of it. We went with the concept of how it is getting harder to get the attention of someone you’re in the midst of having a conversation with, without being interrupted or distracted by technology.