Tagged: constraints

K film class notes

We want to explore our three different hometowns, highlighting what is different between them and what is the same.

–       First memory

–       History of town

–       Favourite place

–       Worst memory

–       Favourite store/café

–       Little anecdotes

Intimacy, personal, creating meaning, self-reflective, autobiographical,

How to link them – narration

Narratingplace.info

Voiceovers while filming – more intimate?

Constraints when filming, eg a shape, a time of day

Mood board – documentary examples to align with the project

–       what kind of documentary and how does it fit in to the documentary genre

 

Ryan + Bogost

Ryan’s reading regarded the semantics of a narrative, with the suggested definition: “story is an event or sequence of events (the action), and narrative discourse is those events as represented.”

The following dimensions were also suggested to define what a narrative is:

I like to think about narrative and story because I enjoy reading and writing both fiction and non-fiction, so this reading is interesting to compare these two genres, but I’m unsure of the importance of this reading in regards to what we’ve studied so far in the course. Previously we have discussed in lectures that definitions by definition are inherently wrong and there are always exceptions to the rule, and that we shouldn’t waste time thinking about which box our work fits in to. On the other hand, I have felt strangely liberated by the constraints of the constraint tasks, so perhaps this reading can fit in to the course this way, but I’m still unsure. Ryan mentions the ‘do-it-yourself’ toolkit for definitions based on her eight conditions, so maybe we are able to satisfy ourselves with only a couple of these factors and ultimately define things individually.

Bogost’s reading about lists and literature made me ask myself if our sketch tasks are the film equivalent of a written list. For example, here is a ten second clip of things that define me: guitar, laptop, a candle, etc. It’s quite reminiscent of Barthes’ list of likes and dislikes mentioned in the article.

What we do with the accidents: week 4 symposium

  • Conglomerates and reality TV as a hybrid: Big Brother is not just a TV show, but a website with extra footage, a voting system, etc.
  • Why do we like reality TV so much? Adrian suggested because “we live and die by our constraints“. Reality TV certainly plays on constraints and expectations: the constraints of living in a house with 14 others and the expectation to do dishes or compete in games and tasks for example. These constraints and expectations mirror the modern world, eg the “Nanny state” which constrains us.
  • Public and private spheres: how have they changed? We now hear half a phone conversation instead of our conversations being held in a private phone booth or within the home.
  • Making mischief – why not talk into someone’s phone? It’s not a private conversation after all!

  • So what are the boundaries between inside/outside, safe/dangerous, legal/illegal?
  • TV has an insatiable need to see –> the desire to see is much more important than the camera quality. Content is more important that an HD image.
  • Jasmine mentioned that the individualised nature of our devices has changed the public and private spheres. iPad, iPhone, iPod: these are named for the individual.
  • Adrian questioned if the internet allows us to build walls further around us or whether it allows us to open our minds. The internet is capable of doing both, it depends on what the individual wants to use it for.
  • It was asked whether new technology/phones ruin TV/film making, and I immediately thought of the recent iPhone 5 film starring Scarlett Johansson:

  • Adrian proposed that the more tools the better off you are, which I tend to agree with. But this idea does avoid our need for constraints and the creative liberation found in putting constraints on our work.
  • Our language can’t even keep up with the rate of technology change: it’s not ‘film’ and it’s not a ‘video’ for instance.
  • Embrace the constraints
  • It’s all about what we do with the accidents.