I’ve found this Blog projects a little challenging, not quite knowing what is and isnt suitable to blog, how personal my blog should be and how strictly school based its content should be.
Here are a selection of entries I feel to be my strongest and will be submitting as my finals for the semester.
Enjoy
Category: Uncategorized
Transmedia Project
Background:
As often as I can I try and excersice, way I do this are going for bush walks and hikes. The stimulating environment and watching nature around me encourages my creative thinking and is constantly giving me ideas for projects.
I wanted to document one of the spots I frequent, Lightening Hill, a lookout about five minutes from my house.
Over the last year that I’ve been walking there I’ve seen crazy amounts of rubbish and dumped debris there. From couches to car doors. The day I chose to film my footage was stormy and hot, I was still unsure as to what direction I was taking with the film clip, wheather it be an advertisment for a horror movie, my favorite genre, or an add for a workout and active wear company. As I walked along I noticed the rubbish I’d seen so many times before, cans, lighters, plastic bags, bottles.
I decided then that this would be a conservation and preservation campaigne and an advertisment for the fictinal company “Wilderness Warriors” very similar to a charity group I currently support- The Wilderness Society, that does active work to preserve Australian flora and fauna.
Process:
I took footage of Lightening Hill and edited them to create a promotional video. Using my camera and premier to edit. The video runs for roughly 3minutes and features close ups of flowers, branches and then close ups of the rubbish surrounding them, also a wide shot of the view from the top of the hill.
Towards the end of the video it features a butterfly on a flower which eventually flies away.
I then used stills from the video to create banners and inserted sentences:
These feature at the end of the video directing people to the website.
I also created a facebook account, its widely known that majority of people use or have a facebook account and its one of the most popular ways for businesses to get in contact with their audience and target market.
I also created merch to sell which displays the Wilderness Warrior logo and would promote the business further.
I created badges and a T-shirt.
To help get this business going and to promote it further I’d employ or ask volunteers to wear the t-shirts and hand out flyers and give free badges at uni and possibly give talks at local primary schools about preservation and the environment. I’d also push to have the advert played close to Earth Day and Clean Up Australia Day.
Here is the Advert Enjoy:
Wilderness Warrior Advertisement
Transmedia Project/Rant
I’m so bogged down with assessments at the moment. Everything is due at once and with this being the end of first year I feel so burnt out and empty of ideas. I struggle to think of interesting things to write about in this blog and find myself struggling to focus on much of the lecture content.
This class has been interesting and helpful at times but I also feel like the time could be used more effectively and instead of a second almost irrelevant to first year subject we could be doing a more practical subject building our skills we will use in the other practical subjects. Or even a subject aimed at helping us with our essays and structured writing in the other theory class.
This class fells like its largely aimed at preparing you for being a working and professional established artist but I’d like a subject at this point that aims at helping you get through these years at uni and help cultivate skills and work on areas that need support and extra attention.
This has been another rant and pointless blog but they’ve all been pretty pointless and ranty so whats new?
Networked Story Telling
So this is a bit delayed but just before I went on holidays the group I was with to finish the Video had almost finished the split screen video.
After story boarding with Tim he came up with these wonderful works of art in themselves.
We each filmed our own sections then mashed them together to create the final product.
A huge thank you to the rest of my group for finishing it while I was away!
Click to watch the finished product!
Beck to School
This is my first week back at school since my week and a half break. Oh boy I feel like I’ve missed so much! I’ve almost caught up on all the notes and lectures I’ve missed. My idea for the next assessment Trans-media Story Telling, is to incorporate my video from the previous assessment and simply edit it to appear like a tourism advertisement. and then create mock merchandise to sell or advertise uni life or Bendigo city.
MAMA
In my time visiting Albury I got to have a look at their new gallery! MAMA is an extension of the old gallery on Dean St in the center of town. They have some amazing things on show and its almost double the size of the original gallery, which I regularly frequented as a child.
A few of their exhibitions on at the moment include the iconic Tracey Moffatt and her exhibition of ‘Something More’
Max Dupain and example of his iconic Austrialan work here ‘Sunbaker’ and how it uniquely captures Sydney and beach culture.
And the amazing works of Kelly Deborah for the 19th Biennale of Sydney. A beautiful series of life size portraits featuring naked humans in all their glory with collage techniques adorning the prints.
My favorite of the work was probably by Jonathan Jones.
His light instillation were truly stunning and as I was informed have great meaning and cultural significance behind them.
The visit has encouraged me to look further at photography and pushing the limits of exhibiting and displaying work.
There were also a few video pieces that were very interesting and I found myself looking at them differently now having the little knowledge I do of editing and film making.
Visiting Home and realizing I don’t need technology.
So the last week and a half I was in Albury visiting family and close friends for an old friends wedding to her high school sweet heart.
Before I set out on the four hour journey to my home town I had broken my phone. Going a week and a half without a mobile phone seemed near impossible. Arching back to the second class of the semester where we were asked to observe peoples behaviors and how they are attached to their technology and glued to computer screens. Being of the age that mainly communicate via text or instant message I felt isolated and unable to contact many of my friends and family.
The first few days without my phone I felt naked and without my security blanket, I’ve always used my phone as a distraction or something to pass the time while in an awkward/boring social situation.
I wake up and check my phone, scroll through facebook and reply to messages. Even as I write this I have facebook open in my tabs, with multiple conversations open between friends.
Over the next couple of days spent without a phone I began to feel more comfortable without my phone in my hands, it reminded me of when I was in primary school or early high school, being without a phone and not worrying, not being immediately contactable.
With coutless appointments I had to keep and making plans with friends to catch up while I was home I had to be on time or early to many of the appointments and meetings. Because if I was late I couldn’t just message them and let them know I’d be there soon or to reschedule. I felt my punctuality was improving, I valued the time I spent with people more because I was more present and involved, unhindered by the distraction of a phone beeping in my pocket.
Today I sit writing this still without a phone but with a better sence that I don’t NEED it and could happily go back to the days of a land line. I also read somewhere that cutting down screen time and the amount you use your phone before bed and early in the morning could improve your health, helping you to relax and sleep better. I can say I’ve slept better not being constantly inclined to check my phone for new messages and notifications.
American Beauty
Okay so another pop culture reference taken to the next step and made into art.
Nothing new! We’ve seen this kind of appropriation many times before Andy Warhol being a prime example of taking unoriginal ideas and twisting them to accommodate an original aesthetic.
I needed a subject for my Audio Visual class and all I could think of was a garbage bag floating around and contorting under the thrust of air from a hair dryer.
I created this video very simply, within a matter of half an hour, editing it was a little trickier but the final product came together nicely and I’m very proud of the results.
The rhythmic movements of the bag and the mirrored video creates a hypnotic effect. I slowed down some sections that I felt had the most interesting features and sped up parts that were less eye catching. Another aspect of the project was to think more closely about how you would display the video, I projected it onto a stack of small boxes and the result was an intimate viewing where the viewer had to crouch to see into the box and glimpse the secret display.
After doing more research into garbage bag art and others that have come before myself in creating beauty from trash I found this video of an american artist Joshua Allen Harris. He takes the concept of street art and sculpture to another level and takes the idea of trash to treasure to new heights. His sculptures are hugely inspirational and I hope to one day have an idea or concept that uses found objects, recycled materials and the surroundings to create sculptures and pop-up art.
Making Movies
For the second assessment we have been assigned a film making project.
I’m in a group with three other students, two fine arts majors and one graphic designer. We’ve all decided to shoot our morning routine and then film our travels to school, we’ll have it as a split screen with some sections being bigger than others when more interesting things happen. Then the point where all the cameras come together will be us arriving at school and meeting out the front of a lecture.
I’ve filmed my sequences its just a matter of piecing them all together and finalizing everything.
Meme Culture
So this post is related to the Viral Media lecture in wk 8.
I’ve always been a sucker for keeping upto date with the latest trends and knowing whats going on before other people. I have massive FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) when everyone else is talking about one thing and I don’t know what it is I feel like I’m missing the joke or missing the punchline.
I’m addicted to Facebook and check my feed and wall constantly, as well as Instagram and Tumblr.
But the one I was addicted to before these came to be was the dreaded Fight Club of the internet…. 4Chan. I used to surf 4Chan with friends in high school that platform would be where we’d hear about the latest viral internet sensation or things that everyone was talking about.
Often involving some photo and comic sans print over the top or a demotivational take on a motivational poster.
Then it was the “when you see it” craze, then “lolcats” and the ancient “Rick Roll” google any of these phrases and a plethora of results will come forth.
All of these things came out and I was consumed by them, my friends and I made constant reference to the latest “meme” that had come out and on top of that made inside jokes and other subtle references to them.
I doubt many people would have known what we were talking about especially the older generation.
The feeling of having something before someone else, many of the viral posts come out and are seen then get taken by news groups or larger sharing platforms and are then made main stream. This then kills the joke and something else is made to replace it.
I still havent got the knack of how to finish a blog post on here… but here is a little something I whipped up.
The Networking Culture of Ayla Williamsonn 