“Time Manipulated” upload

Here’s the link to our contribution called “Time Manipulated” for the Time Machine lab.

http://media.rmit.edu.au/pp108/archives/153

Framing Statement for ‘Time’ project

The scene begins with a man being trapped in a room he can’t escape and this provides a metaphor for us as humans being trapped in a world where media is all around and we can’t escape it. We’ve accepted media as a huge part of our lives, mediated images are all we know and they construct our world, as we know it.

Another parallel apart from the time lapses and time jumps could relate to Latch’s possible death prediction in the newspaper. Could this man be getting tomorrow’s newspaper today? This is linked to the position of news in today’s world, where information travels so fast and it may get put out of context, ironically turning ‘news’ into its paradox of being mere rumours.

The manipulation of the Space/Time continuum is unfathomable by the human mind, (especially if one tries to think through and comprehend every aspect of time travel and manipulation; mainly because it seemingly isn’t physically possible, much like M. C. Escher’s creations.

M. C. Escher’s paintings were typically done on old media (Art canvases with paint), but have now been cracked and explained with the integration of new media (Digital re-creations; animation of the ‘impossible cube’ being constructed.) This concept links to the ideas brought about by Jenkins in his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.

Hence, our project is itself a piece of media which greatly demands the audience’ attention and interaction, as it persuades the audience to come up with their own interpretation and conclusion about what message is being conveyed across.

The above-mentioned points resonate the same ideals that Jenkins proposes in his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. These ideals being that:

• Media is interactive.
• Media is everything; culturally involved with society.
• Media and culture is shaped by participation.

The convergence of ‘Time’ manipulated

Just putting down some thoughts on how our ‘Time’ project relates to Jenkins’ theories of convergence cultures…

• Man is trapped in a room he can’t escape (Metaphorically): We are trapped in a world where media is all around and we can’t escape it.
• Latch’s death prediction in the newspaper??: Links to traits of news in today’s world, where information travels extremely fast and may sometimes get put out of context… ironically turning ‘news’ into its paradox of being mere rumours.
• Manipulation of Space/Time continuum is unfathomable by the human mind (especially if one tries to think through and comprehend every aspect of time travel/manipulation; mainly because it seemingly isn’t physically possible, much like M. C. Escher’s creations.
• M. C. Escher’s paintings were typically done on old media (Art canvases), but have now been cracked/explained with the presence of new media (Digital re-creations; animation of the ‘impossible cube’.) Link to Jenkins: Convergence of old and new media.
• Hence, our project is itself a piece of media which greatly demands the audience’ attention and interaction, as it persuades the audience to come up with their own interpretation and conclusion about what message is being conveyed across.

The above-mentioned points resonate the same ideals that Jenkins proposes in his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. These ideals being that:  

• Media is interactive.
• Media is everything; culturally involved with society.
• Media and culture is shaped by participation.

 

 

Incidental Music Skills Module

I’m pretty satisfied with having chosen to do this module with Jenny, as we got to learn about how to create and place an underlying track to score a film…going through this process allowed me to realise that one doesn’t have to be a musician to come up with a score for a film, all it takes is several notes that lead to a musical ‘theme’..as long as the audience can recognise that sequence and relate to it emotionally, you’ve done your job!

 

It was surprising how easy it was to create a sequence of notes from scratch, the tools provided in Garageband made it even easier to make something out of nothing, being able to go back and edit the notes i played in and manipulated them across the scale one by one basically meant that there was no pressure to hit every note on time and in the right key, because i could always go back and change the notes however i wanted…

 

The exercises we did proved how easy it was to create a piece of incidental music within a matter of minutes..i first created an eerie piece to fit with my PP1 ‘time’ project theme and it turned out better than i expected.. the pre-recorded Apple loops provided in the software are incredibly useful for those who are not fuss about coming up with something original and just want a good sounding piece of music…the simple drag-and-drop motion (so well utilised in most of Apple’s software) was a breeze to use..

 

So for a mere 2 hours, this module proved to be a lot of fun because we were mostly allowed to experiment with the software, and it was very useful in providing us with the basic and essential knowledge needed to create incidental music for a film… the skills i’ve learnt in this module are central to what i’m generally interested in; music, film and tv. I’m looking forward to what Garageband can do for me and in my career in the future!

Scriptwriting Skills Module

After going through 3 sessions of Christine’s scriptwriting module over 6 weeks, I’ve gained new perspectives and added insights into the world of scriptwriting. We focused on the building of characters, placing them in good positions where their desires, needs and wants can be explored to the fullest potential and hence lead to bringing out the best storylines.

 

Christine screened many film examples over the course of the sessions, showing us how the pros do it in Hollywood, so we could better understand the physics of a good script. The many different writing exercises posed to us helped to generate a new train of thought when approaching the task of devising characters, situations and plots.

 

Things to consider when creating a character:

• Past (Background) [Born into a situation?]
• Present(The Now)
• Age
• Occupation
• Friends & Enemies
• View of the World
• Beliefs
• General Manner

Things to consider for plot construction:

• Catalyst
• Big Event
• Crisis
• Showdown
• Realisation
• Denouement

 

Learning about the various factors that go into plot construction and character development proved to be very helpful as we have to come up with scripts and envision the telling of a story through the medium of film for the PP2 project ‘She/He’. We have to script, shoot and produce multiple (4-6 minute) mini-films revolving around 4 characters, with a main focus of the relationships between people.

‘Time’ shoot…not a crapshoot…

We had our filming session for the ‘Time’ project on saturday, and everything went really well…filming was wrapped up in about 3 hours thanks to the collaborative efforts of everyone and the efficiency of our crew…even the ‘Glass Breaking shot’ was done in the first take..we managed to get the intended effect we wanted and the glass shattered beautifully onscreen…it was nice to be able to break something on purpose too!! Latch was a great help with lighting and doing a cameo for us too..

 

The dynamics of our group worked out really well as Lionel, Hanis and I all got to do roles that we were interested in.. Lionel was great at being the DP, Hanis (aiming for a future as an editor) enjoyed doing the editing and I relished the role of being the director on the shoot and in the editing room as well…so all in all the cards fell right for us…seeing as how there were only three people in the group to begin with..

 

The collaborative effort in the group and the cohesiveness of group members allowed for a healthy and fun working environment..at this point, most of the film has been edited with a soundtrack…we’ve just got the final touches and a few additions left to go before turning in the final product on monday..I’m pretty happy with the outcome of our efforts!!

Video of M.C Escher’s Cube

Found a video showing someone drawing the M.C Escher cube…it’s a little shaky, but when the picture’s almost complete and every time it gets rotated, the effect really takes action..

 

Here’s the link:

Video of MC Escher’s cube being hand drawn

‘Time’ is what it cost me on this post…

As we embark on our 2nd PP1 project, ‘Time’, Lionel, Hanis and I have been doing some brainstorming and after some tedious and really serious brain-straining-activity; trying to wrap our minds around the ‘structure’ of this piece and exploring the possible loopholes of our inverted/disjointed flow of reasoning, we have come up with a concept and exhibition of time that is somewhat fathomable but physically inconceivable. We wanted to relate our project back to M. C. Escher’s drawings of the impossible cube in particular; something that appears to be able to exist, but physically cannot.

 

We were thinking of linking this back to our ‘Time’ project, exploring this through a film piece that experiments with the notion of time. It is going to depict several movements or planes of time progressing, but elements from this same one scene/setting will leap across the various time parallels, creating a discrepancy in what is real in that realm. 

The idea/treatment is explained below:

 

• Scene begins with a man returning home with a fresh cup of coffee and newspaper under his arm.
• He proceeds to read the newspaper.
• He accidentally spills some coffee on the newspaper and himself.
• He gets and goes to the sink to wash the coffee stain off his clothes. There are some broken glass shards in the sink.
• He looks out the window and sees a man wearing a distinct hoodie/jacket, in an argument/getting robbed in the alley.
• He pays little attention and returns to the table to read his newspaper.
• Flicks it to get the coffee off and while drying his hands.
• He flips the cover page to reveal a report on the man he just spotted from his window. The article claims the man is dead/was killed.
• He gets a shock and knocks a glass of water off the table.
• Shot of glass breaking into pieces on the floor.
• He picks up the pieces of broken glass and brings it over and dumps it in the sink.
• He goes back to the table to find that the newspaper is now stainless as it was when he first came home.
• Freaked, he gets up and opens the door to leave the room.
• He goes through the door and closes it only to find that he has re-entered the room he just left.
• His attempt to escape the weird, warped reality he’s just experienced fails terribly, over and over again.
• FADE OUT.

This is the version we’ve settled on for now. We are going to shoot footage this week.
 

My take on Convergence Culture (Jenkins) Wk 9 PP1 entry

As we move into a new era in technology and media platforms, the old channel models that show a one-directional flow of material from producers to audience are now becoming obsolete. Media content now comes from all directions and we have to adapt to the lifestyle of existing in a realm of collective intelligence. Jenkins writes about the “shift from individualized and personalized media consumption toward consumption as a networked practice” (p. 244) in his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.

 

This has become eminent in today’s media industries with particular relevance to the television and film industries. Fan influence and interaction have become such an integral part to the survival of television programmes and the unfolding of the characters’ storylines. This quality of convergence culture is explored in my Media Industries project; we have undertaken the task of investigating the power of fandom and “fan culture” with regards to the demise and cancellation of popular, television shows with cult fan bases rallying to get their shows pick up for more seasons.

 

Advancements in technology have also increased the methods of distribution for television and film content. TV series and movies can be downloaded off the Internet or iTunes and no longer need to rely on physical media to be distributed to the masses. The flow of information is now multi-directional and the marketplace for creative material is now more fluid than ever before.

 

Therefore, as media professionals of the future, we must embrace the presence and be aware of the power that “fan culture” can generate. We should also be prepared and be able to accommodate all the possible ramifications that may arise from the incorporation of this new factor in the society of tomorrow’s media.

First draft for She/He PP2

Synopsis (Scene/Sequence)

Story focus on Chloe & Dan, with remnants of Alicia

Alicia: 30+, successful lawyer
Bryan: 20+, struggling actor
Chloe: 20+, ‘princess’ type; spoilt
Dan: 30+, factory worker stuck in a rut

 

Background Information:

 

Dan can’t stand Chloe’s incessant drinking and careless look on life, taking no responsibilities, he’s slowly getting annoyed with her lack of regard for life and it’s reaching a breaking point. This really bothers him especially because he’s always had to work hard for anything in life, he never had it easy and she’s just wasting her life away (and her father’s money). They started dating because he wants to break her stereotype and believes that there is more to her, if she only put her mind to accomplishing more. She is with him because his mild nature makes him the only one (of the many men she’s dated) that will give in to her. He’s tired of the relationship and wants out. He finds that he’s attracted to Alicia (30 yr old, successful lawyer), who is very motivated and driven, qualities that Chloe lacks. But Chloe’s falling more in love with Dan as time goes by, realising how special he is and doesn’t want to let him go after having cheated on him a few times before in their relationship. Dan’s always been too nice to break up with Chloe, but always was wary and kept a distance after finding out about her infidelity. He’s never encountered a better alternative to Chloe, until now.

 

Scene/Sequence:

 

Chloe & Dan are having a nice dinner at a restaurant. It’s their 2-year anniversary celebration. Dan is struggling under the pressures of being a 30 plus year old with little to no accomplishments to stand for. He is conflicted because the relationship doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Chloe’s constantly living in the moment and relishing all that her parents have worked hard to provide her. While Chloe talks about taking a month long holiday to Europe, Dan is avoiding having to save enough money to cater to Chloe’s every needs. His mind wanders across to the bar, where a confidant looking middle-aged woman (Alicia?) sits at the bar, sipping her martini. (Alicia’s spending the night alone while her partner’s at an audition (or acting class?) and might be vulnerable enough to satisfy her loneliness for one night.) Dan is intrigued and attracted by her appearance; her seemingly well put together life and steady career. When Chloe goes to restroom, Dan takes the opportunity to approach Alicia at the bar, and they agree to meet again 2 hours later at the bar.

 

Chloe & Dan leave the restaurant and Dan takes Chloe home, giving an excuse that he’s not feeling well and wanting to end the night early. Dan then returns to the bar and starts to get to know Alicia better. They find a lot in common with each other, there’s chemistry and Alicia invites Dan back to her place. Meanwhile, Chloe stumbles out of her house in a drunken state, looking to have some fun and party the night away. She crosses the road haphazardly and is struck down by a car. She’s taken to the nearest hospital.

 

Alicia & Dan are getting intimate on the couch in her apartment, while his mobile vibrates on silent mode. Inter-cut between hospital and apartment; Chloe fights for her life while Dan & Alicia succumb to their attraction.

 

Hours later, Dan finally gets a message from the hospital and rushes there. He looks into Chloe’s room as she lays unconscious. The driver that hit her is in the waiting room. [If this story is interspersed with Alicia & Bryan’s storyline then more from that will be shown here.] Towards the end of the film, it is revealed that the driver that hit Chloe was a friend of Bryan’s who was rushing to the airport to pick Bryan up, who arrived on an earlier flight to surprise Alicia.