Each Image Has Its Own Story To Tell
24.08.2012
IM – Self Assessment
categories: Integrated Media, Uncategorized
tags:

Participation

  • Aim to attend most lectures and labs
  • Engage in class as well as group works
In terms of participation, I have attended most of the lectures and all of the tutorials for Integrad Media. Although, I sometimes arrived the lecture late, but while I'm in the lecture, I am always focused and engage to the lecture by contributing to the #IM212 hashtag. If I missed the lecture, I would follow up on the points raised in the lecture by reading the IM blog and other students' blog summery. During the tutorials, I like to participate in class discussions and share my opinion with others if it's any good. I had also put in quite a lot of thoughts into the tasks given for our tutes and hence, I felt like I have satisfied my initial aims. However, I would like to improve on my organisation - go to class on time! Furthermore, the use of #IM212 hashtag had certainly advanced the level of engagement and improved our overall lecture experience, but in the future, I would want to pay more attention to the content and quality of my tweets.

Mark: 74/100

Readings

  • Read all of the essential course readings and actually get to understand and explore the idea raised in the readings
Apart from the first few weeks when I had no idea where to find the readings online, I have read most of the readings since I realised that they can be found at the Swanston Library or RMIT online E-library for some. However, I haven't been summarising what I had read on my blog and this is the area that I wish to improve on for weekly readings. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the class discussion of the readings during our tutorials. I found that by exchanging our different opinions on the readings among our peers and tutor really beneficial, in which we can find a way to integrate/ contextualised the readings into our daily lifestyle, improving the way we utilise our social media platforms.

Mark: 70/100

Blog and reflection 

  • Journals: 2-4 entries a week (reflect on Labs, Lectures, Readings and Interesting course related/non-related stuffs)
This is where I let myself down. I haven't been blogging as much as I should this semester. I think part of the reason is because that my attention this semester has been drawn away from other social platform like twitter. Instead of blogging about the lecture and tutorial notes, I now just write a short tweet about it. When I see interesting media related content, I tweet/share it rather than discussing it on my blog. Using twitter is undoubtedly a good way to quickly jot down ideas and share interesting posts,
but if we get into the habit of just writing short notes and reflections, our writing skills will weaken. Without blogging, my ability of writing in a more formal and academic way is at risk and hence I really need to improve on this factor.

Mark: 60/100

Social Exploration

  • Seek understanding of the notion of Social Networking as a whole - online writing,social platform, network...etc
  • Become comfortable and fluent at using social media (twitter, ABCPool, blog, website...etc)
  • Seek outside informations (reading other people's blogs, news, magazines, twitter, tumblr....etc)
Looking back to what I have done for the past few week, I'm actually quite amazed by my online network 'Odyssey'! The way I use my social media platform have certainly changed a lot and I believe that if I continue to explore different kind of online platforms while persever in contributing to its communities, I will definitely gain a lot and be able to help a lot more people. It's fun helping others and we learn a lot from doing so. In terms of seeking a better understanding  of the notion of social networking, my advice is to just get on it and don't be afraid to share. I've certainly grow a lot more confident and possibly more fluent in using social media platforms and I also had been reading/ commenting on other people's blogs and searching for other media related articles across various networks. Overall, I'm glad that I have taken the first step and there are certainly a lot more to explore and heaps to learn, that's why I should keep on creating and getting to know more people across different communities.

Mark: 84/100

Overall Self-Assessment mark: 288/400 = 72%

24.08.2012
IM – Social Media ID Presentation (Summary Post)
category: Integrated Media
tags:

ID mission

For a long time, I’ve always been using various types of social media platforms such as twitter, Vimeo and Tumblr. However, I considered myself more of a passive observer, who only consumes the content on those platforms, constantly clicking the like buttons, sharing and retweeting, without creating much content or engaging any communities. Hence, my goal is to become more openly active by contributing to online communities and become more of a content producer, expending the contour of my online ID.

Personality and Character

Rather than having several online personas, I want to be just myself. The Scott online is the same as the Scott in front of you. I believe that our personality and character is the key element to our online presence and I wish to be both friendly and helpful. Basically someone that’s easy to talk to and associate with. Hence, I choose to communicate with more of a casual tone rather than being overly formal and literate.

Twitter

I’ve being using twitter for a long time. But I used to treat it like a bookmarking tool, decious sort of platform, where I can quickly retweet or favourite the things that I found interesting online. It was more of a private space in a public domain where I bookmark things only for myself and use it as a resource for my wordpress blog. If you look at my tweets, I have over 600 tweets and about 500 of them are bascially all just links and retweets. There was no sense of personality or characteristic whatsoever.

And this is what I do now on twitter. I still love to retweet but now I “share” rather than just “collecting” interesting things on the net. I no longer retweet directly but instead I add in more personality by commenting on the links with my opinions and hashtags. As a result, I’ve reached out to a wider audiences with hashtags and people started to realize that I’m no longer just a robot and began to take interest in my link and sometimes even comment on it. Also I try to help as many people as can I on tweeter and joke around with them. I reckon it’s a really open community, that’s different to facebook where we are stucked within our own friendship circles. Here I can associate with my friends as well as reaching out to other online users. Another interesting discovery, rather than becoming more distance with the people around me, I find that through twitter, I’ve become closer to my friends and the people I work with. Using twitter in a more engaging manner certainly benefit me, not just my online presence, but also in my real life.

Tumblr and Instagram

My Tumblr is similar to my old tweeting style, where you can see I have over 149 likes and follows many people, but rarely do I reblog or put in any of my works. And this is my solution.

I’ve signed up to Instagram and it feeds to both my tumblr and twitter. I believe that it’s a convenient way to create and share my own content online. Upon using Instagram, I’ve discovered that it’s an extremely active and rich platform. Part of the reason being is because of its accessibility and immediacy, in which most people who uses Instagram are like me, owns a PDA that allows them to share and take photos easily. And it’s actually quite addictive. I find that the best way to reach out to a wider audience on Instagram is through hashtags; popular hastags like #melbourne and #art tend to draw a lot of attentions from users around the world. Instagram also has a very strong emphases on the sense of location. Our photos not only expresses who we are but also introduce to the people across the globe of the space and culture that we inhabit in. We all live, following the same time , but what we see and the photos we take differ from one another, it can be raining in Melbourne, while on the other side of the globe has a totally different scene.

Vimeo

Last semester, we started to use Vimeo from integrated Media 1, uploading some short videos online sharing them among our peers and tutor. It was more for an academic use and I never tried to engage with the community on Vimeo. However, because Vimeo is a video and film based community, so I really want to get to know more about them. Hence, this semester my goal is to reach out and explore Vimeo’s online community by joining Vimeo groups and get involved.

Vimeo Community - Weekend Project

I really like a Vimeo group called the ‘Weekend Project.’ Basically, every few weeks, members are given a topic on Friday and we have the whole weekend to shoot according to the topics given.

Last week’s topic was “magic hour” and this is a short timelapse that I made for the project. Since I entered the world of Vimeo community, I found that it’s actually very active as well. People on Vimeo are all film lovers like me. They are very supportive and willing to help each other out. I asked a question in regards to making better timelapse and someone actually sent me an inbox messages providing me with a very insightful and detailed information on how to improve my timelapse. I got to know some filmmakers from other countries through vimeo and there are still heaps of groups for me to explore. I used to think that people wouldn’t be interested in my works, but I now understand that there are always audiences online, we just need to find a way to reach them. Through the weekend project, one of the guy who commented on my video also recommended me to join the community at ‘timelpase.org’.

I’ve just recently uploaded some more timelapses to the website. This just shows how we can expand our online footprints by contributing in various online communities and if we keep on creating and work hard, our social media ID can only gets larger and reach further.

My Hub

I’ve chosen Glos,si as the hub of my online ID that acts like the bridge, the portal, which connects to most of my social platforms. I’m a very visual person and I really like glos.si’s layout. Where people can see my posts, interests and reblogs on the left hand side, while also getting to know what kind person I am by the tweeter feed on the side. As well as using Glos.si as the main portal for my online ID – it also provide me with a brief overlook over all my online actives.

My ID map

Basically everything is connected and linked by my glos.si. Only ABC pool is being linked to my wordpress. Because I feel like ABC Pool is a more formal and Media based platform where the community is being constructed by people who worked or interested in the media industry. I want to have a more professional appeal to the community on ABCPOOL, thus I only linked it with my wordpress that showcases a more academic and formal side of me.

ABC Pool

I find that ABC pool is more suitable for photographers and radio makers, due to its 30MB uploading limit. However, I’ve recently figure out how to compress my videos into a smaller format, and have just uploaded some videos. Got a warm welcome from the editor of ABC pool and I’m very excited to get to explore and know more. I think the value of ABC pool lies within its unique audiences, users that are very different from any other social platforms that I use. Overall, I think I’ve changed a lot since the past 6 weeks in terms of the way I use social media, from a passive user to more of a content producer who interact and engages with different communities. Basically, I’ve remained the same online identity, which is Scott Huang, but I just met more different type of people form different communities.

14.08.2012
It’s Week 5 already – Kinda missing the good old haste
category: Film/TV
tags:

退一步，海闊天空。

It's certainly not a sign of weakness, but sure is Style ;)

12.08.2012
Bigger than life, Brighter than light.
categories: Film/TV, Uncategorized
tags:
07.08.2012
Asian Cinema – Week 4 (Beijing Bicycle)
category: Cinema
tags:

  • By Wang Xiaoshuai
  • Dialogue is not requited - its a film action (Action contained within the city)
  • The trailer is saying that this film is about movement and rhythm
  • A frantic kind of film, constant motion/ movement
  • Is a adaptation of Bicycle thieve
Think about Bike identity - depend on who owns the bike and how to use the bike
  • Central character - needs the bike to surve
  • For the teenager
China film associates makes it cleared that anyone who makes films that protrayed its city in a gritty or grunge way, its going to banned. This film was made knowing this.
It's important to know that the film is 'imaginary' - it's an artifest
"The city is an imagined environment" James Donald

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322804576302901606181530.html

  • Hengdian World Studio (China-wood) - biggest studio in the world
  • Established in mid 1990s
  • Easier to shoot her than on the street - shooting permits are difficult to obtain
  • shooting at this studio creates a particular (pleasant and historical) aesthetic
  • Everything can be controlled in the studio as oppose to shooting on the street
  • However, its about the historical setting of Beijing not the new
What about the other 'China'?
  • Impossible to make a gritty film at Hengdian
  • Filmmakers forced to the streets
  • Filmmakers forced to not use permits
  • This creates an aesthetic (fast, quick, frenetic)
  • Instead of shooting the film in the main street, they choice to shoot at the "Back- ally China"
Beijing Bicycle represents the 'real' city 
  • Authenticity is the key to the film's marketing
  • Not sets - actual places
  • A film about the city 0 the city (not actors) drives the plot
City Shooting 
  • The film is made amongst the city and city people
  • Beijing - wants and all
  • Warts become part of the city's diversity
  • Diversity caused Wang tremendous censorship issues
  • Beijing Bicycle (2001)/ Beijing Olympics (2008)
  • Documentary - 40
Tapes into preexisting myths and traditions 
  • Space
  • Bicycles
  • Food
  •  Smog
  • City survival
  • Take us underneath the surface of 'everyday' Beijing
  • Bicycles are a regular - and necessary - part of surviving
  • Bicycle - necessary to live - not yuppie bike culture
Class Division
  • Takes us beyond luxury living - luxury is observed from afar
  • Hotel sequence - ignorant to how the 'other's live
  • Look at this film as a social rebellian film that rebell against contemporary Chinese
How do you make a film about a city?
  • Tourist - the film is watched through the tourists gaze
  • Guei is a country boy
  • Much of the film is observing
  • Chunking Express - fly-by tourists and locals
  • Infernal Affairs - everyone has to 'pretend'
  • This makes them easily translatable - films about tourists
City films are action films
  • Characters are constantly moving -running, ridding chasing,
  • Urban real - films are connected through movement
  • Montages of the city
  • The stories are the city
06.08.2012
Week 4 – Film/Tv
category: Film/TV
tags:

Bob Dylan Interview (Don't Look Back) The one that Scorsese did =)

Joan's Interview

  • Look at the way her interview is shot/constructed
  • the setting, the cloth, the eyeline match
  • Keep in mind the amount of time she's given this interview, the things she says...
  • Wide eye line - feels like it makes the interviewer present, feels more like that we are part of the conversation
  • Rather than having the interviwe looking directly at the camera, this ways feels more involving and less intimidating to the audience. Think about authority
Contrast, Fog of War 

  • Think about the eyeline and the authority of the interviewi - directly talks to the audience
  • The way we hear interviewer talking in the interview
  • Compare it with the Bob Dylan Interview
01.08.2012
Film/TV Synopsis
category: Film/TV
tags:

Intro (concept) - "Close your eyes, what do you see?"

The Place: Don't Look, Just See. from Scott Huang on Vimeo.

Close your eyes while watching this ;)
*Turn your lights off.
*Be in a dark room.
*Full screen :)

Neglect the visuals and focus on what you see.

A short clip I made last semester, might be a good starting point of our documentary. It works perfectly when it's presented on big screen in the theatre!

4 Part Experiments! (Theme: Seeing) 

I think the way to execute our (still-up-in-the-cloud) project is by carrying out different kinds experiments that focus on the various way of seeing! Let the experiment speaks for itself rather than having us explaining or narrating our ideas.

We have these 4 conceptual ideas that explore at the different notion of "seeing" and the way the world around us is being "perceived" [Sarlo and Thao summed it up perfectly :) ]

Segments:

  1. The ability to see when one cannot
  2. The ability to see what is around us
  3. The ability to see what cannot be seen
  4. How are we been perceived and seen?
I think having 'experiments' opened up all kinds of possibility to our documentary, we may already have an idea or a direction of what we want to tell, but the essence of documentary lies within the elements of exploration and chance not the way its narrative is been crafted! We can't craft stories for our documentary like the way we did with out short film last semester, we have be like scientist designing experiments as well as being the artists using the medium/ tests to convey our ideas! We have to just go with the flow ;)
I think this piece can be quitte visual dominant as well as being sound driven. I think our aim is to design different kinds of spaces (soundscapes/landscape) and place our participant in the area and document their experience.
I break our experiments down to

[Where] - Recreating a place

  • Maybe a white empty room with sound playing from different directions trying to simulate a place (construction, outback, grunge, quite study room, street, coffee, or maybe just some interpretive soundscape, doesn't necessary have to be an actual place)
  • Maybe a room filled with different kind of writings on the wall describing different objects in a place
  • Maybe a projector, projecting different images on walls inside a room
  • Or simply a chair in the middle of a street or somewhere rural, top level of a car park?
[Who] -  The participents
  • A blind person - might be good for the soundscape and projector experiment, documentent what he/she sees and what he/she feels. <Where> 'Soundscape-room' and 'Projector'
  • A blind-folded person - could be a good contrast to the blind participant. <Where> 'soundscape-room' 'projector' or even 'outdoor'
  • Young/adult/old people - <Where> 'font room' 'soundscape-room' 'outdoor'
  • A painter? instead of filming him inside the room, we can have him drawing his imagination of the space <Where> 'soundscape-room' 'font room'
  • Sarlo's cousine who has synesthesia - <Where> 'soundscape-room' 'font room' 'outdoor'
* while they describe their experiences, in post-edit, we can try to have animation/ moving images of what they 'see' overlaying the room they r situated within, adding to the aesthetic and narrative (maybe)...

[Last segment]

Rukas has this cool idea of turning the entire thing around by looking at the way 'we' are being seen or perhaps eager to be seen (the way individuals are submerged or stood out in the crowd). I have this idea of shooting at a scene (static shot) having one of our participant (or all) walking/ mixed inside the crowd (Pedestrian -crossing, tran station, shooting from a very high building), the camera does not try to search for our participant, instead we have his voice-over, talking, let the audience tries to spot the participant. I think it will be a cool way to end our documentary!! KEWLLL.....

If you got time, Check out (Kat, Michael, Sunniva and I)'s Integrated Media Korsakow documentary last semester:

"Bright Sprinters" documentary on the luminous lights in the city :) I miss them so much!!!

Click the Image Above, our production portfolio, and the almighty final essay written by Michael and Kat!!!! MUST READ!!!