Lounge Sketch

1. Project Ideas: I have come up with two main ideas that I am still developing:

My initial idea was to make the couch a main character, he has an evil personality and starts to eat things within the house (like what couches seem to do anyway!) starting with socks and money, to the lamp, the TV etc, until the owner comes home one day and only finds the couch. I was thinking about why the couch would eat these things, and I was thinking that it could be an old couch that the owner has kept forever, but has bought new things as time passes. The new furniture makes fun of the old couches stains, pattern etc, so it eliminates them by eating them. The whole sequence would be through hand drawing the animation, maybe incorporating a few pictures and textures to make it a little more interesting, but otherwise that’s where that idea stands for the time being.
My second idea was inspired through a sudden and recent fascination with stop motion animation, and wondered how I could get creative with this. I want to use the textures and patterns of different couches as landscapes for my characters, which are predominantly composed of things you would find in a couch i.e. coins, bobby pins, lighters, socks, cigarettes, chips and lollies (I could have real fun with jelly babies and snakes!) and tell a story by animating these through stop-motion. I am still yet to form a story line but I have been watching a few videos on Youtube for inspiration.

2. Style Manifesto, Likes: I have a few animations that I really like. Animation has always resonated deeply with me, out of all creative entertainment mediums it has always been one of my favourites. I especially like this one because it is entertaining (even though it’s a little long) as well as having valuable and multiple underlying messages. It’s a digital stop-motion production that portrays warfare, using national food icons (i.e. hamburgers for America, sushi for Japan, Kebabs for the middle east etc) to represent the nations.  It fits with my own personal style manifesto because it has a strong, complex concept yet is portrayed in a witty and creative way. Its not trying to be over-creative or abstract, and even the average person can appreciate the huge amount of effort that has gone into the details of each affect, as well as being entertained.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yldqNkGfo

3.Style Manifesto, Dislikes: I really dislike productions that are incredibly abstract. I find that they don’t engage me and I don’t get as much value out of them as I would like. This one in particular I didn’t like, because I found it has no meaning. Long repetition of images I don’t find engaging and found that my mind was wondering while watching. The producer says that we ‘can freely rearrange (the images) to create your own creepy story.” I find that there is nothing for a story to grasp onto, and found it more psychodelic than ‘creepy.’ It has no solid shapes or objects that I can relate to as a viewer, and to be honest, thought it was a work more for the entertainment of people who are ‘on something.’
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_avIZO8DoOs

4. Practice Manifesto: I have found that I try to develop projects ideas through brainstorming, but usually my better ideas come when I’m falling asleep, brushing my teeth or driving. These I will then brainstorm with not much success, until I brush my teeth again. I like to ‘chew’ on my idea for a while and see if I’m still as enthusiastic about it a few days later, I also like to work and built on my base ideas.
I’ve found that I can work at any time of the day, it more depends on my mood rather than a time. I tend to work better through intense bursts of production, because everything that is happening during production is fresh in my head, I know what I have and haven’t done and how I’ve done it, whereas if I take my time or even sleep between small amounts of production, I forget everything and just see a half finished product in front of me and end up making more mistakes than progress.
The aspects of production that I find the easiest is the ideas and creativity at the beginning, and writing down the step-by-step on how I will axe the work, However what I’ve found I struggle with it the technical side of production, as I don’t usually have the leisure time to fiddle with programs and software, so I find that my knowledge is basic and my outlets for expressing my creativity limited.
What I admire most in the production in others is their ability to ‘reframe’ concepts in unusual ways by thinking outside the square. I also have a deep appreciation for producers who have the motivation to persevere with works that are labour intensive and take months to finish.

Interesting article

Hey guys,

Just found a newspaper article from SMH about how facebook is morphing its system to be similar to twitter. Because people’s networking demands are increasing, facebook is adopting real-time message broadcasting system (like twitter) that goes beyond our circle of friends, allowing us to connect to a larger audience on the internet. This just goes to show that more people are networking and connecting, where facebook has gone from a personal social tool to keep in contact with close friends, to becoming a springboard for information towards the masses. Some examples the article uses are politicians, singers and celebrities for them to get the messages or music across. Anyways check it out.

Permalink exercise

I have been checking out a few of the first year posts and i must say that their understanding of evolving technologies and the media are a lot more advanced than when i first started! Phil’s post got me thinking, epscially his comment ‘like a global network, our lives are changing.’ This in part is because technology is so rapidly changing and growing, that our lives have to change both to keep up with our communication to each other and exploring new ways to stay connected.

I do however disagree with his notion of a ‘pre-networking era’ because people have always networked, but this method has only altered since the internet began being used for personal use. Instead of staying close to a few friends that demand face-to-face interaction, we are now able to socialise with 100′s of old friends on networking sites like facebook, chat to 10 people at a time on MSN while browsing through newspaper or celebrity blogs and downloading the latest music. Technology has enabled us to expand our networking and socialising capabilities, although the sacrifice of this is that our connections are not as deep as the face-to-face interactions with our close friends (as if we could catch up for coffee with all of our friends on facebook!), so it would seem that with quantity lacks quality.

I think that Natalia makes a valid point in discussing how media is evolving from the standard newspaper by adopting blogs, videomedia and online discussion, which diversifies our methods of reading and receiving media as consumers. When she refers to society desiring convenience and instant gratisfaction, i see this as a partial result of our changing attitudes in how we receive information, through becoming participants rather than consumers, because we are actively seeking out information rather than waiting around for it to be fed to us. It is more convenient for us to receive an RSS feed of the latest news, typed and posted 3 mins ago, rather than waiting for the 6 o’clock news or the newspapers the next day, and it is more convenient to catch up with 10 people on the internet than calling 1 person over the phone.

I can relate to Natalia as we have common goals for the industry, however she has opened up a perspective for me that i haven’t properly considered or accepted. Just being able to write for print media doesn’t cut it these days. As a journalist we do need the skills and understanding of technology in order to connect with others. I’ve had the mentality that the production side of the course was just for people wanting to be graphic designers… stupid and a little closed-minded, but i will definately appreciate and value  these skills from now on!

My First Blog

Hi everyone,

My name is Bronwen and I’m in 3rd year media and comm. This exercise is based on my professional interests about the subject of media and networks. Since first starting my degree I have come a long way in understanding how we communicate as people and trough technology. I originally wanted to be a journalist for a newspaper or magazine, however through my accumulation of knowledge i have found that communication and media is so much more than just typing out an article and then printing it for hard-copy distribution. My interests have now gone further in wanting to explore how out methods of networking are constantly changing and evolving, how technology affects how we send and receive information. I want to know what information is on offer and how to find it. I had heard about tagging, RSS feeds, and blogging, however didn’t fully understand how it worked nor realized its value  in obtaining information. I find the general concepts behind social networking far more interesting than the technology itself, and therefore find the theory of media more engaging for me than the softwares and the tools themselves.  I’m very excited to be learning more through the networking topic this semester and will keep you updated with all my progress and knowledge!

Ta for now!