The theme we chose for our photo essay was ‘Decay’, with a sub- theme of ‘Forgotten’ which we represented using various images of car wreckages. The images show a range of cars, which have been left in car yards. We chose to use cars from car yards because there is a sense they have been abandoned and ‘forgotten’. This comes from the lack of ownership of the cars as well as the extensive damage found on the cars. The damage on the cars presents the theme of decay in forms such as rust. An example of decay would be the photo showing a rusty door, which has become unhinged from a car. Cars are an everyday aesthetic, therefore by showing cars in such a different form to what the viewer is used to, the themes of decay and forgotten are highlighted.
Our chosen theme was surfaces with our
sub-theme being decayed. We choose surfaces as our theme as it encompasses a
wide range of things such as roads, signs and walls. Our subtheme decay was
chosen because we wanted to reflect how theses surfaces over time decay and are
only very rarely restored to their original condition. In todays society almost
everything around us is man made; each and every day we pass surfaces, which
have decayed without giving them another thought paying barely any attention to
them. Our music was chosen to convey our theme through the slow melody and down
beat tempo; we believed this best conveyed the decaying surfaces.
Our photographs were taken around the suburbs
in which we both live; north Ryde and Penrith. The photographs were taken in
areas of high pedestrian and traffic activity; places which people pass in
their daily lives. In everyday hundreds of people pass these surfaces either on
foot or in motor vehicles without even a second thought of the how they have
gotten this way or why no one has restored them.
MAS110 Photo Essay Shadows and Stairs Daniel Perez and Jon Cedric Roxas
Music: Neurowaxx ft. Stateshirt, The Starry Tides (2009) “This is on the stairs” CC License: Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) http://ccmixter.org/files/Neurowaxx/21948
Stairs are more than just mundane objects; they are an important part of our everyday lives. The purpose of this photo essay is to suggest the extent to which such mundane objects heavily impact upon our day-to-day lives. The staircase was utilized as a metaphor for the mundane people, objects and events which hold our lives together. This encourages an audience to appreciate the mundane objects within their lives which benefit their functioning within society. Shadows represent the changing nature of our lives however the single staircase remained constant. By utilizing just one set of stairs in 50 different mediums, an illusion was created that one object can be manipulated into many different scenarios. This portrays the polymorphic concept that one mundane object can help our existence in many different ways. The music utilized has a constant rhythm, evoking an image of one using a staircase. The bass guitar has a low pitch which gives weight to the shadows and emphasizes its darkness. Thus, it can be suggested through assistance of sound, that darkness surrounding our everyday lives does not alter the fundamental nature of the everyday mundane objects. Therefore, despite the difficult situations in which we are presented daily, objects which we often overlook are the ones which we rely upon the most.
Kimberley D'silva - 42853605 & Thomas Svich - 428889774
Decay and Abandonment
Our photo essay comprises photos that centralize around the themes of abandonment with a sub theme of decay. The photos were taken from two distant and distinct locations - Parramatta and the Gosford metro. The idea was to take photos of buildings, particularly houses or public use areas, that had been abandoned, decayed and worn out. Most of these places showed signs of history, being used and then boarded up or destroyed and neglected over the years. The point of the slideshow is to show the waste of buildings and space in our society. The photos were taken using an iPhone camera and a Lumix camera, the 24 photo show was edited through iPhoto and compiled using iMovie.
Contemplating the central theme of waste and the subtheme of consumption and decay, our photo essay establishes the inextricable link between consuming and discarding. Engaging with familiar practices of consumption pertinent to Murray’s discussions of the mundane, the photography develops an intimate perception of decaying rubbish. Placing focus on the cyclical development of food to waste, and packaging to rubbish, our photo essay explores the increasingly habitual behaviour of resource exploitation and the resultant mass littering or polluting. The practicality of these products and food items are overlooked as they are freely discarded, reasserting their ephemerality and the frivolity of consumer practices. Aligning with Murray’s notions of the transitory and temporality of life, the intimate close ups provide textural variation of decay, elevating the fleeting beauty and substance of these everyday aesthetics. Through this depiction the essentiality of these subjects, namely food, is highlighted reaffirming its indispensible everyday purpose. This observance of the mundane was achieved within the Macquarie University campus with the use of a Canon 60D to achieve the most precise quality when observing tonal contrasts and textural characteristics. Tonal manipulation within Iphoto enhanced the visual vibrancy of the images, providing for an appealing narrative of wasted subjects. The song “Wasting Time” by Stephen Fowlds (2012) compliments the melancholic tone of the photography, stimulating a nostalgic response in regards to the essentiality of food and packaging. Our photo essay can be accessed via the YouTube link provided below:
The “Remediation Theory” was first conceptualised in the mid 1990’s by David Bolter and Richard Grusin (Murray 2008). According to this theory, the “newness” (Murray 2008) of new media lies in the way old media is remediated. One media grows out of another in the way that without the former, the latter would never exist. In other words, without film photography, our assignment completed today in this digitalised society, might never have been possible.
It was difficult at first to narrow down one specific theme that occurred in current urban life, however we eventually decided on ‘Industry’, and more specifically ‘Abandonment’. We eventually decided to capture ‘Industrial Abandonment’ because we felt it was a major theme that was largely forgotten by urban society, thus deserved recognition. In order to capture the main theme we decided it was best that we explored an area renown for industrial work, yet also a site that displayed the sub-theme of abandonment. We decided on the old Flour Mill in Summer Hill. With a ‘Nikon D5000’ (D-SLR), many ideas in mind and a sense of adventure, we ventured into the factory and captured what we thought best represented ‘Industrial Abandonment’.
Produced By: Kieran McKinn (42862795) Bridget McKinn (42912954)
Music By: Gurdonark. (2007) "Restless Sleep" MP3. CCmixter, . 8 Oct, 2012. CC BY Attribution
http://ccmixter.org/api/query?datasource=uploads&search_type=all&sort=rank&search=industry&lic=by,sa,s,splus,pd,zero
Murray, S (2008) Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture August 2008 vol. 7(2). 147-163.
For our photo essay, we chose the main theme of Industrial with the sub themes of seclusion and barriers. We came to this choice of theme and sub theme because of the strong link it has with everyday aesthetics, and how people tend to usually pay little notice to industrial areas and the ways they are secluded and protected, thus providing a sense of “lost nostalgia and memory” (Murray). With this, industrial areas demonstrate how such mundane subjects can create aesthetically pleasing photographs and that capturing everyday aesthetics is an imperative factor in everyday imagery. The collaborative images were captured within the Port Botany district during the mid-semester break, including numerous importing and exporting container yards and logistics dispatches. We used a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera and mobile phone camera to capture our images and used iPhoto and iMovie to develop our images and slideshow. SoundCloud was also used to search for appropriate creative commons licensed music for our slideshow.
By Joseph El-Badawi & Ceasar Morales
The main theme in focus was ‘Roads’ with a subtheme of ‘Overlooked. We decided to concentrate on roads that we travelled by on a regular basis, taking photos of aspects that go unnoticed everyday despite the fact one passes them so often. Our aim was to evoke attention to these disregarded characteristics of roads and to emphasize that if you take the time to look closer, you will notice unexpected things you’ve previously never observed. We emphasized this notion through images taken on both a rainy day and a clear sunny day, in order to highlight different features of roads that go unseen, depending on the type of day. Our choice of music further accentuates this distinction between rain and sun and the overlooked aspects of roads, through the build up of beat once the photos change from rainy to sunny. The music is at a fairly slow tempo to stand concurrent with the commonality and routine concept that is often associated with roads, however the gentle piano solo throughout the song highlights that beauty can be found from everyday mundane objects.
‘Urban Decay’ is a photo essay focused on rust and decay in
an urban setting. We chose rust as our theme and decay as our subtheme,
focusing mainly on the vibrant colours decayed metal can produce in a range of
urban areas. In order to depict our chosen theme and subtheme we explored local
areas such as Canoelands (near Wiseman’s Ferry) and East Ryde. We also
relocated to a more diverse location in the Northern Beaches of Sydney in order
to explore a different urban setting. To
portray the concept of everyday aesthetics that Murray explores in ‘Digital
Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics’, we
chose to photograph common everyday objects that had been altered by the
processes of rust and decay.The track
‘Ice & Chilli’ was found on ccmixter.org. We believe this track accompanies
our photo essay appropriately, contributing somber and gentle sounds and
contrasting strongly with the bright colours of the rust depicted in our
images.
Discuss the phenomenon of
digital media convergence in relation to one of the following: Advertising
& New Media or Music Video Online.
Media Convergence is a phenomenon that is forever changing the
ways in which media is created, distributed and consumed in the public sphere.
It is a process of adaptation, a merging and intersection of media that is
loosely defined by Dwyer as “the process whereby new technologies are
accommodated by existing media and communications industries and culture”
(Dwyer 2010). Such existing media include television broadcasting, print media,
advertising and music. This essay will focus on the latter, more specifically
the world of the music video and the ways in which is has been transformed by
new technologies.
The online development of the music video can be considered a
“technological determinist” account, in which the dynamic technological world
that is the Internet welcomes the development of various forms of media,
particularly those with a digital focus (Meikle & Young 2012). When the
music video was first injected into popular culture, it allowed for a whole new
world of exposure- the television was instrumental in airing a great deal of
artists to a society in which the radio was fast becoming redundant (in other
words, “video killed the radio star”). The music video was born to suit a new
visual society, and corporations soon emerged to accommodate it. Today, MTV, V
and Rage have emerged as media giants in music video broadcasting, and also now
stretch their influence to become deeply engrained within the live music scene
as well as the recording industry.
In much the same way that the television gave rise to the music
video and music video companies, emerging technologies still give rise to new avenues
of exposure and revenue. The online music video is now the most prominent media
with which to view music videos, with the television fast going the way of the
radio in terms of convenience and availability. YouTube is undoubtedly the
world’s leading provider of online music video, and there is now not a signed
artist who cannot be found in some level of legitimacy on YouTube. This not
only gives an artist thousands and thousands of times more publicity through
wider audience reach, instant sharing and unlimited airplay, but also allows
companies such as VEVO to seize the opportunity.
According
to their website, VEVO is “the world’s leading all-premium music video and
entertainment platform” (VEVO 2012). VEVO works as a kind of booking agent for record
labels, who pay to have their artist’s video featured by the worldwide company.
While this is a highly commercial method of exposure many artists choose to
reject, with this and advertising VEVO produced $150 million in 2011, and has
projected $1 billion revenue in 2012 (Shaw 2012). VEVO is the media convergence
personified, what is achieved with the fusion of the music video and modern
technology.
With the growth of YouTube, the very definition of a music video
has changed. While more established and wealthy artists such as Lady Gaga
represent themselves with lavish short films conveying the story the song
intends to portray, the online format has allowed the birth of another type of
music video- that is the deliberately under-produced and amateur videos posted
by unsigned or independent artists. Hey Rosetta!’s ‘There’s An Arc” is an
example of a self-composed video not traditionally worthy of television airplay
but suited perfectly to the online format. This video serves the same purpose
as those seen on MTV but are directed towards a different audience,
deliberately taking advantage of what is offered by the internet.
The
relationship between online music video and social media is another example of
media convergence. Facebook offers an avenue of continual
advertisement or ‘plugging’ of an artist’s profile, which can include any
material the artist wishes to supply. Behind the scenes footage, acoustic
versions, music videos and ‘making of’ videos are used to develop an audience
by impeaching upon a continuous aspect of their lives. Green Day is an example
of a band that recently used social media to develop a following for their
upcoming album and subsequent music videos. The following is a teaser trailer
used as part of this campaign, created specifically for
YouTube and Facebook and is an example of the convergence of social media and
the music video.
Yet another branch of the developing world of online music video
is the impact it has on the creation of new technologies, that is cultural
determinist factors, where a culture affects the technology that is produced
(Meikle & Young 2012). All new phones are now advertised based on download
units, with YouTube held as priority in their design. Apps have been developed
for smartphones for even easier access to YouTube, VEVO, and Vimeo as well
social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. This has made closer the
relationship between the computer and the handheld device, with the adaption of
technologies designed for the computer to suit other devices. The music video
is now available absolutely anywhere.
As technologies have developed further and further, music videos
have in fact become more relevant. It is now more important than ever for an
artist to have a visual presence somewhere on the Internet. Above are two
examples of this presence being achieved through YouTube in conjunction with
social media. The music video is now being developed specifically for online
purposes, with the opportunity to appear on television now seemingly just one
of the perks. As media convergence has seen the television become dominated by
the computer, and the computer by the phone or tablet, music videos have only
become simper to access and upload, and therefore successfully adapted to suit
this technological convergence.
References:
Britannica 2012, Media convergence, Encyclopedia Britannica, viewed August 23 2012
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1425043/media-convergence>
Dwyer, T 2010, Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berkshire,
pp 1-23.
Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence Culture, New York, New York
University Press, pp 1-24.
Meikle, G & Young, S 2012, Media Convergence:
Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 75-85.
Shaw, L 2012, CEO of VEVO (hulu
for music videos) projects $1B in revenue, Media Alley, New York,
viewed August 26 2012,<http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/ceo-vevo-hulu-music-videos-projects-1b-revenue-34972>
