Working Beneath the System

Can documentary be considered art and does it stop being art when its sold for money? A question we were presented with early on in todays lecture on the language and use of coding in interactive documentaries. We were presented with a vast number of examples of interactive documentaries and introduced to the idea of creating a pirate TV channel. I was not aware beforehand that it was so simple to revert the function of a simple VHS from being a receiver to being a transmitter.

The lecture on HTML’s and Web Browser coding was a little overwhelming for me at first, I have no previous experience with these kinds of things and I am not a technically minded individual, but it was interesting to have my eyes opened to the potential for such talents. One thing I did find interesting however was the impression of the digital world. I had always seen it as an open gate, allowing us to reach deep into vast untold lands and reap the rewards without consequence, where as in reality there is a high tithe of freedom of self independence at the foot of this gate. Google, Facebook.. reading through the terms and conditions associated with such web based giants reveals just how ‘tagged’ we are. Our information and details logged away at their disposal effectively giving them ownership of our selves. There is an interesting interactive documentary that takes a look at the all controlling presence of the internet called In Limbo. Limbo also explores the wonders of the internet and how it stores memories and almost seems to validate some of our lives.

http://inlimbo.tv/en/documentary

Whilst the internet is an amazing resource of free information, there are always those that will try to exploit and capitalise on knowledge. We were introduced to a documentary named Google and the World Brain. This documentary tells us about the Google Book Scanning project which aimed to scan every book in existence to publicise on the web. The fear however, was that Google would then begin making profit off the availability of this information, a monopoly of access to knowledge. Google even went so far as to scan books that were copyrighted without even so much as asking for permission, it began a battle of rights and wrongs, could they prevent Google from holding the world of knowledge as a bargaining chip for profit?

We were also introduced to an interesting documentary film about the three co-founders of The Pirate Bay, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm. Filming began back in Summer 2008, and continued right through to February 2012. The documentary film is called TPB: Away From Keyboard, is a really interesting watch. It was released via The Pirate Bay under a Creative Commons license along with other BitTorrent sites. Also, a four minute shorter version was released at the same time for those who wish to remix or re-edit their own version of the film, featuring an edit with certain copyright restricted content removed.

I think that whilst I am by no means interested in participating in this continual struggle to maintain freedom of information, I fully support the idea of bringing the power into the masses and away from the money hungry corporations above. We should all have a right to access anything we want across the web, it is an amazing tool at our disposal, an open gate, and we should all be allowed to enter it freely.

Anna Kendrick on her Media Presence

A short read about Anna Kendrick who comments about her own presence on social media websites such as Twitter and how she approaches her own representation as a genuine individual, speaking her mind openly. It makes for an interesting read regarding how people vary in the way they represent themselves in the media but it raises the question; Is this her genuine personality that shines through in such interviews and tweets or is this the image that she wants to portray to her followers knowing that consumers more often than not are attracted to controversy. Let me know your thoughts, i’d be interested to hear.

http://www.nylon.com/articles/anna-kendrick-cover-february-2015

Digital Footprint – Part 3

For the final part of our task we were asked to produce a short statement describing our own personal brand. The twist was that we had to try and do so by incorporating 3 out of 10 predetermined pictures and whilst avoiding the pit falls of standard personal statement cliches. 

“Turn back the pages of your life to the chapters of your childhood, those sweet innocent nights tucked away in a torchlight treehouse telling stories of knights and dragons, monsters and heroes, and remember those lands you ventured to. Its quite easy for life to become a red misty blur, with the noose of reality tight around your neck. I have been to both places throughout the journey of my life, and I have learnt the importance of living in the moment. I am an adventurer on a fresh water river, a cowboy riding the dusty plains, a knight on a holy errand, I am that little boy with a world to explore with a camera.”

Please give me honest feedback, good or bad. This is a trial run at and out of the box statement, one that I think illustrates my wild sense of imagination and sense of professionalism at the same time whilst avoiding the typical “good time keeping”, “organised” and “hard worker” pit falls. 

                                          

Digital Footprint – Part 2

For the second part of my assigned task we were now asked to consider the digital footprint of another professional media practitioner and how they represent themselves. So to do this I decided to pick a favourite director of mine in James Gunn from such films as ‘Super’ and most recently ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.

On what sites do they present themselves on the internet?

So James Gunn has a Facebook page which he operates himself and posts fairly often to it as you may have seen I posted a quote of advise to fellow filmmakers from James Gunn on my blog a month back. He also operates a Twitter page on which some of his posts are the same as on Facebook however he appears to use this more regularly than Facebook, whether this is because her recognises the rising popularity of Twitter for following celebrities or whether this is just because of ease I am unsure. He has his own website ( http://jamesgunn.com ) which I only just discovered since starting writing this blog and can I say it is eye catching and intriguing. The opening header of his website says “the official website of filmmaker james gunn for shit outside the norm”. This particularly struck me as a website is a means of advertisement to potential employees, and although James Gunn is now a big name surely this was still a resource for potential employers. However it is in keeping with his relaxed and casual display of self throughout all media outlets.

What kind of images do they use and do they brand themselves?

So with James Gunn having recently released hit sensation Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy it is clear that James Gunn has since been branding himself as a Marvel fanatic by posting images not only about his hit film but also others related to the MCU such as this image of Daredevil in his early black costume sporting the line “For those among you complaining about Daredevil’s initial costume in the series may I remind you of this…”

Considering Gunn is signed on to direct Guardians of the Galaxy 2 it is within reason that he would show support to Marvel so as to keep employers happy, however nothing about James Gunn’s appearance on the internet appears out of synch with him being interested in things such as comics and so it could simply be a very real appearance of himself.

Do they give interviews?

Yes, Yes he does and I have seen some interviews with Mr.Gunn that have been a delight to watch. Here is one where he discusses writing and it really captures the laid back approach of James Gunn to his media professional career. It is a really interesting watch not just because it shows us what he is really like but also because it is an eye opener to just what the industry is like these days and what it takes to be successful as a writer.

Digital Footprint – Part 1

As part of our new module 161MC Creating Impact in Media Production we were asked to stop and analyse what is called our digital footprint, our presence in the open expanse of the word wide web and whether this presents a coherent message to consumers. I am currently active on Facebook, WordPress, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo however I am new to Twitter and have yet to really do anything but follow others.

Taking a look at my footprint across the other media sites it is clear that I have a passion for film and the moving image. My last few posts on Facebook have been film related and my only contributions to Vimeo and YouTube so far have been my own short films. Since starting my university course, one thing I have began to realise is that I am already a media professional. Actions I have taken to present myself as such have been on my Facebook page where I changed my profile picture and cover photo to more career oriented images whilst keeping a slight amount of casualness and fluid creativity. I also did the same with my YouTube and Vimeo channel as I realised that these are the kind of sights that potential employers would be looking upon and they would have to sell me to them in the future.

Areas I could improve on are apparent. My Facebook page has been littered with various status’ throughout the years that have been unprofessional in style, I have been debating restarting fresh or starting a second page so that professional and social could be separated somewhat (although as was illustrated in todays lectures, that is never truly possible). What I do know is that I am still a true media professional who is learning and adapting at an astonishing rate.