pp108

Some of the Time projects in my classes have been terrific - you should check out what each other has come up with on the blog.

Speaking of blogs…: your  PARTICIPATION/REFLECTIVE BLOGs  are due to be submitted by Friday 6th June.

A copy of the assignment sheet can be downloaded from the Assignments page at the top of this blog.  Please read again carefully.  You need to make a final blog entry reflecting upon your participation in the course, addressing each of the five categories listed, with your suggested self-assessed grades.  Your tutor will mark your blog and give a final grade.  You can nominate one or more blog entries for each of the given categories, to make clear to your tutor the depth and breadth of your work.

(And don’t forget your R&D Assignments for your PP2 studios - contact your PP2 tutor if you are unclear about dates or delivery items for that).

Filed under: notice-board | No Comments »

Tutor: Jenny Weight

• Project Collaborators:
  Chrissa Mahtani
  Esther Werdiger
  David Ellis
  
  
• • PLAY ME-

• Framing Statement
  Birthday Cake is an interactive film project that playfully explores ideas of old media, memory and storytelling. Set at a mostly forgotten birthday party in the early 70’s, the film is comprised of three parts, each detailing the memory of another party guest. The films are shot like old, forgotten home videos and are accompanied by the voice of the characters during the present-day, struggling to remember the incident. Antoinette, Sheldon and Laszlo were all at the party, but they each remember it differently.

  What role does old media, like old pictures and home videos play in our life? Do they help us remember or do they in fact, become our memories, taking their place in our minds? Our project suggests how these forms of old media are the things that document our lives and keep our memories and stories stored away.

  We put the project on eZedia, allowing audience to view the films in any order they want, turning old and stagnant memories into an interactive and convergent project.

  Birthday Cake converges the memories and media of the past with the storytelling platforms of the present, allowing an old and forgotten story to become interactive, playful and insightful.

Filed under: time, time machines | No Comments »

Tutor:
Kyla Brettle

Created By:
Mirna
Alex F.
Dylan
Kelly

Tutorial:
Friday, 0930-1130

Framing Statement:

I tried to make instant coffee in my microwave oven. I almost went backwards in time.
Stephen Wright

In TimeRunner minutes are lost and gained then the fun really starts.

How is it exactly that we mere humans have come to think that we can actually save time and then spend time? TimeRunner addresses the inherent contradictions of “saving time”.

Modern devices to save time are matched only by devices that use time. The 1950’s saw the huge growth of household appliances all offering the allure of less work and more play. As a result, time’s illusionary quality has strong links to our ideas of commodity. To describe time we use words like “save”, “use” and “spend”. Indeed time is owned and it is traded, we even convince ourselves of being “time poor”.

In all this to-ing and fro-ing where does the time actually go? Henry Jenkin’s cites the extended role being asked of fans where media content is placing more “demands on its consumer” (Jenkins, 94). Some films can no longer simply be watched, in fact “to truly appreciate what we are watching, we have to do our homework”. (Jenkins, 94)

More is being asked of us even before the film begins as there is greater choice for the media consumer than ever before. This is true for all recreational activities. We no longer just watch football; we follow the players, the team progression and the leagues. Far from being a pastime, that is to “pass the time away”, what we choose to do defines more strongly who we are. “Our feeling of identity depends on our sense of the persistence of ‘I’ and ‘me’ over time”. (Jameson, 119) And our modern ideas of time are explicitly linked to our personal use of time.

As a result, we see that nowadays we have greater demands placed on us calling for our attention; clamouring for that five minutes we just ‘saved’. In 1950 an individual could choose maybe one of five activities to do, with the time spent choosing kept to a bare minimum. With so many choices available to us in 2008, it is hard not to spend more of our saved time just deciding what to do, and before we know it, all the spare moments we have accumulated have gone.

TimeRunner challenges our perception of time, how we save it and the process of choosing how we spend it.

References:
Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism and Consumer Society, Postmodern Culture, (ed) Foster, Hal Pluto Press, London, 1985 (p119)

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture. New York University Press: New York and London, 2006 (p94)

Wright, Stephen. Love of God - Stephen Wright. Retrieved on May 30th, 2008 from http://www.davenevins.com/loveofgod/topics/navigation/stephen-wright.htm

Waste Your Time With ‘TimeRunner’

Filed under: convergence culture, time | No Comments »

Tutor: Kyla Brettle

Tutorial: Friday 9.30 – 11.30am

Members: Alex Todorov, Muhammad Shamir Serajudeen, Lachlan McKinnon & Tristan Quek.

Click here for project

Welcome to ‘Sleeping in Hell’s Kitchen. We suggest you get into a comfortable position sitting or lying down. Now take a deep breath: breathe in, and breathe out. As you breathe let your shoulders drop with each breath.

Have you ever wanted to combine the two greatest experiences in life: television and sleeping, coalesced into one simple product that is easy and enjoyable to use? Welcome to ‘Sleeping in Hell’s Kitchen’.
‘Sleeping in Hell’s Kitchen’ is an osmosis tape using the production project framing guideline of ‘time’. Hypnopaedia or sleep learning as it is better known allows consumers to save/maximise their time by learning a variety of skills while they sleep. Its impact in popular culture is diverse: some claim it as life-altering while others criticise its hypocrisy in being a “waste of time”. We have created a tape that utilises a popular television show, Gordon Ramsay’s ‘Hell’s Kitchen’, and created a fan osmosis tape that allows users to catch up on the latest information to do with the show should they miss the television broadcast. It is a way for television producers to cash in on audiences with increasingly smaller attention spans and lack of free time to watch the show go to air.
It references time through its ability to allow people to maximise their own time. Given the hectic schedule many people face during their daily routines, hypnopaedia reportedly allows people to subconsciously absorb information and skills while they rest at night. Critics see it as doing nothing more than rearranging time – in actual fact the time spent making and/or downloading the osmosis tape could’ve been spent completing the event itself. It also remains to be seen whether the instant download culture of the modern world still allows for the use of osmosis.
In relation to Jenkins’ book, hypnopaedia allows television producers to recapture audience imagination and retention. Audiences either unwilling to sit and watch an entire episode of the show or unable to watch it when it broadcasts. This five-minute sleep tape is the perfect solution providing not only updates on the latest episode of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ but learn about what people are saying in the fan forums. All of this information is presented in a calm and relaxing environment with a sensual voice and accompanying soothing music. As noted in chapter two of Henry Jenkins’ ‘Convergence Culture’, Apple Box Productions summed it up in an advertisement several years ago:

“You’ve got three seconds. Impress me…One false move and he will zap us. No longer a couch potato (if he ever was), he determines what, when, and how he watches media.” (p 64, “Buying into American Idol”)

The layout of the tape has been purposefully created to feel exactly like authentic cases in point: from the peaceful and manipulated tones of the “narrator” using repetition of phrasing and echoing to the sounds of the waves crashing onto the beach to create a semi-conscious feeling of dreaminess. It is accompanied by a video that further emphasises the semi-conscious state with short clips from ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ episodes, pictures of Gordon Ramsay and various other objects that parallel what is being said.

Filed under: time | No Comments »

View project here.

Tutor: Dr. Jenny Weight

Tute: Monday 2:30pm

GROUP MEMBERS:
Antony Hananto
Justine McInerney
Kate Beaumont
Jessica Langmair

Our project is a fan fiction creation based on the hit Television series 24. Our fictional character John Blazer is a fan that has been so consumed by 24, its storyline, characters, structure and stylistic devices employed to shoot it. John is so engrossed in the program that he seeks to reproduce further episodes, ones that explore sub plots in ways that the actual series did not. He plays Jack Bauer, physically reliving the action scenes he has written and adapted personally. Our characters interpretation of the series is reflected in the fan fiction he has created.

24 is a series we are using to investigate “Time” by exploring what happens in a particular characters situation when the audience attention is re directed to another character in the story when the scene changes. What at that very moment is happening in the former characters situation? We are usually invited to simply “fill the gaps” and make assumptions about their progress in the story. Or are we to assume that no progress takes place until the viewer once again returns to their predicament? Perhaps this could be a plausible response however, in the case of “24” this cannot apply. For they advertise this series as taking place in real time. Firstly, programs are often set up to influence the way viewers fill in the gaps. Most programs that employ a 60min time slot run for an actual time of 40 minutes with the remaining 20 minutes taken up by advertising.

As such in the case of 24, the idea is that each episode runs for 1 hour with all 24 hours adding up to one single day. It is a program that eludes to run in real time. However, there are 20 minutes of unaccounted progress. When watching the series it implies that events have simply been put on hold and things pick up where they left off. Programs are not going to include events that are uninteresting, for example, eating sleeping, going to the toilet, in transit - unless something vital to the outcome occurs during these events or there is some symbolism relevant to the crafting of the piece. Viewers have learned to assume these instances. We have created fan fiction, which fills in these gaps with possibilities.

Jenkins’ talks about the importance of fan fiction in creating and fostering online communities in his chapter “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars”. Jenkins states:

“[Fair use] has been advanced in terms of legitimated classes of users and not a generalized public right to cultural participation. Our current notion of fair use is an artefact of an era when few people had access to the market place of ideas and those who did fell into certain professional classes. It sure demands close reconsideration as we develop technologies that broaden who may produce and circulate cultural materials.”

We have harnessed this by creating fan fiction, which is realised by the use of handy cams, unprofessional filming, nonchalant editing and an overly dramatic soundtrack.

Link to Episode 4, season 1

Filed under: time machines | No Comments »

Da http://casino-blog.online-kasino.pl/ ausserhalb einem staatlichen http://www.online-kasino.pl laut unserem Gesetz verboten ist, steht ja ausser Frage ob man legal um Geld http://www.poker-lernen.info lernen darf. Allerdings steht ja generell zur Frage ob http://www.pokerwiki.de ein Gesellschaftsfähiges http://www.freegame.pl ist oder nicht.

In der Gemeinschaft zu http://www.internet-poker.pl zu bekommen hat einige hervorragende Vorteile. Aber auch http://www.pokergame.pl im Internet ist Reizvoll.
Allerdings wird auch online im http://www.denknetzwerk.com http://www.pokerbuch.info. Auch dort haben sich riesen Communitys gebildet bei denen sich alles nur um die Gemeinschaft und den http://www.pokerprofi.com dreht. Eine solche sehr grosse Poker Community ist www.pokergame.pl mit http://www.pokergame.pl/pokerforum/ und http://casino.pokergame.pl, bei der nicht nur das Kartenspiel im Vordergrunde steht. Für die User ist auch ganz klar: Poker ist kein reines http://www.casinotaxi.org. Poker hat auch mit Können und http://www.pokergame.at zu tun, oder wieso sieht man bei grossen http://www.poker-lernen.net wie der http://www.pokergame.pl/pokergame-schickt-dich-zur-wsop-nach-las-vegas-poker immer nur die selben Gesichter am Final Table. Auch die Version http://www.internet-poker.pl/category/internet-poker/online-strip-poker wird immer beliebter im Netz

Filed under: Uncategorized, reflections | No Comments »

Members: Syed Abubu, Peter Lam, Alex Dane 

Tutorial: Friday, 9:30 - 11:30

Tutor: Kyla Brettle 

Play Me

Can old and new media coexist? Will new media technologies take over the old or will we hold onto the media we have grown up with causing it to adapt and converge with new delivery systems? “Ticking the Tock” explores the way the old media will not die, rather continue and coexist with new media and new media technologies. In the introduction to Convergence Culture, Jenkins outlines the predictions for old style ‘one to many’ media during the ‘dot com’ boom. The ‘dot com’ crash, however, proved these predictions wrong and we were caused to rethink the future of the media industry and the theory of ‘convergence culture’ was born.

“Ticking the Tock” is an audiovisual piece exploring Jenkins’s theory of old and new media convergence. The audio aspect of the piece is a complex web of sounds, representing different eras in the media industry. The piece begins with a snippet from ‘Hooray for Captain Spaulding,’ by the Mark Brother (Paramount 1930) giving the piece a time, place and context. This clip is followed by another piece of music, ‘Murmullo’ (Buena Vista Social Club, 1973) and a reading from a passage form Jenkins’s Convergence Culture. Throughout the piece, bits of electronic music (‘I Don’t Think That You Know, Electro Funk Lovers Mix,’ mr.Timothy, 2007, ‘Jupiter Room, Martain Assault Mix,’ Idealism, 2007, ‘Hearts a Mess, Electro-Baltimore Club Mix,’ Goyte, 2006) are introduced, representing the new media technologies that have been introduced over time. The sound of the ticking clock represents the relationship old and new media have to time as only time will tell how we as consumers, will react to and embrace the changing nature of ‘convergence culture’. The conclusion of the piece presents a confusing and multi-layered sound scape of songs representing both the old and the new. This is designed to articulate the feeling of uncertainty regarding the future of old and new media in a ‘convergence culture’.

In terms of the visual aesthetic, it was simply inspired by the introduction of educational videos in the 1950s. The reason for applying this ‘class of video’ to the project was to pay homage to the beginnings of old media and how both educational videos and old media were simple and concise devices built to make life easier. Now ultimately the goal was to create an astounding sound piece that would deliver our message across to the audience but the use of a visual was crucial and simply added to make the audio more decipherable.

‘Ticking the Tock’ is a thought provoking audiovisual piece exploring the journey of media over time. The confusion surrounding the conclusion of the piece is a reflection of how we as media producers and consumers, and Jenkins as a media commentator, are still unsure of the roles old and new media will play in the future.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The Online Time Capsule 

CLICK HERE

T.B.Q Productions:

Tom Arthurson

Bree Pagliuso

Quentin Offroy

It certainly seems as though there is a time limit on our physical, material existence.  We live each day, one after the other, slowly clawing our way to an inevitable death. For us, it seems, mortality is a condition of our lives… but can that be changed?

T.O.T.C (The Online Time Capsule) offers people immortality; it provides people with the chance to preserve their memories, to preserve their influence, after death.

T.O.T.C is not much different to ordinary time capsules.  The only obvious difference is that it is a digital time capsule.  Users can upload their thoughts, ideas and opinions (via audio, video, text and image), to create their own time capsule.  It allows ordinary Australians to document their lifestyles, their loves and their hates, to upload the contents of their minds, rendering them, in a special way, immortal, eternal.

However, what makes T.O.T.C even more special is the power placed in the people’s hands; users can control the time limit placed on their capsule.  Five years?  200 years?  1000 years?  It is up to you!  When will you be reborn?  With a sealed time capsule, will you actually die at all? And with the government’s support, T.O.T.C has officially become a site of historical and cultural importance, preserving our memories and our way of life for future generations to enjoy.

T.O.T.C comes in an age of transition.  It comes in a time that is witnessing the convergence and change of traditional media forms.  Time capsules, upon invention, were physical projects, storing physical documents of importance to the people / organisations who were sealing them.  Today time capsules can be digital.  They have the same premise as original time capsules,  but have undergone a period of change. This change in the properties (but not the function) of time capsules, mirrors the change that media forms are going through today.

Henry Jenkins, in his book Convergence Culture, speaks about ‘media in transition’ (pg. 11 - Introduction), where people’s various understandings of media change in accordance with certain developments, namely technological developments. This sort of change, this shift from traditional media to new media forms, can be shown in the developments of the newspaper.  In the traditional sense, newspapers are physical, tactile objects.  However in some cases today, the newspaper can be understood to be a digital presentation of news and affairs (ie: the newspaper on the Internet).  This transition happens over a period of time (we are currently in the midst of such change), and T.O.T.C is paralleling this change.

With digitalism, our lives are no longer shortened by the restrictions of time…. they are in fact enhanced, infinitely.  Immortality, manipulating time with technology, converging media forms…. T.O.T.C is an example of it all.

Filed under: time | No Comments »

 
Stephanie Griffin Powell
Jennifer Kals
Ash Gazal
Andrew Smith

Have you ever experienced a moment in your life when time stood still? Living in the moment, slow motion, freeze frame, time dragging by, all cliché terms for describing the phenomena of moment in ones life whereby they experienced something moving or special, something that evoked the entirety of their attention, distracting them from their most primitive sub-conscious obsession, the passage of time.

 The convergence part of the ‘time stood still project,’ is centred on the ‘time stood still project,’ blog. It is also an experiment in time and convergence and is a project we hope will keep growing as people add their memories to it. The blog features the interviews from the documentary, but also asks the public to become involved and connected, inviting them to send their memories to the project. In time hopefully the blog will become a growing library/database of memories. The ‘moments of time,’ could be put in categories and linked to one another, highlighting the relationships between our experiences of time. We have created a facebook group to support ‘the time stood still project,’ blog. It raises awareness of the project, enables contributors and the creators of the project to talk to one another and it also helps showcase the memories.

People constantly complain that new technologies work to isolate people from social interaction. The ‘time stood still’ blog works to utilize new technology allowing people to connect with complete stranger’s most significant moments, moments that people would never feel comfortable sharing in a social setting. Therefore our project works to embrace new technology, using it to allow people to connect with personal experiences, rather than fostering the isolation people fear new technology promotes. 

The project combines the experience of a traditional documentary with mobile and interactive technology. Online the memories become portable, you can access them anywhere from a computer with internet access. The project demonstrates the converging of traditional oral storytelling culture (demonstrated in the documentary) onto an online platform, revealing the relationships between the memories and converting them into a form that has meaning the new media era.

Filed under: time, time machines | No Comments »

Espire is an interactive movie project that encourages users to construct their own understanding of events based on their own engagement with the text. How do we understand time? Are we able to perceive time in an abstract sense? How do we construct a sense of time when its anchor point is uncertain? Espire responds to this construction of time by presenting a series of films that are not bound by time. This is emphasised by the control given over to the user. The user is completely aware of how each video is not bound by time, yet they seek to reconstruct the order and meaning of the events portrayed.

Espire is a response to the possibilities of new media storytelling. Plot twists or the manipulation of time are a common motif in popular cinema, but these conventions simply question our perceptions by presenting one understanding juxtaposed with another. Espire seeks to completely delineate time, while simultaneously forcing viewers to construct their own understanding of events. We latch onto the familiar or the recurrent to facilitate our understanding. We strive for understanding, often unable to accept the inherent chaos of the world around us.

New media and convergence culture provides a space for exploring these ideas. It allows us to completely rethink cinematic and narrative conventions, and provide a space for discussion and engagement with texts. Without a clear explanation of what you’re about to experience, Espire throws the user into an environment that defies our conventional understandings of time and space, and seeks to create an experience that cannot be recreated a second time. This is the first in a potential series of films, with events in future episodes directly responding to the interpretations provided by users, who are encouraged to publicly discuss their version of events.

Group Members:
Marian Bathan
Steph Howden
Kim Jirik

Filed under: time machines | No Comments »