The Final Reflection

Tomorrow is deadline day – scary times, these past few months have FLOWN by!

Anyway I posted earlier in the week about how I’d spotted links in the artefacts and research I’d produced, and how it is increasingly clear to me that the power artefacts have been the one I’ve been most interested in, especially propaganda. Since then I’ve been given this systematic template to finalise everything, so here goes..

What Have You Made?

For my Spectacle artefact I created a rousing multimedia campaign to persuade people to not back the war in Iraq. For the first time I’d really taken my audio editing skills to another level, becoming advanced in Adobe Audition. To support the audio, I also added relevent pieces of propaganda and other images that backed up my claims. I took a range of influences, mainly from the British WW2 propaganda, although in hindsight I could have backed this up further with a detailed insight into the Nazi propaganda machine and Goebels.

For my Spectacle artefact I produced another audio piece, this time a radio advert garnering support for our troops. This was quite unique in that such a government advert doesn’t really exist, apart from adverts for recruitment. I felt it strange that in a large scale war like Iraq and Afghanistan, the techniques of moral building and public support from WW1 and 2 hadn’t been utilised as much. We live in an era where our troops don’t get the attention they deserved, so I decided to create something that could potentially spark a resurge in support.

For Memory I again wanted to push my own boundaries further, and set about creating something that was entirely (music track notwishstanding) my own. I had produced my own shorts with their own scripts before, but this time I wanted to really challenge myself. As pointed out in an earlier post my original intentions were to play upon the ideas of Michael Landy of starting a completely new life, but logisically my idea wasn’t possible. Collective Memory was my final focus, and in this my editing and production skills were tested due to the heavy use of Chroma Key.

What has worked?

Out of the three pieces, I think my Power artefact was the strongest, having provoked the most response from my audience. As an audio practitioner, I feel I got the best levels, and best mix from this and the images were a great way to show my competence in multimedia. My memory artefact has also been a joy to complete, having taken so long to produce – and also was the one I put most effort into trying something different.

What has gone wrong

Nothing went drastically wrong as such, but I think with a bit more time spent, I could have used the Chroma Key effect a little more accurately to really get the ‘talking photo’ idea looking more realistic. There are a few jagged edges in the piece, and musicwise I think perhaps I could have created my own score more in all of the pieces I created instead of using other artist’s work (particularly Muse’s!)

What work has influenced you/how?

Propaganda has definitely been something I’ve grown more interested in, particularly during the World Wars. Some of their tactics were extremely subtle, but very effective in provoking emotion, and getting the public to be on the government’s side. It’s probably taking the easy way out, but all my influences are mentionned in this blog before now, so I won’t digress.

What New Things Will You Develop?

Ah, the new ideas question. Well we were asked to come up with a least 5, possibly 10 ideas before tomorrow, so…

1) I’d really like to look deeper into the ideas of propaganda, particularly new ways of deception, mind control, etc

2) The Chroma Key effect could perhaps be used in a new way – maybe project a normal looking object onto something, then suddenly switch to a video, grabbing attention?

3) Radio obviously is my passion, so what about developing that mountain broadcast a little further? Maybe get permission to try a few things War Of The World stylee on a community station somewhere?

4) People always go on about trying to remember something – but what if media could make you forget?

5) I’ve always been fascinated with the ideas of Stockholm Syndrome, where after a long period of time under captivity, the victim can sometimes befriend the criminal. I could perhaps organise a radio interview/documentary with someone who has experienced this. This would be something a bit different for me, and out of my comfort zone, as I’m not too experienced in making documentaries, but we shall see..

That’s my 5, I don’t really have any more at this point. Oh well, I have Christmas to research these and come up with a few more for the presentation.

Strange to say this, but that’s it for this section of the blog! I’ll leave you with this..

Merry Christmas!

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