Our digital story telling project explains the interesting life of an audio file. From its creation shaped by the knowledge and expertise of live musicians, to its continuous lifespan amongst mobile audiences, the life of an audio file remains infinite and its journey can’t be predicted. The aim of our project was to highlight the relevance of a digital audio file and the effects that digital technologies have had on participation amongst mobile audiences. Using footage that we captured in both public and private spaces, we aimed to share our interpretation of the life of an audio file.
The most engaging part of the project was shooting the footage we required. Having some experience with video recording from other media arts subjects throughout our degrees we knew the challenges involved. From setting up shots in densely populated traffic areas, to even the simplest of shots taken at the beach, the challenges of video production often threw us a ‘curve ball’.
A large part of our aspirations to complete the project grew from our combined love of music. As our project required us filming live musicians and recording their work we had to seek permission from their label to use the recorded content. Being given the chance to work along two of Sydney’s most talented musicians was a very rewarding experience.
As we were trying to conceptualise the digital story we struggled at times to really understand the task at hand. We had numerous ideas that we considered before “Life of an Audio File” none of which fell into the sub categories we have been studying for the last 13 weeks. After numerous group meetings we settled on the topic of ‘Mobile Audiences’ and set about creating a video that captured the power of convergent mobile devices and how these technologies have transcended both public and private spaces. At times our project felt that it lacked a sense of direction, which created tension within our group. However after many hours of finalising our quote lists, capturing our media content (both physically and digitally) the distance gap continued to shorten and our excitement to complete the project grew.
As a team, our motivations to produce a creative and compelling video were very strong. We each had our own ideas about the direction of the project and with the help of regular group meetings, those ideas become realities. By choosing layouts for each shot, typography and video effects the project felt like a seamless experience. Each group member’s area of expertise was invaluable to the project.
Ash with his technical wizardry skills to record live audio, Meaghan with her unique faculty to extract research material vital to the formation of the project and my own skills using Final Cut Pro to cut together the footage we all recorded throughout the semester, combined to create a project we are all very proud to put our names to. It would also be remiss of us not to mention the support from both Kate and Stephanie throughout the project. When we were conceptualising our idea, we knew we had to complete the project after a strong swell of support from both staff and students.
The most puzzling part of the project was coordinating ourselves as a group. Being mature age students with busy lives, finding time to collectively get together was terribly challenging. However we each were very dedicated to the project and made the time to finalise our decisions.
As with many media projects technology issues are forever trying to break your determination. Since we were using Final Cut Pro to edit the assignment we knew we would face some faults during the rendering process. At times the long waiting periods of the dreaded ‘pin wheel of death’ felt almost exhausting though we knew that the final product would be something we are all very proud of.
After thirteen weeks of deciphering topics, researching media and examining the role that media plays within my own life I have come up with this conclusion. No matter how much I think I may know about an issue or topic, I have barely scratched the surface. Media is such an intrinsic part of our lives that to try and define it in thirteen weeks seems almost laughable. As technologies advance and we continue through the information age the ways in which we develop, learn and interact with media are frequently changing. The need for greater understanding into the concepts and theories of media creation will always remain a constant and vital aspect to the future development of media practices.
Luke Macdonald
2nd Year Media & Communication & Commerce Student @UOW
Majoring in Digital Communication & Marketing
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