Media Arts Practices

Flip Book Animation: creating

This website outlines what flip book animation is, with multiple video examples of different types of flip books. The website also provides a video outlining how flip books can be made. This resource can be used to teach students about a simple form of animation and lead into the students creating their own flip books. By utilising this resource and activity students will be able to develop and refine their production skills in order to represent a story, whilst also planning, structuring and designing media art works.

Stop Motion Examples:

This power point, developed by Chris Monaghan for TES, explains the concept of Depth of Field in photography and how students can achieve different effects using it. This resource will enable students to gain a deeper understanding of photography elements, helping them to develop and refine their media production skills.

The powerpoint can be accessed here.

Depth of Field PPT

This PDF, developed by Chris Monaghan for TES, explains the concept and elements of exposure, in regards to photography, and how students can achieve different effects using it. This resource will enable students to gain a deeper understanding of photography elements, helping them to develop and refine their media production skills.

The PDF can be accessed here.

Exposure PDF

Photographing People:

As the overall theme is 'people', these resources can be used to help students find inspiration as well as some useful information to inform their practice.

This article provides some helpful information and tips behind photographing people, from the differences between candid and portrait to photographing other cultures and everything in between.
This article provides some simple technical tips behind photographing people.
This webpage has some really interesting photographs of people from all over the world and can be a great source of inspiration.

Screenwriting:

This website has a number of downloadable and printable resources to help get organised! These include monthly planners and calenders, lists and master planners.

Organisation:

This resource, provided by ACMI, outlines information and tips about planning and writing a screenplay, as well as some further information about storyboarding. This can be utilised to help inform students about the planning stage of creating their product.

Media Arts Practices.

Story Board Activity: Responding.

This activity is designed to teach students how to utilise a storyboard to express the key ideas and narrative of a movie, enabling them to practice planning for their products.

Students will watch a short film as a class. Following this, each student will be provided with a storyboard template.

Students will then fillout the template with key ideas and scenes within the narrative. This task will also assist with student ability to analyse movies for important scenes.

Story Board Activity: Creating.

This activity is designed to teach students how to utilise a storyboard for planning, highlighting their intended key ideas and narrative.

Students will work in small groups to create a short film. As part of the planning stage each student will be expected to fill out a storyboard template to place in their production planner (Media Arts folio).

Students will fillout the template with key ideas and scenes within their proposed narrative and use this as a guide when filming.

Some students may be interested in producing various forms of animated products. Here are a few examples of stop motion animation to help students visualise different ways to experiment with ideas.

PES - This website has a number of short stop motion films created by PES
Stop Motion Ads on Vine - This website has a number of short stop motion advertisements.
Stop Motion Music Videos - This website has a number of music videos made with stop motion.
Paranorman, Behind the Scenes - This video goes behind the scenes of the stop motion film, Paranorman.
Mend and Make do - This short animated documentary tells a lovely story about the life of an elderly women with beautiful animation.

Planning the product:

Photography elements:

Animation:

Film:

Shooting the film:

This resource, provided by ACMI, outlines a number of tips, techniques and information about filming in order to inform students so they can get the most out of every shoot. The resource looks at cinematography and mis en scène, continuity, technical skills, lighting and sound.
This article provides some great tips and techniques for videography. It focuses mainly on documentary style shooting but most of the tips are easily transferrable to other genres. The article is a great place for students to start when considering filming.
This website is a collaborative database where students can browse, download and share sounds.

Film examples:

This documentary called Kish, tells the story of a man who uses sound to see.
Somebody that I used to Know - Gotye - This music video depicts people in an interesting manner as well as highlighting a very human dilemma, love and heartbreak.
Offline dating - This short documentary follows a man looking for a date without using technology, some explicit language used.
Babakiueria - This Mockumentary looks at the customs of the 'white native people' from the perspective of 'black colonisers' in a comedic role-reversal.
This website has an archive of films by Australians that students can look to for inspiration.
This website has an archive of films by Indigenous Australians that students can look to for inspiration.

Magazine:

This article provides some tips and techniques for designing magazine covers and layouts.
This article provides some advice on design elements for magazines.
This article provides 15 tips and techniques with visual examples for designing magazines.

Magazine examples:

Students should collect their favourite magazines to use as inspiration in their folios.
The Sticky Institute - This shop in the Melbourne CBD is a shop and resource centre devoted entirely to Zines. Students can go here and collect numerous zines very cheaply and sometimes free to use as inspiration for their work.
There are thousands of online magazines that can be used as examples and inspiration, here are a few examples: Catalogue magazine,Frankie Magazine,Blanket Magazine,Accidental Discharge,Rookie Magazine, The Last Magazine & Ballad Of.

Designing the magazine:

Students are not limited to the methods covered here. Students will be encouraged to create in any relevant media art method of their choice. Over the course of my career, I will endeavour to add more resources for different methods of creating media art.