I originally started an EDM (Electronic Dance Music) project in BCM114 which originally motivated me to go into nightclubs and do videography for EDM artists when they came down to Wollongong. This has contributed to my digital portfolio which has helped me to where I am today. Right now, I’m still involved with the EDM scene, I have filmed over a dozen artists and are now able to financially gain from the project by having clients and freelancing.
My digital Artefact will be produced on two platforms; YouTube and Instagram. The links to these profiles are here:
Statement:
My project is targeting Music lovers with the aim of them attending and consuming local EDM content. Based on my background and experience with videography and the EDM scene, I’ve noticed that when I originally attempted this digital Artefact, I didn’t have the networking and resources available to make a strong enough impact on the peers in the community. So, my digital artefact is going to be showing a new and improved version of what I have accomplished thus far and continuing a social presence on Instagram and YouTube with content from DJ’s and and events in Wollongong and Sydney.
For my digital artefact, social media will play a massive role with the content I produce. As this community thrives from interactions, involvement and networking. Creating content will be my ideal source for trafficking towards my socials. I will be filming, editing and collaborating for artists in the EDM scene. Audience interaction will be monitored through followers, interactions, collaborating and communications with audiences and artists.
Utility
I think it will help bring extra content to my portfolio, creating more networks for me to pursue, and gain more of an appearance in the online space, this digital artefact is to benefit myself and my career in the freelancing industry.
Audience Persona
People who love nightlife, nightclubs, EDM. There are a bunch of niche nightlife communities who follow the EDM scene I film in. (Let’s go dancing,Eighty-Six). Audiences want to see artists they like, see the vibes they bring live, relive the night they attended, consuming content.
screenshot from my YT Channel
Mood board
More uploads, content, more followers, more networks, same themes.
Gaming has played a massive role in my life, and my first real childhood game was Ubisoft’s 2003 release ‘Beyond good and evil’. This game meant so much to me as a kid, and still as an adult to this day as I recommended it to friends and co-workers religiously. The writing, characters and world are still so unique, intriguing and exciting compared to today’s titles. If you’re interested about this game and the story, read here for the synopsis.
‘Forgotten’ is a broad term to be mentioned when we discuss beyond good and evil, because of original launch, the game didn’t sell well. This was due to ubisoft poorly marketing the product, as the story and overall game seemed quite obscure to general audiences and reaching a larger demographic was a challenge. This is just an example of another title ubisoft has failed to follow through with, (see here for more info). But, for the gamers who gave this game a chance was lucky to experience such an amazing game for its time, easily one of the most underrated rpg games to hit the 2000’s consoles.
The game had created a fanbase and audiences that became invested with this ever-growing story wanted to know more about the potential and future of the game. As the game was distributed worldwide for Gamecube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC, reaching many demographics of gamers, there was a dedicated audience, even with the the failure at launch.
But what made beyond good and evil such an amazing experience for the players was its ending. This still has the community of fans in discussions, posting in forums and online spaces wanting to know more about that the ending, and why it had to be left on such a cliff-hanger.
Skipping to 2008, a trailer is released to the public teasing more content about beyond good and evil universe, but nothing else was followed up until at E3 2017, a cinematic trailer is showcased from Ubisoft, promising a new open world adventure game with an array of new characters. This looked promising to audiences, but as typical ubisoft fashion. the game has been on held due to funding and the project being too big for developers.
The reason i chose to talk about this game is because i think it’s a great example of audiences and video games, video games are much more than what they are advertised as. the stories, experience and personal interests that can be taken out of medium really separates itself from other media and artworks. Drawing to Huhtamo’s example about game studies, he discusses the idea how audience’s engagement with content creates an extra level of immersion for the player, a machine-human relationship within the medium. Players receive more personal experiences through this.
References:
E, Huhtamo, 2005, Slots of Fun: Slots of Trouble: An Archaeology of Arcade Gaming, Handbook of Computer Games Studies.
During this semester, the group and I were worked on a product that would benefit local produce growers and to get into the trading economy. This was dispatch, A product that would allow users to trade/sell and deliver fresh produce to local people in your community, creating a sustainable business on produce, and a healthier future for the environment, businesses, and people.
As discussed in previous assessments, we have covered majority of the topics that are affecting todays produce. Large corporations, greenhouse gas emissions and over production just to just name a few of what is affecting the overall economy of this market. For my digital artifact, I have gone in the direction of making an advertisement for a video game that involes dispatch. An app that would allow users to create their own virtual gardens via their mobile device. The game would allow users to grow, sell and trade their produce just as intended as the real-life application. But with playing the game will allow real life benefits to those who are involved with dispatched. Discounts, reward points and monthly prizes are only the tip of what is it come from this new innovative video game.
I chose to do an application as it will contribute people who are involved with the sharing economy, as we all know the sharing economy consists of users who trade or contribute via the people who are involved in the community. This is either from deliveries trading or selling, making an economy within itself. This application is directed at this community as it will self-sustain itself through users using the application. For example, people who grow and trade produce, using the game and making virtual garden alongside will benefit them as it will reward them to be more involved within the trading community as it will allow them to get discounts and better trade offers.
From looking at how users associate themselves with services through mobile applications, it gives us a better understanding on why this innovation could be successful. Comparing our video game application to other services like uber, it gives a better understanding on how the consumer experience can be enhanced. Explained by Zhu on how RA (Ridesharing Application) can offer that greater experience “From a consumer perspective, RAs are attractive because they offer lower prices, better accessibility, great flexibility, ease of use and “a user focused mission” (Zhu, et al., 2017). With this, we can take in account the mobile application as a way that the user can feel like they are in control of their virtual product, which will guarantee a better user experience as it will feel more user based, giving the user benefits of using the two applications.
With the new movement of this application, it will benefit the future of dispatch, as more users will jump aboard the sharing economy and create its own system within a system.
References
Zhu, G., So, K. K. F. & Hudson, S., 2017. Understanding consumer motivations behind the adoption of mobile applications. Inside the sharing economy, 29(9).
BCM313 was an interesting subject for me this semester. Getting to investigate the ‘future of work’ with a more in-depth view of employees and the work force. For this assessment, we were asked to interview someone who worked in the field you would like to be in, in the future.
For this, I interviewed Steve Anderson. I work with Steve with his advertising and media business, which is a field I am hoping to pursue with my career as well. (The YouTube video above goes more in-depth of Steve and his work)
Steve has had an interesting life. He has worked in many fields and has a lot of progress with business, clients, and knowledge within the media industry. I found that talking to Steve about the industry was interesting because of his experience, I felt like what he was saying was genuine and offering good advice.
The Interview with Steve gave me insight on his values and is something that I will take forward in my career. Steve talks about the values that are important to him, these are – Honesty – Communication – Trust
The way Steve talked about his values really showed who he was as a person. these are values that he has in his day to day, who he thinks being the best person he can be, and it is something he brings to work when he is working with clients.
Steve talks about honesty. For Steve, honesty means a lot to him, and you can hear this throughout the interview. He talks about how he has conversations with clients and why it is important to talk about the projects, if they are happy, if you are happy or unhappy. He says that you should always be honest, as this is what will get you through projects. Because if you are working on a project, and don’t necessarily like working with said clients, you need to communicate this. This goes into Steve’s next value, Communication. Communication works well with honesty, because you can always communicate with people, but it’s communicating the right things that will benefit your day to day. Steve also talks about Trust; Trust is an important value for Steve because he wants to know that when he is working people, he wants them to know that they can trust him, and he wants this to be the same way for him. Steve wants the clients to know that he has their best interest at heart when he is working with their business, as Steve wants them to have the best outcome they can.
This interview can be seen as ‘outsider witnessing’, the reason for this was the way the conversation was conveyed throughout the interview. Steve talks about the industry, and how it’s changed overtime with the rise of technology. A part of the interview, Steve says the line ‘as you know yourself’, in context, Steve was referring to me and I can do the advertising from home with software on the home computer, but it’s the way he says it that makes the audience feel engaged as if he is talking to the viewers as well. The audience gets to sit in on a conversation happening between two people, which informs them about the media industry, and also let’s them understand the interviewees personality.
Thanks to Steve for the interview.
References
Russell, M. C. &. S., 2003. Outsider-witness practices: some answers to. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work., 1(1), pp. 1-22.
Life can become quite comfortable when you stick to a routine. Working, studying, exercising and social occurrences can be norm for the average human’s week. But when a sudden change and disruption happens to one’s lifestyle, it can either be beneficial, or have a negative experience on the person.
In early 2020, I finally got a job in the Illawarra working for a technology store. This store works as a cash exchange, where customers can bring their technology, games and media and sell the items to the store for either cash or store credit. The store is a second-hand retailer, so it follows the second-hand buyer’s act. I had previous experience working in sales, and was comfortable working with customers, but my experience didn’t come close to how precise this business operated. I got use to how they used technology in the store, with the use of filing documents, understanding how phones and other devices worked and satisfying customers with their needs.
I became situated with this lifestyle, working a certain number of hours a week and continuing my studies at university, this was until the pandemic hit Australia and changed the livelihood of everyone. As a lot of businesses started to close, I found myself staying at home waiting to find out what was going to happen. I deferred university out of panic (which I kind of regret) and was adjusting to the new stay of home lifestyle. I know it sounds selfish, but at first, I really enjoyed being at home (like everyone else I’m sure), because I was either always working jobs or studying. What at first, I thought was a ‘holiday’ quickly became a ‘holiday with pay’ when the introduction of ‘Job Keeper’ by the Australian Government. Having all this time off and receiving a ridiculous amount of money that I would usually not be making consistently, turned into the most bizarre spending spree I have experienced. I know many Australians were not entitled to job keeper, due to position of employment and circumstances, but for the people who were eligible, it felt like Christmas each week. Considering I was still living with my parents at that time and was only paying a weekly rent for groceries and utilities, I didn’t necessarily want this much money, but like anyone else in that moment, I started to consume. This unrealistic safety net of a financial situation had to change, and my parents made it clear that I had to save this money as the income could change at any moment.
The lecture slides from week 3 suggested the blogpost ‘Your lifestyle has already been designed’, this blog goes on to explain how excessive spending can occur when are you are in a comfortable financial situation or earing more money than previous. The writer talks about how he spends money on unnecessary things and how it’s not healthy to get into this cycle of dopamine purchasing. This is something I really relate too, as consuming can be a real problem I face, especially when it comes to artist merchandise and video games. I own more t-shirts than I know what to do with and have stacks of video games I’ve barely played or haven’t even touched. Within the blog, he starts to talk about the conditioned ’40-hour work week’ that people will consider a normal lifestyle. He explains the limited hours people have in their days, and why media and entertainment is such a dominant consumption for humans due to free time being evenings and weekends. (Cain, 2021) This ideology is something I could relate too, but at that period, I had too much time.
The positive that did come out of that lockdown was the change of labour, instead of a work labour, that I had to do each week for my job, the hours turned into home labour, where I would help my parents work on the garden and the studio that they were building. An article that was introduced in week 5 talks about emotional labour, and the differences of what you think is required that becomes unnoticed or appreciated. I did feel this in my job, but not all the time as I found that my co-workers are very supportive as it’s a smaller team of people. This translated to being home as well, I found myself doing more stuff around the house or putting in that extra effort in the garden just because I was bored.
Fast forward to 2021, second lockdown.
Mentally, I enjoy working, I get a lot of satisfaction from working with customers and really love my job, but this is because of the doses of work I have per week, and still maintaining a social life with friends and family (before covid). I was happy after the first lockdown of the pandemic in 2020, finally working again and enjoying social activities, but the second lockdown has been harder mentally. Not working, doing university part time and not being able to see my family, friends, and my cat for over 3 months has been hard, and like many Australians, we are all in the same position. Personally, I think too much free time is bad, and the idea of the 40-hour work week sounds comfortable as looking forward to events can get you through the week easier. The number of days I have travelled around my apartment to different indulgent activities (gaming, movies, disc jockey,) has burnt me out. I haven’t worked fulltime before, as I’ve always been a causal for my position of employment. I’m not excited to work fulltime or be conditioned to the 40-hour work week, but I think it would be a good change, considering I have experienced all this free time, I know I’ll look back on it with rose coloured glasses, but it’s not a realistic lifestyle.
My name is William, and I am currently in my third year at UOW studying Communications and Media.
When I was younger (Around 14 years old) I was infatuated with YouTube, Content Creators, and the idea of it being a job. So, when I was a teenager, I started to make my own YouTube videos that was heavily oriented around video games. With this, I was introduced to recording, video editing and graphic design, as these were the elements to make a polished YouTube video. I stayed with this hobby for a few years and slowly learnt more about production of content and how it can translate to ‘real life’ work. With this interest in media, I studied a diploma in Film and Television at JMC Academy in Sydney. JMC was great for understanding pre-production, production, and postproduction and what needed to be considered when working on set, or with clients. With having this experience, I’ve had the opportunity to do freelance work for businesses, helping them with making advertisements for social media. I’ve currently worked with over 10 clients so far, and hoping to continue with freelance work in the future when the covid situation settles down.
I do think the interest in YouTube I had at a young age impacted me, as this is something I’m hoping I can pursue as a career now as I find it very enjoyable. So that’s why I’m continuing my studies in communications and media, as I hope studying in this degree broadens my opportunities for employment as there can be multiple fields in production and media.
For this research project, the idea was to look at students who are involved with the paid parking service on university campuses. The report was to understand how people felt about paying for these fees, did they mind paying? Or did they think it was scam?
My ideology was set on that student’s did not need to pay for parking because of how often students can be on campus, this is for classes, study groups, or using the library on campus. This is in the mindset of a pre-covid university. Now that everything is online, being on campus has been quite obsolete as all the academic learning can be accessed from the computers at the comfort of your own home. Parking on campus was free for a short period, this was compensation from the university to relieve pressure on students to come back on campus to study. But, as of April, University of Wollongong has changed their policy back to paid parking.
Now, I was personally upset with this change as I was coming back to campus for classes and was enjoying the free parking. This is when I wanted to find out if other students felt the same way, so I set out a survey via Twitter and contacted students of UOW to submit their opinions on the matter.
When asking these questions, I made sure that the interviewee understood that the survey will be anonymous as this was just used to collect data, there name or account would not be attached to the answers as this would make it more comfortable for them to answer honestly.
The questions were simple yet effective, as I could get a good understanding of the student’s ideology on the situation. The answers were interesting as more people disagreed with my questions then I thought, which made it interesting to investigate.
The idea of this question was to investigate the change of mindset when it comes to university, now that we are being forced into an online realm of study, has University lost its ‘vibe’ it had when we first enrolled? The answers show that 8/11 agree that it is change their perspective because of how much easier online university is because of how much more time people have in there day now.
So, when it came to asking the thoughts on paid parking and if it should be free, the answers were surprising as a lot of the answers agreed with the question that it should be free, “We pay enough for university as it is, parking could be free at least”. This was one of the answers to my poll, the idea for how much university fee’s cost for classes, books, and other needs, where we could be helped with parking as we need to get onto campus. Another answer “Selfishly I do, but I know why university does it. So at least make it cheaper would be nice.”
The overall response from this survey allowed me to get a better understanding on the thoughts of parking and now people feel about it. This topic has been done a lot in the past as other universities and other university students have had similar responses. A study by Jeffery Brown shows that there was a survey that interviewed 35 Universities which explored the factor of unlimited access, and how much funding it costed to allow this (Brown, 2001). Unlimited access is the factor of paying a transport company like buses to transport students to campus. The survey showed that the transport companies charged around $23 per student, meaning over a year and the number of students using this facility meant that universities are willing to cover this fee. Depending on the size of the university meant how much the price would fluctuate (Brown, 2001)
This can be the main factor on why universities do paid parking because they are already funding for transport to campus and helping the eco-system with having less transport on roads. Another factor is that the university want control over the parking, this is because if it were free, people who usually park on streets would park on campus, and people who catch the bus would now drive as there is no fee, meaning that parking on campus would be fully capacitated and the university would have no control (Harding, 2013)
A report by Amitrajeet Batabyal focuses on the factors with a parking pass with students, and the effects short- and long-term parking may have. Batabyal explain how it can be difficult to determine the time of parking on campus, and how it needs to be monitored by the duration of students arriving and leaving the campus, this means that the value of paid parking can change depending on how much people are using the campus for parking (Batabyal, 2008). The overall outlook of this is that if students pay for an unlimited parking access, it will cost the same as just arriving and paying the parking fee each day as universities still need to make their money back.
References
Batabyal, A. A., 2008. A probabilistic analysis of two university parking issues. Springer-Veralag, p. 112.
Brown, J., Daniel, B.H. & Shoup, D. 2001, “Unlimited Access”, Transportation, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 233.
From doing this report, and focusing on car parking, I feel like I learnt a lot that I did not before. I went into this report naive to the idea of parking as I personally thought it was just another way to for the University to get money from students. But looking into the idea of an access pass, and how the university is offering free transport throughout Wollongong to campus, it does show the paid parking is necessary. Because the university can have control over the parking, means people will be more inclined to use the transport system that the university has supplied.
When conducting this survey, I feel that my questions were very open minded, which allowed the people answers to answer in a simple manner, whereas if I made more questions, or even made sure that people would do more short answer responses, I think I would have got a more personal response instead of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ type situation. I would also change how I interacted with the interviewees, just using twitter as a primary source of getting traffic was not as successful as I thought it was going to be.
A big part of this report was how difficult it was to get students engaged with the survey, as I navigated through twitter, I could notice how everyone using the #BCM hashtag to interact with UOW students, but I feel like the traffic for everyone’s post would be ignored. Because there were so many students doing surveys for this assignment, it stopped everyone to interact with posts because it was everything we could see, it is hard to get people engaged when I feel like no one really cares. I wish I did not rely on twitter for this assessment as I did not get the response I was hoping too with my survey, as the data collected was linear compared to articles and other surveys I was looking at for my report.
For future study and assessments that relate to doing surveys, I am going to be more open minded when it comes to questions, and make sure I directly ask questions that will get a proper response. I will also find other avenues of interacting with people for surveys, because I would like to collect more data for future assessments and take more time understanding human ideology of similar interests.
Cinema is one of the most significant forms of Art that has been produced and developed for over 100’s of years, and the most interesting part of this type of art is how it can be produced and crafted to show different types of filmmaking and storytelling. Films can follow themes that are inspired of generations of film making, like the golden age of Italian neorealism, the dark and depressing aspects of German expressionism, and the experimentation of French new wave of cinema.
But, with all these themes of filmmaking, there is one that only one country that can pull off their own unique style of storytelling, humour, and culture. This being Australian Films. Australia is known for its uses of strong use of slang and almost inside jokes that only Australians can relate too, this is shown in such films like The Castle, Chopper and Muriel’s wedding.
The problem is when it comes to Australian media, is that it is not as successful as other countries when it comes to filmmaking, funding, and audiences. This is mainly because of the identity struggle Australia faces due to the content it pushes. Broadcasting in Australia has been managed by the AMCA since July of 2005. The reasoning for this is because of the 1992 Broadcasting Services Act which focuses on displaying Australian content to free-to-air television, being 55% of Australian content between 6am to midnight. This was put in place to show audiences that Australia has a sense of identity when it comes to its content. This would include culture, diversity and community inclusive content that was moderated by Australian creative control. The reasoning for Australia to have creative control when it comes to its media is because of the monopoly of businesses that can force content on its viewers.
So, with all of this in mind I would like to talk about Australian content and why it struggles.
As there are 25 Million people in Australia alone, you would think Australian films would be fine with the potential audiences that would buy tickets, watch content, and support the Australian film industry. But as shown in an example by Screen Australia, total overall Box Office tickets sold worldwide, Australia only makes up 4.5% of sales made, with 80.5% being America from 2018-2020.
Because of the target audience and how much income Australian films turn over, funding for film projects can be difficult ever since the 10BA Tax Law, which would allow Filmmakers to claim up to 150% in compensation and only to pay half back from the income made from the film. This Funding compensation meant that Australian film makers were taking advantage and producing low-tier films as the there was not a penalty in doing so.
Since the change of law, getting funding through screen Australia has become tighter as the funding from this organisation is not there as the Australian Film Industry barely makes a profit compared to its counter parts. Films are more likely to be produced by America and pushed onto Australian audiences.
As more audiences are now seeing the convenience of streaming at home from services such as Netflix and Stan, Australians are now more inclined to watch more homegrown content. A study from Bigger Picture shows that from 2016, Australia has peaked when it comes to consuming content though the use of SVOD. Free to air TV are reaching 57% of viewers where SVOD media are reaching up to 70%. This study shows that times have changed when it comes to consuming and producing content, as now platforms such as YouTube are being used to produce and share content.
A problem I think the industry faces is the use of advertising when it comes to Australian film and Australian Distributors. The advertising used for Australian films are limited compared to other countries, as Australia has a population of 25 Million whereas the US has 300 Million, so the funding must be cut as for the potential audiences that would go to a cinema or stream at home. The amount of money Australia can spend on advertising can be up to $4 Million, which would hopefully encourage audiences to watch on the box office weekend of a new film. Nelson Woss, the producer for the Australian film ‘Red Dog’ explains “You have to create awareness and also a desire to see it. You have to get people into the cinema. If no-one goes in the first weekend the film is dead in the water”. So, if a film does not do well in the box office, Cinema exhibitors cannot allocate the film as many sessions in its season if it is not performing well, there for the cinema industry relies heavily on the budget spend of the distributor to get it in audiences mind’s eye.
The problem with Australian Cinema is the urgency to show the rest of the world we have a culture, if it is our red deserts, beautiful country sides and stories that explore the native custodians. We barely make films that just tell a story that anyone could relate. Films like Two hands I feel are a great example of a story that could be told anywhere, yet it is filmed in Sydney with its iconic landmarks.
So, the question must be asked, is it worth having the Australian film Industry? Australian media is easily my favourite content to watch, as the relatability and story telling is shown as its own. No other country can create wit and show culture like us, even though a big part of Australian content I consume now is through YouTube like content creator Jarrad Wright, who wrote and directed his own series on YouTube called “The Big Lez Show” were some of his videos would reach over 5 Million views, mainly being an Australian audience. I just think the way we engage with content is different, but the audience is still there.
Picture, B., 2015. Australian content on broadcast, radio and streaming services. [Online] Available at: file:///T:/internet%20downloads/Sub12_Att3.pdf [Accessed 28 March 2021].
For this research project, I would like to talk about parking, and why I think students and teachers should not have to pay for parking tickets on campus.
The idea of committing to study a degree can be quite overwhelming. When you take in the factor that you will be signing a contract with the institution to pay for a course, showing up to lectures, tutorials, and group meetings, to finally get a certificate in your specific field of choice and hopefully getting a job in the future. This is understandable, as this is one of the ways to get a career in what you are passionate about, but what is not fair is the fact we have to the worry of parking while balancing work, study, commuting, paying rent and other tasks to peruse this opportunity which can be quite draining.
Now, the reason I have pointed out the obvious with getting a degree is because I want to talk about parking, and how it is such an unnecessary factor that weighs on everyone when commuting to uni.
I know right now that parking is free on campus due to COVID and the stresses it has on students already, but my argument is that it should have always been free and should stay free after university goes back to full time on campus. I personally do not see why students or teachers need to worry about paying for parking when we are already sacrificing so much to study and the stresses we already have.
To further explore this issue, I do think parking is a big factor when it comes to studying, and I guess it is the same for Staff, I personally hate paying for parking when I need to go to work (as I work in a shopping centre) and the free parking has limited spaces, so I am sure employees on campus would feel the same way. This is talked about by Sargisson as she wrote an article talking about Commuting Choices and the effects it has on students and Staff. She does point out the environmental impact’s universities have of having paid parking as it offers people other alternatives to commuting, but in some cases, driving to university is the only option students have if they live in rural areas.(Sargisson, 2018)
So, my pole had a total of 15 votes, with 14/15 agreeing with the idea that it should stay free, and 1/15 voting no.
This topic is timely and relevant as it is something all universities will have to deal with, weather they charge or do not charge, I think it is a topic that will always be brought up. It can be achievable if I interview students and give out polls and surveys that will help encourage people to interact. I want to hear other opinions on this matter and why people are for or against this idea.
References
Batabyal, A. A., 2008. A probabilistic analysis of two university parking issues. Springer-Verlag , p. 112.
Birrell, B., 2020. Post-COVID Australian. The Australian Population Research Institute, Volume 62, p. 107.
RASMUSSEN, C. J., 2006. Effective cost-sharing models in higher education, Insights from low-income students in Australian Universities. Higher Education, Volume 51, pp. 1-4.
Sargisson, R. J., 2018. Do parking fees affect commuting choices of staff and students on a university campus?. Southampton , Volume 2, pp. 190-194.
William's Blog 