josh hunter BCT

So this is it, my final reflection for the year. Going into the start of Studio for semester 2 I began by wanting to develop skills in visual communication, videography, photography and brand promotion. Looking back at what I have achieved at this point, I can honestly say I gave it a nudge, but there are areas I placed more focus on than others.

Working with mates outside of uni was more of a struggle than I thought. When you go from documenting and thinking, "hey wouldn't it be cool I did this for uni?" to actually trying to co-ordinate everything to fit in with everyones schedules was one of the biggest things I found holding me back.

Finding the line also, between what I could do and what they wanted was something I thought might get in the way, but as it turned out when we got together to film, photograph or talk over ideas things went really smoothly.

As far as where I see this project fitting in on a larger scale, in my research I couldn't find anything quite like what I've done. For sure there are plenty of people creating video and blogs the way I have, but not in the sense that it's centred on one crew. The majority of video of the top graffiti artists are done by the paint companies that sponsor them, and the other amateur stuff is only based around one kind of media; be it photography or videography.

Overall I feel like my work evolved from trying to create an outcome that showcased the crew to instead building a platform for them to project themselves from, and now take over. With the video I felt this the most, because it's all about getting the name out. We're still mates, so I'll always be keen to document and try to keep up what I've started with them, and hopefully watch it grow into something big.

Stickers In The City.

This video serves as an introduction to Lazy Sundays and what they're about. Rather than have the first video as one of them painting at night, I felt it better to show something less, well, criminal I guess. At the same time, a wider audience of people who aren't aware are more likely not to care so much in regard to vandalism from stickers, while at the same time people who are into graffiti will see something like this and be drawn in by it. In the description links can be made to tumblr and instagram, and vice-versa, so the video not works as a way to bring people in, but as something that adds to other work.

As part of the brand/image for the crew, I printed a couple of t shirts as a way to show how, if they choose, they could market themselves and give people the opportunity to buy into what they do, literally. 

One thing I hadn't thought about till now was using gifs, which are great because they are short and visual - two things that have greater appeal to the audience I'm targeting. People are more likely to pay full attention to something that's short, so I'm also varying the ways I'm presenting graffiti through the gifs. From the abandoned building one presents the space, while the other works between two pillars so that I'm able to make look like it's continuously flowing

So the stickers took longer than expected.. But they're here, they're cut so I can go about getting them out there. Using the instagram I set up for the crew I can get them going on that, but for more instant interactions I want the other guys to get some up on their own social media. This is because they already have their own audience that they can project to, and from that they can direct traffic to what I'm doing in the way of presenting them as a whole group.

I used the initial colours I came up with, then also used those colours to create a number of other iterations for a range of variety and so that there's more for people to like

taking the logo I designed last week I've applied my colour palette to it, resulting in a number of iterations I can get printed as stickers. The more I can afford the better, because the more there are the more people are likely to see them. Using my streams I can document the process of them, so that users are aware, and with any luck some sort of hype can be created where they can be sold.

before this blog became solely the photography platform of the owner it was a fashion blog where the owner would document what him and his mates did, as well as this brand, YSH (You Score High) but it was only stickers. Tumblr went crazy for these when they would drop them, which was largely due to their fan base but also because it was the only physical piece they did. Because I pretty much have no followers right now it's more important for me to get my basic stickers out and create awareness, because no one cares about what they don't know, and the iterated colour ones can come later.

 - http://youscorehigh.tumblr.com/post/9756479589

Coming into the critique i knew that my level of production wasn’t at a comfortable level, but after talking about my work and where it’s going I’m happy with knowing I’m on track and going in the right direction. The logo I designed and presented was received well I thought, with others understanding my thoughts behind the typeface and composition of it.

One thing I asked the group was for their suggestion of an online medium I could use to serve as a jump page and portfolio of all the work i do. I had tumblr in mind and it was confirmed by everyone else; it’s ability to hold embedded video from youtube and vimeo, as well as carrying text and posts from other photo sharing apps like instagram mean i can have everything in one place for submissions.

street bombing - 

With this transmedia project, I want to try create a buildup across streams that results towards the end of the semester with one or two short film length videos, between the 5 and 8 minute mark.

To build up to this and give background I plan on filming each member of the crew in this setting; using a sketchbook to showcase artistic skill and planning before the final piece is painted. By doing this it also serves as a way to introduce each persons' style and method of building up their pieces. The music and speed of the cuts will also reflect this to present a particular personality of each writer.

This video is of Sofles, a writer known worldwide in graffiti circles for the great detail in his work. Aspects I want to take in particular are the over the shoulder shots that give an insight into what being seen as the piece develops

Following the presentation by G's mate Luke, I can see that for my project to be well designed I have to bridge between the subject of my work (graffiti) and the value it has to society (it's extremely undervalued). Being an underground art form, I want to go in a direction that lets me show what relevance this medium has to society; by showcasing the design elements behind it (type design, colour and composition) with the urban environment it takes place in. 

Using multiple platforms to present and promote, the technologies need to extend on the value of what I produce, and the 'story' I guess is the meaning and background to why the subject is important, relevant, and worth starting a conversation about.

The doco G presented spoke a lot about getting the 'feeling' towards a project. I'm excited about what I'm doing this semester because it's aimed towards my interests as well as being a project that uses skills necessary for the line of work I want to get into once I graduate. Advertising, in particular planning and executing a number of platforms to promote and market is something undervalued, so I'm excited about experimenting with ways I can be successful in this domain.

Before declaring my intent, I'm going to sit down with my client(s), to create a brief and make sure we're on the same page style and content-wise, because with anything involving social media regular updates are essential; and for a successful campaign there has to be a common thread or theme with everything I put out - not just a chronologically but across the board. 

I set out to create 7 tracks to correspond with the 7 Pillars of The RZA's Wisdom, as outlined in his autobiography, The Tao of Wu. I wanted to do this because it would give me a direction in learning my way around audio production, with sampling, composition and mastering being parts of what I wanted to learn. 

Using Ableton for the first time with a midi keyboard was a little daunting at first. To be honest after trying to teach myself with some terrible tutorials I stuck my head in the sand for a bit and started to worry about how I could make something that fit two criteria I set for myself: a) people would want to listen to it from start to finish, and b) it was still relevant to the concept of the book.

Things became far easier once I found a tutorial for using Ableton to make trap music, a genre I'm familiar with, and from there the possibilities of Ableton literally opened up for me in terms of what I could do, I moved into some Hip-Hop production and began to take apart the preset kits with my own samples  and started enjoying what I was doing. It was then that the good vibes translated into what I presented.

Due to my experience I took a solid step back in terms of making the concept work. I did this by taking the what I found the most important points of each chapter and breaking them down to the basics. Something like a Kung-Fu film that inspired the name Wu-Tang itself i cut back to a Chinese flute. And when he describes his Christianity I used a Gregorian chant, because I knew I wanted to investigate particular styles of production, using other tools like Audacity for the cutting of samples. 

Setting out to make 7, I've settled for 6, because in trying to take the brainstorm for the last chapter and turn it into a track, I couldn't find a way to outro the other tracks successfully. In listening back to Dissolution I feel like it adequately sums up the styles I've Explored and the techniques I've developed over the course of the paper, so I would rather use that as the outro track as oppose to tacking something on that sounds similar for the sake of having something.

From this point I'm going to go back and remaster everything and re-release it. I don't want to edit anything straight away, because being my first attempt at electronic music production I want to be able to come back to them in a few months to compare where my skills are at.

At the start of this paper I knew I wanted to come out with skills in audio production in a professional environment, using Ableton and hardware to sample audio and reproduce it into music. I feel like I've done that, and once I got my head around things I really enjoyed myself. This paper has opened me up to an entire skill set that I'm going to continue to build on over time.

I'm proud of what I've made, and I like that I can listen through the tracks and know that each sounds better than the last, 

To conclude my audio project, this track serves as an outro to what I've made over the semester, it takes parts from everything I've done so far, touches on some of the themes I've looked into. 

Track 6, and the clan's album was a massive success, but with the fame some individuals of the 9 got individual record deals while others didn't. Things started to fall apart but they came back together to record Wu Tang Forever which affirmed their status as international stars.

The RZA became enlightened at this point of his life. He'd achieved what he wanted to with the clan, and his 5 year plan to world domination (musically) through Hip-Hop was a success. He goes on to talk about how he recognises himself as, "not a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Christian, an gangsta, a thug, or a prophet." I'm not any one of these things, although in a way I'm all of them... I became free. I found peace. And I've had it to this day."

I wanted to express this statement by taking the individual aspects I've explored, and combining them on one track. The flute sample in Chambers to represent Buddhism, the gangsta bass of trap music, the Gregorian chant for Christianity, and the Hip-Hop thug style, with Muslim being shown mathematically with the 12 Jewels.