Composing in Film, Video, and New-Media

In the fourth unit of study, Composing in Film, Video, and New Media, our class focused on the contemporary context of these mediums. We researched the historical sequence and interactive synergies between these three mediums through looking at Lev Manovich and listening to lectures by John LeBlanc and Julian Semilian. 

To begin, before this unit I knew a few things about composing in video. I had made many short videos for high school projects since my school used iPads. I also had created a Harlem Shake for my stage crew and a senior goodbye video for my theatre senior class. I did not know much about film or new media however, but I did like going to see films by my favorite directors like Wes Anderson or John Carney. 

From my journal writing and in the assigned reading I learned about Lev Manovich's principle of modularity. For instance, because new media follows the principle of modularity, new media bits can function as stand alone objects or come together in a multitude of different ways to create something new. However, even when they do come together to create something new, they are able to retain their individuality as an object. From my online discussion forum with my classmates I saw something interesting that Julia Dietsche said, "I think the boundary between new media compositions and pieces of film and video is a line that is very easily blurred by the perception of the viewer or listener.  Much like a perceiver defines art, it is that perspective that makes the piece what is." I found this to be very inline with what I though to be true about perception as well. From the lecture by John LeBlanc I learned that we always need to be willing to collaborate and with Julian Semilian I learned about how we sometimes need to sit on moduls for a while and come back to it later to create art. From my channel surf video (can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33N8I4pOqF4) I learned a lot about parallel editing and using different resources of new media and video to create a film. 

I would like to learn more about editing films and what it takes to create a movie. I also wish they explained how the film school here at UNCSA works and what majors they offer. To find out more about these things I am going to talk to my friends in the film school and see how their school works within the UNCSA context, and where they will go afterwards. 

In conclusion, Composing in Film, Video, and New Media is a very modular and precise art form, but can become anything it wants through collaboration.