The Aussie Affair- Critical Reflection

The Aussie Affair- Critical Reflection

Coming into the Master of Media course, I was looking forward to studying in a creative, modern and a laid back environment. On the commencement of the course, CMWP (Contemporary Media Work Practices) was one such subject that offered exactly what I wanted.

One of the assignments for the unit was to create a digital story or a project i.e. fiction or non-fiction and promote it via social media. My Indian classmates and me were really attracted to the pitch that Chai Junction delivered and therefore decided to do something for them. On our first meeting with Jeri from Chai Junction, we came up with this topic of how international students cope up with living in a foreign country alongside new people, new place, new environment and the situations they are faced with. Some are fun but some are really dreadful.

I’m sure every international student must have gone over the Internet and searched for ways to deal with ‘homesickness’ and I’m no different either. Studying in a foreign country might be all-exciting, but there are also tough times you face with too. So me and my ‘international’ friends comprising of Khsuhboo, Ankit, Eeshan, Maria, Mohit and Sakshi decided to make a short-film by interviewing international students from all over the world. Given the time-constraint we chose to interview 4 students namely, Carie (USA), Yuri (Indonesia), Neel (India) and Tor (Norway).

The interviews were shot mainly on campus with the introduction shots been taken around the State Victoria Library. The equipment used was a Nikon DSLR and a Xoom recorder with lapel. As far as the content goes, the interviews were kept to be funny through the questions been asked. The questions were spread across the three phases every international student goes through i.e. The Honeymoon phase, the cultural shock and the Acceptance. The cutaway shots have been taken from all over Melbourne. For example, the Chai Junction event at the Multicultural Hub, State VIC library, Flinders street, Swanston Street etc.

As far as the mood goes, there has been a balance maintained between interviews. Carie and Yuri provide with a comic touch to the film and on the other hand Neel and Tor have been more of a formal and serious conversers. I am extremely happy with how the video has turned out. It shows perfect transitions between shots without diverting from the subject itself. The pros lies in the picture quality, audio quality and the cinematography that is captured through the DSLR. The only downside of the video is the length. It could have been a little crisp in terms of duration. All in all I am extremely proud of the effort me and my team has put into this.

Apple now is ‘BEAT’ing

News broke when the tech-giant Apple would bought Beats, a headphone-maker and music platform, for $3 billion. According to me, it seemed like a high price to pay to hang out with the cool kids. Beats, which is owned by the rapper Andre “Dr. Dre” Young (pictured) and record producer Jimmy Iovine, makes expensive designer headphones. Earlier this year it launched a new streaming platform, where people can play their favourite tunes in exchange for a monthly fee, called Beats Music.

When Apple announced its iTunes Radio offering last year, analysts thought it was only a matter of time before Apple went one step further and launched an “on-demand” streaming service to compete with the likes of Spotify. (Radio services play songs in a certain genre, whereas on-demand services let people select specific songs, and are growing in popularity.) They were right. Instead of launching its own and negotiating deals with individual labels, however, Apple is buying a streaming service that is already mid-song. Beats Music has a distribution deal with AT&T, a mobile operator, which packages the service with some of its plans.

The deal shows how quickly the music industry is moving away from a model of ownership toward one of accessing content. Apple helped save the music industry when it introduced its music download store in 2003 and helped turn the purchasing of portable music files into a business worth billions. Now it is stepping into another musical era. And this time Apple is not leading, but following, the line dance.