Adam's RMIT internships

These are the requirements of my blog:

• Acquire knowledge of visual literacy and design theory, interactive and motion design, moving image, communications technologies, and digital media production skills and their application to digitally mediated communication.
• Critically analyze, synthesis and reflect on the role, application and implications of digital media works in both local and international contexts.
• Apply theoretical knowledge, conceptual skills and production techniques to the development of digital media solutions for communications problems.
• Demonstrate creativity, critical thinking and innovation when identifying and solving problems in diverse contexts within the discipline.
• Communicate using diverse formats and strategies to audiences within and external to your discipline.
• Work with others in a range of roles and contexts, demonstrating cultural, environmental and social awareness and ethical and reflective practice.
• Apply initiative and judgment in planning, problem solving and decision making in your practice or future study.
• Apply a body of theoretical and practical knowledge and specific skills in media and communication, in which to base your professional practice or future study.

These are the places that I am attending.

That Paper Joint - 20%

Monday 12.04.2024 & Monday 9.04.2024

What struck me about That Paper Joint was just how small their team is: it really is just co-owners Max and Zoe, and their dog Frankie. I am working alongside another intern. They make most of their money doing events, and gradually they have moved away from gallery spaces into event spaces.

The project I have been working on is decorating the "treasure boxes" with collage; for use on the pub collage night next Wednesday. It was fun and rewarding. I stressed a lot but eventually just letting go and having fun decorating made for the best product. The space itself is very inviting, and is designed to host guests. I've felt quite welcome to speak my opinions, give feedback, and take ownership of what I've made. Max has been trialling a new game for the pub collage night, where the pub-goers will need to follow a "reciepe" that resembles a cooking reciepe but creates an artwork. I've told him that the reciepe needs to be quite specific, and that limiting people is good for their creativity. This part of the work has quite resembled game design!

I have been gradually collecting video content to make Instagram Reels with. Recording things as well as working makes it project take twice as long, and a lot of the time I don't record the best bits.

Friday 8.04.2024 & Monday 15.04.2024

There wasn't too much to do for me on the Friday. I was able to have a good discussion with Max about his business practice. All of his collage work was made before he started That Paper Joint, as he doesn't really have the time to do creative work and run his business. In my time with him, he has mostly been preparing for his events and answering emails.

Max has expressed his desire to expand the business one day. The main bottle neck to that is the lack of guidelines and formulas in place as each workshop is bespoke. Max or Zoe needs to be there for the workshops to run smoothly.

I was able to spend the Monday doing social media. Currently, TPJ's social media could be improved a lot. The biggest thing that I would want to change about their digital presence is the focus on the TPJ brand rather than the individuals (Max and Zoe and Frankie). Social media tends to reward person-based content, and even big brands like McDonalds and Pepsi make posts like they were a teenager rather than a huge multinational. For a company like TPJ, who are genuinely a very small small team, it would be really cool to really lean into that.

My first post was an "aesthetic" Reel, with lots of shots and fast edits. Individually, each shot isn't the post impressive but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The post has done slightly better than the typical TPJ post. The main task that has been assigned to me is promote the pub collage night on Wednesday this week. They've struggled selling all the tickets.

Regeneration Projects - 20%

Friday 3.05.2024

We had the first recording session today after a series of meetings. We were meant to have some guests on the show from the industry but instead we just filmed the introduction and outro that will play in every episode. This internship I feel the least confident about, and I fear that I will just be doing the "grunt work" of this operation without learning. My responsibility is recording and editing, alongside another intern, Mark. This is work that I have already done before at RMIT and in my personal projects, and my mentor doesn't know much about this tasks. He is good at organizing people, which is a good skill to learn, but I am not really doing any of that

In the recording sessions I did get the oppurtunity to give feedback on the script which was taken very well.

Future Play Lab - 60%

Tuesday 23.04.2024

I was originally quite concerned about the project I was working on. Despite me skill in audio, I thought that I wouldn't be a good fit for this kind of project, as it didn't quite align with my interests. I had a chat with Troy about these concerns, and we spent some time going over the project more broadly. I learned about some of the more game design-esque elements of the projec that had me excited. It would be less of a straight rewrite of the original work, and more of a gamified adaptation. This aspects have me very excited, and I am feeling very much like a "play designer".

I have been referencing and researching other games like THE STANLEY PARABLE, and THE BEGINNERS GUIDE. Games that contain minimal interaction but still give the player some agency. It was an issue with the original project, that participants were passive observers and not directly interacting.

Tuesday 7.05.2024

I have set quite ambitious deadlines for the first play test for this Saturday. One major concern I have is the two competing goals I have for the players. I want them to be comptemplative, silent, and thoughtful, while also being silly, playful, and present. The audio I am playing for them, while hopefully enjoying, will have moments of seriousness and sadness. And then I want them to have fun and be silly with the other players. I worry they will only do one and not the other. I was able to visit the actual walking location last week, and it inspired me. We walk past Sandridge Bridge, which used to carry the St. Kilda train line before being shut down. I want to include this small details in the audio so that people can relate their own personal history. One of the key goals is getting people really engaged, and not just passively going along with the experience. By including details that they, as an indibidual, might rememebr or have an attatchment to, it might encourage them to engage more fully.