Next MediaMash Bristol | To Be Confirmed 

Under the Stars Bar | Corrine Marin Boat, Narrow Quay, Habourside, Bristol

Want to chat about an idea, show some photographs you’ve recently shot, a finished project or just come and hang out with other photographers? MediaMash is a monthly event where you can talk to your peers and receive feedback about your work.

The evening consists of photography and multimedia screenings at the beginning, followed by photographers breaking off into smaller groups, sharing and giving feedback on each others work. Its a night for photographers to get a fresh perspective on their projects, talk about ideas and work through problems they are having and to generally network with other photographers.

It’s relaxed and informal, and theres a bar for any thirsty photographers.

GET YOUR FREE TICKET BELOW 

 See the photos HERE

COMMENTS

‘MediaMash provides a relaxed setting for photographers to get feedback and critic on their work by other photographers. It’s a chance to lay out your prints or flick through your laptop and, in small groups, get peer to peer support on your work.’(Rajan Zaveri, Firefly Photofilms)

'I want to say how great it was and how delighted I am to have found such an enthusiastic group of photographers with whom I can talk about ideas, techniques, events…The discussions at the tables were rich, deep, engaged. The kind that gives you hope in youth and make you want to trust again in the dynamism of some individuals.’ (Julien Frentzel, Photographer and Writer)

'I had a fantastic time over the MediaMash and I think it is a great great way to discuss our work and artistic views. It had a relaxed atmosphere with lots of enthusiasm as well.' (Cátia Sousa, Photographer and Director)

The DSLR film revolution continues to boom. It doesn’t take long on a walk around London before you bump in to another mini film crew utilizing the new found technologies available to them, namely the cannon 5d mkii among others. These  combo photo and film cameras have managed to convince photographers that they are now producers, able to do everything from script-writing to post production. This is all well and good in an age where speed is essential and budgets are low, but it is very easy for those of us educated in one field to not fully appreciate the technical attributes of others.

 My biggest grievance is that born and bred photographers often fail to recognize that sound is a very similar beast to photography; as photography works in the limitations of thevisual light spectrum, sound operates with in the audiblefrequency range.  We shouldn’t regard one as more important than the other. I have heard it said many times that “a good audio track makes or breaks a film”. This is usually the sentiment of filmmakers or soundmen, not photographers starting to branch out to film, but I can’t stress it enough

Technology moves at a phenomenal rate now and it would be counter productive to review every bit of kit that comes out just for the sake of it. However, now and then something comes along (like the 5d mkii) that not only offers people what they need, but also opens up a whole new learning experience.

The zoom H4n is categorised as a field audio recorder but is capable of much much more–in fact, way too much for the purpose of this article. It’s got built in XY axes microphones adjustable from 90 degrees to 120. It’s capable of the basic effects used by most sound engineers during mixing such as limiters, compressors and lo cut filters. It can be used as an audio digital transformer interface (ADT) with your computer, meaning you could used it as a pre-amp direct into your sound editing software. It has a tuner and a metronome built in with all sorts of guitar effects like reverb distortions, phaser and flangers, a multi track recording mode and two XLR / jack inputs with phantom power.

But let’s get back to the point. If you’re a photographer most of that means nothing and your idea of recording an audio track consists of pressing the big red button on the front and just accepting that that’s it. Fortunately this approach with the H4n can actually produce stunningly good results. Lets go back to school for a minute and look at a couple of the fundamental basics of sound. Don’t worry, you will still only need to press the big red button at the end of this and get away with it. But just think what you could produce if you looked at your sound with as much criticism as you would give a final edit for an exhibition.

One big problem with recording a good stereo image is the necessity to record with two tracks, so two microphones are needed. You can equate it to the difference between a telescope and a pair of binoculars. Through the telescope you only have the one point of reference to the position of let’s say, a tree in a field, and therefore are not able to judge its position any more than the fact that you know roughly how big a tree is. Through the binoculars your eyes are able to look at the tree from two perspectives. This is called triangulation and it is what gives us the ability to judge distance.

The exact same principle applies to our ears.

There is another thing we have to add to the equation when recording sound. It’s called phase. You can be in phase (good) or out of phase (not good).

In phase means that the audio waveform of your two stereo tracks goes up and down at the same time. In an out of phase recording the waveforms are offset, so as one goes down the other goes up. This effectively causes the two waveforms to cancel each other out slightly and you end up with a kind of flat, dampening down of the track.

Ok,

So you are about to shoot an interview with your stereo recorder in the same position as the camera, the interviewee stands center frame there for the sound has exactly the same distance to travel to your two microphones. But let’s say that there are other interesting things happening in the shot.  For example a man is busking to the left-hand side of the shot. Because of his position the sound wave  reaches ( on recorder where the  microphone placement is side-by-side) the left hand microphone first and then the right hand microphone. This slight delay between the two microphones is called the lag time, and it is because of this that we get out of phase recordings. In the case of the zoom H4n  the microphones are arranged in what is  referred to as an XY axes, this means that the two microphones are placed one on top of the other at 90° to each other. Because of this arrangement the sound wave reaches both microphones at the same time.  This eradicates the  lag time and produces a stereo image that is in phase.

The XY axis set up is by no means unique to the H4n. It is a standard practice throughout the recording industry, and is as near to the front pages on how to record sound as correct exposure is to photography.  I regard the H4n  in the same way as my first SLR, a new and exciting tool in which to learn and progress to a  higher standard.

In a time where multimedia is the buzzword, we as independents cannot afford to be ignorant of such basic technologies and practices.  It is the understanding and application of these principles  that will allow us to shine out in this incredibly competitive industry.

Andy Ash - www.andyash.com

Frontline Club in Paddington recently played host to a talk by Brian Storm . He is the founder of MediaStorm, a company that takes Digital Storytelling to a whole new level. In front of a room filled with traditional journalists, filmmakers, photographers and other media industry professionals; Storm gave a brief glimpse into the inner workings of his very successful company.

‘We’re creating a place where people are telling the kind of stories that need to be told, independent media is a great refreshing way to do that because the model is there to do it, the tools are their to do it’

MediaStorm is a company that works together with NGO’s, media professionals and commercial companies to bring to life projects that would otherwise be stuck in one medium. By combining still image, video, audio and even interactive content, MediaStorm don’t just show, they provide an experience. The company has covered many hard hitting issues such as rape victims from Rwanda, the effects of the diamond trade on the Republic of Congo, the impact of the food economy on local farmers in the US and the out of control pollution affecting our environment.

'If we’ve been able to make you laugh and cry in the same session, we know we’ve done our job well'

Storm shared some of the principles and methods he employs in all aspects of a project. Starting from an analysis of how to shoot, some ways of combining audio image and video. Moving to finding projects and presenting them, talking and quoting clients. All the way to monetising completed projects and ways to learn more through workshops and tutorials.

‘We codify what we’re doing and teach other people how to do it, and target it at educators and other people who want to start media companies just like us. We actually give our entire business model away, my advisory board is ape shit over this, and they ask me why am I doing this? And I say I don’t want to be alone in this process because I love this profession and if these guys can take it and further it that’s great. We’re not going to stand still we’re going to keep moving and get better but its not about one company trying to do this. It’s like can we take this idea, package it in a way that it can be replicated and spread’

If your looking to start up in multimedia video and want to get you bearings, head to the next talk by Brian Storm the details of which you can find here: 

http://mediastorm.com/train/calendar