Week Three - Documentary modes (150 words)

My machinima videos are a combination of expository and reflexive documentary modes that play out chronologically. They begin with a brief introduction to the idea of the video or experiment, basic setup of the scene, followed by the action of the explosions and ending with the aftermath. Throughout the entire video, the footage of the experiment in GMOD is complemented with text that further address and inform the audience of what is being shown as well as structuring the entire scene together. This combination of visual techniques not only helps to simplify the message being communicated but strengthens its impact upon its audience. The aforementioned elements displayed in the videos categorises them as an expository mode. However, the textual elements of the videos do not raise arguments or try to state the message being communicated. They are simply used as titles to introduce the visual as well as indicate certain chapters in the video. The message is not clearly stated. Therefore, the audience is made to reflect upon the cause and effect of the footage being presented to them in order to discover and understand the truth or concept behind the video. GMOD in itself challenges the impression of reality and the video tries to enhance that. My videos show vehicles floating in mid air with dynamite attached to them within a large hollow cube. They’re explosions trigger randomized movement and collision with other objects within the cube, where the two drafts show two different results. In the first, the vehicles eventually escape the barriers of the cube and in the second, they destroy the structure of the cube causing it to collapse. Theoretically, herein is where the message must be discovered. What do these objects represent in reality? What questions do they raise about gravity and movement? Does the collapse of the cube suggest a need for stability? These are the sort of questions the audience are directed to ponder upon when viewing my machinima, hence, use of the reflexive documentary mode. In conclusion, my machinima are obviously simple in representation yet this combination of aforementioned techniques fabricates a video that can be universally understood and diversely and innovatively interpreted.