Blabla

Vintage style

Didn't know what to do, I tried typing, talking, waving my arms and even shouting. It just said "words" on my screen!

Went onto a grizzly bear thing 
Took a picture of me in a very  unphotogenic position
Interesting way of presenting something but I was clueless where to click or what to do and it was not easy to find tutorials. Again, I let the ultimate critic have a go and she said "i wouldn't ever use that in my life" but that's because she doesn't like watching computer screens. 
I think the idea will catch on, but not until the software is updated; webcams are more sensitive; the interactive software is more developed and the ideas are a little more interesting.

Mountains beyond mountains

I didn't really understand is interactive video and I got quite annoyed with it. I wouldn't say this was a favourite video of mine.
I even let my mum have a go (as the ultimate critic) and the first thing she said was "what's that?" even though I'd spent 10 minutes already telling her.
Do not like it.
I don't know if it is postmodern or if it's just really strange.

Neon bible

The neon bible was more interesting than the first one, but was really strange. The darkness with just the face and the floating hands was strange. Every time you clicked on either the hands or face they would change their motion or would change their angle. This is very postmodern as it takes two completely unrelated ideas and puts them together. However, if you click on the head and then hover over it, the lyrics appear, so it does use some conventions of modernism.
I would be more likely to show this video to one of my friends than I would be with the downtown wilderness.

The wilderness downtown

My address did not contain enough street-view or google data to 100% enjoy the experience and then told me to enter the address of my school, so I did. It didn't find that either, now getting long winded, so I entered my village.

Takes forever to load

FOREVER
and ever
And ever
And ever
And ever
And ever
And ever
And ever
And ever
And ever
And ever
And ever and ohh....
No, And ever
And ever
And it's not responding.
Great.
"this is a google chrome experiment" - give up, it's awful.
STILL loading

"featuring 'we used to wait'"- what a joke! I think I'd rather play desert bus.

I'm going to sing a song

We're gonna skate to one song and one song only,
Ball so hard muhfuckers wanna fine me

So I ball, so hard muhfuckers wanna fine me, 
But first niggas gotta find me,
What's 50 grand to a muhfucker like me, can you please remind me?
Ball so hard that shit crazy
Y'all don't know that don't shit phase me...

Dinner time now...NOM
Oooh, vegetable pasta and chicken. Taste good, strong garlic with a hint of oregano. (still loading)

Okay, I reloaded it,  and it appeared a long time after. It was okay, but it was strange. It had on the beat editing, which is conventional of music videos and  i thought that the featuring of my village was a nice touch although having cartoon trees blow up in it was a bit weird.

Postcard was strange
Birds land on it
Trees on my street

The lyrics do not have any connection with the visuals other than the postcard  with 'I'm gonna write a letter to my true love'.

this could be seen as postmodern as it blurs the boundary of music video and an interactive game. This does not have a purpose, it is interactive for the sake of being interactive, which is conventional also of the postmodern movement.

for years audiences have had to be passive, but this music video is allowing us to be active, although in this case I would rather have watched a music video

Easter Homework

In what ways can Scott Pilgrim be considered Postmodern? [1500 words]

We are frequently told that ‘we are living in a postmodern world’, and I believe as each day goes on, this statement becomes more true. Postmodern media came about in the 1950s and finally came to dominate music, art, literature and films in the 1960s. Postmodernism, as a rejection to modernism, denies the traditional idea of art replicating nature and puts large amounts of emphasis on reality as a constructed fiction. Postmodernism heavily utilises intertextuality and references to other art forms - Mike Smith said “you have to be highly literate to fully comprehend postmodern texts”.

George Ritzer (1996) suggested that postmodernism usually refers to a cultural movement which breaks down the barriers between genres and styles. This is evident in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World as the genre boundary is blurred between romance, action, comedy and fantasy. This key element of postmodernism supports the theory that ‘there is no more originality’ and that everything is a mixture of bricolage and intertextuality as they have combined four completely different genres. Ritzer also suggested that postmodern culture involves the blurring of the distinction between representation and reality. This is used heavily in the film as Edgar Wright has combined a comic/cartoon style editing with reality such as the “pee bar” in the corner of the screen when Scott is in the toilet and it is also evident when Scott fights Mathew Patel in a Pokémon-style editing. A modernist may ask why this has been done, whereas a postmodernist would see this as an intertextual link between films/video games, to either pay homage to them and help the audience reminisce their past or to parody them and create a pastiche. An example of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World using intertextuality to create a parody is when Scott is in Wallace’s flat and there is cued laughter which is lifted directly from the US sitcom Seinfeld. This appears to have no purpose, which is what some theorists argue to be a feature in postmodernism, as they coin it to be one big ‘in’ joke.

Baudrillard argues that contemporary society increasingly reflects the media and the surface image becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from reality. This key feature of postmodernism films is called hyper-reality. Hyper-reality is apparent in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World in many ways. The first example of hyper-reality being used is when the universal soundtrack and promotional logo is played in an 8-bit video game style which has been influenced by the likes of ‘Super Mario’. The purpose of this could be seen as a pastiche, but Edgar Wright pays great attention to detail in his mise en scene throughout the film, so thinking an 8-bit music video was created just for the use of mockery would be a little short sighted. Wright may be making a point that reality and the fictional world created by video games are now so easy to transfer between that the boundaries are being blurred between them, creating a hyper-reality. He may also be saying that we are living our lives as a video game, and the events in the film which follow are evident for this statement. An example is when the doorbell rings in chapter 1 and the words “Ding Dong” appear on screen, as they would in a video or cartoon. The point that we are living life as a video game is evident when Scott fights Mathew Patel and the fight is edited to look like the wrestling video game ‘Tekken’. The fight even directly copies the “number of hits” during one particular shot and uses the term “64 hit combo!” This blurs the reality of the fight with the fictional world of wrestling and even gives Scott 1000 points for killing Mathew – which in real life would considered morally incorrect, but is here being rewarded for it. Further examples of comparing life to fiction is evident in the establishing shot of  Scott meeting Lucas Lee, the second ex, as the universal pictures theme tune is played upon his entrance, as it would in a game. The way this shot is filmed has a comedic edge, creating a pastiche of previous films that have used this and this gives Lucas a cartoon-like characteristic, again blurring the boundary between reality and fiction. Lucas says “it’s gonna take me two minutes to kick your ass” twice, but ironically two minutes later he causes his own demise. The lead up to Lucas’ demise pays great homage to the video games created by Tony Hawk, which adds depth to the mise en scene and makes use of intertextuality, which are both abundant conventions in postmodernism. When Scott walks down the street after his victory over Lucas, the road signs show 7 “X”s, two of which are highlighted, giving a gaming style ‘2 down, 5 to go’ and bringing an almost supernatural element to the mise en scene, making the hyper-reality unmissable. During chapter 9, Knives finds out that Scott once dated Envy Adams and her face turns into a computer generated shocked face “:O”. This is commonly used on social networking sites, texts and emails amongst friends, so to be incorporated into reality is making the boundary between reality and fiction blurred. The character Todd Ingram, the third evil X, in reality is Brandon Ruth, the actor also for Superman, and this is a great use of intertextuality. Todd possesses “Vegan Powers”, but when he is found to have drank milk by the Vegan Police, they come after him with green lasers, which is appropriate as green is commonly associated with Vegetarians/vegans but in this case is superman’s kryptonite. The creation of characters such as “The Vegan Police” gives the film fictional qualities, as well as the comic-book style fight scenes. What this does is uses everyday situations, such as concerts, love stories etc. and then adds fictional qualities to them to emphasise how easy the transfer between fiction and reality has become in our society.

There are conventions of gaming integrated into the scenes in a way which is quite satirical of our modern-day society. After defeating the “Katayanagi twins”, Scott gains “a life” in the style of Super Mario. This is mocking as playing a video game, such as Super Mario, does not give you life, it removes you from your friends as you sit playing it on your own, instead of socialising with your friends or meeting partners etc. So the emphasis on this could show how Wright is surreptitiously mocking a modern society, which would be very typical postmodernism.

Levi-Strauss suggests that postmodernism features four aspects in any production: addition, deletion, substitution and transposition. Addition, deletion and substitution are applied simultaneously within the narrative of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World  as a video game style narrative is simulated during scenes of fighting (addition) which removes the reality of having a gorey fight scene (deletion). This simultaneous part of the narrative IS substitution. Transposition, which is similar to Bricolage but not to be confused with, is used throughout the film as a key element of postmodernism.

In conclusion, Scott Pilgrim can be considered postmodern as it includes so many Postmodern elements, such as intertextuality, homage, pastiches and is heavily ironic. Wright has been postmodern in all elements of production with Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, such as creating a hybrid form for the film, toying with hyper-reality and even being satirical of our society. The postmodern critiques’ theories that I have applied are relevant without perception, standing this film well within the postmodern movement.

Easter Essay For Mrs. Abrahamson

Analyse one of your products in relation to genre [800-1000 words]

In this essay I am going to analyse my advanced portfolio music video in relation to genre and find the extent to which it fits into the genre we have claimed it to be in.

The video that our group chose to create used the song ‘One Night In October’ by Little Comets. Little Comets are a ‘Kitchen Sink’ indie band, which is a smaller sub-genre of indie. They fit perfectly into this genre as they have a fairly original sound and use abstract instruments such as frying pans, saucepans etc. all tied to a piece of rope in front of them at their concerts so they can create the sound they make in the studio. Although this is quite an original idea (although not wholly original), it fits into the alternative/indie genre as other bands have similar tempos, ideas, fashions and audiences.

The music video that we decided to create used many elements of the indie genre; the first one was the use of disjuncture. The idea of disjuncture completely rejects Andrew Goodwin’s theory that the lyrics of the song link to the visuals of the music video. However, we knew this would not make our video wholly successful so we decided to incorporate some performance elements where the band are all together playing their instruments and the frontman is singing. We then also used a hint of amplification when the sign “Carlisle” is held up as it amplifies the lyrics “Just like Carlisle, she lies in the border”. The majority of our video was disjuncture as this is a common convention in the indie genre. For example, Foals use disjuncture in their video ‘Cassius’, and Vampire weekend do in their video ‘Holiday’. There are many more examples of indie/alternative bands using disjuncture so we thought it was appropriate to use this convention and fit the video into the indie genre.

During the research and planning process, we thought it would be a good idea to plan what the band members were going to wear whilst on set, as this would reflect the genre too. In order to make this successful, we tried to design the characters outfits to mirror those of other indie bands such as Little Comets, Vampire Weekend, Friendly Fires, The Joy Formidable etc. However, we came across a small glitch in our planning as our band was called ‘The Skeleton Boys’ and we had one female member. In order to keep our band conventional and not undo all of the research and planning work we had gone through, we decided to design Georgia’s outfit so that she avoided Laura Mulvey’s theory of ‘The Male Gaze’ and looked more like a boy than a girl usually would. This was not a problem as we use Alice Glass from Crystal Castles as the model for Georgia.

In the video we embraced Levi-Strauss’ idea of ‘Binary Opposites’ as we thought it would add a greater depth to our video and help us to fit it more easily into the indie genre. Firstly, we opposed day with night, not just for the use of amplification but because it allowed us to show the band having fun like they do in other music videos such as ‘A-Punk’ by vampire weekend and ‘One Night In October’ by Little Comets itself. The main opposition we used was wet and dry. We did this because it allowed us to use abstract settings and give our video, what Little Comets called, an “Uber Quirky” edge to our video. We opposed the band fully clothed in a swimming pool, with them outside on dry land in a rowing boat. We thought that this was cleverly contradictory and helped us fit our video more directly into the indie genre, especially if Little Comets themselves commented on how they liked it (as they fit into the genre we are aiming our video at).

Our video also uses the idea from Roland Barthes of ‘Cultural Codes’ as the disjuncture gives the video no definite narrative. But this is not something to be worried about as it is part of the indie genre conventions; the music video does not have to have anything to do with the lyrics. The video can be purely a representation of the culture, such as MIA’s video ‘Bad Girls’. I think that the use of home filmed footage; the idea of having fun with friends; jumping in the pool fully clothed; dancing in Hawaiian outfits; running in a woods blindfolded and drinking cocoa in a boat are all completely different ideas and by combining them together it is quite postmodern. Being postmodern is another key aspect of the indie genre and it is reflective of the cultural codes.

In conclusion, I think that our music video fits into the alternative/indie genre very well, not just because it was researched and planned to look that way but because of the feedback we received. Little Comets told us that “The bit with the iPhone lighting was class!” and that our video was “Uber quirky” and as they are products of the indie genre with indie/alternative fans, I think it’s safe to say our video fits well into the indie genre too.

Word Count: 865

Write Up On Postmodern Artists Presentations

Tom Parkin - 'The Blue Man Group'

The Blue Man group is an organisation which was formed in 1987. All members wear a blue skin and keep their identities hidden. The act perform many different types of talents but mainly create their pieces as pastiches. This is evident as their tour is named 'The Rock Concert Instruction Manual' and they use satire in their pieces of work regarding rock music. They use hyper-reality because they create other worldly characters with the blue skin which the audience see and keep their true identity hidden. This allows the audience to look into their strange world and when they think of 'The Blue Man Group' they won't think of human beings, they will think of these bald, blue characters which exaggerate their movements to create a mockery of the rock scene in today's society.

Jemma Reading - Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band which originated in 2007. The band pay great homage to folk style music with no hint of irony. They largely use the work of Shakespeare in their work such as: 'Sigh No More' using quotes from 'Much Ado About Nothing', showing their respect for British culture. They made quick success, as they have only been formed for five years and have headlined several festivals and I think that this may be down to the Niche market which Folk Rock appeals to and because they are so specialised within their genre, there are no other bands of our era which can compare to them.

Harry Tibbles - 2 Many DJs

2 Many DJs are a Bulgarian alternative rock/electronic band who originated in 1992. The duo produce many official and unofficial remixes of other people's music and have sets at festivals of non-stop remixing for hours on end. Their sets include a large television screen where the visuals amplify their remixing. In one case, the set showed two records being melted and then being remoulded as one, showing that a remix is literally combining two pieces of work, which is very postmodern. They are currently in the process of making 'Radio Soulwax' which will be a continuous mix lasting all day. It will feature 24 hour mixes with visuals similar to those in their live performances and will include music from many different decades, after this project, they have said they will start to work on their next studio recorded album.

Max Hallam - Hurts

Hurts are a British Synthpop duo formed in 2009. The duo pay homage to their predecessors by creating similar music to that of the 1980s sythpop era such as: Human League and Soft Cell. Hurts did not release their album in full, they released it in six singles so that they were not judged by their album as a whole, as 'The Horrors' did and only managed to release three from their album 'Skying'. Hurts embraces contradictions as the frontman Theo Hutchcraft says the song 'Wonderful Life' is "basically based on two extremes: the first being a man who wants to kill himself and the second being in love at first sight." This also shows how the band uses mulitple meanings.

Meg Rhodes - DJ Dangermouse

DJ Dangermouse is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He pays homage in his works as his first album he made when he was prominent was called 'The Grey Album' which was a mix of The Beatles' 'White Album' and Jay-Z's 'Black Album'. This had to go through courts as there were many issues with copyrighting and people claiming it was not entirely his works. In order to get around the problem, Dangermouse sold blank CDs in stores and told people they could download his songs from the internet, therefore they weren't purchasing his music, but his blank CD, creating a hyper-reality as people were buying nothing effectively.

George Hextall - Eminem

Eminem is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. His albums contain mockery of many kinds and are mainly works of pastiche. His first three albums he released when prominent were all about himself and his alter ego: 'The Slim Shady LP', 'The Marshall Mathers LP' and 'The Eminem Show' which shows mockery to society. He also uses many samples in his music in order to make his pastiche's sucessful but also to pay homage to other artists. For example, he creates remixes of Dr. Dre's songs to pay homage and re-release his track.

Jacob Boswell - Tenacious D

Tenacious D are an American rock duo who begun their works in 1994. The duo record parody songs with a linear narrative such as 'The Best Song In The World Tribute' which is a song dedicated to a song they claimed they made in the heat of the moment which was the best song in the world. But that song never existed, creating a hyper reality. The duo have even released a film which includes many of their songs and throughout the film they make satire of the society they live in and the over-exaggerate the importance of rock.

Jack Ludford - Gorillaz

Gorillaz are an English music and visual project created in 1998 who mainly feature in alternative hip hop and alternative rock. The band have created animated caricatures of themselves which they use to represent themselves on their music videos and on stage. Gorillaz play heavily on the postmodern feature of hyper-reality by using these animations of themselves. At their concerts they have large television screens which they project the miming animations on to as the band play live behind the screens so that the audience cannot see them. So, in theory, people are paying to watch television at the concert.

Eleanor Watson - Queen

Queen are an English rock band formed in 1971. The band were massively popular with their music, despite the fact it embraced many contradictions. For example, the song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has, what seems to be, 3 completely different songs all in one song, but this song is one of the most successful songs of all time. Another contradiction was the fact that Mercury explicitly pointed out no synths were used in the early albums, but them used them later as the band developed. Bricolage was another feature of Postmodernism which Queen used massively as Freddy Mercury told the press: "My mission is to bring ballet to the masses" yet they were a rock band, therefore putting these two unconnected things together, but yet it somehow worked.

Ella Patrick - David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger who first began his works in 1964. He had a nickname 'The Thin White Duke' and dabbled in MANY areas of music to a point where none of his albums are in any way similar and they show no continuity. An example of this is his song 'Love you till Tuesday' which is very happy and then this is completely contrasted by his other single 'Future legend' which is really dark and mysterious, but this may be down to the influence of drugs. He also constantly changed his appearance. He helped Queen to record their album 'Under Pressure' and he lived and performed through the 70s, which were considered to be the breakthrough of Postmodern ideas.

Jess Pardoe - Devo

Devo is an American synth pop band formed in 1972. They performed a song called 'Whip It' and in the video they mocked American country people and they made their lyrics very basic to show to the world how easy it was to make a song and become famous and showing it requires no talent anymore. Another way in which they convey this message is in their video to the song 'Time out for fun' where they are all potatoes with the band's heads on - this shows how they all dress the same and practically are the same underneath - this is satirical of conventional boy bands.

Alex Wilson - Kanye West

Kanye West is an American rapper, singer and record producer who has been active since 1996. Kanye uses heavy amount of sampling within his work but not for a pastiche purpose - he pays complete homage to the artists he samples. Before he became an artist himself, his style of production was recognised for using pitched-up samples of soul songs. Examples of this in his own work are: 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone and 'All falls down'. Kanye's lyrics out to make a point such as "You can buy money, but you can't buy freedom". Kanye West also once  said on live television "George Bush doesn't care about black people".

Bank Chue - Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is an American singer and songwriter who became active in 2005. Gaga is a very popular entertainer and wears outrageous clothing in order to meet the demands of her fans 'Little Monsters'. She uses very little sampling but mainly features in the pop genre. However, she did do some work with Tony Bennett in his latest album where they have recorded a swing record together - giving evidence how she can both be popular and niche. Gaga did not have many interviews until 2011 where she had her own Paul O'Grady show dedicated to just her. She performed many songs and told the British TV watchers all about her life and where she started. Her songs contain diverse meanings but the main feature throughout is to believe in yourself and love your neighbour as you love yourself.