“Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation.” Discuss this idea with reference to media texts that you have studied.

“Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation.” Discuss this idea with reference to media texts that you have studied.

Postmodern media is the idea that anything can interpreted and valued equally; nothing can be judged as negative since anything can be art. It is a rejection of Modernism which focuses on moving forward and hiding references to the past in its media products.

Ted is an example of how boundaries between reality and representation are transgressed. The film's protagonist Ted is an animated children's toy living in the 'real' world. His soaring popularity lead to him appearing on the Jimmy Kimmel Show Live, which is postmodern because the live aspect means that the audience were merely cheering a voice over when it was being filmed and Ted was edited in afterwards for the purposes of Television. Ted then went on to appear at the Oscars and present an award, this is blurring the boundary between reality and representation as a fictional character is presenting an acting award, again the audience would have been cheering a voice over. These appearances link to Baudrillard's concept of hyper-reality and how things that should seem abnormal, like a non-existent talking teddy bear walking around, are considered completely normal and nobody questions it.

'Scott Pilgrim Vs The World' is another postmodern media text that looks at the blurring of boundaries between reality and representation.  In the film there is 'narrastive truth' as comic, computer games and TV are all treated equally; thereby leading to the concept of pluralism. The low culture genres such as comic books and sitcom are being treated with the same reverence as high culture genres such as philosophy and time and space. Blurring these elements together create a diegetic world as when Scott fights the exes, he gets points and power-ups that appear on screen, replicating that of a video-game. Levi Strauss' theory of substitution can be applied here because realistic life situations are being replaced with exaggerated comic book ones; making the fictional elements of Scott's life indistinguishable from the non-fictional.

However, one could look at the online computer game 'Desert Bus' and argue that postmodern media does not blur the boundary between reality and representation. This game mimics real time rather than attempt to distort it and in doing so, creates a realistic  simulation of the 'real' world. However, Jameson's argument that postmodernism is depthless could be applied to this game because it has no purpose; there are no goals to strive for and although the game provides a temporary means of escape, it does not provide any advancement in the real world.

 

The Nikon camera advert could be argued to blur the boundaries between reality and representation because it sells people a life style that doesn't exist. The company comment that they aim to 'remind' their audience that they are 'at the heart of the image' yet the question remains, how can people be reminded of experiences they've never had. This advert is conforming to Baudrillards concept of  hyper reality and how the real world is created on expectations and how people want it to be rather than how it actually is. Nikon is merely projecting aspirational lifestyles out to its viewers that they will apparently gain with the purchase of the camera. This misleading advertising techniques is used also with Smirnoff and Emmirate Airlines; this could also be considered  simularcra because the companies aim to sell 'unique' experiences to the audience yet if everyone gets the same experience with the camera then this cannot be possible.

 

With the constant availability of the Internet, reality and representation are frequently blurred and transgressed all the time. The invention of Google glasses means that people are living in a hyper real world from day to day  thereby causing the real world to be indistinguishable from fictional lifestyles.

Media Language

Barthes (1977) argued that in film connotation can be (analytically) distinguished from denotation.

John Fiske (1982) “denotation is what is filmed, connotation is how it is filmed”.

Evaluating media language is an evaluation of all micro elements and how they have created meaning to inform us about genre, narrative, representations/ ideology, targeting of audiences.

Mise-en-Scene creates the diegetic world - the fictional space and time implied by the narrative, i.e. the world in which the story takes place.

Micro Element: Camerawork There are Four aspects to camerawork that you need to understand: Shot Types – particularly relevant for print. Camera Composition Camera Movement Camera Angles

Continuity Establishing/Re-establishing Shot Transitions . The 180° Line Rule . Action Match . Crosscutting . Cutaway . Insert Shots . Shot - Reverse Shot Structures . Eyeline Match .

 Non-Continuity Montage Sequence . Flash Back/Forward . Ellipsis . Graphic Match .

Structuralism - Elements within a structure do not possess meaning as individual units but gain their meaning through their relations to other elements. Structuralist film theory emphasises how films convey meaning through the use of codes and conventions not dissimilar to the way languages are used to construct meaning in communication.

So basically...

• Editing
• Fonts
• Strapline / Coverline
• Barcode
• Colour pallete (3 colour scheme)
• Masthead
• Lighting
• Denotations / connotations
• Semiotics
• Camera Shots (mid, low, high, establishing, close up)
• Mise en Scene (Costume,lighting, locations, props)

Postmodernism, applying to texts

Fragmented structure/non-linear narrative Taylor Swift condensed narrative videos, Inception
Challenging of meta-narrative (Lyotard and Strinati) Scott Pilgrim
Playing with time and space (Strinati) - Desert Bus, Inception, Scott Pilgrim
Self-reflexivity Inception
Emphasis of style over substance and context (Strinati) Inglourious Basterds
Challenging cultural imperialism and mass production Ill Manors Plan B
Conventions of genre challenged/subverted Scott Pilgrim
Breakdown of distinctions between high art and pop culture (Strinati)
Asks questions not giving answers, allowing audience interpretation Inception
Juxtaposing old and new to make new meaning (bricolage) Kanye West, Gold Digger
Intertextuality Inglourious Basterds, Ted, Scott Pilgrim
Multiplicity of meanings linked to audience interpretations Birth of a Nation- Apocolyse Now - British Gas, Kanye West Gold Digger
Post WW2-war being a catalyst for postmodernism Andy Warhol - Pop Art
Parody and pastiche – creating something new through imitation, homage (tribute) Flight of the Conchords, Ted, Hobo with a Shotgun
Web 2.0 and new technologies allowing people to become producers/celebrities outside traditional/mainstream methods Rebecca Black - Friday, Internet memes, Ted
Instantaneity – accessibility now Internet memes on Facebook, Kanye West - music videos on YouTube
Culture is no longer viewed as art mirroring life but a reality in itself (Strinati) Internet memes
Experimentation with new forms – not necessarily the ‘glossy’ Hollywood approach Scott Pilgrim, Ted
Meaning and purpose holds more significance than the skill involved in making it Internet memes, Dan Black Symphonies
Photoshop movement changing how we see reality Internet memes, Ridiculously Photogenic Guy
Cult of celebrity – celebrity obsessed society – style over substance Internet memes
Truth is created and doesn’t exist in any objective sense Inglourious Basterds, Nikon advert
Text goes beyond what it is and comments on society Birth of a Nation- Apocalypse Now - British Gas.
No single definition – open to interpretation – concept crosses art, media, literature, architecture, music, society Scott Pilgrim, Inception
States of hyper reality (Baudrillard and simulacra) Scott Pilgrim., Ted, Inception, Nikon Advert

Terminology

Détournement - changing the meaning of an existing piece of work so much that it changes its original intended meaning.
Eclecticism - A wide range of influences, contributions and techniques.

Nostalgic - Celebrates the past and its glory

Narcissistic - Fascination with ones-self; excessive self love, vanity.

Active Audience - Assertion that experience can only be created by the audience or the individual, and cannot be made objective by an author or narrator. Assumes an intelligent and active audience.

Hyper-conscious - Aware of itself
- Allows the text to dissolve the 'fourth wall', potentially directly addressing the audience or looking at the camera lens directly.

Essay questions

What is meant by ‘postmodern media’?
Topic: Postmodernism
Aspect: Postmodern media
Instruction: What do people think it means
- Inglourious Basterds, heavily made up from intertextual references and allusions to existing texts.
- Flight on the conchords, puts the genre of 'musical' into a new context.
- Kanye West, Gold Digger.

Why are some media products described as ‘postmodern’?
Topic: Postmodernism
Aspect: Postmodern media
Instruction: Define why they are postmodern
- Inglourious Basterds, heavily made up from intertextual references and allusions to existing texts.
- Flight on the conchords, puts the genre of 'musical' into a new context.
- Kanye West, Gold Digger.
Explain how certain kinds of media can be defined as postmodern.
Topic: Postmodernism
Aspect: Postmodern Media
Instruction: Explain how things are 'defined' as being postmodern.
- Inglourious Basterds, heavily made up from intertextual references and allusions to existing texts.
- Flight on the conchords, puts the genre of 'musical' into a new context.
- Kanye West, Gold Digger.
Explain why the idea of ‘postmodern media’ might be considered controversial.
Topic: Postmodernism
Aspect: Postmodern Media
Instruction: How/why is it controversial
- Jameson, trapped in circular references.
- Hobo with a shot gun
- Inception, argue against it being controversial

“Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation.” Discuss this idea with reference to media texts that you have studied.
Topic: Postmodernism
Aspect: Postmodern media
Instruction: Explore concept of liminality/transgression of boundries.
- Ted, animated and real world
- Ted on Jimmy Kimmel show live
- Ted at Oscars
- Scott Pilgrim, video games mixing into real world. concept of pluralism
- Desert bus, immitates reality rathr than distorts it.
- Nikon camera advert, sells people a lifestyle that doesn't exist.
- Google glasses, hyper-reality.

Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.
Topic: Postmodernism
Aspect: Postmodern media
Instruction: Why people aren't convinced by it.
- Jameson
- Kirby Fergusson
- Incpetion, pomo not bad
- Hobo with a shot gun, shows pomo as bad
- Nikon camera advert, selling people a lifestyle that doesn't exist.

EVERYTHING we've done on Postmodernism.

Media

How and why is Ted Postmodern?

How
- Flash Gorden references (1980's)
- Ted, childs toy coming to life. Hyper-reality. Mixing CGI and 'real' footage.
- Voice over is sarcastic. Parody.

Why
- Ted represents a 'human' and he can be seen as bricolage as he is a toy associated with children, that has been put out of context in an adult lifestyle.
- Voice over lacks realism and the sarcasm establishes that the film is a joke and mocking a children's story (Christmas Carol).
-Teddy Ruxpin can be seen as emblematic of a postmodern world. He is sold as your 'best friend' however he is not unique, everyone is sold the same best friend. Simulacrum.

Ted on the Jimmy Kimmel show live is postmodern as the audience would be merely cheering a voice-over in the interview. Hyper-reality. Ted admits openly that the deleted scenes on the disc are simply those which were not good enough to be in the film.
(Many animated film create fake out-takes at the end of their movie purely for the purpose of entertainment. For instance with Toy Story and Monsters Inc)

Ted at the Oscars. Don't need to be alive to be a celebrity. Acting award being presented by a animated, fictional character. He also appears at the Oscars with Tupac and The Gorrillaz, all appearing as holograms.

Flash Gorden was made 6 years after Star Wars
- In Ted, Sam Jones is playing a version of Sam Jones who played a version of Flash Gorden who was over-dubbed due to falling out with the director. Simulacrum.

-Collectors edition of Ted. Mass produced so not actually 'collecters'.

Applying Kramer's Theory

1) Does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present
- Using past influences from 'Southern Tones' It Must Be Jesus and 'Jonny Rivers' I Gotta Woman.

2) Includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures
- The song uses lyrics from I Gotta Woman

3). Embraces contradictions
- Disregards the fact that the song's origins are religious with religious intentions and ends up being completely contradictory.

Applying Kramer's Theory

1) Considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts
- The lyrics explore all of the above mentioned contexts and explore current terrorism issues.

Overseas, yeah, we tryin' to stop terrorism

But we still got terrorists here livin'

In the U.S.A., the big C.I.A.

The Bloods and the Crips and the KKK

2) Shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity
- The song suggests that we take for granted a world with structural unity and we appreciate it only when it is disrupted.

Applying Kramer's Theory.

1) Challenges barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles
- The lyrics highlight the stereotypes put forward by society surrounding 'Chav's' and less fortunate people and criticises the fake composure of 'high culture' citizens."What you looking at you little rich boy!"

2) Considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts.
- Criticising the government and how the council estate is represented.
"Think you know how life on a council estate is from everything you've ever read about it or heard"

6. Questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values
.- Mocking social superiority.

Johnathan Kramer

Media Theorist Jonathan Kramer says "the idea that postmodernism is less a surface style or historical period than an attitude. Kramer goes on to say 16 "characteristics of postmodern music, by which I mean music that is understood in a postmodern manner, or that calls forth postmodern listening strategies, or that provides postmodern listening experiences, or that exhibits postmodern compositional practices." 
According to Kramer (Kramer 2002, 16–17), postmodern music":

1. is not simply a repudiation of modernism or its continuation, but has aspects of both a break and an extension
2. is, on some level and in some way, ironic
3. does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present
4. challenges barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles
5. shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity
6. questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values
7. avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or serial or cast in a prescribed formal mold)
8. considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts
9. includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures
10. considers technology not only as a way to preserve and transmit music but also as deeply implicated in the production and essence of music
11. embraces contradictions
12. distrusts binary oppositions
13. includes fragmentations and discontinuities
14. encompasses pluralism and eclecticism
15. presents multiple meanings and multiple temporalities
16. locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in scores, performances, or composers

Bricolage

Rosenau

1) Postmodernism criticises the inconsistency of modernism but refuses to be held to norms of inconsistency itself
2) Postmodernism focuses on intertextuality as well as isolation.
3) Postmodernists contradict themselves by relinquishing truth claims in their own writings.

Levi Strauss

-Theory of addition, deletion, substitution in relation to the texts I have studied.

Addition: Swiss Lips of Frank Ocean's 'Lost' - a fan video made of three different videos.
Addition: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World - Inclusion of video games. Text on screen.
Deletion: Inglourious Basterds - Deletes all battle scenes.
Deletion: Deletes fear, The Basterds have no fear.
Deletion: Hobo With A Shotgun - Removes the backing story.
Substitution: Inglourious Basterds - Swaps history with a fictional history (hyper-reality).
Substitution: Kanye West's Gold Digger - Copy of a copy.
Substitution: Flight of the Conchords (Prime Minister episode) - Simon and Garfunkel impersonators.

'Media is communication' Discuss the ways that you have used media language to create meanings in one of your media products.

The product I have chosen to analyse is my music magazine which is titled 'Replay' and belongs to the genre of hip hop. The intended audience (teenage girls aged between 15-24) would expect certain attributes and conventions when reading this type of text regarding colours, fonts and images. The connotations connected to my magazine title 'Replay' hint at the idea of reading it over and over again which suggest that the reader won't get bored of the content. For my colour palette, I focused on the colour green as it connotes the idea of something 'fresh' and 'new'. The mast-head uses this green alongside a bold, graffiti-style font against a black background to reflect the rebellious nature of my magazine.

For the main image, I have used a striking head shot of my female artist. It attracted my target audience because she holds eye contact with the camera lens and appears to address the audience.  John Fiske suggests that 'denotation is what is photographed, connotation is how it is photographed' I have demonstrated this theory in my photo as it denotes a young girl tyring to make it in the music industry however, her bold facial expression and street-style costume connote rebellion and passion.

The barcode, price and issue number are all typical conventions that are expected of all magazines, despite their genre. I have ensures that I included them in my magazine, putting the barcode and the issue number small in the corner as they are not the main focus of the magazine, they are simply standard requirements. The layout I have used attracts the reader as I have focused on the rule of thirds; thereby making it easy to look at and read. The main star is the focal point of the gold spiral, she is what sells the magazine.

The artist is styled with basic make-up. I wanted to reflect the concept of simplicity and how you don't have to look at certain, conventional way in order to enjoy a certain type of music. The message portrayed by my artist makes her admiral to my target market and perceived potentially as a role model. Despite the natural make-up, her hair styling is more extreme. A high side-ponytail style connotes her rebellion as this image alludes to hip hop star Lady Sovereign. In reference to Stuart Hall's reception theory, the preferred reading of the main image is that the artist is aspirational however an opposed reading could be that my artist is 'fake' and doesn't conform to expectations that the audience want to see.

The cover-lines of my magazine are written in capital letters in a bold font to appeal to the audience. I have mentioned names of well-noted hip hop stars and street dance crews that would be of interest to my target audience. These are also needed considering my cover star is supposedly relatively unknown therefore I have used other stars to help sell my magazine. Capital letters are more attention grabbing than lower-case as they are more demanding.

Overall, I have used media language to create several meanings in my music magazine. I ensured I used a colour palette with positive connotations and mise-en-scene to reflect the personality of the main star. It is important to conform to expectations of media language in order to appeal to the audience, if a media product is too different and strays too far from conventions, then it will only address a very niche market.

Flight of the Conchords

"Representation in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them". Evaluate the ways that you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.

In the media products I have produced, I have both used and challenged representations. In my music video, the main character was an aspirational, relatable female figure. It was important that she was depicted as aspirational as I wanted my target audience of teenage girls to view her as a role model and take hope from the video after the relationship break-up narrative. I wanted to make her relatable and stereotypical as I felt that it would then make the narrative easier to relate to and sympathise with; if I had formed a complicated character, then the audience may have lost interest and not connected with her in the way I wanted them to. In creating these qualities in my music video, I am conforming to simplistic representations.

It was important that the correct connotations were carried by my character. I wanted her to be portrayed as innocent and vulnerable therefore, to achieve this, I ensured that her costume always consisted of natural, simplistic colours. As well as this, the location and mise-en-scene she was surrounded by also consisted of the same colour scheme in order to avoid distraction or mis-interpretation of meanings. This demure look ensured that my female character didn't conform to the male gaze as this is not the image that I wished to convey; I wanted her to appear innocent and potentially as a victim to the narrative.

Her character develops throughout the video, an establishing shot doesn't give much away, allowing the audience to make their own judgements. The fact that she takes up the majority of camera shots allows the audience to form a more broad opinion of her as the video progresses, the constant focus on star image means that the audience feel as if they get to know the character. Gaundlett says that 'Identities are constructed' linking to the idea that gradual construction breaks up and simplifies representation.

The male character in my video appears desirable and stylish however he is not given much camera time therefore the audience don't really get to know him and aren't able to relate to him. He is not presented in much detail, thereby making him a simplistic character representing 'any man'. The condensed narrative doesn't give him an opportunity of voice therefore the audience view him as the 'villain' in the story. Having the male role as a villain and the female role as the victim conforms to representations in media texts.

Stereotypes are used to enhance realism, however, Martin Marker comments on the idea that "stereotypes are condemned for misrepresenting the 'real world'". This could link to Baudrillard's theory of hyper-reality and how people are unable to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality. People expect certain attributes from characters, despite the fact that they are not always realistic. In the case of my music video, it is expected that the girl is depicted as weak and vulnerable in comparison to the male character.In conforming to expectations, I am using simplistic representations of media texts.

Pluralism

Pluralism argues that there is no answer to anything.

Normative Pluralism - this is the acceptance of all narratives and the idea that no narratives are better than another.

Secondly, there is a kind of PoMo which is pluralist in the sense that it accepts different views, without denying that something is better than other things.

Representation

"Representation in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them". Evaluate the ways that you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.

Stereotypes
- Stereotypical female character for a country/pop genre. Makes her easy for the audience to relate to and understand
- Cliche couple in a pop video. Having troubles and break up

Setting
- Simplistic setting. Keeps the focus on the characters and narrative
- Neutral colours used to mirror the representation of the girl

Gaunlett (2002)
"Identities are constructed". From the first shot, only the appearance of the girl can be established. Over her time on the screen we see actions and behaviour that exress innocence and her demure youthful personality.
- Gradual construction breaks up and simplifies representation

Condensed Narrative
- Focus on main events (Happy couple, fall out, break up)
- Not enough time for all the details
- Simplifies reality
- Audience can recognise the situation from the information given.

Male Character
- Not much detail or camera time
- Appears stylish and desirable but could be any man.
- Simplistic representation.

Female Character
- Doesn't conform to the male gaze
- Her character develops throughout the video
- Natural colours used to convey her as innocent
- Aspirational role model
- Take up majority of camera shots (Star image)
- Relatable character

Postmodern Audiences

- have audiences become accustomed to the stimulation and excitement of spectacular films/games and a sense of spectacle has become something that (young?) audiences increasingly demand from cultural experiences?

• Has narrative coherence become less important for audiences?
Battleships, Transformers, Hobo With a Shotgun

• In terms of ideas, has cultural material become more simplistic and superficial, and audiences are no longer so concerned with the process of understanding a text. Think here about a film like Moulin Rouge where the plot is in some sense irrelevant to the overall impact of the film.
Depthlessness memes. Nothing is good or bad, everything is equal
• has the attention span of audiences reduced as they become increasingly accustomed to the spectacle-driven and episodic nature of postmodern texts


• in its ‘waning of affect’, has postmodernism contributed to audiences become emotionally detached from what they see. They are desensitised and unable to respond ‘properly’ to suffering and joy.
When people film concerts when they're there or watch the big screens when the band is right in front of them. The world can only experience things second hand.
• has postmodernism contributed to a feeling among audiences that arts and culture does not really have anything to tell us about our own lives and instead simply provides us with somewhere we can escape or retreat to.

Alain J-J Cohen - 'Hyper spectator'. A viewer with deep knowledge of cinema and can pick up the intertextual references.

Anne Friedberg- We have control over what we watch and where we watch it. "Films have helped contribute to the postmodern quality of life by manipulating and playing around with our conventional understanding of time and space."

My Memes

Ridiculously Photogenic Guy

"Postmodern media manipulates time and space" To what extent does this defination apply to texts you have studied?

Postmodern media is set in the future, a time which does not exist until after it happens therefore this in itself is manipulating concepts of time.

Inception is a film which manipulates time and space to create something postmodern. The film explores the ideas of dreams and dreams within dreams; thereby creating a seemingly complex narrative which may at first be difficult to comprehend. The song 'Je ne regrette rien' is played throughout the film at different speeds, indicating how many layers into the dream the characters are, the slower the music, the deeper into the dream they are. When Ariadn is put into a dream state, she manipulates space by pulling up a section of the town and resting it above the ground they are on, forming a sky-less world where gravitational expectations are challenged; they are able to walking up the vertical road effortlessly. These manipulations of time and space allow the film to conform to Baudrillard's theory of hyper reality. This inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality is shown by the characters need for a totem; an object which allows them to recognise whether they are in the real world or a dream state. However even the audience loses track of what is the real world and what isn't; the continuously spinning totem at the end of the film leaves doubt in the viewer's mind about whether the characters made it back into reality or if they are still stuck inside a layer of the dream.

Scott Pilgrim Versus The World also manipulates time and space. This is most apparent in the fighting scenes where often the sequence is slowed down allowing the audience to see punches being thrown and 'points' being scored. The points appearing on screen infer that the characters are inside a video game and not living in reality, this is further supported by items such as the 'pee bar' appearing and Scott receiving an 'extra life', both things we'd expect from a video game. Julia Kristeva states that intertextual references 'shape meanings of new texts. This is true in this film as it implies that Scott's life is a game and that he isn't living in the real world. Many sound effects from the well-known video game 'Zelda' are included throughout and the introductory Universal logo uses arcade style music playing over the top; hinting from the very start that the film is set inside a video game.

When being introduced to the characters in Scott Pilgrim, a small profile appears next to their heads, replicating a video game where you choose the character you wish to play with. I could also be alluding to 'Fight Club' in which the main character looks around his flat and next to each item, an ikea-style fact-file pops up. Both of these are looking at hyper-reality and the manipulation of time and space; it demonstrates the idea of the dream world interfering with the real world and being unable to distinguish the two.

Many postmodern texts do manipulate time and space as postmodernism looks at breaking conventions. Virtual worlds and video games alongside augmented reality are traits of postmodern media which he audiences find intriguing. Changing concepts of time and space create enigmatic narratives which challenge viewers to solve.

Representation Theory

- Marxism
- Feminism
-Postmodernism
- Stereotypes

Marxism (ideologies and representation)
- Hegemonic view of society - idea that there are fundamental inequalities between social groups. (e.g. rich and poor)
Ideology - a set of ideas that show a partial view of reality.

Michel Maffesoli (1985) identified the idea of 'urban tribe' where the members of small groups had similar worldwide views, dress styles and common behaviours. Decline of individualism.

David Gauntlett (2002) - argues that 'identities are not given but are constructed and negociated.' 'Identity is complicated.Everybody thunks they've got one. Artists play with the idea of identity in modern society'

Rosalind Brunt (1992) - ideologies are never simply ideas in peoples' heads but are indeed myths that we live by and which contribute to our worth'.

Laura Mulvey (1975) argues that the dominant point of vue is masculine. The female body is displayed for the male gaze to provide pleasure of the male. (Voyeurism)

John Berger 'Ways of Seeing' - 'men act and women appear.Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.' 'Women are aware of being seen by a male spectator'

Stereotypes are used to enhance realism
Martin Barker (1989) - stereotypes are condemned for misrepresenting the 'real world'

Define Post Modern Media With Examples

Postmodern media is the idea that anything can interpreted and valued equally; nothing can be judged as negative since anything can be art. Kirby Fergusson comments that 'everything is a remix' and argues that originality is impossible and that creativity relies on the ability to copy, transform and combine. This is evident  in Quentin Tarentino's film 'Inglourious Basterds' in the soldier line up scene as it is identical to a scene in ‘The Dirty Dozen’ where the soldiers are being recruited to attack; they are stood in the same formation and location. This demonstrates how the film takes scenes and then changes them slightly but not so much that the audience doesn't recognise the original source, and then integrates them into the new film; thereby following Furguson's suggested rule of 'copy, transform and combine'

Postmodern media often takes copy, transform and combine too far and end up supporting Jameson's theory of depthlessness. For example, the film ‘Apocalypse Now’ uses the music ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ to criticise US foreign policy, using the music to carry across racist connotations. British Gas however, have created an advert that uses flying service vans, (perhaps replicating the helicopters in ‘Apocalypse Now’) and have the ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ music playing over the top; this music has been put so out of context that it has ended up carrying no racist implications across at all, British Gas have simply created an entertaining advert using a piece of music that has lost its original meaning.

Pastiche and Homage are used in postmodern media. Pastiche links with the idea of parody and how the original source is mocked and become humorous. This can be seen in 'Hobo With A Shot Gun' where it attempts to replicate gruesome death such as decapitating a man by attaching his head to a car, however the film tries too hard to evoke emotion that it creates bathos and the audience cannot take it seriously.The film in itself is based on a trailer for a film that never existed; it was designed to be purposely bad to be good but then ended up just being bad. The sole aim of the main character in the film is to save up to buy a lawn-mover, this completely pointless life aspiration reflects the pointlessness of the film as a whole; again linking back to Jameson's theory of depthlessness. Opposing this, there is Pastiche where a film is respectful when copying another. For example in 'Inglourious Basterds', the audience feel the pathos aimed at them and they sympathise with the characters.

 However, many people criticise companies for advertising their products using simulacra; creating copies of copies of copies of something that never existed in the first place and making people aspire to a lifestyle which doesn't exist. For example the Nikon S8000 advert aims to 'remind' people about their unique experiences however, the experiences shown do not exist, the company is merely projecting aspirational life events that the audience may want and consequently, will ‘apparently’ experience with the purchase of this camera.

Postmodern media is constantly in production. So many films take ideas from other films and manipulate them to make the audience think they are watching something new therefore we are perhaps watching postmodern texts without even realising. Due to technical advances, we are able to view these texts on TV or online, 24 hours a day.

Genre Essay

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre.

 Genre is a pattern, form or style that defines a text. A text will follow conventions within a genre in order to satisfy an audience. Our video was based on the country/pop genre to which we formed a conventional narrative to meet audience expectation. Richard Dyer suggests that genres are 'pleasurable because they offer escapist fantasies into fiction worlds that remove the boredom and pressures of reality'.  Our video meets the ideas put forward in this quote as the easy-to-watch video gives the opportunity to be entertained. We aimed to target an audience of girls aged between 13-23 as we felt the themes raised in our narrative would be most relatable to their lives when relationships play a big apart in their lives.

Typically, our genre has a relationship-based narrative; this inspired us when creating our storyboard as we had a basic understanding of audience requirement and what they want from a narrative video. The country/pop genre also focuses on star image with heavy reliance on close-up shots; we ensured that at least 90% of our shots contained our main star and included a range of close-ups. In order to present our star in a positive way, we used costume colours that connoted innocence; we allowed the audience to see this by using mid-shots. When carrying out our research and planning, we found that having the correct location and mise-en-scene is what makes or breaks a video. In finding this, we carefully planned where to film and what props needed to be in or out of the shot. We chose locations containing natural, simplistic colours to reflect the main character and also to promote her aspirational, carefree lifestyle.

Having the star singing all the way through seemed a major convention that needed to be followed in the country/pop genre. In order to meet this, we ensured the girl was on camera singing the majority of the lyrics; with the obvious exception of the instrumental. We chose to have the girl making eye-contact with the camera through most of the video since this demands audience attention and makes the viewer feel more involved and able to relate to her situation.

 Generically, videos in our genre promote a strong image of the female artist therefore, through the use of colours to connote innocence with mise-en-scene and costume, we have presented her as a role model for our target audience. We didn’t conform to Laura Mulvey's theory of The Male Gaze as we didn't feel this was appropriate for the message we were trying to convey. To avoid the male gaze, we used clothing that didn't connote sexuality and did not use camera angles that encouraged the audience to look anywhere but her face.

 It is important that our video offered the audience similar expectations of this genre because audiences feel more secure when surrounded by familiarity. Neale comments that 'Pleasure is derived through repetition and difference' which infers that audiences like knowing what to expect with repetition but, at the same time, appreciate the surprise experienced through difference. It could be said that a video must meet one of the requirements put forth in the Uses and Gratifications model in order for the audience to be satisfied. In this case, our video entertains and gives a sense of identity through the use of an admiral role model as the main star.

 Andrew Goodwin and his theory of voyeurism can be applied to our product. At several stages in the video, the girl is being looked at by the audience without her knowledge. For example when she is looking at the rose before singing and in the instrumental, when she is tearing up the letter during the instrumental and when she is looking at herself in the mirror after the instrumental. As well as this, Goodwin's theory that there is a link between the lyrics and the visuals can be applied to our products. The visuals illustrate our lyrics throughout the entire narrative to help keep a grasp on understanding the events that take place.

Overall, careful planning and consideration was carried out in order to make sure that our video met genre expectations. Our research and planning allowed us to learn and understand the generic conventions that we could potentially use and our storyboard permitted us to put our ideas together. Without a clear structured genre, it would be difficult to find an audience, at least with following the conventions of an existing genre, your audience already exists and there are guaranteed views.

Lana Del Rey - Postmodernism

Uncool Playlist

1) I Miss You Beyoncé
2) Free Falling Tom Petty
3) Sweet Disposition The Temper Trap
4) Little Things One Direction
5) I'm Yours Jason Mraz
6) Summer of 69 Bryan Adams
7) Complicated Rihanna
8) Little Bird Ed Sheeran
9) I Will Talk And Hollywood Will Listen Robbie Williams
10) Don't You Worry Child Swedish House Mafia

Ethnographic model

When the researcher enters into the culture of a group and uses questions and interviews to try and understand media engagement from he perspective of that group.

1) Engagement with media is often structured on domestic environment due to the domestication of entertainment and leisure.
2) Some texts seem to belong to a genre that has gender appeal. E.g. Soaps are seen as 'female texts' as they look at matriarchal power and nature of character relationships. The news is seen as a 'male' text as this is more factual; men need wider cultural understanding due to spending less time at home (domestic space) and more time in public (cultural space)
3) Our society is in danger of divided information-rich and information-poor. Schools and TV programs aim to present positive gender representations. Real-life programs use females in less traditional roles to equal the balance that often divides between men and women.

Audience Theory

How you chose a target audience in relation to the genre and form you selected

• UK Tribes
• Questionnaires to potential target audience
• Audience chosen based on existing audience for our genre

Whether you targeted an existing audience which already enjoys specific existing products like yous

• Yes as there is then a guaranteed audience

How you made creative choices to appeal to this target audience

• Focus on star image (90% of shots contain the main star)
• Frequent close up shots
• Narrative that is relatable to our audience

How you think your target audience will use your text

• Uses and gratifications model - Diversion. Easy-to-watch, entertaining
• Uses and gratifications model - Identity. The female star is a potential role model and the narrative is perhaps relatable to our target audience.

How you media text could be marketed to the target audience

• Social networking - The use of Facebook and Twitter to share videos and promote products
• YouTube - Easy access, world-wide accessible
• Advertising poster (anciallry product) - use star image to create sense of branding.

Under Stuart Hall's theory of 'Preferred Readings', what type of 'reading' might this target audience give to your text?

• Dominant reading - feel pathos towards the female character and sympathise with her situation. Side with the female character.
• Negotiated reading - understand the emotions conveyed in the narrative but cannot personally relate to them.
• Oppositional reading - Break-up situation is exaggerated and unrealistic.

"Products will never be successful unless they are carefully constructed to meet pre-established audience needs and desires"
- I agree, I feel that products must meet at least one aspect from the uses and gratifications model (Information, identity, social interaction, diversion) in order to satisfy audience needs.

Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.

Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.

Postmodernism cannot easily be defined due to the fact its existence is, in theory, impossible; media cannot be 'after' modern because modern is now; anything after now is the future and the future remains un-invented and doesn't exist until it happens. In effect, postmodernism is simply a rejection of modernism.

Kirby Furguson argues that 'everything is a remix', he believes that everything is connected, that 'originality' is impossible and that creativity relies on the ability to copy, transform and combine. The ideas put forward by Furguson could be relatable to Quentin Tarrentino's film 'Inglourious Basterds' as this continually makes intertextual references to other films; for example, the establishing shot in the first scene replicates that of ‘The Sound of Music’; likewise the soldier line up scene later on is identical to the scene in ‘The Dirty Dozen’ where the soldiers are being recruited to attack. The film takes scenes, changes them slightly but not so much that the audience doesn't recognise the original source, and then integrates them into the new film; thereby following Furguson's suggested rule of 'copy, transform and combine'. His theory parallels Bentley's quote that creativity is 'The rearranging of the old and the making of the new', nothing can be original, it’s about how you transform old ideas and make people enjoy watching something they've already seen.

However, Jameson and his criticism of postmodernism comments on the idea that 'It is vacuous and trapped in circular references' thereby inferring that he is not convinced by the ideas presented by postmodernism. He believes that everyone should follow the conventions of their products rather than break up core structures and he thinks that the world has become too hyper-real; people can no longer distinguish what is reality from what is a simulation of reality. For example, the television series 'The Only Way Is Essex' is based on what people perceive Essex and its inhabitants to be like. In reality, this is not the lifestyle everyone in Essex lives, the series just looks at the expected lifestyle based on stereotypes. Jameson also picks up on the fact that postmodernism just takes what people have already seen and re-shows them it in a new context and, most of the time, the audience don't even realise; he is not convinced that re-using old material is being creative and original.

Jameson also focuses on ‘deathlessness’ and the idea that sometimes trying to give something too much depth and layers of meaning can result in it become depthless and carrying no meaning at all. An example of this can be seen in the film ‘Apocalypse Now’ and the British Gas advert. ‘Apocalypse now uses the music ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ to criticise US foreign policy, using the music and carrying across the racist connotations. British Gas however, use flying service vans, (perhaps replicating the helicopters in ‘Apocalypse Now’) and have the ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ music playing over the top, and end up carrying no racist implications across at all, they have simply created an entertaining advert using a piece of music so out of context that it has lost its original meaning.

Some postmodern media texts challenge traditional text-reader relations and the concept of representation through the use of parody. This is evident in 'Hobo With A Shot Gun' where within the first few scenes from opening, one of the actors is decapitated by a chain tied to a car however, the light-hearted nature in which this is carried out creates pastiche; this forms the concept of bathos to the audience where the narrative is too exaggerated that intended sympathetic aspects become humorous. The film in itself is based on a trailer for a film that never existed; it was designed to be purposely bad to be good but then ended up just being bad. The sole aim of the main character in the film is to save up to buy a lawn-mover, this completely pointless life aspiration reflects the pointlessness of the film as a whole; replicating the opinion some people have of postmodernism and showing why some people aren't convinced by postmodernism.

Media audiences and industries operate differently in a postmodern world. With the easy access of Facebook and Twitter, it is easier than ever to keep in contact with friends and family. Media industries are reliant on social networking sites for their audiences to view, comment and share their products as it is the fastest and most efficient way to generate good word-of-mouth. The majority of media audiences now have Internet access twenty four hours a day, seven days a week; this encourages actions such as online shopping where mass supplied goods can be delivered to your door in a matter of hours. Goods can be shipped and interchanged from all around the world thanks to globalisation. However, many people criticise companies for advertising their products using simulacra; creating copies of copies of copies of something that never existed in the first place and making people aspire to a lifestyle which doesn't exist. For example the Nikon S8000 advert aims to 'remind' people about their unique experiences however, the experiences shown do not exist, the company is merely projecting aspirational life events that the audience may want and consequently, will ‘apparently’ experience with the purchase of this camera.

This false sense of advertising alongside the frequent pastiche film narratives could be why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.

Applying audience theories to your product

Me and my partner, Charlotte, created a music video to Taylor Swift's song 'Forever and Always'. Our target audience was girls aged between 13-21 as we felt the themes and issues we were highlighting in our video, would be relatable for them. For example, we have used an 18 year old female to play the role of the main star; her look would potentially be idolised by the younger target audience and seen as admiral to the higher end of our audience.
The uses and gratifications model is a relevant theory for our video. The area of identification is relevant in that young girls can find aspects of their own personalities in the main character and potentially view her as a role model in how to deal with broken relationships since she acts as a sign of hope; an area we highlighted with the lit candle at the end of our video. The area of diversion can also be applied; our video provides the opportunity to temporarily escape into a different lifestyle and be entertained; therefore distracting us from worries and problems surrounding our own lives. Our audience is not passive, but active and feel sympathetic towards the relationship break up and feel pathos towards the girl. We have conveyed the female character as innocent and vulnerable which heightens the sense of sympathy from the audience.

Morley's theory of an active audience can be applied to our video. The audience view the text and then formulate an opinion based on what they see. A preferred reading of our text could be that the themes we raise are relatable and the audience share the reaction of the break up with the main star. An oppositional reading could be that our narrative is unrealistic and exaggerated and the audience think that we have created a hyper-real situation. A negotiated reading of our text could be that the audience recognise the break up as sad, however they cannot relate to it and therefore don't connect with the narrative on an emotional level.

Our audience feedback was extremely useful as it allowed us to collect feedback from our target audience and see their initial response to what we had produced. A lot of issues that arose from our first draft video were based around problems with mise-en-scene and camera angles therefore we were able to go back and correct these to improve the experience for our target audience.

Overall, I feel that our product appealed to our target audience because we used a narrative that is relatable and perhaps a major issue within the age bracket we aimed to target. The simplicity of the narrative makes it easy to watch and understand, again linking to the diversion section of the uses and gratifications model, making it entertaining to watch.

Postmodern Theorists

Kirby Fergusson
Everything is a remix
The belief that everything is connected, that 'originality' is impossible and that creativity relies on the ability to copy, transform and combine.

Unattributed (a general postmodern theory)
Parody
An imitation created to mock, comment on or trivialise an original work

Unattributed (a general postmodern theory)
Homage
An imitation created to respectfully reference previous work. It celebrates rather than mocks.

Lyotard
Grand and Little Narratives
Essentially 'big stories' and 'little stories' which we use to interpret and understand the world around us (e.g. Science and Religion)

Levi Strauss
Bricolage
Taking an item and placing it in a new context to create a new meaning (e.g. a punk using a safety pin as a nose piercing)

Addition - Add something extra to the narrative
Deletation - Taking something away from the narrative
Substitution - Substituting something within the narrative
Transportation - Taking two unconnected things and adding them together.

Jameson
Criticism of Postmodernism
It is vacuous and trapped in circular references

Baudrillard
Simulacrum
An image without the substance or qualities of the original (e.g. a can of coke)

Baudrillard
Hyper-Reality
An inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality (e.g. google glasses, computer games)

Julia Kristeva
Intertextual Reference
The shaping of texts' meanings by other texts (e.g. Inglourious Basterds refs)

Class Notes

Frederic Jameson - Criticism of Postmodernism
- He sees it as vacuous and trapped in circular references
- Postmodernism is nothing more than a series of self-referential 'jokes' which have no deeper meaning or purpose
- He thinks everyone should follow conventions and rules and that the world has become too identical and hyper-real
- Doesn't like breaking up core structures

Jean-Francois Lyotard
- Rejected 'grand narrative' or universal 'meta-narratives'
- The grand narrative refer to great theories of history, science, religion and politics. He rejects the idea that everything is knowable by science or that, as history moves forward in time, humanity makes progress.
- He favours 'micro-narratives' (taking small parts of other films and copying them) that can go in any direction, that reject diversity and that are unpredictable.

Simulacrum - A copy of a copy
Authenticity - Real/original
Hyper-reality - Replicating an admiral lifestyle.

Postmodernists want you to know they've copied someone else and credit the original. They acknowledge you've seen it all before.

Inglourious Basterds Research

Narrative Theory

Theorists that are applicable to my product:

• Todorov (theory of equilibrium)
• Laura Mulvey (male gaze)
• Andrew Goodwin (relationship between lyrics and visuals)
• Roland Barthes (action codes, enigma codes)

Story - A sequence of events with introduced themes
Narrative - The way in which the story is told

Things to remember when analysing a media text:

1. Technical Code (sounds, camera angles, editing, mise-en-scene, colours)
2. Verbal Code (how language is used to convey the story)
3. Symbolic Codes (Clues in the narrative. e.g. ripping up letter shows distress. Link to mise-en-scene)
4. Structure (beginning, middle, end. Todorov, 3 part structure, theory of equilibrium)
5. Character (Protagonist - hero, Antagonist - Villain)
6. Narrative Conflict ( Levi Strauss - "all narratives are moved forward by conflict". Binary oppositions, one item carries a negative value whilst the other has a positive value)

Narratives are used in videos to...

• Introduce a character
• Establish narrative structure
• Captivate audience interest
• Establish core themes
• Establish sense of enigma
• Establish audience expectations through the use of generic conventions
• Show predominance of action codes
• Introduce inconography

How narrative is organised/structured in my video
- Structured basedon Todorov's theory

How conflict is established/resolved
- Conflict is established by Andrew Goodwin's suggestion of matching the visuals to the lyrics. We used mid and long shots to show the arguments. The resolution is after the instrumental when we used voyeurism with the girl looking in the mirror.

How we constructed our characters and made them relatable
- Majority of shots contained our star. Her costumes and make-up contained natural colours which connoted the idea of innocence and vulnerability. Eye contact with the camera makes the audience feel more involved and allows here to become more relatable.

Heroes and Villains
- The boy could be the villain in our narrative however there are some shots such as the flashbacks where he doesn't come across as a villain

Importance of mise-en-scene/editing
- We used simple mise-en-scene with simplistic colours to convey our character as innocent. We edited to the song lyrics and, at some parts, we edited to the beat of the music.

How far did you chose to follow the lyrics in your storyboarding?
- We chose to illustrate the events described in the lyrics through our narrative.

Key lines which were given visual dominance
- 'I don't think so' --> we used lyrics on screen to emphasis her emotions
- 'Back up, baby back up...' --> After the instrumental, there is about 15 seconds of the girl singing through the mirror to the camera lens.

"Videos tend to only suggest story lines and focus on fragments of the lyrics" (Steve Archer)
- This is true with our video as the audience don't see the entire narrative, they do not see the events leading up to the break up neither are they given details as to why it happened.

In our video, the artist plays the role of both the narrator and the protagonist. The narrative is objective as opposed to subjective as we only see the story from her point of view; the other side to the story is not shown. We also used voyeurism, as suggested by Andrew Goodwin, when the girl is looking at the audience through the reflection of the mirror.

Firth 1998 - "Videos can be characterised by 3 broad stereotypologies". Our video comes under 'narrative' which means... "Action in the story is dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen" (Schwichtenberg 1992)

"It is the lip synch close up and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos" (Steve Archer 2004)

Andrew Goodwin
Illustrative - Images are given literal representation.
Amplifying - repetition of key meaning e.g chorus

Inglourious Basterds

For my case study on 'Inglourious Basterds'. I need to talk about:

• Van Johnson (actor)
• Leni Riefenstahl (film director)
• Noel Coward (director and actor)
• Nation's Pride (film)
• Sergeant York (film)
• The Odessa Steps and Its Descendants (film)
• Battleship Potemkin (film)
• The Untouchables (film)
• The Dirty Dozen (film)
• The Inglourious Basterds Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• Quentin Tarantino (director)
• Pulp Fiction (film)
• Tarentino's filmography
• Tavern Scene in the film
• Cellar Scene
• Inglourious Basterds review
• Influences

To present this, I will use windows movie maker and for some parts, I will use my bamboo tablet to illustrate the ideas that I am putting across.

Essay

How did the conventions of real media texts inspire you to use new media technology to create the style of product you achieved?

Over my two years studying at AS and A2, I made a variety of products. My magazine, music video and digipak being the main projects where I used new media technologies. I was faced with new software such as Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and using new hardware such as the Apple Mac computers and Canon video cameras.

At AS, I created a music magazine. I used the pre-production stage to carry out research and planning to gain a better understanding of the conventions for this product. I learnt that generically, the cover had to have a masthead, a strapline and a close up image of the star. Using new hardware such as my FinePix S6500, I was able to take high quality pictures to my magazine and take a clear close up photograph for the cover image. The close up connoted that star image is important to the music genre I was representing. I could then use software such as Photoshop to create my masthead and strap line. Conventionally, the masthead is positioned at the top of the cover so I decided to follow this convention however; I used Dafont to find a striking font to support my cover image and make my magazine stand out.

At A2, I created a music video in the country/pop genre. After carrying out research in pre-production, I found that 90% of shots needed to contain the star with a wide majority being mid-shots and close ups. I took this advice on board and, when filming with the Canon video camera, ensured that I framed the star in a variety of close ups. I learnt also that my genre used zooms in videos therefore, for the mid-shots, I was able to use the zoom tool in Final Cut Pro to add a steady zoom; this allowed me to create the style and look that I was aiming for.

I also created a digipak at A2, which supported my music video. To make this, I primarily used Photoshop. After researching into the conventions, I found that I needed to use a head shot for the cover image. I used my FinePix S6500 camera to take a selection of photos that we could later choose from and even added some effects such as black and white to some of them. I decided to use a black and white image for my digipak cover; this develops conventions in my genre and helps my product to stand out from others that are similar. Photoshop allowed me to use the magnetic lasso tool to cut around my image and achieve a professional-looking product.

For all of my products, I looked at the conventions and planned how I could use them to create a new product. I was inspired by the quote ‘The making of the new and the rearranging of the old’ (Bentley 1997) as this is what I have done across all three projects talked about above. For my music video, it was about taking the idea of the conventional relationship break-up narrative and storyboarding shots and camera angles that would convey my narrative convincingly and make it look completely new. My research taught me that video in our genre tended only to use straight cuts for transition from shot to shot; we chose to follow this convention and ensure we only used straight cuts when editing on Final Cut Pro.

For my narrative, I used Todorov’s theory. The equilibrium was the couple being happy followed by the dis-equilibrium being the fight and break up. Finally, normality is restored with a new equilibrium where the girl is happy being on her own without the boy. All narratives must follow a certain pattern in order for them to make sense to the audience. I used a long shot when filming to show the girl and boy when they are arguing to clearly highlight the dispute so that the audience don’t lose a grasp on understanding my narrative. I used Final Cut Pro to arrange the shots in the narrative into the correct order.

Essay

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

I have developed my skills massively through my use of digital technology in media production from AS through to A2. The preliminary activity in AS required me to use photoshop; my experience with this software was extremely limited and it became a time-consuming process. I learnt the basics through practise and became familiar with tools such as the magic wand and the magnetic lasso; the more experienced I became, the more confident I was to be more creative with my ideas. Likewise, the preliminary activity at A2 was to create a music video with the class. I had no experience at all with storyboarding or filming therefore this task gave me time to practise and develop these skills. I learnt about the importance of framing and lighting in shots; when I understood the basics, I found my ideas becoming more creative.

Photoshop was the main piece of digital technology that I used during my AS course, I was able to take the skills I gained during this time and carry them over to A2 and use them for creating my ancillary products. With a much broader understanding, I learnt how to use more complex tools such as colour matching and cloning. My creative decision making was enhanced because I knew the importance of layouts after following layout patterns from my cover, contents and double page spread for my AS music magazine, and knew about using the rule of thirds for my digipak cover and photographs.

Photography played a large part in both AS and A2. My limited knowledge and experience at AS meant that not all my photos were to the best quality and it took a lot of trial and error to achieve the desired shot. Mary Lou Cook quotes that “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun." In a way this shows that trial and error is helpful, and that practise makes perfect. Making mistakes allowed my skills to develop and my creativity improved as I was able to experiment with angles and lighting to learn what worked best. At A2, I had access to a FinePix S6300 camera which gave my high-quality images. The piece of technology contributed to my creative decision making as I could use the effects on the camera settings to take black and white images. Furthering this, I used the Internet to edit my photos on PicMonkey to achieve a professional-looking image to use on my ancillary products. Being able to edit my photos gave me much more variety and allowed me to expand my ideas and be more creative.

Final Cut Pro is the software I used to edit my music video. I had gained a small amount of experience on this after creating an animatic of my storyboard at the start of A2 however putting together my video footage was a slow process. After completing my draft video, I had become more time efficient; this allowed me to be more creative in my second draft as I could use tools on the software, such as adding pans and zooms to shots, which let my creativity expand. For the preliminary video, I used Adobe Premiere Elements. This is a very basic editing program which is quite limiting so, I made the decision to switch to the Mac computers and use Final Cut Pro as an alternative as, in doing this, I could be more inventive and creative with my footage.

I relied heavily on Blogger over both years of my A Level. I used it to record all of my research, planning and progress as I went along. At AS, Blogger was a new experience for me as I had not used it prior to this therefore I used basic presentation programs such as Scribd and Slideshare to display my work. At A2, I had developed an awareness of new programs such as Animoto and Xtranormal which gave me the opportunity to be more creative in showing my work on my Blog. 

The main thing I learnt about digital technology over AS and A2 is that the more I used it, the more experience I gained and consequently, the more creative I could be. My skills in Photoshop are what have developed the most; I can see that my imagination and creativity has grown from the magazine preliminary task back at the start of AS, to my ancillary products at the end of A2.

Pastiche and Homage

Homage - Praise by reference. Respectful.
Musical homage - College and Electric Youth 'A Real Hero'. Used in Oscar nominated film. Drive. Song could easily be from the 80's

Pastiche - Critical, parody, deliberately bad.
Musical Pastiche - One direction Parody. 'Ripping off' band stereotypes. Saying they're generic copies.

Hobo With A Shotgun - Pastiche
Pathos - Feel sympathy towards a character.
Bathos - Goes too far with exaggeration that it becomes funny.

Creativity Quotes

"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail"

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep"

“It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.” — Edward de Bono

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” — Mary Lou Cook

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” — Henry David Thoreau

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” — Albert Einstein

"Creativity is the quality that you bring to the activity that you are doing. It is an attitude, an inner approach – how you look at things . . . Whatsoever you do, if you do it joyfully, if you do it lovingly, if your act of doing is not purely economical, then it is creative.” – Osho

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou

"Don't think. Thinking is the enermy of creativity. Its self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You must simply do things." - Ray Bradbury

Creativity

What do you understand about 'creativity' and to what extent have you been creative?
Creativity is about using your imagination and finding ways to present your ideas in your own individual style. It's about being original and being inspired by existing products similar to what you are creating. I have been creative when making my music magazine and music video as it allowed me to put all of my ideas together and present them to an audience.

How have you tried to facilitate and encourage your own creativity?
When  storyboarding our video, we tried to think outside the box and plan to use a variety of camera angles that would display our ability to be versatile. To encourage our creativity, we looked at existing examples of videos in a similar genre to ours that sparked new ideas for our video.

Did you experience limits/blocks on your own creativity?
Working to a brief was a limit in itself however it allowed us to think more directly and stay focused on one thing, without a brief, both the magazine and the video task would have been too broad. When making our video, we had limitations in that the male role had to be changed three times due to them being unavailable and we had to find a girl suitable to play the female role convincingly. Location was a slight issue as we needed to find somewhere simple enough for the bedroom.

How easy/difficult was it to be creative whilst still working to the brief?
I found having a brief very beneficial since it allowed us to be more focused. Having no brief would have possibly made us go off track at points therefore having a specific criteria to follow was useful. The brief gave us a structure to our research and planning work as it allowed us to now what we needed to look in to and find out about.

Did working within conventions stifle your creativity?
Although we had to work within conventions, we could still develop and challenge these conventions if we wished to do so. We took the conventions and storyboarded ideas that made use of them; instead of limiting us, they helped. We found costume conventions particularly difficult when creating our video since we didn't realise how hard it is too find neutral clothes which showed no colours or styles with native connotations.

To what extent did you need to work with others and 'bounce ideas' off other people to be truly clever?
I had to work with my media partner, Charlotte. We kept a joint Blog with all of our research, planning and ideas which allowed us to keep track of each others thoughts and ideas. In class, we combined our ideas together to create a storyboard which became the base which we could build up on to as we continued through the course. W also worked alongside our main female role to develop ideas, she is good at expressing emotion through acting therefore we used this to our advantage and found ways to convey this in our video.

How much of your creativity was about trying to picture things in your mind's eye?
When storyboarding, we could only visualise in our mind's what we would hope the shots looked like when we had filmed them however this was not necessarily how they turned out. We ended up re-filming the majority of our video because things cannot always be conveyed in  reality with how it is in your mind.

How much of your creativity was about trial and error?
About 99% of shots from our draft video have been removed and re-filmed. This was because initially, we were keen on having outdoor shots for quite a bit of the video however, these didn't turn out as well as we hoped so we ended up taking them out. We ended up refilling quite a few times because we anted every shot to be exactly how we visualised, this trial and error method allowed us to learn from our mistakes and, although at the time it was stressful and repetitive, we have come out of the process with a video we are both really pleased with.

To what extent was a lack of confidence an issue in terms of your creativity?
Our draft video perhaps didn't turn out so well because we lacked confidence in our ability to film however, this was resolved in our re-filming sessions. We had no problems with confidence in our lead role since we chose someone with lots of confidence who allowed us to expand our creativity.

To what extent was a lack of technical competence/confidence an obstacle to your creativity?
As mentioned above, we were not confident with using the video cameras at first therefore this was an obstacle. Also, we used final cut pro, an editing program, which neither of us had ever used before. This was easy to understand once we had played around on it and learnt how to use it, however at first we found we were editing at a very slow pace; this worried us as we didn't want to miss the deadline however, the more we used it the easier it became.

Postmodernism

Paradox -Two contradictory states (i.e. an in movable object meets an unstoppable force.)

-Depthlessness. Can either add depth to something or take away all meaning altogether.
For example with the Wagner music that has been used in the British Gas Advert, despite its negative connotations from films such as Apocalypse now and Birth of a Nation; it now been moved so far out of context that it has no meaning at all.







Bricolage - Can take anything from anywhere and put it somewhere else to create something new.

3 approaches to postmodernism: Historical, Stylistic and Theoretical. Postmodernist texts embody scepticism towards ideas and ideals of the modern era. Plays with conventions.

Baudrillard - Theory of hyper-reality. Says that you know longer experience the world first-hand. You experience it through images and expectations.

Jaques Derrida - 'Life if like something out of a movie'. Saying that you can only explain things in the context of something that isn't real. What is fake is now replacing what is real.

Simulacrum - Copy with no original.

Levi Strauss - 4 things to remember when creating something:

• Addition
• Deletation
• Subtraction
• Transformation