Digital Technologies I used during coursework:
Music Video:
YouTube
TubeChop
Twitter
Facebook
Google
Animoto
Photoshop
Sony NEX-5 camera
Sony NEX-7 camera
Cannon 1000D camera
Phone/Text/Email/Facebook communication
Premier Pro
MacBook Pro
iPod
iPhoneLogitech speakers
Ancillary Products:
YouTube
NME website
Canon 1000D camera
Photoshop
Friday, 27 January 2012
Homework Task 1
TASK : Explain the purpose of the Game. As a postmodernist why have the creators of Desert Bus intentionally set out to make a terrible yet painfully realistic (for its time) game? Write about your experience of playing it and how it fitted into the narrative of computer games
Post-modernism in itself tries to create something that looks like real life because it is real life; this prevents the viewer watching a programme such as Skins and saying 'this looks like when we did that...' etc. because, of course it looks like real life - it's a drama programme so it's made to look like real life, because real life looks like Skins, because Skins is not real.
So when the gamer plays Desert Bus they think it looks like real life, because it's in real time with realistic effects. However a real life bus looks like Desert Bus, because Desert Bus is merely an online game. As mentioned by Penn Jillette on his radio show, the game was in response to more violent, controversial video games; those types of video games generally do not look like real life - for the typical person. However to someone living in a place like 'San Andreas' they may have experienced knife crime, gun crime or stealing cars.
Unfortunately I have not had the chance to play Desert Bus for myself as I am using a Mac and the online game does not appear to work on Macs. However I can imagine the game being tedious and extremely time consuming (as it takes 8 hours - real time - to complete one trip in the Desert Bus.)
Post-modernism in itself tries to create something that looks like real life because it is real life; this prevents the viewer watching a programme such as Skins and saying 'this looks like when we did that...' etc. because, of course it looks like real life - it's a drama programme so it's made to look like real life, because real life looks like Skins, because Skins is not real.
So when the gamer plays Desert Bus they think it looks like real life, because it's in real time with realistic effects. However a real life bus looks like Desert Bus, because Desert Bus is merely an online game. As mentioned by Penn Jillette on his radio show, the game was in response to more violent, controversial video games; those types of video games generally do not look like real life - for the typical person. However to someone living in a place like 'San Andreas' they may have experienced knife crime, gun crime or stealing cars.
Unfortunately I have not had the chance to play Desert Bus for myself as I am using a Mac and the online game does not appear to work on Macs. However I can imagine the game being tedious and extremely time consuming (as it takes 8 hours - real time - to complete one trip in the Desert Bus.)
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Scream
Horror films in general aim to frighten as well as entertain an audience through sound effects as well as visuals, in some cases it is the sound effects that take over the horror aspect of the film as it is down to the build up of tension. Scream comes under the sub genre of 'slasher' within horror, this is because of the gore special effects.
In the postmodernist view, TV and film aim to 'look like real life' however living in real life, we think that real life 'looks like TV and films'. In Scream, the characters mention multiple times in the script 'if this were a movie' or 'how to survive a horror movie' - this suggests the crews aim was to create real life within a film. The detail of making the film like real life even goes down to the types of characters, they are typical students at college living in domestic homes; and the final bloodbath takes place in a domestic home in America.
This famous quote, featured in the first Scream was originally said by Williamson, 1996: "They're all the same, some stupid killer stalking some big breasted girl who can't act who's always running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door, it's insulting."This also suggests that the film is trying to be real life, as does the quiz near the start of the film, the girl in the scene has to answer questions on previously made films to save the life of her boyfriend - Friday 13th is one of the films mentioned.
Scream has been referred to as a 'parody' many times, however it is not the same as the Scary Movies in any way. Scream is in fact more of a pastiche as it shows respect to previous horror films. For example the surname of the killer in Scream 'Billy Loomis', uses the same surname for 'Dr Loomis' in Halloween.
Overall Scream is postmodern as it is making fun of horror films, but also being a horror film. At the same time that they are telling the audience the 'rules to survive a horror film' they are also breaking the rules e.g. someone says 'be right back' and comes back, another person has sex and survives, and another gets drunk and survives.
Pastiche and Homage
Homage: respect; a 'nod' to something good; e.g. The Artist (film); e.g. cover albums - Fleetwood Mac (music); Hip-Hop artists take backing tracks from other songs and remix them to create their own music.
Pastiche: imitation of something; mocking something; often takes the form of satire (irony/ridicule); e.g. Family Guy doing Star Wars (TV)
Pastiche: imitation of something; mocking something; often takes the form of satire (irony/ridicule); e.g. Family Guy doing Star Wars (TV)
Monday, 23 January 2012
Creativity Task 1
Creativity is 'A process needed for a problem solving... not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people (Jones, 1993)
The definition of creativity is to use the imagination to create a production of an artistic piece of work.
It is difficult to outline whether this statement is true or not as there are multiple pros and cons referring to this. First of all the statement is trying to assume that everyone has a creative side and it is not a special talent that only few people have, however if everyone is creative, then no one is. An argument that makes it true is that anyone can be taught how to use Photoshop but is using Photoshop with pre-made images and text really classed as being creative? In my opinion this is is merely producing a layout rather than a piece of artistic work.
For example when producing my poster and digipak I could have used an obvious image such as a skeleton to represent our group band, The Skeleton Boys. However instead of going for the obvious I chose to stick with the alternative/quirky theme but represent that by taking an existing album cover, The Automatic - This Is A Fix, and creating an obelisk similar to the one on The Automatic's album. This is using a creative skill as I produced the photographs with my own camera and used Photoshop to create a repeat effect of the actor on my album cover, as well as the obelisk.
During the creation of our group music video I feel that we showed creativity between all of us; to tell a student who has never done a creative subject before to produce a 3 and a half minute music video would be difficult. However because we have previous knowledge of Media Studies and/or other creative subjects. We were lucky in the locations we were available to access so we took advantage of this with our creativity.
The definition of creativity is to use the imagination to create a production of an artistic piece of work.
It is difficult to outline whether this statement is true or not as there are multiple pros and cons referring to this. First of all the statement is trying to assume that everyone has a creative side and it is not a special talent that only few people have, however if everyone is creative, then no one is. An argument that makes it true is that anyone can be taught how to use Photoshop but is using Photoshop with pre-made images and text really classed as being creative? In my opinion this is is merely producing a layout rather than a piece of artistic work.
For example when producing my poster and digipak I could have used an obvious image such as a skeleton to represent our group band, The Skeleton Boys. However instead of going for the obvious I chose to stick with the alternative/quirky theme but represent that by taking an existing album cover, The Automatic - This Is A Fix, and creating an obelisk similar to the one on The Automatic's album. This is using a creative skill as I produced the photographs with my own camera and used Photoshop to create a repeat effect of the actor on my album cover, as well as the obelisk.
During the creation of our group music video I feel that we showed creativity between all of us; to tell a student who has never done a creative subject before to produce a 3 and a half minute music video would be difficult. However because we have previous knowledge of Media Studies and/or other creative subjects. We were lucky in the locations we were available to access so we took advantage of this with our creativity.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Postmodernism Intro
Traditionally: One man-One skill
Modern day: Mass production factories
- 'If everyone can do something, no one can.'
- 'The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.'
Modern day: Mass production factories
- 'If everyone can do something, no one can.'
- 'The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.'
Jean-Francois Lyotard
Grand Narratives: Religion, Science, Politics
Nowadays, people choose the parts they want from each of the 3 beliefs to create their own beliefs, this is called Little Narratives; e.g. it can happen within Media and Fashion.
Friday, 20 January 2012
Creativity Questions
- What do you understand by ‘creativity’ and to what extent have you been creative?
Creativity, in my opinion, comes from the persons' own imagination. I have been creative in my inidividual work from AS as well as in my group during A2 as I have looked at existing products (magazines, ancillary products, and music videos)
- How have you tried to facilitate and encourage your own creativity?
Over the 2 years my progress in Media has improved; however I feel I worked better at A2 as I had my group at hand to judge my thoughts on the video, as well as designs for ancillary products. At AS I did not feel as though I had many peers to ask to judge my work.
- Did you experience limits/blocks on your own creativity?
When designing my AS magazine I discovered limits and in the end I changed my original idea completely; I regretted this soon after as I am now going to resubmit my AS coursework with another new idea.
- How easy/difficult was it to be creative while still working to the brief?
Sticking to the brief was not a problem for our music video project as we created a typical indie/alternative genre video which is exactly what we planned and was included within the brief.
- Did working within conventions stifle your creativity?
We were given a rough outline of the type of products we were asked to create during both AS and A2 however we definitely had more freedom at A2. The guideline for AS showed a specific style of magazine, which pages to include and roughly how to structure them; whereas at A2 we were given guidelines of '3 minute music video' and that was pretty much it.
- To what extent did you need to work with others and ‘bounce ideas’ off other people to be truly creative?
During the A2 project we all used eachothers ideas to build on our own, resulting in all of the final ideas. We all had a say in each idea and were able to give constructive criticism to each other or even abolish others' ideas entirely.
- How much of your creativity was about trying to picture things in your mind’s eye?
I find it easy to picture end products in my mind so I used this a lot, for example during our A2 music video project I would evaluate the shot on the camera and weigh up the pros and cons of filming the shot. The four of us tried our best to use our time well however it did take a matter of days to complete filming at both main locations, the barn, and Harry's house.
- How much of your creativity was about trial and error?
During AS magazine and my ancillary products I discarded previous ideas and created new designs for my final submission. However for our A2 music video project we never had errors, only trials that we pushed aside and replaced with something easier or less time consuming.
- To what extent was a lack of confidence an issue in terms of your creativity?
I think we all had enough confidence to speak out to each other during our A2 project so we were all happy that we all had ideas that made it to the final cut of our video. We all felt comfortable enough to judge each others ideas and criticise or congratulate creation ideas.
- To what extent was a lack of technical competence/confidence an obstacle to your creativity?
In my AS coursework my confidence lacked towards the end of the course, I felt as though I was going to be unable to produce the same type of magazine I had been planning from the start. As a result of my doubt, I achieved only a D grade in my coursework, which I deserved for not sticking to my original plan, but it was not a grade I was happy with.
In my AS coursework my confidence lacked towards the end of the course, I felt as though I was going to be unable to produce the same type of magazine I had been planning from the start. As a result of my doubt, I achieved only a D grade in my coursework, which I deserved for not sticking to my original plan, but it was not a grade I was happy with.
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