In approaching this task, I wanted to explore the idea of Old Media as an aesthetic, focusing mainly on the 70s to 80s eras. In doing this, our aim as a group was to create a ten-minute video that would simulate the nostalgic feeling you get from watching old TV shows and movies, by using cultural references, parodies, cinematography, some bad editing, and visual effects. We wanted to have a mix of both older style comedy, and modern comedy, to show contrast between how much the glitch effect affects the feeling of nostalgia. Overall, I felt that our approach to this task was successful in some ways, but could have been improved in others. For the most part, our ideas were present, and we encapsulated the older media aesthetic (especially visually), but occasionally, I noticed that the script acting went off on their own tangent, and didn’t really fit into the whole idea. Instead, they were just there for comedic fillers. In comparison to different editing jobs I’ve done for previous assignments, editing this video was still difficult, but in the exact opposite way. In the past, I’ve worked on videos where we recorded each angle individually with multiple takes, and so avoiding discontinuity was difficult because there was always something slightly different in each shot. But with this assignment, we decided to record live, which made things difficult, because this time, instead of avoiding discontinuity, we were trying to make the editing seem really bad. The main thing I would do differently if I were given a second chance to do this task would be focusing more on the script, and including more depth towards the subject matter.
When reflecting off the content over the past semester, I found I was mainly interested in topics such as glitch art, and why people enjoy, and sometimes prefer older media. In my past few projects, I focused a lot on how the vintage feeling affects the viewer’s perception of the medium. For example, I explored why vinyl is returning and becoming popular again, and the same with polaroid photography. I talked about how older media is said to feel more authentic, due to the fact that it’s analogue, and has its flaws, whereas digital media can always be altered, and perfected. In a way, older media actually shows the work you put into it.
For this project, I wanted to focus less on the actual idea of old media itself, and focus more on why people use newer media to create older medium effects. Like, for example, the fact that Instagram has various filters to add flaws such as scratches and stains to the photos, or how various movies and TV shows nowadays, such as Stranger Things and Kung Fury, are using the old 80s VHS aesthetic.
Now, as previously discussed over the semester, VHS is shit. The resolution sucks, the audio sucks, and they actually break with use. But for some reason, we just can’t let them go. In this case, it mostly is a nostalgia thing. Some people enjoy the novelty of owning these ancient pieces of technology. In fact, “Since 2009, in fact, about ten companies have released over twenty different movie titles, both old and new, on magnetic tape” (Herbert, Daniel. 1st July 2017). But others enjoy the shitty quality about it.
So, in an age where we have the ability to film in 4K, and almost perfectly computer-generate the human image, why do we use this technology to develop the exact opposite of what it was made for? Why do we digitally create flaws in our work, when the whole point of digital was to avoid flaws?
In a research article by Emily Chivers Yochim and Megan Biddinger of the University of Michigan, they talk about the return of vinyl, and why records are increasing in popularity today. They say that “contemporary fans value many qualities of records that consumers perceived as flaws less than 25 years ago” (Yochim, Emily Chivers, & Biddinger, Megan. 1st March, 2008). The same principle applies to many other forms of media as well, such as video, and photography. The flaws evoke a nostalgic feeling to the artwork, which in turn, makes the work feel more authentic. The link between nostalgia and authenticity in regard to old media lies within digital media. I noticed that one of the main reasons that digital media is said to be less authentic is because of how it can always be altered and fixed. Analogue media, which is generally associated with nostalgia, keeps its battle scars. This generally makes the artwork feel more authentic because of the effort that is put into not screwing it up. In a way, the flaws caused by analogue media have become a part of what perfection is.
Today, we generally use new mediums to create old media effects. Using digital media to ruin your work a little is like stylishly ripping jeans. We have complete control over how we want to botch it. When using analogue media, however, we don’t have any control over that, and so there’s a chance the it could completely mess up the whole project. Basically, using digital media to ruin your artwork gives the illusion that you’ve put all the effort and care into it, without actually having to.
According to Michael Betancourt, critical theorist, film theorist, art and film historian, “Engagement with mechanical, automated processes and the (mal)function of machines is a recurring theme of avant-garde art in the twentieth century” (Betancourt, Michael. 13th September, 2016). As an art, ruining your work in various ways is called ‘glitch art’, which is heavily associated with retro aesthetics and nostalgia. The ruining of the work that glitch art does creates a sensation of age, and wear and tear on it. Betancourt goes on to say that “It is the willingness to engage with unanticipated and non-standard outcomes of technical failure that connects the history of digital glitches with this earlier media art” (Betancourt, Michael. 13th September, 2016).
In this assignment, I wanted to generate glitch art through new media to create old media effects. Our video was meant to be a parody of old 70s to 80s talk shows, game shows, and other forms of reality TV back then. And so, putting theory into practice, when editing, I added some VHS glitch effects over it, such as some saturation fades, and static. In doing this, I did have much more control over the glitches, however, I was also faced with a different set of difficulties. For example, I had to ensure that the whole video was watchable from start to finish, and even though the audio was meant to sound shit, I needed to make sure that every word was audible. Same with the visuals, in that I had to avoid blocking out anything important when adding static and glitches.
I know that this whole reflection has been a messy clusterf*ck of different theories and stuff, but what I’ve basically been trying to say is that we’ve basically gone full circle with media. Because of nostalgia, what started off as flaws that were a guaranteed outcome of using analogue media, has become an artwork itself in the switch to digital media. And so, people use digital media to recreate these flaws because it’s much more convenient and controlled, and the problem of accidentally ruining your work is not a problem anymore.
References
<Herbert, Daniel. Nostalgia Merchants: VHS Distribution in the Era of Digital Delivery. 1st July 2017>
<Yochim, Emily Chivers, & Biddinger, Megan. ‘It kind of gives you that vintage feel’: vinyl records and the trope of death, in Media, Culture & Society, 30(2). 1st March, 2008. p183>
<Betancourt, Michael. Origins of Glitch in ‘The Stoppage’, in Glitch Art in Theory and Practice. Taylor and Francis. 13th September, 2016. p21>