In the context of the term “narrative” becoming something less “language-based” and more visceral, I found this film. Don’t worry, it’s not another experimental mashup that I found as a stock standard post. It’s a student film that features traditional narrative structure, but with an experimental mashup. There is no dialogue involved, and only one female protagonist. As she goes through her daily activities, there is something unsettling about the whole film. The jading cuts along with sinister content to try and convey a message, expresses Ryan’s point of view about narrative being purely aesthetic to put a point across, to which it may be philosophical, or just completely out there. However, by watching this we can identify how the audience may interpret the story differently to what the auteur imagined. Enjoy!

I liked this reading in the way that it addressed narrative as something which is constantly evolving through the changes of culture, society and philosophy. It explains how the point of its residual meaning has become so complex after these changes, leaving the interpretation of narrative to be completely up to the producer and the receiver of said narrative. Rather than blabber on about how it is so complex and not propose any solution, Marie-Laure Ryan proposes that “the main problem facing the trans-medial study of narrative is to find an alternative to the language-based definitions that are common fare in classical narratology” (pg.6). The term “language-based” made me become quite curious about how we cannot define some things to a single term or structure, and can only be shown through image or expression, or to what the popular comedic expression “I can only show you through interpretive dance” refers to. Sorry, I couldn’t resist not mentioning that. Back on topic.
However, I found the point which has been reiterated thousands of times by aueters that “story is an agent or sequence of events” to be boring. Yes, we know! But I was then stopped in my condescending tracks as Ryan then proposes that “narrative discourse is those events represented” and that “narrative in this view is the textual actualisation of story, while story is narrative in a virtual form.” Did somebody say Korsakow. Now, this made me truly get why we are using Korsakow. It is an experimental, philosophical and entirely visceral experience, to which the auteur presents a different form of narrative to create a new ‘web’ of encoding and decoding the material presented to the recipient. This is truly artistic.

While having a think about Bordwell’s reading again (had read it in first year cinema studies) it made me think about how I would approach the sketch film. I found this clip on the internet after seeking inspiration from my Editing Media Texts sketch film from first year. This is what I found:

In this book I like the description and deconstruction of each element of narrative and storytelling. This was a re-affirmation of everything which I use in my filmakking, making for a great read!. They identify the cause-effect relationship as being the key construct of every narrative, to which I completely agree, as cause and effect/affect ultimately result in the key conflict and character development of every narrative. Without this, you would not have much of a story *cough* Tree of Life *cough* and therefore wouldn’t be very enjoyable for audiences. I like the way in which the reading incorporates the section of experimental cinema, as this will be imperative in the implementation of our Kosakow films. This is because using Korsakow as an interactive documentary with a narrative is quite avante grade in and of itself, therefore challenges the author/auteur to create a purely visceral experience which must relate to each other purely through the theme and atmosphere of the mise-en-scene, or it will not work.

Bjørn Sørenssen’s article describes how the remediation of film from the early 1900’s to today, has created an evolution of film and how narrative can be presented through different formats and styles. Sørenssen quotes “Astruc in Graham 1968” where he describes how “the day is not far off when everyone will possess a projector” and will hire out educational films at the “local bookstore” now known as video stores and progressively evolving into iTunes Movies or Pirate Bay for those delving in illegal piracy. This explains how he contends that the evolution of film being continuously appropriated and remediated will lead to a more accessible media via the internet, as opposed to just stopping at “local bookstores”. He then explains how “video stores are closer to the kind of superficial entertainment”, contradicting Astruc’s “wishful thinking of a French post-war intellectual” media stage. Astruc’s filmic style of using the camera “like a pen” as an author would write a book, is explaining how he became the new ‘avant-garde’. I’m not too sure how this connected to Sørenssen’s contention, but I can understand how the creator of the new avante garde for his time would be seen to have an influence on the remediation of filmic style as well as the accessibility of film through the introduction of 16mm footage in cinemas during the early 1930’s.

Antonioni would have to consider the cut between the first shot (tracking shot) of the protagonist, when the female counter-part runs upto him as he begins opening the door. The shot then jumps from a tracking shot – still, to a 45-degree angle mid shot, allowing for the female actress to run into the shot with perfect continuity and editing. Antonioni would have to consider allowing the actress to run into the shot again from a few paces back from where it was cut before, so that continuity would not falter. The male protagonist would have to remain in the same position, while the cameraman would have to be directed to stay in a position of this mid-shot, to allow for the actress to stop in the third column of the frame, allowing for perfect positioning in the frame. The director would also be keeping in mind that ‘the camera follows the actor’ and not the other way around. For him to direct the camera to capture this shot while being perfectly still, is an example of good directing and choreography. At 2:01, the director would also have to be careful in the camera’s positioning, as the actress swings around a small T shaped post to move away from the protagonist. As she swings around, the camera immediately swings around behind her, but while capturing the protagonist, kind of giving a backwards POV shot of the actress, capturing the protagonist. This shot would have to take in precautions of safety, as well as the stability of the camera. For example, you would have to make sure the actress doesn’t trip of the tracks, if they were used in this shot. The director would have to take into account the speed of the swing of the camera. If its light, it may tip over without the use of sandbags or weights. For the actors, they would have to be careful to not look into the camera in such a small space, which has been noted throughout the entire clip, as it did not happen even once.

Here I would like to show and example of how media has become integrated through different platforms and mediums.

As an example, I have hyperlinked a youtube video, which is connected with my google + account (Stokeward Film), as a result of a partnership between YouTube and Google to combine online video with social media. This is because of the “cultural shift” that Hight spoke about in the reading, resulting in a more online and multi-faceted media stage.

In the reading entitled ‘The field of digital documentary:
a challenge to documentary theorists’ Craig Hight, discusses how the mode of documentary making through film has transcended the barriers of film to cinema format, and has become formatted for crossing multiple mediums such as computers (internet), television, cinema and portable devices (tablets, smart phones, portable video players, etc.). He contends that the remediation of documentary film to a more multifaceted platform, as well as the use of portable and more durable video/audio recording devices, has allowed for the lines between amateur and professional documentary making to become blurred. He also notes how there is a “Radical shift in the basis of documentary culture”, as documentary has been “appropriated” as a ramification of the relationships between “old and new media” which has resulted in this modern way of integrated media, through web uploading and online streaming of mp4 files (video). From my understanding, I identify a reiteration of what he is saying multiple times, as he delves deeply into the specifications of the remediation of media and the internet as a media platform. It provoked me to think mostly about YouTube and how we can now link video with different social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. The relation to documentary, however, can be perceived in the modern day world by even the documentation of peoples everyday lives through ‘vlogging’ and the sharing of these videos to express their participation in popular culture of today. It is of my understanding that this reading is covering how media has been remediated and changed as a result of technology through the decades, and is now a product of integration between different platforms and mediums.

http://www.themediastudents.net/im1/2014/angus.ward/angus.ward.html

Angus Ward
S3436826

‘Scatology’ – 2013 Integrated Media Korsakow film.

‘Scatology’s content surrounds images of people doing social or relaxing activities, while being accompanied by recordings of different people with their responses to the two questions “what is your worst habit?” and “what is your favourite swear word?” The two pieces of content juxtaposition the moods in both forms of communication to its audience, as the relaxing and sometimes beautiful aesthetic of people doing daily pastimes, is cut into with profanity and crude descriptions of toilet humour. While the meaning behind all this could be interpreted as being quite avante garde, the author has intended to challenge audience perceptions and emotions of human behavior, through contrasting ‘naughty and nice’. With reference to Bordwell and Thompson’s ‘Film Art: An Introduction’ (New York, N.Y.:McGraw-Hill,2013. Print), the film does not adhere to narrative form as being a “chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space”, but it does however, convey a message about human behavior through a sequence of events in Western countries, around lunchtime. Everyone is depicted sitting, relaxing and either eating or preoccupying themselves with hobbies. This allows the audience to associate the context of these images into a narrative or relevant string of events, almost construing the avante garde into a linear narrative format. The purpose behind its altered narrative format, in my belief, is to engage the audience in interactive thought about what they are being presented, further engrossing them in the message about what the author is trying to convey.

The interface of ‘Scatology’ is laid out into three sections. One widget is the main displayed video, being in the forefront of the screen and at the top to hold the attention to that specific point. The other two widgets are adjacent to each other in the bottom right and left corners, featuring both pictures of a man and a woman, most commonly seen on the signs of public toilet doors. This layout represents both male and female toilet doors that are always adjacent to each other, adhering subtly to the title ‘Scatology’ which is the study of fecal (poo). This is obviously hinted to with reference to the public toilet being the place for people to use the toilet to excrete fecal. However, the actual positioning of all three widgets together forms a pyramid, leading up to the top widget, which is the main point of focus. The intention of the author, in my opinion, was to almost portray both men and women in the context of ‘toilet’ discourse, as being the same, and that all humans share the same disgusting and crude habits like everyone else, such as having their favourite swear word and “farting on crowded trains” as a bad habit. The film is very reflexive in this right, as it aims to convey a message about humanity, all bonded together in natural bodily functions and bowel movements.

The pattern, as to which the author uses to convey his/her message, revolves around the use of associating both male and female symbols with the video on screen featuring once again, both men and women. This pattern allows audience to associate the two similarities to form a meaning behind this strange sequence of events, making the viewer feel more comfortable, yet challenged by the content that they’re watching. The patterns of the camera angles of which the author chose to use also gives the audience a certain point of view on what they are watching. It is almost like an intimate connection with the subject’s actions, allowing for audiences to become immersed in the most specific details of the human form. This would then reconnect back to the subject matter of ‘toilet humour’ and defecation.

Judging by what I can see from this Korsakow video, the use of such strange juxtaposition of content, the pyramid layout in which they have place in order for audiences to focus on one point, while associating the two widgets below of significance, and the patterns of close ups and intimacy to reaffirm the message behind the film, can be seen as intentional, and therefore meaningful and effective in their way of communication and audience interactivity.