Remember when you were a little kid and you went to go do a drawing? You know what you’re doing, you’re pumped, you’re primed and ready to go. You think to yourself “oh boy, I’m going to draw the best truck ever!” then after what seems hours toiled away at work, a parent comes along and says “awesome looking turtle!”. Remember that feeling? There are two ways you can take this. Option 1: “NO! IT’S CLEARLY A TRUCK, LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE! IT’S A TRUUUUCK!”, or option 2: “dang. I guess it is a pretty swell turtle”. Now, I’m not saying that this production has gone as far astray as turtles from trucks, BUT… It has become evident that clearly things don’t work out quite as expected in every way, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Were we able to fully replicate the stylisation we were going after? Not quite, but nonetheless, what we did achieve was what I view as a fairly clear parody of it. Admittedly our organisation has not been the best so far. Plans sat on the table for weeks as the due date drew closer, and little had been done: it seems as though the vast majority of this piece has been produced in a mad rush, and it shows in the work. Again, by no means is that a bad thing though. That’s how we’ve come up with the best things within the piece. Hours could be spent sitting down trying to make a script and still not compare to what’s written in a half hour brainstorm. I think this video has helped us realise how we all work; hard, fast and better engaging as a team (for the love of god please don’t take that sentence out of context). The script and skeleton of the video was made in a rush, so why not the video itself? Maximise the cheapness! What better way to make something look bad than actually being bad at it? Ironically enough, in failing to achieve the original vision, we became bad at being bad, but what we made was still successfully ‘bad’… are we idiots or geniuses? This is only the ‘halfway’ point, so I guess only time will tell.
Jokes and learning experiences aside,  it’s been fantastic being able to work as a group again with a common goal as well as a sense of humour. Working in the studios for the first time was a thrill, as well as a little overwhelming with the future potential for the space and what uses we’ll have for it. Suffice to say, I look forward for more.

We may have gone off the beaten track so far, but hopefully we’ll still reach our destination.

It’s funny. It is said that the necessity of restriction breeds creativity; that ingenuity is born out of what we lack, yet here I am with almost boundless resources, materials, stylisations and stimulus at my disposal, but I am trying, which said resources, to replicate the styling of a much more restricted era. So why stop with just one restriction? Why not visit a time so warped, so politically, socially, creatively, technologically restricted, yet so innovative and free that it is looked upon with adoration and pure nostalgia? It is this which drew us to the undeniable charm of the 80’s.

It wasn’t going to be an easy task however. We would have to look into what makes the 80’s the 80’s – what are the signifiers of the era and how can we recreate them to effectively mimic it? It wasn’t the fashion, it wasn’t the political context of the time, it wasn’t even the colour palette (although we do plan on using that heavily), for us, to do this correctly, we had to focus on unadulterated and overly forward yet passive sexualisation and aggression of the time. A time in which had the façade of being so conservative in values, but with a strong counterculture that had now consumed the majority, with everything sex, drugs, and pop, being at the fore of culture. We aim to parody this forwardness in taking it to the extreme, but it is easy to forget that what we propose to do isn’t even that farfetched for the time, and much of what was a reality then, would seem a pastiche of its own self now. How do you make fun of something that has already become a joke on its own? Simplify the key points and kick it into overdrive of course! You’re on a live show! Want to embellish on sex? Have intercourse with your guests. Want to talk about drugs? Have it as the main ingredient in your cooking section! Want to talk about violence? Use sponsors to try and sell guns to children on air! The list goes on. The 80’s got away with shit that no one could possibly dream of now, and that’s why I bloody love it. It’s outrageous, its absurd, and it honestly doesn’t even seem like it could have been real in hindsight, but I guess that’s why it pertains such a strong sense of nostalgia. It was far from perfect, but it was certainly unique. It had charm and style (or a lack thereof), and that’s what we aim for our look to achieve. If it can be done convincingly enough and pull off the tone of the 80’s, then it’s a success in my view, (although that won’t stop us in trying to make it as well as we can in accordance to fit the criteria of the assessment).

oH My G0d, BlOg pOsTs.