Cultural Attractors and cultural activators:
We believe our project draws in people with common interest yet it seems we are yet to extend to the realm of cultural activators. At this stage of development the role of the audience is very minimal in their involvement. In saying this though, in our story there are elements that invite the audience to interact. As individuals they are free to deface Jeff Shroud posters and to comment on the wide variety of online content and finally they are able to engage in our immersive theatre installation become predetermined characters in the story. This discussion feeds directly into the notion of interactive vs participatory and how I would categorise our transmedia story. In essence I believe it is interactive, Ned and I have a clear understanding our how the story is set up, conveyed and concluded. No amount of comments on our blog posts will affect the narrative. Yet it includes elements of a participatory story because through commenting and retweeting how the narrative is viewed is changed. Due to the fact it’s presented in real time the story has the potential to develop through external dialogue. The story that we intend to deliver will not deviate from what we set out to deliver but what surrounds its presentation could drastically change. I believe that due to the content of our story for it to change due to audience input would be somewhat unrealistic, A political candidate is unlikely to change their behaviour due to comments upon their blog post or youtube video. Instead the candidate is likely to respond in a professional manner to the comments enriching our existing story. When comparing our transmedia story to those Gambarato uses as examples ours appears to closely align to the participatory text, with some minor deviations.
Author: Mitchell Pirera (page 3 of 4)
Going into the pitch we knew we probably had too much content so Dan’s feedback was reassuring afterwards. I guess our think process was better to run out of time than to run out of content. Yet at the same time I feel that all of what we included was necessary to convey the project we wish to produce.
In retrospect, we did have a lot of narrative information that probably could have been substituted for more beneficial discussion around our intended platforms and justification for their implementation. Funnily enough, Ned and I believed that we withheld a great deal of the narrative intricacies that will flesh out the story. A lot of these side stories are going to be revealed in the installation and we want them to remain a surprise for audiences.
A more balanced pitch would have given a brief narrative overview but not focused so heavily upon the background of each character. Instead focusing on implementation and justification of platform choices and how the audience will navigate the story. I think that our structure was quite strong and we ensured that we had drawn audiences into the story and characters before revealing the mechanics and how we are going to implement the story. Due to the two distinct aspects of our narrative (Campaign and installation) we could have divided the pitch up to make this distinction more obvious.
Research for big project:
My Initial ideas for the final project were similar to something you might witness at a museum or location of historical importance. At these locations the story unfolds around you in a recreation of what has happened. Within this exhibition space there is a combination of the video, audio, photos and written text so that you can gain a greater understanding of the location or events that have transpired at some point in time. The narrative is particularly vivid due to the fact you are experiencing the story where it actually occurred. As a spectator you are witnessing pretty much exactly what was witness by the characters within the narrative or a reconstruction.
Within this assignment it would be fantastic to either recreate this museum/historical locale vibe. Presenting people with the opportunity to wander around a space where a story has occurred. As the audience wander around a room or collection of rooms they gain a greater understanding of what has transpired by reading reports, first hand accounts and diaries of those involved. Through video they can view events that have occurred in a constructed, traditional narrative form. From these videos spectators can then explore aspects of the story by physically exploring the exhibition area that is also the setting of the video.
On the other hand it would be exciting to explore a narrative that evolves live to an audience. Instead of people wandering around the ‘scene’ of a story which has happened prior they could wander around a space in which a story was unfolding live. The audience are then free to wander and explore aspects of the story they find intriguing. They could follow a particular character to gain insight into their life or stay in one area experiencing how events unfold in one location.
This idea particularly draws upon the work of the Punch Drunk theatre company and more specifically the Drowned Man production. In this production the audience are free to traverse a building gaining glimpses into the stories complexity from various characters they interact with. People’s experience of the performance is totally unique, their curiosity becoming a guide. Initially hearing about the notion from Dan it reminded me of secret concert Jack White held in London. Through a series of fake websites fans were able to sign up to experience the concert in which they were dressed in medical scrubs and taken through an abandoned ‘psychiatric’ hospital. It turns out that my tenuous link wasn’t so tenuous because Punch Drunk curated the event.
We aim to create an audio/visual/spatial experience for an audience to react to and piece together their own understanding of a particular narrative. This will be achieved through the use of various different mediums, such as a mock-viral marketing campaign; featuring posters and a variety of different online content, i.e. websites, blogs, in order to influence and direct the audience uncovering the story. The marketing campaign will ultimately lead to a ‘grand’ event that will take place on a designated date, at a predetermined time and place, within RMIT. During this event the climax of the narrative will presented through a spatial experience that will feature many different mediums, such as print, video, audio, physical objects, in a constructed live-reality experience, for the audience to interpret and decipher independently in real-time, in order to gain closure from the narrative.
Rules of Collaboration:
1. Discuss project development periodically at least once a week.
2. Creative direction is shared and should be the responsibility of everyone.
3. All decisions regarding the project must be unanimously agreed upon.
4. All conflict will be resolved in a professional manner, with the quality of the project being the main priority.
5. This project will not seek to offend any parties but to challenged and intrigue, as our primary objective is to convey the narrative and the underlying morals it seeks to instil.
Ultimately I was somewhat unhappy with my essay and it was nice to be able to reattempt to articulate what I had tried to explain within it. It was also a relief to express some on the ideas I was unable to explore or expand upon in my essay. Ideas I thought carried importance but weren’t included due to my novice understanding and the vast amounts of content that exist. When beginning the essay my thinking was that music would evoke emotions within audiences that the music has set out to evoke. Yet when researching I discovered that within music there is the notion of narrative in two senses. One being the story or emotional journey the musician is narrating whilst the second is the narrative of the music’s composition, including compositional devices and how it adheres to conventions of its genre. This wasn’t something I had initially foreseen, so the essay I wrote was a complete stranger to the one I had in mind.
Listening to other people’s presentation I was intrigued by the avenues that were taken by the people who explored the same prompt. I was somewhat envious of other’s exploration of albums and their exploration of the ‘album’ as a platform. If I were to write this particular essay again there is no doubt I would explore the implications of the album format potentially exploring the idea of Side A and B. This divide in the music often dictates an albums structure and a concept I find intriguing.
My understanding of story has contradictory both solidified and incredibly transitional. In the past month, my ideas have changed so often that I have come to terms with the fact that this understanding will probably never be concrete instead a fluid concept that warrants further exploration. Story at its core has the overarching idea of emotions, understanding of a world/ event. Due to the potential of vast amounts of non-linear content there isn’t necessarily a feeling of closure but acknowledgement and engagement.
White Night as an experience is successful when an individual has a detailed itinerary or the ability to stumble upon really cool things. Unable to stumble upon cool stuff I attempted to follow an itinerary. One of the few presentations I was really eager to see was the presentation of the Google Cube at ACMI. The idea behind the presentation was that a viewer devises their own short film through selection of a series of 6 scenes from a database of video content created by Steve Ayson and Damien Shatford from The Sweetshop.
My cumbersome description isn’t all that elegant so here is an excerpt of how Google describe it:
‘The cube allows filmmakers, musicians, artists and other creative to make interactive films which the viewer controls the narrative structure. Six films – for example six concurrent scenes, or a music track sung in six styles – are wrapped around a ‘cube.’”
I found it this installation particularly relevant to the course because the Cube acted as both the database, the six sides each containing another aspect of work, and the interface with people physically manipulated the cube to make their selection of the content presented.
It appears that so far I’m yet to go a semester of my tertiary studies without studying or at the least acknowledging Welles’ War of the Worlds. No complaints here and I guess that suggests it contains some important messages about media influence and construction. In listening to Radiolab’s deconstruction I was riveted to how events unfolded along discussion of the aftermath. The most fascinating aspect of the podcast wasn’t the radio play but the tension that existed between radio and the newspapers. The discussion of how Newspapers utilised the incident as metaphorical ‘smoking gun’ to try and cripple radio journalism. Newspaper published unreliable information hyping the panic the piece had created when it was broadcast. It was definitely refreshing to listen analysis of the event as opposed to the whole fiasco being used as a lazy example to demonstrate the hypodermic needle theory in discussion of the extent of media influence.
My interest was then only increased when discussion shifted to the incidents surrounding the repeated broadcasts across the globe. These events seem to be more indicative of the scripts ability to persuade others. I found it odd though I had never heard about any of these incidents, especially what transpired in Quito, considering the extensive panic and destruction it caused. This second incident seemed more malicious in its nature, which is kind of bizarre, but also frightening that content producers (re-users) could be so excited by inciting panic.
What I take from the events collectively is how interesting it is that in both incidents people either thought it were an enemy nation invading as opposed to extra-terrestrial intruders. In the Welles case Nazis were quickly the centre of the blame and in Quito Peru were feared to be the aggressors. It reveals People want to make sense of what they’re presented to form a tangible notion of reality. It is also evidence that the paranoia surrounding the Nazi regime and hostile neighbours infiltrates the average person’s psyche.
One quote from McKee that struck me as odd was that “a story cannot be told about a protagonist who doesn’t want anything.” As I started to deconstruct it quickly became incredibly philosophical. It isn’t possible for a character to not want anything. By not wanting anything do they purely want their life to remain the same? There are plenty of films in which the protagonist wants nothing more than their life to remain exactly as it has always been. Vertigo is one and there a plethora of other films which share an un-driven and disinterested protagonist. I guess this notion falls apart when the characters that wish for no change have to make decisions in order to continue their lives of no change.
McKee thinking about scripts.
Source: www.mckeestory.com
McKee also got me thinking about films in which the protagonist fails their conscious goal. I can’t think of a salient example as I write this but I’m positive there are films in which the protagonist falls short unable to fulfil what they set out to do. In these films would McKee suggest that the protagonist exhibits an unconscious goal of finding their physical limit? Could this unconscious goal instead be the protagonist wishing to change their attitude or behaviour? By failing to fulfil their conscious goal their subconscious goal is fulfilled and once again McKee wins at screenwriting.
The protest group ACTIV is based upon the ethos of a multitude of existing groups including the Socialist Alternative. ACTIV descent into moral ambiguity as their actions become increasingly more aggressive invites the audience to question how far they would go to fight for what they believe. Does their actions make them any better than the oppressive nature of the governments that they detest? ACTIV is presented as a flawed group whose fight to do what is right by thousands results in them destroying the life of one.
For the duration of the project my focus will be upon the ACTIV narrative thread, creating and maintaining email, twitter and blog accounts for the group. This maintenance includes regular postings as the group alongside digital publishing of journal articles from various members. To explore the inner turmoil of the group a variety of accounts will be created to post comments reflecting the various factions within the group. My interaction with this fictional protest group will extend to partaking in the defacing of Jeff Shroud posters and attacking his online presence. To maintain both authenticity and the mystery surrounding the group these activities will be carried out late at night or early in the morning. Hosting much of our narrative online and in our final installation experience we eliminate the need for a large crew and cast of actors. Ned and myself are able to take on the role of both writer and actor though our online characters.
Also by presenting a vast majority of the content we create online we open the story up to public viewing and hope that there will be, however little, some interaction with audiences outside of our course. Placing a number of posters around RMIT particularly focusing on building 9 we are attempting to minimise confusing the general public whilst also targeting an audience that is engaged with online media and potentially already involved in socialism or politics in general. By utilising social media platforms and digital links such as QR codes on our posters we hope it is simple for people to initially engage and then follow our narratives. Using twitter as a medium, we intend for the narrative to become just another part of the their endless newsfeed, a story they can follow with ease.
Throughout the two weeks prior to the final installation event Ned and myself will immerse ourselves into our respective roles of social media managers. In this period we intend to meet regularly to insure that content is posted at correct times that make sense within the two simultaneous narratives and that responses directly address the opposition’s post. Toward the end both Ned and myself will take on the role of Director as we begin to explore the way in which our presentation will take on an immersive theatre aspect. During this period we will start to work with a handful of actors who will facilitate the audience experience alongside us. As the presentation shifts to one of a spatial and performance experience our roles will also shift to curators. In this role we will select from the vast plethora of content we have created for each narrative thread plus content specifically created for the theatre installation.
As a whole we hope our project shatters the conventions of good verses evil and allows the audience to explore two simultaneous narratives as they interact with one another.
Wolf in White Van – John Darnielle
The novel opens with aftermath of a gruesome accident that leaves its protagonist and first person narrator, Sean, severely disfigured and isolated. Sean’s description of how the events transpire in an infinite loop is a precursor to the structure of the book. The gruesome accident acts as the climatic event of the book, with Sean’s life being explored both before and after throughout the novel. Amongst a sea of childhood memories, painkiller induced hallucinations and terse narration aspects of the accident and what lead up to it are revealed in reverse. The novel then concludes climatically with the accident narrated by an adolescent Sean. By this stage though the audience have already experienced the pain of the accident through Sean’s memories and have fair idea of the accident itself. In its gradual unravelling of this climax, Wolf in White Van shifts it’s emphasis away from the event itself and unto the protagonist’s emotional struggle.
Initially devised as a coping mechanism whilst bedridden, Sean envisions a dystopian role-play game The Trace Italian, which later becomes his livelihood. Within the confines of this mail-based game Sean provides not only himself but also a number players an escape from reality. The inclusion of this game within the narration lends the book a ‘pseudo transmedia’ structure. In times of heightened anxiety or stress Sean’s narration will disappear to be replaced by moves from his role-play game. It is through this elliptical nature the audience come to understand the games importance in his life and how it’s ability to shield him from the pained memories that much of the novel is comprised of. The audience is not privy to Sean’s true emotions and like him are presented a crafted reality to forget the pain and confusion. Not only are the readers experiencing Sean’s emotions but also those of the numerous players who also use Trace Italian as a refuge from aspects of their own lives.
The narrative is also punctuated with small passages that players send Sean to justifying their moves throughout the game. The passages are often nonsensical left vague and unexplained; the audience left grappling with their meaning alongside Sean who attempts to make sense of them allowing players to advance in the game. These jarring interruptions enhance the database like nature of the novel, lending external voices to Sean’s first person recount of events.
Sean forms a narrative for the players of The Trace Italian, out of what is essentially a database of turn and their possible outcomes. Sean becomes an active part in the interface the players use to access the database that is The Trace Italian as a narrative. The one anomaly in its narrative form is that it’s impossible for the game to be completed. Sean has constructed the game in a way that a player can exist within The Trace Italian database without ever reaching the games end. This database structure mirrors the novels construction; vast arrays of material all drawn from the database of Sean’s mind to the form a narrative.
Preface
YouTube: The Ebb and Flow of the Sea of Video
Rebecca Bozin
Mitchell Pirera
Preface:
This Mixed Media Essay exploring the ways in which YouTube has influence both the production and viewing of video content has been presented as series of blog posts. In doing so we hope to reveal our abilities as Network literate content producers whilst focusing the actual content of the piece upon YouTube its and the discourse which surrounds the platform’s presentation of the video. Presented as individual blog posts this essay will explore a different subject, in doing so we allow the reader to traverse the essay at will. This allows the reader consume particular posts in isolation or as a part of a larger work. The feed nature of a blog in which time order dictates post’s position eludes to only one of many combinations the piece can be read in. The decision to present our essay is influenced both by the content of our writing and also the platform itself. Discussing YouTube in relation to hypertext is something that fits within the Media Factory platform on wordpress allowing peers to read and interact with hopefully discussing ideas they find relevant to their own research. The blogging platform allows for us to add categories and tags to the post, so that the post can exist as an identified group but aren’t isolated on an external web server and can be easily located. We have grouped all posts under the category of “YouTube: The Ebb and Flow of the Sea of Video” and then each post has individually tagged to reflect the content of the post. This tagging allows for people outside of the RMIT to find our assignment and for readers to discover other pieces of writing exploring the same subject.
Focusing upon the platform of YouTube we are going to explore the ways in which video content consumption has been altered due the networked nature of its presentation. Film has always being an art form dictated by the director shaped by the hands of an auteur. Within modern platforms the notion of the “creator” has paradoxically been diminished and made central to consumption. Diminished in the fact we now consume video amongst a stream of information, as consumer picking and choosing the content we watching, changing freely between content. Within this freedom to change between videos provides the consumer with an ultimately unique experience and understanding of a producer or group of works, creating their own montage sequence, interspersed with ads. A video collage in which the intentions of the videos creator no longer provide a guide for the consumer, who consumers what they like, how they like. The platform of YouTube on the other empowers the creator alongside the viewer with a clear online identity. This identity however carefully structured with its library of content becomes yet another aspect in audience understanding of the content. As a producer and more recently a produser our creation and then archiving of our own video content has become in some aspects more simplistic to distribute but more complex in its presentation within a networked environment.
Footnote:
No longer is the neutral state of being static. Progression and change is now the constant of not only the society we live in but also the technology and content we create. These changes are a reflection of a consumption habits and the trends in manufacturing. No longer are products built to last and corporations capitalise on people’s need for their latest product. Whether, as humans, our need for change as facilitated this or whether technology has caused this shift it is an issue of great complexities. What’s clear though is that it is near impossible to remain static. Without fail a new version of iTunes will be required every few months, with only the slightest improvements and changes, something as small as bug fixes, but it’ll be a required download regardless.
Problem solving is now a process of progression and software no longer has to operate perfectly. Issues can now be resolved at a later date, through updates. How does this then reflect the way in which we publish content? Far from the days of new editions we are able to update the works that we have authored with the click of a bottom. No longer do we as producers of content have to be so guarded about our published content, as it is far easier to revise and adapt.
Film in its essence can be described as the creation of meaning through the juxtaposition of images. Within its film context the director and editor dictated the way in which the montage evoked the idea of an event or theme. As Eisenstein one of the Soviet founding fathers of montage described it as ‘tendentious selection and juxtaposition free from narrowly fictional tasks, molding the audience in accordance with its goal.’ The power of this juxtaposition is revealed within the Kuleshov effect in which the reading of a particular character’s face is dependent upon the point of view shot it is placed next to. The reaction shot of the character remains the same yet the meaning of the particular image is fluid. Below is the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock and his demonstration of the effect.
Expanding this effect then to the traditional cinema it is clear to see that knowledge is accumulated as audiences are presented with shots. Whether this knowledge is thematic with images being associational or knowledge of a constructed place, is dependent upon the director’s intentions for the sequence. On further expansion to digital platforms, for instance Youtube, the creator no longer has total control of the edits or cuts the viewer will experience. At any moment the consumer is able to shift to another video, clicking on an external link or suggested video, creating their own cut. ‘Meaning is not inherent in any one shot but is created by the juxtaposition of shots (Shields 2011)’ so then it could said a new meaning is created in this consumer decision to cut between videos.
Say for instance, you were to shift away from a horror clip to a nostalgic video of a children’s programs the child’s program could take upon a disturbing tone that is only due to what it resides next to. In this instance the idea of dualism is used to create an uneasy feeling, juxtaposition the obviously evil with content traditionally seen as light-hearted and familiar. On the other hand, many of us do not in fact use YouTube as means to shift between our fetish of horror and guilty pleasure of early episodes of Playschool. We use Youtube in variety of ways; a common way of traversing the database is to consume videos of the same genre, with much the same content explored. In this sense YouTube not only takes upon the form of a montage sequence evoking endless un-intentional meanings it also takes upon the form of a collage. In which elements consisting of some form come together in a why not originally intended to form something either consistent in aesthetics or content.
Instead of the changing of videos being a series of cuts in which the audience is forced to make connections, they are viewing them as having tenuous thematic links. ‘Only in the aggregate do these produce a tangential effect similar to and often stronger than the effect of the fact itself (Eisenstein, 1924).’ It is not montage in the sense of understanding a particular sequence it is rather understanding of a particular artist, theme or topic.
Footnote:
Intention has never meant anything; a reader/consumer will always bring their own ideas and views to a reading of a text or information. Now, in the digital age, not only does the reading of text exist within constant flux but also the presentation. Information presented online, is inherently networked. Information, articles, videos exist within a sea of information.
In an overtly simplistic and menial example, our intentions can be misconstrued on social media sites such as Facebook. When posting, sharing or commenting whatever we say is read in relation to the comments and etiquette of the platform. Sharing a particularly political article our intentions of discussion are undercut by profane comments. In this instance it appears we have purely posted to incite anger or disrespect.
In the delivery of information, we may decide to link (or in the case of blogging, embed) a RSS feed, which continually updates with posts relating to the content of our particular post. By linking to the feed, we eliminate the need for us to write and post unnecessary information and for the reader to have to search elsewhere for a greater understanding. This is particularly salient for us, as content producers, who have to realise that as people, we never view or read anything in isolation and that our discussion of ideas can be freed of description
YouTube comprises approximately 10% of all internet usage, with uploading videos, managing, sharing and watching them eradicating all difficulty with their easy to use, integrated platform. More importantly, it started a realm of interconnectivity and eliminating the barrier between different videos which kept them as standalone units of content. Now, in our new generation of online video sharing, we’re seeing the ways of interconnecting each video through a recommendation system, relevant video responses and a multitude of playlists to tie in all videos into one handy spot. Videos are now able to be uploaded flawlessly, converted from a multitude of formats and to be tagged by relevant keywords. Not only are they easy to upload and view, in true produser fashion, they’re easy to share, with the ability to email links to them or embed them on a web page or blog. For example:
Any user can comment on and rate videos which will, consequently, make a video go viral and have the whole world talking about it. Communities and groups are now enabled from the social networking that exists in YouTube, as “videos are no longer independent from each other, and neither are users” (Cheng, Dale, Liu. 2007). Because of the montage that the progression of YouTube has now allowed for, there is so much more meaning created when two or more videos are placed together. Users being allowed to comment, rate and make video responses also plays on the fact that in our modern society we are all becoming produsers, and that videos will never exist in isolation and that from the comments, ratings and responses, we are now creating a whole new meaning through this two-way interactivity.
The YouTube recommendation system works in amazing ways to not only suggest videos to users, but to also gather data and knowledge about the types of videos and content that users are interested in, as to create more targeted content for them. Playlists / montages can also be created from the knowledge of what people enjoy watching and find relevant to their interests. It’s been counted that recommendations account for around 60% of all the video clicks from the home page.
When discussing the ways in which hypermedia and hypertext writing has extended beyond the confines of purely writing text we can begin by looking at the writing of Ted Nelson, the man who coined both terms. In his discussion of Project Xandu system (an alternative to the World Wide Web) Nelson discusses the freedom the consumer has to navigate between documents and pieces of text to gain a greater understanding. Although his ideas a discussed in relation to his system which rivals that of the internet we interact with today, many of the ideas are transferable. Existing within a networked exists are collection of information is no longer a linear reading of a particular text. We know assimilate smaller pieces of information from a variety of sources of a variety of formats that coexist with video, images and music. Instead of gleaning our understanding from a single document before moving our attention to another we are more likely to shift between ‘series of text chunks connected by links which offer the reader different pathways (Nelson, 1992),’ ensuring our knowledge encapsulates countless viewpoints.
In this discussion it is important to note that although information is now presented in smaller packages of information linking to other packages which explore similar information, these packages exists within a stream of information. In relating ideas of hypertext to the YouTube platform it is clear that the accumulation of information is essential in it’s design and use. Within the platform of YouTube every video in itself is a packet of information, conversely each user is themselves another source of information. This information is then embedded in the stream of information that is YouTube. Like the ideas explored within Nelson’s writing the viewer is empowered and free to follow their interest whilst the producers themselves are also free to present their content in a way which ‘better reflect the structure of what [they} are writing about; and readers, choosing a pathway, may follow their interests or current line of thought in a way heretofore considered impossible (Nelson, 1992).’ The consumer is able to navigate content by following the suggested videos, consume videos within a predetermined playlists or by accessing the work of a particular user. Here they are able to tailor their experience to their needs typically consuming videos and content within a stream that is constructed both by the platform’s interface but also their own discretion. For the producer, they are able to shape their work by dividing content into an episodic nature, released periodically revealing the information over time. Alternatively the information presented within a YouTube video could be introductory with the body of work existing on an external platform. The networked nature of YouTube places both the consumer and producer in a heightened position of importance, the viewer has in themselves become an editor of their own narrative of information where they dictate the way in which they traverse this stream. The creator then also has a freedom in the ways in which they present the work within this stream, finding the ideal way in which content should presented as a reflection of the content that it contains.
In our futures as aspiring video content producers, it’s important that we have the skills and knowledge in realising that we will not stand alone as only producers. We have the power to realise that we are not purely media makers, we have the technology, skills and resources right at our very fingertips to take initiative to innovate and to come up with new, diverse ideas and content. We are produsers above all, and “under an industrial model of content production, such boundaries were clear-cut, as we have already seen: only industrial producers and, to a more limited extent, distributors were directly involved in production processes while audiences were cast simply in the role of consumers” (Bruns, 2008). Unlike in modern society now, where the users and producers are meshed into one. This is shown in, not only our creating media and content, but also in using previously created media to influence the products of our labours.
The changing ways of video consumption will allow us to provide and experience media in extremely diverse ways; in ways that are much more proactive and innovative than what we may have experienced in the past. No longer do the days exist where a business would approach us, as media and video content producers, and we will make them an advertisement video. Instead, now, we suggest a plethora of options of ways to advertise for their business.
Footnote:
It’s often wondered if just anyone can be a produser, and that’s completely correct. Anyone who has access to technology has the capability of not only being the sender but also the receiver. There have been new media technologies developed which allow for better access, connectivity and interactivity. This allows for a large range of people to share their knowledge to be evaluated by others, and therefore creates a ‘collective intelligence’ which anyone can contribute to (Flew 2008). Today, social media allows you to share your photos, thoughts, life, videos and music all on different platforms, with everyone with a phone or computer having access to it.
Although this new media allows us to have a great power, there are some that do not contribute to the strict definition of being a produser. Not everyone has a blog, not everyone posts ranting comments on public forums or edits Wikpedia pages if or when they find incorrect information. This said, it can be argued that updating something as small and seemingly insignificant as a Facebook status, liking a Facebook page or sharing YouTube videos allows us to contribute to this ‘collective intelligence’. While many and lots of people don’t want to be seen, they can very easily want to be heard.
Although grounded in the rich history of film, YouTube provides media produsers with the possibilities of creating videos that exist within a stream of information. The form of each video can be fluid and diverse in its construction, reflecting content within the confines of YouTube interface. Within this platform the consumer is also empowered to become an integral aspect in the way in which they understand content embedded within a stream of information.
Citations
Bruns, A 2008, Blogs, Wikipedia, Second life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage, Peter Lang, New York.
Cheng, X., Dale, C., Liu, J 2007. Understanding the Characteristics of Internet Short Video Sharing: YouTube as a Case Study, Simon Fraser University, Canada, pp. 1-9.
Eisenstein, S 1924, ‘Montage of Film Attractions’ in Leyda, J & Voynow Z (eds) 1982, Eisenstein at Work, Pantheon Books, New York.
Nelson, TH 1992, Literary Machines 91.1: The Report On, and Of, Project Xanadu Concerning Word Processing, Electronic Publishing, Hypertext, Thinkertoys, Tomorrow’s Intellectual Revolution, And Certain Other Topics Including Knowledge, Education and Freedom, Mindful Press, US.
Shields, D 2011, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, Vintage, New York.
Turnbull, S 2010, ‘Imagining the Audience’, in Cunningham, S & Turnbull, B eds, The Media & Communications in Australia, 3rd edn, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, pp. 65-78.
Bibliography
Burgess, J., Green, J 2009, YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, Polity Press, UK.
Flew, T 2008. New Media: an introduction, 3rd Ed. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press.
Miles, A 2007, Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge, Screen Education Autumn. 45, pp. 24-30
There are always events I’m aware of and don’t attend. I’m not sure why I don’t go but I usual regret it that day or in the coming weeks.
Anthony Fantano AKA The Needle Drop is a music reviewer, who I’m yet to decide if I love or hate. I always find his videos difficult to turn off because he knows so much about music. I don’t always agree with him and then sometimes I think his word is gospel. He’s been in Australia recently primarily as a speaker at Big Sound in Brisbane and he’s done talks in Melbourne and Sydney as well.
I didn’t go to his talk in Melbourne so instead I’ve ironically read a review written by Wax Volcanic.
Source: theneedledrop.com
He is also a vegan.
This year has been saturated with critically acclaimed music releases which I have awaited with relish.
Some of these I have been enthralled with and listened to numerous times escaping to the sonic landscape. With just under three months of the year there is plenty still to come not to mention the countless records I haven’t yet been able to devour in their entirety (FKA Twigs’ LP 1, Pallbearer’s Foundations of Burden, Future Island’s Singles…just to name a few).
There is an album that is making October 3rd look like it’s going to be a great day. The record is none other than Flying Lotus’ You’re Dead! To be totally honest I get lost within the music of Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, unsure of what to think or how to react. He creates an immersive listening experience that draws from an eclectic palette of genres.
The pedigree of this album is phenomenal.
Having Herbie Hancock feature on a couple of tracks alone would spark my immediate interest. If there is anyone in the world who knew how to play keys correctly it would be him. Secondly, my favourite Bass man Thundercat is present throughout. A long time collaborator of Ellison’s the Cat’s bubbly and frenetic bass lines beautifully compliment the spacey and glitchy production Flylo is known for. Then there are the variety of vocalists who appear including Snoop Dog (Lion), Kendrick Lamar and Ellison himself as his Captain Murphy moniker. Lets face it, nothing beats the Captain’s cult influenced dark flow.
Supposedly Kimbra also appears alongside Laura Darlington on a track which in my opinion is yet another reason to get excited for this release. Hopefully this album is a showcase of what can be created when geniuses of different musical disciplines come together and not a case of “too many cooks in the kitchen.”
I hope that in years to come I cherish this album as much as Bitches Brew which was Miles Davis being really progressive and weird. I really liked that album. I really want to like this album too. For more on the album check out Pitchfork’s interview with Flylo himself.
Usually I love Apple because everything is shiny, sleek and designed in California.
Today though Apple have pulled off the biggest cover up since Utegate.
By unveiling both the iWrist and iPhone 6 they have diverted everyone’s attention away from the fact that they have discontinued the iPod Classic, the greatest product Apple has ever created. It is a sad day for all us pretentious music nerds who feel that they must carry 160 GB of music with them at all times. For those of you going into shock and need the truth check it out on Pitchfork.
I guess this means that I will hold my own Classic a little bit closer at night uncertain of our future together.
This is true love.
I couldn’t work out which poor taste joke to end on so here is both.
It’s as if Steve Jobs has died a third time (The second time he was killed by Ashton Kutcher).
The iPod Classic has joined Steve in the great iCloud in the sky.
Powerful combination of music and imagery that subverts a classic narrative.
Oneohtrix Point Never.
“Here’s a good thing to do if you go to a party and you don’t know anybody: First take out the garbage. Then go around and collect any extra garbage that people might have, like a crumpled napkin, and take that out too. Pretty soon people will want to meet the busy garbage guy. ”
-Jack Handy
For the past week and a bit I’ve been chipping away at a bit of a review/summary of a film I saw with Michael and Berk at the Melbourne International Film festival. Whenever I go to write some more I get distracted or give up so here’s the trailer plus a semblance of what I managed to write. I would highly recommend it if you’re in to long Russian films filled with gore, public urination and crazy medieval people.
Going into a film knowledgeable of it’s mammoth 3 hour running length does influence your reading of it but I feel that if I didn’t know this I would have felt even more confined by the world presented in Hard To Be A God. For anyone who witnessed Aleksei Yuryevich German’s swan song at MIFF without the knowledge of it’s running time must have felt completely imprisoned in the claustrophobia of the film unaware it would ever reach a conclusion. Like the films protagonist Don Rumata a human scientist sent to a far away planet to study it’s transition from medieval life into prosperity, we the audience felt far from earth, longing for comfort.
The film drudged through long takes of sheer brutality, the camera situation amongst the bustling panicked scenes. Dialogue was delivered alongside grunts, wails and screams directly to the face of the listener so as not to be lost amongst the din of its medieval setting. The film kept the audience at a constant state of unease as characters struggles in confined locations.
Every single monochromatic shot was dripping with mud, the medieval setting of the film was purely horrific. This film made even the most stark and brutal representation of this age look glossy and romanticised. Each shot features some form of rotting food or carcass covered in mud. Black Blood mixed with mud and water, becoming just another layer of grime the characters existed within.
The film took the audience in a vicious head and did not relent. So often the camera was shoved in the face of grotesque looking beings before swinging wildly to follow the action. Scene would draw on without a cut, every setting rich with characters, the camera just another bewildered onlooker. This style was incredibly alienating and blurred the distinction between omniscience and whether we were watching the film through the eyes of bewildered character. Chills went through my spine almost every time a character looked directly into the camera chuckling or staring blankly. It was truly as if like the Don we had come to this planet and were stuck there observing helplessly as vile and violent life carried on.
Due to the films brutal honesty moments of comedy were bizarre and cruel. I did not find myself alone chuckling, as the Don was attack with a giant fish upon entry into a rival’s keep. Even in the most horrific scenes of battle, failing arms became pantomimic.
Don Rumata’s longing for Earth was evident in moments of silence, juxtaposing the frantic and confonting scenes. The camera draws back no longer another character in these confrontations. These scenes usually focus on Don as he sits in a rare moment of peace ,clearly longing for home, planet Earth. The audience share his feelings of alienation and longing for home. Once again we are one of Don’s colleagues longing to return to a world where poverty and disease does not lurk around every corner of crumbling stone. At the conclusion of the film we the audience are given our freedom, unlike Don Rumata whose only connection to the Earth he loves is the smooth jazz he plays on his primitive saxophone as he drudges on….
In this image is my car and my great neighbour Arie.
This image is also one that I took for Writing Media Texts last semester.
In it I was attempting to channel the work of Gregory Crewdson, who creates highly constructed cinematic images. I find his work really quite eerie and alienating. The fact that his images are almost always set in suburbia they have a nostalgic feeling, almost as if you remember the scene walking home from school or in a trashy 90s film. A friend of mine also said that my image reminded her of Google Maps which gives it another creepy sort of voyeuristic element.
Looking back I feel that I could have stage the image a whole lot better. The body was far to close to the car and any yuppy with half a brain can tell that the dry patch of the road reveals where my car was parked moments before. I feel that I could have also enhanced the mood of the piece if I had spent more time adjusting the camera settings.
Thanks Arie for being a great model.
Like the past 5 symposiums I drifted between an avid listener and abuser of social media. One second I would enjoying the banter between Betty and Adrian (making sure to keep an eye on Elliot) and then a split second later I would be giggle at Kenton’s wit in a facebook message. I made this admission because I feel somewhat guilty but also because it’s networked media and I feel that there could be some future potential in linking the two things together. I’m aware that many other students blog during the symposium and I wonder what would happen if were all to share our questions and information on Mediafactory. Adrian could be live posting links to particular articles or examples of hypertexts instead of just showing them on the projector. Whilst Elliot elaborates upon an idea, Betty could link everyone to a blog post she saw earlier in the week that was particularly relevant (whilst we were obviously still listening to Elliot).
For the sake of this post I hope that this doesn’t already happen and I look like a fool. For my own sake I hope that it does and come week 7 Symposium I’ll be part of the Mediafactory party (instead of laughing at Kenton’s message).
Any idea that seems to be undercurrent in all of the symposiums is that culturally we demand our narratives to conclude or to end. This goes hand in hand with the media form. It isn’t possible to have a book without a last page or a film without a final shot. This is an issue of the medium itself as opposed to the story or content. When thinking about this in film I always remember the Falls Festival 2012/13 where Sampology mixed video and music together for his set. DJs in a sense re propagate music to create something new, songs purely becoming chunks of a greater piece. This notion is overtly simplistic but reminiscent of hypertext with a piece being constructed of numerous parts that viewed on their own would be contained works. What I guess I’m getting at is that if we started to think of video in a similar sense it would be a step towards a media that did not have to have a final shot. Instead of editing video we thought of it as mixing, bringing in footage from differing works as a means to convey an idea or mood. This thought was also inspired by the discussion of hyper videos and being able to view different aspects of a video on demand, the viewer dictating its structure.
Just imagine that every creative commons stock footage clip was linked to another/multiple clip(s) that created some form of meaning or narrative.
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