re wrote creativity essay

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Creativity
Emily Haynes
Re – written

‘Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers in your own experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions’? 25 marks 30 mins

‘The making of the new and the re arranging of the old’ this is a quote from Benteley 1997, creativity is over coming problems, I feel I have taken my interest in media, films, advertising and art (a consumers role) and created something of my own (being a producer.) This opportunity has been given to me through technology; a perfect example is Photoshop, which I used mainly in A2 to produce a magazine advert and a CD digipak. I gathered ideas from my natural creativity, knowledge of Photoshop, and inspiration from excising products, which links to Benteley’s quote.

My first media task in As was a prelim, where we had to film somebody walking through a door. I used my skills from photography, and previous experience to create a short clip which involved a wide variety of different shots such as pan, long shot and a upwards shot by using a cam-corder and a tripod. I edited my shots on a Mac, where I added different transitions such as fades to add a creative slant to an other wise boring clip. The Mac’s enabled me to edit each shot to the length I wanted, and add sound effects for tension.

The main As task I created a film opening, based on skins. This again relates to Benteley’s quote, I took something excising, which I was a consumer of and became a producer by creating my own version. I again used a tripod and camera, this time I was more experience and therefore more creative. The very opening was photographs very quickly edited flashing on the screen and then it went into the filming, which involved different scenes and many more camera angles. I again edited this on a Mac which meant I could create a film opening which involved a variety of transitions, different paced editing, and credits involving the filming in the letters.

For my A2 coursework I used my knowledge from As to create a stop motion music video, to ‘The Fear’ by Lily Allen, I used a acoustic version which I found on You Tube and downloaded the MP3 song using a website then adapted it, by fading it using Adobe Premier, a windows media editing program, (consumer to a producer, taking something old and making it new, Benteley.) I also used this program to edit my stop motion. I created it by using a camera positioned in exactly the same place with a tripod. This was a difficulty because I had the tripod at such an angle to create a point of view shot on a piece of paper, it was falling over so I had to tape it my floor. My stop motion idea was to use Lily Allen’s ‘The Fear’ video as a bases and create my own version as a piece of art, gradually being created. I had to take over 900 photos of each stage of my art work to create this effect. Adobe Premier, meant I could edited each photograph to the specific time, which I decided on from using the words and beats of the song, which I got off a lyrics website, this saved time from writing out the words from listening to the song, and therefore meant I had more time to edited my stop motion animation.

I used Barthes symbolic code and culture code, which are the only conventions I applied, as I wanted my music video to be different and post modern. The colours and items in my work are symbolic of Lily Allen’s style and music videos, also the massive difference is there is no ‘Lily Allen’ in the video, which I didn’t want because the idea is to show that the key aspect is that its about the music not her. And the cultural code fits in because Lily Allen is British, I feel these aspects may help audiences understand the context of the text but they don’t confuse audiences who don’t. It can be enjoyed on two levels, a post modern aspect.

For my research and inspiration for my art work as a stop motion I mainly used You Tube. I found animations which inspired me, chopped them to the specific aspect I liked on Tube Chop then using the embedding code uploaded them to blog, for me to write about, others to look at and to evaluate whether or not to use this idea. This use of digital technology helped me have all my inspirations in one place, to help me form more ideas and pick out the best bits. I took inspirations from the internet and created something of my own, digital technology turns media consumers into media producers.
This is something that happens constantly with digital technology for example consumers take something (i.e. a photo or video) off someone’s blog, flickr, You Tube or facebook adapt it by downloading, saving, editing it on Photoshop, paint, Mac, windows movie maker or another editing programme then re-upload it. This is post modern and is made possible by digital technology. This is continually happening, and evolving, people are adding there own touch on everything, and this links to, Jones’s 1993 idea that ‘A process needed for problem solving … not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people.’ I feel technology has made this statement true.

In conclusion, I believe I have taken my interest in media (being a consumer) and created versions of my own (being a producer.) This has been made possible though digital technology and my natural creativity. So I believe that it is a mixture, yes digital technology has made me more creative because without the technology I would not have been able to create a stop motion animation music video.

24 Hour Party People

In what ways is 24 Hour Party People a postmodern text?

24 Hour Party people, about the 70’s rave music movement considering the life Tony Wilson’s but mainly about what was going on around him musically, historically and personally in Manchester (Madchester!) The title of the film is the name of Happy Monday’s first album name, so this would attract a different audience, and could be considered postmodern.
Tony Wilson set up a record company first called ‘Factory,’ which had to main bands Joy Division and New Order. Then later Happy Mondays with Sean Rider who Wilson refers to as a legend, directly to the audience by breaking the 4th wall, which is a postmodern aspect, as it changes the feel of the text it makes you feel very involved and as if they are talking to you. The film includes many references to historical events and people such as the creation of the wheel, titanic, Nazi’s, Beatles and Andy Warhol which today’s audience can still relate to even though the film is set 30 years ago. Tony Wilson makes reference to Icarus, a fictional character which also involves audiences who know about the story, but doesn’t affect audiences who do not, I find this postmodern as it involves audiences on two different levels. Also Tony Wilson attempt to create a new mythology whilst referring to ancient myths which makes him sound interesting and gives you an insight into what he was like. (This could relate to Baudrillard, what is the reality?) But then audiences may doubt the truth of what is being told, is this a trust worthy version of what happen? I think that the fact that the film asks questions and makes us doubt are self adds to postmodern elements in the film. Because of all of the reasons above the film may appear humorous or ironic to certain audiences. I feel this brings in Barthes codes; the film is definitely for a British audience as the whole film is bases on the cultural code. Tony Wilson’s seems very ironic, but I feel this was just his personality, but some audiences may find this comical or annoying which creates a different view for each individual viewer, which makes the film postmodern.
Tony Wilson loved Manchester and wanted to make Manchester a ‘cool’ place over London. Near the beginning of the film the Sex Pistols (London, punk) gigged at The Free Trade Hall in 1976, Manchester, only 42 people attended and most of them ended up involved in the Manchester 70’s movement. This is shown to the viewer by a recreation but also band footage of the actual gig. Which is postmodern as it blends reality and a recreation so closely and makes the film so real and interesting. Because of this amount of reality it sometimes feels like a documentary, Tony Wilson was a news reporter and at the very beginning of the film its blends the real news report and a recreation of Tony Wilson hand gliding. This is a switch in time, for example when Wilson tells the audience he had a kid and got married when the child is about 4, this also shows that the film is not about him its about what was going on around him, and makes the film non linear as well as linear, this is postmodern as it chops and changes and doesn’t stick to one straight line
Some of the characters are played by themselves, in the film and there are also a lot of famous northern actors which reflects Wilson’s love and support for Manchester. There is also loads of intertexuality included in the film, as Tony Wilson makes many quotes about popular culture at the time. This can involve audiences who know about this information but still doesn’t exclude other audiences which relates back to a point I have already mentioned, that it can be watched on to levels which I find postmodern.
24 Hour Party People, is 100% a postmodern text, particularly because of the 4th wall being broken by Tony Wilson and the ironic humor to his and others lives. I believe that the text is postmodern; the film is about a postmodern movement in music so the style of the film fits to the context and is an interesting yet enjoyable postmodern British film.

Todays lesson - creativity

In todays lesson, I have been thinking about creativity and the freedom you do or do not have, todays task was to randomly create a CD cover, by using the name or the band and album title from the random search engine on flickr. Then going onto flickr and using the thrid image on this weeks uploaded images. Above is my result, it would look better if the picture wasnt so pixelated.

post modern music - kramer

Media Theorist Jonathan Kramer says "the idea that postmodernism is less a surface style or historical period than an attitude. Kramer goes on to say 16 "characteristics of postmodern music, by which I mean music that is understood in a postmodern manner, or that calls forth postmodern listening strategies, or that provides postmodern listening experiences, or that exhibits postmodern compositional practices."
According to Kramer (Kramer 2002, 16–17), postmodern music":
1. is not simply a repudiation of modernism or its continuation, but has aspects of both a break and an extension
2. is, on some level and in some way, ironic
3. does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present
4. challenges barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles
5. shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity
6. questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values
7. avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or serial or cast in a prescribed formal mold)
8. considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts
9. includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures
10. considers technology not only as a way to preserve and transmit music but also as deeply implicated in the production and essence of music
11. embraces contradictions
12. distrusts binary oppositions
13. includes fragmentations and discontinuities
14. encompasses pluralism and eclecticism
15. presents multiple meanings and multiple temporalities
16. locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in scores, performances, or composers

Applying texts to the above theories



Tmiberland, Missy Elliot, Step Up 2 orginal mix

Point 1 - There is repution and continuation but it is also broken up, mixed around and changed, taking and adding certain sections to create a different sound.
Point 2 - Could may be ironic of normal hip hop music its in the same genre but at the same time is completely different, could be mocking hip hop artists which don't break any conventions and who are not postmodern.
Point 4 - High = classical, Low = r&b, pop, rock, hip hop etc. Postmodern music ignores these barries and deffinetly challenges them in every which way
Point 5 - This song is 4.41 which is slightly longer than the averge pop song but isnt particularly long. The structure of the song is mixed up little talking, changes randomly but not awarkwardly
Point 6 - deffinetly questions the fact that all styles of music are separate and breaks down these rules and does the opposite, this song doesnt so much the genres are all closley linked, rap, hip hop, pop, dance etc so yeh it does atcully!
Point 7 - deffinelty there is a constant chopping and changing of similar sounds the song is not a perfect similar tonal piece to form a mold. The song takes different parts of songs from Missy Elliot and other sources which new sounds to create one.
Point 8 - The music is deffinelty meant for now, the words, let your ass have the hicups, and other sentences, is not meant it a way to moral affend but as a dance move. These words in a different context or a different period of time would deffinetly mean something different.
Point 9 - intexuality??
Point 10 - deffinelty this song uses technology to create sounds for the song for example the hicup sound sounds like a voice been edited and many other aspects in the song.
Point 11 - Mixes different genres of music answered above
Point 12 - Binary oppisites are ingnored, not so much in this song as I feel the genres of music included are different but not binary opposites
Point 13 - Some of the transisions are not perfect but not uncomfortable the fragmentations and discontinuities add to the song and blend well which the song
Point 15 - this song was created for a movie and a dance, there for it is very in touch with the time and styles of movies and dancing and therfore music are around at this time
Point 16 - This track can be enjoyed personally but also collectivally (like a dance)



Stockhausen
helicopter string quartet

Point 1 - Yes, has a few aspects of repution, often hard to understand and hear because of the background noise which is the helicopter repetative sound which is part of the song. the beat.
Point 2 - ironic because its mocking everything that classical muisc stands for ie the name classic-al
Point 4 - Deffinetly challanges clasical music but doesnt really resemble any other genres of music
Point 5 - very long compared to normal song lengths but then again it is not excatly a normal ... not a song. And its completely mixed up.
Point 6 - deffinelty challenges classical music
Point 7 - its not tonal or atall a form, its to diverse to still a piece which you can listen to without having a headheache, which to me is not a song!
Point 8 - Music is a modern take on classical music and therfore breaks nearly all the classical music conventions, so this links to cultural, social and political contexts, constantly changing and developing.
Point 9 - it includes references to music traditions such as they are playing tradional instruments, intertexuality
Point 10 - it uses technolgy as a communication devise for each of the for string quartet players, and the helicopter flight technogoly to present this
Point 11 - it deffinetly embraces contradictions in the sense that it mixes up the idea of what is musically exceptable but to me it is not.
Point 12 - the helicopter and the four musicians is a binary opposite to normal classical music, a collection of many musicans in 1 room
Point 13 - deffinetly includes fragmentations and discontinuities, theres no perfect transisons which makes the music painful as there is no flow
Point 14 - thier are four so yes
Point 15 - it does present multiple meanings
Point 16 - personal to certain indiviuals, different meanings to different people



Alvin Lucier
'I am sitting in a room'

Point 1 - deffinelty applys word for word
Point 2 - ironic, because it starts of a speech and develops into music
Point 4 - no because it doesnt involve high or low styles it is in its own context, a new thing
Point 5 - Its 8.15 so its much longer than a average song, does not have a verse, just the same speech repeated again and again until its a new sound
Point 6 - no doesnt apply
Point 7 - the tone is constantly changing even though it is the same thing
Point 8 - ? it is a new idea which reflects culture of today
Point 9 - no, its its own thing
Point 10 - yes, it has been created from simple technology,completely
Point 11 - no
Point 12 - not really
Point 13 - fragmentations yes, gaps between the tape player
Point 14 - Its one thing so no
Point 15 - the meanings of the words are distorted to create a sound that could or could not be classed as music
Point 16 - personal because people can take different meanings and things from it



Prodigy, poison

Point 1 - yes, certain sounds are repeated and others are not in a random sounding mix
Point 4 - I sopose you could say, that the backing sound in the beging section is slightly classical with a heavy beat and lyrics over the top
Point 5 - 4 mins slighlty longer than the average track, does have different sections which are repated but because of the sounds created it sounds mixed up but it a funky enjoyable way!
Point 7 - breaks preconceptions of a mold of a song in a way because of the different tonal aspects and sounds incorporated
Point 8 - progidy do create modern sounds even there old stuff sounds fresh, so deffinelty the song is consinderting social and cultural needs of now
Point 9 - intertexuality - yes, basey sounds, regge sounds, electronic, dance, rap style singing, all sorts of styles mixed into one
Point 10 - a lot of the sounds in the song sound like technology made sounds
Point 11 - mix of styles, as stated above
Point 13 - sometimes not perfect transions which adds to the sound of the song, and gaps to add sespense of whats coming next
Point 14 - deffinetly more than one thing going on to create a great collective sound
Point 15 - yes cultural subject
Point 16 - can be personally but also collectivally



Black Label Society
fire it up

Point 1 - deffinely reputition, backing sound all the way through, thats the chourus, there are breaks and changes though
Point 2 - Could be ironic in the sense that its sexy rock, not also the case!
Point 5 - 5 mins slighlty longer that the average track, verse is the singing and chorus is the music, different
Point 7 - is tonal but does have slight but noicable changes
Point 8 - is relvant to cultural, social and political contexts, different take on rock its smoother, which is maybe what more people want to hear, as rock it now popular ie the rock/punk style is in!
Point 9 - inertexuality, the singing is more popie compared to most rock songs, and it has a electronic and even dancy feel
Point 10 - the electronic opening and sounds all the way through sound like they were produced through technology.
Point 11 - slighlty as its a softer rock
Point 14 - mixes different styles to create a different sound
Point 16 - both

post modern music

Karlheiz Stockhausen -composer
'helicopter string quartet'
each helicopter has four musicians played recorded in the air.
This is a very different way of presenting music, 1 man in each helicopter.

- attaching sound
- like the helicopter
- noise not music
- technology - headphones to other string Corette man.
- video - see it helps it make sense
- was the helicopter apart of the noise/music
- piece of music with helicopter = noise
- metronomic, repeated helicopter sound
- ironic different classical thing, 4 people simple idea, helicopter difficult
- challenges stereotypes of presentation of classical music

'Gruppen'

- fragmentation's and discontinuities - awful parts
- some sounds come together ok
- painful
- Beatles sound
- breaks conventions to classical music
- unexpected
- unpredictable
- electicismn loads of different music instruments
- intense no relaxing

Alvin Lucier
'I am Sitting in a Room'

- not music at the beginning but develops into a sound you could hear on a electronic track
- a speech

Busy Signal
pon di edge

- interesting
- girls objects, sexual things - moral and social issues
- technology effect robotic
- very exspliated meaning

A question to ask about the above texts is how do you define the difference between music and sound?

Fight club essay

Postmodern media

I have decided to focus on Fight Club and Pulp Fiction as postmodern texts to explain. This is because I feel these are iconic postmodern texts which I also enjoyed.

Fight Club; A Davis Fincher film created in 1999 based on the 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Edward Norton’s character, unnamed plays an ‘everyman,’ a typical office job American in today’s society. He forms a ‘fight club’ with soap salesman, Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt who has a sexual relationship with Marla Singer, played by Carter. The film is about ‘the postmodern dilemma of manhood and postmodernism and violence.’ The way men are different from previous generations, they have become more feminine and Fight Club portrays this. The film is a ‘metaphor for the conflict between a generation of young people and the value system of advertising.’ IE that everyone has become obsessed with ‘stuff,’ material goods and forgot about other things. It’s a critique of modern life and modern masculinity for example men use to fight in wars, but now they don’t have a demand to be ‘hard’ the fight club in Fight Club is a rebellion to all of this and a way of them regaining there strength as men, by fighting.

The director used techniques to make the audience feel uncomfortable and keep them from anticipating the twist ending, this is a postmodern idea. This is with the question of identity of the character Tyler Durden but also Norton’s character. What is the identity of the characters which is a question viewers may be thinking at certain points in the film where the director sends hints to the audience about what the ending may be, but then throws us right of track again.

The music is also postmodern; the sound was composed by the Dust Brothers, who created a different style for the film compared to there usual which is also a postmodern aspect to music. Artists who change and evolve and create different sounds from different sources.

The film was not as big as excepted and was only created a cult film once it released on DVD, it was named the most controversial and talked-about films of 1999. ‘The Guardian saw it as an omen for change in American political life, and described its visual style as ground-breaking.’

Fight club, is a dimensional film, it can be watched on face value and be appreciated, but it is also extremely deep and with an amazing amount of detail which captures different audiences. For example I watched this film when I was young and didn’t understand the ending but appreciated the film and enjoyed it although I didn’t understand it. Then I watched it a few years later and understood the ending watched it time and time again, noticing different aspects of the film and appreciating it in different ways this links to Pulp Fiction. This film I believe is definitely postmodern because of all the points above and the fact that it takes an idea which is a issue for men in today’s society (I believe) and creates a fantastic film which is entertaining even if you don’t agree with the meaning. Females still enjoy the film as much as males even though the only two females in the female are used for sex or are referring to sex. This is probable because of Brad Pitt and his amazing body! But also the identity issues can be something both males and females can relate to.


Pulp fiction; is a perfect example of a post modern text because it’s non conventional, for example the way the film pulps time, mixes it around, which is unrealistic. Most of the clocks in pulp fiction are set to 4.20 which is known particularly in America for being cannabis time, this originated from the time the ‘naughty’ kids got out of detention, and they would all meet and smoke cannabis. This is one of the many cultural references in Pulp Fiction. If the audience didn’t no this information then they would not put the connection together of all the clocks being set to the time 4.20, but if you do realise and no the meaning it makes you feel more involved in text, this brings in one of Roland Barthes five codes, the cultural code.
Most of the ‘gangster’ events happen in the morning, and the other time is not covered this adds to the fact the Pulp Fiction plays with the audience because there is absolutely no linear.
The time period settings is also confusing it jumps from styles from 1990's, 1970's. 1950's to the 1940's. For example when Butch is in the taxi on his way back to his hotel room after his fight, the back drop from the car is unrealistic; it’s black and white and looks like a scene out of a 1950's film. Another example is Mia's house has an old 1960's stereo and they are wearing what looks like fashion from the 90's. The viewer can either get that Tarantio has done it for audience effect and for his own meanings or just feel confused, personal the first time I watched it I was slightly puzzled by this aspect unparticular but on other viewings you understand that it is for effect. And I feel that this is this film allover, it’s the added detail which makes the audience feel involved and when you get it you feel almost closer to the text because you understand and can relate to it. I agree with the statement, it has an ideal construction which does not bare any relation to reality this is very post modern.

The plot explains the no sense in time as Vincent gets shot in the second situation but then is in the third. This film was extremely successful as it breaks every convention and sense of time, which is a fantastic achievement for moving media, because often audiences don’t understand and feel confused. I believe that one reason for the success of the film is that it stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer,
Eric Stoltz, Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames, this all star cast widens audiences as people who like a certain actor may watch the film, also it will give audience a sense of ‘this must be a good film with them in it.’
The plot includes many intertextual aspects for example; Jules quoting from the Bible is reminiscent of Robert Mitchum's character quoting from the Bible in Night Of The Hunter (1955 Charles Laughton,) Mia's haircut styled after Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box (1928 G.W. Pabst.) Also the moment where Butch is waiting at a crossroads in his car has his path crossed by Marcellus Wallace is a direct reference to the moment in Psycho (1960 Alfred Hitchcock) when Marion Crane sees her boss walk in front of her car after fleeing from him, having stolen $40,000. The way that one of the reastraunt waitress, when Vincent takes Mia out for dinner is dressed as Marilyn Monroe's and she does the famous blowing white dress action, when the skirt flies up over a subway grating from the film The Seven Year Itch (1955 Billy Wilder.) There are many more but lastly when Butch chooses his weapon to save Marcellus, all the weapons are from much older films, the Hammer—The Toolbox Murders (1978,) Baseball bat—Walking Tall (1973) and The Untouchables (1987,) the Chainsaw—The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Evil Dead II (1987,) the Katana (samurai sword,) Seven Samurai (1954); and The Yakuza (1975) and Shogun Assassin (1980.)
These references have been included into Pulp Fiction so film lovers can pick out there own bits and understand and relate to the text personally but also for Tarantino’s own amusement and satisfaction of a deeper, meaningful text.
All the references above don’t matter to the importance of understanding of the film, so you can watch it on face value and still enjoy Pulp Fiction, this attracts mainstreamers. Although if you notice the hidden factors of film, references and time for example it makes you feel involved which attracts aspirers. Tarantio has extremely successful created a complex post modern text which can be viewed on two levels which pleases different audiences.
Media which breaks preconceived ideas of how media ‘should’ be, a piece of text which is realistic. Fincher breaks this in Fight Club and Tarantino breaks this in Pulp Fiction, which means there are both postmodern.

Ethnographic model

Using the ethnographic model (try and separate it into the three areas highlighted) evaluate your own text. Have you inadvertently prevented certain 'audiences' from accessing your text? Write your reponse ....

My text is effected by 'stress 1' the fact that anyone who doesn't have the internet will not beable to view my text as it is a viral music animation. But at the same time this breaks the stress because it can be watched at any time so there no limit to what type of person watches it because of there lifestyle. Although my animation would have to be seeked out even if the viewer has seen the CD which means I have a smaller audience but a more interested one.

My text also fits into second 'stress,' genre that has gender appeal, my music video is deffinetly a mostly female audience. This is because of the content of the text. There is no eye appeal for males, such as no females half naked, the male gaze. Also Lily Allen is a femist pop artist writing songs for females to relate to, this is the most widly distributed genre of music. This adds to the publisty of my music video because Lily Allen fans will be introduced to stop motion.

The third stress, is complicated to my text, because the music is for a female audience, but the stop motion aspect, in this model would be suggested to be male as males apparently have a better understanding of complex technogoly. There is also the divide of infomation rich and infomation poor. My text is for the ricj infomation audiences because mine is on the internet and infomation poor would

Transfering files

Final I found some one who could help me with putting my animations onto YouTube then onto my blog. This was very important because I got told on the Friday which was the deadline that the exam board is not excepting any separate files, it all has to be electronic in other words on my blog. So I got help, I first of all changed the file type and uploaded it onto YouTube, which sounds simple but took about 3 hours!

So I have put them in the relevant blog posts but here it is anyway.


put on blog!!!!!

evaluation

I have nearly completed my animation. It is a slide show so I am going to put it onto slideshare add a you tube clip and put it on my blog.
I have also put my practice animation on to disk and add the bead component to my CD digipak.
Tomorrow I will put my other practices onto disks and hand then in, I had some trouble with this today as the software wasn't working, so hopefully it will be tomorrow!

Well doing the above was easier said than done. I had to re-do all of my practice animations then put them onto a CD which took an hour longer than I thought it would.

And I have made the evaluation look more attractive, and I am currently waiting for the slide to upload on slide share so I can embed it onto my blog, but as this is the third attempt because the program has decided not to work I am not to hopeful.

Here it is-

Evaluation

View more presentations from emily.

My Audience

Audience 1

Audience 2



This is Rachel, she is a 22 year old student from Manchester, who is currently working a topshop full time. Rachel enjoys fashion and this in one of her reasons for working at topshop, she has been working there for 2years and is already a floor manager, she hopes in the near future that she will be able to transfer from working in the shop to designing. Other hobbies and things she enjoys are parting, clubbing with friends, going to festivals, Glastonbury and Leeds or reading, every year since she was 15. Music is a massive part of Rachel life, she loves exploring new genres and songs on the Internet, going to all sorts of gigs, even if she doesn't no who they are. The only type of music she doesn't enjoy is opera and heavy metal. Rachel always likes to be busy and hates it when there is nothing going on. Rachel's favourite artists are Florance and the machine, Lily Allen and Kate Nash, but she thinks hundreds more are fantastic. Apart from the artist all ready mentioned, who she idolizes in fashion and beliefs her favourite designer is Barbara Hulanicki.
Her media interests include; Look and Q magazine, radio 1 and 6 music.



Cindy is 18 lived in Camden since she was 3, is an Art student at St Martins taking her Foundation in Art and Design. Cindy enjoys shopping at vintage stores for costume jewelery, and going round arty farty shops picking up ideas. Cindy loves to go clubbing and partying especially going to little local festivals in the summer but she also loves relaxing with her boyfriend. Cindy always has her laptop with her and is constantly blogging, and listening to music. Cindy takes fashion ideas from Vivienne Westwood her favourite photography is Nick Knight and she loves Bas Kosters art. Cindy enjoys chilling and watching Skins, Misfits and documentaries, as well as listening to radio 1 and reading any magazine which takes her fancy, normally sonic boom and Nylon. In terms of cinema she likes small budget movies at her local small privately own cinema. Cindy's all time favourite is Factory Girl, about Andy Warhol. Although Cindy loves most musical styles she isn't keen on punk or metal. Other things she dislikes is maths and primark.

Post Modern Music

Girl talk - samples music together from now and the 60s - somebody has created a series of videos for the music - here is a example;



Dj Shadow - music from other people mixed together - digging - goes into cheap record shops and picks up good tracks to sample togther.





Cut Chemist -





Coldcut - Journeys by DJ album



- random nosies - not just mixing music - horse nosies

Timberland with Missy Elliot - sampled Joga by Bjork

Afrika Bambaataa - planet rock - created electro



Dangermouse - The grey album, created from the white album by the Batles d Jay-z black album, to create a completly different sound.




Jay-z 99 problems and Helter Skater

Beastie boys - pauls boutique



Task -
Identify a postmodern music artist
what makes the artist postmodern

I am going to look at David Bowie because his music and whole style in the 1970s I feel was postmodern. I feel this is because of his forever changing styles, both in music, fashion and persona. He took inspiration from what was going on around him at the time to create great tracks, that are still enjoyed today. Through out the 70s David Bowie produced 11 chart hitting albums.
Bowie's fame came in 1969 with his single "Space Oddity," which was released when the first person walked on space.



The fashions of space age, the idea of new technology, but also the fashion of the time, round glasses, white jump suits.

The man who sold the world, Bowie's third album released in 1970, the previous album, being acoustic guitar based was replaced by a at the time heavy rock backing provided by Mick Ronson, who would be a major collaborator through to 1973. Much of the album resembles British heavy metal music of the period, but the album provided some unusual musical styles, sound and rhymes. The front cover plays his sexuality, wearing a dress and having long hair, this was not excepted them. The idea was maybe to shock or to just be different, it would make you remember the cover. This cover is also very colourful and elaborate.









Hunky Dory, 71, Bowie returned to his pop style from space oddity. Kooks was a light hearted song, but there was a mixture, a serious song - "Oh! You Pretty Things"
The semi-autobiographical "The Bewlay Brothers", and the Buddhist-influenced "Quicksand". Lyrically, the young songwriter also paid unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol", and "Queen Bitch". This album cover reminds me of the famous Marilyn Monroe images, with the unrealistic brightly coloured hair, he is also wearing make-up and posing in a femine way. The image looks fake almost and this album cover also plays on his sexuality.







Bowie further explored his androgynous persona in June 1972 with the seminal concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which presents a world destined to end in five years and tells the story of the ultimate rock star, Ziggy Stardust. The album's sound combined the hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter experimental rock of Hunky Dory and the fast-paced glam rock pioneered by Marc Bolan's T. Rex. Many of the album's songs have become rock classics, including "Ziggy Stardust," "Moonage Daydream," "Rock & Roll Suicide" and "Suffragette City."
This album cover, Bowie stangin onK.West street wearing open shirt, holding what looks like a guitar and sporting his mullet gives that album a rocker apearence.














The Ziggy Stardust character became the basis for Bowie's first large-scale tour beginning in 1972, wearing wild outfits, designed by Kansai Yamamoto and had his famous red mullet. The tour featured a three-piece band representing The Spiders from Mars: Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, and Woody Woodmansey.

Around the same time Bowie began promoting and producing his rock and roll heroes, Lou Reed, whose solo breakthrough Transformer was produced by Bowie and Ronson and Iggy Pop, whose band, The Stooges, signed with Bowie's management. Bowie sang back-up vocals on both Reed's Transformer, and Iggy's The Idiot.

interpretation album covers

The Spiders From Mars came together again on Aladdin Sane, April 1973. Described by Bowie as "Ziggy goes to America", all the new songs were written on ship, bus or trains during the first leg of his US Ziggy Stardust tour. The album's cover, featuring Bowie shirtless with Ziggy hair and a red, black, and blue lightning bolt across his face, has been described as being as "startling as rock covers ever got." This album cover is a very recognisable image which is simple yet extremely striking, the mark near his collor bond gives me the impression that hes melting which may be giving the idea that this is not real, Ziggy - its a act a persona. The mainly red lighting bolt may resemble danger, and the fact that he has is eyes closed is that hes not looking out for or willing in fans he just there strikingly going along with the sensation he has created.



Aladdin Sane included hits such as "The Jean Genie", "Drive-In Saturday", and a rendition of The Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together".







Bowie's later Ziggy shows, were ultra-theatrical affairs filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar. Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973.

Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, was released in October 1973. David Bowie was the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. Bowie broke up the Spiders from Mars and was attempting to move on from his Ziggy persona. When he announced that he was quiting the business fans were shocked but Bowie was only quitting from the Ziggy act, and moved onto the next. This cover is remarkable different from the previous, for the first time he has someone else involved and it is a women, which takes you anyway from him being a homosexual. Bowie is staring into the you, which is also completely different from before. This makes you feel more involved. They seem to be wearing some sort of masks but not around there actual face.





The albums above were under the glam rock and psychedelic folk genre apart from The man who sold the world. The next albums created in the 70s move onto soul and R&B genres.

1974 saw the release of another ambitious album, Diamond Dogs, with a spoken word introduction and a multi-part song suite("Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise)"). Diamond Dogs was the product of two distinct ideas: a musical based on a wild future in a post-apocalyptic city, and setting George Orwell's 1984 to music. Bowie also made plans to develop a Diamond Dogs movie, but didn't get very far. Bowie had originally planned on writing a musical to 1984, but his interest waned after encountering difficulties in licensing the novel. He used some of the songs he had written for the project on Diamond Dogs. Bowie was the UK's best selling act for the second year running.
This is a bizarre cover, which in original picture continued to the left revealing Bowie to be half human half dog. The cartoon also involved to large scary women, which are half dogs this relates to the title of the album, which I think is because of the idea of the album which is explained above.









To follow on the release of the album, Bowie launched a massive Diamond Dogs tour in North America. Choreographed by Toni Basil, and lavishly produced with theatrical special effects, the high-budget stage production broke with contemporary standard practice for rock concerts by featuring no encores. It was filmed by Alan Yentob for the documentary Cracked Actor. The documentary seemed to confirm the rumours of his cocaine abuse, featuring a pasty and emaciated Bowie nervously sniffing in the backseat of a car and claiming that there was a fly in his milk. Bowie commented that the resulting live album, David Live, ought to have been called "David Bowie Is Alive and Well and Living Only In Theory," presumably in reference to his addled and frenetic psychological state during this period. Nevertheless the album solidified his status as a superstar. It also spawned a UK number ten hit in a cover of "Knock on Wood".








For Ziggy Stardust fans who had not discerned the soul and funk strains already apparent in Bowie's recent work, the "new" sound was considered a sudden and jolting step. 1975's Young Americans was Bowie's definitive exploration of Philly soul—though he himself referred to the sound ironically as "plastic soul." He got his first number one hit "Fame", co-written with Carlos Alomar and John Lennon. Despite Bowie's unashamed recognition of the shallowness of his "plastic soul," he did earn the bona fide distinction of being one of the few white artists to be invited to appear on the popular "Soul Train." Another violently paranoid appearance on ABC's The Dick Cavett Show,1974 again confirming his heavy cocaine addiction. Young Americans was the album that cemented Bowie's stardom in the US. This album to me does seem very American with the soften picture tone, the style of writing and the portait photo idea. He looks more normal in this photo which probable has something to do with the music style.





Station to Station, 1976 featured a darker version of this soul persona, called "The Thin White Duke". Visually the figure was an extension of Thomas Jerome Newton, the character Bowie portrayed in The Man Who Fell to Earth. Station to Station was a transitional album, prefiguring the Krautrock and synthesiser music of his next releases, while further developing the funk and soul music of Young Americans. By this time, Bowie had become heavily dependent on drugs, particularly cocaine, he overdosed several times during the year. Additionally, Bowie was withering physically after having lost an alarming amount of weight.

The album cover for Station to Station was completly stripped down, to mono black and white.





The Isolar Tour, 1976, starkly lit set and highlighted new songs such as the dramatic and lengthy title track. Although there was some political controversy, Bowie was quoted in saying; "Britain could benefit from a Fascist leader", and detained by customs in Eastern Europe for possessing Nazi paraphernal. Then there was the 'Victoria Station incident', when Bowie, arriving in an open-top Mercedes convertible, waved to the crowd in a gesture that some alleged was a Nazi salute, which was captured on camera and published in NME.

Bowie's interest in the growing German music scene, as well as his drug addiction, prompted him to move to West Berlin to dry out and rejuvenate his career. Sharing an apartment in Schöneberg with his friend Iggy Pop, he co-produced three more of his own classic albums. With Bowie as a co-writer and musician, Pop completed his first two solo albums, The Idiot and Lust for Life. Bowie joined Pop's touring band in the spring, simply playing keyboard and singing backing vocals. The group performed in the UK, Europe, and the US from March to April 1977.

The brittle sound of Station to Station proved a precursor to Low, the first of three albums that became known as the "Berlin Trilogy." The album was produced in 1976 and released in early 1977. The picture for the song below is the cover.



"Heroes", 1977 was similar in sound to Low, though slightly more accessible. The mood of these records fitted the Cold War, symbolised by the divided city that provided its inspiration. The title track, a story of two lovers who met at the Berlin Wall, is one of Bowie's most-covered songs. The album cover is taken from the German Impressionist Egon Schiele. Iggy Pop's first album The Idoit was also to this Schiele theme;












In 1978 Bowie embarked on a world tour, playing in Austreilla and New Zealand for the first time, and then in 1979 produced the final album of the "Berlin Trilogy", or "triptych" as Bowie calls it.

Lodger 1978, featured singles "Boys Keep Swinging", "DJ" and "Look Back in Anger" and, unlike the two previous LPs, did not contain any instrumentals. The style was a mix of New Wave and world music, which included pieces such as "African Night Flight" and "Yassassin". A number of tracks were composed using the non-traditional Bowie/Eno composition techniques: "Boys Keep Swinging" was developed with the band members swapping their instruments while "Move On" contains the chords for an early Bowie composition, "All The Young Dudes", played backwards; the song "Red Money" took backing tracks from the Iggy Pop/David Bowie composition "Sister Midnight" from Pop's album The Idiot.









David Bowie is a perfect example of a post modern artist, his music and fashion was constanlty changing and each album brought something new and usual.

This is the presentation I have created to show my class explaining why David Bowie is post modern.

David Bowie The 70s Presentation

View more presentations from emily.

FIGHT CLUB

David Fincher

Brad Pitt - soo gorgeous!
Edward Norton
Helena Boham Carter

based on novel by Chuck Palanniuk
questions of identity
a critique of modern life/modern masulinity

the sound composed by The Dust Brothers

exam work

1/2 of are exam is about me writing about what I have created taking different things into account, such as genre.
My genre is a music video, but also in the stop motion genre.

Steve Neate, theorist stated that 'genres are instances of repetition and differences.'

films are divided into three genres;
-subject matter
- formal characteristics
- narrative


Tom Ryall suggests that the types of conventions found in genres might be grouped within the following categories:
- narrative - mine is linear
- theme - mine is about happiness and fear, mixed emotions linked to media
- character/stereotypes - mine is dancing beads, more female
- iconography - a music video usually includes the artists and stop motion drawings random creative stuff both animation and real life.

Starter questions

I am going to answer each question twice once with a Lily Allen music video answer and once with a stop motion answer.

1 Audience expectations about narratives, characters and setting.
Lily Allen - narrative - linear
character - Lily Allen as the main character, dancers, good looking men
setting - club, house, a mini story in keeping
Stop motion - narrative - non linear or linear
character - clay, paper, card, drawn, photograph painted - if there is one
setting - paper room, on a piece of paper, card

2 How do film makers/producers rely on genres to market films.
Lily Allen - bright pastel colours in her older videos
- Lily staring in the film - main character usually
- the music video is a short story - a short film - tells a story
- newer videos are more sophisticated, mono colours, fashionable fashion, this is moving on from the tacky pop video image
Stop motion - paper, card
- drawings, abstract
- quirky - Lily Allen's imagination.

3 Appeal to different genres.
Lily Allen - newer videos appeal to different viewers, fashionable students
- its not me its you - the subject is to rude to make a literal story about, which is her usual style, so she uses a country Western cow boy style to create a different reality to the song.
- most songs have a different subject matter, which equals in different videos and different story's depending on the topic, this will appeal to different genres.
Stop motion - involving real people
- photos of photos changes the feel
- dancing beads - new reality - connotations

4 How genres change over time and reflect social/historical contexts.
Lily Allen, music videos - marketing - you tube, viral adverts, email to friend links
- Lily in the video, bands
- short stories were the first type of music videos in 1926
- tells the story of the song, go together, can appreciate each separately but together equal in a better understanding
Stop motion - first music video was a series of images, 1894, stop motion taking ideas from the past to create a new idea.
- anyone can create a stop motion, don't need anyone just a camera and computer, Internet movement
- cartoon music videos were created in 1930
- sledge hammer, 1985, Peter Gabriel, ground breaking stop motion music video



This idea above was an idea I had of changing facial expression, but I don't think it will fit into my animation.



The idea of using a black board was an idea I looked at when deciding what to do for my animation.

Media Essay[1]

Practice with faces

Since I have been back to school I have practiced with the images I took of Jordan and made them into short stop motions, I am going to talk to my teacher about the idea next week and see weather I should add this element to my stop motion.
I have been thinking and I don't feel that adding this kind of element will fit into my stop motion that well, as I couldn't over lay the images on my excising animation because I chopped it up to create the magazine advert.
So I am going to leave my animation as it is and probable explain my reasons for this in my evaluation.

Experimenting for improvement of animation

For the analysing I previously did of the music video animation, I took some pictures of my boyfriend to practice the cutting out and to see how it works. If I decide to use this in my animation I will use a girl with dark hair to represent Lily Allen. First of all I took some photos of him walking, to create the walking effect in the music video. Then I got him to pull different faces but doing it slowly, then printed them out, which took forever because my printer decided to break! Once I had printed them out I cut round the edge of the photograph, then keeping them in order piled them on top of each other and photographed this. Taking different ideas from the music video animation I last looked at. Then when I get back to school on Tuesday I can edited them exactly the same as I did my animation to see how this works. Once I have done this I will ask my teachers and class mates how they think it looks and whether or not they think it will fit into my animation which I have already created and how I will blend it in to fit.
Here are some of the stills I took of the photographs of him;






These are a few of photographs I took of the photographs taken and printed above, from these I realise that if I use this technique in my animation I will have to use a much higher quality of both camera and printer. I would use the camera that I borrowed from school and an art printer as I did before. The next step is to put them on my memory stick and take them to school on Tuesday to then download them onto abode premier the program I used for my stop motion animation and quicken up the pace to see how they look and weather or not to use this technique in the real thing.











here it is!