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.

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]

Re-presentation

First of all in class we looked a photograph of a man, women, young girl and two young boys portraying the perfect family image. The people in the image are most probable not related and are professional models. The facial expressions connote happiness and the proxemics show unity and physical closeness. The mother acts as a nurturer as she has her arms around two of the children and the 'father' holding a child, equals in a caring, masculine strength. The framing and angle shot focuses the attention to the characters faces showing that there happiness together is the most important aspect of the group. The fact that the women is dressed in a baggy shirt and trousers which colour co-ordinates with the rest of family suggest that she is not trying to impress any other men and that she is 'owned' by her husband and doesn't feel the need to attract attention. The idea that they are all wearing casual clothing may portray the couple are extremely comfortable with each other and also there lifestyle, picnic's in the park, long walks, dad plays football with the boys. The family are also white which in cultural more representative to the majority of Briton. If the family were of a other ethnicity it would change the audience. The roles of each person are typical to idealistic roles; the female child is holding a soft, cute toy which portrays sweetness and sensitivity. The smallest boy is boisterous and a bit of a handful but controlled by a strong yet gentle father. Both 'parents' seem to be kind and patient. This photograph of a 'family' could be used to sell anything from holidays to sofas to pasta!
The way this image has been constructed is done in all media texts taking every aspect of mise-en-scene into context to create the right impression to the viewer.

'The process by which the media presents the 'real world' - Rayner
IE - the decision over what is chosen to be represented and what is rejected.
- the choices made when organising the representation
- the opinions taken to focus the audience in a certain way

who
what
how
why
(Mr Smith said that he was going to blog this information as he didn't want us to copy it down in the lesson as it would take to long, I have sent him a blog message, once he has put it on I will read, learn and then blog it.)

Gatekeeping - theorist White 1961 -
gatekeepers = the people who are part of the decision making process in the construction of media texts, I am the decision maker in my animation but also ICA my institution.
A fantastic example of this is the show Big Brother, the directors and editors can portray different people in different lights for example if someone likes to shout every once in a while they may only show audiences this side to there personality. This gives the directors and editors the power not the contestants.

Constructionist approach - (and this)

Richard Dyer - The matter of images
'How we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them. How we see them comes from representation.'

After looks at the Mr Smiths power point he gave us a picture of Eva Mendes modeling for Calvin Klien and analysed the images using Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory, Trevor Millum's and Marjorie Furguson's analysis on facial expression.

- dominant
- mysterious
- boobs/cleavigde
- tanned
- healthy
- wet/oil
- garters
- suspenders
- thin
- legs open
- heels/elongates legs
- tall
- shadow = bigger/powerful
- camera angle = reflects power
- black underwear
- sexy
- 1/2 see through pants
- face not important, body is the focus
- see doesn't care about us
- secutery women/business women = men's fantasies

Pulp Fiction

Post modern elements

- Tarantino is influenced by Jean Luc Godard, parodies and suverts film conventions


- Mia Wallace drawing a rectangle on screen, not realistic.


- The use of deliberately bad backdrop on car journeys


- The shop where Marcellus and Butch are assaulted is called Mason-Dixon (19th Century stereotypes who mapped the route of a railroad across the USA. The route of the line became known as the Mason-Dixon line, separating the North (non slave owners) and the South the (slave owners.) The Line symbolizes a cultural boundary between the Northern United States and the Southern United States (Dixie).


- Pulp Fiction links to films such as Daliverance (1972 John Boorman) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 Tobe Hopper) because of the culture code, humour to director, clever in the sense that it makes reference to many other films and events. Scary Movie's are an extreme of this were the whole film is made from taking the 'mick' out of other films.

- Mia's haircut - Louise Brookes in Pandara's Box (GW.pabst 1926)



- Reference to Psycho (1960 Alfred Hitchcock) Butch, when he's in the car waiting at crossroads has his path crossed by Marcellus, his boss. In Psycho the same thing happened to Marian Crane and her boss.


- Jules relating to the bible, links to Night of the Hunter (1955 Charles Layhton) Not a typical Gangsta thing to do when they go to kill someone.

- Robert Mitchums character, Butch is supposed to lose to Floyd Winson, the same fighter who is fighting an opponent paid to take a dive in on the waterfront, 1954 Eliatazan.


- Jules is friends with Jimmie, a nod to Jules et Jim (1962 Francois Truffaut)

- Vossler and Matinez two old colleques of T's video store days

- Wilson + Coolidge = two American presidents

- A reference to Caine in King Fu (character played by David Carradine) Later Bill in Kill Bill. In the final scene in the coffee shop a reference is made to Jules wandering the earth like Kaine from Kung Fu.


Pulp Fiction relates to a black audience there are references to past films and artists which were apart of the black media movement,
Isiac Hayes - Black Moses - Supercool, Shaft trailer 1971

These are Blaxploitation films which is a genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted the urban black audience; the word itself is a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation." Blaxploitation films were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music. These films starred primarily black actors. Variety magazine credited Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song with the invention of the blaxploitation genre. Others argue that the Hollywood-financed film Shaft is closer to being blaxploitation, and thus, is more likely to have begun the genre
Examples of the most famous blaxploitation films: Shaft, Foxy Brown and Superfly.


Nearly all of the clocks in pulp fiction are set to 4.20 = no reality, Pulp Fiction plays which the audience because there is absolutely no linear. It has an ideal construction which does not bare any relation to reality this is very post modern. The time period aspect is particularly 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 , in black and white and looks like a scene out of a 1950's film. Another example is Mia's house has a old 1960's stereo and they are wearing what looks like fashion from the 90's.

Dominic Strinati quotes -
"Postmodernism tries to come to terms with and understand a media-saturated society. The mass media, for example, were once thought of as holding up a mirror to, and thereby reflecting, a wider social reality. Now that reality is only definable in terms of surface reflection of the mirror" (1995)

"Media images encourage superficiality rather than substance, cynicism rather than belief, the thirst for constant change rather than security of stable traditions, the desires of the moment rather than the truths of history" (1992)

"Postmodernism is sceptical of any absolute, universal and all-embracing claim to knowledge and argues that theories or doctrines which make such claims are increasingly open to criticism, contestation and doubt" (1992)

Pulp is spilt into three sections which pulps time into a new reality.
The situations are;
- Mia and Vincent
- The gold watch
- Bonnie

Mia and Vincent; Wallace asks Vincent to take Mia is wife out for dinner. Mia ends up snorting heroin and having an overdose

The gold watch; Butch gets back from a fight which he goes against Wallace's orders to lose a fight, they are on the run, but Butch's girlfriend forgets to get Butch's gold watch which has been passed down, generation to generation and its the only thing he cares about. Butch goes back to his house gets the watch and ends up killing Vincent as he is waiting at Butch's home to kill him, because he won the fight. On the drive home Butch runs over Wallace and they have a gun fight down the street. They end up in a shop were the man ties them up and picks Wallace to rape first. Butch manages to get out, but goes back for Wallace as he is being raped by a police officer. Butch kills the shop owner gets Wallace and Wallace torches the police officer. Wallace and Butch are now ok and Butch and his girlfriend leave LA.

Bonnie; Jules and Vincent shot some men, Jules believes God saves him from gun shots and Vincent accidentally kills a guy. They go to Jules mates wear Wolf helps them out, as they have blood all over them and the car, they clean up then go for breakfast. A English man and women, Bonnie attempt to rob the restaurant. Jules doesn't shot the man but explains that he has been touched by god. The robbers leave with nothing and they leave. The end

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. Its different but successful which is a fantastic achievement for moving media. I think the reason for this is because you can watch it on face value which pleases the main streamers but also in captures the aspires because of all the added non conventional attention to detail.

Are homework was to write an essay on Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction Essay

Die driet welle

Translation from German - The third wave

Collective Identity

"A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project/projects to achieve a common objective." - Wikipedia

Introducing Identity
David Buckingham

On the one hand, identity is something unique to each of us that we assume is more or less consistent.. our identity is something we uniquely possess: it is what distinguishes us from other people. Yet on the other hand, identity also implies a relationship with a broader collective or social group of some kind. When we talk about national identity, culture identity, or gender identity, for example, we imply that our identity is partly a matter of what we share with other people. Here, identity is about identification with others who we assume are similar to us, if not the same, at least in some significant ways.

David Gauntlett 2007

"Identity is complicated. Everyone thinks they've got one. Magazines and talk shows urge us to explore out 'identity'. Religious and national identities are at the heart of major international conflicts. Artists play the idea of 'identity' in modern society. Blockbuster movie superheros have emotional conflicts about their 'true' identity. And the average teenager can create three online identities before breakfast." (facebook, bebo, twitter, myspace)

David Buckingham 2008

"A focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life, and their consequences both for individuals and for social groups.

Areas of collective identity;
- gender
- sexuality
- religion
- nationality
- age
- class
- ethnicity
- disability
- celebrity

My teacher decided it would be fantastic idea to make some ridiculous class rules after Tuesdays lesson (I was not there and was not aware of this.) But apparently he sent a email to every member of the class stating the new class rules;
- Students must sit one space apart from one another and face the front
- Students must stand up to ask a question
- Students must stand up when a member of staff enters the room
- Students must answer in only 3 words
- Start 3 word sentences with Mr Smith to everyone

To
- your own comprehension of yourself, how you see yourself
- how others see us
- appearance
- attributes
- clothing
- experiences
- rivals

We had to think of 5 things which made us class members the same, then go round the class, applying to the rules!!, and say on thing. For example; go to Lutterworth school and all were clothes.

Then we had to think of as many things as we could that made us individual, this was hard but then again we had to say one of things to the class.

After this we had to thing about our own identity and ask the question, has media shaped who you are in anyway? I answer saying I don't no because I don't feel I am influenced by any one particular mediation. I feel that everyone is influenced by everything, and this can not be put down to media, social life, family your a collection of your surroundings. Everyone else answered.

Die Driet Welle

The third wave was experiment devised by Ron Jones, a history teacher, this experiment was on his history class as part of there study of Nazi Germany. The experiment was to demonstrate fascism.

Jones couldn't describe what the Nazi Germans did to the Jewish so decided to show them, he came up with a new movement call 'the third wave' and convinced his students that this was a movement to eliminate democracy. This was displayed through the movements motto,"Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride."

There is hardly any written evidence of the third wave, except for documents created a long time after the event at the school.

Books and TV series have been based on the experiment, and most recently a film, 2008, Die Welle.

In a piece of writing from Jones, many years later he describes that the class had to, (in 1967,) be from outside the class to sat in the class room, without making a sound, in 30 seconds. The classroom had strict rules, Jones was an over the top authoritative figure.

At the end of the lesson Jones gave the students some rules, that it was a one day experiment, students had to be sitting, ready for the lesson before second bell, had to stand up to ask or answer questions and had to do it in three words or less, and were required to start each remark with "Mr. Jones."

By the second day Jones had give the students a supreme sense of discipline and community. Jones named the movement "The Third Wave", after the common belief that the third in a series of ocean waves is last and largest. Jones made up a salute resembling the one of Nazi regime and ordered class members to salute each other even outside the class. They all complied with this command.

Students not in Jones history class, joined in the 30 students became 43, all students skills and motivation improved. Each student had a member card, and were given tasks, for example designing a Third Wave banner etc. Jones instructed students how to get new members and by the end of the day they had over 200 participants. Jones was surprised that some of the students started reporting to him when other members of the movement failed to abide by the rules.

On Thursday, the fourth day of the experiment, Jones decided to stop the movement because he was loosing control of it. The students became increasingly involved in the project and their discipline and loyalty to the project was astounding. He announced to the participants that this movement is only a part of a nationwide movement and that on the next day a presidential candidate of the movement would publicly announce existence of the movement. Jones ordered students to attend a noon rally on Friday to witness the announcement.

Instead of a televised address of their leader, the students were presented with an empty channel. After few minutes of waiting, Jones announced that they have been a part of an experiment in fascism and that they all willingly created a sense of superiority that German citizens had in the period of Nazi Germany. He then played them a film about Nazi regime. That was the end of the experiment.

So basically we as a class were given the same instruction, we did not follow all the rules, and questioned the idea.

For the last two lessons with Mr Smith we watched the film the wave, a German filmed based on the book The Wave which was inspired by the social experiment The Third Wave. The remake was successful in German cinemas. The film was directed by Dennis Gansel and starred Jürgen Vogel, Max Riemelt, Jennifer Ulrich, Jacob Matschenz and Frederick Lau.
The film is different to the book in the sense that the school in the book is in America, opposed to the film which is set in a German high school. The book is also set in 1969, when the real experiment took place rather than the film which is set in modern 2008. I feel this has been done so audiences can relate better to the modern language, the fashion and the politics of today.
The original names were changed in the film, so that they sound more German, but the characters remain the same as they were in the novel.

Two ending were created for the film, one; less dramatic, no shootings and the other were Tim takes the group well to far and shots another member then takes his own life. I feel that this, didn't spoil the film but made it seem less realistic because although shootings in school do acure they are not common and not something that the average student can relate to. But because of artistic licence they felt it would be a more dramatic ending and memberbel.

Categorisng facial expression

Marjorie Ferguson - 1980
Women's - chocolate box
invitational (approachable)
super smiler
romantic/sexual

Trevor Millum - 1975
Men's - carefree
seductive
comic
catalogue

Key Theorists beliefs

Jonathan Schroed 1998 - 'to gaze implies more than to look at it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze.'

Charlies Angles female empowerment vs sexuality.

Male gaze - Feminist theory

Laura Mulvey, 1975 - 'visual pleasure and narrative cinema'

- how men look at women through film
- how women look at themselves
- how women look at other women

Most males produce films to it is seen through a mans eye, can women relate to this?

Features of the male gaze

The camera lingers on the womanly "curve" and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a mans reaction to the events.

Relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

As a class we looked at Scouting for girls, she's so lovely, music video. Picking out the bits which the male gaze apples to, then analysing the results to see wether the girls or boys picked out more information about what there wearing etc. As predicted the girls noticed more than the boys spend more attention looking at the girl!


The use of the male gaze in everyday life

- some theortists also have noted that sexualizing of the female body even in situations where female sexiness has nothing to do with the product



Critcism of Mulvey and Gaze theory

- Some women enjoy being 'looked' at.
- The gaze can also be directed towards members of the same gender for several reasons, not all of which are sexual, such as in comparison of body image or in clothing

How this relates to Lily

Lily Allen does use sex to sell, for example she wears revealing clothing when performing.




Although in the fear music video, she is wearing and performs in a way that doesnt shout sex. The line, 'I will take my clothes off, and this will be shamless, but everyone knows thats how you get famous.' This line confirms that she agrees with the theory, and that she conforms to it in a way. Although I do not think that I will be using sex to sell as this will not fit into my idea of animation.

Theory - Post Modern Media

Post modernists claim that we live in a world which is saturated by media, because we are immersed in media 24/7. The distinction between reality and the media representation of everything becomes blurred or even invisible. Apparently we now have no sense of real things and images of them, or real experiences and simulations of them.

Media reality is the new reality.

In the modern period artists experimented with the representation of reality. In the post modern period the idea of representation got 'remixed,' played around with through pastictile, parody and inter textual references - where the people that make texts deliberately expose their nature as constructed texts and make no attempt to pretend they are 'realest.'

Value judgements are blurred everything is down to taste. Anything can be art, deserve and audience and culture 'eats itself.' There is no longer anything new to produce or distribute.

The distinction between media and reality has collapsed and we now live in a 'reality' defined by images and representation.

Images refer to each other and represent each other as reality rather than some 'pure' reality that exsists before the image represents it.

Theory - Representation + Sterotypes

Stereotypes have been made to group people together to make events and issues more digestible to audiences. Rather than texts representing people as individuals media represents them in the way of some of the people in a group. Stereotyping groups from one or two individuals has its problems as it can mean people will judge people for wearing a certain types of clothing because they think they do what other people do wearing those clothes. Stereotypes in moving media are often exaggerated, and entire countries are grouped to all be good/bad at the same things. For example the Americans are patriotic.

Tessa Perkins - 1997

" Stereotyping is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can be challenged. She identifies 5 assumptions;

- There not always 'false' - Cowboys do wear hats - The question is to what extent social groups consciously adopt stereotypical signs in order to identify themselves, and to what extent the mass media amplify these social acts of communication, deliberately.

- Stereotypes can be positive to some existent Germans are efficient although there always backhanded compliments as Germans are seen to be ruthlessly efficient.

- Stereotypes can be held about ones own social group, the English have stereotypical images of themselves for example young British women drink to much

- Not always concerned with oppressed groups, celebrates are self righteous

- Not always minority groups which we have little direct experience, stereotypes of men and women, everyone has wide spread experience off

- Stereotypes can be simple and complex at the same time, Marilyn Monroe being a dumb blonde, which represents her as having a lack of intelligence

- Not rigid or unchanging, stereotypes change and evolve as they are based around struggles and power which changes over time.

- people don't believe or disbelieve in stereotypes they can 'work' for us to communicate without necessarily agreeing with them.

- Stereotypes don't always influence are behaviour and attitudes, it is possible to 'hold' a stereotype without believing in it. The reaction of the viewer will depend on the complex set of social, historical and individual experience.

Everyone stereotypes even if they don't mean to, especial in media every character is a stereotype to a certain existent. My stereotype is a girl who is in fear of her future, Lily Allen. Stereotypes mean that audiences can relate to text so it is not always a bad thing.

Leon Festinger

Festinger has a theory of 'cognitive dissonance' argued that we resist adjusting out attitudes unless faced with overwhelming evidence against it. Believed that we seek out confirmation of out thoughts/beliefs.

Theory - The Royal Tenembaums

In lesson we watched the opening to the film The Royal Tenembaums, we anaylisised the text and looked at the siblings using two of Roland Barthes codes; semantic and culture. This activity made me relise how important the codes are and who much time and effort is taken into the appearences of characters. So that the director portrays their character correctly to get the right message across.

I will have to think very careful about what colours and images I use to get the right message across. I have already decided to use the sweet pastel colour that are used in the offical music video of The Fear by Lily Allen as this shows a link between the two. Once I have experimented with images and use of colour I will analysis my work taking the codes into consideration, especially the semantic code.

Theory - Roland Barthes

Narrative codes - how the audience views the text

Texts can be 'open' - unravelled in many different ways, or be 'closed' - one obvious thread to pull on. My animation is going to be open, I am going to do this by making reference to Lily Allen's double meaning of words.

Roland Barthes 5 codes

Action code - a action which means there is a further action, a person picks up a gun someone gets shot. This is relevant to all moving media as actions inevitable move onto another, so is therefore relevant to my music video.

Enigma code - an element which is not revealed, raising questions this is used to keep audience suspense. This code is not an aspect of my video.

Semantic code - connotations, impiles that there is never one meaning to a word such as mirror and the media mirror (newspaper)this is also shown in dress codes to work out the age or status of a character. This is mediation what the audience take from the text.

Cultural code - elements relying on sharded knowledge, santa is a old man with a beard, if the audience did not no this then a text about santa would not be relivant or make sense.

Symbolic code - The grey, what is unseen but the audience fills in due to personal experience, this results in different people taking different things and meanings from the text.

Theory - Audience theories

1 - Hypodermic needle model, 1920's
- first attempt to explain how mass audience reacts to mass media
- audiences passively receive information via media text, without realising or making effort to
- radio and cinema were new at the time
- government had discovered power of advertising to communicate messages, produced propaganda to sway thinking
- popular during 1st world war in Europe and aftermath
This suggests that information is passed into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated. The experience, intelligence and option of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the text. As an audience we are the creators of media texts, our behavior and thinking may easily be changed by media makers. This theory assumes audiences are passive and heterogeneous. This theory was also quoted during moral panic.

2 - Two step flow
- Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Bevelson and Hazel Gaudet analysed voters decision making processes during the 1940's presidential election campaign.
- information does not flow directly into minds of its audience unmediated, it is filtered through opinion leaders
- opinion leaders communicate to less active associates proving influence
- audience then mediate information received direct from media with ideas and thoughts expressed by opinion leaders.

In conclusion people are influenced by the two step flow and not directly this is referred to as limited effects paradigm.

3 - Uses and Gratifications, 1960's - 1974
- audiences were made up of activity consumed texts for different reasons, in different ways.
- 1948 Laswell suggested media texts had the following functions for individuals and society; surveillance
correlation
entertainment
culture transmission
- 1974 Blulmer and Katz stated individuals might chose a text for the following purpose;
diversion - escape from everyday problem
personal relationships - use media for emotion and other interactions
personal identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts
surveillance - information which could be useful for living (weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains)

- since 1974 uses and gratifications have been extended due to new media form such as music videos, video games and the Internet.

Reception theory, 1980's and 1990's
- Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model of relationships between audience and text
text encoded by producer
decoded by the viewer
- possible differences between reading of code due to peoples circumstances, for example gender, class, age and ethnicity
- by using recognised codes and conventions and drawing upon audience expectations relating to aspects such as stars and genre, produducers can position the audience and create a certain amount of agreement to what the code means (preffered reading)

Theory - Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis is a associate professor of Film and Media Studies at Arizona State University. She specialises in music videos and contemporary film soundtrack in relation to image. She has written two books, and produced many music videos.
Music videos have exploded due to music channels, and are highly influential to there viewers. They help to create an artist’s identity, to affect a song's mood, to determine chart success: the music video has changed our idea of the popular song.
Vernallis believes that music videos are another art form and different from television, films and the song singularly.

Vernallis describes in a book how verbal, musical, and visual codes combine in music videos to create defining representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, and performance. The book also explores complex interactions of narrative, settings, props, costumes and lyrics.

I agree with Carol Vernallis in the way that music videos have there own genre and how the music video can reflect the artisit and effect your feeling, or change the meaning of the song. Each great artists have there own style and this is portrayed not only through there sound but the there music video aswell.