Drawing

To experiment with drawing I put on the version of the fear that I am doing on YouTube and listened to the song whilst drawing with simply a pen and paper to gather some initial ideas. These ideas were not very successful so I watched Lily Allen's music video of the fear and noted down ideas and thins that inspired me.
- the blue, pink, green, yellow and peach paisley colours. I have experimented with these colours, creating them from my acrylic paints.
- the way the camera spins when Lily has walked into the mansion. I could spin my animation at this point or some other time, I will experiment with this.
- the sentences include 'film stars' includes bright colours

- the idea of using cupcakes

- the presents and the way the mansion is wrapped in a red ribbon tied in a bow at the end, also Lily is wearing a dress with a large bow and the presents have ribbon and bows, I may experiment with bows as a iconic in my animation.

I borrowed a camera from school for the weekend so I could photograph my ideas and put them onto a mac and see what they look like using fast pace editing, this will also give me a better understanding of timing for each image and what looks the best. I experimented with musical notes, newspaper, tape, background, paisley colours, red paint, picture of Lily, glitter, beads, gel pens and cut out of images relating to the song.


The introduction is 8 sections long, then the first line comes in, I wanna be rich and I want lots of money. I have just had the idea of having rip outs from magazines, no particular images or articles. then images fall onto the page from magazines, then on rich a £20 pound note drops onto the background contrasting with the other images. Still having the pastel colour scheme used in her video and every now and then an injection of red.

The next line - I don't care about clever I don't care about funny, the video could be drawing around or on the £20's.

I have had another idea to use as the background a Sun and Mirror newspaper, I bought a Mirror newspaper from the shop, (they didn't have the sun, I'l pick it up tomorrow) I am going to have a read and a look through for more ideas and inspiration.

The Fly

This magazine is the type of magazine I would like my CD digipack to be advertised in as it published a variety genre of music of bands and artist that are number 1s but also slightly more quirky. I got this magazine from Levi in Birmingham when I went shopping, the free magazine is often in shops and bars which is perfect for my younger generation target market.

I have been trying to get the video I filmed of the maganize onto flickr so I can embed it into this blog post but it wont download to flickr I think the file is to big so after trying again I am going to re film it and try to cut down the time so then it might download and I will beable to put it on my blog.

I re-filmed it, I tapped the pages which were not relevant togther so this cut down the time considerable. Once it had downloaded I looked at it on flickr and the other film was on there to my surprise! But it cuts out when the file gets to big, bizzare!

The maganize has not only CD adverts but gig reconmendations, singles, infomation about up and coming artists and famous excessting ones.

The idea behind the filming was to practice, to see what it looks like with the hand changing the viewing, the CD and gig adverts.

Article Lily Allen

This article is from the SUN newspaper it shows that she has strong views and that she speaks up about things that she feels is wrong. Her strong personality relates to the song and her video and I want to portray into my animation.

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.