Today we were able to present our radio like clip to Dan in our tutorial. He understood the campy direction we wanted to take our research in but suggested we needed to “ham it up” because he wanted to see the whole pig.
To achieve this we have begun revising the script to highlight words or phrases that should be accentuated for comedic value.
We’ve also made note of Dan’s suggestion to use expressions, hand movement and acting because they can be heard even through the recording. A challenge we face however is that to improve sound quality we’ll have to record alone, hopefully we’ll still be able to achieve that intensity and comedic timing by remaining in the room to play off each other, even if only one person is running through their lines.
When addressing sound quality we were also make sure we are not only using individual mics, but proceed to test sound levels and statics to ensure a clear recording. The use of a fuzzy and testing of different recorders has also been suggested.
Overall we’re moving on into our second draft with a clear idea of what we need to fix to improve our artefact.
Pixiv is a Japanese online community for artists to share their works. It involves a free membership to be able to post and explore the range of works. It is protected under these terms, which state that work can not be reposted. Even though this is stated there is still on blogging website Tumblr, that involves taking these images uploaded on Pixiv and editing them. Here is an example.
When Glitch Art was explained in today’s lecture as a form of “show[ing] how destruction can change into the creation of something original.” [1] There is no debate where that with the use of cropping, colour saturation and minimal animations these edits implore are turning the original art into something new. The new work however is not something that necessary needs to be presented with the original and many think this is not an acceptable form of remixing. To explore this further Menkman as an example compels us to believe the glitch was something usually associated with rejection, and only when mixed with original art was it able to be “understood as a new representation or new language.” This could be said of Tumblr edits as when contrasting them with the original art form a new story can be told; for instance the art above has been edited to create a more somber and emotive effect. However these edits are usually made to create a desired aesthetic to match their blogs, resulting in many other users feeling like this is a shallow reason for the use of remixing and that the art should be left untouched.
It’s hard to say if this is an appropriate form of remixing or not because while it does produce a new way of understanding a image it’s done in a way that breaks certain laws and for an affect some may consider childish or shallow. Is this something that should be done with permission in order for it to be acceptable or is there still no real reason for it to occur.
Here is some further reading into Tumblr users who find this remixing problematic.
[x ] [ x ] [ x ]
[1] Menkman, in 2011, Video Vortex Reader 2, p. 341
In class the idea was brought up that although in Taylor Swift’s new music video “Bad Blood” she is shown wearing bondage-like gear, we can’t sexualise her.
This was juxtaposed with the study that Nicki Minaj has single handily corrupted todays youth with her songs about her Superb Ass and pill popping. (see Super Bass)
For me this was a clear example of a pop-star’s persona in action, it’s easy to play the good girl next door when you look like Taylor Swift. You can’t really image a doe eyed blonde haired girl playing another role really. It’s in the same way we are able to jump to this conclusion that most people are readily able to look at a woman like Nicki Minaj and describe her as exotic, sexy, and animalistic. In a way pop-star’s only have so much control over how the public wants to view them.
Theres a lot of stigmas around how a black woman’s body is used in media. It’s often sexualised and dehumanised in a way where it is described rather than beautiful it is always raw, animal, exotic. She is never a woman but a creature ready to be let out and tamed. More of this discussion can be found online, but here is a good start.
There things we can never associate with “wholesome” persona’s like that of Taylor Swifts. This is even played out in her video Shake it Off, where she is shown “twerking” We are presented with an image of Taylor giving a half hearted embarrassed shake, and even if it’s unknowingly it’s still making a clear dichotomy between her and stars that exist in the industry. Stars like Nicki Minaj.
In Nicki’s video Anaconda it’s easy to at first glance see it as a way to play up the persona given to her by the media. However on closer analysis it’s easy to see how Nicki plays with the idea of objectification and works to give herself agency. Lets break it down
The song Anaconda samples good old Sir Mix A Lots, “Baby’s Got Back” a song that’s cemented its self in our pop culture. However she subverts this idea as she “shifts the common narrative of a man conquering female bodies to Minaj’s own stories of sexcapades without apologies.” [1] This is further reinforced in the video by showing images of her covering herself in whipped cream only to have the following shot be one of her slicing a banana in half angrily or sitting Drake down on a chair and giving him the lap dance of his life that ends, once he puts his hands on her. Throughout the video we can see that Nicki is in control. Rather than letting you decide what persona you can ascribe to her, she is telling you that her body belongs to her and is not yours to consume. She doesn’t give a fuck what your anaconda wants.
On Tuesday our team was able to record the first draft for our media project on film festivals. On our first run through of the script I noticed a few problems that I’d like to be more aware of in the future.
For example I found myself often talking to fast and mispronouncing words, however I feel this could be fixed by making sure the next few weeks are really spent rehearsing my part and speaking slower.
To make sure rehearse is goes smoothly it’s necessary that as a group we get our script finalised. Improv is always welcome but I think it’s important to really nail down those key points we need to hit. Hopefully this Thursday we’ll be able to receive feedback on the script so we can revise it, and tighten it up. Once all the key information is in I feel we will have more room to experiment with comedic timing and other media we might want to introduce. It’s still unsure whether or not we’ll film this script, but based on the feedback I think this will be resolved before the second draft is due.
Overall I feel like we are on the right path and I am excited to continue work on this project.
