"Postmodern media manipulates time and space."

Post-modern media, is media that originates from another time or existing piece, it defies the rules of context and meaning, by formulating creations that use any combination of components. Nothing can be wrong. Works can be full of depth and depth-less at the same time. They steal, change and warp current concepts. 

One example of a real media text that directly manipulates time and space, is the film Inception. Inception can be considered post-modern, as it changes the viewer's perceptions of reality, both within the film and their own life. The film is based on the ability to enter and share people's dreams and plant an idea. The film becomes complex and involves multiple layers. Although it is portraying a dream like world, most of the sets are actually based in real places or using real models. This in itself is an example of hyper-reality, as it is using a real place to create a fake reality intended to be fake. The characters within the film have times when they too struggle to separate the dream world from reality and this doubt is transferred to the audience with the end scene, in which the spinning top is left spinning and the audience is left in suspense as to if it falls (symbolising it's the real world) or if it spins forever (indicating a dream.) This scene of the film is an example of self-referencing, also post-modern, as inception means 'Planting an idea in someone's head without them realising.' And this very scene plants doubt in the audiences mind that at the end of the film they still haven't returned to reality. The ways in which inception manipulates time is with its warping of speed during each dream layer, time being variant and dependant on which layer they are in, something we do not experience in the real world. To reflect the change in the speed of time, the song 'Je ne regrette rien.' is played at different speeds within the film to signify whether it is real time or dream time. From doing this, the film presents time as something that is not constant, but changing. Inception also manipulates space within its Paris scene, where the city is seen to fold over and have two separate gravitational pulls in one area (people can walk upside down.) This warps the viewer’s perception of physical boundaries and limitations. This is continued in the second dream layer where the hotel experiences gravitational shifts and the corridor is seen to spin and have periods of zero gravity.  

A further film that warps space is 'Scott Pilgrim verses the world.' This film is post-modern as it uses constant referencing throughout, specifically of comic books and video games. With scenes appearing like a comic book strips,  such as words appearing in time with sounds and actions 'Kpow!.' It also uses game music, such as that of Zelda, and arcade game music as the Universal logo is introduced. Ways, in which this film manipulates space, is with its very unrealistic fight scenes that allow characters to fly through the air and fight viscously whilst remaining unscathed. One clear scene that also manipulates time, is one in which Scott is getting ready to leave his apartment, and a sped up montage of his actions are presented e.g. puts on hat and coat in a second each. However when he comes to tie up his shoes, they make a comedic point for it to be in real time, to emphasise the chance of pace. This also presents the possibility that time is not constant.

Further examples of time manipulation can be witnessed in Quentin Tarintino’s film ‘Inglourious Basterds.’ Most of Tarintino’s works are explicitly post-modern with frequent intertexual reference, such as to that of his past works e.g. within this film it references the high levels of gore within ‘Reservoir dogs.’ The specific element of the film that manipulates time is as the opening credits run, where Tarintino selects the background music to be that of a spaghetti western track, a piece of music created after the film is even set. This element is an example of Levi Strauss’ 'Bricolage', bringing separate material together and placing it in a new context with no consideration to its previous relevance. It also defies the laws of time, as it combines two separate time periods, this explicitly indicates that the film is not trying to be true to reality as it explores an impossible combination.

To conclude, many post-modern works can be seen to manipulate time and space, as the very nature of post-modernism is that it does not adhere to such rules or expectations. This is reflected in the fact that these seemingly essential components of most media texts, e.g. continuity and practicable patterns do not structure in such pieces. Post-modernism was criticises by Jameson to be vacuous and trapped in circular reference. Although these mentioned examples do feature such referencing. It can be argued that the post-modern approach also defies past preconceptions of how media should be presented e.g. with the presents of Bricolage and formulating unusual combinations of elements. And therefore the presents of time and space manipulation is an example of how post-modern media is full of possibilities.

"Define Post-modern media with examples."

Post-modern media, is media that originates from another time or existing piece, it defies the rules of context and meaning, by formulating creations that use any combination of components. Nothing can be wrong. Works can be full of depth and depth-less at the same time. They steal, change and warp current concepts and manipulate the viewers perception of reality. Post-modernism is based on the concept that the possibilities of the media have been exhausted and therefore we are left with regurgitating the past. 

Post-modern media is media that can be regarded as unoriginal, a it is usually based are pre-existing works and features referencing. Post-modern theorist such as Kirby Fergusson, suggested everything is a remix and therefore all new media is post-modern. This is the concept that all new media projects are connected with no originality and creativity relies on the ability to copy, transform and combine current pieces. This idea of continuous transformation can be witnessed in real world texts, for example; The song 'Gold Digger' by Kayne West is a remix of the song 'I got a woman' by Ray Charles, which is in turn a remix of the song 'It must be Jesus' by The Southern Tones. Although it may be viewed that each of these new songs are unique as these merely use elements of one another and are ultimately original, however these pieces are regarded post-modern, as not only do they use elements of backing track etc. but they also warp the meaning of the song taking it out of context and completely changing the original message, this is an example of Levis Strauss 'Bricolage.' The original song goes from being about the wonderful acts of Jesus, to the kind acts of a girlfriend to the degrading song about a Gold digging girlfriend. No consideration of context is applied.

Post modern media has become popular in recent years and many professional set out to purposely create post-modern work. One such individual is the director Quentin Tarintino. His film 'Inglourious Basterds' alone, contains multiple post-modern elements. As the opening credits run Tarintino selects the background music to be that of a spaghetti western track, a piece of music created after the film is even set. This element is an example 'Bricolage', bringing separate material together and placing it in a new context with no consideration to its previous relevance. The chapter one setting also references a similarly set film 'The Sound of Music', this focuses on the process of transposition, taking familiar scenery from an originally heart warming scene and transforming it to a new setting, to give it a more sinister feel, something considered post modern. The use of hyper-reality is also a frequent element within this film, such as Tarintino explicitly showing scenes as sets and not real places, with the use of over-head shots. This is post-modern as illustrates that the fake reality usually portrayed as being real, is being portrayed as fake, it is both creating and destroying the sense of reality. Further to this Tarintino also frequently uses Intertextual references of past works within his film, most of which derive from his own projects. Such referencing includes; High levels of gore, similar to 'Reservoir Dogs', the female glamour combined with weaponry and action seen in Jackie Brown, and also army camp scenes that are almost a pastiche of scenes from the 'Dirty Dozen.'

Post-modern media can also be presented in the form of a Parody, an imitation intended to mock past works. This can be seen in films such as 'Hobo with a shotgun'. This film can be regarded by some to be purposely bad and therefore exaggerate the ridiculous elements of other films, to formulate a piece that is totally bizarre. Such examples within the film include the over-the-top acting that attempts at some points to evoke emotion but is too fake to be taken seriously. The levels of gore within the film are also unnecessary and gruesome, such as a girl having her arm ripped off by a lawnmower. This within another film such as that of 'Saw' might be horrifying, however in the parody context it is simply unrealistic. The result of such media is that it makes you reassess how you ever found the original texts entertaining. 

Post-modernism is often criticised for producing copies that lack the substance of the original creation. This idea was presented by theorist Baudrillard and is described as Simulacrum. This concept is frequently seen within advertising campaigns that attempt to present a product in its most appealing light, such as a McDonald's poster, however the real product that you can purchase bears no resemblance to the artificial image. These advertisement create a an illusion of reality and present an unattainable reality. The claim is that there is no direct link between reality and its expression in words and pictures e.g. your Big Mac looks nothing like it is 'supposed' to.

To conclude, modernism was considered to stress the creativity of individual ideas, focusing on integrity and authenticity. However media nowadays is almost destined to be post-modern, with most works being influenced and formulated by multiple people, it is also available all over the world to download and view. Unlike a piece of artwork which usually exists in its original form alone, media such as films and TV are intended to be broadcast and spread in its copies far and wide. Therefore the only form of media we can view is that of a copy and media cannot exist in its pure modernist form. 

Representation Prezi

Genre Theory

Genre can be described as the particular form or style of a text, which includes a certain typical structure or conventions. In A2 we created a music video ours of a country/pop genre. The purpose of genres within the music industry is a means of ordering and organising where types of music fit in, and by doing so allow audiences to interact with software such as iTunes or YouTube in a functional way. A particular genre of music a person prefers can be accessed easily, with genre forming the basis of categorisation. In a modern world we relish order.

Theorist Glenhill said 'One advantage of genres is that they can rely on readers already having knowledge and expectations about works within genre.' It was important for our video to satisfy the audience’s expectations of the pop/country genre, as people choose to watch music videos as a means of entertainment, and escapism. This can be related to the uses and gratifications model, as pop/country music videos can be seen to benefit an audience by providing them with the diversion and pleasure they desire. An audience will select to watch videos of a particular genre, as they already hold preconceptions on how they will be and so are confident they will enjoy them. Therefore by formulating our music video to fit a genre, we could be confident of the expectations of this target audience of and so how to make it appeal to them. The creation of texts outside of genre is risky, as you cannot be certain they will have elements that appeal to any market.

The target audience for our music video was primarily females aged 13-21 years old. We selected this audience as from analysis of the market for the Taylor swift song we were using as our base, this audience appeared to be the primary consumers. In order to adhere to our country/pop genre we attempted to follow the conventions of current real media texts. From our analysis of similar artists videos, we concluded some of conventions to be; A focus on star image of the main artist, we included this by having 90% of shots being of our artist and with frequent close ups of her face. Editing with the beat of the song to match the pace of the music, in our video we adapted the cutting speed of shots, creating a fast paced montage for the lively instrumental. Specific to primarily pop videos is also the presents of a narrative within the video that usually directly illustrates or amplifies the lyrics of the song. To re-create this in our video with had a narrative storyline portraying a relationship break-up between our female artist and her 'boyfriend.' Not only is the present of a narrative common in pop videos, but also a storyline based specifically on a relationship is repeated frequently and fulfils certain expectations. The reason this is so popular within this genre is that it appeals to the target audience, with primarily young girls watching these videos, relationships and break-ups are a concept they can relate to and likely to be a part of their life. The purpose of a female pop artist is also to appear aspirational and attractive to her audience. We therefore tailored our mise en scene to emulate our artist’s beauty by; curling her hair, using light natural make-up, and feminine floral clothes that reflected innocents and youth. Within the genre of pop female artists are often exploited for their beauty and use it to expand their appeal to both sexes. This is the basis of Laura Mulvey's theory of 'the male gaze,' and that women are sexual objects, admired by males and aspirational to women. However the country element of our videos genre made us avoid the sexualisation of our artist, as it isn't main stream pop but a more traditional and classic music style, which is reflected by a more demure image we tried to exhibit.

To conclude, the use of genre provided us with guidelines for the production of our music video and helped us make creative decisions by providing some restriction to the possibilities of our video. Genre also ensured we were focusing on the audience’s reception of our video and providing a product that would fulfil a purpose to provide enjoyment. Genre can be regarded incredibly post-modern as it actively encourages the mimicking of concepts to create predictable products that lack originality and are just versions of old work. However it seems that people enjoy the consumption of predictable products as there is enough variation for them to enjoy guessing, for example the end to a narrative storyline, however the sense of familiarity is comforting. It was sated by theorist Neale that ‘Pleasure is derived through repetition and difference.’ Our music video had a predictable clique narrative of a boy and girl, however the new faces and catchy tune of country pop creates a pleasant image the audience can empathise with and recognise. The hyper reality of pop videos evokes an emotional response that never gets old.

LADY GAGA meets ONE DAY

Lady Gaga and Post Modernism

(Text has been changed slightly from uploading to Slide Share.)

Uncool Playlist

1) Goyte - Somebody I used to Know
2) Mumford and Son -Little Lion man
3) David Guetta - She Wolf
4) The Strokes - Last Nite
5) Labrinth - Beneath Your Beautiful
6) Lana Del Rey - Radio
7) Les Miserable - At the End of the Day
8) Bruno Mars - When I Was Your Man
9) Fun - We are Young
10) Noah and the Whale - L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real media texts informed your own creative media practice?

Across AS and A2, I used my research and planning to analyse real media texts and establish current conventions. Within the two years I have made a music magazine, music video and ancillary products(Poster and Digipak.) From the comparison of established brands I was able to grasps key concepts and elements that were constant across these products of a similar genre, and this provided me with a base for my own work.

For the production of my AS Music magazine I learnt from my analysis, the integral features of magazines. To establish conventions I considered current magazines of the same genre to my own, music magazines of a rock base, and so analysed magazines like NME, Rolling Stone and Kerrang. Some of the conventions I found were; Similar modes of address, typically quite informal and speaking directly to the reader. I try to emulate this in my own work, by having a model on the cover I believe the target audience could relate to, as he was a young male in simple dark clothing, similar clothes the audience would wear. My model was looking directly at the camera in a confident manner. The aim of this was to reflect the bold and confident side to rock and directly attract buyers attention by addressing them directly. Other elements that continued with this bold and eye catching theme was the use of paint effect behind my cover lines, in keeping with a casual messy look and the striking purple colour scheme to represent individuality. I also kept any writing on my cover short and simple, with catchy lines such as 'Top 30 downloads.' My double page spread was laid out like an interview and was based on quotes of the feature band with slang and informal speech. The intent was for the audience to feel they gained a personal perspective and the article was tailored to a young modern reader.

Further conventions I noticed included a similar layout of elements on all the magazine covers, the presents of the golden spiral theory was apparent. Most magazines had their masthead at the top, cover titles down one side, a central title and lower banner. I used this convention on the cover of my magazine because it draws the readers eyes to the important aspects of the issue and once their attention is gained is also hopefully sustained, so they read all the cover and are convinced to purchase. Real media texts informed me greatly in my own creative ideas, as when it came to considering my choice of fonts there was an abundance of options. What I noticed across magazines of a rock genre, is their fonts tended to be unusual, messy and bold. Such as that of 'Kerrang' magazine that has an effect on its masthead almost like shattered glass. This encouraged me to explore in the selection of my own font and download one from DaFont.com after many considerations. My final font fitted with the messy bold design and appeared aged and weathered. I only used a range of three fonts on my cover so it did not appear too disjointed and lose its focused style. Most importantly the details on my cover needed to remain in keeping with conventions, so as to stand up against competition and appeal to my target audience. Kerrang and NME both have very busy covers that reflect the crazy side of rock and appeal to an audience who want lots of info quick and easily. Within my own work I still included cover lines, large title and banner, however kept my cover a little more simplistic, such as a 'Rolling stone.' Although conventions helped me understand how current magazines achieve success, this convention also changed my creative path, as I believed by keeping it slightly more simplistic it would stand apart from current brands.

By A2 I believe my creative abilities had developed and I was able to identify and replicate conventions far quicker and more precisely. Unlike AS, where I feel I attempted to manipulate the conventions to make them my own e.g. with a controversial colour scheme and simplistic look. Over the time I released the necessity of the conventions in establishing genre, and selling a product to an audience who expect a certain type of product. Therefore I tried to more accurately replicate the elements I identified. My competence with the media equipment also greatly improved with time, such as my abilities on Photoshop and photography skills. This increased capability allowed me to recreate the sleek professional style of real media texts, and the comparison to them encouraged me to improve my skills further, such as mastering editing tools on Photoshop (making photos sharper with filters and feather edges with the blur tool.) I created my poster and Digipak based on a pop genre featured around a solo female artist. Within real media texts I noticed that an artist will attempt to achieve continuity across all their products, so their appearance, brand and style is recognisable to the public. This inspired me to use the teddy bear within our video on my Digipak, as a means of creating links between the related elements. For my poster, some of the conventions I noticed on similar products to my own, was a more formal and less direct mode of address, with minimal text and an image that is more sophisticated. Within my own work I tried to achieve this by keeping text informative and to the lower half of the cover and in a simplistic font that connoted more maturity and importance. The font used for my artists name and album title was also intended to appear feminine and sleek, I achieved this with a slightly hand written looking font in a red colour. One convention on all of the posters I analysed was the use of portraying the album cover on the poster so it would be recognisable to an audience. Also the album covers of female solo artists tended to be close ups of their face alone, to form their image. I also used a close up on my album to highlight my artists beauty and youth, her pose is of her looking off to the side, to connote innocence and a shyness. This then formed my poster background. The purpose of an album poster is to promote the artists album, therefore analysis of real texts highlighted crucial conventions, such as the presence of the album name, reviews, a release date and website address. Adhering to this I included these on my own poster, even setting up a twitter account for my fake artist, and including her twitter name at the bottom of my poster. These conventions aided my practice by making my product more true to real life texts and not just creative pieces.

To conclude, the analysis of real media texts inspired me to create my own products by providing guidelines that focused my creation and formed a basis for the elements of my own work. From AS to A2 I gained increased understanding of what conventions were within real media texts and became better at re-creating them. Although all pieces of my work were original and contain my own creative ideas, conventions informed me of how to make creative products that look professional and wouldn't be out of place in the real world.

Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of post-modernism?

Post-modern media, is media that originates from another time or existing piece, it defies the rules of context and meaning, by formulating creations that use any combination of components. Nothing can be wrong. Works can be full of depth and depth-less at the same time. They steal, change and warp current concepts and change people’s perceptions of reality.

Some people are not convinced by the concept of post-modern media as it suggests that nothing can be original and therefore everything is a copy. Theorist such as Kirby Fergusson, suggested everything is a remix. This is the concept that all new media projects are connected with no originality and creativity relies on the ability to copy, transform and combine current pieces. This idea of continuous transformation can be witnessed in real world texts, for example; The song 'Gold Digger' by Kayne West is a remix of the song 'I got a woman' by Ray Charles, which is in turn a remix of the song 'It must be Jesus' by The Southern Tones. Critics may argue that pieces such as these merely use elements of one another and are ultimately unique, however these pieces are regarded post-modern, as not only do they use elements of backing track etc. but they also warp the meaning of the song taking it out of context and completely changing the original message, this is an example of Levis Strauss 'Bricolage.' The original song goes from being about the wonderful acts of Jesus, to the kind acts of a girlfriend to the degrading song about a Gold digging girlfriend. No consideration of context is applied. This in itself is another area that post-modernism faces opposition, as it can regarded as disrespectful and mocking, such as with the use of parodies. With films such as 'Hobo with a shotgun,' the aim is to create projects that are purposely bad and highlight the failures of previous ventures. The acceptance of post-modern media allows and encourages people to seek such weaknesses and therefore can be seen as negative, as it influences audience’s receptions to new media.

A further issue of post-modern media is that it is thought to manipulate people’s perceptions of reality. For example; with the increasing quantity of advertisements on TV and online, people are bombarded with idyllic and aspirational lifestyles and scenarios that aim to sell a product. But theses adverts can actually be considered, by critics, to be unhealthy or even damaging. Adverts such as that for Nikon, are based on trying to re-create fake memories that have never been, but are represented as real. Hyper-reality was presented by Baudrillard and is described as the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality. An issue with its present within the media, is that this hyper-real representation of life, may actually replace people’s expectations and view of reality. People no longer aim to attain real individual experiences but replicate the aspirational events they view, and are actually disappointed when their exacting standards are unfulfilled. This media makes the real world inadequate.

Nowadays people aim to be post modern. Media containing Intertextual references are prevalent, such as Quentin Tarintino’s films like ‘Inglourious Basterds.’ The film is formulated on the bases of making it relate to past works and continuously mimic and warp current films. Tarintino aims for his audience to pick up on the references and take enjoyment from identifying the copies, such as; his opening scene, reminiscent of the sound of music and a shot almost identical to one in ‘The Dirty Dozen.’ In the past during modernist times the aim of media projects were to make them as original and unique as possible, often with daring and controversial ideas. The reason people may not be convinced by post-modernism, is that by accepting post-modernism to be inevitable, and that everything is a remix, it formulates the belief that we therefore no longer need to bother trying to make things unique or original. Post-modernism can therefore be argued, to be a mind-set as well as a category of classification. If people are in the mind-set that they can’t make anything new and set out to copy, then everything will be a copy. However critics may argue, that post-modernism is not an eventually for the future of all media.

To conclude, from the perspective of critic Jameson, postmodern media can be regarded as the creation of vacuous pieces that are trapped in circular reference. Therefore the creation of such media destroys the integrity of media, as it does not lead to the valuable work of the past. The influence of this post-modern world can be seen as detrimental to future generations; nowadays people don’t buy things from a shop and hold the product in their hand, they look at a virtual replica online and have it delivered. When someone wants to hear from their friend they don’t meet up for a chat, they virtually meet up through Skype. Although these elements of the modern world can be regarded as a step forward in the development of media, from another perspective it can be regarded as means to move away from what is real and develop into a world that is fake and therefore moving nowhere at all.