School Mixtape

Primary School

1.       Oasis-Don’t Look Back in Anger- It was the first ever song I learnt the words to.

2.       The Spice Girls- Spice Up Your Life- Massive Spice Girls fan and I thought I was Sporty Spice

3.       Kylie Minogue- Love At First Sight- I had a sleepover on my birthday and we made up a dance routine which I still remember

4.       The Corrs- Breathless- A song that my grandma and I would always sing in the car

High School

5.       Simple Plan- Welcome To My Life- Went through a ‘grebby’ stage at High School and listened to lots of American Bands

6.       Paris Hilton- Stars Are Blind- Loved watching The Simple Life

7.       Avril Lavigne- Sk8r Boi- I wanted to be her with a skate board, flared jeans and a chain

8.       Bowling For Soup- Girl All The Bad Guys Want- my friend and I parodied the song about a guy she fancied

Lutterworth College

9.       The Pigeon Detectives- I Found Out- The first ‘proper’ band I went to see in Camden with my band

10.   Florence and The Machine- Dog Days- Friday nights spent on Narborough Park listening and ‘florencing’.

11.   One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful- Absolute tune always played in media

12.   Sid Vicious- My Way- very appropriate

In What Ways Can Scott Pilgrim Be Considered Postmodern?

I definitely think that Scott Pilgrim vs. the World could be considered as a postmodern film. This is because a vast amount of the film can be seen as a video game or even a comic book. A film like this couldn't be classed as modern, which is what postmodernism is a rejection to. Modernism is the idea that everything created is original and we don't use anything from the past. The audience to a modern media aren't able to interact with it and the narrative is set- it cannot be changed throughout the story. Postmodernism on the other hand  believes that we take inspiration from the past to create things today. On occasions the audience are able to get involved and postmodern media can often be left to chance.


The first way in which I believe Scott Pilgrim could be postmodern is the use of bricolage. When watching a film as a consumer you have an understanding of what is typical from a film- everything can seem realistic when concerning the characters, the setting and even sometimes the narrative. However, you do not expect to see words appearing on the screen, such as "Ding Dong" when the doorbell rings, or black boxes containing the characters name and rating. This idea could be considered very unusual for a film and seen to belong in comic books or video games. However, with the context of the film and the narrative I think it works well and suits the film, resulting in bricolage working successfully.


Another example of how Scott Pilgrim could be considered as postmodern is as a film it could be seen as a homage- a homage to both video games and comic books. On the front of Kim's drum kit there is an image of a bomb. This is an intertextual reference to the original Super Mario. Therefore, its use of images like that could be paying respect to video games. As well as this, intertextual references are used regularly within postmodern media because postmodernists reply on their audience to have a knowledge about the past to be able to understand the intertextual references. It also pays homage to video games by having Scott's score level going up each time he destroy one of Ramona's evil ex's. This is common in every video game that consists of levels and scores. By using the idea in the film it is giving the idea recognition and showing they like the idea. As well as video games, the film pays homage to comic books too. An example of how it does this is the split screen used when a phone call conversation is being shown between Scott and his sister. This use of split screen is used regularly within comic books when two characters are on the phone. Therefore, the film makers are showing they like this idea by incorporating it in the film.


A different way in which I think Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the hyperreality created when within the film. Hyperreality is used to describe the inability to be able to tell what is reality and what is fantasy. As I have said previously when describing the bricolage in the film, the use of words on the screen that spell out the noises heard, such as "KPOK" when Matthew Patel first attack Scott, as a consumer watching the film you accept that as reality and that is what is happening in the film, you do not question it. You are unable to distinguish that in fact the words on the screen wouldn't happen in reality and are just a fantasy.


It was thought that Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was going to do well at the box office with it's big budget and unique aspects that make it different to other film. However, sadly it didn't and made very little impact within the film industry. Therefore, I don't think there is a future for films like this. This is because it has too much of a small target audience. With the exception of a few, the only people I think this film would strongly appeal to is those interested in comic books and video games, because to understand the majority of the references in this film, you must have a large knowledge about comic books and video games. This makes it very hard to appeal to a wider audience. Despite saying this, I have very little knowledge on these areas but thoroughly enjoyed watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. A critisism of this however has come from 

Frederic Jameson. He sees postmodernism as "vacuous and trapped in circular references". As well as this Jameson has described it as nothing more that a series of self referential 'jokes' which have no deeper meaning or purpose. 

To conclude, I think Scott Pilgrim could hugely be considered as postmodern mainly because of it's many intertextual references to video games and comics and knowledge it's consumers have to have to understand them.

Arcade Fire

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/


Clearly this video isn't like your usual music video because it involves something to do with you- once you enter where you live, it sets the video there. This makes the video post modern because it creates a hyper reality. The creators have tried to set the video in the consumers hometown which makes you feel like the whats happening in the video has actually happened where you live. With a modern video this wouldn't be able to happen because there is always a selection which means there's set places the video could be, whereas postmodern has a combination so it's open for lots of settings for the video. I did think it was quite fun to watch the video but it didn't turn out as good as I was hoping it would. For example, the original video was set at night time but the shots used from my village were in day time so it didn't go together well. However, the general idea of what they were trying to achieve was good. I do think there is a future for these kind of videos but more work has to be put into getting the video perfect and believable. As well as this, eventually more interesting videos could be used instead of just someone running.


http://www.beonlineb.com/


This second video was a bit more interesting as it was more interactive. Ways in which I think this was different to a modern video making it postmodern is, when watching a modern you music video you are expected to watch it from a distance. As a consumer you aren't supposed to have any involvement and just be a passive audience and watch the video. Whereas with to make Neon Bible work the consumer is expected to have some participation with the video. To make the video do anything you have to mouse click on objects on the page. Another example of how it's postmodern and not modern is the play aspect of the video over the modern idea that there must be a purpose. This is because the video involves to consumer playing with the video to make it work but being able to do what they want with the lead singer, whereas if it was a modern video there would be a purpose to the video and the actions of the lead singer would lead to something. I don't really think there is a future for this kind of video because I don't think many people would find it interesting. The only people I feel it would appeal to is huge fans of the artist/ group. If you just 'like' the song as a consumer you wouldn't go out of your way to play the video.


http://www.sprawl2.com/


I did not understand this video as nothing unusual happened for a music video and my interaction which I though was going to happen did not?

http://blabla.nfb.ca/

I was very confused about this website and I'm not too sure of it's purpose. I like how the website has a narrative with chapters and within these chapters you are able to be interactive and to an extent control what the character does in these chapters. However, it did get very repetitive and quite boring because your control of the character was quite limited. I'm not sure who the website is targeted at, because anyone of my age or older could find it a bit boring, or anyone of a younger age could find it quite creepy as the character is quite unusual looking.

Using Summer Camp and DJ Danger Mouse, explain how some artists can be called postmodern.

 I think there are certain aspects that make Summer Camp and DJ Danger Mouse postmodern, with various aspects different to others. Postmodernism is a rejection of modernism. Modernism is the idea that everything is created newly, everything is original and nothing is used from the past. Whereas postmodernism embraces the past and uses it regularly. Some postmodernists use the idea that things created are a remix because we are always using ideas from the past and combining them with ideas we have now, therefore nothing is ever completely new.

One was in which I believe DJ Danger Mouse to be postmodern is his excessive use of sampling to form a remix. His most famous piece of work was an album he created in 2004 called The Grey Album. He combined songs from Jay- Z's The Black Album with The Beatles White Album. Charles Jencks has described postmoderism as "fundamentally the electic mixture of any tradition with that of its immediate past: it is both the continuation of Modernism and its transcendence". I think this theory can apply to the song 99 Problems found on the album. The Beatles album was released in 1968 but Jay Z's album was released in 2003 but, many years after. This shows a clear range in between the past and present. These are combined together to essentially form an "electric mix" that is postmodern. The song could be seen as 'cool' because it uses bricolage. It combines two completely different genres, from hip- hop/ rap of the 2000's or 60's pop/ rock. These two combinations shouldn't work but strangely go together well.

Summer Camp on the other hand don’t use previous tracks to create remixes, they create new songs (with the obvious use of inspiration from the past songs). However, despite not copying/ sampling other songs they do still take something from the- that being their ‘image’. Summer Camp have built themselves this image of an 80’s looking duo, using footage from this era in their music videos as well as images of people to represent them. This could be seen as the band paying homage to the 1980’s. They have respect and passion for the era that they want to try and recreate it themselves, and I believe that they do succeed. Another aspect is how their 80’s image could be postmodern is the hyper-reality it creates. The band have given themselves an image of an 80’s band with similar styling and not showing who they really are. This gives the consumer the idea that this is what the band looks like, and if you hadn’t done any research into them, then you would believe this.

A similarity I have discovered between DJ Danger Mouse and Summer Camp is their websites. DJ Danger Mouse created an album with Sparkle Horse called Dark Night of the Soul. The album featured singers such as James Mercer of the Shins, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes and Iggy Pop. They created a website designed for the album. The website consists of interactive images that look like they have been cut and pasted. These images could represent DJ Danger Mouse's idea that everything is cut up and put together- an idea that postmodernists have that everything is a remix.

Summer Camp have used a similar idea with their website, but with video footage. The background for the pages consists of 1980’s video footage. However, the reasoning behind this could be different to DJ Danger Mouse because once again they could be paying homage to the 80’s because that footage is greater than what they could create.

It appears that to be ‘cool’ postmodernists strongly believe that you must use ideas from the past and clearly show this, but the criticism is, how long will it be that you sample too much from the past that it’s not acceptable to claim it as your own? An example of this is DJ Danger Mouse’s album with Sparkle horse. He was unable to release the album because of copyright claims made by record label EMI. Therefore him and Sparkle Horse decided to release an album case including all artwork but with a blank CD. However, this CD was able to be recorded onto, so DJ Danger Mouse 'hinted' that the album could be downloaded from the internet onto the CD so they'd have their own copy of the album. This album could be seen as a pastiche to the music industry because it has sampled or copied songs too much that it has become ridiculous and DJ Danger Mouse has shown how easy it can be done. However, some could see it as a homage because he has been inspired by the songs he has sampled so much they he wants to change them as little as possible.

The risk in remixing and sampling to appear ‘cool’ is that as and artist you might not seem postmodern and people could see you as simply copying. If it’s copied too much, it’s for certain that it won’t be your work and you’re not being postmodern.

Section 1, Past Exam Question

1a) Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time.

I have experienced many music videos during my life, especially from the indie genre. This helped me greatly when we created the music video for A2. I  knew what the typical conventions were such as playing instruments as a band or using inanimate objects. A big part of a music video is the objects that are used by the artist to keep the viewer entertained. An example of this is in The Maccabee's video to First Love. Within this video there is the use of many inanimate objects such as chalk, a mug, flowers and a dress. We liked this idea and thought it went well with the video being disjuncture, so decided to use in our music video. We used objects like: a skateboard, a colander, costumes and inflatables. Secondly, the video has to have a good ending so the user could essentially feel 'satisfied' after watching it. We took inspiration from Vampire Weekend' video for A Punk- another video I was familiar with and was in our chosen genre. The ending of their video consisted of the band swapping positions for the last bit of the music and then running out of the shot just as the music finishes. Our ending is very similar to this. To finish our video, we have three band members walk out of the performance shot as their instruments stop playing but leave the guitarist playing till the very end, and then he walks out of the shot in a different direction to the other members. I believe, to make a music video enjoyable to watch there has to be some comedy involved which we have used in our music video. In the video a comedy sketch is used where there is a member in a monkey costumer chasing another member in a banana costume. The inspiartion for this came from the classic Benny Hill style chase. When it came to creating the poster and digipak I decided to use a female friend to use on the front. I had a clear idea about the male gaze because it has been used on many media products I have seen before, epecially on magazine covers and adverts. I could then use this idea with my products I try to create that facial express on my 'model'. I could use this image on my poster and digipak. A magzine cover I saw which used the male gaze but not exactly in the typical way was i-D magazine with Behati Prinsloo on the front with half a skeleton face painted on. I used this idea on my model and had the magazine as my inspiration after I saw it in a media classroom. To create a media product I believe it is necessary to have knowledge of media conventions and have experienced existing media to create something of a high standard.

80's: TV

- Saved By The Bell





- Dif'rent Strokes

80's: Film

The films appear to be about American 'kids' trying to be rebellious perhaps and doing something mischievous.

- Ferris Bueller's Day Off





- The Breakfast Club



 

1980's: Fashion

- There's three main features of 80's fashion: the 'preppy' look, plain white t-shirt and stonewashed jeans or bright colours.

- The 'preppy' look was worn by men and women.
- Popular amongst teens
- A very typical style from American teens
-Is the inspiration behind some band's styles today like Vampire weekend

 

- Stonewashed jeans and white t shirt worn often
- Didn't look too plain because there was always emphasis on the hair
- Jeans were usually high waisted



- If bright colours were worn, it appears every part of the outfit would be bright colours
- Even accessories were such as: hair pieces or leg warmers
- The bright clothes were usually very baggy

1980's: Music

- A lot of electronic pop sounds and synth
- Majority of the songs start with the synth
- Involves lots of keyboards and guitar, don't see any drums
- Clothing worn was strongly influenced by what music they singing/ playing
- Could just be a coincidence but music industry seem to be equal between men and woman
- Big, fluffy hair with either gender

Section A Planning Table

	Music Magazine (Main task and prelim task of college mag)	Music Video and ancillary tasks
Digital Technology	Photoshop, camera, Google Chrome	Photoshop, Premiere Pro, camera
Creativity	Mock ups on Photoshop, taking inspiration from existing bands	Inspiring images, taking inspiration from existing products
Research and Planning	Magazine websites, animoto for pitch, test photo shots	Band websites, inspiring images on websites, watched videos on YouTube
Post- production	Photoshop	Premiere Pro, i DVD, Photoshop
Using Conventions From Real Media Texts	Current magazines, band styling, band images	Music videos, existing band album covers, existing band album posters

Bricolage

Changing the meaning of traditional objects or language to give them a subversive meaning. An example of this is punks using safety pins as a piercing. The safety pin goes from being some safe and practical to something dangerous and rebellious.

Roland Bartes- symbolic code

What is cool?
-Something we like
-Depends on the context
-Confidence
-It doesn't have to be something fashionable
-Being popular
-Sometimes you can be too cool you become arrogant
-Uncool can be cool
-Decided by peers, journalists, trendsetters

iPod Shuffle

1. Scarlet Harlots- Backlash
2. Ray Charles- Hit The Road Jack
3. Justin Bieber- Somebody To Love
4. Arctic Monkeys- Love Is a Lazerquest
5. The Drums- We Tried
6. Azealia Banks- Liquorice
7. Pigeon Detectives- Emergency
8. The Specials- Ghost Town
9. Justin Bieber- One Less Lonely Girl
10. Metronomy- The Look
11. The Buzzcocks- Ever Fallen In Love
12. Wham- Club Tropicana
13. James Brown- It's a Man's World

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

Exam Specification

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production

Question 1(a) requires candidates to describe and evaluate their skills development over the course of their production work, from Foundation Portfolio to Advanced Portfolio. The focus of this evaluation must be on skills development, and the question will require them to adapt this to one or two specific production practices. The list of practices to which questions will relate is as follows:
-Digital Technology
-Creativity
-Research and planning
-Post-production
-Using conventions from real media texts

Question 1(b) requires candidates to select one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept. The list of concepts to which questions will relate is as follows:
-Genre
-Narrative
-Representation
-Audience
-Media language

Section B: Contemporary Media Issues

There will be two questions from each topic area. The topic areas require understanding of contemporary media texts, industries, audiences and debates. For the purposes of examination a contemporary media text is defined as being a media text that was published or released within five years of the examination date. Candidates must choose one of the following topic areas, in advance of the examination and, through specific case studies, texts, debates and research of the candidates’ choice, prepare to demonstrate understanding of the contemporary issue. This understanding must combine knowledge of at least two media and a range of texts, industries, audiences and debates, but these are to be selected by the centre / candidate. The assessment of the response will be generic, allowing for the broadest possible range of responses within the topic area chosen. Each topic is accompanied by four prompt questions, and candidates must be prepared to answer an exam question that relates to one or more of these four prompts. There should be emphasis on the historical, the contemporary and the future in relation to the chosen topic, with most attention on the present. Centres are thus advised to ensure that study materials for this unit are up to date and relevant. Candidates may choose to focus on one of the following contemporary media issues:
-Contemporary Media Regulation
-Global Media
-Media and Collective Identity
-Media in the Online Age
-Post-modern Media
-‘We media’ and Democracy

"Digital Technology turns media consumers into media producers".

In you own experience, how has your creativity developed using digital technology using digital technology to complete your coursework productions?

Due to using software such as Photoshop to create both my digipak at A2 and the magazine at AS I definitely feel this has helped me turn into a media producer. Firstly, after starting my AS magazine on Photoshop, I went from being a media consumer that buys music magazine to actually making one. However, I feel that you have to have been a media consumer before a producer because you need to know what the typical conventions are. This idea is also reinforced by me creating the digipak and poster at A2. I have experienced many different album covers and posters and knew what made a good album cover and what was typical of the genre I was creating an album case and poster for.

I also believe that the quality of digital technology can decide how much of a media producer you are. An example of this is when me and 3 other people in my media group created a music video at A2. We had all experienced a vast amount of music videos from all different genres so knew what we wanted to create and what to include to make it appear to be a proper music video.I think we did a great job and produced something I am very proud of which therefore turned us from media consumers to media producers. However, this does not mean we were excellent media producers. I feel that if we had better digital technology when filming, such as changing the camera from a Sony NEX-5/7 to a Panasonic HPX300, the quality of the video would improve immensly making our video a higher standard and make us become better producers.

However, to be able to completely become a media producer I think you need to have knowledge about the industry, it's not all about the technology you use. When you are creating music video you need to understand the research and planning that must go into it, how to film and then how to create it. Although, with the help of YouTube you can pretty much find any video on the site that can teach you how to do something!

Jean-François Lyotard

He rejected the idea of “grand narratives” or universal “meta-narratives.”  The grand narratives refer to the great theories of history, science, religion, politics. For example, he doesn't believe that science has given us the answer to everything. Lyotard prefers to use ‘micronarratives’ that can go in any direction, that reflect diversity and they are unpredictable.

Frederic Jameson

He has criticised postmodernism. He sees postmodernism as "vacuous and trapped in circular references". As well as this Jameson has described it as nothing more that a series of self referential 'jokes' which have no deeper meaning or purpose. For him, literary and cultural output is more purposeful than this and he therefore remains a modernist in a world increasingly dominated by postmodern culture.

Test Questions

Why does Mr Burns say ‘Ahoy hoy’?
How they used to answer the telephone

What is a grand narrative?
Refer to the great theories of history, science, religion, politics. For example, Lyotard rejects the ideas that everything is knowable by science or that as history moves forward in time, humanity makes progress. 

Who coined the term grand narrative?
Jean-François Lyotard

What is pluralism?
Belief that there is no one answer to anything

What is Tarvuism?
A parody religion created by British writers Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz

What is a Pastiche?
An imitation of an existing style taking the ‘mick’

What is an Homage?
More respectful way of making use of an existing style

Who claimed ‘The centre is not the centre’?
Jacques Derrida

What on earth did they mean?
The center doesn’t exist naturally, but rather because we need it to in order to make sense of the world around us

What is hyperreality?
Hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality

What was postmodernism a response to?
A rejection of modernism or a return to earlier forms

Why?
Don't agree with it

What is PoMo about the most recent Chiddy Bang single?
Singing about someone that was influential in the past and putting it in a modern song

Which 4 elements of genre does Dan Blacks symphonies employ?
Addition, subtraction, transposition, substitution

Who came up with the idea of this ‘socially constructed debris’?
Levi- Strauss

What is bricolage?
Process by which traditional objects or language are given a new, often subversive, meaning and context

Give me an example of it?
Use of a safety pin by punks as a piercing

Why is a pipe not a pipe?
It is an image of a pipe

Who painted that pipe?
René Magritte

Criticism of Postmodernism

Schematic Differences Between Modernism And Postmodernism
Modernism	Postmodernism	Where We’ve Experience It
Romanticism/Symbolism	Paraphysics/Dadaism
Purpose	Play	Desert Bus, straws
Design	Chance	CD cover
Hierarchy	Anarchy	Hobo With A Shotgun
Matery, Logos	Exhaustion, Silence	Desert Bus
Art Object, Finished	Process,	Dan Black
Word	Performance	Do the Daft
Distance	Participation	Wii
Creation, Totalization	Deconstruction	Everything we’ve done
Synthesis	Antithesis	Where is my mind
Presence	Absence	Desert Bus
Centering	Dispersal	Daft Punk, Scott Pilgrim
Genre, Boundary	Text, Intertext	Everything we’ve done
Semantics	Rhetoric	Questions
Paradigm	Syntagm
Hypotaxis	Parataxis
Metaphor	Metonymy
Selection	Combination
Depth	Surface
Interpretation	Against Interpretation
Reading	Misreading
Signified	Signifier
Lisible (Readerly)	Scriptible
Narrative	Anti-Narrative
Grande Histoire	Petite Histoire
Master Code	Idiolect
Symptom	Desire
Type	Mutant
Genital, Phallic	Polymorphous	Lady Gaga
Paranoia	Schizophrenia
Origin, Cause	Difference-Difference
God The Father	The Holy Ghost
Metaphysics	Irony
Determinacy	Indeterminacy
Transcendence	Immanence