Movie Making In The New Media Age !!

While a feel this piece of writing is outdated and conceptually incorrect in places . It is very apparent that Digital technology has transformed the face of Film and its avenues of distribution.We are not witnessing the disappearance of cinema but it's transformation into multi-cinemas , through the use of the Web. 

The use of the Internet seems to have unified a diversity of film making elements including the development of the script . 'The Internet has spawned discussion groups and global 'communities' that enable scriptwriters to swap ideas and make contacts'.(Roberts108) 

This along with user guides for the un-experienced  film maker is promoting the making of low budget alternatives. Established film makers such as Mike Figgis are finding spaces away from the normal procedures of 3 -act structures and soviet montage. 

More and more the web cam is seen to influence the making of ' Big Brother' style films. 

' My little eye' is a very interesting  horror film that enhances a feeling of surveillance on teenagers living in a haunted house . Nobody can leave as part of a competition and last person to leave will win 1 million dollars. I have recently been looking at this Internet streamed realistic  film  for its total breakdown and transformation of the ' Classic Hollywood structure' .

"The idea was to give the feel of a live-vision mix........ It was quite experimental , to see if we could use this language to tell the story, "(Evans 15)

We can see that although these experimental structures are a far cry from the documentary shorts of the Luimiere Brothers , the narrative is still seen as paramount. As Robert suggests in the conclusion , all the technology in the world wont replace the talent, knowledge and expertise that is needed to produce a good film.

Works Cited

Evans, Marc , The End of Celluliod, Hanson Matt,Rotovision SA Switzerland 2004 

Roberts, Graham , Movie-Making In The New Media Age , Gaunteett, David and Ross Horsley. Web Studies , 2nd edition, London,Hodder, education 2004

Copyright in cyberspace; protecting intellectual property online

  Imitation , some say is the sincerest form of flattery!!

I find this notion of copyright a confusing , difficult and very multi sided concept to fathom . From years of asking- Is it OK to take photographs in an Art gallery? Only to be told , It's fine once they are just used for 'educational purposes' only . I find it rather interesting in light of this at the recent 2009 'Frieze Fair' in London . In which up and coming artists took part in 'The art of Imitation' project. This mock up version of the real thing  saw expensive iconic artworks be imitated using scrap materials and sold at knock off prices . 

'Part of the project was really about taking ownership of the pieces, making them your own. Its adding a new layer'(Ricks, The Irish Times) 

In this difficult digital transition certain laws and regulations will cease to become in-effective and new procedures will have to be put in place to protect the copyright in Cyberspace. While the Internet solves distribution and creativity issues it also opens a huge can of worms referred to in this chapter  as the ' digital dilemma' .

This piece of writhing  highlights several disputes that have came about as a result of lack of suitable digital legislation laws . While I feel a digital lock down is needed to fight against digital piracy, I believe it should not come at the expense of combating or curbing creativity. The creator undoubtedly must be protected for his /her ' intellectual property' but to what extent is the question . I flexibility should be introduced to promote creativity and research . The legislation should function in a fair way for both parties what does not punish or hinge on the accessibility factor of the Internet.

Works Cited: 

 Ricks, Jim  'The Art of Imitation' Mahoney Donald ,The Irish Times,Oct 23rd 2009

Bibliography: 

Olson, Kathleen K , 'Copyright in Cyberspace; Protecting Intellectual Property Online',Gaunteett, David and Ross Horsley. Web Studies, 2nd edition, London; Hodder Education 2004

A companion to Digital Literary studies .

Chapter 19 

Licensed to play : Digital Games, Player Modifications, and Authorized Production

As the Digital Realm volts and multiples rapidly in to our society . We see the gaming Industry constantly  undergoing construction in its legislation and practices . This re-shaping and moulding comes into play because of the undefinable elements that exist in the world of gaming. Growing concerns to categorize gaming are provoking debates to whether digital games  need their own theoretical guidelines or whether when can be branched with other cultural disciplines.

While we can see that games hold similar properties to these disciplines such as story lines and plots , they are secondary components.

It is  the interactivity that gaming fundamentally differs , the user must participate for the game to function . It is here that I feel digital gaming may need its own theories and observations . Users can become creators therefore changing the roles of the players to co- producers . The modification that exists in the gaming  is an extremely smart market strategy adapted by the producers of games . While they acknowledged the need for these modifications to promote awareness and prolong the games shelf life . It seems that the producers were increasingly renewing the legislation to maximise the profits leading to, in my view the exploitation of the players . While it is very transparent process that the producers are puppet erring in . It is the nature of the game that permits this to happen . These 'modders' create for the symbolic recognition from their peers but also as a type of CV to showcase their talent to potential employers . 

As the distribution networks expand it seems to me that it will become increasingly difficult for the gaming publishers to restrict proliferation of  the modding community. New strategies must now be realized to ensure the protection of their intellectual property .

Digital Turbulence

Since the beginning of the course it has become increasingly apparent that we are in the middle of a rocky transition into a digital age . Technology is constantly evolving at a rapid rate keeping us user's shakily on ours toes. While this age is welcomed whole heartily in most circumstances , a certain nostalgic air floats around what is being left behind especially seeing the use of celluloid in film making fading into the past .

As we are thinking about final projects , I am now looking upon the medium of Printmaking. This is also very much about the process involved in creating a piece of Art. It is an extremely technical process and like the use of film the medium makes you work for a positive result . Even the most experienced artist can not guarantee that it will work every time . This is because of the tenuous materials that are been used , they require sequential elements to reinforce and react together. In some circumstances light and heat have important roles to play in a particular process, so Mother nature even has to be behaving  herself on the day. These are all properties of the medium that make it so fragile and unpredictable . This uncertainty creates an element of surprise that makes Printmaking so endearing.

These traditional methods are too been abandoned to make way for this digital transition . Like never before a control now exists in printmaking that opens up new worlds that are non-linear and extensible. I feel this transition presents a chance to collaborate or amalgamate the digital with the traditional in some way, to create new forms of printmaking that are both experimental and current to the technology that now exists.

Ramble.........blah blah ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

After a day in a room with 125 ACCS students , who only study one day a week , for six years, my head is sore . I have decided to sit in the complete silence on the top floor of this empty Library . This is the best spot in the house , centered to get a view of the drop down to the ground floor but just hidden enough to be isolated from any stragglers, what may still want to rattle what's left of my tried brain. Don't get me wrong I love my job but ..... aahhhh the silence is glorious , I could sit here for ever.

I got to thinking..........

After finishing this weeks assignment for E-learning on 'How to ......' How to do absolutely anything , in which I picked ' How to print an etching plate' . Making this video really opened my eyes to the possibilities of Digital Media for Education. A series of these technical video's could be created to tutor the class , or they could be made readily available from the Library . I don't know but after a long , hectic , crazy day ..... The vision of me in my slippers working from the comfort of my own home..... sheer magic !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbIw7cBcJEs

Two adaptions

I have choose to look at two adaption s that i enjoyed and that I felt the transition from one medium to another was very succesful.

The first is a novel by Patrick McCabe ' The butcher boy' that was translated into a feature film in 1997 directed by Neil Jordon. In my opinion the director captured the tone and atmospher

e masterly and with perfect accuracy to my visualization of it. Referencing back to the article by Dudley Andrew the adaption was very loyal to the original text and could be seen to have been very concerned in preserving the fidelity of the intersection.

'Francie Brady' the main character was a young school boy with a very rocky upbringing. Who sets out on a tale of self destruction and hysteria leading to very violent and severe conflicts both mentally and physically . In this chain of events humor eased the situation so we felt a great compassion for this young boy that had re-treated into a strange fantasy world. The director matched any pre-conceptions

from the original text beautifully and surpassed my visual expectations to it. One change must be highlighted and it could be seen as an attribute of film is the resolution in the ending . In the film we see a much older 'Francie' picking a snowdrop as if to put the viewer at ease as the book finishes with him locked up in a prison cell.

Another Adaption that I feel matched up to the original text is ' The boy in the stripped Pajamas 'by another Irish novelist John Boyne . This novel depicts an ironic story of a young boy ' bruno' growing up in Germany during

world war ll. This book was shown through the eyes of a very naive nine year old who's father is promoted to a new commandant of a Nazi concentration camp . Here ' bruno' secretly be-friends a Jewish boy in a stripped uniform from the fence that barriers the camp from his home.

This I felt was another successful adaption in my eyes . The time period in which it was set was matched very accurately with the directors use of sombre light and color. The narrative did not differ greatly from the original but I felt that the visual s in the film were more harrowing than the text had made me visualize, especially in the end scene where the boys and all the other prisoners face there death . I felt the director handled this scene with great compassion. He portrays a very poignant shot of the empty clothing just to remind us that it was not just the boys that lost their lives and it was not just part of a fictitious story that had been translated from a novel . It was real history .

Film Theory and criticism review

What Novels can do that Film's can't.

By Seymour Chatman pp.445-460

 

In our everyday lives stories are all around us. We could be reading them on a newspaper, going to see a play in the theatre or studying a painting in a gallery to try and solve the story. It is one fundamental way we communicate to each other. 

So a narrative can be termed usually to mean a story or a chain of events that are delivered to us through various mediums. These mediums have properties common to them, for instance their narrative combines the time patterns of plot events. These two structures are the actual 'story time ' with the 'discourse time’, which can be completely different to temporal reality. As we know these structures are universal to all mediums so this enables a narrative to be adapted easily from one medium to another.

In this piece of Literature the author chooses to focus on the differences in the same narrative through the study of film and novel.

Firstly we look at the way description is used to set the scene of a novel. Novels rely on text to communicate the story. The viewer needs to encapsulate the images in their imagination for the story to unfold; therefore the description is paramount for successful visualization of the text.

In film we see a different approach. It relies on movement and lens events i.e. close-ups to communicate a visual language. The point of view is another feature. It may portray events through the eyes of the actor giving us an insight to what they are thinking. 

Whatever medium it is, each finds its own individual way through its properties to tickle on the senses of the viewer as to what the narrative is trying to achieve.

 

From concepts in Film Theory, Dudley Andrew

Adaptation pp 461-469

 

As the first piece just touched on it, we see here a deeper look at the concept or process of translating a text from one medium to another. To what style and extent is the question as potentially the adaptation could be as abstract as the creator wishes. The Author looks at three modes of adaptation, borrowing, intersection and fidelity of Transformation.

While borrowing been the most popular, I find the fidelity and Transformation the most challenging. Here the mood, tone or overall feeling of the text needs to be re-created successfully in another language.

Theorists believe this is possible because of the narrative. As previously mentioned the narrative is the link between medias such as the novel and cinema.

We see here how these adaptations are paramount to the history of film. They adapted and evolved to take on the style in fashion of that particular cinematic era.

 

 

Anne Friedberg

The End of Cinema; Multimedia and technological change.

 

It seems this topic is most under scrutiny by commentators and theorists alike. We have read a lot of different articles including this one in our Film in a digital age module.

It is apparent that film is been or has been superseded by this digital age. Cinema s time is on a bumpy ride of transition. We see from this article how VCR, cable television and the remote control marked the change in the cinematic experience. It allowed the viewer to view what they want when they want.

Computer screens and the Internet have now taking hold on those technologies with its interactivity.  It is coming more increasingly obvious that these changes are happening at a rapid rate and not only does the concept of ‘Film history’ need to be re-invented, this also marks a chance to collaborate these new technologies with a 100 years of moving image to bring it through to the current ways of seeing.

Design Idea Hand printed for website

‘’REFLECTION’

 

I read recently that ‘reflection is one antidote to the numbness caused by this cultural over-load; patient, ongoing consideration of the significance of the world to oneself’1

I belief that there is a great truth in this statement. It is all too easy to exist in a world full of deadlines and timetables that our society leaves practically no time to reflect on what it is all about or what is most important to us. While a lot of us do plan for the future we must evaluate the past to progress in our lives.

As an artist I have always kept a journal, but more of a visual journal to record something of interest that I would have fallen upon. It is always a good idea to keep a journal with you at all times especially while traveling as the environment

Is constantly changing and the un-known is very exciting and unfamiliar.

These diaries would usually consist of images and doodles and very few words. This is one of the reasons why a feel more relaxed with the visual than the text . I can express myself freely and clearly with a series of marks and if we think about it, children learn to draw before they can write so it is a very natural form of expression. From drawing on sand with a stick to scribbling with our fingers on a window filled with condensation.

I hold a fear of the literal that I have realized through my reflection from Tuesday s session. While reflection is a self-observation of our inner thoughts and actions, it can be a tough task to do but also tougher to evaluate the work of your fellow colleagues. You feel a little overwhelmed and embarrassed especially if your views are not that informed on a particular subject.

While I found the exercise a challenge, I feel it is an important learning curve to ensure that your maximum potential is achieved.

Reflection need’ s to become a conscious habit or part of a ritual like the visual diary or as I come to think about it this on-line journal what we have started.

‘ Rituals use repetition to create the experience of walking the same path again and again with the possibility of discovering new meaning that would otherwise be invisible’2

                                                          MC .Bateson

 

 References 

 1.Drawing from life, The journal as art. MC. Bateson. New York press 2005

2.Drawing from life, The journal as art. MC. Bateson ,New York press 2005

Writing Machines Review of chapter 3/4

 

Seems in these two chapters Hayles is back to her old tricks again. Using her imaginary persona ‘kaye’ as a way of putting forward her ideas and using the strongly coded language that I still find is a hard pill to swallow, even after deciphering through the previous chapters.

Along with her old habits the layout design of the text seems to be becoming even more intrusive as the chapters unfold, even to a point that in places the sentences seems to branch out into the opposite page. She seems to be testing the boundaries through the book design by highlighting the changes that printed text has endeavored since the intervention of Electronic Literature.

‘Hayles’ begins by explaining that she two is a ‘digital immigrant’. Born in a generation that was not accustomed to living their lives with technology, but she does not fear this new concept and actually embraced it, even if it was tedious to program in the early stages. She saw the similarities from her writhing classes and made connections with the modular computer. She was processing and coming to grips with the fundamental changes the occurred when printed text turned into Electronic literature and that now it seems imperative that her theories on MSA are critically evaluated.

As computer hardware and software were developing at a rapid rate so too was E literature. Even though it had made the transition, its principles were still relatively similar. It was still in as she calls it ‘the first generation’ The text followed a pathway that moved from Lexia to Lexia just like moving from page to page of a book. It was not until ‘Shelly Jackson’s Patchwork girl’ that something very distinct arose. Text and machine began to merge. Boundaries between the organic and the mechanical began to be broken down. Now the computer became more than just a carrier but it became part of the work.

 

This idea elevated higher after ‘ Hayles’ encountered ‘ Califia’ an electronic hypertext novel by a close friend  ‘M.D Coverley. Upon her first read she misunderstood its importance and function because of her preconceptions that existed from literature, as she knew it. She concentrated on the words without using the medium to access a whole new world where word exists.

I feel that the significance of these changes was brought home when writers such as ‘Michael Joyce’ left E literature to resume back to print. It becomes apparent that it is not the process from print to the computer, but all the ambiguities in between that are the main concerns. The words and meanings uncontrollably change through the medium with or without the consent of the Author.

 

 In chapter four we learn of the work by Talan Memmott’s Lexia to Perplexia which suggests that subjects become part of the medium and that they become structured by his or her interventions with it. To portray his concepts the viewer must believe that a Digital age already existed and goes on to devise a new language from a collaboration of English, as we know it and computer code. This is called ‘Creole’ and insists on merging machine instructions with the English language. Here we see the changes that the human body endeavors through information technology as it is re-invented by these new writhing machines. This is referred to as ‘ Communification’ where human beings and the computer become encoded in a network together.

  While a still feel a little confused about this book and maybe even more after looking up ‘ lexia to Perplexia’ on the Internet .It has opened a thought process that a never would have embarked on. Print will never be the same again but for a lot more complex reasons that I could have ever imagined.