Friday, 30 April 2010
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
M.I.A.-Born Free
The video for M.I.A.'s new song "Born Free", viewable over on her website and on Pitchfork (it has been removed from YouTube in the U.S. already, as M.I.A.'s Twitter points out.) It was directed by Romain Gavras.
WARNING: IT IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND VIOLENT AND NOT SAFE FOR WORK.
G325 January 2010
Postmodern Media
Explain why the idea of ‘postmodern media’ might be considered controversial. [50]
Postmodern Theory-Michael Real
Michael Real (1996) outlines some of the basic qualities of postmodernism:
Pastiche — combining together different styles and content from different periods within the same text, creating unusual combinations of borrowed styles from different eras. Music videos use a montage of images taken from classic films, advertising, television, or rap, and filmed with unusual, non-traditional techniques.
Breakdowns of master narratives featuring the final triumph of good over evil through science or human problem-solving, as well as a clear distinction between reality and fiction. This is evident in much of contemporary fiction by DeLillo, Carver, and Atwood, as well as films: Blue Velvet, Pulp Fiction, Mulholland Drive, Run Lola Run, and Memento, and the television series, Twin Peaks. The texts continually elude definitive interpretation of “true meanings,” by parodying and playing with alternative narrative development and assumptions about the meaning of images. The seemingly tranquil town in Blue Velvet is anything but tranquil. Pulp Fiction plays with three different versions of a crime story as borrowed from detective novels and B-crime films. Mulholland Drive, Run Lola Run, and Memento create alternative narratives around the same events, challenging audience assumptions about “what really happened.” Mulholland Drive portrays one version of events based on the traditional story of the innocent female who arrives in Hollywood to become a successful movie star, only to juxtapose that story against a darker version of the same events. Run Lola Run portrays three different versions of the same event. And Memento shows events occurring in reverse, dealing with issues of memory and time. Challenging traditional narratives or ways of knowing conveys the important role of the media in shaping perceptions of reality — that experience as mediated through media images and discourses.
The ways in communication technology creates mass reproduction of texts, creating copies for which there is no original, what Baudrillard (1983) described as a “hyperreality” based on simulation of reality. Much of contemporary art plays with the idea of endless copies or parodying of texts that only create a simulation of reality that focuses on the image or surface of reality. The sculpture, Jeff Koons, creates glossy statues of pop stars such as Michael Jackson, that parody the constant reproduction of pop star images.
The domination of conspicuous consumerism in which everything is commodified or commercialized; to some degree, postmodernism both celebrates and parodies consumer products, as evident in Target ads portraying multiple images of consumer products.
The fragmentation of sensibility and the plurality or multiplicity of perspectives evident in the often random juxtaposition of images in music videos or contemporary art. Films such as Pulp Fiction parodies different versions of reality by using a lot of references to images from previous films, including the image of John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. This fragmentation and focus on surface images creates self-reflexivity — the need to reflect on the lack of coherent meaning, as well as an ironic humor.
Jeff Koons
Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 1988. Ceramic. 42 x 70 1/2 x 32 1/2 in. (106.7 x 179.1 x 82.5 cm).
Jeff Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his giant reproductions of banal objects such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces, often brightly colored. Koons' work has sold for substantial sums including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. Critics are sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons himself has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Institutions and Audiences
Answer the question below, making detailed reference to examples from your case study material to support the points made in your answer.
2 “Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Candidates must choose to focus on one of the following media areas. You may make reference to other media in your answer.
• Film
• Music
• Newspapers
• Radio
• Magazines
• Video games
2 “Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Candidates must choose to focus on one of the following media areas. You may make reference to other media in your answer.
• Film
• Music
• Newspapers
• Radio
• Magazines
• Video games
Institutions and Audiences – Music Industry (Warp Records)
Media Studies AS Level: Institutions and Audiences – Music Industry
Section B: Institutions and Audiences
Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production,distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be familiar with:
1. The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;
2. The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;
3. The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;
4. The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;
5. The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;
6. The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;
7. The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.
1.The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice,
- File-sharing (Napster, Pirate Bay etc)
- The invention of, and the death of the CD
- Labels deny deals on file sharing BBC Monday, 28 January 2008
- The demise of the music industry is visible everywhere but in the facts
- UK recorded music sales rise for first time in six years
- Good copy, bad copy’ – Pirate Bay film about illegal filesharing
The Problem With Digital
In the same week that Apple’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, confirmed what we all knew – that the iTunes Store doesn’t make money – 7,200 music and technology executives headed to the South of France for the Midem convention to try to figure out once again how to make money out of digital music.
It’s not like it was the first time they have tried. “Monetising the new music experience” – as this year’s Midemnet conference was headlined – has been the key topic at Midem for at least the past 10 years.
And the bad news, which I am sure you have already guessed, is they didn’t solve it this time either.
It was once said that the only sure way to make money out of digital music was to sell tickets to a conference on how to make money out of digital music. Even that one isn’t looking so hot an idea these days.
Midem itself acknowledged attendance was down 10% despite their decision to throw in the previously separately-chargeable Midemnet conference for free. And that came on top of the previous year’s 12% decline.
In truth the Midem organisers did a very good job of showing how to approach structural decline in a customer-focused and innovative way. Not only did they effectively cut the price, they added value in all kinds of ways with the result that the word of mouth on the show was very positive indeed. All things being equal they may even see an increase in numbers next year.
But what of the Big Question – how to make money with digital?
What was depressing was the preponderance of empty buzzwords and sloganising – “we’re moving to music as service” or that old favourite “music like water” – rather than anything specific.
Five minutes listening to “media futurist” Gerd Leonhard is more than enough to realise that his music is more like snake oil and he knows no more and probably less than the rest of us.
Maybe they should have asked a retailer. Surprisingly of the 7,200 delegates at Midem, just 28 were listed as retailers and, as far as I could see, just one of them, Jason Legg, Live Manager of ERA member HMV UK was asked to speak on a panel.
Interestingly, it was Jason’s comments focusing on HMV’s now 1.2m-strong loyalty card database and its ability to cross-sell recorded music, merchandise and concert tickets which gave the most convincing example of how best to monetise music online right now.
Other than Jason, the most convincing speakers in the Midem programme were those from outside the music industry.
Former Sony Classical executive Peter Gelb, now general manager of New York’s Metropolitan Opera gave a fascinating account of how the company had extended its reach, broadened its appeal to younger people ands made money by relaying live performance to cinemas.
Kodak’s Chief Marketing Officer Jeffrey Hayzlett gave an insider’s view of the disruptive power of technology by describing how his company has coped with a collapse in sales of traditional photo film from a $15bn business five years ago to just $200m this year.
And Jonathan Klein, co-founder of the world’s biggest supplier of pictures, Getty Images, told how it has prospered by using the internet to make imagery more accessible than ever before.
Interestingly these “outsiders” all attracted smaller audiences at the conference than did the music industry insiders who delegates had likely heard speak a dozen or more times before.
And what all three had in common was a clear vision coupled to a ruthless commitment to execution. It would not be surprising if after 10 years of discussion, what is really holding back the music industry’s ability to make music online is an inability any longer to see the wood from the trees.
Back in the early days of Midemnet when it was still separate from the main exhibition, it was not uncommon to hear conference delegates congratulate themselves that they were the future, while the predominantly physical business types in the exhibition hall were the past.
Despite 10 years of talking about making money online, perhaps the real split at Midem is between the people in the conference halls talking about making money and not doing so, and those in the exhibition halls, in the hotels and in the bars, most of them in the “old business” who are still doing rather well indeed
Apple: iPhone App and iTunes stores don't make money
Apple's App Store and iTunes Store aren't moneymakers. They're lures for prospective handset customers.
Although Apple's online content and app marts have long been suspected of being more marketing arms than profit centers, CFO Peter Oppenheimer made that belief a certainty on Monday afternoon when speaking with analysts and reporters after announcing Apple's first-quarter financial results for its 2010 fiscal year.
"Regarding the App Store and the iTunes Store, we're running those a bit over break-even, and that hasn't changed," Oppenheimer said. "We're very excited to be providing our developers with just a fabulous opportunity, and we think that's helping us a lot with the iPhone and the iPod touch platforms."But as a marketing effort, the App Store's long-running, well, "challenges" may have tarnished Apple's rep as much as enticed millions of folks to send their money Cupertino's way.
Examples of the App Store's clunky approvals process are legion: disallowing then allowing Apple-supplied images not once but twice, approving some pointless apps but not others, banning then unbanning streaming 3G TV, rejecting studying but not approving Google Voice and Google Lattitude, refusing then approving then pulling then reapproving a Commadore 64 emulator, and more. Much more.
It hasn't been pretty. But during today's conference call, Apple COO Tim Cook - standing in for Steve Jobs, who was a no-show - defended the App Store approval process.
"I think it's important to keep this in some perspective," he said. "That we have over 100,000 apps on the store, and that over 90 per cent of the apps that we've had have been approved within 14 days of the submission. We created the approval process to really make sure that it protected consumer privacy, to safeguard children from inappropriate content, and to avoid apps that degrade the core experience of the phone."
He also outlined the App Store police guidelines: "Some types of content, such as pornography, are rejected outright. Some things like graphic combat scenes in action games might be approved, but with appropriate age ratings.
"Most of the rejections, however," he continued, "are actually bugs in the code itself. And this is protecting the customer - and the developer to a great extent, because they don't want customers that are unhappy with the apps."
Cook is also of the opinion that reports of the App Store's problems are overstated. "I think what you have here is something that the noise on it occasionally may be much higher than the reality." ®
Bootnote
More than one analyst asked both Oppenheimer and Cook whether Apple's projections for the next quarter's revenue took into account the launch of the long-rumored iPad, but both execs dodged all such questions. To one questioner, Cook replied: "I wouldn't want to take away your joy and surprise on Wednesday when you see our latest creations."
2.The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing
- The entertainment music crossover (X Factor etc)
- Warp on RCRD LBL a well established site that other free and exclusive downloads of tracks. This is a good way of attracting new audiences.
- music and film – Warp Films, using the music distribution channel to sell DVDs of short films like Chris Morris’ My Wrongs
- distribution via phones and internet, eg. Warp’s pioneering BLEEP mp3 and Wav download site that avoided DRM restrictions and hosted the tracks of other smaller labels now has had over 2 million downloads.
DRM-Digital Rights Management
Digital rights management (DRM) is a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. The term is used to describe any technology that inhibits uses of digital content not desired or intended by the content provider. The term does not generally refer to other forms of copy protection which can be circumvented without modifying the file or device, such as serial numbers or keyfiles. It can also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. Digital rights management is used by companies such as Sony, Apple Inc., Microsoft, AOL and the BBC.
The use of digital rights management is controversial. Proponents argue it is needed by copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work, either to maintain artistic integrity[1] or to ensure continued revenue streams.[2] Some opponents, such as the Free Software Foundation, maintain that the use of the word "rights" is misleading and suggest that people instead use the term digital restrictions management. Their position is essentially that copyright holders are restricting the use of material in ways that are beyond the scope of existing copyright laws, and should not be covered by future laws.[3] The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and other opponents, also consider DRM systems to be anti-competitive practices.[4]
Media Convergence
3.The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange,
AudioMulch is modular audio software for making music and processing sound. The software can synthesize sound and process live and pre-recorded sound in real-time. The software has been used by: Nine Inch Nails ,Girl Talk and Four Tet amongst others.
4.The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences
- Prosumers, re-mixing etc
- Squarepusher Video competition for the track Go Spastic
- Balancing traditional 12” market with modern download market
5.The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences
- iTunes taking over the music industry. Did iTunes Kill the Record Store? and iTunes Inspires Changes in the Music Industry
- Warp Records set up their own download store called BLEEP in a bid to access the market. They also have a blog BLEEP blog.
- Warp have also set up a film division called Warp films which has its own offshoot called Warp X
6.The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions.
- Research briefly Universal Music Group and make notes on the size of their operation. Pay attention to the number of labels they are linked to and the type of artists they oversee. Compare both to Warp.
7.The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.
G322 Textual Analysis and Representation (Unseen Moving Image Extract)
Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the extract only.
Extract: Hotel Babylon Series 1 Episode 5, written by Adrian Hodges, dir. Jamie Payne
1 Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity using the following:
• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scène
[Total 50]
Extract: Hotel Babylon Series 1 Episode 5, written by Adrian Hodges, dir. Jamie Payne
1 Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity using the following:
• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scène
[Total 50]
G325 January 2010
Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
You must answer both 1(a) and 1(b).
In question 1(a) you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units and you may refer to other media production work you have undertaken.
1 (a) Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time. [25]
In question 1(b) you need to choose one of your media productions to write about.
(b) Analyse media representation in one of your coursework productions. [25]
Section A Total [50]
You must answer both 1(a) and 1(b).
In question 1(a) you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units and you may refer to other media production work you have undertaken.
1 (a) Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time. [25]
In question 1(b) you need to choose one of your media productions to write about.
(b) Analyse media representation in one of your coursework productions. [25]
Section A Total [50]
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
TV drama-generic conventions
You will find that TV dramas all have the following ingredients:
Characters – even particular kinds of characters: eg, at its most simple, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters.
Stories – they all tell stories, whether those stories involve adventure, crime or romance and they often, but not always, end happily.
The stories are told against familiar backdrops: – eg, homes, police stations and offices (for crime dramas), hospitals (for medical dramas) – most of which are created in studios. However, most dramas also use outside locations to create particular effects.
Camerawork – particular kinds of shots are used: eg, sequences involving establishing shots followed by mid-shots of characters, shot/reverse shots to show character interaction and, in particular,close-ups to show the characters’ emotions.
Stories use dialogue to tell the stories. Occasionally, monologues are built in (as voiceovers, a character telling a story).
Music is used to punctuate the action, create effects (suspense, tension) and underline emotional moments.
Particular subgenres tend to have items which make them immediately identifiable – police cars, blue lights, operating theatres and scalpels, triage/reception areas in hospitals. Icons of the genre, they symbolise the (sub)genre.
Disability-individual and social models
Dominant notions of disability: the individual model
The societal view of disability generally conforms to the individual or overcoming or medical model of disability. This holds that disability is inherent in the individual, whose responsibility it is to ‘overcome’ her or his ‘tragic’ disability.
Often this ‘overcoming’ is achieved through medical intervention, such as attempts at ‘cures’. For example, top wheelchair athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson was forced as a child to wear heavy leg callipers which gave her blisters, rather than being offered the simple and practical option of using a wheelchair.
This approach to disability aims for the normalisation of disabled people, often through the medicalisation of their condition.
The social model of disability
This distinguishes between impairment (the physical or mental 'problem') and disability (the way society views it as being a negative). It holds that impairments are not inherently disabling, but that disability is caused by society which fails to provide for people with impairments, and which puts obstacles in their way.
Examples include access: the built environment often does not allow access for people with mobility problems. Discriminatory attitudes are also disabling: for example, the idea that disability is a personal tragedy for the ‘sufferer’ impinges upon disabled people in a variety of negative ways, from their social relationships to their ability to get jobs.
"Disability is produced in different forms, and in different proportions, in different cultures" (Oliver, 1996).
Difference
It has been argued that dominant notions of ‘normality’ and beauty do not allow for the natural range of difference in human form. These notions are not only prejudicial to the acceptance of disabled people, but also increasingly impact on non-disabled people. Charlotte Cooper, for example, applies the social model to obesity, and concludes that there are some important categories through which obesity can be defined as a disability:
• A slender body is ‘normal’
• Fatness is a deviation from the norm.
• Fat and disabled people share low social status.
• Fatness is medicalised (e.g. jaw-wiring and stomach-stapling).
• Fat people are blamed for their greed and lack of control over their bodies.
Consider why it is that fat people or disabled people are rarely portrayed as sexually attractive.
Use of disabled stereotypes
The media continue to enforce disability stereotypes portraying disabled individuals in a negative un-empowering way.
In his 1991 study, Paul Hunt identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray disabled people:
The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic
An object of curiosity or violence
Sinister or evil
The super cripple
As atmosphere
Laughable
His/her own worst enemy
As a burden
As Non-sexual
Being unable to participate in daily life
In 2006, the British Film Institute's website breaks down this list into a series of film character examples for each stereotype, from the 1920s up to the present day. The BFI's examples include:
the character of Colin from the Secret Garden - a character who falls into the stereotype of "Pitiable and pathetic; sweet and innocent; a miracle cure"
the "sinister or evil" Dr No, with his two false hands, from the Bond film of the same name
Ron Kovic, the disabled war veteran in Born on the Fourth of July, who is portrayed as "non-sexual or incapable of a worthwhile relationship"
Shakespeare (1999) presents a potential reason behind the use of one of these stereotypes:
"The use of disability as character trait, plot device, or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut. These representations are not accurate or fair reflections of the actual experience of disabled people. Such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people, and ignorance about the nature of disability"
In other words, the disability itself is often used as a hook by writers and film-makers to draw audiences into the story. These one-dimensional stereotypes are often distanced from the audience - where characters are only viewed through their impairment, and not valued as people.
Shakespeare (1999) continues:
"Above all, the dominant images [of disabled people] are crude, one-dimensional and simplistic."
In his 1991 study, Paul Hunt identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray disabled people:
The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic
An object of curiosity or violence
Sinister or evil
The super cripple
As atmosphere
Laughable
His/her own worst enemy
As a burden
As Non-sexual
Being unable to participate in daily life
In 2006, the British Film Institute's website breaks down this list into a series of film character examples for each stereotype, from the 1920s up to the present day. The BFI's examples include:
the character of Colin from the Secret Garden - a character who falls into the stereotype of "Pitiable and pathetic; sweet and innocent; a miracle cure"
the "sinister or evil" Dr No, with his two false hands, from the Bond film of the same name
Ron Kovic, the disabled war veteran in Born on the Fourth of July, who is portrayed as "non-sexual or incapable of a worthwhile relationship"
Shakespeare (1999) presents a potential reason behind the use of one of these stereotypes:
"The use of disability as character trait, plot device, or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut. These representations are not accurate or fair reflections of the actual experience of disabled people. Such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people, and ignorance about the nature of disability"
In other words, the disability itself is often used as a hook by writers and film-makers to draw audiences into the story. These one-dimensional stereotypes are often distanced from the audience - where characters are only viewed through their impairment, and not valued as people.
Shakespeare (1999) continues:
"Above all, the dominant images [of disabled people] are crude, one-dimensional and simplistic."
G322 textual analysis: The Street
How is the representation of disability constructed in this extract?
Bleep of faith: 20 years of Warp Records
It's one of the UK's greatest independent labels, responsible for introducing the world to Aphex Twin, LFO, Boards of Canada and Squarepusher. But the origins of Warp Records, which celebrates its 20th birthday this year, were much humbler. The track that would inspire a revolution in UK dance music was conceived in a teenager's bedroom.
LINK
Institutions and Audiences: The technologies that have been introduced at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange
AudioMulch is modular audio software for making music and processing sound. The software can synthesize sound and process live and pre-recorded sound in real-time. The software has been used by: Nine Inch Nails ,Girl Talk and Four Tet amongst others.
Institutions and Audiences: The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing
- The entertainment music crossover (X Factor etc)
- music and film – Warp Films, using the music distribution channel to sell DVDs of short films like Chris Morris’ My Wrongs
- distribution via phones and internet, eg. Warp’s pioneering BLEEP mp3 and Wav download site that avoided DRM restrictions and hosted the tracks of other smaller labels now has had over 2 million downloads.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Monday, 19 April 2010
Institutions and Audiences
Today we will be watching a short documentary about Warp, an interview with Richard James aka Aphex Twin and a short film about the threat posed to independent record shops. You will need to make notes on all the elements watched. Ensure you embed the clips in your blogs along with the notes you make in today's lesson.
How Record Labels Work
The image above will take you to a page explaining how record labels work. This link will take you to the main How Stuff Works page for the Music Industry.
A brief history of Warp
Co-founder Steve Beckett introduces the dance label that turned left.
The label grew out of a record shop in Sheffield in 1989 at the height of the acid house boom,” remembers Steve Beckett, co-founder with Rob Mitchell, of Warp records. “There were loads of people bringing tapes and white labels into the shop and we just realised we were at the heart of a revolution.”
Institutions and Audiences
Institutions and Audiences
Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be familiar with:
- the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;
- the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;
- the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;
- the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;
-the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;
- the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;
- the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.
- the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;
- the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;
- the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;
-the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;
- the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;
- the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Inglourious Basterds
Compose a presentation for Inglourious Basterds evaluating the film as a postmodern text.
Choose a couple of scenes and anaylse them in terms of postmodern aspects e.g.: pastiche, intertextuality, manipulation of time, audience positioning.
Embed the clips that you find and make sure the presentation looks interesting.
Inglourious Basterd review
Dir. Quentin Tarantino, USA/Germany/France , 2009, 153 mins, partly in French, German and Italian with subtitles
Cast: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent, Daniel Brühl
Review by Richard Mellor
Let’s start with an easy one: into what genre does Inglourious Basterds fit? Ahah, you see it’s an, er, comedy espionage thriller. Sort of. Well, except that such a description brings to mind Inspector Clouseau, rather than the Nazi-bludgeoners that Quentin Tarantino‘s film dreams up. Nor does it illustrate the World War II setting and historical re-imagining. Or the level of racism. Or indeed the gruesome violence - likely to horrify more conservative viewers, if not seasoned Tarantino regulars. Blimey – good luck categorizing this one, Amazon. Better to simply begin with the plot, perhaps. Spanning five distinct chapters and an overly colossal 153 minutes, it has Brad Pitt’s jocular Lieutenant Aldo Raine leading The Basterds, a group of vengeful Jewish assassins, around Nazi-occupied France, their intentions solely to kill and then scalp Germans. A meeting with pin-up actress cum spy Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) diverts them towards Paris, where Hitler and other Third Reich luminaries are to attend the premiere of Goebbels’ latest piece of feature film propaganda – the story of war hero Fredrick (Daniel Brühl), now a hideously conceited actor.
The villain of the piece is Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz, foremost among many unheralded German actors that Tarantino has daringly cast). The Nazi Head of Security and a bit of a Rob Brydon lookalike, he is a fabulous cocktail of menace and mirth, as mean as he’s meticulous and as savvy as he’s smiley. For all that, Landa’s unaware that Goebbel’s chosen cinema is run by Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) - a Jew whose entire family he slaughtered three years ago in Inglourious Basterds’ torturous opening. Unsurprisingly ripe with hatred, Shosanna shares Aldo and co’s desire for avenging Nazi wrongs as brutally as possible. Hitler had better watch out…
The pivotal scene in all this comes when the Basterds first encounter Bridget, in a cellar bar in a sleepy French village. Having already been forced to pose as Germans in front of a genuine Nazi patrol group, the initial trio sent in by Aldo further endure a drunken father, a pistol stand-off involving guns-to-testicles, and a sticky-head game, at which the rival Captain is impossibly good. It’s a long, spellbinding section that never leaves the murky room and that dramatically undulates in mood - terrifying one minute, amusing the next. This weird balance renders Tarantino’s movie a strange, unprecedented movie experience.
And such a frivolous blend feels all the more surprisingly in a film about the Second World War - surely the last subject you joke about? Tarantino has never been one to play it straight though, and besides, Inglourious Basterds so brazenly re-writes history that you can’t possibly take it too seriously. The initial tagline – once upon a time in Nazi-occupied Germany – suggests a fairytale and later scenes are duly subject to panto-esque exaggeration. Witness a permanently-apoplectic Hitler “nein nein neining”, or Churchill’s grumpy tactician, stuck in a slapstick scene with Mike Myers’ colonel and a British commando film geek.
These famous icons aren’t alone in being rather cardboard. For all that he chomps on gum and speaks cutesy phrases and slogans, Pitt’s malevolent Aldo scarcely gives an inkling of the man behind this likeable sheen or explains the motivation behind his bloody campaign. Kruger’s Marlene Dietrich-inspired moll is similarly ill-defined, but thankfully the characters of Landa, Shosanna and Fredrick are much better drawn. The former is gradually exposed as a control freak with a habit of consuming dairy products in terrifying fashion, while the latter purposefully recalls Audie Murphy, a real-life WWII soldier-turned-actor.
Indeed the power of celluloid is a central theme in Inglourious Basterds, as in all Tarantino movies. The terrible bloodshed on show deliberately echoes Goebbels’ films, with sections shot at the same studios once used by the anti-Semite. And the concluding scenario contains Tarantino’s own propaganda: the chance for cinema, metaphorically and lyrically, to vanquish the evil Nazis and save the day. Other cinematic references muscle in, too: the purposefully misspelt title pays tribute to Enzo Castellari’s Inglorious Bastards (Castellari appears briefly as himself), while spaghetti western music sounds throughout.
There are also echoes of previous Tarantino efforts via Inglourious Basterds’ genre-bending (Kill Bill), glamour (Jackie Brown) and gore (Reservoir Dogs). But the strongest recall of all is Pulp Fiction, with Tarantino’s dialogue back to its electrifying best. His characters’ verbal exchanges are once again faster and more thrilling than a Wimbledon rally. Language and pronunciation are particular obsessions in this latest treat; the funniest scene of all has Aldo and Landa discussing game-show catchphrases amid a supposedly tense interrogation. “Is that the way you say it, ‘That's a Bingo?’”, queries the German. “You just say "Bingo", replies Aldo, disgusted at the elementary mistake.
The scene’s brilliant, brazen and utterly bonkers - like this strangest of war films as a whole. That’s a bingo indeed.
Tarantino digs into record collection for "Basterds"
A Billboard interview with Tarantino discussing the music used in Inglourious Basterds.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Gonjasufi
Gonjasufi is the latest musical incarnation of Sumach Ecks, a rapper-singer-yoga teacher currently living in Las Vegas. Though he's been making hip-hop records since the early 90s and has released music with the San Diego-based Masters of the Universe crew, it's his recent singles as Gonjasufi-- from his forthcoming Warp debut LP A Sufi and a Killer (out March 9)-- that are gaining him more notice than ever before. The album features worn-in, Dilla-descended production from L.A.'s the Gaslamp Killer, Mainframe, and Flying Lotus (Gonjasufi was featured on "Testament" off FlyLo's Los Angeles), but the unequivocal star is Ecks's voice-- a scraggly, scary, smoked-out croak that creeps like the spiritual offspring of George Clinton and Leadbelly. In a recent interview, we spoke with Ecks about his unforgettable pipes, racism, and throwing rocks at cars. Click on image above for full interview on Pitchfork.
Institutions and Audience
Today we will be watching the second part of the documentary on copyright issues: Good Copy, Bad Copy. You will need to make notes on the points raised in relation to the music industry and how it is dealing with the digital age. You then need to post your notes onto your blogs along with a copy of the documentary.
The articles titled: The problems with digital and Apple: iPhone app and iTunes stores don't make money are essential reading. Once you have read them you need to summarise what they say in your own words and post this to your blog.
The articles titled: The problems with digital and Apple: iPhone app and iTunes stores don't make money are essential reading. Once you have read them you need to summarise what they say in your own words and post this to your blog.
We will go on to compare these elements with Warp and their response to the issue of digital, namely Bleep.
Monday, 12 April 2010
AS Evaluation questions and activities - print
Useful websites to help you can be found in the link bar on the right hand side. The film version can be found here
For the final 20 marks of the project, you must complete seven tasks on your blog, posting them in this order, with the question heading at the top of each task. You may do them as a pair/group, but must post individual copies on each blog. Make sure you answer each question as well as producing the visual elements. Try not to write more than 1500 words in total.
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups ?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
As part of your planning and research you should have looked at Music Magazines and selected a particular sub genre (e.g. Indie, pop, r&b, dance etc) to re-create. Find an example of a pre exisiting music magazine which matches your magazine, paste it into your blog and highlight the key generic conventions of the magazine (the list of terminology can be found HERE)
You should go through the final version of your project and select elements which follow conventions and any which do not.
The aspects we would like you to consider across your nine frames are:
The title of the magazine
Graphology/page layouts
Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre
Camerawork and framing of images
Title, article, header etc font and style
Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggests it
How your artist(s) are represented
Colour scheme
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Pick a key image of your artist from your magazine (ideally the cover image). Take a screengrab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more recording artists/stars from other magazines with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those stars and grab it as well. Drop the two into photoshop, as a split screen. Export this splitscreen image as a jpeg then drop onto your blog and write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume etc.
So for example if you have a female R&B star on your cover, look for other female R&B star to compare them with (remember to try and ensure that they are of a similar age, race etc)...
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For this question, you are going to do a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of your magazine cover
You will need to script the voiceover which deals with institutional issues to include:
discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies
What does a publishing company do?
the idea of a distributor and who that might be and why. start here
where the money might have come from for a magazine such as yours here
what your magazine is similar to 'institutionally' (name some magazines which would be released in a similar way)
You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to maybe do a bit more research into magazine publishers like emap
When you have scripted, record the voiceover using iMovie, windows movie maker etc on a new audio timeline, then export to quicktime and embed on blog. (this is a good example of what you can do. It was created for A2 and a slightly different question but the style is correct).
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
You should have a drawing of your target audience member and an explanation of what kinds of taste they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite Tv programme would be, etc.
make sure you have taken a photo of it, post it on the blog and write a few notes on why they would buy your magazine.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
Take a screen grab of your magazines cover, content and spread and place into iMovie, movie make etc. You will then use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your magazine:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710
These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Magazine links to other similiar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.
Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of iconography, similarities with other magazines and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In pairs, take a picture of each other holding the kit you have used. This might just be the camera and tripod, and your Macbook but there may be other things you want in the shot.
Drop the image onto your blog and annotate it, adding all the programs and other technology you have used as screengrabs and what you learnt about it/from using it. Your written text need only be minimal. You could include reference to all the online and computer programs you have used such as flickr, blogger, facebook, photoshop, vimeo, scribd, slideshare etc.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7
Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Concentrate on mise en scene and camerawork.
Grab some images from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, magazine terms etc. Explain how you've improved.
Thanks to Mr. Smith for this plan.
For the final 20 marks of the project, you must complete seven tasks on your blog, posting them in this order, with the question heading at the top of each task. You may do them as a pair/group, but must post individual copies on each blog. Make sure you answer each question as well as producing the visual elements. Try not to write more than 1500 words in total.
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups ?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
As part of your planning and research you should have looked at Music Magazines and selected a particular sub genre (e.g. Indie, pop, r&b, dance etc) to re-create. Find an example of a pre exisiting music magazine which matches your magazine, paste it into your blog and highlight the key generic conventions of the magazine (the list of terminology can be found HERE)
You should go through the final version of your project and select elements which follow conventions and any which do not.
The aspects we would like you to consider across your nine frames are:
The title of the magazine
Graphology/page layouts
Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre
Camerawork and framing of images
Title, article, header etc font and style
Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggests it
How your artist(s) are represented
Colour scheme
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Pick a key image of your artist from your magazine (ideally the cover image). Take a screengrab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more recording artists/stars from other magazines with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those stars and grab it as well. Drop the two into photoshop, as a split screen. Export this splitscreen image as a jpeg then drop onto your blog and write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume etc.
So for example if you have a female R&B star on your cover, look for other female R&B star to compare them with (remember to try and ensure that they are of a similar age, race etc)...
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For this question, you are going to do a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of your magazine cover
You will need to script the voiceover which deals with institutional issues to include:
discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies
What does a publishing company do?
the idea of a distributor and who that might be and why. start here
where the money might have come from for a magazine such as yours here
what your magazine is similar to 'institutionally' (name some magazines which would be released in a similar way)
You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to maybe do a bit more research into magazine publishers like emap
When you have scripted, record the voiceover using iMovie, windows movie maker etc on a new audio timeline, then export to quicktime and embed on blog. (this is a good example of what you can do. It was created for A2 and a slightly different question but the style is correct).
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
You should have a drawing of your target audience member and an explanation of what kinds of taste they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite Tv programme would be, etc.
make sure you have taken a photo of it, post it on the blog and write a few notes on why they would buy your magazine.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
Take a screen grab of your magazines cover, content and spread and place into iMovie, movie make etc. You will then use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your magazine:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710
These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Magazine links to other similiar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.
Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of iconography, similarities with other magazines and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In pairs, take a picture of each other holding the kit you have used. This might just be the camera and tripod, and your Macbook but there may be other things you want in the shot.
Drop the image onto your blog and annotate it, adding all the programs and other technology you have used as screengrabs and what you learnt about it/from using it. Your written text need only be minimal. You could include reference to all the online and computer programs you have used such as flickr, blogger, facebook, photoshop, vimeo, scribd, slideshare etc.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7
Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Concentrate on mise en scene and camerawork.
Grab some images from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, magazine terms etc. Explain how you've improved.
Thanks to Mr. Smith for this plan.
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