Culture Jamming is consider to be an over the top hoax that can involve many aspects of society. Dictionary.com defines it as 'a form of political and social activism which, by means of fake adverts, hoax news stories, pastiches of company logos and product labels, computer hacking, etc, draws attention to and at the same time subverts the power of the media, governments, and large corporations to control and distort the information that they give to the public in order to promote consumerism, militarism'. (dictionary.com)
The first form of culture jamming is believed to have occured in the 1950's by a European Group called the Situationists led by Guy Debord. Since then there have been several different types of culture jams that have caught the media's eye and some have had an impact on society.
This week's topic was titled Big Screen to Small. Many things were discussed in this lecture. Digital Technology and it's impact on big and small screen were menionted in the introduction. The lecture followed pretty much a structure of a timeline. The birth of cinema photography in 1895 Paris, France was mentioned as starting point. Walt Disney's Snow White was the first full feature animated film released in 1937.The lecture covered the introduction of Television in the U.S in 1939. The introduction of movies on television in 1955 were talked about. Many advancements in relation to television and movies were basically discussed up until present day. I was somewhat disappointed that Australia television and screen history were hardly talked about in the lecture. However I can understand much of the technology did not originate from Australia, maybe that's why it didn't get mention. The end of the lecture covered small film and how the internet currently plays a major role in distributing short films and even full feature length ones.
TUTE SPARK
The tutespark for this week is to find three short films that were made for online distribution. Two of the short films I have chosen come from the Australian Short Film Institution and one is just a funny youtube video is a parody to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey, and Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas.
The first short film is titled 'Beyond Words'. The film was 2009 Tropfest Finalist.
The blurb on the website states that this small film is categorised as a thriller, and it certainly lives up to that category. It's about a young deaf girl being stalked and taunted. The silence throughout most the film gives the viewer an insight to what it would be like being deaf and scared in a situation such as this. I'm fairly certain this has only been distributed for the internet use though it was funded with help by the NSW deaf society. So it could have been distributed for awareness on deafness.
The second short film I chose is titled 'This Is Perth'. It is a film by Vincenzo Perrella and Dan Osborn.
The film is about the Australian City of Perth. The film is sending out the message that Perth is apparently the best city in the world. The film is actually a satire. The makers have gone around the city of Perth saying it’s a vibrant lively place but in actual fact they show images and scenes of dead quiet, boring streets. This film could be used to lure people and promote tourism in Perth.
The third film probably has no actual merit though I think it relates to the topic of short films and it is quite humorous. WARNING IT DOES CONTAIN SWEARING!
This film is a mash up and parody of the 1968 film '2001: A Space Odyssey' and the 1990 film 'Goodfellas'. It just consists of a dialogue between several of the astronauts and HAL 9000. The HAL 9000 system's voice has been dubbed over by Joe Pesci's character Tommy DeVitto from Goodfellas. HAL 9000 system swears and throws insults at the astronauts throughout the clip. Some may not find this funny if they havent seen both of the films. There isn't really a meaning or message behind this clip just fun and entertainment.
TUTE EXERCISE
1. Where and when did usable online video start?
Viewing online videos and video clips have become a popular over the past five or so years. One place where people do much of this online video viewing is Youtube. Youtube was launched in early 2005 and has become on the of the most popular sites on the web. Bloomberg's Business Week reported that Youtube viewings between March 2006 to July 2006 had grown from 30 million views a day to 100 million views.
2. What recent innovations are being used to lure us to the movies?
Many advancements in screen technology are luring consumers back to the box office. 3D movies have made a big splash to the screen again. James Cameron's 3D science fiction film Avatar has made nearly $3 billion at the box office. It's the highest grossing film of all time. Even though the concept of 3D movies have been around for several decades major advances in graphics and computing are appealing to audiences.
3. Are short films still being made? Why? Who may pay for them?
Short films aren't a thing of the past, they still prove to be popular. The Academy Awards award an Oscar for this category. Many short films are most likely made by university students or graduates some for assignments or some for their portfolio's. Some short films may be funded by a government department or an organisation that raises awareness about social issues that could be affecting society.
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5. Several television stations in Australia such as SBS and ABC have opted to distribute some of their programs online instead of television. There could be several reasons behind this. One reasons could be that the certain show may not be as popular on television though there is still a demand for it. It's costly to air it on television so they upload it to the internet instead. ABC's website iview is a prime example of where several shows have been uploaded to the internet instead of being aired on television. One downside to uploading shows online is that people may not have a fast internet connection to stream them.
This week's lecture was on the history of computing and the internet. I'm not computer nerd though I did enjoy this lecture's insight and analysis into this topic. I knew a majority of the things discussed in this lecture because I had to do a assignment on the history of the internet and computers back in Year 11. However it was interesting to hear somebody else's point of view on the topic rather than reading it from a textbook or on the internet. The two big players in the computer business were discussed Bill Gates of Microsoft and Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. Charles Babbage a 19th century inventor of the Diffrence Engine was mentioned,. The internet and it's emergence in the mid 1990's was heavily discussed. How the internet has changed was talked about. Many applications of the internet that have shaped it to what it is today such as email, twitter, facebook were talked about as well.
TUTE EXERCISE- Treasure Hunt
This week's Tute Exercise is to answer 10 questions without using google or wikipedia. This may be hard?
1. What is the weight of the world's biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?
The world's largest machine is called the V CAT D8R. It's an excavation machine built by the German manufacturing company Krupp. It weighs 45,500 tons, it took five years to construct, and it cost over $100 million to build.
3. When and what was the first example of global digital communication?
The first example of digital communication was demonstrated by Samuel Morse in 1836 over short wires. Morse is infamously known as the inventor of Morse code.
5.Who is Hatsune Miku? What company does she belong to? What is her birthday?
Hatsune Miku is a vocal singing synthesiser from the Vocaloid Vocal Series developed by Crypton Future Media. Her 'birthday' or release date was August 31st 2007.
6. Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.
The link below provides some form of live stream from Mawson Station in Antartica. http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/mawson
From information I have gathered apparently there are no hotels or lodges on the continent of Antartica surprise surprise. I thought a place with 24 hour daylight and below zero degree temperatures would be appealing to the masses. Apparently not. Tourists who visit Antarctica usually stay on their boats or camp in tents if on expedition.
7.What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1980?
According to the Kent Music report and answers.com Lipps Inc 'Funkytown' was at the top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1980. This was Lipps Inc only well known song and number one hit. I actually like the song it's quite groovy.
Source: (http://www.answers.com/topic/funkytown)
Accessed: August 9 2010
8. How would you define the term 'nano technology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?
Dictionary.com defines the term 'nano technology' as, a branch of technology dealing with the manufacture of objects with dimensions of less than 100 nanometres and the manipulation of individual molecules and atoms.
I would define nano technology as branch of science and technology that deals with small things on a nano molecular level.
This week's topic in the lecture was on the 'language of cinema'. The lecture investigated and discussed how film can be captured in many different ways. There was mainly emphasis on camera angles and shots and the meaning behind them.
Here are some examples that were talked about.
LS (Long Shot):
MS (Medium Shot):
ECU(Extreme Close Up Shot):
Several of the shots that were discussed in this lecture have a meaning behind why they are used when filming. They can establish the who, what, when, where, why and how in a film. This lecture assisted us when created our short film.
TUTE EXERCISE- Creating a short film
Well the week two task assigned to us prove to be of some difficulty with uploading the photos to the Mac. However, in the end it all worked out. The task we were assigned was to take 30 still images and make a small film out of them. Myself, Jay and Sherie were given the word Trapped. We came up with the idea of Sherie being trapped in a building and trying to escape, because she is being stalked. In the end it's revealed Jay is simply trying to return her mobile and wallet to her.
After the images were taken we uploaded them to Apple's iphoto program and changed the photos to black and white to give them a 'scary' effect and also inserted music. The theme from Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho was used. After that we converted the slideshow to MP4 format then uploaded it to youtube.
