Manifesto

Technology through the ages

What is our purpose?
Three girls have created a movie using Bratz figurines and The Sims to portray the way that society is headed towards a future in which mankind is increasingly dependant upon virtual relationships. This phenomenon can be seen in social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace and virtual reality sites like Second Life, Habbo Hotel or Entropia Universe.

Our intentions are to highlight one possible future for mankind if we continue on this path. By comparing it to the past we hope to show the progression of technology through the ages and the impact it has on mankind’s quality of life. The reality of life has been lost to this simulacrum.

‘Whether or not we live in a world of simulacra, the term is certainly important in light of how we view media. Media theorists, especially Jean Baudrillard, have been intensely concerned with the concept of the simulation in lieu of its interaction with our notion of the real and the original, revealing in this preoccupation media's identity not as a means of communication, but as a means of representation.’ (Sandoz.D 2003 http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/simulationsimulacrum.htm)

Why did we use Bratz?
Bratz represent the toys that children play with today, that will impact upon their perception of reality. Bratz are an image of unattainable beauty like so many magazine images of air brushed models and what present society strives for. Because of this, we wanted to use them to show that virtuality is a false representation of the society it imitates.

We could have performed in the movie ourselves; however we felt that we could better represent Virtual Reality through using a simulation of ourselves. We specifically searched for Bratz that resembled each one of us, just as you could choose any image that you aspire to as an avatar online.

After a trial run with other toys, we came to the conclusion that figurines were easiest to manipulate for use in a Stop-Motion project.

Why did we use Stop-Motion?
We tested methods using The Sims as the actors in our movie; Second Life could have also been used. However we decided on using Bratz because we thought that they added more meaning due to the image they represent.

Stop-Motion enabled us to explore a new medium in which we could further our technical skills for a deeper understanding of the module.

Why did we use time travel?
We decided to explore a ‘through the ages’ theme which would allow us to contrast the lifestyle of the past and the lifestyle of the present and with a possible future. We hope to inspire the audience to decide whether the technological progressions are really resulting in improvement of our lifestyles.

Why did we reference popular culture?
Music we have chosen is immediately recognisable and we were able to use the associations that are connected with the sound. For example we used the Star Wars theme tune with the futuristic scene because it implies science-fiction and we able to spoof the opening credits of the movie. Greensleeves conjures images of the medieval era and so it was useful for the audience to locate the scene in history. For each era featured in the movie we tried to choose appropriate music.

Creating each scene
During the course of making our project we changed our recording methods as we found certain ways troublesome. In the beginning we used a video camera to capture each scene, when editing the footage we came across many problems as the video camera did not capture photographs, but short recordings. This was a problem when creating a stop-motion project so we changed our technological methods to a digital camera.

In each scene, we tried to create the instant image perceived when thinking of the certain era, for example in the cave-man scene we dressed the Bratz in Leopard Print material and leaves as this is what is the instant image we depicted. In the Roman scene our characters were living the life of leisure having slaves to assist them.

Although ‘The Performing Girls’ spent a lot of time together and most of the movie was produced within meetings of the trio, due to other matters such as work and other module meetings there were times when ‘The Performing Girls’ had to work separately. Each piece of work was reviewed and improved when we came together in meetings. The capital problem during our creation was lack of time, however we managed to create a beneficial movie in the end.

Did it work?
Through different experiments, methods and difficulties our final piece came together. Our initial intention was to create eleven different scenes of different eras of technological development, however due to problems and lack of time available we were unable to do this. We created the generations in which we believed to be the most influential and important.

Certain aspects of the project could have been improved if we had had more time and experience. Not one of us had endeavoured upon stop-motion before therefor we were learning as we went along. Such aspects as lighting and stillness could have been improved to allow the final piece to flow smoother. Keeping the camera stationary and preventing shadows were some of the main problems.

I enjoyed working with Tiffany and Tamsyn throughout this project, enthusiasm and input of time and labour was equally granted from each ‘Performing Girl’.

Did it constitute as a worthwhile performance?
I believe that ‘The Bratz Movie’ is a worthwhile performance. ‘The Performing Girls’ trio had an initial idea of what we wanted to portray in our project, through research, trial and error we had fun making a final piece which was lively, amusing, interesting as well as informative. After presenting our final piece to the class, feedback was positive and our Bratz movie was praised.

2008

Happy New Year Everybody!

Another Christmas has passed and more state of the art technological presents have been recieved, such as i-pods, mobile phones, digital cameras, game consols and laptops. Each year more and more technology is placed under our christmas tree.

The performing girls are progressing with the video, scenes are coming together and the point we are trying to put across is becoming more and more clearer.

Here's a preview of one of our scenes: