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:

Making the Future

The making of the Roman Scene

The making of the Medieval Scene

Group Ideas

Thinking about our group project, we are beginning to throw more thoughts around and come to a conclusion about what topic to make our movie about. Evolution is one of the main ideas at the moment, and how people have changed, and how people are going to change due to technology. The video posted as "Technological future: Human Evolution" shows man using technology to create people/robots which have senses. Scary thought!!!!

The Misty Brat Waves and Bows!

I've been playing around today with windows movie maker, and this is what I produced with only using still pictures:




What do you think?? If you know how I can approve it, then please let me know how! I'm a movie maker beginner!!

What constitutes a worthwhile performance?

Performance today has a much greater meaning than just theatre, television and cinema shows. Performance is in our everyday life. Every person begins a performance as soon as they leave the house (if it has not began already).

Ning is a website that is linked to on the blog, which allows people to join social networks that interest them, similar to Facebook. The issue of Facebook has been discussed in recent seminars, and how people perform on there, by only showing what they want people to see, and deciding what and who to allow onto their site. I don’t think it is only websites such as Facebook and Ning where people perform in this way. People perform like this in everyday real life. Appearance is an aspect of performance. You decide what you want to wear, and a lot of people decide what to wear, based on what they think other people would like to see them in. Although you may wear clothes you like, many people, consciously or subconsciously, also wear clothes to impress other people. When meeting new people, you decide what you want them to know about you, and decide what you want to keep secret from them. People perform on Facebook just as they do in real life.

The weird and wonderful blog list displays a shortlist of what is thought to be the most ‘worthwhile’ blogs voted by Metro. ‘the more compelling, unpredictable and unique, the better’, is that what makes a worthwhile perofrmance?

Whether a performance is worthwhile or not, I believe is down to the individuals of the audience and their personal preferences. There is not going to be a performance that is agreed by each and every member of the audience to be worthwhile. Performances can gain a higher status by appealing to more people, and the majority of the audience finding the performance worthwhile. Don R Hall’s website entitled ‘an Angry White Guy in Chicargo’ posts comments about performances that he does not find worthwhile. Although he finds some things unsuited, he explains that in some of the shows, most people in the audience enjoy the performance, which would make the performance appear worthwhile even though he does not agree.

The ‘High court footage’ on YouTube is an example of people performing. As are the ‘Top Ten Shock Blogs’. Even though these acts are not very pleasant and are seen by most people as unacceptable, the people that carried out these actions and placed the footage onto the Internet obviously wanted to share them with other people. These are not seen as worthwhile performances because the majority of people don’t think they are. However the individuals who did this obviously had a reason for doing it and thought other people would find them worthwhile.

Worthwhile performances

What are worthwhile performances?? Performances we like? Have an interest in? What we should be watching? Performances which are popular? Performances which have meaning?? An idea of worthwhile performances, are videos which are posted on facebook. People post videos to their friends funwalls. The performances must be worthwhile if people are wanting to share them with their friends. The video posted above called 'The Annoying Devil' was posted to me with the quote 'Probably the funniest video I've ever seen!! FACT!' Watch it!!

Barbie Girl Animation

This week's group meeting with Tiffany, Tamsyn and myself, we tested out our initial ideas of filming and editiing toys to make a short film. We used two different teddys and tested out our ideas by swiflty filming the characters in different positions and then putting them together to create a small animation. We have decided to use barbies as it would be easier for us to film the characters in different positions and arrangements. The new videos on the left are there to show you the principles of our ideas.

Cool computer program

Look at the video attached on the left called "Cool computer program".

What entitles this computer program to be cool?

Is it because it's new and exciting? Because it can show and work things out instantly? Much faster than the avaerage human mind. Because it can show us what will happen without us having to try and test ourselves?

New Technology.........is that what cool is?

Sneed - another word for 'Cool'

Is this really cool?

This week we have been discussing the term 'Cool'. What is cool and what is uncool? Who decides what is and isn't cool? In my blog I have started to use the word sneed, which is not an actual word and to be honest I don't have a definition for it. However I guess the word 'sneed' relates to the word 'cool' when using the term as I have done in my blog to find 'sneedingly good' performances. But what is a cool performance??

Sneed

You may well be wondering what I mean by 'sneedingly' good performances. Sneed is a word which my housemate conjured up one day and has stuck within our vocabulary since. It hasn't really got a meaning to be honest. In this concept I guess it's an eqivalent to amazing or interesting. In this blog, I intend to post videos and recordings of certain performances that interest me and catch my attention.