Language of New Media

In the article "Language of New Media" by Lev Manovich, he addresses the idea of new media. Like what is it? How do we define new media? Manovich then begins to answer his own questions and decides that the people who define new media have limited themselves and not included everything which is needed.

I think this article was alright. It addressed the ideas successfully and then went into detail. Manovich raised a question, which made you think, then provided an answer. I think new media can be anything, it is an infinite idea. No constraints as some people believe.

PROJECT TWO - Intial Ideas

For this project, we have to show an aspect of a site that is unique or maybe a different way of looking at it. I brainstormed an idea and decided to use a playground.
I wanted to look at in first person perspective and show a different point of view.
Like a show a creepy, alone kinda atmosphere in a place which is normally seen as fun and happy, for children. I will be exploring this idea more, over the weekend and have a concept statement written up, before tuesday.

Project Review

Okay, so after hand in we got told about how we had to credit the place where we got our clips and provide credits at the end of the clip on the internet. I think it would be useful next time to have a sheet like we get for DMDN201 - about project criteria etc - just because hand in was kind of unclear. So hopefully, I did everything that was required. :)

BOUNTY TOWELS
http://www.archive.org/details/BountyPaperT_2
FOLGERS COFFEE
http://www.archive.org/details/folgers
SHINE SHOES + CHESTERS
http://www.archive.org/details/ctvc

All three of my movies I have created are "Public Domain" videos.

Final Decisions

So first of all, I chose clip number one as the one to go on my website because it was my favourite clip. Once I had made it, I just could not do anything as good as it. Not that I don't like my other two clips but I prefer my first one. It makes me laugh about the repetition of the brand name and I just think it's got a clearer remix message than the other two. - more to the point.

RemixTHREE

For my third remix, I decided to put both of the advertisements together. I added a "click" as a kind of transition between the two clips and then shortened the advertisements each time. This last clip showed how quickly a message could be conveyed if you use the right media. I found it hard to condense this clip to exactly 30secs, but i did it.

RemixTWO

For my second Remix, I decided to use the other advertisement I chose, "Folgers Coffee." With this one I took a different approach. I decided to make it sound like you shouldn't by the coffee, by using what the husband says at the start about the coffee being "awful coffee" before she uses "Folgers." This clip is less repetitive but still has its' own little personality.

RemixONE

For my first REMIX, I used the advertisement "Bounty Towels." I rearranged the words to create a new look on the advertisement. I added a humourous repetitive streak and remixed the whole concept which kind of makes it look almost like there is nothing else to buy. I really found this first one alot of fun to make.

Change of Idea

I slightly changed my idea - I gathered 14 clips, but picked my two favourite advertisements which are "Bounty Towels" and "Folgers Coffee." The angle I changed to was to create something humourous - with no real message - just showing how the clip is repetitive and unrealistic; sort of pulling out the flaws and the extreme views of the promoters. I will use some material from my other 12 clips I gathered but majority of the clip will be this one advertisement.

My new set of quotes from the two advertisements I wanted to focus on - and then some brainstorming of sentences etc.

Collecting and Arranging Clips

So I watched HEAPS of old advertisements on archive.org and grabbed all "Public Domain" clips. I collected 14 clips and then sifted through them to grab the material I thought would be useful. These clips were from the most adventurous beer to the freshest cigarettes. I complied a bunch of quotes and cut the clips in Quicktime to put into Avid Media Composer. This took about two session to organise and a couple of workbook pages. (see images below)

Of the quotes from all 14 clips and some images, I may like to use.
Estimated timeline with quotes to make sentences and show a wide range of different ideas.

Intial Idea

For this first project I wanted to choose something fun, and not convey a serious message like most of my peers. I wanted to remix something that could be humorous to the viewer. So I chose to use advertisements as my material to remix into something new. I looked on archive.org and found many olden day advertisements from the 1960s etc. So I coined a statement to try and base my clips on "Commercials that complete your life." I wanted to show the way commercials were back then and how it was so influencial, if you didn't have what they were selling it was taboo.

Remix and Remixability

The article "Remix and Remixability" has some very clear points about remixing and diversifying the world we live in.

It's the idea of individuality - the way we blend, use, change and copy can alter anything from culture to a music track. We break things down to simple forms and then build them back up in our way - making a mark on something and adding your own personal touch on the world. for example, Manovich describes how DVDs nowadays can be cut down into chapters, whereas with videos it was one stream of tape.

It almost sounds like our world is changing to suit this need to remix. We are slowly adapting to make everything we use and interact with something we can change. Something that can be improved by somebody else. It's the idea of no boundaries - Manovich describes that you used to be able to tell who did the remixing - i.e whether it was a professional or not - now amateur and pro mixing is almost inseparable the software for remixing is becoming mainstream and it's like a snowball - no one can stop it.


Refer to article: Remix and Remixability by Lev Manovich