Wednesday 28 November 2007

Remediation...

The Double Logic of Remediation

Immediacy: (Stanislavski like) Immersion (video-games, virtual reality- forget here and now reality and the distinction between reality and non-reality. Makes you forget the real self and the fact that what you are watching is virtual)
Hyper-mediacy: (Brecht-like) The use of asides, titles, presenters, to withdraw/alienate you. Makes you remember that you are watching media by using a collosal amount of media.

The double logic of remediation makes you realise that you are watching media and then draws you in and consumes your entirity so that you lose track of where you are.

Examples:
The french film "Irreversible" uses hyper-mediacy in its style by starting the film at the end and gradually working towards the beginning which makes the audience aware of the media itself, and then gradually immerses them through the thrilling storyline and complicated characters.
Console games, especially the ps2, ps3 and the Wii are obvious forms of using the double logic of remediation. They initially make it clear that they are oozing with new technology so that the player is aware that it is a superior media form...but then the realistic style of the virtual media immerses you so that you forget that your experience is not in the hear and now.

Monday 12 November 2007

Is YouTube inviting sadistic/perverted voyeurism into our lives....??

This is a copy of a recent case that happened to an elderly lady as she lay dying on her doorstep. Her attacker described the event as "You Tube Material." Was this attack done just for YouTube? Is this what people want to see as YouTube? Has people's perceptions of good entertainment changed for the worse....?


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7063366.stm

Man jailed for urinating on woman

Anthony Anderson was filmed urinating on Christine LakinskiA man who urinated on a woman as she lay dying and shouted "this is YouTube material" has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Anthony Anderson also covered Christine Lakinski with shaving foam after she collapsed in a Hartlepool street.
Miss Lakinski, 50, who suffered from a number of medical conditions, was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Anderson, 27, and from Raby Road in the Teesside town, had earlier admitted outraging public decency.
The court heard how, on 27 July, Miss Lakinski was making her way home with a box of laminate flooring when she fell ill and stumbled into a doorway.
Totally shocked
Anderson, a former soldier, had smoked a cannabis joint and been drinking when he and two friends spotted her.
He tried to rouse her by throwing a bucket of water over her, before urinating on her and covering her with shaving foam.
A crowd had gathered around, watching and laughing, and the incident was filmed on a mobile phone.
She was later declared dead at the scene, the cause of death being given as pancreatic failure.
Magistrates in Hartlepool had referred the case to Teesside Crown Court so a longer jail term could be handed out.
Judge Peter Fox, the recorder of Middlesbrough sitting at Teesside Crown Court, said: "You violated this woman in an incredible way, and the shocking nature of your acts over a prolonged period of time must mean that a prison sentence of greater length is appropriate in this case."
'Sick and inhumane'
Outside court, Miss Lakinski's family said in a statement: "We remain totally shocked that anyone could behave in such an appalling way.
"The fact that Christine was dying makes this man's actions even more sick and inhumane.
"However, those who stood by and did nothing to stop Anderson are also guilty in our eyes.
"It beggars belief that these people chose not only to condone his cruelty, but also to walk away from a neighbour who was clearly in distress and needed help."
The family statement added that Christine had "faced immense challenges throughout her life", yet still had managed to "forge an independent life for herself".

What consititues a good performance?

What constitutes a worthwhile performance?

It is virtually impossible to give an exact definitive as to what constitutes a worthwhile performance, and it is inevitably personal. For me, a worthwhile performance has to do one of the following things for me: Challenge me, educate me or enlighten me. That is not to say that performances that are purely aesthetic or funny aren't good entertainment- but perhaps they are not worthwhile to me. A performance doesnt have to be something that is deliberate- ie performed in a theatre, a film masterpiece or a comedian's sketch. Some of the best performances I have seen are political protests, home-made cartoons posted on "Youtube", children's tantrums, or simply watching an awkward situation on a bus, or a couple having an argument unaware that I have placed a frame around them just as a TV does to a soap opera.
Worthwhile performances do not have to be sleek and rehearsed, but I do think it is important that a performance has some something to say that will make the viewer think after the performance after it has finished. When I watched "The Glamorous Kitten Killer" on "You-Tube" I was immediatly repulsed & thought it was awful entertainment, which it is. However, it has challenged me and made me think about the sort of world that we are living in; What stage is society at if somebody has deliberately made a film of brutally killing an animal to ensure popular viewing figures on "You-Tube"? And is it human nature that compells some people to watch the footage or are we turning into a colder, selfish & more perverted & voyeuristic society...?