The videos by The Arcade Fire can be considered postmodern because they blur the boundaries between producer and consumer. The viewer is no longer passively watching a structured video they are interacting and creating the action within the video. Traditional music videos are usually one of three styles; illustrative, amplified or disjunction which are viewed passively by the audience. For example, Mountains Beyond Mountains traditional version follows the conventions of a typical music video using a "narrative" in the form of disjuncture while performing the song by lip syncing. The audience's role is to watch and listen rather than participate in the film. However the interactive version, although set in the same setting with the same characters, is completely different and depends on the audience to participate and interact with the video for anything to happen. The audience controls the speed and movement which is possible through web 2.0. http://www.sprawl2.com/
The Wilderness Downtown uses hyper-reality where the viewer is taken into a simulation of their home town mixing the reality of the town from bird's eye and street views from Google Maps with animation scenes. There is no apparent purpose to the video except entertainment for the viewer which is made more personal with the fact it can be set in their home town. In the video the viewer can create their own postcard which encourages the audience to participate rather than just sit back and watch. http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
http://www.beonlineb.com/ Neon Bible also requires audience interaction, with the audience able to control what they see happen throughout the song which leaves it totally up to the individual viewer. All of these interact videos are examples of anti-narrative because there is no obvious story or narrative structure. In The Wilderness Downtown the audience may interpret different meanings for the film as the viewer is portrayed in hyper-reality by the character who is either running around, to or from the town depending on how it is individual interpreted. Neon Bible and Mountains Beyond Mountains also have no narrative structure or apparent representation of the lyrics or music which make them look incomplete as the audience have to make up the rest of the action in the video.
http://blabla.nfb.ca/
The chapters show stages of communication: learning a language, making small talk, expressing emotions. It uses a mixture of techniques both traditional and hi-tech, this is a Postmodern aspect because it mixes the use of hand-made art with graphic animations.
"BLA BLA uses xerogrpahy, drawing on paper, ActionScript generated animations, puppet stop-motion combined with real-time 3D mapping... I am inspired by projects that feel free aesthetically. I wanted BLA BLA to feel hand-made, imperfect, fragile so we forget about the technology."
The music and the visuals are used to create a mood for the viewer who is essential to the performance because without the audience interaction nothing happens. There is some structure to the website as it follows chapters and a lose narrative around the stages of communication.
Although I liked the style of the graphics and the audience interaction I didn't really understand the purpose of it because it wasn't exactly entertaining or follow any conventions to make it a game. However I can see the possible development for the future - if this kind of interactive software could be used for children's books for example which would give the website and this type of audience interaction more purpose.
Vincent Morisset the director for these videos and the website: (possible quotes on Creativity for Section A) www.hypebot.com/
"Ideas always drive my projects, and I use the tools that are around me to achieve them. I think it's important that we understand the possibilities and the limitations of those tools, but for me, it's important that the projects are driven by ideas so that they don't become technology demos."
"I like to play with different mediums and to blur the lines and the codes of each of them. Using lo-fi and hand-made content to make you forget the technology in an interactive experience is another trick."
"One of my mottos is "The web is fun." I love this medium but the way we connect with images on our laptop is really different from the way we relate to images on a TV screen. Since I want to trigger emotions through my projects, I work hard so that we kind of forget we're in front of a computer."
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Post-modernism in music.
Mumford & Sons:
Homage to traditional folk music. Started on indie folk scene - a niche audience. Now has wide appeal to mainstream and niche audiences.
Intertexutality: Quotes from Shakespeare, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. Makes what is seen as high end, elitist culture accessible and is sung by teenagers who might not necessary know the reference.
Other PM folk music:
Gogol Bordello - gypsy punk band who mix punk and folk music together two things that you wouldn't expect to work together.
The Pogues:
Founded celtic punk. Mixed traditional folk music using tin whistle, violins, banjos and accordion with punk rock with guitar, bass and drums. They covered traditional Irish folk songs e,g, Paddy on the Railway and Irish Rover as well as writing original songs.
2 Many DJ's:
Levi-Strauss' theory of addition, subtraction, substitution and transposition. They take two songs from completely different genres and eras and mix them together.
Push It - hip hop & No Fun - punk
It appeals to a niche audience as people want to test their own knowledge of the what the two songs are and how it has been mixed together but also to a more mainstream audience for people who just like the beat of the remixes.
Hurts:
Synth pop duo. Pay homage to 80's synth pop music -
DJ Danger Mouse:
Mixed Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album to create a Grey album. Bricolage of 60's pop and 2000's hip-hop.
Eminem:
Pastiche in his songs. "The Real Slim Shady" mocking celebrities
Without Me:
Though I'm not the first king of controversy
I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley
To do black music so selfishly
And use it to get myself wealthy
"Hey" there's a concept that works
Twenty million other white rappers emerge
But no matter how many fish in the sea
It will be so empty without me
Points out copycat culture of music and addresses his critics.
Gorillaz:
Hyper-reality the band are shown as their animated characters which allows them freedom and can not be pinned down to one specific genre. They have used rock, dub, hip-hop, electronic and pop within their music.
Feel Good Inc is a bricolage with sampling of different sounds, laughter and older material with the crackling symbolising analogue sound.
In terms of live performance the actual band are not seen by the audience they use visuals to show the animated characters mime while the real band play live out of sight. This reverses the idea of the high culture because mainstream pop artists are expected to mime while a band who play instruments and singing live are not expected to mime.
Devo:
80's synth group. Incorporate genres: punk, art rock, post-punk, new wave
http://youtu.be/Xbt30UnzRWw Whip It video is a pastiche of traditional old American west. Also in the video they pay homage to Kraftwerk, influencial synth group with the hats.
Tenacious D:
A parody mock rock band who have become a real band due to popularity who play shows & festivals. Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny film is a comedy parody of rock and roll lifestyle of the band - take the mick out of themselves and metal bands at the same time.
Kanye West:
Mixes a wide range of genres and creates different sounding albums. Soul, RnB, baroque pop, trip-hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronic, synth pop & classical. Avoids totalising form.
Uses sampling in his work - Woods by Bon Iver used in Lost in the World / Harder, Bettter, Faster, Stronger used in Stronger.
His collaboration with Jay-Z for Otis uses sampling from Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness
On his debut album The College Dropout 14/21 tracks contain sampling from a wide variety of artists e.g. Aretha Franklin, 2Pac, Chaka Khan, Lauryn Hill & Marvin Gaye
Uses intertextual references in his work:
References Evel Knievel in one of his music videos which lead to a lawsuit against him.
Makes political and social statements in his work:
In Breathe In, Breathe Out he talks about the materialistic nature of society and this link with the hip-hop genre. In Jesus Walks he talks about the lack of religion in hip-hop "They say you can rap about anything except Jesus, that means guns, sex, lies, video tapes. But if I talk about God my record won't get played." this can be seen as ironic because in other work the topics are just about sex and drugs and religion is scarce in his work.
Homage to traditional folk music. Started on indie folk scene - a niche audience. Now has wide appeal to mainstream and niche audiences.
Intertexutality: Quotes from Shakespeare, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. Makes what is seen as high end, elitist culture accessible and is sung by teenagers who might not necessary know the reference.
Other PM folk music:
Gogol Bordello - gypsy punk band who mix punk and folk music together two things that you wouldn't expect to work together.
The Pogues:
Founded celtic punk. Mixed traditional folk music using tin whistle, violins, banjos and accordion with punk rock with guitar, bass and drums. They covered traditional Irish folk songs e,g, Paddy on the Railway and Irish Rover as well as writing original songs.
2 Many DJ's:
Levi-Strauss' theory of addition, subtraction, substitution and transposition. They take two songs from completely different genres and eras and mix them together.
Push It - hip hop & No Fun - punk
It appeals to a niche audience as people want to test their own knowledge of the what the two songs are and how it has been mixed together but also to a more mainstream audience for people who just like the beat of the remixes.
Hurts:
Synth pop duo. Pay homage to 80's synth pop music -
DJ Danger Mouse:
Mixed Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album to create a Grey album. Bricolage of 60's pop and 2000's hip-hop.
Eminem:
Pastiche in his songs. "The Real Slim Shady" mocking celebrities
Without Me:
Though I'm not the first king of controversy
I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley
To do black music so selfishly
And use it to get myself wealthy
"Hey" there's a concept that works
Twenty million other white rappers emerge
But no matter how many fish in the sea
It will be so empty without me
Points out copycat culture of music and addresses his critics.
Gorillaz:
Hyper-reality the band are shown as their animated characters which allows them freedom and can not be pinned down to one specific genre. They have used rock, dub, hip-hop, electronic and pop within their music.
Feel Good Inc is a bricolage with sampling of different sounds, laughter and older material with the crackling symbolising analogue sound.
In terms of live performance the actual band are not seen by the audience they use visuals to show the animated characters mime while the real band play live out of sight. This reverses the idea of the high culture because mainstream pop artists are expected to mime while a band who play instruments and singing live are not expected to mime.
Devo:
80's synth group. Incorporate genres: punk, art rock, post-punk, new wave
http://youtu.be/Xbt30UnzRWw Whip It video is a pastiche of traditional old American west. Also in the video they pay homage to Kraftwerk, influencial synth group with the hats.
Tenacious D:
A parody mock rock band who have become a real band due to popularity who play shows & festivals. Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny film is a comedy parody of rock and roll lifestyle of the band - take the mick out of themselves and metal bands at the same time.
Kanye West:
Mixes a wide range of genres and creates different sounding albums. Soul, RnB, baroque pop, trip-hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronic, synth pop & classical. Avoids totalising form.
Uses sampling in his work - Woods by Bon Iver used in Lost in the World / Harder, Bettter, Faster, Stronger used in Stronger.
His collaboration with Jay-Z for Otis uses sampling from Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness
On his debut album The College Dropout 14/21 tracks contain sampling from a wide variety of artists e.g. Aretha Franklin, 2Pac, Chaka Khan, Lauryn Hill & Marvin Gaye
Uses intertextual references in his work:
References Evel Knievel in one of his music videos which lead to a lawsuit against him.
Makes political and social statements in his work:
In Breathe In, Breathe Out he talks about the materialistic nature of society and this link with the hip-hop genre. In Jesus Walks he talks about the lack of religion in hip-hop "They say you can rap about anything except Jesus, that means guns, sex, lies, video tapes. But if I talk about God my record won't get played." this can be seen as ironic because in other work the topics are just about sex and drugs and religion is scarce in his work.
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