Click Me!

**On the recreation video and CIARA VIDEO, click the video in top right corner to get both the video and commentary along with it** Hello! I am Dani(elle) Davies. I am 21 Student | Music enthusiast | Chocolate addict. This is a blog for SMST102-15B.

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Over the past few weeks, I have asked myself “How do you create an experimental selfie?” Many crazy thoughts popped into my head. From writing all over my body with vivid and take a black and white photo through to taking a photo of say my foot, because that’s experimental in itself, lets face it: feet are not really the most desirable things to look at. I finally came up with something that was both a selfie and experimental. I took a photo of myself without makeup, and smiling. I then decided, why not make this interesting, I did my normal makeup routine and took a photo in a similar pose and made a gif merging the two photos together to show the difference between a smiling no-makeup selfie through to a straight face full of makeup. The reason behind this image isn’t just to show my true self to the world, it is to show that yes woman and men CAN be happy without the need to wear makeup. This is a challenge, because I am an advocate for makeup! (I am a qualified makeup artist, I love all things makeup and fashion, and have the lowest self esteem of my natural curls, blonde eyebrows and in general my whole self.) The past few years, I have been trying to become more comfortable with my natural face, and to be honest its still something I am trying to be comfortable with every day. It’s horrible to know that there are thousands of women and men around the world who don’t like what they look like/hate themselves because they aren’t what the media industry has portrayed as ‘beautiful.’ The reason I decided on doing this gif image is based on a youtube video posted by a brave, beautiful, amazing woman named Em Ford. She did an experimental video on herself without makeup, and words popped up all over the screen around her of what real people have said to her/said about her when she bares her natural self, and the same thing with her makeup on. The things that came up are disgusting. I have never been so shocked, because I have had similar things said about me with both no makeup and makeup on. (Click here to see video) This image is experimental because it goes against the ‘social norm’ of a standard selfie, it is an image that shows that it is okay to be yourself, you don’t need to wear a mask everyday and we should not be SHAMED for what we look like because we don’t have a face of makeup on.

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I have chosen the above three songs: 1. Like A Boy by Ciara. 2. If I Were A Boy by Beyonce. 3. Telephone by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce.

(These are all women who are strong, have a love for music and dancing, and standing up for what they believe in.)

Each video is different, Telephone being the most out of place in the three chosen songs. They do have a common theme: Women who play a ‘mans role’ in the video at some point or another. Gender performance is when a person complies with what is to be expected of their gender or the gender they identify with, for example: A woman should be cleaning the house and cooking dinner for her husband. A man should be outside chopping down trees to fuel the fire he made to warm his wife and children. These three videos show different aspects of gender through performance.

In ‘Telephone’ by Lady Gaga which features Beyoncé, at the start of the video we see Gaga dressed up walking down a jail hallway with woman catcalling to her, exactly how men are portrayed in the same way in different jail scenes in many different films. The next part of this video is where gender is challenged by the performance of different woman in the Jail yard. Two women who are dressed feminine are lifting weights and others are smoking, calling out, and one woman who looks ‘manly’ kisses lady Gaga. Gaga herself in the video is sexualized, and the video plays on her femininity in the jail compared to the rest of the other women who are there. This is similar to the other two music videos I have chosen. We see both women dressing and/or acting like men, but also see them as women, and playing on their femininity in their videos.

In ’If I Were A Boy’ by Beyonce, we see the female and male roles flipped. Beyonce is being the ‘manly’ character, a person who doesn’t appreciate the partner they have and flirts with her co-workers. The man is being the ‘feminine’ character, where we see him cooking for Beyonce, being upset and intouch with his feelings. This video pushes the boundaries of gender and performance when two people who identify as the sex they were born. The roles get flipped back to Beyonce being ‘feminine’ and the male actor being ‘manly’ and the story plays out as it did from the start, except Beyonce is the one cooking and intouch with her feelings and the male character is the one going on about his day cheating and flirting. This video is a play on the lyrics of the actual song, where being a man is desired, because she believes she would make a better man than the man she was portraying. This video is similar to ‘Like a boy’ by Ciara with the use of role reversal.

In ‘Like A Boy’ by Ciara, we see ‘three’ main characters, one being the man Ciara is ‘dating’ in the video, and the other two are her as a man and a woman. In the start (0.28 seconds in) we see Ciara dressed as a man, with tattoos and hat backwards, her performance is masculine with her movements and the way she carries herself. Which opposes the other side of the video of her as a female, dressed in a pretty dress dancing along side her male self in an oversized tuxedo. This video is the one that stands out the most of all three in gender performance, where as an audience you really believe she is a man with the way she portrays and carries herself in those scenes.

I chose these three videos because they go against the social norms of ‘gender performativity’. Gender isn’t solid, and these videos prove this, Women don’t have to be feminine to be women, and men don’t have to be masculine to be men, performance is all in the way you want to be seen and heard. Lady gaga, Beyonce and Ciara proved this in their gender bending performances.

[helofoxxie]

Copyright Wars!

Pirates with ships of treasures both taken and found from many lands around the world, Law-enforcing citizens proud to announce their rich amount of items and materials they own, both fighting against one another in a War of Copyright. They defend their honor and dignity with words and actions against each side.

Is everything so black and white? Can there only be two solutions to Media and how it is produced, used and seen?

There are many sides to Media and how it can be seen/heard/realised by audiences. Creative Commons is a key to help put an end to the war and tyranny around Copyright. Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation that allows people the ability to share creative and knowledgeable things through the use of free legal tools. In other words Creative Commons allows artists themselves to decide how they think their productions can be used and received by different artists and audiences. 

Imagine you are on YouTube. Your favourite channel has uploaded a new video and in the background there is this funky song that really interests you, you search the Internet for the song and find the artist ‘Disasteradio’ to hear more of what they have made. The song you liked was used in the video because the artist has Creative Commons on that piece of music.

(Note: Disasterario is a New Zealand artist who supports  the Creative Commons ideas and has released many albums of Royalty-free music and music under Creative Commons licenses) Creative Commons helps put an artists name out there by the ability of letting other people use their creations and giving credit where it is due. Creative commons is extremely underrated, and should be researched and used more by both artists and audiences all around the world. Websites that back up my argument above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BESbnMJg9M - A video that explains what Creative Commons is and why it is good. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111027/08595716539/why-creative-commons-licenses-help-rather-than-hinder-struggling-artists.shtml - A website that supports my argument, but gives an insight into why Copyright isn’t as good as it used to be. https://jomosthompson.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/is-creative-commons-good-for-artists/ - a neutral article on Creative Commons. http://creativecommons.org.nz - New Zealand and Creative Commons. http://creativecommons.org.nz/2010/03/luke-rowell-disasteradio/ - Disasteradio, a New Zealand artist who supports Creative Commons.

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Environmental Footprint

I have compiled together information from four different websites as a base for this critique on the environmental footprint of an iPhone. I found this information to be very convincing, and this can be shown in my critique below:

We take our world for granted. We don’t stop to think, the technology around us, technology we/man has created is ruining the very world we live on. Our country is being taken over by electronic devices that have become part of our everyday human life. It is something we have developed such an attachment we cannot go a day without.

Take for example a media device such as an iPhone.

How is it that something that we have become so dependent on, is something that can effect both environment and our very own health?

Manufacturing the latest iPhone (iPhone six – said to be estimated to sell 80 million) the carbon footprint generated by manufacture will be greater than the total yearly carbon footprint of 770,000 people and their day to day lives in London boroughs of Westminster and surrounding areas. That is only in the MAKING of a product, the machinery it takes to create each piece that makes up an iPhone. We the consumers of the world have such a high demand for new technology, for both personal and professional gains. In having such a growing demand, we are allowing ourselves to emit huger carbon footprints on our environment each and every year.

Though the environmental footprint of an iPhone is damaging, we are taking precautions in what actually goes into a product being handled by millions of users around the world. In the iPhone 3, there are all different sorts of chemicals harmful to both our environment and ourselves such as: Lead, nickel, cadmium, chlorine, mercury. iPhone 6 on the other hand have less chemicals and elements than ever before. Recently Apple have stated the removal of Beryllium, Benzene and n-hexene (which are reported to be linked to nerve damage and leukemia) in their newest iPhones. This is a huge step up from earlier models, in leaving out such harmful elements in the latest models of iPhone can be seen both in positive or negative light. Due to high demand of new technology we are creating more demand for more product creation, and in such ‘positive’ steps in creating a product that has left out many harmful chemicals in creation of the newest technology, we create more ‘e-waste’ (Electronic Waste) from consumerism.

In New Zealand, to combat such high volumes of e-waste, we have created many programs to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. We can contact the New Zealand branch of Apple and recycle old products, being offered “Free of Charge”. There are various trade-in places both online and in-store, and in programs such as donations of old mobile phones to starship to raise both awareness and money for children in need.

References: https://www.getorchard.com/blog/iphone-environmental-impact/

http://goodelectronics.org/news-en/iphone-footprint-85-of-co2-emitted-at-manufacturing-stage

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/decision-central/destroying-the-planet-one-iphone-at-a-time/

http://www.apple.com/nz/recycling/ipod-iphone/

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Comparative Analysis

I have chosen three recreation films by fellow students to compare and analyse. Each scene recreation (from very different films) are opposing in genre, but share similarities that allow such different films to be compared to one another.

  Dyani Morgan’s recreation scene from “The Hunger Games”, where Katnis (The female protagonist) realizes Peeta can be saved, is a very effective remake. I admire the way the scenes have been put together, from camera shots to how the actress was dressed and the location in which this recreation took place. This recreation has been done well and everything feels like it ties together in her version of this scene. 

 Kerry Mason recreated the bathtub scene from “Psycho”. I found this entire recreation very effective from the use of a high definition camera and the black and white overlay added in post-production. I appreciate that Kerry kept this recreation as close to the original as possible, as I have seen the original film and this recreation has been done well.

 Kelsey White recreated a scene from “The Fault in Our Stars”, in her recreation we see the protagonist lying under the stars contemplating life. I enjoyed this recreation as it kept to the overall feeling you get when you watch the original film. I liked the use of the voice over whilst the actress was looking at the sky, and the flash moments of the actresses fond moments in life. 

 Each of these films differ in genre and storyline, but there are key identifiable moments in each recreation that are similar to one another. All three recreations use a close up shot on the eyes of the characters/actors.

Dyani uses a profile close up of her female actress to help the audience make a connection between Katnis and her feelings for Peeta. Kelsey uses the close up shot of her actresses eyes in a similar way, she uses this shot to show the emotions felt by the actress, as tears form and drop from the actresses eyes. Kerry, on the other hand, has used the close up eyeshot to end the audience’s anticipation of the scenes prior to the shot. It also gives a definitive ending to the scene.

 A similarity between Dyani’s recreation and Kerry’s is that both scenes give the audience a strong feeling of anticipation. You can see anticipation etched on the female actress in Dyanis film, and this creates the same feeling for the audience. Kerry’s entire scene felt based around anticipation. Kelseys recreation does not feature this, instead an audience feels a mixture of both sad and happy feelings for the female protagnonist.

 Kelsey and Dyani both have a similar location setting. We see the actress of each film outside somewhere away from civilization, closer to nature. This opposes Kerrys recreation of an inside bathroom setting, we don’t see anything but a bathtub with running colour and water, and a female eye. Though each film opposes each other in many ways, they still share moments of similarities which has been fun to identify.

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Audience Responses

For audience responses to my recreation video, I found five people of different age, occupation and gender to give me a range of responses. The different range of audience responses may help me identify any patterns, if they so exist.

A: Intermediate student, 12yrs, Female. B: Psycology Student, 22, Male. C: Teacher, 52, Female. D: Waitress, 17, Female. E: IRD Worker/Drag Queen, 20, Male.

I have found that three of my five audience members have seen this film. ( B, D, E ) The two who have not seen this film are both the youngest and oldest members of my audience response team. (12 years of age, and 52 years of age) Which has lead me to the conclusion that the film that I have recreated is aimed at/is more appealing to a certain age group.  

“I love that movie!! I have seen it so many times I could probably talk along word for word!” ( D ) Contrasting to “I’ve seen the film… but I don’t actually remember what its about.” ( B )  This shows that the film ‘Easy A’ is more appealing to a certain type of demographic. A reason in which I cannot specify weather this film is more appealing to a female or male audience is because gender does not apply to my audience response members.

“I know that movie, Its so funny! I think I may have watched a couple of times maybe?” ( E ) This backs up my ideas of gender not being applicable to the responses, and therefore I cannot identify any patterns within the range of responses based on the gender of the response team. “Very good, you came across as slightly upset? It seems appropriate.” ( C ) This shows that the music and video content worked well together, as I aimed for music to compliment the overall theme to the recreation. “I like the choice of shots at the beginning panning over different magazine clippings, because that is how the media is seen to everyone else, as a relentless attack on your mind.” ( B ) I am pleasantly surprised by this response. I wasn’t sure that I portrayed the media cultures shots at the beginning clearly, but B has definitely understood what I was trying to convey. “I liked how you recreated the scene. It was very ‘Zoella-esque’ –A beauty and lifestyle blogger on youtube-“ ( E ) I was aiming for a video-blog style recreation scene, and E has picked up on that, which shows that I was successful in the way I have recreated the scene from Easy A. Overall, from the range of responses from my audience team, I have made very few opposing patterns. The only thing that has really stood out is the age group that this film seems to be aimed at, as three of the five audience members are aged from teenage-young adults.

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This is a scene from ‘Easy A’ directed by Will Gluck. The female protagonist (played by Emma Stone) of the story is a teenage girl who is going through the times, trials and errors of life. This film itself is a recreation/modernization of a book called “The Scarlett Letter”. I chose this film in particular because I really do enjoy the entire storyline; it’s given a new definition to the ‘cheesy classic rom-com’/’teen rom-com’ film genre. This scene that I have chosen to recreate is something that I can identify with, as I have a love for every 80’s ‘teen rom-com’.

  I feel the scene I have recreated this way helps to represent the social forces that someone like the protagonist, Olive, would have grown up with. They have shaped the expectations she spoke of in the original scene/s. The use of the magazine articles, like “Forever Young”, help put her words into perspective for the viewer.

I hope the way I have represented the scene will help people understand the ideas in a different light to simply a girl wanting to be romanced. The shots leading up to the ‘video blog’ that I recreated are of the different media influences (magazine adverts of makeup, fashion, tips and tricks in how you should act/be, and also a social networking page for the main protagonist on Facebook) on young women in society today.

I stayed as close to the original scene as possible with the monologue/script. The introduction shots of this recreation video are my own spin. I wanted to make the audience feel like they are watching an actual video blog. This has been recorded on a Nikon (Coolpix p500) and the scenes were put together on iMovie, as I don’t have any access to any better editing software.

I found that the most effective part of this recreation was the music; it helped form a scene/shot sequence where it didn’t feel jumpy or too amateur with the transitions between each scene/shot.

  References/Credits

Scene from actual film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZiIBMRNtLs

Script for film: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Easy-A.html

Music for recreation: Helios – Bless this Morning Year.

[helofoxxie]