Interim Crit Feedback

Today we had our first crit of the new self directed module, rather than all of us having to sit around and wait for everyone to come up and explain their research and ideas we were put into little groups of 5 and 6 to discuss and show our work in more concentrated detail.

The idea that I have for my project is a game opening cinematic. Based in a world I've named 'Golgotha' where everything revolves around life, fertility, growth and nature. In our real world terms using the name Golgotha to resemble a world of life is a pretty big juxtaposition as the original Golgotha was the place that Jesus Christ died on his cross. Religiously speaking, the word Golgotha means 'dying place/place of death' and is generally negative or sad.

For my world, Golgotha is lush and full of forests, flowers, water and life. Ancient and mystical beasts wholly referred to was 'Life Walkers,' preserve all nature around them, be it the forests, mountain ranges, streams or grass plains. At the center of this lays the worlds own life source, magic Gems that connect the Life Walkers to the Earth and the Earth to nature. But these Gems have been stolen and with each Gem lost the Life walkers lose power, become weak and turn into stone with very few remaining. The loss of the Gems from their rightful places has caused the Earth to lose balance with itself and as such an evil, previously dormant, is beginning to take advantage of the dying nature. Dark beasts known as Mortum Walkers roam the once lush forests, turning everything they touch into brown decay, the flowers have gone, the trees have withered and died and the water has become stagnant. The only way for nature, the Life Walkers and Golgotha to return to the way it was is to return the Gems back to their rightful places and restore the power of the dormant Life Walkers. This project will be created using Photoshop & After Effects, the transmedia side will be in the form of a water colour painted storybook.

The feedback I got from my artwork and plan of operation was all around positive, there was no real changes to my chosen method other than ways to further its development and to help it improve.
Everyone agreed that my artwork had come along in leaps and bounds since last year and the line art for it was described as 'beautiful' and 'delicate' which made me extremely happy to hear as I didn't have much confidence prior to the module.

I'm really looking forward to doing more work for this module and although there is alot to do I'm excited for the outcome providing I do it right.

The Gaze In The Media

Upon comparing the writings of Mulvey's - 'Visual Pleasure' and Coward's -'The Look,' it can be said that both women convey similar opinions on how women see themselves, both personally and in society. This is confimed by Mulvey, writing that ‘it appears to women that the whole possibility of being loved and comforted hangs on how their appearance will be received,’ this could be viewed that Mulvey considers women to be very aesthetic dependant, feeling that they must look physically appealing in order to mate with a male or be appreciated in any form by the opposite, or even the same sex. It could also be argued that there is some psychological scarring behind the thought of only being accepted by essentially looking pleasing to the eye. To Mulvey it appears that women are objectified, ‘men look, women are to be looked at.’ This could raise questions as to if women should be considered people or more like objects of desire.

Cowards form of writing is generally similar to Mulvey, where Mulvey appears to consider women as little more than objects of attraction, Coward discusses how women are oppressed and perhaps held back within society. This point could take a more feminist route as examples such as women being given less pay than men, women being refused the right to vote and females being generally stereotyped as typically housewife ‘stay at home mother’ types.

Unlike Mulvey, Coward approaches the topic of women and how they are perceived in the media in a generally more light hearted, if not comical tone, she discusses her own personal experiences as a child and uses this to draw on her perceptions of todays society.

It could be argued that Cowards point of  the psychological development and experiences of childhood are what have developed women to how they are today. Examples of this can be seen almost everywhere, posters of models, video game represented females and magazines conger up a false and unachievable representation of the female body and thus create a mythic beauty.

However it can also be said that each girl grows up to be their own person and the sights of the surrounding environment should not effect how a woman sees herself directly.

Mulveys writings appear to be more formal on this note and she speaks in a more direct, academic form, often referencing more psychological terms in order to back up her arguments. Mulveys main argument is that it is moden day media and film that seems to have caused women to rely so heavily on improving their aesthetics to become the mythic and unobtainable airbrushed beauties that they see everywhere on the covers of magazines, posters and plastered on the introductions of the old james bond films.

These writings both convey similar arguments concerning how women value themselves, it could in fact be said that the arguments are in fact more accurate as both theorists are in fact, female, this make the writings of both women come from their own personal experiences and emotions, giving the reader a clearer understanding compared to that of a male theorist writing on a woman’s behalf.

Panopticism

Panopticism is the act of being watched or viewed in a way as to uphold discipline in the law. There are various examples of panopticism that can be seen on a regular basis throughout daily lives. Examples of panoptic methods most commonly occur in architecture and other structures. Generally, panoptic buildings all share common ground with one another and modern day panopticons are based around the original panopticon. These buildings were most commonly used to house a mass of people, examples of which include schools, hospitals and most commonly, prisons. The structure of these panoptic prisons were round and hollow on the inside, prisoner cells would circle the outer walls of the building, whilst in the middle would stand a watch tower or other form of surveillance system. Although the design of these prisons could be considered odd, the psychological effect it had on the prisoners themselves was astonishing. Because all cells faced the watch tower the prisoners were under constant watch from the guards, often the windows of the tower would be blacked out, only allowing the guards to look through the glass at the prisoners, not the other way around. It was this constant feeling of being watched that kept the offending men at bay and under control. This complete lack of privacy proved extremely effective in keeping the men under control but was deemed cruel due to the effect it had on the men in long term.

In the present day panopticism is still being used in order to keep people from breaking the law, although the methods have evolved somewhat. Methods such as CCTV, speed cameras and other recording equipment are an unavoidable aspect of day to day life. Although some could argue that these cameras are here for our own good and to record any negative activity that comes to light, others could retort that this form of panopticism is, in fact, more damaging that the original panoptic structures of the past. Further arguments to back this up would suggest that the sheer mass number of CCTV and recording technology used to record us proves that the public have no privacy and that despite the amount of surveillance this still does not keep people from breaking the law and committing crimes. 

In conclusion, the panoptic system, although proving useful in architecture, has become more invasive and all around less effective than it once was, raising questions as to if panopticism is really necessary in this day and age or if another form of enforcement is needed. 

Cities & Film

Cities and Film

Upon comparing both articles of Stout and Donald, it can be said that both sources consider the city as a place of constant distortion and social change.

Both articles look at the development of the city and the urban environment through two separate forms of media.

Fredrick Stout analyses the city in a somewhat artistic form, looking at how illustrated journalism shaped how the public viewed cities as well as soon after reshaping this view through the act of photography and the pictures of cityscapes and glimpses into the lives of the city dwellers. The photographs showed the city and its inhabitants for what they truly were, which the majority were poor and living in poverty stricken environments. Some may argue that this was to be used as a shock tactic or perhaps an eye opener into the lives of the downtrodden and poor lower classes, representing the people as nothing more than mechanical anonymous masses.

Stout appears to have identified that through the development and transition of illustrative journalism to photography the feelings that the pictures convey have changed somewhat compared to that of the illustrated journalism drawings. It could be argued that the illustrationed journalism pictures provided a more comical and rosey cheeked portrayal of the city and its people, whereas the actual photographs that were later used conveyed much more raw feeling from both an emotional and artistic perspective.

Donald also considers the city and its archetechture to be a haunting and distorting place. When considering cities represented in film they are more often than not, portrayed as ominous, looming entities that envelop the people that live benith their shadows. Donald attempts to explain how cinema was used and “helped to extend its appeal beyond a working class audience to one that incorporated the middle classes.”

It can be argued that the argument that Donald is trying to uphold is that the city takes away the identity of the people as well as their perceptions of reality and that it dehumanises the city dwellers.

Although both theorists relate to one another in the sence that they both appear to believe that cities and archetecture have a generally negative and dehumanising impact on the people that live there it could be argued that unlike Donald, Stout sees urban life through more artistic eyes, using the medium of photography in order to convey the feelings and true colours of city life and the ways in which people live.

Lecture 8 - Creative Rhetorics