Introductory Assignment

The task

Our task for this module was to research into three themes:

Power, Spectacle and Memory.

Looking at people, places and work concerned with these themes, I am to research how these are worked through the media I look at. These being a choice of four, of either

A gallery exhibition

A gallery installation

Websites and video games

Foreign cinema

People

A TV studio viewing

A radio studio viewing

Whilst researching four of these, I am to come up with 3 possible ideas, (one for each theme), for a media product that I myself could produce.

I will continue this workbook of all my findings, research, development of ideas and reflections on this assignment. I will also be preparing a 5 minute presentation to demonstrate my findings and research in relation to the themes, and I will present my 3 possible ideas for the media products of my choice.

Looking at the themes

(from wikipedia)

Power – Power refers broadly to any ability to effect change or exert control over either things, people, subjects or objects.

Spectacle - In general spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates.

Memory - In psychology, memory is an organism’s mental ability to store, retain, and recall information.

(from Collins online dictionary)

Power
1. ability to do something,
2. (often pl) a specific ability or faculty,
3. political, financial, or social force or authority, men’s use of power over women in a subordinate position in the workforce, economic power is the bedrock of political power,
4. a position of control, esp. over the running of a country, he seized power in a coup in 1966
5. a state with political, industrial, or military strength,
6. a person or group having authority,
7. a prerogative or privilege, the power of veto,
8. official or legal authority,
9. (Maths) the value of a number or quantity raised to some exponent,
10. (Physics engineering) a measure of the rate of doing work expressed as the work done per unit time,
11. the rate at which electrical energy is fed into or taken from a device or system, measured in watts,
12. mechanical energy as opposed to manual labour,
13. a particular form of energy, nuclear power,
14. the magnifying capacity of a lens or optical system,
15. (Informal) a great deal, a power of good,
16. ◇ the powers that be established authority.

Spectacle
1. a strange, interesting, or ridiculous scene,
2. an impressive public show, the opening ceremony of the Olympics was an impressive spectacle,
3. ◇ make a spectacle of oneself to draw attention to oneself by behaving foolishly.

Memory
1. the ability of the mind to store and recall past sensations, thoughts, and knowledge, she can do it from memory,
2. the sum of everything retained by the mind,
3. a particular recollection of an event or person, he started awake with a sudden memory,
4. the length of time one can remember, my memory doesn’t go that far back,
5. commemoration, in memory of our leader,
6. a person’s reputation after death, a conductor of fond memory,
7. a part of a computer in which information is stored.

I have also looked further into these themes with brain storms, and from these, I can go and look at my 4 chosen media items, and research how they might have relations to the themes.

My chosen items are

A gallery exhibition

A gallery installation

Websites and video games

Cinema

Gallery Exhibition

I have been to many art exhibitions in the past, as I studied art at GCSE and then A level. I very much like the wide range of meaning that can be produced or lead into from art, so I think I won’t have too much trouble finding meaning in the work that I look at, in relation to the themes.

I heard that there was an exhibition in The Herbert Gallery, in Coventry. This contained images from “Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008” with a wide range of winning nature and wildlife photography. I have studied photography and been taking photos myself for many years now. I was recommended by my friend to take a look at the exhibition of photos at The Herbert, and I’m glad I did. There were a great many examples of photography there, along with the winning pieces from the competition.

This image is called “Deadlock” and was taken by David Maitland.

“A cat-eyed tree-snake was locked in an embrace with a Morelet’s tree frog. The kicking frog showed no sign of weakening, and the stubborn snake wouldn’t budge. It was a complete stalemate. Three hours later I realised that the first to give in would in fact, be me. And I went to bed.”

I really like this image, I think it shows the tremendous natural battles that go on in the world around us, without us even really knowing or realising, until of course, we wait for 3 hours with a camera.

This image can easily be related to the theme of Power, I shows the relentless grip and bite that the two animals have in each other, and since they kept it going for so long, perhaps this shows that their power of body and strengths were equal, enough that neither gave up.

There is certainly a Spectacle to be seen in this image. For one person to be able to sit and watch the spectacle that is going on between the tree frog and the snake is a great privilege. If I go back to the research of this particular theme – “spectacle – an impressive public show” it is definitely correct of this.

Memory – “memory is an organism’s mental ability to store, retain, and recall information” weather I can relate this directly to the image or not, both creatures shown here I believe to have memory. To know that the other is an enemy or threat, to know to protect it’s self as much as possible and proof being shown here, memory to know not to give up. I believe the use of memory from past deaths, threats has been passed on with many animals over many millions of years, so that these two animals now have the instinct to protect themselves or fight back, if being prayed upon. If not, maybe the snake was just hungry, and it remembered that frogs taste good. I mainly feel that this piece of work relates to power.

—show images of the work I saw. Why I like those ones, what I think they show. Looking at their relevance to the themes. How are the words present in these? And how do they differ, make me feel. Reflect. All the usual shiiiz.

Gallery Installation

I was planning on making an extra trip to see an installation at a gallery in London. But I found this installation at The Herbert gallery in Coventry.

I have always been interested in sculpture, especially ceramic, and I saw this installation.

This is called The Coventry Sculpture and is mixed media, with ceramic and steel used. The central structure of the piece was based around plans for a gigantic tower in communist Russia. It shows the people of Coventry at work and play.

This sculpture was commissioned for the opening of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in 1960, especially to fit in with the particular area.

I think this piece is particularly striking because so much is going on in it. There are many groups and personalities shown in the piece, including the artist himself, who placed himself in the sculpture.

I like this piece because it has a lot of diversity; it shows the many people working in Coventry, there are a lot of wheels being built, which suggests the connection between Coventry and the car industry.

Power is present in this piece in many ways. The power that the people in the sculpture have over their environment, and their creation of buildings and cars, and movement of objects. Their power as people, with their strength and abilities. Especially with the larger person on top of the tower in the piece, shows some sort of triumphant feeling, that man can create large objects and then stand upon them, admiring their work.

The piece it’s self is an impressive spectacle. The artist has brought together two different and not usually put together materials. One being steel structures, representing the Russian building, and the other being the more simple terracotta ceramic sculptures of the people. The use of the ceramic gives the shapes and expressions of the peoples movements and gestures a lot more texture and feeling.

Again, Memory as a theme works well with the piece. From seeing the sculpture, I will always have a memory of it. The sculpture was created in memory of the people of Coventry, at work and play. Running, sitting, building, creating, enjoying. It has a memory of life in the city, and it works well. I think it also reminds people that Coventry, like any city wasn’t always there, and was slowly built, obviously having major problems during the war, and being rebuilt again.

Ideas – Power

I’ve thought a lot about what could come from the theme and word “power” and from what I’ve looked at in the Herbert; I started to think about the power of people, and animals. The image of the snake and the tree frog fighting each other made me think of a recent children’s TV show – “deadly 60” presented by Steve Backshall.

Steve takes a film crew around the world, looking for the deadliest creatures and animals on the planet. It gives a lot of information about the animal and its environment.

I think a similar TV programme or perhaps a documentary could be made to show the simple raw power of animals, from the strength an ant has (carrying up to 10 times its own weight) to elephants, crushing trees and destroying villages in their angry stampedes. The power of animals is a simple idea for its title.

Power could be shown in many ways, another thought that I had was that a TV programme or documentary that explores power in the world, going from people and animals to machinery and nature. The power of the sea, the sun, the hurricane, the bower constrictor snake, etc.

Ideas – Spectacle

When I think of “what is a spectacle” I think of fireworks, of opening ceremonies, of tropical thunderstorms. A spectacle is something that draws attention to it’s self, so all of my thoughts are correct of this fact.

I’ve struggled to think of initial ideas for media products relating to spectacle, except for one, which would be looking at spectacles of the world. This could be shown in a short film, a TV show, a documentary, or even as a discussion topic on a radio show. To take the thought of TV and radio programmes further, I suppose it could be a weekly programme where people send in what they think to be spectacular… ? or spectacles that they have seen or are hoping to see. For example, the amazing double rainbow last Thursday in Scotland, or perhaps “I’m looking forward to the meteor shower next year” and these could then be discussed and thought about by the presenters and the audience.

Ideas – Memory

I think memory could be the start of many ideas for media productions. One that keeps going round my head is from a story that my granddad told me. When he was about 10, he went fishing on his own at a river near him, 4 hours later he caught a small fish, and made the journey back home in the baking sunlight to show his mum, by the time he got there, the fish was shrivelled and stinking. I like stories that the elderly remember from so long ago, even though they may have to put up with terrible memories of war and suffering, they can still come up with nice ones.

If I could, I’d like to take this idea further in the creation of some sort of media, exploring people’s memories of childhood. Perhaps in the form of a short film or documentary, with one question asked, “What is your earliest memory?” for example, one of mine is seeing my dad’s damaged car being towed away. I was 9months old at the time.

Thinking further into the theme of memory, and films that have been produced around this theme, I thought of “Its All Gone, Pete Tong” – a film about a famous DJ who lost his hearing in his peak of popularity. The film is based around facts that people know about him, but mainly the memory of the man from his friends, his family, people he worked with – particularly his manager. I really like the way films are made about people whom have died, in this case, simply vanished.

Although that film is all about someone whom actually existed, films like “Forest Gump” are true of the memory theme. This film is completely fictional of course, but still, the way the main character explains his life and experiences throughout, from his memory. The third film I have thought of to relate to this is “Slumdog Millionaire” which is based on a true story, so again it works from what people know, and what people remember. Particularly the main character.

Website

Google’s mission: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful“

I was thinking about websites that are powerful. Are a spectacle. Are of, and have memory, and not a lot came into my head for a while, until I thought of Google. Google the most popular website in use today. It has power over all others, because the internet surrounds it. It owns many companies, and has tremendous advertising capabilities. Google earns its revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing services. This information I have taken from Wikipedia.

I think Google is a great example of a website to link to these themes, because it has them all. It has all the power it needs, people turn to google when they need information of any kind. It has and is a spectacle, that something has come from an initial idea to becoming one of the most well known website search engines ever. It is a spectacle that google is now in the dictionary, and google it’s self has memory. Google can keep track of whom has searched what, and people use google, and remember to use it as a useful website and search engine.

From Collins online dictionary:

google
to search for (something) on the internet using a search engine.