vimeo channel

You can now view and download all our remixes via Vimeo and our new Cinderella J.A.M Channel. Please feel free to comment and 'like' our uploaded videos.

The Ideas Behind Angeline's Remixes

Save Me My Prince!

The central storyline to the classic Cinderella tale is of course that poor little Cindy gets saved my Prince Charming. He saves her from her horrible life of domestic abuse because Cinderella is no match for her tyrannical step-sisters and step-mum. What I wanted to highlight in this clip is what a cop-out that resolution is. It clearly spells out that the end-game is all about snagging that wonderful Prince Charming and that THAT is the ultimate escape from a life of destitution and to a life of riches and security. This is what's been termed as "The Cinderella Complex" and the clips show that throughout the history of the moving image, time and time again the woman plays the role of the victim or the weaker sex, needing the protection and saving of her man. I wanted to make viewers aware that as seductive as it seems on the surface to land Mr Charming Moneybags, it ultimately places the woman at a disadvantage once again, because her fate lies soley in said Moneybags maintaining his interest in her. She hasn't really fostered her own way out of the dumps. The Cinderella dream is a falsehood m'dears, and will turn you into a Princess living in a gilded Cage.

Beauty = Goodne$$

There is the idea first of all as Woman being either a Virgin or a Whore. The Virgin/Whore dilemma lets call it. You are either one or the other, innocent, sweet and non-sexual (or maternal), but if you exhibit seductive qualities you're in the latter, the femme fatale, the home-wrecker, the mistress, you get the picture. First of all in Cinderella it's clear that Cindy's escape from poverty is through her beauty, which Prince Charming falls for. This beauty is the value of her person, and is the sole reason for her success. She is a good and virtuous person because of her beauty (her step-sisters were greedy abusive UGLY womean). What a dismal tale and aspiration for women! But throughout the ages women have been judged and valued on their beauty alone, and this obsession sadly persists today. This remix explores the obsessions with physical appearance and the conflicting demands on a woman to be both Virgin/Whore to a man, of course it's unattainable and pathetic to even want to pander to that.

Sisterhood Lost

This one's for the women. Women vs. Women, I am reminded of Sylvia Plath and her Mushrooms poem of which I will reproduce the ending parts:

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.

Our foot's in the door.

The poem to me is about women and their struggle for equality. The use of "we" makes it sound like its a joint effort. But the reality is as I try to explore in the remix, women are more often than not their own worse enemies. We don't see each other as sisters, we see each other as competitors and that's a damn shame. What is it about our sex that just loves to rip another woman down to bits? I don't know, but I wanted take the focus off the Man in this remix, and turn the attention back on oppression of women by women.

Rotten Cake

Originally I wanted to call this one "Breaking the Mould" then "Breaking the Cupcake" but at then end of it all the remix is about the rot inside the supposed wonders of domestic life and marriage, the idealised notion we have about romance and partnership when the truth is much more about compromise and conflict. The cake seems great on the outside, all white cream and sweetness but dig a little deeper and something doesn't taste right. The clips chosen show how historically women have had to sacrifice so much to make a happy home and lose their independence and self-identity, yet somehow manage to delude themselves that this is the path to contentment and happiness. It's the Cinderella trait coming out, the belief in a "happily ever after" through the perfect man, through the perfect marriage but real life isn't like that at all and the sooner you get over that the sooner you can create a vision of life that's really your own.

Miriam's Remixed Clips

Women Transformed

How can natural beauty begin in the hands of a hairstylist? If attractive people are the leaders of society then barbers and beauticians are the molders of leaders... Is this really how our society views attractiveness? Do attractive people really have a better chance at establishing a meaningful or successful life? Why is there so much pressure on people to be attractive not only to the opposite sex but to gain recognition among classes? The ugly stepsisters may not have been so unfortunate if only they put their beauty regime in the capable hands of a professional!

Good Girls Gone Bad

The notion of the "bad girl" has been titillating audiences for centuries... What if Cinderella really was a bad girl under all that niceness and good? What a facade! This clip explores bad girls in a tongue and cheek manner.. even though they are labeled bad because of the choices they make... they are still THEIR choices.. who are you to judge?
I think they are far more exciting than all that boring conformity... these girls let loose a little.. and that's not such a bad thing... is it?

Popular

Are you popular? Are you wearing the right shoes, clothes, makeup, hair product? Are you driving the right car? Do you even care? Cinderella could only achieve princess status after a magical fairy godmother popped out of thin air and granted her with all the social graces that you need to snag the perfect man... Now listen closely and take notes or maybe just wait for that fairy to appear.


The Charming Couple

Who's your perfect match? What's your criteria? Do your friends have to like them? Someones Prince Charming may be another persons Hunchback of Notre Dame .. Does everyone have something in them that can be loved? Who are you to dictate someone's decision for a mate? Even if THEY are the dictator?

Jenna's remixed clips

The Factory Line

This remix explores the notion of women forced to work like machines for the pleasure of men. In this clip the man has complete control of the situation, while the women are merely there to undertake the wishes of the man. This clip was motivated by the premise of the Cinderella tale in which the women all try to impress the man in order to meet his wishes. By juxtaposing this relationship between the man and the woman with clips of women working in a factory, presents the notion of Man as boss and Woman as worker.

The Trouble with Women

This remix parodies the stereotypical notion that men are the breadwinners, while women are homemakers. The man in the clip is adament that men are better workers than women and attempts to persuade his boss to fire the new female employee. His poor arguments of women as absent, married and all round feminine come under fire from his more accepting boss. The basis for this clip was originally an instructional video calling for equal rights in the workplace between men and women, but is very different from what we would see today.

Wedded Bliss

And they all lived happily ever after... or did they? This remix details a possible future scenario for the happily wedded Cinderella and her Prince Charming. Did the young couple survive the trials and tribulations of married life? Or did they rush into their marriage too quickly without properly counselling? This remix explores both ends of the spectrum, from the young couple who get marriage counselling before taking the big step, to the couple whose once passionate love is ultimately destroyed by a single symbol; their wedding rings.

The Outsider

Cinderella, the classic tale of a lonely outsider who is magically transformed to become a beautiful Princess. It is a life and experience that many dream of, but will never achieve. So, what would Cinderella's life have been like without the help of her fairy Godmother? Probably very similar to many other teenage 'outsiders' growing up today. It is not easy being on the outside of friendship groups and feeling alone and this remix attempts to show what modern day Cinderella's are faced with - minus the fairy Godmother. It can be the harsh reality of being a teenager.

how did it get like this?

People

Want to be connected with other people

Want to be loved by other people

Social Networks a natural extension of our the innate urges?

Evolving as fast as technology enables it, but in accordance to the behaviour and preferences ie. natural selection of its users?

Big Bang Theory

Web 2.0 -> Social Networking is like a Creative BIG BANG…An explosion of applications and platforms. Some come to dominate, many replicate, and a few actually innovate. But it’s hard to tell right now who’s going to be around tomorrow…only the process of evolution and will tell.

Technology Enables. Human Behaviour Shapes. How we communicate online

The Social Themes within Cinderella

- feminine beauty
- beauty = goodness
- ideal man, masculinity (moneybags, handsome)
- materialism, desire for wealth = happiness
- pitiful girl/vulnerable woman/damsel in distress (that needs saving)
- saviourship through a man/shining knight/
- marriage as gateway to happiness/success
- women turning on women (bitches)
- men getting choice, women getting none in the dating game.
- GOOD WOMEN v BAD WOMEN (nice girls win, bad girls dont, they die usually)
- education, lack of education.
- SOCIAL CLASSES is definetly one

Unpacking Cinderella

*To keep in mind - Cinderella classic plotline:*

C's beloved mother dies - father instantly remarries
Stepmum & 2 ugly step sisters despise C and force her to do the dirty work
Prince throws a ball - Stepmum & ugly sisters force C to help them get ready
(C wants to go too)
Stepmum taunt and deny C to come with them
Fairygodmother/Some magical interception helps C out with nice dresses and
an awesome ride (so she'll look the part)
Prince tries to find his runaway ballpartner with the slipper
Finds C, the shoe fits,they live happily ever after.
*
Some ideas that drive the tale of Cinderella to keep in mind:*

Beauty = Goodness
A Man will set you free (if you're beautiful) and take you from:
Rags to Riches
Controlling idea: CLASS: we can transition from being from poor to rich,
THROUGH A MAN, through our FEMININE WILES → BEAUTY.
//need to be able to manipulate a man in order to change your social status
(TRUE fact back in the day).

hey ange,

mim and i have discussed a few ideas for our project and the one we thought
could work would be to..

- choose a fairytale, then using archival footage try and recreate the same
story

so basically it would mean choosing a classic fairytale, then using the main
ideas and plot of the story as the basis of our remixes. we were thinking
Cinderella could be our potential fairytale.

are you happy to do this? i think if we're all happy to have this as our
main content for our Tumblr page, then we need to make a definite decision
about our fairytale and work out how we can do this idea to attract or
motivate an audience to want to look at our work.

hopefully this will be the last time we have to change our idea!!
:) - jen

yes that sounds great
i really like the making a fairtytale out of remixed media.
i'm going to think about over the weekend, pof which fairtytale is best!
like which ones the one that pulls ppl in most.
will write soon. what do u guys think, cinderella is the story line u like
best? the emotions? the blablabla
-ange

I love cinderella.. but snow white is good too.. the really dark scary
version...
will think about it over the weekend! x - mim

they both sound good. i think we need one that has really strong
emotions/morals/themes that we can use to make our remixes out of, just so
we don't have to be so literal in our pieces. :) - jen

Yep exactly what I wanted 2 write b4 jen, but lacked brainpower to
form words. Given this trawl thru fables & mythology too. Mebbe look
at motive of fairytales. I know there's some deeper reason 4 them but
can't think. Sat I will brainstorm I think - ange

I agree but now I am being confused by the fairytale idea and how it ties in
with evolution?... am i being too literal? I loved the idea of Kyla's
fairytale ( the one she wrote when she was 6 )

I think the tumblr idea rocks as our platform of delivery and I think
remixing old footage to retell an old fable is quaint.. but why???

This is some really interesting stuff I found on the evolution of fairy
tales... All content can be found here...
http://www.geocities.com/wallstreet/floor/2391/essays/essay22.htm

*Voicing the Unspoken .....*In a time of political censorship, where women
had few rights, fairy tales were one way that they could make their opinions
known. The fairies themselves in the tales often stand for the aristocrats,
having power over many but often caring little, bickering amongst
themselves, concerned with their own power struggles. The heroines comment
on the double-standards of the times, arranged marriages, and the false
glory of war; the tales also illustrate the authors' ideas on the standards
of correct manners, justice and love.

*Women's Tales...*

Women's talk has been frightening and dangerous since even before the Church
taught that Eve's words tempted Adam and led to the fall. St Paul wrote that
women should be silent, and warned against their idle gossip. The talk of
women was seductive and wicked.

Fairy tales and their relatives, myth and folklore, have always been tied in
with women's wisdom and power. The tellers of the tales were often the older
women, passing on experience to the young, telling tales which outlined
social functions and places, which saw the virtuous rewarded, and adversity
overcome. While people worked at boring tasks, at sewing and spinning, tales
would be told. While the voices of the women were unheard politically, they
were passing on knowledge to the young.

*The Cinderella Fairy Tale*

Cinderella, as a well-studied case of fairy tales, has many different
versions...As one of the best-known fairy tales, Cinderella has over 340
variations and can be traced back as far 850-60 CE (Common Era), where a
version was written down in China.

Different versions of the stories ended in different ways. Perrault's
version is perhaps the one that has been adopted the most widely; it ends on
a happy note, with Cinderella forgiving her stepmother and stepsisters. The
Brothers Grimm incorporated more graphic details into their texts; for
example, when the stepsisters try on the glass slipper and find it doesn't
fit them, they cut off their toes to make it fit properly.

Cinderella, in its western form, has consistently been rewritten and
analyzed since Perrault first published "Cendrillon" in France in 1697. It
was first translated into English by Robert Samber in 1729. Jacob and
Wilhelm Grimm included it in "Kinder- und Hausmärchen", the first edition of
which was published in 1812, the last in 1857. The composer Gioachino
Rossini turned it into the opera "La Cenerentola" in 1817, Rodgers and
Hammerstein into a musical theater production, and it has been the subject
of many films, most notably the 1950 Disney animated film "Cinderella", a
1955 film "The Glass Slipper" starring Leslie Caron, and a 1960 gender
change in "Cinderfella", starring Jerry Lewis.

Much has been written on the subject of Cinderella, perhaps because it has
become such a big part of American culture. Some have written about it as a
reworking of Shakespeare's "King Lear", where a daughter is cast out by her
father because she is misunderstood. The small slipper is said to symbolize
the beauty of Cinderella, because small feet were said to be a virtue of
femininity. Psychoanalysis from the Freudian viewpoint has considered
Cinderella's relationship to her father and her stepmother, and her eventual
overtaking of power from the stepmother. The feminist viewpoint has been
that the story has exemplified ideals for women in America, particularly in
the 1950s, when the film versions were released; the idea of being rewarded
for being pretty and polite, and marrying not just anyone but a "prince," is
looked upon as part of the message taught to women from the 1950s onward.

*The evolution of traditional fairy tales will continue as a trend.*

Not much in Gene Pool apart from this
http://www.pool.org.au/explore/tags/fairy_tales

See you guys in the tute

Mim

Remixing The ONE Film...Which?

We've decided to take an old film (between 1940s - 1960s) and remix it in different ways. AGENDA: Need to finalise chosen film by the end of this weekend!

http://www.archive.org/browse.php?field=subject&mediatype=movies&collection=feature_films (see here for listing of feature films by category, but you can always search for them other ways)

Contenders are: (also note we can use the unsuccessful films after to remix with, there are some golden moments in them, often hilarious)

http://www.archive.org/details/DatingDo1949
Classic instructional film for teen daters, presented here in the rare (but incomplete) Kodachrome version. (colour) i found it from this list of Teen Movies from the 1950s:
http://internetarchive.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/learn-how-to-be-a-teen-in-1950/

http://www.archive.org/details/IWanttoB1941
Follows a young woman through her clerical training and job search. Shows pre-World War II offices and office workers, primarily women. One of Coronet's earliest educational films. (black & white)

http://www.archive.org/details/kansascityconfidencial
Four robbers hold up an armored truck getting away with over a million dollars in cash. Joe Rolfe (John Payne), a down-on-his-luck flower delivery truck driver is accused of being involved and is beaten up by the local police. Released due to lack of evidence, Joe, following the clues to a Mexican resort, decides to look for the men who set him up and get revenge. (black & white)

http://www.archive.org/details/AHTheManWhoKnewTooMuch1934
While travelling in Switzerland, the child of a well-off couple is kidnapped. She is held to ensure that her father does not reveal what he knows about a planned assassination. Since they can't talk to the authorities, the parents plan to begin the search for their daughter on their own.
This is the original, British-made movie from 1934 and is now in the public domain. After coming to the United States, Alfred Hitchcock produced a remake of this movie in 1956 starring James (Jimmy) Stewart and Doris Day. The remake remains under copyright. (black and white)

http://www.archive.org/details/SchoolsOut
The kids mistake Miss Crabtree's brother for a potential boyfriend, and plot to discourage him. (black and white)

http://www.archive.org/details/night_of_the_living_dead
In this classic yet still creepy horror film, strangers hold up in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse and battle constant attacks from dead locals who have been brought back to life by mysterious radiation.
Note: This item contains a user-contributed srt subtitle file. To use this file you must download an srt compatible player and point it at the correct video and srt files (google for srt subtitles). We include this file for advanced users who may wish to use it, however the Archive does not support any player that displays subtitles stored external to the video they are intended to be used with, nor can we vouch for the quality or completeness of the subtitling effort.
WARNING - This is a graphic horror film with some gory special effects.

http://www.archive.org/details/dishonored_lady

Madeleine Damien is the fashion editor of a slick Manhattan magazine by day and a lively party girl by night. Unfortunately, the pressures of her job, including kowtowing to a hefty advertiser, and her bad luck with men are driving her to a breakdown. She seeks the help of a psychiatrist, and under his orders, quits her job and moves into a smaller flat under a new identity. She becomes interested in painting and a handsome neighbor. He soon finds out about her past when an ex-suitor implicates her in a murder.(black and white)

Research Project - The Pitch!

Here it goes ladies, for your reference:

Our project is a creative response to the brief, called:
*You, Me, Connecting in the Cloud: The Evolution of the Social, Online &
Remix Culture. *

Here we address Jenkin’s concept of Participatory Culture. One way that
users practice this is by creating & sharing derivative works, otherwise
know as Remixing or Mashups. We’ll be creating our own 60 second remixes to
share online through appropriated media. It isn’t limited to video and will
include remixing across text, image, audio and video. Viewers will see
mashups that range from structured narrative-driven pieces to abstract,
non-narrative works; it’s really about taking an open, experimental and
playful approach in our work.

We’ll then be using a micro-blog called Tumblr to share our creations. The
trend towards micro-blogging illustrates how web technology adapts to match
human patterns of behaviour. This is what we call the evolution of the
social, online. Tumblr however, is more than a micro-blog, it’s a
convergence platform. Elements of flickr, youtube, twitter and
straight-blogging are meshed together on Tumblr.

Our creative response is about exploring the possibilities that a platform
like Tumblr provides for the practice of remixing. The Remix Culture raises
important questions about the changing nature of media ownership and
control; and we hope to contribute to this conversation through our own
participatory practice.

Ange

Our Symposium went well and the feedback we received was vital to the next stage of the project, we will be meeting again on Wednesday @ 10.30…
Feedback
Leo: Needed more of an example of what our outcome was to be, bit too general, needed a clearer sensse of it all.

Natasha: Wanted to know the motivation for the punter to come and have a look at our finished project. Natasha also wanted to know if we will document the process? How will we curate the particular archival footage? She would like to see us narrow it down to give it more meaning.

I think it is hard for someone who isn’t famililar with the Tumblr platform to grasp the concept of our project, given the 60 seconds symposium it is hard to get that accross!

Natasha’s feedback led us to throw around the idea of women in film.. this could be what we need to give the project a sense of meaning.

The Project So Far...

1) Original Topic: The evolution of Narrative, giving old archival footage new life in an online space…trying to show the evolution process through remixing and video on Ezedia for users to use

2) Change in Topic:

Hurdle 1: Ezedia is now a defunct publishing tool - Company no longer developing it. - had some problems using ‘dead’ technology. Ezedia is still a v useful publishing tool for hypertextual quicktime objects, but it’s like the horror that is flash has taken over marketshare completely.

Solution: What can we use instead, that’s very now? Tumblr.

So we’re doing our project backwards, What is Tumblr good for? Where does it sit in the evolution of Online Communication?

We discovered that there’s a evolutionary trajectory to the way people are communicating and sharing online that’s lead by Technology & Human Behaviour.

The Evolution of Online Communication looks a bit like this, (trend-wise):

Websites =>

Blogs =>

Social Networks (Web 2.0 Platforms like Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Flickr) =>

Micro-blogging (Also a Social Network/Web 2.0 platform, Twitter & Tumblr) (this is the new frontier so to speak)

So Micro-blogs are a hot new development, ie. evolution of the way people connect to each other, and rather than making a website that talks about the evolution of online communciation, why not use Tumblr itself.

..::OUTCOMES::..

EVOLUTION THEME: Two-Fold
1) The Evolution of the social, online - how people connect and communicate online (as above)// what behavior and technologies survive? Why? What has to adapt, tech or humans?
2) The Evolution of the Story. How does storytelling, ‘narrative’ had to adapt to the online environments, ESP THE INCREASINGLY FRAGMENTED online space, to still ‘tell a story’. does ‘storytelling’ have to change to survive in these spaces?

Production outcome:
** We’ll use Tumblr as platform for an experiment in Collaborative Multi-Linear Storytelling: Collaborative Authorship: 3 Authors, 1 Space, Fragmented Story Boxes, Dynamic & Evolving over time. We still need a unifiying theme evolution-wise.

Through this project given the research of mapping how people connect online, what technologies have emerged, what kind of human behaviour dictates what emerges and develops,..will allow us hopefully to even predict future trends in how we share and connect.

COVERGENCE CULTURE CONTEXT:

- Tumblr is alot like a ‘convergence platform’ (it brings in elements of Youtube, Flickr, Blogging) & also Users can be connected to like-minded people. (This is how we’re tackling the Convergence Culture theme)

- Because of these qualities, Tumblr can be many things, there are also things it doesnt do very well.

Tumblr isn’t perfect, in our research part we address it’s short comings. Perhaps we can predict what the next development in online communications will be as well.

- And he also mentions “Collaborative Authorship” when central author of franchise opens it participation from other artists to shape it in ways consistent with its overall coherence but allowing new theme to emerge or new elements to be introduced

MASSIVE OVERHAUL - Project Redirection

Alright, massive meeting. identified some key weaknesses and holes in our project, ONCE AGAIN. Something wrong with our Collaborative Authorship idea, we thought it was something it’s not. Not appropriate for Tumblr. Have had to rethink what we’re actually going to SHOW/PRODUCE on our Tumblr space. Have DECIDED, THEMATIC of tumblr: Remix Culture - The Evolution of Media Objects - questions of creative ownership, creative output (so we can incorporate images, video and text if wanted to…instead of just limiting it to video)

The Parts that form our Research Project:

Synopsis: self explanatory, done last

Conceptual & Theoretical Framework:
- our rational on our project on Evolution
1) our particular take on evolution
2) Convergent Culture, digital media, mixed media - theory Jenkins & Wider
//Remix/Mashup JENKINS - Chpt 4 on Star Wars - appropriating media content, remixing it and creating new media objects from it. The using this space (tumblr) with all it’s inherent qualities; that support this kind of convergent culture media making.
//Tumblr the Platform as an explicit example of Convergence. It IS convergence - use JENKINS

Content: As in our actual Research Findings as in Evolution of the Social, Online. How did we get to Tumblr, What’s that all about.

Structure (form, style, etc): Our Produced Outcome, the Execution ie. our Creative Responsive.
THIS NEEDS WORK. What examples are there of Collaborative Authorship?
3 Characters - will be posting on the same Tumblr blog. Do we have 3 separate Tumblr blogs where all that char’s media objects/posts also reside?

Going back to basics: What’s Tumblr Good for?
- Creative Responses (images, prose, video)
- fragments
- abstraction
- showing your remixes

THEME OF OUR MEDIA OBJECTS (that we post to tumblr) - Evolution of Film & Video, the “Old & New”, refashioning the old.
eg. mashup old archival footage with new video, new techniques.

Production Approach/Plan:
- Who does what when, what needs to be done. division of labour etc. Planned form

List of References (primary and secondary sources)

Feedback on Research Project Outline

** focus: Collaborative Authorship**

1) Just focus on one Jenkins - Collaborative Authorship , environment, dynamic involved...who's doing it , and how

2) What exaclty is Reflexive Practice. ... maybe can it.

3) Weakness: how to identify the difft authors? have seperate tumbler blogs...then the combo blog. authors as chars.

// look at the pp1 blog for links.

// authors are characters eg. mim = traditional media, jen = new media something like that. authors as symbols of evolution of storytelling/narrative. IN A STORY FORM exploring evolution. * this will be our thematic response to Evolution...what we actually post to the blog

// our outcome (tumblr blog) is a creative response to the topic.

Research Project Outline - Where it stands now

//Reflexive Research practice, evolution of our Project aspect.

1) Original Topic: The evolution of Narrative, giving old archival footage new life in an online space...trying to show the evolution process through remixing and video on Ezedia for users to use

2) Change in Topic:
Hurdle 1: Ezedia is now a defunct publishing tool - Company no longer developing it. - had some problems using 'dead' technology
Solution: What can we use instead, that's very now? Tumblr.

So we're doing our project backwards, What is Tumblr good for? Where does it sit in the evolution of Online Communication?

We discovered that there's a evolutionary trajectory to the way people are communicating and sharing online that's lead by Technology & Human Behaviour.

The Evolution of Online Communication looks a bit like this, (trend-wise):

Websites =>

Blogs =>

Social Networks (Web 2.0 Platforms like Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Flickr) =>

Micro-blogging (Also a Social Network/Web 2.0 platform, Twitter & Tumblr) (this is the new frontier so to speak)

So Micro-blogs are a hot new development, ie. evolution of the way people connect to each other, and rather than making a website that talks about the evolution of online communciation, why not use Tumblr itself.

..::OUTCOMES::..

EVOLUTION THEME: Two-Fold
1) The Evolution of the social, online - how people connect and communicate online (as above)// what behavior and technologies survive? Why? What has to adapt, tech or humans?
2) The Evolution of the Story. How does storytelling, 'narrative' had to adapt to the online environments, ESP THE INCREASINGLY FRAGMENTED online space, to still 'tell a story'. does 'storytelling' have to change to survive in these spaces?

Production outcome:
** We'll use Tumblr as platform for an experiment in Collaborative Multi-Linear Storytelling: Collaborative Authorship: 3 Authors, 1 Space, Fragmented Story Boxes, Dynamic & Evolving over time. We still need a unifiying theme evolution-wise.

Through this project given the research of mapping how people connect online, what technologies have emerged, what kind of human behaviour dictates what emerges and develops,..will allow us hopefully to even predict future trends in how we share and connect.

COVERGENCE CULTURE CONTEXT:

- Tumblr is alot like a 'convergence platform' (it brings in elements of Youtube, Flickr, Blogging) & also Users can be connected to like-minded people. (This is how we're tackling the Convergence Culture theme)

- Because of these qualities, Tumblr can be many things, there are also things it doesnt do very well.

Tumblr isn't perfect, in our research part we address it's short comings. Perhaps we can predict what the next development in online communications will be as well.

- And he also mentions "Collaborative Authorship" when central author of franchise opens it participation from other artists to shape it in ways consistent with its overall coherence but allowing new theme to emerge or new elements to be introduced

Mim & Ange hash it out, clarifying the new topic

Mim & Ange, Our Idea revisited

** This conversation took place 3 weeks into the project, after we had changed our topic drastically (after discovering that our publishing platform was now defunct) and confusion was in the air.
**
me: Hey mim, hope the new notes make better sense of what we're doing.
miriamlwallace: yes they do!
thanks for that..was looking at it last night and it had no direction.. but now its all good
me: I was getting confused too so had to chat it out with jen

miriamlwallace: i couldnt find the assignment sheet for the presentation..
its not assessed as such..
me: Lemme check. Brb.
5 minutes
me: hey again mim..well i went lookign in my bundle of papers
miriamlwallace: hmmm i have looked too
me: and i can't find it either. u already checked blackboard?
miriamlwallace: but nothing,
nothing on there and nothing on the blog
me: cos perhaps since its not assessed there is no sheet.
miriamlwallace: yeah i think kyla said it was more about the class critiquing where we were at
and i suppose a good way of knowing where we are at ourselves!
me: ok that's cool. so we can just explain to the class how our projects taken a different route because we've realised that some of technology is defunct (ezedia) and we're adapting to that (ha-ha). then explain our new topic and what we're doing to tackle it
miriamlwallace: yes! good idea... it was a big shift in direction wasnt it? But i think the idea of not using Ezedia is a good one as it was so last year :)
i bought the convergence culture - jenkins book... i want to go through it and find where our project really fits
me: i think when it comes to they way ppl communicate online, esp with the social network apps...it's not just about technology evolving but also what we demand as humans. so its like a frission of technology evolving but also human trends. like the need to be social, and connect etc. its an interesting topic
thank u! that would be great
i'm not sure yet actually which one fits ours best.
haha yes, ezedia was so very last year. and its scary how technology just evolves and things don't make it anymore. we should also talk about that. like i remember friendster, i used that first. before myspace. and it couldnt compete. i wonder if its still around
miriamlwallace: i think friendster is still around! i keep getting emails!
i want to find out whats after tumblr?
more than ever people want to be connected but to me its not so social.. everyone updating what they are doing 10 times a day.... when do you actually spend time being social??
that mocumentary was pretty funny.. that guy narrating saying he was going out to play "touch football"
me: yes exactly and we should talk about that...that is this jsut a phase..will ppl abandon twitter
will ppl abandon facebook??
great qs we should bring that up too.
in our research and our talk on wed..how we're interested in the future trends...if we can chart the evolution of tech and human interaction/connection...maybe we can predict what will happen next.
miriamlwallace: we could make some predications yes!
i think people are starting to abandon facebook
already
me: im glad these chats get saved..i'll ddvelop some of these ideas more. hey apparently friendster was the FIRST social networking site..we could examine why it lost marketshare to myspace..apparently its the most popular in asian countries
OMG SOCIAL NETWORKS HAVE A COLOUR? jk
miriamlwallace: most popular in asian countries!?
why????
http: //www.internetevolution.com/default.asp?kw=gglwh_internetevolution_ie
me: but what i think that points to human behaviours in packs..like they like to congreate around the same thing that their peers are doing. if friendster established strongly in asia first, it might be about ppl just following what everyone else was doing, and before u know it u have a whole community built.
i mean we'll find out after examining why some sites adapt to the environment (technology andwhat users want) and survive whilst others don't.
(one sec am checking out link_
miriamlwallace: nah it was nothing
just a crap link selling something
oh my god i just found my friendster profile from 2004!!!!!!!!!!
me: great website thnx for linking. this woman talks about how crap twitter is for business communication. http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=625&doc_id=174314
miriamlwallace: i forgot about it and have 1 friend!
me: OMG no way. i bet its hilariously lame
share with me..haha
miriamlwallace: really!? see i skp through things... didnt get that.. thanks!
me: i deleted mine becos i was disgusted by the lameness. this was years ago
miriamlwallace: no its nothing... obviously this is my pattern! i did this with twitter too.. im not into it so dont update http://profiles.friendster.com/9927494
no picture or anything
me: i wonder how important profitability is of social networks, like eventually are they meant to make money? if they don't...will they die out. this might have to do with which ones manage to stay alive. that site is had dfeinetly a more busineness minded approach to web 2.0 whcih will be great for our reseach too
see the thing is mim, and i think your behaviour shows this...we only join something most of the time because other ppl we know are doing it, because we feel compelled to belong. dont want to be left out. left behind. i mean that could be a big part of why 'social networking' has taken storm
its hard to not be a facebook member...u'd feel kind of left out of modern society (unless that was your aim).
like if no one u knew was using twitter...u wouldnt tweet.
miriamlwallace: well exactly... i was really into myspace and then facebook is the ultimate progression..
but maybe this is why i dont tweet.. none of my friends tweet and i dont see the point
what if the evolution of social networking is a revolt in social networking?... hmmm i doubt it
me: well thats a good point to bring up, the users ultimately will decide if these stay around or not, and the sites will have to adapt to user's needs and behaviours, through using better or more sophisticated techonology.
what was your last point, can u rephrase it
i dont quite get it.
miriamlwallace: well i read this article on the weekend "trying to find it" it was about this guy who had had enough of social networking and mobile phones and didnt even connect to email
but he was in advertising and he was making a stand at being so connected
but it there was no point i am just kind of rambling..
: )
me: ahh isee! you're saying that u think social networking is going to reach/or is reaching a stage when ppl are turning their backs on it?
like u were saying u reckon facebook is on the decline?
miriamlwallace: yes yes yes!
but you could go either way...
me: interesting..we need to find stats if we can to back up these trends. it could be true u know, and also its animportant issue, how much bloody social networking and updates and info can a human handle?
before we lose it and drastically cut back.
miriamlwallace: exactly.. soon we wont have to talk to each other because everyone will be informed as to what everyone else is doing!!!!!
me: oh oh oh, it might be that this very era in time we live in is the beginning with all these new social networking platforms like facebook and twitter etc, and an era of youtube, flickr etc.. and new stuff being launched like it..and its the whaddya call it..creative BANG stage
and after a while..natural selection/evolution will settle out what is actually going to stay with us...
creative BIG BANG stage. lol
miriamlwallace: yes! its all going to get too much for everyone will just cut back and simplify things.
i love the creative BIG BANG stage!
me: we'll incorporate that into our presentation and project! but yes..after a while..surely we'll all realise that only some things actually add value in our lives. look it could be that ppl feel that way about facebook. or twitter. if we know how these things come about we can prob make predictions
for me things like that aren't actually that important. i dont find facebook important at all
miriamlwallace: no i dont anymore.. but i DID! i was addicted! it was crackbook for me.. really bad.. but then i just wanted some privacy and i wanted to call my friends and hear there voices and catch up for coffee...
thats why i loved that mocumentary on tumblr
me: OMG thought of another thing...remember in that pp1 lecture there was that scientist saying that we do eveyrthing to make ourselves more attractive, like a primal thing..i can so see how these social network sites are based around creating and expressing a better image of yourself.
miriamlwallace: of COURSE they are... people who are projecting this persona.. especially apparent in myspace...
its an extension of your louis vuitton and whatever shoes and little white shitzu puppy... the whole 15 minutes of fame thing extended
me: but if we can incorporate that into our research..that is is a MAJOR reason why social networks have succeeded .. we can explain that if things that develop allow humans to share themselves (ie. share how great they are, what wonderful things their doing)..they might have a better chance of surviving. i think twitter started as that. ppl talking about themselves and the shitty things they do..
but its more useful now. as the users get more sophisticated and use it more productively then saying 'just took a nap. man need to wash sheets'
yep totally mim i hear u.
and then there's the otherside we have to think about is that if these are the big trends happening now, social networks and microblogging, how can creativity and media practioners get their works out, etc. hence our tumblr direction. seems better suited to that then say using facebook or twitter
the problem with just putting your stuff on a website, is that there isn't a huge userbase already built into the platform. ur website lives alone .
miriamlwallace: of course.. we really have to discuss the evolution of it more than anything to stick with the framework of the assignment...
and your blogs... which is what david karp was saying in that interview
which really made sense to me
me: yep jsut thinking of the produced outcome part..what we're making. that's all
and have to justify why.
sorry what about blogs? maybe i'll go read that article first
miriamlwallace: no no what you were saying about websites just being out there on their own.. its like blogs.. they just exist on their own.. with tumblr its all there in one platform
tumblr makes sense in that regard
and david karp was saying how he had all these blogs but they werent reaching his target audience
so our produced outcome part... that will be all on tumblr?
i think that will really work!
6 minutes
me: yes it will be on tumblr, just had an idea. we could make our tumblr about our project on the evolution of online communities/communication. i mean use tumblr to post what we find, articles, videos, images anything.
like a visible reflexive practice .
miriamlwallace: yeah that could work.. will it be messy?
i suppose we could put it in the google doc first?
then post?
me: no i dont mean that. we'll still need a formal google document for our submitted research i believe. ok maybe my idea is too messy, i can't picture it very well. i'm reading david's article and he's explaining features of tumbleblog eg. "while you're doing research you can grab those links and share them transparently. "
that made me think we could use tumblr to show our research proces as well. but hmm maybe thats not good enough on its own. that could go in but we should really share some creative media content too. i mean thats what its about i think. sharing creativity
miriamlwallace: im sure we could
of course we could.. we could show it via the blog and then upload media content too...
i must admit i am still yet to look at tumblr in depth...
5 minutes
me: same here. have just emailed the group with our tumblr address , username and password
i'll have a tinker later or tomorrow. find a theme and post somethings
miriamlwallace: great!
we're on a roll...
im blogging.. will look at tumblr after that
what else do we need for our presentation.. i think we came up with some good points just now
8 minutes
me: probably just our topic, how we're approaching it and what we're exploring and talk about the stuff we came up with just then as examples.
we should probably just have a rough framework with dot points as a page in our googlegroups
and project that on the screen on wed. that way we dont have to remmeber anything and can talk off it more casually
miriamlwallace: sounds good...
we'll have your laptop to project it yeah?
me: yep cool. kyla's got one too
argh bloody blogs, thnk god its due next week not this week
miriamlwallace: the blog consult yes.. due next week...
and we have to blog for MI1..
does MI1 have a blog?

Tumblr, what is it good for? Let's start backwards

http://www.vimeo.com/1181715?pg=embed&sec=1181715 (satire on tumblr, a critcism on microbloggin)

>> RESENTATION TODAY...which mind you is just meant to show class where we're at, and u know what, we should ask them what do they think this space would be good for tumblr, what kind of stories<<>> let's just clean this section up abit..add more links our own words..we'll show class our tumblr page so far... and some discussions. talk about reflexive practice visible on tumblr as well as using it as a way to tell multi-linear stories..fragmentation. maybe a great place for the fragment-aesthetic, abstration, which supports our shorter and shorter attention spans these days.

MAKING SENSE OF THE FOG:

Ok we had a chat in the editing class before and this now I think we've managed to clarify our project: (I think what's happened is that we have totally changed our topic and thats where things got confusing)

We are looking at the Evolution of Online Communication and seeing how people have used the internet to share ideas & come together, over time. (This is how we're tackling the Evolution theme)

The Evolution of Online Communication looks a bit like this, (trend-wise):

Websites => Blogs => Social Networks (Web 2.0 Platforms like Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Flickr) => Micro-blogging (Also a Social Network/Web 2.0 platform, Twitter & Tumblr)

So Micro-blogs are a hot new development, ie. evolution of the way people connect to each other, and rather than making a website that talks about the evolution of online communciation, why not use Tumblr itself.

Tumblr is alot like a 'covergence platform' (it brings in elements of Youtube, Flickr, Blogging) & also Users can be connected to like-minded people. (This is how we're tackling the Convergence Culture theme)

Because of these qualities, Tumblr can be many things, there are also things it doesnt do very well.

Tumblr isn't perfect, in our research part we address it's short comings. Perhaps we can predict what the next development in online communications will be as well..

Our Tumblr page could very well be filled with old archival footage mashed and juxtaposed against new vidoes that ppl have made now to get across the evolution theme more strongly.

But we're going to tackle the problem of 'how would a visitor to your tumblr page actually know it was about evolution?' by making a Big link at the top that explains our project in a summary. we'll also have links to our formal research.

/////Does this make things more clear? And how does it sound in the first place for the project?

1.0) So how did the Social evolve Online. How has the internet and all its associated platforms evolve communication? Or did we evolve the internet to suit the way we wanted to communicate. First though lets characterise the main traits of each online evolutionary phase that we mentioned above.

1) What’s good about this platform specifically? - what have people said about it.

this is quite a short, but concise look at Tumblr, from a user perspective

http://mills.tumblr.com/post/29729116/tumblrs-social-network

Quite an interesting and detailed interview with the young creator of Tumblr, David Karp

http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a10281.asp

2) How are people using it? What are they doing what are they showing, what are they sharing? (post links)

3) Compare and contrast to other forms eg. traditional websites, blogs, twitter, facebook, myspace. ...CONVERGENCE??

After our late night chat Angeline, I found this really interesting article on Facebook, it turns 5 this year, and how the new layout is really dividing the audience as it's layout is very much like twitter and many mature users or users that are using facebook in a business networking context are finding it "juvenile" Facebook at 5 - Is it growing up too fast?

This is a simple but interesting look at who is using what type of social networking and why.

http://beenovation.blogspot.com/2009/02/twitter-facebook-tumblr-and-all-that.html

Interestingly, sites like Facebook and Myspace are labelled social networking sites, however that’s not what they are often used for. Most users of these sites use them for socialising within their pre-existing social networks, rather than networking.

Friendster was one of the earliest ‘social networking sites’ designed for online dating. While it was an initial success, it came into disarray when some artistic minded people began creating fake characters or profiles. The Friendster company attempted to remove these people from accessing the site around the same time that indie rock bands saw the site as a potential means of connecting with fans. It wasn’t long before they too were banned from the site, which also saw many of their adoring fans leave too. The problem with Friendster is that it didn’t understand the power of networks.

MySpace is mainly used by teenagers and is all about showing off a persona. Many people spend a lot of time decorating their profile pages and filling out their ‘About Me’ section in order to create some sense of who they are or how they want to be presented. The number of “friends” you have is also an important factor of using MySpace. It’s basically one big popularity contest.

Unlike MySpace, Facebook is much more self contained. While it was initially created as a Harvard-only website, it took the social networking world by storm when it was opened to the pubic in 2006. Reports say that the average Facebook user is between the ages of 25-34. Adults and youth use social networking sites in very different ways. While teenagers use MySpace as a chance to be seen and heard, adults tend to use Facebook as a chance to communicate with others, especially those from the past. Twitter is one of the newest crazes at the moment, most popular with the adult market. Unlike Facebook and MySpace which are primarily used for communicating within a single community, Twitter is about communicating within a large public sphere, which is the reason why many teenagers have shied away from it, preferring to stick with their social networks.

Then consider....What kind of stories work in this form?
eg. Multi /single narrative ?
Long drawn out episodic stories? Or shorter '24hr' stories?

How do communities get created around these platforms?
Community interaction? Level of interaction and participation, strength lies in connecting like minded people, accessing ideas .

Do critical deeper research of what makes this platform effective ie. What works well for it, then work out what story we can tell from it.

CONVERGENCE CULTURE THREAD
Build the theoretical framework around it, where convergence culture comes in. How does it express convergence culture. (I personally think that this form itself is an expression of convergence culture it its materiality - combining flickr, facebook, twitter, youtube). You can post UGC on it...it supports that, gives a platform to it. Online Communities...(mim get that book out)

EVOLUTION THREAD
Web 1.0, web 2.0, evolution of social networks, maybe evolution of media sharing/distrubution. Jenkins says the media doesnt change, the distribution does. yes no?

Need to focus on the evolution of SOMETHING....

Well done why not start from this premise of why this form, this platform is so hot right now..what did it arise out of. Social networking – the evolution of.

So ask find whats it good for? What kind of story? Then tell this kind of story in this space.