Lecture Response - Defining the Avant-Garde

I had never been told the exact translation and resulting connotations of 'Avant Garde' despite roughly understanding what it represented. I am not particularly interested in the kind of art that can be described as Avant Garde as I feel that it crosses the line from being original into often, just plain attention seeking and a competition to see who can 'out-shock' each other among the artists in this field. I found the lecture interesting nonetheless in terms of seeing how artists had been innovative in the choice and application of obscure materials. E.g. Marcus Harvey's 'Myra Hindley', which despite being controversial in the way it was constructed, is a powerful image and very well produced. In our Critical Studies Seminar we looked further into the notion of shock tactics in the Avant Garde world; how certain artists question morality and repress society. I was quite disturbed by the efforts that Chinese Avant Garde artists Sun Yuan and Peng Yu went to in their quest to be 'original'. I don't really have time for people who freeze corpses and eat a penis in the name of art.

Lecture Response - What is Postmodernism?

I learnt a lot from this particular lecture and the notes that I made eventually helped me a great deal when I came to writing my Critical Studies essay. I had never really grasped or been inormed of the details describe what modernism and postmodernism stood for and how the transition between the two occurred. It was helpful to be introduced to new terms such as Lyotard's "Incredulity towards metanarratives" which at first didn't make sense, but then aided by images on the screen in the lecture I could see how it related once it had been explained. It was also nice to see the reference to Bob Dylan which was used to help explain the transition to postmodernism with his lyric "The Times They Are a-Changin".

Critical Diary Entry - The Mighty Boosh, Episode 6, Charlie Animation

I’m a big fan of BBC’s comedy series ‘The Mighty Boosh’. It’s got quite a unique style with an off-the-wall script which is delivered brilliantly by the main men, Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. The episode that sticks out to me is the one where Vince (Noel Fielding) manages to publish his story about a fictional character made out of bubblegum named Charlie. We see a short animation come from nowhere with Vince’s voice over narrating. I love the fact there is no point to it, it is completely random yet the idea of using the animation is very clever because as you watch it along with the voice over, you can imagine that this is what goes on inside the head of the strange character that is Vince Noir!

Critical Diary Entry - David Attenborough's 'Planet Earth'

I found the latest David Attenborough series ‘Planet Earth’ extremely fascinating and I was particularly impressed by the camera and extreme scale and scope of footage that was captured. For the first time on a wildlife series, a high definition camera attached to the bottom of a helicopter was used to access and capture some of the most remote areas on Earth. The scenery was breathtaking, accentuated by the swooping camera that sailed so gracefully through the air; it was like being on a guided tour of the planet’s most secret and secluded hot spots. The birds-eye view also allowed wildlife to be followed with an insight to the scale of their environment and habitat. Also the animals were less likely to be frightened off by the helicopter which could be several kilometres away and yet still zoom in and show such detail from a great distance.

My growing interest in film and video making has lead me to be looking out for techniques and effective scene cuts in whatever it is I am watching. In the first episode of ‘Planet Earth’, my favourite clip was of a Great White shark leaping clear out of the ocean catching a seal in its massive jaws on the way up to the surface. The clip was in extreme slow motion, allowing the audience to take in just how magnificent a predator this animal is. It is so impressive that the camera crew could capture such a fast moving and powerful event with the clarity and detail that they did.

Critical Diary Entry - Film - Old Boy

Having recently seen Chris Sewell’s Its Cool Because… presentation on the Korean film Old Boy, I decided to watch it myself. So I borrowed the DVD from Chris and I have to agree with him, it is cool, possibly one of the best films I have seen in a long time. I had heard about the film briefly through my brother, who was telling me about the ‘kick-ass’ fight scenes, however at the time I didn’t pay too much attention to the name of the film. It wasn’t until Chris’s presentation that I remembered my brother’s brief review.

When I was given the DVD I could tell that it was going to be a good film because as well as the praise that Chris had given it, I was immediately impressed by the design of the DVD cover. Its simplicity is carried by the quality of the photographs and how they are arranged on the cover. This gave me some insight into the qualities of the main characters. The facial expression of the man in the foreground suggested to me that he’d had quite a rough time and the vengeance in his eyes said a lot about what the story could entail. The character in the background to me seemed a lot more sly and untrustworthy. I could tell that there would be an interesting and engaging relationship lying ahead between the two characters.

Despite the fact that the DVD cover had made me eager to go home and watch it, I still had one or two minor doubts about the film. First of all, I was weary that the fight scenes might end up being full of far fetched special effects like those in many recent Kung-fu films (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sprung to mind). I was also aware that Old Boy is acted in Korean, which I don’t happen to speak and that therefore, subtitles would be needed. I think that films such as Crouching Tiger… have slightly put me off subtitled films, hence my apprehension.

Anyhow, it was time to watch the DVD and amazingly, straight away I had almost not noticed the subtitles. I wasn’t distracted from the action in the slightest, which is probably due to the script being so well written and the opening scenes in particular being so visually engaging. As for the fight scenes, I was hoping for some good old, straight down-the-line Kung-fu beat-em ups! I certainly got what I wanted. The fighting didn’t distract from the storyline, which was mesmerising in itself.

This film isn’t just about the fighting and talking Korean. those are just the bonus features. For me, the twists in the storyline are the most impressive features, along with how the originality within the cinematography communicates the storyline.
I don’t want to give the story away too much so I will just include the blurb from the DVD case to give a taster to those who haven’t seen it.

A man is inexplicably kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years and his wife is brutally murdered. On his release, he is given a wallet full of money and a mobile phone. A stranger calls and asks him to try and figure out why he was imprisoned. A girl appears and promises to help him solve the enigma and seek vengeance for his cruel fate.

As the search progresses, the man finally comes face to face with his kidnapper, who proposes a game: if the man discovers the reason for his imprisonment, his kidnapper will kill himself. If not then the girl will be killed. He only has five days to unravel the mystery.