Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Reflective Log - development of project
With bright ideas going into the module I knew I would prefer to work on my own or with just one other. The original idea that I was harbouring over the summer was to create some kind of music video. I was intrigued by the multi-media aspect and liked the idea of creating a performance through music. I have always seen myself as quite a sensitive person with a relatively good ear for music. So the scene seemed set, with my ears pricked and pen poised to note down any songs or pieces of music that I felt would be potential music video material.
First signs that my path may be slightly meandering off course was when I created my first Blog Ironic Icon. Intended to be a drinks trolley of interesting material and odd websites one of the first things I established was the links list for the Bugatti Veyron and posed the question about whether or not it is cool? I remember we danced and debated many a time over “how do you define cool” in seminars. It was very interesting, but being an admittedly “uncool” person and having never had experience of being cool I felt I was at a disadvantage. You see I have what I like to call a skewed sense of logic. I even tested it on nearest and dearest and they came to the same conclusion. I just have personal values that are a little unorthodox. Oh, nothing detrimental, just unorthodox. For example, you see an hour-glass as a rudimentary device for timing short term events such as cooking. I see an hour-glass as a blatant attempt to undermine the clockwork and electronic industries. This aside I did my best to analyse the nature of “cool”. Is cool self-aware I thought. Is knowing you’re cool, cool? Is coolness intrinsic? To be fair I was tying myself in analytical knots. However I did find solace in one of my passions; the afore mentioned Bugatti Veyron, a car that has quite a tale to tell if we’re honest. I puzzled over its development. Sure the techno-stuff isn’t cool I presumed. But the aims and claims of its developers, surely that is cool? I puzzled so much that I gained the attention of Ian.
Anyway, Ian helpfully suggested that due to my interest in cars, I could base my project on the world of cars. I liked it but didn’t quite know how to ground it. I was still hoping to continue the music video idea at this stage. That however soon keeled over as it appeared that I was running out of inspiration (and imagination) for videos. I think it’s fair to say that what finished off the old music video concept was an ever increasing enthusiasm for the car idea. It was original. It was interesting (to me at least), and best of all it had a very interesting slant at which to approach the virtuality in performance notion. I originally interpreted this as multi-media use in contemporary performance. At this stage however the tables had turned. I was interpreting it as the use of performance in a contemporary multi-media society. This seemed more appropriate really. We had been looking at material and examples such as Facebook and Youtube since the first week, so everything seemed to slowly click into place. It also seemed more fitting for me as a contemporary performer. What with the advent of multi-mediality I would have to compete with society based performances of such diversity that my dad would probably grumble and complain that us young’ uns have got it too easy these days.
Also at this stage the first awakenings of my essay were appearing which would eventually fall into the form of “What is the role of virtual performance in performative societies? Discuss with reference to the work of contemporary practitioners engaged in ‘virtual theatre’.” This seemed to meld nicely with the above interpretation of the modules title and, as a result I was feeling somewhat stable in my basis for contemporary automotive sociological exploration. The first stop seemed to be to identify different aspects of the performative nature of cars, and if possible find three or four to centre on for the project. They were very diverse from the appearance of cars to the different car cultures and their relationships. I firstly decided to look to the aesthetics of cars, primarily because the appearance and image of possessions is a very big part of our culture. Secondly the way car manufacturers perform through car advertisements on television and how they attempt to get a point across. Thirdly the way car manufacturers actually perform through their own cars, technologically and via developments. I found the second two very appropriate and interesting as they both explore the embedded need to perform in our society; our society seems to require performance in order to operate correctly.
By the time this was formulating, my second Blog (this one) was born. I wanted a title that was clever, considered and (if possible) snappy. I stumbled across Vehicular Virtuality in an attempt to use alliteration. However, I knew I wanted to document these thoughts, but how? Examples, that’s always a good idea I thought. As a result I attempted to source several car advertisements as examples of the tactics car manufacturers use. Luckily Youtube appears to be awash with them. I felt it was appropriate to give them sub-headings depending on their nature. Some are a little more literal than others and some are more comical. I did however have a slight brain-wave when formulating this idea… interviews. It seemed respectable enough to seek the opinions of the public, after all the publics interpretations are what make car manufacturers what they are really.
It was December when I had access to a recording device and one Wednesday I set out with the intention of collecting opinions and elucidations. I felt it also appropriate to ask opinions on car adverts as well as cars’ appearances. It seemed the public did so also as I had some lovely people really open up, rather apposite considering I was investigating the performance based nature of our society. Seriously though they were very helpful. In more ways than one actually as it was their input that finalised what I wanted to do for the main project. I had a bee in my bonnet about making a documentary about my findings with myself presenting it and using the interviews as evidence amongst other things. Eventually I arrived at the concept for a “pod-cast” style audio clip that would be posted onto the Blog. The intention was for a conversational approach but with hard research behind me. I knew enough about cars to form a basis but it seemed most appropriate to get a lot of my material from my interviewees, this of course reflecting real life; after all the publics’ response to the car manufacturers very much fashions their direction.
My hope then, was and is to explore the intentions and findings of the project. The intentions being to analyse three separate ways in which the world of cars performs within our society. Via interviews of the general public and research online I have examined public interpretations of these methods of performance. Findings include the diversity of interpretations and also the technology that is being developed in attempts to further the automotive industry. The audio clip ends in a tribute to one of its inspirations; the Bugatti Veyron; a recording of the sound of its engine. Nodding to both the inspiration, but also to how technology can perform in several ways.
First signs that my path may be slightly meandering off course was when I created my first Blog Ironic Icon. Intended to be a drinks trolley of interesting material and odd websites one of the first things I established was the links list for the Bugatti Veyron and posed the question about whether or not it is cool? I remember we danced and debated many a time over “how do you define cool” in seminars. It was very interesting, but being an admittedly “uncool” person and having never had experience of being cool I felt I was at a disadvantage. You see I have what I like to call a skewed sense of logic. I even tested it on nearest and dearest and they came to the same conclusion. I just have personal values that are a little unorthodox. Oh, nothing detrimental, just unorthodox. For example, you see an hour-glass as a rudimentary device for timing short term events such as cooking. I see an hour-glass as a blatant attempt to undermine the clockwork and electronic industries. This aside I did my best to analyse the nature of “cool”. Is cool self-aware I thought. Is knowing you’re cool, cool? Is coolness intrinsic? To be fair I was tying myself in analytical knots. However I did find solace in one of my passions; the afore mentioned Bugatti Veyron, a car that has quite a tale to tell if we’re honest. I puzzled over its development. Sure the techno-stuff isn’t cool I presumed. But the aims and claims of its developers, surely that is cool? I puzzled so much that I gained the attention of Ian.
Anyway, Ian helpfully suggested that due to my interest in cars, I could base my project on the world of cars. I liked it but didn’t quite know how to ground it. I was still hoping to continue the music video idea at this stage. That however soon keeled over as it appeared that I was running out of inspiration (and imagination) for videos. I think it’s fair to say that what finished off the old music video concept was an ever increasing enthusiasm for the car idea. It was original. It was interesting (to me at least), and best of all it had a very interesting slant at which to approach the virtuality in performance notion. I originally interpreted this as multi-media use in contemporary performance. At this stage however the tables had turned. I was interpreting it as the use of performance in a contemporary multi-media society. This seemed more appropriate really. We had been looking at material and examples such as Facebook and Youtube since the first week, so everything seemed to slowly click into place. It also seemed more fitting for me as a contemporary performer. What with the advent of multi-mediality I would have to compete with society based performances of such diversity that my dad would probably grumble and complain that us young’ uns have got it too easy these days.
Also at this stage the first awakenings of my essay were appearing which would eventually fall into the form of “What is the role of virtual performance in performative societies? Discuss with reference to the work of contemporary practitioners engaged in ‘virtual theatre’.” This seemed to meld nicely with the above interpretation of the modules title and, as a result I was feeling somewhat stable in my basis for contemporary automotive sociological exploration. The first stop seemed to be to identify different aspects of the performative nature of cars, and if possible find three or four to centre on for the project. They were very diverse from the appearance of cars to the different car cultures and their relationships. I firstly decided to look to the aesthetics of cars, primarily because the appearance and image of possessions is a very big part of our culture. Secondly the way car manufacturers perform through car advertisements on television and how they attempt to get a point across. Thirdly the way car manufacturers actually perform through their own cars, technologically and via developments. I found the second two very appropriate and interesting as they both explore the embedded need to perform in our society; our society seems to require performance in order to operate correctly.
By the time this was formulating, my second Blog (this one) was born. I wanted a title that was clever, considered and (if possible) snappy. I stumbled across Vehicular Virtuality in an attempt to use alliteration. However, I knew I wanted to document these thoughts, but how? Examples, that’s always a good idea I thought. As a result I attempted to source several car advertisements as examples of the tactics car manufacturers use. Luckily Youtube appears to be awash with them. I felt it was appropriate to give them sub-headings depending on their nature. Some are a little more literal than others and some are more comical. I did however have a slight brain-wave when formulating this idea… interviews. It seemed respectable enough to seek the opinions of the public, after all the publics interpretations are what make car manufacturers what they are really.
It was December when I had access to a recording device and one Wednesday I set out with the intention of collecting opinions and elucidations. I felt it also appropriate to ask opinions on car adverts as well as cars’ appearances. It seemed the public did so also as I had some lovely people really open up, rather apposite considering I was investigating the performance based nature of our society. Seriously though they were very helpful. In more ways than one actually as it was their input that finalised what I wanted to do for the main project. I had a bee in my bonnet about making a documentary about my findings with myself presenting it and using the interviews as evidence amongst other things. Eventually I arrived at the concept for a “pod-cast” style audio clip that would be posted onto the Blog. The intention was for a conversational approach but with hard research behind me. I knew enough about cars to form a basis but it seemed most appropriate to get a lot of my material from my interviewees, this of course reflecting real life; after all the publics’ response to the car manufacturers very much fashions their direction.
My hope then, was and is to explore the intentions and findings of the project. The intentions being to analyse three separate ways in which the world of cars performs within our society. Via interviews of the general public and research online I have examined public interpretations of these methods of performance. Findings include the diversity of interpretations and also the technology that is being developed in attempts to further the automotive industry. The audio clip ends in a tribute to one of its inspirations; the Bugatti Veyron; a recording of the sound of its engine. Nodding to both the inspiration, but also to how technology can perform in several ways.
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