Postmodern Exhibition

On Wednesday 26th October, I went to the V&A to visit the Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990 exhibition. It was really interesting, informative, inspiring and thought-provoking. (Click here for a BBC video of the exhibition.)

I took lots of notes during the exhibition and learnt a great deal while there.
The exhibition took you through the beginning of Postmodernism right up until (and past) it's death. 

"After all, since it is fairly dead, we might as well enjoy picking over the corpse" - Charles Jencks
As I entered the exhibition I was greeted with this quote and a definition of Postmodernism, in that it "defies definition" but is the most controversial of recent art movements. 
One way of describing it was that it is "like a broken mirror, a reflecting surface made of many fragments". It's key principles were complexity and contradiction and it "shattered the established ideas about style", bringing "a new self-awareness about style itself".

"Whoever decides to abandon the modern movement can choose between Versailles and Las Vegas" - Italian Critic Bruno Zevi in 1967. Zevi was essentially saying that the primary ingredients of Postmodernism at the beginning were ("both/and rather than either/or" - Robert Venturi) high classicism and 'low' pop culture.

Robert Venturi and his partner Denise Scott Brown are very influential architects and in 1972 published a book called Learning From Las Vegas. They also used a lot of collage between the 60s and 70s that used 'Historicism' whose central aim was "to replace a monolithic idiom with a plurality of competing ideas and styles." This was the start of moving from modernism into postmodernism. 

Giulio Paolini's sculpture of L'altra (The Other Figure) from 1984 stood out to me as it plays on the high classicism of the past, but gives it a melancholic edge that is more sad and introspective. 

I have looked at Robert Rauschenberg in the past and have always admired his work so it was interesting to see his work 'Estate' from 1963 feature. 

This follows on the theme of collage, but is developed into 'Bricolage' which is a cut and paste technique.
Anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss defined a bricoleur as "someone working with 'oddments leftover from human endeavours'. 
Therefore if modernist objects were based around utopia, progress and machine-like perfection, postmodern objects seemed to come from a dystopian and far-from-perfect future. 

The exhibition used this clip from Blade Runner (1982) to show this change in thinking, as it dwells on the possibilities and consequences of living in a 'post-human' age.

Moving into the 1980s Postmodernism developed into the New Wave movement. It was the dominant look of the 'designer decade' with vivid colours, theatricality and exaggeration. Everything was a style statement. This change reflected the desire to combine subversive statements with commercial appeal. Magazines and music were the most important delivery systems for this new phase of postmodernism. 

Italian design group Memphis became the forefront for postmodern design and architecture and was started by Ettore Sottsass. The created a 'new international style' and a period style of 'brash colour, vivid pattern and expressive form'.
Meanwhile the energy of the post-punk subculture was broadcast through music videos and cutting-edge graphics. 

It was a few thrilling years where image was everything.

Boy George was part of the New Romantic movement that was huge during the 1980's. Dancers, art directors, choreographers, pop stars, drag queens and nightclubbers were all the unlikely authors of some of postmodernism's most influential style statements. Blade Runner's investigations of identity (Rachael's belief that she is human, when in fact she's a replicant, synthetic life form) are often cited in discussions of postmodern experience. 

Gender was explored, as boys and girls started dressing as each other. Annie Lennox is an example of a pop star who challenged gender norms, showing that androgyny wasn't incompatible with mainstream appeal. 
MTV was launched in 1981 (which I've looked at previously) and so the rise of music videos meant another platform for postmodernism and were vital in broadcasting postmodernist ideas to mainstream culture.
Viewers were presented with a series of celebs posturing before the camera.
There were many examples shown in the exhibition which demonstrate the wide range of musical styles in which postmodern techniques were explored from hiphop to new romantic to techno.

1982

1988

I found looking at the different music videos really useful and made me look at editing my video a little differently. 

"If postmodernism means anything is allowed then I was all for it."

- David Byrne (Talking Heads)

Postmodern graphics and photography involved bricolage, fragmentation and quotation.

Peter Saville was responsible for a number of Joy Division and New Order's album art, where he used 'found' art images.

Magazines such as 'The Face' and 'i-D' produced many postmodernist covers...

By blending the avant-garde and commercial they were a postmodern phenomenon. 
April Greiman and Jayme Odgers used cut and paste to produce posters...

Paula Scher produced posters for Elvis Costello...

Money, however, became a huge issue in the 1980s due to living in Thatcher's Britain. 

Andy Warhol 'Dollar Sign' 1981

Warhol's ironic acknowledgement of his own works market value exemplifies postmodernism in its final stage. Postmodernism collapsed under the weight of its own success. It participated in the culture obsessed with wealth and status that was the undoing of the movement. 
"Money doesn't mind if we say it's evil, it goes from strength to strength. It's a fiction an addiction, and a tacit conspiracy." - Martin Amis

'Protect Me From What I Want' by Jenny Holzer, Times Square, 1985

By the end of the 1980s postmodernism was no longer a radical subcultural style. It had gone mainstream.

Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola Logo by Ai WeiWei, 1994

Ai WeiWei used a 2000 year old urn for the piece above. Ironically after he'd defaced it and turned it into contemporary art it became even more valuable than before.

Postmodernism left behind a set of unresolved intellectual provocations. It was marked with a sense of loss, even destructiveness, but also a radical expansion of possibilities. 
In the permissive, fluid and hyper-commodified situation of design today, we're still feeling its effects. In that sense, like it or not, we are all postmodern now.

The exhibition closed with New Order's video for Bizarre Love Triangle (1986).
The bizarre editing effects and montage style is very influential and the symbolic images make it a memorable postmodern music video. 

Casting

I have casted the female lead for my music video...

I think Kati will be a good protagonist as she is very engaging on camera as she was also my model for my music magazine last year. She is also quiet a good actress and I think fits well with the genre and the effect I'm trying to achieve as she is natural, fun and energetic. 

We are meeting up this weekend to arrange when we are both free for filming.
We shall also discuss costumes, which I will then post about. We may rehearse a few shots and I'll make sure she has a copy of the lyrics which she can practise so the lip-syncing looks professional. 

Run

I thought I'd post this video which I made over the Summer as a way to practice using lots of camera angles and setting film to a soundtrack. At that point I wasn't sure what I'd be making so it was just a way of trying out different things and to push myself a little before my coursework properly started to get me ready.
Also, the video features one of my proposed locations for 2:28-2:41, so is a good way of seeing what it will be like on screen.

Storyboards - Video Animation

I have put together a video of my new storyboards (which I will soon post with more details), to be able to see much more clearly all of my shots in order with the song. It has made me think really hard about each shot, especially in coming up with a good sequence for the interlude. I have quite a few locations, which I hope to go shoot some preliminary shots of in the next week.

Breakdown of song

In order to start storyboarding, I need to break down the song thoroughly, deconstructing the lyrics and sounds to get a better idea of the feel and rhythm of the song. Next I shall look at the images that might work in each part of the song.

Breakdown of Song

0:00- 0:36 Intro

Voice and clapping

Lyrics: There's a fire starting in my heart,

Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark.

Finally, I can see you crystal clear,

Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare,

See how I'll leave with every piece of you,

Don't underestimate the things that I will do.

There's a fire starting in my heart,

Reaching a fever pitch and it's bring me out the dark.

0:37-0:45

Melody added

Lyrics: The scars of your love remind me of us,

They keep me thinking that we almost had it all.

0:46-0:53

Drums

Lyrics: The scars of your love, they leave me breathless,

I can't help feeling.

0:54-1.13 Chorus 

Interchangeable voices

Lyrics: We could have had it all,

You had my heart and soul x2

1:14-1:28 Change in Chorus 

More layers of instruments

Lyrics: We could have had it all,

You had my heart and soul x2

1:29-1:31 End of chorus 

Drums

1:32-1:40 

Voice and clapping

Lyrics: Baby, I have no story to be told,

But I've heard one on you and I'm gonna make your head burn,

1:41- 1:49

Beat kicks in

Lyrics: Think of me in the depths of your despair,

Making a home down there as mine sure won't be shared.

1:50- 2:23 Bridge

Main melody, building up

Lyrics: You're gonna wish you never had met me

Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep x3

2:24- 2:27 Symbols

2:28 - 2:43 

Voice and Drums

Lyrics: The scars of your love remind me of us,

They keep me thinking that we almost had it all.

The scars of your love, they leave me breathless,

I can't help feeling.

2:44 - 2:58 Symbols into Chorus

Full layers of instruments

Lyrics: We could have had it all

We could have had it all

2:58- 3:01 Break in chorus

Lyrics: It all, it all, it all... (echoes)

3:02- 3:19 Main Chorus 

Lyrics: We could have had it all

You had my heart... yeah

oh, yeah, my heart, yeah.

3:20-3:29 

Voice and Drums

Lyrics: But you played it, you played it...

You played it to the beat

3:30-3:46 Chorus

Changing voices, symbols, horn

Lyrics: Could have had it all,

You had my heart and soul, yeah x2

3:47- 4:06 Music Outro

Focus on drums, beat & melody

4:06- 4:15 Voice Outro

Voice and Drums, ending with voice

Lyrics: But you played it x7

4:15- 4:17 Voice Outro

Ending with just Voice

Lyrics: You played it to the beat.

END

Chosen Song

I thought I should post the song that I have chosen to use for my music video, as I have been listening to it a lot over the past few days in order to gather some initial thoughts and ideas which I will post soon. Then I will go on to putting together story boards so as to get a clearer picture of what can be achieved vs what I'd ideally like to do.

Rolling in the Deep - Adele (Jamie xx Remix)

As my chosen song is a remix and therefore doesn't have a music video of its own I shall also post the original song to look at how the original artist portrayed their song through their video.

Here is an example of Web 2.0 in terms of someone using original content and manipulating it to fit with the remix version of the song.