Day 4: Films in the Post-Mass Media Era

Notes on Yolanda Pividal's lecture:

Films in the Post-Mass Media Era


May 15th "indignados" Spain – Background 

• Spain has the biggest unemployment rate in Europe– 24% unemployment rate by early 2011, up to 48% among population under 25 years old.

• Government approves first budget cuts in education and public health system.

• The “Bologna Plan”  is approved – This is an educational plan seen for many as an attempt to dismantle the public education system.

• The government prepares for the approval of the “Sinde Law” - A law that gives  government the power to close any website with the “potential” to violate copyrights  - In response to this, an important digital community against the law is born.

• The digital community “Real Democracy Now” organizes a big demonstration for May 15 – Snow ball effect through SOCIAL media (mainstream media don’t even mention it)

The government didn’t expect the huge response – all the information was flowing through social media.

The “Public’s Revolt”
A demonstrator holds a sign: "nobody expects the #spanishrevolution" - (From Mony Phyton’s sketch) with the mask from comic book and film “V for Vendetta.” Film: V for Vendetta


Other themes examined:

From micro-stories on twitter to participatory macro-films

• "Post-mass media era"

From passive consumers to active producers:

• The era of "bio operators"

New emancipatory social practices

• from a centered "contra-information" to a "rhizomatic paradigm"
• from "against the mainstream media" to "beyond the mainstream media"

Three videos of the protests in Spain:

• European news. Not emotional, more critical. An outside look at an event
• Independent news. It shows the hurt in people, shows the brutality of the police
• Music video from attendees of the event. Created by ANYONE, that's the point. Very creative, personal, strong.

From "representation" to "expression"

• Access to technology
• Political representation "erosion"- people redefine the concept of "representation" in the cultural field.

From the "universal" to "the commons"
Fom "everyone" to "anyone" (from mass to crowd)

Collaborative, participatory & interactive films

Two different types of collaboration:

Documentary on 15-M (Spanish May-15 movement) made by alternative online media.
15Mcc teaser- shows a collaborative company

Life in a Day trailer- "filmed by you"

Interactive Documentaries
Bear 71 interactive film

• Interaction: the viewer's status changes from passive viewer to active user-interactor-particpant-contributor
• Non-linear narrative- author lost control
• Rules/mechanism based
• Transmedia/ multiplatform
• Hybridation of language and formats

Prison Valley interactive film

Comments:
Some say both of them are too scattered, too much distraction
How do you think younger generations would respond to this type of interactive media?
Is it too distracted? Or is it exactly where we are headed?
Quite static
Is this education? Or propaganda?

Beyond activism film as mirror
Activism -action without reflection
Beyond activism-emphasizes reflection
Community self-documentation
Community storytelling



Additional resources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ds7b3pboW4&feature=related
Link to National Film Board of Canada. A site to xplore some interactive documentaries:
http://www.nfb.ca/
Other interesting link to Henry Jenkins’ blog:
http://www.henryjenkins.org/