'Government propaganda commission, called the Green Commission, which succeeded within 6 months in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population which wanted to destroy everything German'. (Media Control p9).
THE POWER OF PROPAGANDA=ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!
Chomsky got me thinking about society as a democracy, what 'types' of democracy there are:
'The role of the media in contemporary politics forces us to ask what kind of society we want to live in, and in particular in what sense of democracy do we want this to be a democratic society?' (Media Control, p9)
Democracy 1: 'A society in which the public has the means to participate in some meaningful way in the management of their own affairs and the means of information are open and free.
Democracy 2: 'The public must be barred from the managing of their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled'.
For my production, I'm aiming to critique the ideals of democracy 2 in creating this type of democratic society. Is this the democratic society of today? Will the user viewing my production piece leave seeing the potential links to reality to the fictional world I create? I'm hoping so!
I find it such an important point to consider and critique, as society is so consumed in the media... society 'feed' off the media to be informed through any media platform whether it be TV, the Internet, Radio etc. How far could the media go in 'controlling' society where society remain passive and unquestioning? Will it be that one day, politics, the government and society will be run and ruled by powerful Media conglomerates? My projects aims to critique the media control that is evident in society today. Is the information we are provided within society the kind of information that we need to understand the world we live in? The whole purpose of public relations is to 'control the mind' as Chomsky reiterates:
'The United States pioneered the public relations industry. It's commitment was 'to control the public mind'. (Media Control, p22).
I've just started to read another work of Chomsky- 'Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media' as I mentioned in my first blog entry.
Chomsky compares the Mass Media to a Propaganda Model-
'The MASS MEDIA SERVE AS A SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATING messages and symbols to the general populace. It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behaviour that will integrate them into into the institutional structures of the larger society. In a world of concentrated wealth and major conflicts of class interest, to fulfill this role requires systematic propaganda' (p1)
I recently watched Chomsky's talk on Israel-Palestine Prisoner Exchange, U.S. Assassination
It was interesting to listen to his outlook as well as putting a name to a face!
From reading around Chomsky and the theme of Media Control, I'm beginning to establish a narrative for the motion comic. The narrative structure currently consists of:
- A dystopian-esque world set in the future (but not so distant future- possibly 2020)
- The narrative follows a main protagonist who I have yet to decide whether they are going to be a mere civilian in this crazy world or a worker for the power Media conglomerate (that I have yet to give a name to!),
- The narrative will incorporate social commentary of media control and the relationship between politics and media (Similar to the social commentary influencing the likes of Orwells' 1984 and Animal Farm and Lang's Metropolis)
- From looking at examples of motion comics, motion comics are restricted in their movements. Creating the atmosphere, is the emotive sounscape and VO, these elements also give depth to the narrative.
Having started to delve into the conventions of the motion comic, it is clear that they are made up of the following elements:
- Movement (despite restricted)
- Sound (VO and diagetic atmospheric sounds)
- Visual layout (both background images e.g. buildings and moving in foreground)
- A short narrative/ story
As I'm starting to spend a bit of time understanding and researching the conventions of the comic (motion and print), it reminds me of McLuhan's: 'The medium is the message'. I've chosen to use the medium of a motion comic as it is an immersive form that has a lot of scope to present the narrative in a playful yet satirical way.
The motion comic is an excellent example of remediation. From its traditional roots of the print comic, the motion comic enables the endless possibilities of interactivity and further immersion into the narrative. Interactive motion comics can be seen in such examples as The Darkest Hour (http://www.darkesthourmovie.com/comic/)
I particularly like the layout and the interactive elements. My only concern is the 'loading' time it takes to load the next page as I found that this disrupted the flow of the narrative... This does work however for creating climax within the narrative.
Whilst researching I came across this exhibition page: http://www.pumphousegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/allexhibitions/hypercomics-shapes-comics-come
It would have been great to go to it as it explores the medium of Hypercomics.
Other examples of motion comics that I have come across are:
The Green Wave (2010). Incorporating the motion comic aesthetic, this documentary is about protests during the Iran 2010 elections. The motion comic aesthetic is useful in visually depicting the violence without the use of 'real' footage. Dumbing down the 'shock' factor if you like. The motion comic incorporates 'desensitization' as it is seemingly removed from the reality it is depicting through the comic effect. This is quite interesting in the example of A Scanner Darkly (2006) also.
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| Screenshot of The Green Wave (2010) |
Another example I have come across is Batman: Black and White (2008/2009). The use of smooth movement and sound effects is evident within this piece in creating a 'meaty' narrative and creating atmosphere and pace (moves away from the traditional speech bubbles that you'll find in such motion comics as Watchmen and The Darkest Hour). It is quite clear to see that the length of each frame depicts the traditional comic through the use of panels. For examples a concession of small panels within a page would suggest action or the building of climax, i.e. the length and size of the panel determines the pace to the reader. A motion comic is a hybrid of comic books and animation based on the actual panels of a comic (wikipedia).
Within The Last Sin of Mark Grimm motion comic, the sound effects and motion develop and create the depth in the narrative. The use of black and white is quite effective as it reinforces the use of colour within the shot of the light bulb and blood splatter (0:23 and 0:29).
The Sin City Comic is quite traditional in comparison to other motion comics as it visually looks like a print comic.
I'm amazed by how many motion comics there are out there!
Very nice post, especially you Chomsky reading. Be certain to watch Century of The Self by Adam Curtis too (BBC2 doc series) - it explores many of these ideas.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.archive.org/details/the.century.of.the.self