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SNAIL

www.big.dk

BOOK LAYOUT – 49 CITIES

HELLA HERNBERG _ BOL LAMP

URBAN DESIGN POSTER

URBAN IMAGE

http://mediaandthecity.wordpress.com/

— Eero Saarinen. from Allan Temko. Eero Saarinen. p26.

The program has a familiar reality set-up that I know from a Danish TV show, so I am strugglig with seperating the pictures in my head that I know belong to the familiar sounds of the program, and thus how I imagine the program is working, from how the program actually works without sound.

The sounds, when they stand alone without the supporting of the pictures, devide the show into four different scene types. One is the band and the music in the studio. An other is the male and female hosts whose voices are very clear and overshadows the other sounds in the studio. The third type is the audience. The fourth level of sounds belong to some documentary material mixed by interviews, diegetic sounds like traffic noice, non-diegetic sound that makes no sense without the pictures but seemingly are used to exaggerate the action, and overlaying music that combines all these sounds on the fourth level. The sequence of interviews and reportings from the week of practices that went by appear messy and incoherent without the pictures, because the voices and subjects change very quickly. The flow between the different sections of the program, the host talks, the band/ dancing and the film clips, are all linked by the audience applaus.

I notice more than usually how mood sounds are used in the show, for instance by strengthening the climax when the contestants are told whether they are safe or in jeopardy. These kind of non-diegetic sounds work very effectively in explaining me the story of the show without the pictures.

This program makes an interesting case for a non-picture experience because its identity is ”the dance show” and its main focus is the dancers and their movements. As such, the identity of the show is closely linked to pictures rather than sounds, even though the dancing works better when supported by music, of course. I get confused when Norah Jones, who is the guest solist of the week, sings, because her singing outbattles my imagined pictures of people dancing. Only the audience’s increased applause once in a while reminds me that a physical performance must be taking place. Norah Jones’ music could as well have been presented by a radio station. As for a show like ”Dancing With The Stars”, my experience is highly amputated without watching the complimentary pictures. This is primarily because the identity of the show is to tell stories about dancing and dancers that are constituted by visual perforance and performers, in its own reality-disturbed kind of way.

Ten years ago, I might have defined the computer as first and foremost a communication machine, a search engine or a digital typewriter. These terms would correspond to my uses of the computer at the time. It was a practical machine, both as it took shape in my first stationary pc in 1997, and my first mobile phone in 2000 that I got because I lived at a boarding school for one year with few stationary phones to call home. Today, I will not define the computer from its physical shape or immediate functions, even though it is still a machine of text production, copying, searching, communicating, entertainment, security sharing, exchange, expressing and trading.

Rather, the overall change in my perception of the computer has moved from an idea of a physical device with shapes and functions to a second dimension of my everyday lives constituted by cultural structures that have transformed the way that I live, think and aspire. The computer has become an integral part of my daily practices. In describing it I wish to break down the term into three notions of practices, that I think characterize the computer and its potential right now: a communication network system, a cultural transformer and a growth platform.

As a communication network system, the computer allows for a system of communication that connects the world in complicated patterns of single, closed and open relations. Not only our active practices of sending out or receiving messages make the computerized connections, but the different physical and virtual computer spheres also connect with each other and allows for a facebook group message to be read on the cell phone and responded by a video message or a download from iTunes. Gilles Deleuze would denounce this network system as a “rhizome”, a network of stems that have no beginnings and no endings in terms of how they connect, a sort of complicated grid that covers the most of the Earth. I interact in the computerized network system in all parts of my life, as it deploys itself both online and offline, between which I no longer differ. The computer as a network system has become the central body of mass media, the epidemic of cell phone use, the technology of public transportation and GPS systms and even forms education structures.

As a cultural transformer, the computer is the communication portal that allows people to share viewpoints and practices that will inspire and eventually change patterns of life. The computer further allows people to gather and discuss issues in digital dimensions within practices that might even extent and interfer with real life activities. The computer is a break up with geography as a barrier for groupings and sharing of cultural practices. As a communication channel, a computer is a search engine, a portal to information collections, to news and people’s personal opinions. It is a tool of filtering communication, in contrast to the TV, because by virtue of the computer, information resources can be customized to the user’s preferences. As a production tool, the computer provides us with programs, digital pieces, media content and editing tools to make personal media creations and distribute these in a digital dimension beyond cultural, geographical or economic borders. As an interactive platform, culture flourishes, inspires and changes as never before.

As a growth platform, the computer has, by virtue of its function as a communication network system and by means of its role as a cultural transformer, become a platform for development to happen. I use the term growth in regards to ideas, initiatives, businesses, love, knowledge, friendships and so on. Particularly within the past few years, I have noticed a fundamental change in the nature of the computer. Because the technology has become so advanced and let computerized technologies weave into each other as integral parts of digital and physical spheres, people, energy and power can meet and carry out initiatives. I am thinking about the “One Laptop per Child”-project in Africa, on everyday school projects, on Obama’s election campaign and on digital businesses like Amazon and Spotify. This is the nature that I find most descriptive for the potential of the computer today, that equals its floading identity. It is also the nature that I find most intimidating, but that belongs to a different discussion.

As artifacts, computers are not even technologies anymore. They have become portals to digital and interactive spheres. The cultural influence is infinite, because as our perceptions on how to communicate, gather, see, change and create change online, so do the ways in which we organize our realities, build our cities, arrange our businesses and assign power in the world.

The cartoon is made in manga style and portrays its charactors and environments in a realistic way, with simple drawings in pale and dark colours. The filmic space is build up quite cogent in layers of foreground, middleground and background in most shots, sometimes only one or two of the layers are used. An emphasis on spaciousness shines through the different scenes in that the viewer is never left from a scene without a clear idea of the room or the outer environment.

The images are drawings, but I will refer to them as shots because the scenes are presented by means of a filmic aesthetics, as if they were shot in real life with a real camera. They are characterized by as little movement as possible. Only the point in focus moves, like talking lips, a moving shoulder or a driving car. The surrounding environment freezes. Without the sound, this becomes a strong feature because the viewer is never in doubt about where to direct the focus or on who is speaking. The ratios of faces and bodies vary between low and high which, especially without the sound, enhances the understanding of the narrative flow by letting the viewer see how intimate the relation should be with the person portrayed. Also, as an effect of the manga style, the people and artifacts that are not in the primary focus are much less detailed. It seems like the time line is chronological because time and space appears coherent. This is by virtue of the consistent filmic language that carefully takes the viewer through the action in a straight and not confusing way, even without the sound.

The flow of images is calm and controlled, and each image is paused with a minimum of movement for between 4-8 seconds. The flow is characterized by dramaturgic effects, such as constant changes in perpectives, angles and dimensions. Shots from above replaces shots from beneith, behind or from the front.  Flows between people having a conversation are linked by crosscuts or eyes pointing in the direction where the corresponding person is. That is, the flow follows a good continuation in setting of the portrayed image sequence. The sequences are either connected by tone of colors, the frame of the room or the ourdoor terrain, and the character’s relations are evident from their proximate placement. The flow of the cartoon is furthermore structured by a frequent use of closure that, without the sound, makes the narrative rather complicated in spite of the consistent fimic language. For instance, the picture will change from a man holding a line to a flying dragon on the sky and then be interrupted by a frustrated close-up, go back to the dragon and then back to an excited boy in a wheelchair. The closure framing the frustrated close-up needs to be supported by sound in order to make sense.

The filmic language finds its expression in for instance the scene of a conversation between two men, where the perspective suddenly focuses on the one persons hands for five seconds and by that unveil his temper or unsatisfaction. This effect works very well without the support of sound. An interesting use of filmic flow is by means of fading, where or instance the “camera” is blended by the light of the sun in one shot that turns into the light of lamp in the next shot.

Without the sound, the manga cartoon appears surprisingly steady and the rhythm very slow, because of the steady images. Referring to the gestalt principle of constraint, the method of limiting the actions that are performed in the picture makes the story more clean in its narration. Also, it appears more artful, almost like a constellation of Lichtenstein artpieces. Without the sound, the flow of images is definitely disadvantaged, particularly in this type of manga cartoon. But in a way the lack of sound favors the program because the viewer is forced to dwell on each picture, and the manga cartoon gets to show its true abstract and artistic nature. It suddenly appears as an interesting mix of manga effects, within the style of drawing and with the close-ups and cogent focus on action, and a classic American film by virtue of the way the narrative and flow is formed within a wellknown filmic language. This special nature of the program shows through when the pictures are not dominated by sound.