Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Celebrity Death Match has returned!

Our favourite claymation series is back! Celebrity Death Match, first aired on MTV in 1998 and was cancelled eight years ago has returned. Featuring famous and infamous celebrities participating in gruesome fights in a comedic style, the network's pilot order description promised the same 'animated no-holds-barred fantasy fights between infamous figures from entertainment' and how pop culture 'will be reimagined for a social media world and hourly Twitter wars.'
“Celebrity Deathmatch” is produced by Wasteland Entertainment, Inc. Eric Fogel is the original series creator and serves as executive producer. Chris McCarthy and Paul Ricci are executive producers for MTV2.

Here's my top ten fights! WARNING: Profanity, Extreme Violence and Gore!

Who would you like to see in the ring? :)

Kid Rock Vs. Eminem

Heather Locklear Vs. Pamela Anderson

Frankie Muniz Vs. Robert Iler

Quentin Tarantino Vs. Spike Lee

Meryl Streep Vs. Cameron Diaz

Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman Vs. Bruce Willis & Demi Moore

Robert Downey Jr. Vs. Christian Slater

John Edward vs. Nostradamus

Sylvester Stallone Vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Madonna Vs. Michael Jackson

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Old and New Media: Experiencing Remediation, Immediacy and Hypermediacy

I'm still in the process of teaching my grandparents how to use tablets and smartphones, and I must say, they're getting there! Before breakfast, I got told to buy newspapers down the local market. I thought, why not introduce them to online newspapers?

Remediation- the representation of one medium in another medium

A good example are newspapers being made available online. Book to film adaptations is a popular one too. :)

From books to films

'New and old media aim to create Immediacy.'

Immediacy- invisible/hidden process. Audience feel they are in the situation without some sort of medium between them and the events taking place.

I was able to try the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset a couple of times at uni. It was a very immersive experience especially after a couple of minutes of getting used to the different environments I was placed in. I loved the underwater scene with sharks swimming above my head!

Testing the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2: Game Demos

Hypermediacy- the opposite of transparent immediacy. The use of images, sound effects, texts, video/animations aim to make the audience aware of the interface so that he/she may interact with it.

''If the logic of immediacy leads one either to erase or to render automatic the act of representation, the logic of hypermediacy acknowledges multiple acts of representation and makes them visible.'' (Bolter and Grusin 2000, cited in Barrow 2010)

TV news are hypermediated- use of bold colours, logos, etc.

on screen text messages- audience involvement

IMMEDIACY DEPENDS ON HYPERMEDIACY?

There are films that appear seamless, However, we know that there are somewhat uses of visual effects to enhance the audience's experience. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of the films I've watched and where I've realised how film makers have it made possible to blur the line between reality and fiction. The movie is aesthetically outstanding and the apes looked very realistic. Immediacy depending on hypermediacy in this movie is apparent; the apes help with our understanding and the improvement of the narrative, but the unrealistic things they do such as speaking remind us that this is in fact, just a fiction film.

What's your favourite remediated material? :)

Saturday, 14 March 2015

The Making of Harry Potter- Warner Bros. Studio Tour, London

I remember the day when the first Harry Potter film was released back in the Philippines and I must admit, I was a die hard fan. A trip to the mall meant purchasing copies of magazines such as K-Zone, Total Girl and Candy, especially those ones featuring Harry and Hermione (So sorry, Ron.) I even remember taking those to school and as the other kids were obsessing as much as me, lunch time meant using our pens and pencils as wands and practicing the spells with of course, our exaggerated English accents (*cringe*). From Anime, 'Mexicanovelas', Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean dramas, I found myself admiring the glamourised Western culture and all I knew at that time was how much I wanted to visit England. Well now, here I am. I've lived half of my life here. The excitement's totally gone. :(

Our cousins arrived for a short holiday and heard of the Warner Brothers The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour. Of course I went with them, and my love for Harry Potter has been renewed. No regrets at all. It really was fascinating, seeing the place where it all began. I thought, how silly of me to think of that! Seeing the intricate props, costumes, set design, the role of new media in the production of this film franchise and so much more, the experience made me realise one thing; how beautiful the industry I've chosen to work in really is. ♡

Warner Bros. Studios, Hertfordshire. E N J O Y!