Response to feedback – Spectacle Artefact

In response to my feedback for the spectacle artefact, I would now consider my objectives to have been unrealistic, I used a subject area that was interesting to me, and I would still argue that it exemplifies a certain spectacle, however, this as a spectacle constructed by myself, which would conceive only my own spectacle of the sport. If I had considered showing an audience’s perspective, my artefact would be more independent of my own knowledge on the subject, and as Karen explains, more interesting.

Ice hockey is similar to other sports through the notion of it being an actual spectacle; the match is watched as a collective within an audience. This idea of a crowd watching the game together can allow a person to let go of their individuality, they can become part of something larger than self being, allowing that person to let go of their individual responsibilities and share a united opinion, which can be absorbed by this amazing spectacle of sport. The idea of watching any sport can transport a person’s passion, they have no actual participation but are able to feel involved, and this feeling is played out with all spectacle type sports.

In many countries around the world, including our own, the concept of sports media is well known, although it has recently developed into more of an experience than a spectacle, it is a generally cultured norm. In other countries this is not the case, some of the slower developing places have little or no contact with sports intervention, as stated in ‘Sport and the Media’ by Matthew Nicholson;

 

“The sport media nexus is in its infancy in many parts of the world, and for a significant proportion of the world’s population is represented by the mediation of the Olympic Games and the world cup, if at all. For much of the developing world … the power and value of sport media is an emerging concept.”

 

Within our audience demographic for the Coventry Blaze TV channel we have a small fan base in Namibia, a good base in Australia and a strong following in Canada, as well as our solid fan base in the UK, I think that our new way of broadcasting sports events could allow people within the bracket of infancy for sporting mediation emerge. This could be a good way of globalising the sport, by using new technologies to mediate, we could be the next step in the sports broadcasting world.                    

Spectacle Artefact

 

My aims for this artefact were to express a certain spectacle; I set myself some objectives that would help me to do this;

- Be true to my own vision

- Work with subjects that interest me

- Create a spectacle that is impartial

These aims may be broad but they helped me to create a piece that is interesting to me, and that I enjoy.

My initial ideas for this project was to create a moving image piece that deals with my own spectacle on the world, I would include how I live my life, and what sort of emotions that I go through weekly. I was toying with the idea of using editing to articulate moods and emotions to the audience, and maybe using tints and pace to do so, and also using specific shot types to elaborate my feelings for certain issues.

After thinking more about the idea, I decided that I should narrow it down somewhat; I wanted to portray an individual spectacle that can then influence the spectacle of others. Linking this to the Blaze TV project would adopt the aims that I wanted to convey, the spectacle that we put out on our YouTube channel influences the spectacle of our viewers. The idea of a true vision links in well too, the footage that we use in the highlights is simply a representation of what happened on the night, a spectacle of the prior game.

Given the time constraints I needed to act quickly in order to reach the deadline, I decided that I would create an artefact the represents the spectacle of Ice Hockey, with particular reference to the Coventry Blaze. Using footage from the previous game, and some of the pre match build up for the following game, I edited together a three minute piece. Using some conventional editing techniques I allowed myself to demonstrate an idea of spectacle, and generally offer the audience some understanding of the spectacle of an Ice Hockey match.

This artefact speculates the Ice Hockey sport, it also presents the audience with an understanding of the proceedings of a match, and then gives them an insight into one of the key players views on the next game. I believe that this artefact illustrates a clear idea of spectacle, the target audience for the piece is not only fans of the Blaze team, but also fans of the sport in general, It could also reach people on a broader perspective, maybe those that are looking to find a new sport or a new spectacle to become a fan of.

If I had more time I would like to have shown more than one set of highlights, I would also have attempted to create a new type of style, in terms of the edit, I could use this to attract people from different interest categories. The spectacle of Ice Hockey can be demonstrated in many ways, I would like to further explore these ways and maybe adopt some of them to the Blaze TV channel.

Blaze at Gosford Primary School

The Blaze have made a great effort to be a big part of the community in Coventry and its surrounding areas, they have built a community programme that is both popular and successful. The Blaze players go into school assemblies weekly to talk about their ice hockey; they also explain the benefits of continuing your education, how team work can be effective, and certain ways of keeping fit. Also the team give money to schools for every ticket brought by the children and parents; this can be used for sports equipment or anything that benefits the children.

On 14/10/08 we went along to Gosford Primary with two of the Blaze players, their task for the day was to become dinner ladies, and serve up the food for the children. ITV Central News where also there, along with Touch Radio and the Coventry Evening Telegraph newspaper.

This relates to the form of ‘spectacle’, the players are becoming part of the community within Coventry, and are speculating a certain way of life for the children to see. I believe that the way in which the children engage with this activity, will become a spectacle of their own future, children often aspire to be like their favourite sports star, if they see these stars working in and around certain societies, they will envisage this as a good thing to do.

 

Blaze TV

In a team of four, we film every home game for the Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey team. We use three cameras for this, one is the ‘in-house’ camera that is connected to four DVD burners for the referee and team coaches, another is the ‘ariel cam’ situated above the fans to cover the wide view of the ice (the ‘in-house’ camera is next to this), another is down on the sidelines of the ice, in the corner which the Blaze are attacking towards, this is the ‘close-up cam’ for all home goals and attacks. We then use the ‘close-up cam’ to film interviews with the players, coaches and fans of the Blaze, Geoff Foster (BBC reporter) conducts the questions as he has the previous experience and the required expertise to do so. We then edit a 3 – 5 minute match report including the highlights of the game and interviews, and use an internet resource to rip relative music from. We then distribute on our own YouTube channel http://uk.youtube.com/user/CovBlazeTV . We also have a link from the official Coventry Blaze website www.coventryblaze.co.uk/ .

I think that this relates to all three of the themes Power, Spectacle and Memory. Power because of the power of YouTube and internet broadcasting itself, the sport has a direct relation to power, and the power of an audience … we would not have this job unless people wanted to watch the sport via the internet, which is our resource for distribution. Spectacle because our broadcast is a spectacle of the sport, the fans at the game have a spectacle of what’s going on, both at the game and then after via our site, and the spectacle of audiences interests, we can see how many fans actually subscribe to the channel, view the material and we can see their comments, which are also a certain spectacle. Memory because the idea of highlights are a memory of a particular match, the fans may have a memory of a part of the match that they can later access through our channel, and also YouTube keeps a memory of all of the views and subscribes which i earlier mentioned.

 

Jan Svankmajer – Little Otik

Little Otik is typical of a Svankmajer piece, it deals with dark satirical subjects. The sterile couple long for a child so much that they dig up a tree stump, remotely resembling a child, then, with the power of their love  it becomes alive. The baby begins to devour its surroundings, including people and becomes a monster. At one point in the film the father is left with the task of killing the creature, this giving the audience a sense of moral value, begging the question of his love for Otik. This allowed me to recognise the thoughts of people such as families that are related to convicts, they struggle to see the bad in their relatives and have a shadowed approach to the reality.  The film is clearly surreal, and has some typical Svankmajer techniques within it, the messages within the film can generate different thoughts from some different people. I like the way that Svankmajer uses eary stop motion to express a view on certain subjects, his work can sometimes seem a little creepy, but there is always a valid reason for this.

The Five Obstructions – Reflection

When watching the five obstructions i felt slightly  uncomfortable, i thought that the work of Jorgen Leth was to be ruined, later did i realise that it was more Leth himself that was ruined. Lars Von Trier was clearly pushing Leth into a tight spot, at first only by leaving him with unconventional problems such as the 12 frames, but when Von Trier sets Leth a task involving ethical and personal issues, it becomes a test of character. I think that when a person is challenged, thier ethics are set aside, they become focused on what they need to do, rather than what they should do, this shows within Leth’s behaviour.