Jean Baudrillard

Baudrillard was French sociologist, philosopher, cultural theorist, and his work was frequently associated with postmodernism. He believed in hyper-reality and that there is no truth. For example Disney Land is presented as imaginary to make us believe the rest is real, whereas LA is no longer real and belongs to hyper-real order and to the order of stimulation.
He also believed in 'Simulacra' - when a sign loses it's relation to reality, it then begins to simulate a simulation or 'simulation' - when a representation of something comes to replace the thing which is actually being represented.

Some of his quotes:
“We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.” 

“There is nothing more mysterious than a TV set left on in an empty room. It is even stranger than a man talking to himself or a woman standing dreaming at her stove. It is as if another planet is communicating with you.” 

“The secret of theory is that truth does not exist.” 

Genre Paragraph

My video will include a narrative structure as well as a performance of the female artist. The role of the artist is being portrayed throughout the video as the victim in the break-up of their relationship; highlighting a heartbreak within the two characters. The lyrics illustrate the narrative presented on screen and as the style and pace of the song is relatively slow, there will be longer lingering shots. As the song is also a slow ballad rock song, my artist will wear typically rock associated clothes and the slow ballad will highlight the romance story within the video. The close-up shots of my artist will make the audience feel sympathy towards her by the type of emotions she expresses. A dark theme will also be presented in my video by the type of lightning, presenting a type of horror iconography as well as the flashbacks being shown in a different editing style. My video will also represent a type of conceptual video as it will contain multiple possible meanings that will be interpreted by the audience. Christi ne Gledhill said “Differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to... This made it easier to standardise and stabilise production”. I believe this links to my own production as I am clearly using typical conventions of slow romantic songs, making it easier for my audience to connect to my video.

 

Narrative Paragraph

For my video, I will present a type of heartbreak story through the use of an episodic narrative as I will include flashbacks in a different editing style to make it clear to the audience that this is not part of the chronological flow. This type of editing may include presenting the flashbacks in the background of the performance or in a different effect. The use of jump cuts in my video will also create a type of disorientated mindset to describe the type of emotions my artist is going through. It may also emphasise the time passing as the artist stays in one location, especially at the beginning. Close-up shots of the artist will also help to emphasise the strong emotions to the audience as well as using  close-up shots for symbolic props like a cracked mirror and a rose to represent the tragedy and romance through the use of mise-en-scene. This will often be shown both in and out of focus. The dark lighting will also link in with the sad theme of the song and the lyrics of wanting to be with someone. The fact my video will have a narrative as well as performance supports Andrew Goodwin's theory, describing the key aspects in music videos. During the performance, the artist will be singing to the camera making a personal connection with the audience while my narrative will be somewhat inspired by the song as it will complement the themes within it. Towards the end, the flashbacks may stop to suggest the artist can now move on.

Modern vs Post-modern

Modern vs postmodern 

Hierarchy, order, centralized control.	Subverted order, loss of centralized control, fragmentation.
Faith in the "real" beyond media, language, symbols, and representations; authenticity of "originals."	Hyper-reality, image saturation, simulacra seem more powerful than the "real"; images and texts with no prior "original".   "As seen on TV" and "as seen on MTV" are more powerful than unmediated experience.
Art as unique object and finished work authenticated by artist and validated by agreed upon standards.	Art as process, performance, production, intertextuality.   Art as recycling of culture authenticated by audience and validated in subcultures sharing identity with the artist.
The book as sufficient bearer of the word. The library as complete and total system for printed knowledge.	Hypermedia as transcendence of the physical limits of print media. The Web as infinitely expandable, centerless, inter-connected information system.
Faith in "Grand Theory" (totalizing explanations in history, science and culture) to represent all knowledge and explain everything.	Rejection of totalizing theories; pursuit of localizing and contingent theories.

Personally, I believe I am more post-modern as I don't believe there is an exact answer to everything in life. For example, I believe the state/the type of world we live in is broken into many fragments as there are many different groups within society which I think is a positive thing as a centralized controlled type of world would be boring to live in. From the points above, I further believe that art is an ongoing process of work and that there is some sense of hyper-reality, meaning it is difficult to find the originals and that perhaps the representation and different images of these are somewhat more powerful within society. I also believe that hypermedia (the use of video, sound etc.) and sources of information like the web are much more useful nowadays. In terms of their being a 'Grand Theory', I also consider this to be less useful/incorrect as I think there is no best way to organise a corporation, to lead a group or to make decisions. It depends on the context and situation at the time.

Lyrical Analysis