Digital Audiovisual Media Class Blog

Written by Liah Twumasi Danquah | 33772944 ASAP Rocky’s “Taylor Swif” music video is a striking example of the “second aesthetic”, a concept describing creative styles emerging from shifts in technology, platforms and media convergence (Vernallis, 2013, pp207). This is an aesthetic built on different types of digital media, where creative work breaks out from…

What is glitch aesthetics?  Steven Shaviro’s concept emphasises how digital disruptions shift normative media expectations, creating the space for alternative media and perspectives. This is primarily done through fragmented visuals, image distortion, and non-linear narratives (Shaviro, 2017).  Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” (2011) subverts heteronormativity through glitch aesthetics and excess. The music video, directed by…

Netflix has redefined the digital media industry, bringing an era of streaming and cinema that has tilted the entire film industry on its axis. Mareike Jenner’s analysis of Netflix’s role in reinventing television explores how binge-watching and the platform’s unique structure have reshaped viewer experience for serialised programmes (2018).  An example of this is Riot…

Steven Shaviro’s term ‘post-continuity’ describes a “style of filmmaking” that has become more prominent in current action cinema (2016, p. 51). Traditional continuity editing prioritises spatiotemporal continuity, the traditional Hollywood style. Linear narrative flow is primary to the film, with each shot logically connecting to the next. Post-continuity, in contrast, disrupts these conventions by emphasising…

Steven Shaviro explores how cinema reflects and engages with culture in the 21st Century. He focuses on the rise of digital technologies, new forms of audiovisual media, and neo-liberal capitalism, which has transformed both cinematic form and the way the viewer experiences films.  Shaviro explains the concept of ‘post-cinematic affect’, meaning how digital media creates…

Les Manovich’s The Language of New Media (2002) provides a significant framework for understanding the impact of transitional digital technologies on media forms. As the first fully animated and synthetic feature film, Pixar’s “Toy Story” (Lasseter, 1995) marks the shift from analogue to digital editing. Toy Story (1995) Official Trailer Manovich states that new media…

Written by Liah Twumasi Danquah | 33772944 Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things did well in creating nostalgic audiovisual features that create a binge-worthy experience. As described by Mareike Jenner, binge-watching is a practice where “several episodes of a serialised programme are watched on a medium other than linear television” (2018, pp109). Season 3, episode 8’s…

Written by: Liah Twumasi Danquah | 33772944 Everything Everywhere All at Once, (2022) is a wild cinematic ride that lives up to its overwhelming title. The film is a fragmented depiction of nihilism, the belief that life is meaningless, illustrating how individuals may feel when their world seems to have “collapsed into an emotional void”…

While YouTube democratizes content creation by making it more accessible, it still operates within a neoliberal framework where algorithms prioritize content that generates the most revenue, often reinforcing capitalist ideals (Glatt and Banet-Weiser, 2021: p42). For creators, income is precarious, relying on unpredictable ad revenue and sponsorships (Glatt and Banet-Weiser, 2021: p46). As a result,…

2001: A Space Odyssey is a film directed by Stanley Kubrick. The public still evaluates it as a work that goes beyond the limits of science fiction genres and movies in the mid-20th century. Since then, Stanley Kubrick has significantly impacted many post-cinema science fiction movies, destroying the traditional narrative structure and showing the audience the completeness…