This week’s lecture was intriguing by introducing concepts of morphing, hybridisation and virtualisation. Through the morphing of media texts, media-users blur the line between producer and consumer. An example of this phenomenon is ‘Crazy Frog’. According to distinctions of morphing laid down by Sandwell & Beer, this virtual character and identity that was created to personify a type of music, is classified as being ‘inter-morphing’. When one researches the music genre of Crazy Frog, one will find it is classified as being pop, rock, club, dance as well as electronic. This morphing between genres as well as the mere fact the Crazy Frog does not exist except through a virtual reality make it the perfect example of ‘morphing’. Furthermore the creators of Crazy Frog were able to create this character as well as the music through digitisation. The sound of this character was apparently an imitation of a two-stroke moped engine. The first recording was created by Swedish Daniel Malmedahl and through file sharing, gained popularity and eventually became the ‘genre-morphing’ electronic music which gained global fame. This example of the virtualisation of musical production as well as digitisation proves that consumers are becoming producers.
Furthermore, with the popularity of the latest action film ‘300’, morphing in the form of hybridisation can also be seen. In that the creation of trans-genres by morphing across genres is evident through the many ‘spoof versions’ of 300 teasers, film previews and film sequences that are either crossed with music texts (as in the example), other film texts, as well as amateur re-enactments. The accompanying text is an example of firstly, the notion of consumers who are morphing into producers, and secondly, the creation of a hybrid text. This text is a merge between scenes of the film 300 and Gloria Gaynor’s hit song ‘I Will Survive’ from her 1978 album ‘Love Tracks’. It is not a music video; it is not a film teaser. It is a trans-genre text that has been morphed by the consumer-producer. The effects of which, are highly humorous.
Here is the link:
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3UId5lXYbc
1 comment:
Different types of morphing has become an expected and necessity for people in today’s society. It is very interesting to think about how morphing has opened up new areas of the media for the public to access, and at the same time, created new types of consumer needs.
From the reading, I noticed that bands like Busted are a prime example of transmorphing. The band is still immensely popular in the UK, and has been ever since their introduction. They transfer across genres in their music to bring about a bigger audience and to appeal all sorts of consumer tastes. The band was made for business reasons, for profit and to serve a mass market of youths. Mc fly were another band made for profit, a market was seen here for these sorts of pop/rock/punk bands. This band were similar to busted, but had their own individual flair to make them stand out again. The bands are however very similar, only tiny differences separate the two groups. Mc fly band members wear bright and extreme colours, and all sorts of metro type clothing, which brands them as different, exciting and appealing. This clothing with their music creates a personality for the band, and associates them with certain brands. These brands will be viewed by youths around the UK making the bands a lucrative area for manufacturer’s product exposure. The trans-morphing here is with audio media, and televisiual media and other types of visual media. Seen in different forms, the band has much more exposure and effectiveness. Their songs are played in different locations, and the possibilities to view the band are unlimited through the internet, itunes, tv, dvds, ipods, blogs on websites, the outlets are endless through the form of transmorphing.
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