viernes, 20 de abril de 2018

The apocalyptical 70’s - Essay - 2nd Part.

















Written by Lucy Galvis.

Postmodernism is a process that in my opinión started at the end of 19th Century with changes in different áreas of knowledge. We have four main characters at these period, Marx, Freud, Einstein, and Van Gogh, who proposses new ways of understanding reality. Arts as a reflexión of society explored and took to the border new emotions, topics, and situations. Anyhow, changes are slow, many classic forms from many centuries before were preserved being the main characteristic the Aristotelic way stories are constructed with a start, a development, and an ending. We still get movies based on naturalism with actors from Stanivslasky school that construct characters more or less like real people. These pictures preserve too logical time and space structures. Is technology development which leads to new montage effects, the formats mix and flashbacks, given films its own language different from literature, theater, music and fine arts.

Photography and Cinematography changed painting since the cameras could get similar images from the object shooted and then multicopying it as in printing press. Walter Benjaming explains this process on his essays about the technical reproductibility impact on modernity. At the same time media ended taking images at a high pace to our televisión device, so daily life became faster. Visual artists were changed for the new technology and no longer contracted for wealthy families as traditional so arts moved through out experimental forms with new materials and conceptualisms. This leds to a viewers’ free interpretation of messages from a constructed reality far away from reality, nurturing mainly musical cinematógraphy with surreal stories, actors talking directly to spectators, and the breaking of narrative systems as well as social ways of thinking, conventionalisms and cultural traditions.

Cinematography started a revisión of previous referents, and many musicals came from literature and theatrical titles until a complete desmitification of heroes or making them more human. During a period of time there was a nostalgia of the past, but slowly but surely, montage started to be faster, baroque and aggresive, with the creation of beings and soul’s states with exploration of reality and fiction frontiers. Images became more important than contents.

New wars on 70´s take to a skepticism or a disenchaintment in the story treatment, at the same time that appeared on musical movies explicit sex and violence with foul language without censorship, and taboo subjects and drugs consumption, and extreme human conditions. Moral was argued that took to protagonists serial assassins to become in heroes of their stories. Directors didn´t judge the characters’ actions in order that spectators built up their own opinión, replacing absolute values as God, Fatherland, Science for little tales about everyday life, as well as, the appearance of topics related to multiculturalism, sexual diversity, new family types, and ecology.

Some postmodern movies are Chicago, a movie based on a book which tells a 20’s story about Roxie, a singer and dancer who kills her producer and goes to jail but finds a lawyer that helps her to scape from death penalty and finally triumph as an artist. The movie remarks feminism, ambition out of limits, it shows strong courageous women that are capable to defend themselves from abuse and discimination; Mamma Mia tells the story of a woman that doesn´t know who her father is and got three options and decide to go and meet every one of the posible dads; and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, based on an english, 1974’s theatrical staging  about homosexuality.      

Chicago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrrz54UtkCc
Mamma Mia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36vwk1IZWTA
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc80tFJpTuo


domingo, 15 de abril de 2018

Musical videos and movies. Essay.





I´m just listening Love Song from Godfather movie performed by a gypsi musician Diego “El Cigala”. This relationship with musical movies and videos is very special for me because I found many stories related to myself. ¡I´m always relating audiovisual products to my daily life! When I was a child I decided to be an alien because I saw many tv shows as Mork and Mindy and ET, and this was decisive in my actitude toward science and investigation. Most of the time I´m watching material on YouTube, I love looking for something new in my timeline about movies with sound and mainly with soundtrack. I think I like much more soundtracks than movies.

Movies were first made due a brothers Lumiere invention. Photography as well as Filmaking Technology changed arts concepts and processes. The first silent movies were accompanied by an orchestra on the teather. We still use different equipment to catch images and sound for filmaking and then we take all this material to a computer for assembly, though nowdays it is possible to catch images and sounds in a phone camera as well and processes it as in tv technical way to get a movie for internet, televisión and cinema.

When sound was feasible, the first documentary works appear only with natural sounds but any music, later on, filmakers included sound effects, voice-over and music not only for the cover but to follow main actions and emotions on screenplays.

And I started talking about The Godfather because most of the Luciano´s fortune at that time, 20´s, ended on entertainment industry. People liked to pay for theatrical music shows with nuded dancers, pubs and gambling, so during first days of Hollywood, filmakers took to big screen dance staging with box-ofice success. This period is characterized by the WWI and a wealth growth of US economy because of the income related to the given help to Europe in uniforms and arms, but US never felt war impacto n its territory. Instead, people continue consuming goods and servicies and dancing on streets. After 29 Crisis, people deepen alcohol consumption and due the Prohibition the organized crime erned more money than ever and entertainment industries grew in the whole continent.

Next in movies history 40´s and 50´s, we can found many latinamerican and spanish musical movies from argentina´s Singer Sandro de América; brazilian Singer living at tehe United States Cármen Miranda with music by jamaican composer Harry Belafonte, the same fo 90´s Beetlejuice; and Mario Moreno Cantinflas from Mexico, he wasn´t a singer but an actor who used to dance in many of his filmography, while at the States we can find vocal góspel assemblies, and the advent of the huge music figure, Elvis Presley. Though musical videos as we know right now, for tv programming, don´t appear until 80´s.

In 50´s, one innovation is the production of musical flims for children, titles as Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz. This leds toward a new gendre which was going to mark a time, the opera rock.

Contraculture at 60´s was characterized by a series of social movements that were fighting human rights not only at the US but in Europe. This movements have to do with the end of WWII in 1945. After Nuremberg Trials, United Nations Organización was created as well as the Red Cross and Red Crescent in order to prevent world of a new confrontation later on. They stand human rigths as a must and youth manifests troughout music and arts this belief.

During and after Spanish Civil War, artists expressed their feelings in movies like the rare done by surrealist painter Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney, and gypsi music related to poet García Lorca. In Germany we can found experimental films against war by the art group Fluxus integrated by Joseph Beuys, Jhon Cage and Yoko Ono, between others. Important musical videos of this period are “Ballet Triádico” a conceptual dance stage and films of dancer Isadora Duncan.

The deal music – films explodes during 60´s and 70´s. In the opera rock we can find titles as Tommy by psicodelia band Deep Purple starring by Jack Nicholson; Jesuschrist Superstar and Cats, theatricals montages taken to film with music by composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, between the most outstanding, while The Beatles ventures in cinematography with movies from their famous song like Yellow Submarine, and Lucy in the skies with diamonds.

Recently there is a movie constructed from The Beatles music called Across The Universe (2007).

At this time is very important to stand out the newest satellite communication technology that led to retransmisions of musical events as George Harrison´s Concert for Bangladesh accompanied by Eric Clapton and that is going to be very important on cinema buildings construction because digital technology joined to telecommunications let us nowadays to have the retransmission of any movie at many places at a time.    

All these 60´s and 70´s movies have the intention of getting the highest quality and are characterized for the best talent called, music, art design, color, actors, staging, shooting and all they are classics of its genre.

A chorus line, a movie about dancers on a stage is one of the best moviese ver film of this period.

Later on we could see on screen the movie Good Morning Vietman starring by Robin Willians related to 60´s facts.

One characteristic of 80´s musical films is the interest on people participation and representation, that´s why appears on stage musical proposals as YMCA band concept; Alan Parker´s Fame with main Singer Irene Cara; and spanish director Almodovar´s films representing people from all social levels and ethnicities.

In this period show up Jhon Travolta as a prominent figure of Holliwood industry in movies like Staying Alive directed by Sylvester Stallone, and Grease with singer Olivia Newton Jhon.

80´s brought too the advent around the world of well known singer Michael Jackson´s musical videos which impulsde music industry using screen writers to construct a story around the topic of the song. This breakthrough evolution into the industry business appears to us on today as new transmedia proposals because media manager started to mix all options of entertainment for all audiences haunger of a variety of contents if different forms including advertisment.

Late 80´s strengthen the idea of music as one of the best seller topic on film industry. New movies show up, Flashdance. Footloose. Breakdance. Purple Rain with stories about young people that either want to dance or to succed on any performative arts.

At 90´s we have outstanding movies as Chicago with excelent coreographies, and Pulp Fiction, that is not a musical film but that has an important dancing scene on cinematography. Soundtrack concept consolidated not only for film but for televisión. And in Latin America we have new musical proposses like colombian punk movie “Rodrigo D” that uses music to show Medellin social problems; and argentinans “Tango Feróz” with a story about a well known rock musician, and “La noche de los lápices” about the Argentina dictatorship.

Documentary is a very important genre on film and we can find music as topic wide world around. 2000 brought out the cuban film Buena Vista Social Club about old “soneros” in the island, follow by argumentative movies like Salsa and a movie for televisión about Hector Lavoe´s life. It´s usual to find on cable telefilms about singers from different continents.  

To close, films have had many brilliant composers, figures like Vangelis, Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner; Harry Belafonte, Beetlejuice; Jhon Willians, Shark Attack, Superman, E:T; Ennio Morricon with music for more than 500 movies like Kill Bill, The Untouchables, The exorcist, and The good, the bad and the ugly; and Hans Zimmer, music for Lion King, and Gladiator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao3vOCDZd-Y


domingo, 24 de julio de 2016

What I like most of Blondie


Debbie Harry

I´m not going to tell story about the rock band, I just want to advice about the power of these group to provoke punk bands been punk itself but in a different way, singer Debbie Harri presents herself as a conventional housewife and don´t denied of been blond, wearing nice dresses, anyone can imagine all that energy on scene. 


http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/building-up-blondies-heart-of-glass/27712
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOZPRm5BW0Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGU_4-5RaxU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StKVS0eI85I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0skjm-uJSs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXewIR7Y7cc



miércoles, 13 de abril de 2016

Songs to cry



.These time I´m going with six songs in spanish and one in english. Hope U like it.

A dónde va el amor - Ricardo Montaner. (Venezuela).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i41Y-HuSTWM

De noche - Antonio Carmona. (España).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aszthoknyVA

Mojado - La maldita vecindad y los hijos del quinto patio. (Méjico).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2n0Rtl-ANI

Mil Horas - Andrés Calamaro. (Argentina).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp16CKQqMAA

Mi historia entre tus dedos - Gian Luca Grignani. (Italia).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp16CKQqMAA

Me cuesta tanto olvidarte - Mecano. (España).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IguUFc7af4



Candle in the wind - Sir Elton Jhon. (Inglaterra).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8gO0Z818j4








Love Songs

                                                 Image took by my daugther of herself

A friend of mine, asked me to publish the 5 love songs I consider the best, I though, there´s a lot and doing excercise I found love songs are not the ones I prefered. It was hard to select these ones.

Be my baby - The Ronettes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVbawRPO7I

Stay by me - Ben E King.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwZNL7QVJjE

Just the way you are - Billy Joel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJWM5FmZyqU

Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x2tG4X0cdc

I just call to say hello - Stivie Wonder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bGOgY1CmiU



Bonus Track in spanish.

La Bikina - Luis Miguel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCvJwzDQTBM

Bésame - Juan Gabriel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yW12pRthg0

Hope you like it.






jueves, 17 de marzo de 2016