0.
abstract 1.
introduction 2.
method as field of discussion
3. practice
4. theory
5. conclusion and further discussions
2.1 the practice of this practice-based study. Extended |
2.3 form and structure adapted to practice-based mode |
2.4 theoretical interdisciplinarity and specified terms 2.4.1 Context-sensitive adaptation of theory 2.4.2 Specified terms “Digital media” ”Digital media” refers to digital technologies in use as both storage (e.g. DVD), as distribution (e.g. image mixer), as display (e.g. projector), as creative tool (e.g. computer applications) and as ICT (e.g. on-line publication). Put simply, digital media studies is a field of inquiry that studies digititalisation. The term “digital media” is frequently used in connection to, and even synonymously to “new media” [29. examples]. There might be good reasons to avoid the term and category “new media”, simply because it blurs the distinction of the special features and impact of digital technology and the increasingly established and even in some cases outdated ways of using this technology for communication purposes [30. example]. What is explored in this thesis is not to what degree our use of digital media in Extended can be considered new. Rather I find the processes and expressive forms illustrative of digital technology and examples of gained knowledge of digital medias potential and limitations in a thesis on practice-based method. “Multimedia Performance” Multimedia generally implies presenting information in various digital formats. “Multimedia performance” in this context refers to collaborative, staged dance performance which includes and interacts with multiple digital medias (video, image, sound, animations) as part of the expressive and artistic artifact, or as termed earlier in the historical contextualisation section by Dinkla et al. in Dance and Technology “intended impact of digital dance” – dance that views digital technologies as an integral component of the artistic process and as conveyors of a new physical self-image” (Dinkla et al. 2002:18). The importance given to multimedia-perspectives for the most part derived from two-dimensional web-based communication in this thesis on creative, practice-based method may seem imprecise. The weight given is based on the parallel digital diversity between web-communication and multimedia performances. Put simply, both fields can be characterised by reduced technological constraints as a result of digitisation and a myriad of combinations of modes and contexts. “Multimodal” Digital visual media and live moving bodies have been approachd both creatively and analytically as interacting modes in a multimodal discourse like the object of analysis in multimedia theory [31. stretched notions of media]. Though multimodality may be tied to multimedia i.e. presenting information in various digital formats, “multimodal” refers to another, more general phenomenon than a potential of digital technology and can be found in semiotics and performance studies alike. I have derived the term from social semiotics. Kress and Van Leeuwen, in their search for an apparatus to discusse visual design and visual literacy in Reading Images. Grammar of Visual Design (1996), define multimodal as “Any text whose meanings are realised through more than one semiotic code is multimodal” ([1996] 2001:181). Ventola, Charles & Kaltenbacher in Perspectives on Multimodality (2004:2) includes “interdependence of semiotic resources in text” in their definition of multimodality, covering a variety of what they consider multimodal texts stretching from educational CD-ROMs, the movie Dirty Dancing to museum exhibitions. Both definitions employ a broad definition of semiotic code/resources and text. I continue this analytic strategy, including projected material, music, movements, mime, live sound, costumes and traditional scenography, lighting and so on as semiotic codes or resources, and combination of these to be approachd as multimodal “texts”, however being aware of the ontological difference of digital media and live moving bodies. In this thesis, “multimodal” is understood and used as a feature of multimedia performance, that is, a blend and interdependence of two or more expressive resources – both digital media and moving body regarded as such expressive resource. Considering digital media and live moving bodies as modes in a multimodal expression needs to be accounted for briefly. I consider the theoretical practice of approaching combinations of digital media and live movements as multimodal texts or expressions as reasonable first of all because both modes have to be experienced, and might be argued to be experienced as a resonant whole. Secondly, because being "live" is only one of a myriad of the attributes of a performance to be investigated [32. phenomenological approach to multimedia performance art]. |
2.5 of process-oriented reasons |
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Practice-based Method. Exploring Digital Media through
the Dynamics of Practice, Theory, and Collaborative, Multimedia Performance
Hovedoppgave i mediavitenskap for cand.filol
graden, Universitetet i Oslo, Institutt for medier og kommunikasjon, Mai
2006, Idunn Sem
