Our original idea was to create a short film about a protagonist who is un-aware that he is part of a video game. However after receiving feedback we reconsidered as we felt that the film could not be fully fleshed out in such a short amount of time. We then proceeded to look at different ideas, and one we liked was the idea of an unreliable narrator. Once we had this narrative device we researched different types of narratives that also used an unreliable narrator. I looked at ‘Lolita’, a novel that uses the idea of the unreliable narrator. ‘Lolita’ uses this idea very cleverly as it makes the readers ponder and question Nabokov’s character. We liked this idea and therefore chose to use this novel as the inspiration for our own piece. This allowed us to have a platform of sorts and from this we created our story. Once we had the idea and completed all of the necessary preproduction paperwork we started to cast for the film. We decided that the actor would not only have to look the part but also sound the part as we felt it was important for the actor be convincing and therefore make the audience believe what he was saying was the truth.
We looked into various techniques that we could use to achieve the perfect look for the film. As I was the Director of Photography on this project the Director (Jordan Nevin) and I looked at various films to see how we could make the film look artistically appealing and so we looked at a scene from ‘Submarine’ specifically the scene in which the protagonist breaks into a house. The director explained to me that this was what the type of photography he was looking for stylistically.
The scene was filmed at night and many of the shots were hand held. This allowed the audience to follow the character around the house and experience what he did to an extent. We used this a template for our own film and looked at how the shots could be replicated. I looked into how the scene was shot and found out that minimal lighting was used. I experimented at home with LED lights by placing them around the room and then played around with the camera settings to make sure that I knew what was needed on the day of the shoot.
Another aspect of this scene was the tight shots that followed the character around; the shots followed the character around the house and also brought attention to certain objects in the room. His face was seen clearly throughout the scene so that the audience could see his reactions.
After all of this research I was confident that I knew the directors vision and I felt that I was prepared for the day of the shoot.
We looked at different ways to shot the narration scenes and the one idea that we felt would look the most artistic would be have the character standing out against a solid background. We achieved this look by using Dedo lights to light the subject rather than the background to make him stand out. As the background was black and his clothing was a lighter colour it was easy to make him stand out against the darkness.
We also shot a lot of the inside scenes handheld as we wanted to portray the urgency of the scene and felt that during the editing stage this would help to increase the tension and make the audience feel his ‘pressure’. As the character was using a torch I lit the room using an LED light and placed it into the corner so that there was a minimal amount of light in the room. The f/stop on the camera was on the lowest so that the mot amount of light could enter the lens, allowing the camera to have the most possible light coming in and would allow the audience to see the character face rather than just the light from the torch. So overall I fell that the days of the shoot went well and I fell that as a DoP I did the best possible job that I could.
The editing process was stressful however I was very pleased with the final piece. We had many shots to choose from as we shot each scene three to four times and this gave us a wide range of different shots to use and also various takes that we could cut and use when needed. The voice over narration worked very well in conjunction with the images and the on screen narrator scenes that we used in the final edit. Even though the main dialogue came from the narration I fell that it worked well within the film. We achieved the unreliable narrator narrative that we wanted when we set out many weeks ago. The character that we choose was ideal in his acting and voice and personally I felt that we made the right choice. We also added a colour palette to the film to make the scenes a bit darker. The LED lighting did make the room dark whilst filming however we wanted to get rid of some of the light and make it darker which worked with the final edit. I felt that I met the director’s artist vision with the lighting and the various types of shots that were used. Also with the lighting throughout the film I felt that it created the style that we wanted.
I have learnt a lot from this module and more importantly about Short Films. I learned about the various way that films can be distributed however the one thing that I felt I will take away from this module is my work as a DoP. It was the first time that I concentrated on one job rather than moving from role to role. It allowed me to get a better understanding about what the role is about and how I can become better. Even though I felt that my work was good there is still a lot for me to learn, it would be naïve of me to think that what I have done for this short film is what a DoP can do. I need to test my skill in different locations, for example I need to produce a short film where the location is mainly outdoors to see how I would light it. Would it be natural light or I need to book out lights and do some outdoor lighting? I felt that my work for this module was a high standard of quality and I hope to continue this is for my future projects.
For this blog post I will look into the key aspects of Short Film. This will include a brief history of short films, how they are produced and how they are distributed. Normally short films are ‘distributed outside of the main media institutions’ such as Universities and artistic circles. The positives of this are that the films can be experimental. (Dawkins and Wynd, 2010, p. 243)
The earliest know ‘Short Film’ was shown to the public in 1894. It was shown on Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope, many of these films were one-shot’s. The camera could not be moved because of its weight. One of the most famous films of that era was filmed by the Lumière Brothers called ‘Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1895). This frightened many people within the audience as they felt that the train was going to hit them. However by the 1900’s filmmakers could make longer and multi-shot films. Feature films were respected more compared to shorts, however short films were still shown alongside the feature lengths in the cinemas. By the Second World War the government started to use shorts as propaganda. Dr Richard Farmer, who is an expert in British wartime cinema at the University College London said that the period between 1939 and 1945 was ‘a high-water mark for short film in Britain’. However by the Sixties short films had gone out of favour as the public felt that they were boring which lead to more people going to the toilet or throwing popcorn at the screen.
With the introduction of MTV in 1981 it allowed filmmaker to start using music videos as a new way of creating short films by introducing a new type of short film. This can be seen in Michael Jacksons Thriller music videos. However it was the 90’s that saw more filmmakers emerge as equipment became more affordable and also short films were more affordable as they did not require a big budget. Filmmakers were also given a platform to show their work, YouTube. It allows people to distribute their work by themselves. The Internet overall has allowed short films to be distributed to a wide scale of audiences. (Davies, 2010).
Even though we have the Internet as one option to distribute short films there is still the small matter of having to fund the project. Many people who make short films will not have thousands of pounds to spend on actors, locations, equipment, travel and food. One of the most modern ways of getting money to fund your project is via ‘Kickstarter’ and ‘Indiegogo’. They are both website in which people can donate money to help fund your project (Davies, 2010). Some companies can offer grants such as the National Lottery Fund and the British Institute (no date). This is only given in a small amount however it can still play a big role when it comes to covering your expenses. This allows various people to make short films as funding can be achieved through various resources. You not need to go to a big production company (you can if you wish too) in order to get funded for your film.
One of the easiest ways to distribute your film is via the Internet, on websites such as YouTube or Vimeo. Before these websites many people went to MTV to be ‘wowed’ by the music videos (Gorochow, no date). Another way is to get an individual or an organization to represent your film at film festivals (BBC, no date). There are various film festival that can be used to submit your film. Some of the film festivals that can be used are Sundance, Raindance and Cannes. There are many more and these are just a few examples however these films can be given awards and this can enhance the reputation of the film and the cast and crew (Film, no date b). Raindance has been around science 1992 and has been supporting independent filmmakers (Raindance, Since 1992 Raindance has been offering advice and support, the British Independent Film Awards in 1998, no date). Another way to get your film out to the public is via resources such as ‘Charge Play’ this a secure and reliable online platform that is used by filmmakers to distribute there film online. This has many benefits as it has pay-per-view system and the system can operate in both the US and the UK. Charge Play looks set to have an impact on the accessibility of online content. This allows the filmmakers to still make money and also get more recognition for the film. They may use this after submitting to a film festival so that ‘word gets out’ about the film. It is effective and also allows filmmakers to get money from the film that they have created.
The film that I looked at was called ‘Stanley Pickle’ by Vicky Mathers, it is a story about a boy whose life runs like clockwork. His parents are seen as ‘wind-up’ toys that the audience later figure out he has made. Shorts International distrusted the film. The film is shot entirely on stills and there are only two locations used. It was first premièred at the on the festival circuit on June 2010. It went on to be shown and distrusted to many film festivals and it did very well at these festivals. It won 33 international awards. (Mather, no date)
Shorts International distributed the film and put it up onto iTunes to get money for the film. However Vicky Mathers was not given the rights to show it for free on websites such as Vimeo and YouTube. This was because people would not have brought the film on iTunes and this would have defected the purpose of putting it onto iTunes. This stalled the recognition that the film got. Much audience would have probably just watch the film on YouTube or Vimeo rather than paying for the film. However she eventually was allowed to show the film for free and the film won many awards (Kander, no date). This shows the negative side of distribution as it prevented the filmmaker to use the film how she wanted. Even though iTunes is a good way to get the film recognition show could did not have the full rights of the film and this prevented how she wanted to distribute it. However on the other hand, distributing the film on iTunes would allow arrange of people to access the film and also get paid for the film. This can be seen as a similar version of ‘Charge Play’, but more known to the audiences.
In my opinion this shows how important it is too read the contact before signing with a distributor, as a young media producer I would have signed a contact like the one I have talked about above without reading it. The main motive would have been the fact that it would have appeared in iTunes and it could have earned me money however at the same time I would have lost the rights to my own film! Even if this did happen to me it would be a great opportunity but it is important to read through what you sign, Vicky Mathers was lucky that she was able to re-gain the distribution rights to her film.
Mather, V. (no date) ‘Stanley Pickle – FULL FILM ONLINE’. Vimeo. Available at: https://vimeo.com/28177151 (Accessed: 17 March 2015).
Parker, N. (2007) Short films: how to make and distribute them. United Kingdom: Creative Essentials.
Raindance, Since 1992 Raindance has been offering advice and support, the British Independent Film Awards in 1998 (no date) Short Film Distributors Guide. Available at: https://www.raindance.org/short-film-distributor-list/ (Accessed: 17 March 2015).
For this term we are looking at how the contemporary media landscape has been shaped and formed by the city, this involve a lot of research. This research will include what makes a city a city, how media has influenced the City of our choice. As this is a lot to research we have been put into groups to ensure that we can cover all aspects of what needs researching. Our topic is ‘Activism & The City’. We have to produce a research archive based on this topic on a City on a City of our choice. We have chosen to explore Amsterdam; we came to this decision easily as we will be travelling there in early February.
What is Activism?
A Dictionary term of Activism is ‘a person who campaigns for some kind of social change’ (Thinkmap n.d.)
However this is not good enough to present as our research. Even though it gives the overall idea about what the term is we need to look at it in more depth. We need to look at the types of activism and how we they can effect the City.
Activism and Media play a massive role as Media allow the activists to get their point across on a World Wide scale. It allows people from various background and countries to see what people are standing up for. This can be in the form of a Newspaper, a News broadcast, YouTube and even to an extent social media (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram). These Media sources allows people to have their own voice and lets them have a say on how they feel the World should be run. There are three types of activism, the first is by protesting by using aids such as speeches, slogans, banners, picketing, singing and marches. It is a nonviolent action. The second nonviolent option is non-cooperation. For example striking or boycotting. The third is interventions, which includes sit ins and fasting until the demands are meet. However violence can also be used in the form of bombings, torture and killing somebody. Those who are not authorized to do so would use this method and are mainly know as freedom fighter and also terrorists. For example the IRA can be seen as a group that used violent activist techniques. (Martin 2007)
We chose Amsterdam mainly because we were travelling there and also because it one of the most talked about cities in Europe for many reasons. Many people go there to see the Red Light District and also because of the cities tolerance of marijuana however there are other places to visit such as the iMuseum, The van Gough Museum, the various Cannels and the ‘bike culture’. It the most visited city in the World attracting visitors from all over the world and also people from Netherlands. We wanted to know more about the city and with its rich history we wanted to find out what type of activist movements had taken place in the city. Later on in this research archive I will talk about the Provo Movement and the affect that they had on the city of Amsterdam and how that is still affecting the city now!
Famous Activists
Many activists are still talked about today for there actions years ago. They have change the world for the better. They are still looked up at by various people and they have left their mark in there own ways. Here are some activists who have done this:
Rosa Parks is well known for sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She is referred as the ‘mother of the Civil Rights Movement’. After work on the 1st of December 1995 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white male passenger, which lead to her arrest and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott lasted for 381 days, she is lauded for her role. The boycott ‘culminated in the desecration of the bus line on the 20th of December 1956’. (Jones 2011: 255) She affected the city massively as she allowed helped to give Black people rights and not be treated lesser than others. If she did not take this stand would coloured people still be treated lesser in cities?
Ghandi is somebody who again used non-violent methods one method that he use was fasting to put pressure onto his opponents when he failed to yield results with his persuasion. He was very persistent and it required tremendous mental strength. However this method allowed Ghandi change India and allowed him slowly take the country to Independence. (Chakrabarty 2005: 68)
Martin Luther King Jr. is again somebody who is famous for his efforts and he again used nonviolent methods. He helped with the Rosa Parks boycott and this allowed him to become a symbol for the Sothern blacks to fright against racial injustice. This earned him respect however it also made him a target for people who were unhappy about the change. One of the things that he was most famous for was his ‘I have a Dream’ speech. He talked about how he dreamed that one-day blacks and whites would live in harmony and that blacks would not be treated with injustice. He used his voice the get a gathering of people who felt injustice and he led them to equality that they had wanted. (Kubesh et al. 2007: 14)
All of these Activist’s are famous around the world and they all are credited for history changing moments, some have helped the City however some have change a country. I will now look into various case studies’ about activism that has affect the city in different ways. Different methods are used in each case and they have had different affects on the city…..
Tottenham Riots (Blackberry Riots) 2011
Why did the Riots start?
On 4th August 2011 Police started to investigate the shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan after stopping a Taxi in Tottenham. Mark Duggan’s family held a peaceful protest outside Tottenham police station on 7th August at 4pm. There were roughly 300 people in attendance. However by 7:30pm bottles were thrown at police cars and one car was set alight, violence began after an argument between protesters and the police. The riots continue throughout the nights and the violence began to get even more aggressive as protests started to attack banks, set cars alight and loot shops. (Anon. 2011)
Riots started to spread across various other cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. Even though the riots started off peaceful it turned sour very quickly and the real reason for the riots was lost in the looting. Many youths took to the streets for the sole purpose to loot shops. London police stated that over half of the 1000 people arrested were aged 20 or younger. (Jeffery and Wells 2011)
(VICE 2013)
Blackberry Messenger (BBM)
Social media played a big part during these riots as people used platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and BBM to organize these riots to ensure people were going to certain areas. Even though some videos were uploaded on sites such as Facebook and Twitter they were not seen as the main reason for organizing these riots. BBM was seen as the main culprit, almost 37% of teens in the UK have this phone and it allows them to send one-to-many messages to their contact that have a ‘BBM Pin’. The reason that many people used BBM was because the messages are untraceable by the authorities, this is unlike Twitter and Facebook, which allows the Police to take action and use it as proof in court. One of the BBM sent read:
“Everyone from all sides of London meet up at the heart of London (central) OXFORD CIRCUS!!, Bare SHOPS are gonna get smashed up so come get some (free stuff!!!) fuck the feds we will send them back with OUR riot! >:O Dead the ends and colour war for now so if you see a brother… SALUT! if you see a fed… SHOOT!”
(Halliday 2011)
Media Stereotype & How did it affect the City?
Usually when you think of rioters you think of ‘hippies’ however during these riots it allowed the media to see a different type of ‘protesters’. The media saw them as been teens in hoodies who just want to create trouble. Even though this was true in some cases the real reason for the protest was lost in the looting. This has had a knock on affect on youths since 2011 as many members of the public fear teens that wear hoodies. However the riots took the attention away from the death of Mark Duggan as many people used it the riots to simply loot the shops and attack the police. This gave many people a negative image about the youths of Britain.
(News 2011)
The riots affected London massively almost all the shops in the area were closed from the big name stores to the independently owned shops. The riots created fear around the city as shops were being broken into and people were being beaten up. Also various events around London and Birmingham were cancelled because of the riots. Tottenham’s games against Everton was called off because of the riots, the rest of the fixtures on that weekend took place. It was meant to be the opening fixture of the season however if it went ahead it would have put a lot of peoples in danger. England’s international friendly against Netherlands was also cancelled a day before the game was to take place at Wembley (TheFA and Stadium n.d.)
However one event that did take place was the Test match between England and India at Edgbaston after West Midlands Police spoke with England & Wales Cricket Board. The Test match was sold out and there was a felling that the Test could take the attention away from the Riots. (Hoult 2011)
Even though this did affect the city the riots made the death of Mark Duggan look like a distraction as many youth took to the street to simply lot and cause fights with police. Even though it started off as a peaceful protest it escalated into something that would shake the city of London and various other cities across the UK. It showed the two types of ways that activism could take place, however I believe that the violence took away from the real reason and instead allowed the media to create a strong stereotype of British youths.
Key Stats & Figures
(HumStats 1899)
(Evans and Rogers 2011)
More facts can be found on: file:///Users/dhillo50/Downloads/sn06099.pdf
Digital Activism & Anonymous
Digital Activism is ‘all social and political practices that use digital network infrastructure’ (Joyce 2010). This includes all digital devices whether that is a mobile phone, the Internet and social media such as Twitter or Facebook. These devices can be used to organise strikes, protests, setting up meetings or getting new members to join the organisation. With the Internet developing every second it allows activists to use it too achieve their goals swiftly. Many digital activist cases tend to be more successful against governments rather than business authorities (Kelley n.d.). The Internet can be used a very powerful tool and one group that has used the Internet and all its tools to there advantage is the hacktivist group Anonymous. Hacktists are usually politically motivated and allows people with computers and the Internet to shake people in power to their core with the things that they can do in the matter of seconds (Jordan 2002: 119,120).
This can be seen the London riots the way that many of the riots were organised via BBM. It allowed people to send various messages out and to certain people. Riots could be organised within minutes and people would flock those areas of London just as quickly.
Anonymous have used the Internet to there advantage to send a message on many occasions one of there biggest on the 12th of January when they took down the FBI website! (Olson 2012). They have been labelled as terrorists however they see themselves as activists who protect the idea of free speech. They have shut down MasterCard, Visa and PayPal after these groups froze financial transactions to Wikileaks. This sent a big message out to the government and the various Cities as the people were unable to access cashpoints, banks and they were unable to pay for items via there cards. This affected the City as it meant that trading/sales would have dropped massively as people would have been unable to access there money and this would have defiantly made people more aware of there presences.
(OfficiallyAnonymous 2011)
Anonymous tend to go after the government in order to get rid of ‘cover-ups’. In February 2015 they announced that they were planning to ‘expose establishment child abuse and cover ups’. This created made many people fell uncomfortable and the former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Jim Gamble) took to Sky News to defend those who were to be exposed. He said;
“It’s fraught with so many difficulties. If there are people that have skills and abilities within Anonymous who actually want to do something positive to help law enforcement and others to inhibit paedophiles operating so freely online, then coming forward and working in some kind of framework would be great. But in the absence of that framework then there is the chance there could be some reckless disclosure, and from that reckless disclosure lives, and innocent lives, could be ruined. People make mistakes. We, during my time in law enforcement, made mistakes. We had information that we thought meant one thing and when we got to the back end of it, it actually meant something different. So jumping to conclusions, sharing information that hasn’t been verified and doing it in a mass public way is going to have a far bigger downside than the deterrents on the upside will be.”
However Anonymous posed the question ‘Why are you protecting them?’ Making people wonder why these document should not be realised to the general public. (Parmenter 2015). The fact that Anonymous operate via the Internet this creates a big problem for Cities. As they can create major problems (as with the banking situation). It stops people and make them notice the organisation and why they have reacted the way that they did and this allows them to get more ‘followers’. People can see what the group is up to via their YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/NEO2012anonymous) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/youranonnews) accounts.
Activism in Amsterdam (Provo Movement)
(EnginesofDomination 2015)
As our city of choice was Amsterdam we looked into what types of activist movements had taken place in Amsterdam. The two that stood out was the Provo Movement. The Provo Movement occurred during the 1960’s after some people felt boredom and alienation were powerful ‘weapons’. Provo’s saw this as a real force that could be used for social change. They used provocative actions such as ‘pranks’ ‘to arouse society from political and social indifference’.
In the first issue of the PROVO magazine there were instructions about how to make a Pineapple bomb, even though the instructions were useless the editors were arrested. The police saw it as them inciting violence, they were later realised without charge. Provo held ‘happenings’ in the centre of Amsterdam in order to create awareness. At one of these happenings they targeted the ‘cigarette cult’, which they felt was one of societies worst addictions. They targeted the Tabaco industry and defaced billboards advertising cigarettes by writing ‘Cancer’ over them in black tar. During one of the happenings in 1965 Roel van Duyn handed out one of the first Provo leaflets that stated the movements intentions that were to annoy and provoke society.
The magazine had various ‘White Plans’ and these were PROVO’s aims in a way. Those plans were;
The White Bicycle Plan
The White Victim Plan
The White Chimney Plan
The White Housing Plan
The White Wives Plan
The White Kids Plan
The White Chicken Plan
The White Bike Plan was created by Luud Schimmelpennink and was one of the plans in the Provo magazine. The plan was to launch thousands of rental bikes on the streets of Amsterdam for the public to use as they wish. The first sets of bikes were painted white near the statute of Lieverdje in the Spui Square on however the police confiscated them (arumug2k and van Duijn 2010). It was the first type of free communal transport and it used as a way to call a ban on all automobiles in the city. The bikes were also used a symbol to get rid of ‘capitalist private property’ and also ‘simplicity and cleanliness’. The bikes aloe people to get from A to B for free and the bikes were left all over the city so that anyone could use it, so it was basically a mass-sharing programme.
(eduivv 2009)
The first fifty white bikes were confiscated by the police as the police saw it an ‘invitation to theft’ the Provo’s reacted by stealing police vehicles. The Provo’s created something that has change Amsterdam (Furness 2010: 56)
. Many people know that there are many bikes in Amsterdam however when you visit the country you realise that many people prefer to travel by bike rather than cars. It is a plan that you could say is still working vey strongly. Even though at first people were not for this idea now it has become a way of life for the people of Amsterdam. Age does not matter as the young and old all ride bikes in the city. Even though now people own there own bikes rather than sharing and leaving them around the city it is an idea that has benefited Amsterdam in my opinion as it has reduced the pollution in the City compared to London, for example as many people use motor vehicles to get to work or school. This has made Amsterdam a cleaner and less polluted area and the stats bellow show this:
Pollution London vs Amsterdam
London
Amsterdam
Air Pollution
Moderate 52.23
Low 33.33
Drinking Water Pollution and Inaccessibility
Low 31.25
Low 20.83
Dissatisfaction with Garbage Disposal
Moderate 41.98
Low 34.21
Dirty and Untidy
Moderate 49.53
Moderate 51.32
Noise and Light Pollution
Moderate 54.33
Moderate 43.75
Water Pollution
Moderate 41.67
Low 32.89
Dissatisfaction to Spend Time in the City
Low 38.68
Low 29.55
Dissatisfaction with Green and Parks in the City
Low 21.36
Low 32.89
Contributors:
61
26
Last Update:
January, 2015
February, 2015
Purity and Cleanliness London vs Amsterdam
London
Amsterdam
Air quality
Moderate 47.77
High 66.67
Drinking Water Quality and Accessibility
High 68.75
High 79.17
Garbage Disposal Satisfaction
Moderate 58.02
High 65.79
Clean and Tidy
Moderate 50.47
Moderate 48.68
Quiet and No Problem with Night Lights
Moderate 45.67
Moderate 56.25
Water Quality
Moderate 58.33
High 67.11
Comfortable to Spend Time in the City
High 61.32
High 70.45
Quality of Green and Parks
High 78.64
High 67.11
Contributors:
61
26
Last Update:
January, 2015
February, 2015
(Adamovic n.d.)
These statistics show that people think about the two cities and I personal think that the reason that people think is due to the choice of transport. The lack of pollution can also be linked to The White Chimney Plan, which proposed tax on air polluters, highlighting industrial pollution. Even though there are car in Amsterdam many people chose to use bikes. London is also trying to introduce a bike sharing system in they city know as ‘Boris Bikes’, named after the Major of London (Boris Johnson). The scheme stared off on 2010 and was sponsored by Barclays, however now Santander has the sponsorship rights. The idea is that you pay for the bike and you can use it for that amount of time and then it must be returned to various bike spots around the city as can be seen in the link (https://web.barclayscyclehire.tfl.gov.uk/maps). You can pay for the bikes via your smartphone for a charge of £2 and day or £90 for the year. Santander out bided Coca-Cola and will now have their name on the 11,500 bikes in the City alongside the 748 docking stations (Lydall and Correspondent 2015). I belive that this a right step to change the city and it all goes back to Luud Schimmelpennink and the Provo movement who saw that cars and would create a polluted atmosphere in the future and that change was needed as soon as possible. The people of Amsterdam are not reliant on cars but more of bikes and this is because of the White Bike Plan.
The White Housing Plan introduced to sort out the housing problems within the city. The plan stated that empty and unoccupied buildings could be used a squats. The plan stated that theses houses would be marked with white paint and the address would be distributed publically so that people could use these houses if needed. This helped the city as it showed the togetherness to make sure tat everyone had somewhere safe and somewhere sheltered to sleep until they could afford to move out (2010). Some places in Amsterdam are still used as squats however a lot of them are now culture, art and music centres and the owners of these places are the former squatters of the buildings. These plans have changed Amsterdam for the better; it has made the city cleaner and also less reliant on cars. The Provo movement was an activist movement that was not welcomed by the authorities of Amsterdam however if they could see the city now they would realise that it has a great affect on the City even though they felt the method were wrong.
Overview
Looking at all of these case studies’ shows how activism can change a City for the better or worse. They all have different methods and as technology improves the ‘image’ of an activist changes as well. If you compare Provo and Anonymous you can see the similarities as they both want to change the thinking of society and they both target higher authorities. However Provo were a physical force as they went out and protested in the open and they gave out there magazine as a hard copy however Anonymous is done via the internet. Even though they can arrange meetings they are harder to identity, as they have no clear ‘leader(s)’ that can be arrested. They have no ‘leader(s)’ that can be arrested and halt the movement even if that is for a couple of days. Individuals can be arrested however there is no official number of Anonymous members. Provo’s persistence and there ‘White Plans’ have shaped Amsterdam as a country and has made the city environmentally friendly. It is a change that is still in place in the country and it has made the city famous for this reason. It has also lead to other cities wanting this change and London are trying to do this with their version of the ‘bike sharing’ system. In my opinion Anonymous can have a very similar effect as they can use their power to help change various cities rather than just one. They can install a fear into politicians who use their power for the wrong reasons, they can live in there subconscious. Maybe this will not happen however I defiantly fell that Anonymous are going to be around active for many decades as the development of technology can only be a positive to them rather than a hindrance. However even though these examples are shaping Cities for the better the London riots had a negative impact on the city. The main reason of the protest was lost in the riots. It started of about Mark Duggan however ended up being about the youths of Britain and how they have created so much damage. Provo used protests in the form of slogans and there magazine to achieve change for the better, however the London Riots were violent and were mainly felled by individual anger rather than anger about the death of Mark Duggan. The rights cost various Cities millions of pounds worth of damage. However within all of this there was also loss of lives within the riots, which again made the riots even more disturbing. It created negative press and made people uncomfortable within there own city. Each of these case studies shows different types of activism and different methods. Provo could be seen as the most effective as its plans are still in effect and have change the way that the city has operated. It has made Amsterdam as blueprint for the other cities, in particular London. The method used seemed to be extreme at the time however looking back at it now they simply did what they set out to do and that was to provoke people that had power or authority.
However the activist movements of Provo have shaped Amsterdam, the White Plans gave them a clear strategy and they used that to create a modern Amsterdam. Even though the city may be most famous for the Red Light District and their relaxed laws on marijuana they are also famous for their bikes. The White Bike plan expanded the minds of people within Amsterdam and has a create affect on the city in many ways.
I will now look into other topics that the other groups researched and see how they can have an affect on the City along side Activism. The other topics that I will look at are:
Art & the City
Modernism & the City
The Cinematic City and
Art & the City
Art can be used in many ways and it can be used to get different reactions from different people. Art can be seen in various ways it can be a painting on a canvas, it could be a statue or even a chair. Art is a very broad subject and can be interpreted in many different ways. Street is very common now and many people just express their felling’s wherever they find space. Most of this type of Art is done on walls in public areas, however many people do not see this as art and instead see it as graffiti or vandalism. Some of the art is simply what people are felling however some are satirical piece to annoy authorities. One artist who does this is Banksy, he is famous for the satirical work that he has done across London. Nobody know who he is which makes it harder for the authorities to bring him to justice, however his art is very direct and sends out a clear message (Banksy. 2005). This has inspired many people to use the city as there canvas.
I took the image above in a rural area of Amsterdam, the artist is unknown however I did speak to some of the locals to see what they made of the art. Many did see it as art and they all had very interesting interceptions about what they thought it was, however the few people that I did speak to did not see it as being any type of vandalism. I believe that this piece of art shows that as well as our eyes our brain also see the world in a different way and that is how we chose to express our self’s. It shows that if we let our brain have the freedom and space that it deserves then you can see the world in a different way and express yourself how you feel. Most of the street artists have been ‘moved out of the city’ by the government. The street art is not as big as in London or Melbourne as the government decided to crack down on this type of ‘dissent’ (Young 2014). However Amsterdam do have their versions of Banksy in ‘The London Police’ and ‘Laser 3.14’. Laser 3.14 writes poetic aphorisms in Amsterdam on hording or scaffolding covers and is dubbed as Amsterdam’s ‘Guerrilla Poet’ and his words of wisdom can be seen all over the city (Out 1993). The work is usually temporary and it expresses his thoughts on the city changing through construction. Laser 3.14 has used his artwork to express his felling’s and it can be seen as a piece of activism as he is using slogans and banner to express change. Some of is work has been positive and some has been negative. The only issue is that the work is temporary which means it can be easily forgot or it could not be seen by a number of people. Laser has said that he usually just cycles around Amsterdam and when he sees and empty spot he expresses his felling’s.
With Amsterdam being a vibrant and energetic city the words that he uses can be seen as inspiration it will make people question why that has been written and the purpose for it however some of the work may be clearer to understand. Even though there are not many street artists in Amsterdam his work does not go un-noticed and the fact that they are fairly temporary makes it even more exclusive. Some activist use slogans and banners to their advantage in order to get there message across and that is exactly what Laser 3.14 does. Bellow is an example of his work.
Amsterdam is also the home to the Van Gogh Museum, it holds all of his work and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the city. The museum perverse his collection in order to keep Dutch art thriving he is one of the most famous artists in the world and this helps the city financial as well.
Modernism & the City
Modernism covers the broad movements within Western Art, Architecture and design (Modern n.d.). Even though Amsterdam is a modern city which has a blend on modern building’s and those from the 19th century and this keeps the city very unique. The architecture as be been preserved and is still used today for housing and shops. The canal and the canal house are images that can be seen in almost every travel brochure as it not often seen in other cities. Most of the other cities are more modern in the terms of buildings and the houses are built around those buildings, however Amsterdam is structured around the canals. One of the most famous buildings is the Amsterdam School. It is a stylistic building and the style of architecture that started in 1910 until 1930. The movement is part of the International Expressionist Architecture. It was a movement that last for a short period. The style of buildings evolved over the years, which lead to, a great deal of experimentation (Casciato 1996) (White 2003).
The Cinematic City
A cinematic city can have a big influence on how the city is shaped and how the city looks overall. Amsterdam plays host to the Eye Museum hold a large collection of film from the end of the 19th century up to the newest digital productions. It is the also the only institute in the Netherlands which collects film related collections such as photos, posters, soundtracks and equipment. The museum adds new films to there archive. (May 1997). This allows the people of Amsterdam, and tourists, to go and see how cinema and film has evolved over the years. The newer technologies used in film that has allowed our viewing experience seem realistic.
Kempton, R. (2007) Provo: Amsterdam’s Anarchist Revolt. United Kingdom: New Autonomy
Klimke, M. and Scharloth, J. (2008a) 1968 in Europe: A History of Protest and Activism, 1956-1977. 1st edn. ed. by Klimke, M. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan
Klimke, M. and Scharloth, J. (2008b) 1968 in Europe: A History of Protest and Activism, 1956-1977. 1st edn. ed. by Klimke, M. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan
Kubesh, K., McNeil, N., and Bellotto, K. (2007) Martin Luther King Jr. United States: In the Hands of a Child
May, A. (1997) Amsterdam Scene (Travel Guide). United Kingdom: Millivres Prowler Group
McCaughey, M. and Ayers, M. (2003) Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice. 1st edn. ed. by Ayers, M. and Ayers, M. United States: Routledge Member of the Taylor and Francis Group
Olson, P. (2012) We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of Lulzsec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency. United States: Little, Brown & Company
Out, T. (1993) The Time Out Amsterdam Guide. United Kingdom: Penguin Books Ltd
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