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KateModern

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 1 month ago

 

Kate Modern is an internet video series based on the identity struggle and related everyday and out-of-the-ordinary happenings of a troubled young artist and her three friends. The show airs on www.bebo.com with daily episodes that are between one to five minutes in length. The first season of KateModern can be found here and the newest season of KateModern can be found here.

KateModern is a spinoff of the wildly popular youtube drama LonelyGirl15.

 

Characters Page

 

 

Ways in which KateModern is a traditional narrative


    Kate Modern is a traditional narrative in that it has central characters and a central theme as outlined above and the theme is carried from episode to episode. It also explores some common problems that people have in everyday living and addresses how the characters work together and individually to overcome them. In that same way, it is also relevant to culture and life as it is now in the same way that many others narratives have characters and events that pertain to the concerns facing those individuals of that time period in which the narrative takes place. A good example of this is to watch a sitcom from the 80s and then a sitcom of today. While many problems that have always been common to people in general are addressed in both, some things that are issues today often might not be part of a narrative in a show from the 80s because things change.

 

Ways in which KateModern is a "new" type of narrative


     Besides the usage of the camera as a character in various episodes, Kate Modern is a new type of narrative in format because of the fact that it consists of short online videos. The fact that each video is relatively short affords the time for a fan to watch one episode of Kate Modern daily even in spite of a hectic lifestyle. Since life has definitely "sped up" since the invention of television and subsequently the computer, it makes sense to have a show that provides a short but interesting diversion, allowing even someone busy to enjoy an interesting series and become involved from the perspective of a viewer with the lives of the characters. The style and format is also new, since it is a video blog and having commercials sort of embedded into the videos by making the products a part of the narrative. While product placement in a moving picture is nothing really new, the viewer will notice that no commercials exist for or along with Kate Modern, especially since it is not shown on a major television network. Instead, products are creatively placed prominently within the narrative and used as a part of the narrative (such as the Pantene products used in"The Big Day" and the tampons shown in "A Day In the Life"). This video series is also new because of the internet format being available on demand worldwide (as opposed to a television show being local or nationwide and a novel only being available if the reader has the book).   

 

Internet series have gained the interest of some major corporations as well.  NBC has started an internet series called Quarterlife, while Michael Eisner has created the series PromQueen.

 

This "new" style of narrative and cinematography has been seen before like in the more recent films like The Blair Witch, but only recently has the audience been able to make the "shift" into such a new style.

 

ARG in KateModern


An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions.

The form is typified by intense player involvement with a story that takes place in real-time and evolves according to participants' responses, and characters that are actively controlled by the game's designers, as opposed to being controlled by artificial intelligence as in a computer or console video game. Players interact directly with characters in the game, solve plot-based challenges and puzzles, and often work together with a community to analyze the story and coordinate real-life and online activities. ARGs generally use multimedia, such as telephones, email and mail but rely on the Internet as the central binding medium.  In KateModern, the story takes place in real-time with four different people controlling the camera.  For the most part, it was usually Kate; other times it was a mixture between Charlie, Gavin, and Tariq.

 

Some ARG terms:

  • Puppetmaster - A puppetmaster or "PM" is an individual involved in designing and/or running an ARG. Puppetmasters are simultaneously allies and adversaries to the player base, creating obstacles and providing resources for overcoming them in the course of telling the game's story. Puppetmasters generally remain behind the curtain while a game is running.The real identity of puppet masters may or may not be known ahead of time.
  • The Curtain - The curtain is generally a metaphor for the separation between the puppetmasters and the players. This can take the traditional form of absolute secrecy regarding the puppetmasters' identities and involvement with the production, or refer merely to the convention that puppetmasters do not communicate directly with players through the game, interacting instead through the characters and the game's design.
  • This Is Not A Game (TINAG) - Setting the ARG form apart from other games is the This Is Not A Game aesthetic, which dictates that the game not behave like a game: phone numbers mentioned in the ARG, for example, should actually work, and the game should not provide an overtly-designated playspace or ruleset to the players.
  • Rabbithole - Also known as a Trailhead. A Rabbithole marks the first website, contact, or puzzle that starts off the ARG.

 

In relation to KateModern, there are five "puppetmasters", the first one being Kate.  She has a secret hidden from all of her friends, which she announced in the earlier episodes.  Her obstacles with "blackouts" and her odd dreams keep Gavin, Charlie, and Tariq on the edge while they follow her throughout her adventures.  In a sense, Charlie, Gavin, and Tariq are also the puppetmasters, since they also have their own recordings and episodes.  The person behind the camera is moreso the ideal puppetmaster, since you never see who is primarily doing the shooting.  The "Curtain" here is most definitely the camera.  The TINAG (This Is Not A Game) aspect is made possible through product placement, i.e. restaurants, brand names, etc.  The "Rabbithole" can either be the "Welcome to the Roof" episode, where Tariq is introducing himself, Gavin, and Kate; or it could be the first episode, where Kate is introducing herself and her lies/secrets.

 

Product Placement in KateModern


 

    Product Placement is the use of commercial brands in media to market and advertise their goods. In KateModern, the product placement is subtle but definitely visible. Certain products are used heavily in KateModern like HP, Microsoft Live, Coca-Cola, and Orange Wireless. The use of product placement is most likely a revenue stream to the producers and creators of KateModern.

 

    Another new media conducive aspect that allows KateModern to be a new type of narrative is provided by the basic nature of the internet. Furthermore, since the narrative takes place on Bebo, viewers are encouraged to contribute and even take part in the drama unfolding online. Occasional live performances are done in public areas where the audience can freely watch events unfold before their very eyes creating the illusion of legitimacy. The line between fiction and reality tend to blur together in order to further pull the audience into the KateModern world, where the audience is asked to partake in the mystery solving. Currently Kate has just been killed and they have a comment section that is a part of Bebo where people can put their thoughts on who killed Kate. The producers have also taken into thought the fact that their watchers should have an impact on what goes on in the show. On the bebo page the producers have included polls asking question like "What are you most looking forward to in KateModern Season Two?" and "Which of these is your favourite KateModern episode?" to get a better understanding of their audience. Often a character will directly ask the audience for more information about a picture or a piece of information. The producers, in an effort to make the KateModern world more immersive, also have allusions to various websites related to fictitious groups within the story; these websites actually exist.

 

Sex sells in KateModern


    Sex is an overtone/undercurrent in many narratives and KateModern is no different. The show makes obvious attempts at building the sexual tension between Tariq, Kate and Steve. Watching the early shows the viewer starts to wonder, "Who is this Steve guy and what does he want?", "Are Kate and him just friends or is there an intimate relationship?", and finally, "Is a relationship going to form? If love/sex is Steve's motives...who will win out?" The sexual overtones are also obvious in the blog titled A Friendly Lie where the camera is conveniently angled right down Kate's top throughout the blog. The viewer is also treated to obviously intentional sexually nuanced content in Charlie's impromptu and unecessary workout video and Gav's "wandering eye" camera work.

 

Videos


 

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Links


Here is a link to The Hymn of One, and a separate link explaining the role of The Hymn of One in LonelyGirl15.

Here is a link to JustIncredible.Tv, the online Tv station that Julia (Tariq's currently ex-girlfriend) works at.

 

(Dave: Not surprsingly this is a strong page. What this article needs now is some cleaning up (i.e. smoothing out of the prose), linking to other parts of the wiki which will help to contextualize the themes of the course in terms of KateModern. Perhaps a criticism and praise section as well . . . and mention of the ARG and how it relates.)

 

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