VCT: Cut and Paste

The other week I had a lecture on "cut and paste" which is to literally take something from one identity and paste it in another form, re-appropriating it and giving it a new meaning. One example that was given to us is Michael and Janet Jackson's music video 'Scream'.

You Tube: Michael and Janet Jackson: Scream.

Throughout the video it uses rapid editing of different clips, some with an action that was happening in earlier scenes, cut and pasted into the background, creating a juxtaposition. They are self referential as they crete a close circuit of appropriation by cutting and pasting from their own elements. They also take it a step further and use surrealist art work such by Andy Warhol and René Magritte in a mixture of scenes to add to the out of this world random and weird feel to the video. It creates this atmosphere due to the contrast of artwork being in a spaceship and futuristic video when usually it sits in a gallery. Again Again it causes a juxtaposition of opposites and reinforces the surrealism of the video.

Furthermore there are direct rip offs of the space odyssey film, again to push the message and ambiance of sci-fi and space. I felt that this video was a really great example of cut and paste as it shows that by cutting and pasting, even if its self referential, it can reinforce the message your trying to convey and completely re-appropriates the clips (for example the pop art in Scream). Also by using clips of earlier scenes in the background sequence it adds to the feel of never ending stress that finally emulates into the need to scream. The rapid editing of the scenes and the repetition further reinforces this idea which would not have been as effective without using this technique of cut and paste.