Future Cultures: Summary of Live Tweeting

Live tweeting is a science of a thousand details – I felt as if I was thrown off the deep end when asked to live tweet during the session for BCM325: Future Cultures.

I had seen none of the films screened is class before, so trying to take in the story, while simultaneously researching it, and composing a somewhat intellectually balanced tweet was a challenge.

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Major unplugs herself – Ghost in the Shell (1995) Source

I found Ghost in the Shell (1995) the hardest topic to tweet about, as it was the first one (and its how I justify my low likes). I tried to tweet about things that weren’t ‘obvious’ – I felt that the film should not be taken at face value.

I enjoyed building on the points of others, especially Claire (@silentclaire). These collaborative tweets gained more likes.

 

The Gunslinger stare-down – Westworld (1973) Source

 

In week two, I was still trying to figure out live tweeting. I wasn’t able to do justice to Westworld (1973) – but the film still struck a nerve. Although my tweets involved more memes and general observations, I feel it matched the content (and received what I would call ‘medium’ likes).

 

Johnny’s airport scan – Johnny Mnemonic (1995) Source

 

However, Johnny Mnemonic (1995) was when I started to get the hang of live tweeting.

We were warned by Chris (@CL_Moore) that it was ok to hate this film, so I took that and ran with it. Instead of commenting on the bad acting and ridiculous dialogue:

I tried to focus on the finer details – the engagement wasn’t too high this week.

I do regret that I spelled cyberpunk so wrong, but one of my favourite replies to the tweet was by Emily (@some_spilt_ink).

 

Neo asks the right question – The Matrix (1999) Source

 

Continuing on with the cyberpunk theme, The Matrix (1999) blew my mind. I really liked this tweet by Chantelle (@chanryhde) which I felt summarised the film.

The detail and concept of this film was amazing, and it was hard to put my thoughts into tweets. I thought there was a refinement and poise within the dystopia, and the elaborate plot unfolded beautifully – summarised by Sunny (@sunnycommandeur).

I really enjoyed the play on names in The Matrix, and as Kristy (@kristyyrenae) said, implicit language is a powerful tool used in film. Also, my first go at two getting retweets!

I also tried to boost my engagement with a twitter poll asking that question…

The next week signified a change in pace for the remainder of the screenings – the material viewed weren’t necessarily ‘classics’ or groundbreaking films, but really held their own.

 

AI becoming Ash – ‘Be Right Back’ (2016) Source

 

Black Mirror‘s ‘Be Right Back‘ (2013) was my first exposure to Black Mirror and I was not disappointed. My tweets this week were more observations and general comments.

I was particularly taken with this episode of Black Mirror because it felt so real – it’s not a crazy or farfetched idea in the slightest. I liked this musing by Jesse (@Jezem06).

The characters were extremely human (ironic?) as Maddy (@foxfillip) pointed out. It left me slightly unsettled, and it was hard to say something of substance when tweeting.

 

Frank armwrestling – Robot & Frank (2012) Source

 

The next screening was also something that stirred up my emotions. Robot & Frank (2012) was a beautiful film with a timely relevance to real life, pointed out by Phi Phi (@hi_phiphi).

6 likes on an academic source? Awesome.

Robot & Frank was less about the technology, and more about the human. However, I felt that the robot was almost human. This conversation between Cassie (@cassiebradley98) and Kristy (@kristyyrenae) looked at the idea that we knew the robot couldn’t learn emotions…

…but its whole reason for existence was to care and aid the human it was assigned to, and I fell in love:

 

Granular’s headquarters – ‘Hated in the Nation’ (2016) Source

However, out of all the screenings, Black Mirror‘s ‘Hated in the Nation‘ (2016) will stick with me forever – which Mia (@teledaddyy) and Brendon (@brendonfish) captured accurately.

In fact my favourite tweets from this week were just the general horror being experienced:

This episode of Black Mirror was horrifying, and my nose involuntarily itches when I think about it. Surveillance is used as a weapon, which made this episode uncomfortably real.

 

Rachael – Blade Runner (1982) Source

 

To wrap up the live tweeting session, we finished with Blade Runner (1982) – one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, despite the rampant misogyny. It was refreshing to see that there could be discussions around the topic from @CL_Moore and @EzzyApples.

Despite this, I also turned my tweets towards discussing the aesthetic of the film with @PG_Adrian95 and @angster1.

Overall, I thought the live tweeting experience was awesome. It’s almost adrenaline inducing to see your notifications skyrocket each week during a screening, knowing that all the material is highly though provoking,

Live tweeting may be the most important skill to have as a media and communications student – being able to view, interpret, and summarise information for distribution within under one minute is enviable, and respectable.

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Header image: londonaudiovisual.co.uk. (n.d.). Film Screenings | AV Hire for Film | London Audio Visual. [online] Available at: https://www.londonaudiovisual.co.uk/av-hire-live-events/film-screenings/