Media Magazine Conference

Professor David Buckingham
Chewing gum for the brain: Why do people talk such rubbish about Media Studies? 

To begin with, David Buckingham introduced this topic in a negative way by showing examples where the media makes strong negative opinions against Media studies as a subject. The Daily Mail quoted ‘Studying Simpsons was duming down the study of Shakespeare in English’. A private school, Harrow also said that it gives students false hopes to the future. On the other hand, Michael Gove who was interested in Media studies did say that it is a subject where it potentially boosts schools averages but there is no evidence to prove this. These examples highlights that Media is considered as a ‘soft’ subject which is not take seriously.

David Buckingham used the term ‘trendy travesty’ in a lot of detail proposing that Media doesn’t guarantee a job after you graduate and also a ‘Mickey Mouse’ subject.

After this debate and opinions of various people, David started to talk about the history in how English Literature wasn’t accepted at first and how it took a lot of criticism. Two people, Frank and Queenie were the introducers of Media Studies within schools. They pushed and pushed until it was accepted as they proposed that there was nothing wrong with it academically.

In the USA, they claimed that media studies goes against defending young innocent kids from the violence, drugs, sex and obesity that may be involved whilst studying it. 

Overall, David summarised his debate on whether Media Studies was a soft subject or not. His first argument was that it connects many subjects together, it’s always around us therefore worth studying and most importantly it is actually liked by employers. Some statistics to prove this is; 2/3 of graduates after 6months get a job and a high percentage mostly get jobs in the media.

Dr. Julian McDougall:
Online media, Cleggmania and the Cowell Factor.
How do online media and convergence impact on the ways audiences and producers use and create media?

Julian McDougall’s main argument was that online media has become a massively used resource to communicate and socialise. Referring to Web 1.0 which involves newspapers and books which are now quite unpopular to the young generation will eventually die out. At the moment, we live within Web 2.0 which are social networking sites, emailing, video conferences and YouTube.

Using this, Julian posed this question; will media influence democracy in the future? He mentioned that online media has already made countries more democratic, but is it a good or bad aspect?

Overall, Julian told us as media students that we need to be more critical compared to the general population who are very opinionated without any thought.

Pete Fraser:
Perfecting your production work. How to get the most out of your practical projects.

Pete Fraser gave lots of tips on how to succeed on various media productions for example, a music video, a trailer or an opening to the film. He showed us some examples of ones that got low grades but also ones that were simple and effective and got very high marks. 

From this lecture, I took away many things, mostly on the procedures of creating a media production successfully with maximum resources and planning.  Research is the most important aspect because it sets you up to what you are making, examples, evidence, all angles and the audiences are key aspects to look up. Moving onto the planning side, he mentioned that you need to plan all eventualities and show the process in which you are heading.  The work you’ve done can be recorder by blogging, taking pictures and just making sure everything is organised.

When making initial ideas, simplicity is very important because from there you can build without it being too complicated and confusing. Also, you need to make sure your plan is realistic otherwise in problems may occur when producing it. This leads onto thinking about the people, places and props which need to be decided as early as possible just in case something goes wrong. Ensure all characters are serious for your production to get the best out of your media production.

Lastly, before handing in the coursework, Pete Fraser recommended that feeback from peers and other teachers may be beneficial to improve your work even further rather than just the first one you do and handing it in.

Overall, this lecture was very insightful to the detail and organisation we need when producing my film trailer.

50 Cent Reebok Advert

50 cent Reebok Advert




To begin with, this Reebok advert starring 50 cent a well known celebrity in the music business brought up controversial issues and various messages which portrayed it to be too violent.

Various techniques were used to create this advert however overall it represented negativity due to the setting, the non diegetic and diegetic sound and mostly the lighting.

The way 50 cent was shown was from a low angle shot looking up to give him power and superiority. This gives us as an audience a message that he represents a strong powerful character hence Reebok used him to create this. Close up shot was used to give us detail to his facial expressions which were quite serious with a straight face. This also relates to his firmness of his character. Another close up of the shoe hanging from a telephone line represents a rundown urban area where you could connote that most of the violent actions occur in those types of places.

This type of setting is reflected also through the non diegetic sound of the police frequencies which creates a more fragile area to where violence is the norm in this type of setting. The use of sound and setting is very important to express the glamorised violence which has been achieved. Another aspect to enhance this is the dark dull lighting. The effect of this creates a mysterious and scary scene; it could also represent the darkness where the majority of violence occurs.

Paying particular attention to the diegetic sound which is mainly 50 cent counting from 1 to 9. In my opinion this relates to the same number of time he got shot and still surviving. In this advert he is shown to be invincible and a strong character against violence which glamorises it even more. The clothes which 50 cent is wearing are baggy, branded and a typical stereotype of a ‘gangster’. You could connote that this group is known for violence and represent a ‘hard’ figure against other social groups.

By looking at the setting and 50 cent, you could gather that it attracts mainly young black men because stereotypically you could connote that most violence comes from this type of social group which is a dominant ideology. This is quite a small audience so potentially, Reebok are addressing to mostly young men. This ensures they push the boundaries of advertising and create more variety to get teenagers interested the most.

In my opinion, Reebok produced a purposely non ASA recommendation for an advert to get more publicity. If this advert was released and watched by various people and then banned which would then spread over many websites, more people would be interested into why it was banned. This creates more interest for the advert which would hopefully link to the product actually being sold. It is a chain reaction of events to create mass publicity.

Lastly, the ASA banned this advert because it represented negativity, violence and no real meaning to their product that they were trying to sell. In my opinion Reebok only made this advert to create publicity and get their brand name more across different audiences to attract them to their future products.

Dominant and Alternative Adverts

Dominant Advert – Lynx



The lynx effect advert was produced by Lynx them self to address to mainly men to buy their product. From looking at this advert and others, it’s clear to say that their unique selling point is to attract women with their fragrance.

In the advert, the main dominant representation shown was the man and a large mass of girls following him which is a dominant stereotype.

To summarise the advert, in the beginning the man at the top of the cliff with lots of rats following him which shows that he has no popularity, no status and no real life. The connotations you could take away from this is that he finds it hard to be attractive for the women, which is an alternative characteristic for most men however eventually he slowly turns to a dominant one. This is because, as soon as he sprays the lynx, he has the ‘effect’ of girls suddenly finding him attractive which then makes him a popular man. This is Lynx’s main selling point for all men.

The use of lots of women following him was chosen as a dominant ideology because as an audience they want to see the norm in adverts rather than something that’s new which hasn’t created a status of being popular. Women are represented to have a high working class as the props used to dress them are smart clothing. You could say that this as an alternative characteristic of women as they are normally seen as the housewife. Once the man sprays himself, they become more relaxed and into their dominant ideology as they lose their dignity and respect because they follow him through alley ways etc. Also a couple of girls follow him by leaving another man which could show their immaturity in life.

Both the man and women looked as if they were in their 20s however Lynx can attract boys from 14- 30. This is a wide range because this from both ends of the target audience, they care about their image to attract girls. A more niche audience would be older men who are still in touch with impressing their wife at that age. In my opinion, the product attracts the majority of the middle class as they all are working people trying to create an image for them.

Overall this advert is effective for a mass audience because the characters and product are represented through a dominant ideology.


Alternative Advert 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CEQMv3vfYE
 

This advert was produced by Nike especially for women which was the main target audience. Only one young woman was represented in the advert on the main stage which draws our main attention to her and her dancing and nothing else.

Using the clothing used which is still feminine but at the same time sporty creates the alternative ideology as women are not generally seen as sports players who break dance. This form of dance is primarily done by most men which are successful hence creates the dominance. 

The woman dancer was shown to have some attitude, skill and presence which represents the alternative ideology of women. Stereotypically, women are seen as the behind the scenes workers who clean and look after the kids however from this advert you can see independence and control of her life and expressing it through dancing.

In my opinion this representation was created to address Nike products to a wider target audience to get more publicity and attraction by a variety of people and not just boys and men.

Overall, this advert is effective to attract female audiences to a product which may only been seen mostly on men.

Controverisal Adverts

Smoking and Separation Commercial

·  In my opinion I don’t think that this advert was controversial however looking at various comments of this video it seems that leaving a small child alone in a busy place was harsh. Also the representation of mother and smoking leaves a negative effect on the future of the child and also the present as he was left alone.

·    This advert shouldn’t have been banned because it creates a real life scenario message where this could happen to many consumers of cigarettes. It also allows the audience to understand what could happen to your family if you smoke therefore it is effective and shouldn’t be banned.

Suicide Advert by Audi

This advert seems to be quite ‘in your face’ because it uses a negative and disturbing scenario of committing suicide to the positives of the new efficient non smelling Audi exhaust. The reason why this was controversial was because of the comparison they made. It was quite intensive for an audience especially because it may create and replicate various ideas where this has been an actual situation to where someone might of tried to commit suicide.

·         In some respect, the advert was effective in getting its message across however if Audi made another advert that was more friendly to a wider audience, it wouldn’t cause as much controversy. The advert shouldn’t be banned because it sends a good clear message in an interesting way.

The World Cup 2002 - Dog Kicked      





This advert was banned because of the abuse the dog got from being kicked. It mainly affects the audiences that love animals hence represent great anger and disappointment to why a company would make an advert like this. It brings up issues with the RSPCA as it represents animal cruelty. While some people might find it ‘funny’ at first, it causes many issues that may offend a lot of people.

·         These issues relate to why it was banned and in my opinion the ASA had a good right to ban this advert for the cruelty it represents to animals. No animal should be treated like that in real life, so by representing it in a advert brings up a lot of controversial reasons.

Media Awards Analysis

Media Awards Analysis

Silencer:

This trailer was very engaging as it used many editing effects as well as a structured and linear narrative. I thought that the storyline was well thought out and original with the use of props for example, the mask, sword and the chain. I would think that the mask was an action code throughout as it represented the leader, possibly violence and the main attention throughout the trailer.  In my opinion the mask could connote, hidden identity and also seen to be a potentially deceptive character which creates the disequilibrium in the movie.

The editing effect that stood out the most was the black and white effect and enhancing certain colours to create attention to the audience. The connotations of the black and white effect created simplicity, mystery and possibly being lifeless which relates to the theme of the movie. Also the sound effects were really effective because of the use of repetition and echo which created a real movie type experience as it feels like there is surround sound present.

This trailer followed a traditional narrative according to Todorov’s structure; equilibrium, disequilibrium and the new equilibrium. However, a cliff-hanger was used which left us as an audience guessing what would happen next which could involve the use of an enigma code.

Overall, in my opinion, I think that Silencer the trailer was really effective with use of various props, effects and its narrative. It appealed to me because it was different and involved many mysteries along with some thriller.

Chainmail

This movie trailer was also very effective with its clear narrative. The genre of this trailer is thriller, mysterious and has a lot of interaction with the audience. I feel that this movie can appeal to mostly teenagers as they use the internet with social networking sites and emails. In this movie mostly girls were shown to be dead so could be the main victims.

The use of editing was used effectively because of the short snap shots of certain scenes, with key quotes being shown. This was successful because from a producer’s perspective as it doesn’t give too much information away, but just enough to engage the audience.

The narrative seemed to be non-linear because as soon as the trailer started, there was a death of a victim so it already showed disequilibrium from the beginning. As the trailer went on, it showed to be an investigation which was reaching to a conclusion even though more and more deaths were occurring. Eventually you could think that it would reach a new equilibrium where harmony would be restored in the end.

In this trailer you could outline the various types of characters according to the theory of Vladimir Propp. He proposed various characters that may definitely been in a movie. In the trailer there was a group of members who wanted to search for the villain which is one type of character. The group could be seen as the heroes. In this movie, a princess could be anyone that was lucky enough to get saved at the right time however it’s hard to determine who as there many victims that die and could be saved.

Overall, this movie was very engaging with its inventive narrative and use of various scenes and settings.

Narrative Movie Analysis

Movie: Orphan

Firstly, the genre of this film is possibly a thriller with many twists in it. In my opinion I think that there are many scenes where the lighting, type of shot and facial expressions really emphasise what the narrative at that moment; not only at a specific moment but as a whole film. An audience could understand what type of film it is. For example, the setting of this film is in a cold snowy place on a hill which could connote mystery and sad moments and disappointment, however many people use the snow to symbolise a happy time hence it causes twists and confusion in the movie.

This movie successfully uses a clear theory that Todorov described which consisted of three stages. First, the equilibrium, the state of harmony, second, the disequilibrium where harmony is disrupted and a chain of events leading to conflict and lastly, the new equilibrium where harmony is restored.

Specifically, the movie starts out to be very friendly and innocent. The parents visit an orphanage to take home a child and you can see real connection instantly between the mother and the orphan. The audience can see this through small gestures such as a smile, twinkle in the eyes and a sense of calmness by either holding hands or a hug. From this you can tell that there is clear harmony.

As the film proceeds, various events lead up to the main climax, the disequilibrium where there is a lot of conflict. Some examples by the orphan are threats to the other two kids, affection with the husband and the killing of the nun. This all leads up to investigation that this orphan isn’t normal and may have problems according to the mother however the father disagrees. These are the chain of events which lead up to the big twist which is that the orphan has a very rare disease that she is really a 39year old woman with anger problems but looks like an 8year old with no record of her past. Throughout these scenes, the lighting becomes darker overall, sinister music and long shots with close ups represents the frightened mood as the audience gathers the scenarios.

Lastly, a sense of resolution is restored with harmony. It all becomes quite violent and mysterious as the orphan has trapped the kids, mother is in mental hospital whilst the father is home getting threatened by the orphan to kill him. In the end the mother rushes back and gets the orphan taken away, kids saved and husband slightly injured. All this happens in a dark environment with just the sound of voices to create a centre of attention to it.

In conclusion, this film follows Todorov’s clear theory of the three stages. Also using Propp’s theory, you could classify each character in general terms. The orphan being the villain, mother possibly the donor or hero as she finds out the orphans history and sorts it out. The father could be the princess as he has to be saved. Overall narrative play an important part in the film’s success as a more detailed narrative with lots of twists will engage their target audience more.

Regulating the Internet

1.    Consider firstly what are the issues surrounding being able to access ideas, words and images from around the world which are not regulated?

·         There are many different things on the internets for example; pictures, videos, blogs etc and anyone can access it through other people especially on social networking sites. This means that there isn’t much privacy even by customizing your settings which may lead to, threats, grooming for young kids as identity is not shown.

2.    Who would be responsible for internet regulation?

·         Internet regulation is a hard process to monitor because for example, if the government regulated it, they might use it for biased reasons to only support their opinions and campaigns and possibly this may influence voting. If you had a public figure regulating it, certain things that may be of interest to some people and not themselves may create problems. Regulating the internet is difficult because you’re not sure of the consequences and selfishness that may come into it.

3.    Are there any existing bodies that could/should do this?

·         I think that independently parents can apply various restrictions on the internet to stop young children from entering harmful sites that may lead them into trouble however this isn’t widely used therefore there are still many problems. It would be hard to persuade all parents to control the internet at home. Other simple restrictions that are implementing now, are the age limits however many people lie about their age so not very reliable.

4.    Would it require a new organisation?

·         Regulating the internet has very intricate procedures which would mean many people will have to be involved. A big organisation would have to be created in different countries to apply to the internet worldwide.

5.    How would the regulation be monitored?

·         The regulation would be monitored on a daily or even hourly basis and possibly separating all the websites into various genres to make the regulating easier.  Possibly involves schools to keep up to date with the views on certain websites so the monitoring isn’t too big to control.

6.    What would the disadvantages of internet regulation be?

·         Internet regulation is a very hard process because of the mass of the population, the amount of websites, and possibly the time differences worldwide. A big organisation would have t be set up worldwide to control the internet as it’s used everywhere. You would never get a 100% regulation on all sites as people may find a way around it.

 FACTS

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

·         1,000,000 books are published worldwide every year.

·         240,000,000 TV’s in the United States are being used today and 2,000,000 of them are in bathrooms.

·         10 million unique visitors watch ABC and NBC in the last 200 years compared to 250 million people who have used YouTube, Facebook or MySpace.

·         95% of songs that were downloaded weren’t paid for.

·         Brady James of Los Angeles sent 217,541 texts in March 2009.

·         Barack Obama used social networking sites to raise money and received $55 million in 29days.

Quote: ‘So what used to fit in a building now fits in your pocket, what fits in your pocket now will fit in a blood cell in 25 years.’