Level 2 modules

Professional Development and Placement - Media, Film & Culture 2

Media, Culture, Society

Researching the Media Landscape

Video Production: Script to Screen

Visual Effects and Motion graphics

Myths, Meaning and Movies

Level 1 Results

Placement Report at TRC

Introduction to the host organisation

My placement for Level 1 Media Studies was at a college in Rotherham. Thomas Rotherham College is an A-level college. It takes on new students from GCSE for a two or more year period. Students attend college to work on getting achievements that will either help them get a job or set them on a career path, or help them on their way into further education.

The college consists of different departments. The obvious ones are the teaching departments, like Media Studies, English, and Biology. However there are other departments that aid staff and students throughout there time at Thomas Rotherham College. Some examples are student services, Learning Resource Center (LRC or Library) and Exams Office. These departments do no student teaching but aid with any other problems that may arise.

For Example student services will supervise attendance of students. LRC holds learning resources like books, computers and independent learning. And the exams office organizes facilities to accommodate the exam timetable.

Appendix 8 is a hierarchy graph showing the authority level in the workplace. It shows that Andy Amery, the Program Manager supports the department with any of its needs and is the boss of Vicky Allen who is the head of the Media Department. She teaches media as well as keeps the department running by assigning tasks to the other teachers Robert Venn, and Lee Hughes. My role shows that Vicky is the person I report to for assignments and updates on general activities I will be taking part in during the day. It also shows I have no direct access to students. My relationship with the students was to help where I felt I could but always in the presence of another teacher.

OCR is ‘a leading UK awarding body, providing a wide range of qualifications to meet the needs of learners of all ages and abilities.’ (http://www.ocr.org.uk/)
They supply the teaching staff with the curriculum they will be teaching, and training the teachers everything about the course requirements and expectations of the students.

Media students at Thomas Rotherham College to receive a qualification were required by OCR to study a range of media texts and topics as well as the construction and deconstruction of media products, in the context of the key conceptual areas of media forms and conventions, media institutions, media audiences and media representations. (http://www.ocr.org.uk/ (PDF Document Approved Specs for Media Studies))

Analysis of the host organization

Thomas Rotherham College is a local six-form college in the Rotherham area, and is seen as an alternative for students who do no wish to stay at the secondary school institutions for their further education. It welcomes students from in its local area and surrounding boroughs like Sheffield and Doncaster.

The Media Studies department at Thomas Rotherham College is looking into plans to help the regeneration of local attraction Boston Castle. With student help they will help design a multi-media package for the attraction to launch through its regeneration and it’s re-opening. Also students will also have a great opportunity to submit the work they put in as A-Level coursework.

In the past South Yorkshire Police approached the department, and asked them to film an award ceremony for Rotherham Police on the 28th March 2009
Thomas Rotherham College’s relation with similar organizations is based on a scoring table of exam results assessed and provided by the government. An example if these ranks can be found on the BBC News Website. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)

The league table gives teachers and the college official information of their scoring of its average a-level points. Then compares it to the local and national averages. This apparatus gives the college knowledge of its effect on a wider context.

My time at Thomas Rotherham College was during UCAS events and workshops for students, with first years progressing into the second year in a short time, tutors spend time talking about their long-term plans of further education.

Teachers at the college promote a wider context to their students of society and the education system by educating them on what life would be like at university, after university and the types of set backs and struggles they may have if they go or don’t go.

The UCAS Events Presentation handout (Appendix 4) shows an example of the training taken by staff on how to approach the subject of UCAS and universities. In the handout a college trip is mentioned for the staff to promote. HE Conventions visit to Sheffield Arena is an optional trip for students to visit the area which is host to various universities across the county, giving A-Level students to sample them by taking prospectuses. (Appendix 9)

Working at Thomas Rotherham College I have become more aware of how we live in a ‘Meritocracy’ and associated institutions of this system. But more so how it starts for the common individual. Students receive qualifications (merits) promoting their professional attributes for the present and future progression of education and careers.

Meritocracy is where the ruling class is no longer selected on basis of kinship or wealth but on merit. Also IQ is no longer randomly distributed. The ruling class has taken on a hereditary character, but one based on talent rather than birth. (Taylor, P. Et Al. pg 47)
This concept has been made apparent slightly in my studies of culture in relation to the media at Leeds Trinity and All Saints.

However this social construction is only apparent for students, and not the institutions non-teaching structure. Departments are assessed on statistical data on the number of pass grades and the grade levels. There is more importance placed on handing out qualifications rather than teaching. Students are in some ways taught to pass exams and coursework specifications rather than media studies in general. The department feels this gives students a very narrow view on the subject area.

While on placement Vicky Allen head of the media department was made aware of changes to the syllabus for ‘A2’ Level. In short OCR had redesigned the second year for students, making it harder, and more work intensive on the coursework. The changing of the syllabus has changed the teaching within the department. Students have had to be made aware of the changes and the facts that it will be a course that is more intensive and is not suitable for students who under achieve due to lack of interest or lazyness.

The Media Department at Thomas Rotherham College requires a large supply of equipment each year. At the start of the year they are presented with a budget, and currently the media department is putting a spreadsheet of everything they want and costs, then they are going to work through to reach back down to their budget.

They require filming equipment, like cameras, tripods and DV tapes. They require computing equipment, like editing suites, podcast cameras and microphones, and editing software, like adobe premier and Photoshop CS3.

Every year they supply the LRC (Learning Resource Center) with a list of required reading textbooks. An order is set to their supplier Hopkins Book Service in Sheffield.
The subject of equipment is very alarming in the media department, compared to the number of students, and the addition of student next year, Vicky the head of media is alarmed and has stated that the resources are lacking in the department. She is working to convince this of her boss and the college that they need more money to accommodate the high level of students coming next year.

Personal Skills and Strengths Audit

During my time at Thomas Rotherham College I acquired a range of skills that I previously did not have. The ones that are directly linked to this institution and the career path I was investigating are as follows:

On the 9th of June a class of thirty white male students visited Thomas Rotherham College from year nine. This was because the college was concerned that this section of the population was under represented in Business, Law, and Accounting classes in college. Therefore they where shown around different departments including media. I was asked to participate and help out as much as possible.

Vicky, the head of media created a lesson plan, the class was to create a magazine front cover and acquire some basic knowledge in the magazine industry. The class was hard to manage due to their behavior and lack of focus at the start.
I acquired a different type of teaching skill, as I was not used to behavior of the class being a problem. Overall we felt that the lesson went well as they managed to create an outstanding piece of work in short time. Appendix 1 shows a sample the work produced.

In my second week at Thomas Rotherham College I was up to date with the curriculum being taught and made some handouts for student to help them with revision in the up coming exams.
I created a handout on Stereotyping in celebrity magazines (Appendix 2), and a case study of a new video game that linked to their critical research exam on violence in video games (Appendix 3). These were my first attempts at making learning resources and I believe this skill will grow to become a strength within the workplace. I acquired a valuable skill that will benefit me if I follow this career path.

During my placement, teachers in my department were required to attend certain training courses, which I was able to attend. They included a three-hour presentation on eating disorders, a report from the Ofsted inspection outlining ways that the college could improve, and a workshop on Diversity and Equality for students.
We worked on a handout about Diversity and Equality (Appendix 5), a presentation on the upcoming UCAS events in and out of college (Appendix 4), and a handout from SYEDA (South Yorkshire Eating Disorder Association) on eating disorders. (Appendix 6)
What I learnt was the amount of work teachers have to do that isn’t in the classroom or directly related to the teaching of students. Something I never conceived before by being a student.
Working for a college I have had to be aware of the age group I am interacting with. I had to be sensitive about the way I talk and what I say when in the presence of students that are under the age of 18. This was mixed due to the time I spent with the teachers Rob and Vicky who I felt more relaxed with and was able to be myself.

The Skills I have gained in my placements as well as the ones I have not listed have given me a good idea what a teaching career in Media involves. My experiences in some areas have put me off taking such a career path. However what I must decide is if the areas which have intrigued me, like teaching students, will sustain my wish to consider becoming a Media Studies Teacher in the future.

Bibliography & Reference

Handy, C. (1992) Understanding organizations: Penguin Books
Taylor, P. Et Al (1998) Sociology in Focus: Causeway Press Ltd
http://www.thomroth.ac.uk/ - The Thomas Rotherham College website
http://www.ocr.org.uk/ - OCR Recognizing Achievement website
http://www.ocr.org.uk/Data/publications/key_documents/L_GCE_Media_Studies_Spec.pdf
OCR Approved Specifications for Media Studies
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/08/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/372_8600.stm
Thomas Rotherham College League Table Results

Appendix List

Appendix 1 2 Magazine front covers created by year 9’s who visited the college
Appendix 2 Handouts I created to distribute to students on Celebrity Magazines
Appendix 3 Case Study: Ruse. Critical Research on Video Games
Appendix 4 UCAS Events Presentation
Appendix 5 Handout from the Diversity and Equality workshop
Appendix 6 Handout from SYEDA on eating disorders.
Appendix 7 Health and safety, Computer Services, Aim Higher, Child Protection Policy and Procedure, (SYBIL)
Appendix 8 Hierarchy Pathway Graph
Appendix 9 UCAS Higher Education Convention

GDK 4 Music Portfolio

Evaluation Not Included

Analyze one advert. Discuss the (audio-) visual and semiotic codes used. How does the advert reference or relate to other images? How does it represent the real world?
Audio-Visual Literacy

This advert for Wrigley’s gum from 1990 starts with a bus travelling down a long American dirt road. On board sitting across from each other is a man and women, who are slightly flirting with sideway glances. The bus has to stop due to a tractor breaking down, and the heat is getting to the women. The man takes out his last piece of gum and hands it to the woman. To his surprise the woman tares it in half and shares it with the man. An icebreaker the man and women start to communicate. When the bus pulls up the man has to get off at his destination, a little sad he sits waiting at a bar staring at his torn gum wrapper. The woman walks in unknowingly to them man, she walks up behind him and places her half of the wrapper to his completing it. Through the advert there is a voice over saying the lines. Wrigley’s spearmint gum, great to chew, even better to share. Cool, Refreshing Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum. There is also the non-diegetic music ‘All Right Now’ by Free.

I found a previous analysis on this advert and looked at what G.Cook thought of this advert, I understood how he pictured this advert and I agree with his assessment. He said:
“In this ad, there are four distinct pictorial perspectives. There is the broad sweep of the outside world of nature – sunlight, corn, mountains – a benign, fertile, agricultural world at harvest time, in which the traditional and the new are in harmony. Moving in more closely, there is the social world of the bus and the bus station. This too is harmonious, with a cross section of American society: the old man and the little boy, the rural couple, different ethnic groups. Moving in even more closely, there are shots in which we see the young man and woman, within this social context, forming a relationship. Lastly, closest in of all, we see their faces from so short a distance that the image is one of complete intimacy. Only in an embrace would one see someone so close.” (G. Cook page 57)

The world is therefore painted rather perfect, the world is at peace and the focus is a scene of romance. The advert has no verbal script for the man and woman, suggesting this relationship is simple, there is no need for words.

The chewing gun is bringing the man and woman together, which is very common story line within adverts, the product bring social revelation. The way it is apparent is not by the man and woman talking in this advert but through the shot specifications. The gum and the couple are at close-up, we move out to the interior of the bus which is a mid shot, then outside which is set at wide shots. As the advert progresses at the start the shots get closer and closer in until we see the gum. Not only is it bringing the man and woman together but it is bringing the audience into this world and the product.

The advert is juxtaposed to the social conforms of a wedding. G. Cook states “The view of the bus is reminiscent of a wedding viewed from the alter” (ibid)

The inside of the bus is set out like a wedding ceremony with the man and woman at the front, the audience takes on the role of the minister. This is apparent when the man reaches for the gum out of his pocket, like a wedding ring, the image of the woman with the flowers behind our bride, which is like a bridesmaid and then right at the end when they join back the wrapper symbolising a joining or marriage. The boy in front has his head turned away by his mother, which suggest this is an adult’s product because he is being shielded from a metaphorical sexual encounter.

The gum is at the focal point of this advert, it is introduced mid way into the advert and until then there is very little action. When it is introduced the narrative thickens and there is more intimacy. The gum is ‘the last stick’ which reminds me of ‘the last rolo’ from the chocolate rolo slogans. Which because it is the man’s last one and he is willing to give it up for her, he is showing a great affection for the woman.

The gum is very idealist, as it represents two very unrealistic things. Firstly it represent the man and woman at all times, it is introduced to the story like the couple are introducing themselves, when it split in two it represent them being apart and when the woman places the wrapper back together it shows that so is the man and woman. It also represents something that is bringing two people and can in real life for different social setting, together. This is very unlikely which is designed to fool the audience into thinking this gum is different to other gums.
The song ‘All right Now’ and the intimacy of the advert suggest a very sensual setting. The songs period, the 70’s, the slow movement of the hands and when the woman places the gum in her mouth emphasises this also. The song juxtaposes with the advert because it is also about two strangers meeting. Therefore the dialogue comes through the song, rather than the actors.
At the end of the advert when the man says the catchphrase, it said by a man with a rather deep voice, I think this is to speak down to the audience like a voice from god. This makes the audience idealised the product as something unnatural. This type of mode of address also has an underlined message, if the narrator says this product is good and refreshing then the audience will try and identify with the characters in the advert. Women and men will she how the product, Wrigley’s Spearmint gum helps these two people find each other, and they assume that after the advert ends the relationship continues. This also send the impression to the audience that this isn’t an advert, this has actually happened and they are willing it to happen to them when the purchase the product.

The advert represents an American culture of mid-west with the rural setting, the old man sat on his porch, the hot day, and the tractor. It is represented as a harmonious world in this advert. The man and woman represent a perfect attraction, as they are fair, blonde and considered beautiful.

However they do take on a stereotypical role at places but are changed towards the end. The man is the one to give the gum to the woman, to start the engaging conversation, to make the first move. And then at the end the woman is taking control, the woman comes back for her man instead of the other way around, the man going chasing after the woman.

The advert relates to films of a western genre in several ways. The bus is called ‘The westerner’ people are wearing cowboy hats, it is a rural area with mountain, and sandy ground. The western is iconic of America, as it is a common film genre there. It is represented a little differently. However it is a simpler life for the people in this advert, which is mostly on seen in the saloon in a western. It is unlikely if there was another aspect of this advert, which it wouldn’t be of cowboys and Indians.

This advert also reminds me of Levis adverts, which also play on the American love story being perfect. Jeans are iconic to the rural mid-west America also.

Today this advert may have a different type of sex appeal, the woman would most likely represented differently so that she is more sexual, more flesh may be revealed if was made today. The focus is not on their bodies but their eyes and hands, which is more romantic rather than all about sex.There is not a lot of emphasis on the product until the end of the advert even though it features in throughout the advert. Which is common with a soft sell to an audience, the advert is not in the audience’s faces trying desperately to cram the product and its name as many times into the advert by means of a song, or an annoying actor.

Bibliography
G. Cook. The Discourse of Advertising.

Mapping The Media Essay

A British Media, National Style

Introduction

[We] should not expect those parts of broadcasting that exist to inform, educate and possibly even entertain to be run in the interests of maximising profits and returns to shareholders (The Guardian, 1st September 2003)[1]

Andrew Graham was talking about how the nation should run broadcasting in Britain. However even if he doesn’t mean to, is it currently in this nations means to not only follow the guide of Public Service Broadcasting for the shows we see on TV but for British film too?
Furthermore does Britain have not a national cinema style but, a national media style? To find out we will have to compare ourselves to one of the most infamous cinema stages, Hollywood.

What Is Public Service Broadcasting?

In 1926 the Crawford Committee outlined the objectives for our Public Service Broadcasting. Their goal should be to educate, inform and entertain their audience while being universal to the entire population, therefore programming should be produced creatively to the highest cultural, artistic and technical standards.

The BBC is Britain’s first and regarded as our main PSB station on TV. Set up in 1922 by John Reith , he saw an opportunity to bring high culture to the masses. Even though back then the BBC wasn’t government run, it reflected their views. Currently due to income from licensing fees the BBC is free from advertising

In 1955 Britain was given a third channel, ITV and in 1977 the Annan Committee recommended that a forth channel should be made, and it was in 1984. In response to this third channel, Asa Briggs, BBC governor said this. “Our aim to inform, educate and entertain cannot be fulfilled unless we retain the attention of the mass audience as well as important minorities we will learn to compete”

In 1994 the view of which channel claimed the most viewing showed that ITV took the largest share of 35% followed by BBC 1 with 28%, Chanel 4 and BBC 2 with 14%[2]

A good example of Public Service Broadcasting is soap operas like Eastenders and Emerdale. The hit the main criteria for public service broadcasting, the show include controversial issue, which educate and inform the mass audience and subjects, while entertaining them with the situation, outcomes and acting. They have seen great success as Eastenders was first aired in February 1985, and in January this year drew 6.5 million viewers the screen (www.guardian.co.uk/media)

What is a national cinema style, and what would ours be?

To look into the artefact means to find out what element in the film text constitutes a national cinema, what gives us the ‘Frenchness’, ‘Chineseness’ etc, of a film. It is something elusive but real. It is the aura... However, with production becoming the order of the day, it means very little to define a national cinema by the place where the money comes. Therefore a national cinema has a local feel, but can be cheated when produced or funded by the outside.
A national cinema style will often be about local history, films that identify the particular country. In our case, Britain shows us to ourselves, and the experiences of British people. Social Realism is the most typical of British film genres, picked up from the exposure of Dickens and Thomas Hardy.

The style of realism in our cinema reflected the tastes of a mainly southern middle-class audience, therefore had connotations of education and seriousness. As working class audiences favoured Hollywood genre films.

In the 1940s the current world war was represented in many films. Films like In which we serve (1942 and Millions Like Us (1943) where rationing air raids and unprecedented state intervention in the life of the individual encouraged a ‘one nation one goal’ philosophy[3]
Post-war there were tensions of Americanisation and the growth of a consumerism society. Films like Passport to Pimlico (1949 and The Titifield ThunderBolt (1953) showed the threat to current values from growing corporatisation.

The new wave cinema, in the 60’s saw a lift of censorship. Films saw people having sex lives, money worries and social problems. It was symptomatic of art cinema challenging the current values in society and how cinema was representing them. It saw a shift of how roles were represented. The male was seen to be without hope in a society that was closing down industrially and culturally. They were working class, desperate and at times vulgar. This image has carried on strongly through our cinema up to date in films like High Hopes (1988) and The Full Monty (1997)

In 1979 the Tories came to power and turned their sights to our film industry. As they targeted homosexuality in our society, by striping their rights in 1988 hatred for right politics and Margret Thatcher grew. In the cinema Derek Jarman who was funded by the Arts Council created new contemporary film art which included David Hockney, Peter Greenaway and John Laybury, fighting a gay movement with his work. This was an era know as The New Romantics where art was in a form that protested the government by exotic young punks.[4]
However it can be contested that a national cinema can only be present if it is dominating the local cinema. “Since the end of world war one, it has been the case that one national cinema – that of the USA – has dominated vitually all others. This has meant that the cinemas of most other countires have in some way or other had to accommodate to the realities of a world film industry... In 1924 some 25 per cent of films exhibited in British Cinemas were British... Thus, in 1992 the US had a 92.5 per cent share of the British exhibition market while British films accounted for only 4 per cent”[5]

With numbers of British films being exhibited how can it be said that national cinema exist in this country. To me it sounds more like a world cinema style.

Britain’s national media style

There are some obvious similarities between the way in which Britain produces programming and film. PSB’s mandate to inform, educate and entertain can be seen even though it isn’t enforced on British film. If Social realism is our national cinema style, then how it looks back at our history, shows current society and represents the people is very similar to how we expect our programming to inform, educate and entertain for a mass British audience, and represent the minorities.

A National media style would be how a local body uses media, like film and television to reach their audience. To give them what they want from the media, by experience and president from their media history.

If we were to say that Britain had a National Media Style, it would be a mandate that audience should receive a representation of Britain, and to learn more about ourselves and relations to other countries.

Evaluation

It is clear that Britain has a Public Service Broadcasting Service that is upholding its mandate and still receiving adequate ratings. However weather Britain has a National Cinema Style is debatable. ‘The idea of British National Cinema has often been linked, virtually by definition, to discourses of nationalism and myths of national unity.’[6]

Whether or not a national cinema style must be clearly defined is questionable, however weather Britain has a national media style is dependent on whether u need a clearly defined view on what Britain sees as a national cinema so that you can relate it to other media we have.
Personally I think that there is a well defined PSB institution in this country. This form of national cinema underestimates a national cinema that unites us with our past and present experience and culture. And I think the amount of British art exhibited in our cinema doesn’t effect whether we have a national cinema, but that we have art that is clearly view as Britishness.

Bibliography

Andrew Graham, The Guardian, 1st September 2003
www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/30/tvratings.television?gusrc=rss&feed=media
V. Vitali. Theorising National Cinema. British Film Institute. 2006. Pg 102Television: The Public’s View 1994. And ITC Research publication. 1994
[1] Andrew Graham, Broadcastong Society and policy in the Multimedia age, The Guardian 1st September 2003. D.Dodd, The role of Public Service Broadcasting Powerpoint, slide 16
[2] Television: The Public’s View 1994. And ITC Research publication. 1994. Pg 19
[3] Social Realism Introduction Lecture Notes.
[4] 1980s Jarman Lecture Notes
[5] V. Vitali. Theorising National Cinema. British Film Institute. 2006. Pg 102
[6] Ibid Page110

Case Study

Arctic Monkeys

In January 2006 the Arctic Monkeys debute with their first album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.’ They where celbrated as a revolutionary band that came out of the woodwork of unsigned bands by using the internet and social networking website Myspace.

However this has now been long discovered to be untrue, and the fact is that the internet played a small part compared to the traditiknal elements of the record label, management, press agent, distribution, major publishing deal.
The Acrtic monkeys have no control over the Myspace page, and is rather controled by the fans.

"I think the word 'internet' and to a lesser extent, the word 'MySpace' can become shorthand for fresh, new and exciting," explains Gareth Grundy, deputy editor of Q magazine. "If you're a record company, and you want to push a new artist, you'll be thinking 'Well, what's the best way to bring these people to their potential audience?', and that will enter into your thinking."


Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails an American Industrial music group, with Trent Reznor who is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction.
Since 1989, Nine Inch Nails has made eight major studio releases. The most recent releases, Ghosts I–IV and The Slip, both released in 2008, were released under Creative Commons licenses. Both were initially released digitally, with physical releases coming later. The digital release of The Slip was made available completely free of charge. NIN has been nominated for twelve Grammy Awards and won twice for the songs "Wish" and "Happiness in Slavery", in 1992 and 1995 respectively.

Lilly Allen

Lilly created an account on MySpace in November 2005 and began posting demos. The demos attracted thousands of listeners, and 500 limited edition 7" vinyl singles of "LDN" were rush-released, reselling for as much as £40. Allen also produced two mixtapes to promote her work: they included tracks by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dizzee Rascal, and Ludacris. As she accumulated tens of thousands of MySpace friends, The Observer Music Monthly (OMM), a magazine published in The Observer, took interest. Few people outside of her label's knew who she was, so the label was slow in responding to publications wanting to report about her.

In March 2006, OMM included an article about Allen's success through MySpace. She received her first major mainstream coverage, appearing in the magazine's cover story two months later.

The social networking site was the primary hub for messages of support and condolence following her January 2008 miscarriage. Allen received a 2008 NME Award nomination for the category of "Best Band Blog." Allen's songs have been downloaded from her MySpace page 19 million times.

As of 9 February 2009, Allen had 448,000 MySpace friends. She was the fifth most popular musical act of the 2008 according to the social networking site.
Allen used her MySpace blog for controversies surrounding her. By February 2009 she had stopped the practice because "It's boring when people just pick stuff up and write about it. People get hurt, people get upset."

Media In The Online Age

Transmedia Storytelling
(Also known as Multiplatform, or crossmedia storytelling) is where multiple ‘entrypoints’ are created for the audience to be immersed in a story world. Different types of media add to the storyline of a franchise.

It helps create a larger audience base, which is economically incentive to the conglomerates.

It helps the growth of lesser media forms, and the demand for content in them

It encourages audiences to involve themselves within a new or already existing fan base, promoting consumers to help build the storyline themselves. ’The Matrix –Requiem’

The Matrix - Information is conveyed through the well know films, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolution. Audiences get a general explanation of the story by watching these films. However if audiences want more insight into the Matrix universe, there is the series of animated shorts, collections of comic book stories and video games like ‘Enter the Matrix’ and ‘The Matrix Online’

CGI

Computer Generated Imagery is the use of 3D computer graphics in films, television, etc. It is easily controllable compared to the physical based processes in making films, like miniatures. Cutting down on time and costs of production. Computer images can be easily modified and manipulated after produced if needs change.
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is a motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 and established their use of Computer-generated imagery in 1979w

1996: First completely computer-generated main character, Draco in Dragonheart

1999: Second completely computer-generated main character, Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

2002: First feature film completely shot and exhibited in digital HD video in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

2009: Most complex visual graphics work done in entire ILM history on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's character "Devastator".

Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith (2005) features around 2400 CGI shots created in three years (by stark contrast, the groundbreaking blockbuster Jurassic Park has only 52 CGI shots).

Star Trek (2009) - was the first film ILM worked on using entirely digital ships. And the Delta Vega sequence required the mixing of digital snow with real snow.

3D Cinema

Why 3D

• Makes more money
• No way to Pirate
• Visceral films will be better

Anaglyph 3D (Red/Cyan Pictures)
Anaglyph images are the most common presentation of 3-D in the past and the one most commonly associated with public viewing. They are largely popular because of the ease of their production.
In an anaglyph, the two images are either superimposed in an additive light setting through two filters, one red and one cyan. In a subtractive light setting, the two images are printed in the same complementary colors on white paper. Glasses with colored filters in either eye separate the appropriate images by canceling the filter color out and rendering the complementary color black.
The House Of Wax 3D 1953

Polarization filters (RealD and IMAX)
In using circular polarization, two images are projected superimposed onto the same screen through circular polarizing filters of opposite handedness. The viewer wears low-cost eyeglasses which contain a pair of analyzing filters (circular polarizers mounted in reverse). Light that is left-circularly polarized is extinguished by the right-handed analyzer; while right-circularly polarized light is extinguished by the left-handed analyzer. The result is similar to that of stereoscopic viewing using linearly polarized glasses; except the viewer can tilt his head and still maintain left/right separation.

Case Study: Fan Films

Fan Films are a great example of how the Internet has changed the film industry. Fans communicate with each other to participate. Creating new products in a well know franchise. It is done without charge or at a minimum, as there is no profit involved. Most productions will include a lot of CGI rather than shots that a filmed on camera to cut the costs. And the shots that are done on camera with actors are very low tech and is apparent in the final product

The Hunt For Gollum

The script is adapted from elements of the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. The story follows the Heir of Isildur; the "greatest huntsman and traveller in Middle Earth" as he sets out to find the creature Gollum. The creature must be found to discover the truth about the Ring, and to protect the future Ringbearer. The Hunt For Gollum is an unofficial non-profit film. No money is being made, and no one was paid to make it. It is not sponsored or approved by Tolkien Enterprises, the Tolkien Estate, Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema or any affiliates.
http://www.thehuntforgollum.com/

Star Trek: Intrepid

A fan film produced in Scotland and currently the only Star Trek fan production in the U. K. Star Trek: Intrepid was filmed entirely in Scotland and was released on May 26, 2007. GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly has a brief appearance in Intrepid and the production has received extensive coverage in both national and international media, such as CNN, BBC Radio Scotland, The Guardian,and The Scotsman.
http://www.starshipintrepid.net/

The Matrix – Requiem

Star Wars Revelations

Mapping the Media Essay

Explore Media Convergence and its relevance to the future of Film, Television and Radio
Mapping The Media

*** The Black Box ***

Convergence, the combination of two or more elements of subject, is apparent throughout the media. It has over time gone through technological revolutions, television and the transmission of images, and more recently the internet.
“The media industries are undergoing another paradigm shift. It happens from time to time. In the 1990s, rhetoric about a coming digital revolution contained an implicit and often explicit assumption that new media was going to push aside old media, that the internet was going to displace broadcasting, and that all of this would enable consumers to more easily access media content that was personally meaningful to them” (H. Jenkins Page 5)
The internet, has been the key stone in most convergence in recent years, however it has not created a new type of media, but changed the old. With more access and the ease of ability media has grown for its consumers and it has been tough for the suppliers to cope and keep up with the times without going under.
It has affected aspects of Film, Television and Radio and the following are a select few that are sure to change the future of them.

Film

Storytelling has become more complicated with the introduction of realisation that film doesn’t have the limit of stay within the film industry. A new phenomena which has yet to be labelled successful for it products is Transmedia Storytelling. It is only to recent extent that it has become an issue as we have always had films using other industries like, television, radio and merchandizing.

“A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole. In the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best-so that a story might be introduced in a film, expanded through television, novels and comics; its world might be explored through game play or experienced as an amusement park attraction. Each franchise entry needs to be self contained so you don’t need to have seen the film to enjoy the game, and vice versa. Any given product is a point of entry into the franchise as a whole. Reading across the media sustains a depth of experience that motivates more consumption.” (H. Jenkins Page 95)

Harry Potter is a film that is currently in the large process of transmedia storytelling, it has books, films, games, computer games, and soon a theme park. However the first film to break such controversial barriers was The Matrix. “The Matrix is entertainment for the age of media convergence, integrating multiple texts to create a narrative so large that it cannot be contained within a single medium” Not only was the Matrix a film but for consumers to get a full view on what the ‘lore’ of the matrix is, they must, but are not required to understand the basics, watch the trilogy, the animation films, and read the graphic novels etc.

Transmedia Storytelling requires the convergence of several mediums, but also the support of its industry to take such a risk. It was feared that creating such a vast story would lessen the audience, and even confuse them, which the Matrix did for a number of people.
Filming has undergone a controversial change with films like the matrix. “Traditional photographic film is still employed for most of the world’s theatrical motion pictures, but digital video (DV) is becoming important in all phases of production, distribution, and exhibition. People making a film on DV follow the stages of movie production, and most general issues of artistic choice are comparable across the two media. An artists working in either medium must make all the decisions about large-scale form and technique.”

With production much easier with DV the industry and its workers feared that they would soon be cutting back on jobs. Fewer artists would be needed for faster productions, and with film being digital the element of CGI, (Computer Generated Images) which is cheaper would make the cut backs even more so.

The way we acquired film is under fear because of the internet, with piracy having increased due to file sharing and the ease of ripping films onto computers, the industry has been forced to adapt. A new strategy is the convergence of mobile phones with the film industry.
“In December 2004 a hotly anticipated Bollywood film, Rok Sako to Rok Lo (2004), was screened in its entirety to movie buffs in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and other parts of India through EDGE-enabled mobile phones with live video streaming facility. This is believed to be the first time that a feature film had been fully accessible via mobile phones.” (H. Jenkins. Page 4)

There are downsides to this plan. The consumer’s experience of films has been traded for mobility, and the safety from piracy. This new technology isn’t sure to work, as the industry is not sure whether people will conform to this new way of watching films, or use this as a way to preview before watching them in cinemas or at home.

In this country, buying films instead of going to cinemas hasn’t quite become a norm, but mobile phones have been a large convergence factor for the film industry, with the ability to watch trailers. Also mobile phones have played an important role in the Television and Radio industries too. It is unclear whether we have seen only a portion of what we will soon be doing with mobile phones, or that they have reached their limits due to its size.

Television

One of the most well know changes to television is that of news broadcasting and what is called User Generated Content (UGC) which is ‘citizen newsgathering,’ people who witness a significant event first and have images can be included in the news when they supply them to news outlets. It is viewed that people being included is better than being un-engaged with the news. However it has great disadvantage, as it can be dangerous for the ‘citizen journalist,’ and set back news broadcasts as people will focus on the large amount of visual stimulus rather than its various impacts.

‘We Media’ is a new term for UGC and citizen broadcasting of news. Things like blogs and podcasts are starting to substitute ‘Public Service News Broadcasting.’
“There were nearly 150 million bloggers in 2006 and the number has grown since then. The blog is a completely portable application. The location of the author becomes irrelevant in this process which has allowed people to maintain blogs from anywhere in the world. Yet the updated information becomes immediately available” ( P. Crogan. Page 470)
News broadcasting has done well to adapt since the new phenomena of public newsgathering, the traditional has done well to converge.

The number of channels that audience have access to has been growing rapidly since the boom of satellite and cable television. Today there are over one thousand channels on Sky. With so much choice viewer now have greater Interactive television (IT) capabilities. VCR, teletext, pay per view and the British ceefax have gone digital. They are old IT capabilities that have been adapted so that your television can remember what it is you watch, and use this information to decide on things you may like and even show you advertisements that are more likely to get your attention.

With so much choice on TV and the use of VCR recording devices seem to be more of a bother, there is a new wave in this country on digital television providers or independent companies offering the new combined set top box and TV recording device. People are no longer restricted to watching one programme or at a set time. And today the television is used greatly for interacting with other devices in the home, like game consoles. With Video on Demand (VOD) technology domestic problems have been resolved, making it easier for programming to be views more often and frequently to all members of a household.

Radio

Since the internet, radio stations have been opened to the public. Internet radio stations can be created by anyone with ease, even though you listen to them in a different way, internet radio is becoming just as popular as traditional due to the easy access of the internet today. And now all FM/AM stations transmit over the internet as well.

“In North America and Europe, many, if not most radio stations, stream their programming over the Internet. Radio-Locator, a website that lists radio stations on the Internet and links to 2,500 audio radio stations in 133 countries all over the world. Many stations merely extend their reach, using the Internet to make their programs available to geographically distant listeners, but some are using the interactive capabilities to produce value added services to their listeners. More recently, independent producers and radio stations have discovered podcasting, which enables people to download programs to their MP3 players.” http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/
With user generated radio stations and FM/AM station now on the internet the future of radio maybe that it will soon disappear. The quality of internet radio can be better than radio waves, interactivity with audience can be simpler, and the cost to audience and the radio stations is cheaper.
Conclusion
“The digitalization of information has changed the media: print, audio and video are all being forced to adapt.” (P. Verweij. Page 75)
Media converging is not a bad thing in my opinion and it should not be met with resistance. Media conglomerates should but more effort into adapting to new technology rather than trying to keep traditions alive.
“Convergence is not a static situation but a dynamic process, a development in certain stages.” (P. Verweij. Page 77)

The future of, film looks set to thrive from current advances in technology, and the results because of them are likely to open up new entertainment forms like Transmedia Storytelling. Whereas Television is fighting to stay in the game as it competes with the public becoming a part more prominent role in the industry and new technology like the internet looking more like a better substitute every day. Radio’s future looks grim. However old mediums like radio are an adequate way for audience to receive news. It is unclear whether radio will be around for much longer, or if it will change.

I think that these industries convergence with certain technologies are having a negative impact on certain social aspects. Mobile phones adapting to supply film, television and radio, keep people apart and with their mobile phones. These industries used to be classes as group or family activities. With certain types of convergence, like films on mobile phones, people are conforming to an insular life style that has less and less social activity. VOD is very convenient, but the ratio of what people do in a day is changing to people watching more television due to the fact that people can watch more and more TV. Community radio is suffering due to internet streaming. Internet station, have no base of target audience, because anyone in the world can listen. The social aspect in community radio isn’t in internet streaming. It is driving people away from the local community, making people less informed on local news.

Bibliography
H. Jenkins. Convergence Culture. New York University Press. New York. 2006
P. Crogan. Convergence Journal. Vol. 14. Number 4 2008
http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/PracticeNote.aspx?id=2405
P. Verweij. Convergence Journal. Vol 15. Number 1 2009
Reference
D. Gillmor. We the Media. O’Reilly. USA 2004

Analysing Media and Culture Essay

National identities will not survive into the 22nd century?
Analysing Media and Culture

National identities are an imaginative form of identification of people with their nation-state, they are said to give the people a sense of nationalism, of loyalty, and belonging. Is it required to replace nationalism with another form of identification, another way in which we can belong to a larger organisation? Or is it possible that in the future that people will not require such a thing? In this discussion I will point out several items in which if changed we can hypothetically rid the world of what I feel is a large source to the world’s discrimination from one person to another. Things like Education, War and Travel.

In a world of increased mobility there are ever-increasing challenges to national borders. States continue to be an important container for social identities, but the rise in global flows bodies, goods and information now makes the nation only one of a number of competing sites of allegiance. (Hopkins 2009)

Nationalism is shifting to globalism, with access becoming easier our views must change. People today take a longer look at foreign affairs in every aspect of life. This is the result of increased flows of information, people’s cultures and discourses of living. Americanisation was once seen as an intrusion on English nationalism, but today we see it the other way, that being open to ways of thinking and living is the only way live. One day it may be possible that we do not see a flow of cultures from on to another, that culture exchange is just something that happens.

The term ‘only one of a number of competing sites of allegiance’ shows that some people today don’t see a national identity as something that can define them. In a world of open information and the apparatus that provide it, people start to feel less belonging to a nation-state but to things like niche social groups. The internet is a good example, the modern day person take advantage of free information and things on the internet like social networking and forums. The internet kills nationalism, because when we communicate, there is no assurance that we are talking to people of our nation, and that we could be communing with other people and their cultures.

Culture also refers to, or is based upon communication. It is through language that a group becomes aware of itself. Language and place are inextricably interconnected. (Sarup Page 131)
A difference in language is the barrier between national identities. Not only is it how we become aware of ourselves and our cultures, but also how it is a symbol to how different cultures are. We can link the Italian language with art, religion and a nation of wine drinkers. Whereas they may see when they hear the English language a nation of beer guzzling, bacon butty eating bulldogs, who have a strange affection to its royalty. This kind of discrimination is imbarasing but apparent in the world today and it is because we are at opposites with other nations. We see ourselves as different.

I find it hard to believe that a culture will change overnight, only in a hundred years may it be possible, it is our children and their children that will make this a reality or not. How we teach them in school at home and in other institutions, like through the media or religion is the way in which ideology and a change of culture can happen for the next generation.
Althusser states that ideology exists in apparatus like the education system. Schools and universities are the source of ideological reproduction in power and social relations. And i must say I agree. Today we teach our children to prepare for the info-structure of later life, if we were to teach them different social values then overtime they will spread.

The state specializes in the maintenance of order through the rule of law. To a considerable degree this is achieved through a monopoly of legitimate violence. (Barker Page 181)
Violence is manufactured in today’s world. The weapons that are used come from high street companies who invest in trading arms and the development of new ones. Wars may have changed overtime. They are fought for different reasons, and are fought in different ways. But in order to change the fact that wars are a great promotion of our homes nation-state and a demotion of our enemies, the ideals of war must be changed at home. With this view of one side against another, attacking each other because this is our nation, and that is not, we will not allow them to attack it. It is the worst example of antonymic behaviour. I think in this case it is hard to see a world without national identities, as they are a way to set yourself apart from your enemies, your friends and everyone in between. If people feel at opposites of someone else, and they feel it needs to be indentified then there will always be some form of citizenship.

From what I have found, I am un-able to make a definite opinion of whether or not i think national identities will survive. I have thought about other questions throughout this discussion, whether or not national identities are a good entity or not, and if it is wise to see them disappear within a hundred years.

However I believe that this issue is too large, in the sense that identifying on self to a nation state is rather broad. I wonder whether people will one day distance there identifications from either being a legal member of a community or people being activists in their communities social and political affairs.

There is one thing I can say I believe, it will take longer than a hundred years for national identities to come to an end. The global community must come closer together before it can exist in a state of no discrimination.

Bibliography
L. Hopkins. Continuum: Journal Of Media & Cultural Studies. Vol. 23, No. 1, February 2009 Page 19-32
C. Barker. Cultural Studies, Theory & Practice. Sage, London, 2008 Page 181
M. Sarup. Identity, Culture and the Postmodern World. Edinburgh University. Edinburgh. Page 131

Analysing Media & Culture Essay

Analysing Media & Culture

How useful are Bennett’s five usages of ‘Popular Culture’ in an analysis of the content and use of the World Wide Web.

Introduction
Tony Bennett gave five common usages of the term popular culture. Culture that is ‘well liked by many people’. Not ‘high culture’ for example classical music, opera or ballet, culture which you would associate with upper classes. ‘Mass culture’ mass produced culture for the masses. ‘Folk culture’ produced by the people for the people. Also culture that is exchanged between the dominant and subordinate classes in society.
Therefore, I will analyse whether the World Wide Web and certain contents can be categorised under the definition above.

‘Well like by many people?’
According to Netcraft the number of websites has doubled within the last two years.[1] And according to internet statistics the number of internet users in the UK since the year 2000 has increased by 171.5%, and 305.5% worldwide.[2] With such a large increase in website and people using the internet it is clear that the popularity of the World Wide Web has grown, and is well liked by a very large number of people.

‘High Culture?’
The Internet cannot be categorised simple as or not high culture. Commonly high culture is seen as a very small group, associated with well educated and older population. Therefore it could be noted that the internet represents high culture rather well, as there is no limitations that say ‘high culture’ has no place on the internet, and has adequate content that measures well against the numbers of these small cultures.
However according to F. R Leavis[3] in the past ‘Life was not then a series of frivolous stimuli as it is now for the suburban dweller, and there was time for the less immediate pleasures. The temptations to accept the cheap and easy pleasures offered by the cinema, the circulating library,...’ and now the internet ‘... is almost too much for everyone.’[4]
There is a quote from Matthew Arnold saying that having culture meant to ‘know the best that has been said and thought in the world.’ If not so now, but in the near future, we will mostly likely have a composition of all literacy on the Internet, even those classed as ‘high culture’. As of now there is no limitation of buying such great work, classified as great by elitists and critiques in their fields.

‘Folk culture or Mass Culture?’
“Folk art grew from below... expression of the people, shaped by themselves... Mass culture is imposed from above. It is fabricated by technicians hired by business men; its audiences are passive consumers, their participation limited to the choice between buying and not buying...”[5]
Popular culture over time has always been about choice, from radio to TV and now to the internet. These mediums for culture have always expanded giving the population more choice. Therefore it can be argued that mass culture is on its way out as people are given more ways to access their niche hobbies, interests and cultures. If ‘mass culture’ is classed as products mass produced for a very large group, as defined by Tony Bennett, then the internet and the World Wide Web is working against the promotion of mass culture.
So what is the internet, Folk or Mass culture? The website Facebook, a personal networking site where users create a profile, enabling them to communicate with other people was launched on 4th February 2004. Therefore when looking at this specific content, the internet could be viewed as ‘folk culture.’
Facebook was created by a student at Harvard, and membership was limited to people at Harvard University but has expanded and now and has more than 175 million active users.[6] There profile pages are created by the members, with the ability to upload their own content. Facebook is created by the people and is enjoyed by the people.

Culture exchange
Bennett’s final usage of popular culture is that ideology and culture is exchanged at times between the dominant and subordinated people within classes. The internet differs from conventional communication mediums, as it can be totally anonymous, people who communicate can only have a shared interest without feeling limited due to their other social groups. For example, age between people is not a factor if you do not reveal it. Such instances include forums where people discuss their interests without social pressures that may make them act differently were it a lingual communication.

Conclusion
Without analysis people would most likely categorise the World Wide Web as a form of ‘Popular Culture.’ Something that is popular with people, is intrinsic in our daily lives, and a very common application. However using Tony Bennett’s classification and what I think to have analysed with his definition, I believe it is not. I am still uncertain. The more I think about what is written above I start to think that I can see how the Internet and the World Wide Web is a type of Popular culture. It can be explained by Tony Bennett’s usages. However I feel this definition does no justice to explaining what the Internet is, and I believe that the Internet is much more than a popular culture, it is becoming ‘the culture’. A social apparatus for which it is becoming harder and harder to find ways in which we do not use in our daily lives. I do not believe that there is a conflict between High, Folk and Mass culture. The World Wide Web brings all of these to its users on a very successful platform.

Word Count: 994

Bibliography
Dominic Strinati (1995) An introduction to theories of popular culture, London, Routledge
http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
[1] Statistics on website numbers. http://news.netcraft.com/
[2]Statistics on world and top 20 countries internet user growth. http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm
[3] F.R. Leavis (1932; pp. 224-225)
[4] Quote from F.R. Leavis: 1932 - Dominic Strinati (1995) An introduction to theories of popular culture, London, Routledge. Page 17
[5]Quote from MacDonald: 1957 - Dominic Strinati (1995) An introduction to theories of popular culture, London, Routledge. Page 10
[6] Statistics on the website Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Modules of Year 1

The modules I took in first year are as follows:

Analysing Media and Culture
Mapping the media
Media Production
Digital Media
Audio-Visual Literacy
Professional Development and Placment

Introduction to my BLOG

This blog is a reference to some of my work through my course at Leeds Trinity and All saints