Gilmor’s theory suggests the idea of ‘citizen journalism’. He argues that we see “the internet as a catalyst to challenge the big media powers, as ordinary people can post their news via blogs and other online communications’. Gilmor’s theory suggests that an increase in globalised media has positive effects on distribution and consumers can now become producers (web 2.0). A positive example of this would be the Syrian Arabic protests. Although news correspondents are unable to enter parts of Syria due to government restrictions, through an increased in globalised media with distribution, local suffering citizens were able to let the world know about their issues, an example being the internet video programme youtube user 25Bahman1389 posted mobile phone footage of Syrian Protests on youtube. Through this globalisation this account of citizen journalism was able to be posted around the world to highlight the problems. This suggests a positive impact of globalised media.
However, coming from an economically developed countries point of view and affluent society where internet access is readily available, it is far too easy to assume everyone has access to this. Leadbetter’s theory of 2008 supports this as he claims that “only 4% of the Arab nation has internet access’ so although globalised media can have positive effects on the distribution of media text, the less economically developed countries are unable to receive this distribution due to the inability to access the internet which suggests that globalised media is not as global as can be argued.
Showing posts with label Exemplar Essay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exemplar Essay. Show all posts
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Discuss the positive and negative effects of globalisation of the media.
Discuss the positive and negative effects of globalisation of the media.
Globalisation of the media has become a major issues over the past twenty years, with technological advances – such as the rise of the internet as platform - making it possible to produce and consume media from all around the globe. However, this advance can be argued to have come at a price as this ‘global media’ could only be inclusive of first world countries having influence as a study of the BBC – who presents itself to be a global corporation would demonstrate.
McLuhan argues that society has become “increasingly mediated” and that we all now live in “global village”. In regards to our news provision, this is true. The BBC consider themselves to have global provision in that they employ more correspondents, reporters, and international bureaus than any other news channel. They also have approximately 51 million unique visits to their news website each week with a significant amount of this from other countries. This suggests a positive effect as the internet has enabled the BBC to bring their products to other countries.
However, it could be argued that the BBC has only responded to what Robertson calls the “compression of world and the intensification of the consciousness as a whole”. For example is it through our demand for world news – as we now have a far greater interest in international events – that the BBC has needed to provide it. For example the recent news stories on the Pope’s resignation were first reported within 15 minutes onto the BBC, which then provided 24 hour access to news through twitter feeds, video reporters and live access to the Vatican. This requirement for reporting is easily traceable back to the fact that Britain has significant number of Catholics and therefore would have a connection to the news and the BBC could provide this, which suggests a positive effect of Globalisation.
A particularly positive effect for corporations of global media is – as Plunkett argues – that many media producers are now “bypassing traditional gatekeepers” in response to the rise of the individual audience member. This means corporations like the BBC are needing to engage with their audience as a local level, however this is now happening across the globe. For example the BBC makes regular requests on its websites for audiences to contact them with their own experiences for example on a local level with the recent Stansted airport developments to across the world with the recent Brazilian night club fire where the BBC contacted a local blogger who could give them an eyewitness account, which suggests a more positive move towards a global media where everyone can take part.
However, as Leadbetter points out “only 4% of the Arab world has internet access”, which also highlights the issue of access to media in general. Despite the BBC’s claim that it is a global corporation – only 33% of the world can actually access the internet (and with filtering policies in countries like China and Iraq we can assume this percentage is even less) therefore which suggests a negative effect is actually a move towards a ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, for example, the BBC devoted far more screen time towards the Syrian uprisings, the success Psy’s Gangnam Style and the Pope’s Resignation rather than the estimated 500m that have been killed in the ongoing Darfuri conflict . Although this could be partly explained by Hacup’s news values deeming a long term conflict not newsworthy, it is also worth considering that much of Darfur does not have access to any form of media – therefore the avenue for consumption is not there, whereas the Syrian uprisings have been heavily influenced by social networking demonstrating the already existing audience for news provision companies like Al Jazeera and BBC to engage with and take advantage of.
This then also raises the issue of the devolution of culture, particularly in the provision of the phenomenon of “global tv” and the rise Hybrid Programming –especially within the BBC. Currently the BBC markets many of programmes and programme concepts to countries worldwide, for example its most successful programme -‘Strictly Come Dancing’ marketed as ‘Dancing with the Stars’ (in various languages) – is the most successfully marketed programme around the world. The concept is the same, the narrative structure of the series is the same and very often the mise-en-scene and sound is strikingly similar. Although it could be argued that as the show is such a generic format, easily identifiable in any language with the standard trope of the ‘competition’, that it global success would come naturally, however it just as easily be argued that it is only due to the BBC’s money and influence that shows like this can be shown and – ultimately – this will lead to a rapid decline in local programming from local cultures and the imposition of the BBC’s own ideologies over cultures – the classic Hegemony. Or, Irvine argues, that we are “putting all our cultural eggs in one basket”.
However, a counter-argument to this is Moores theory that we have not lost our interest in “localization”. This is true for the BBC’s provision of media as very few of its programmes actually travel as a complete product: only Doctor Who is a well-known brand that is only subtitles and dubbed into different languages, not other changes are made, possibly due to its science fiction non-culture specific routes. Most of the BBC’s “global” programmes are sold as formats only, allowed local culture changes to take place. For example, the programme “What not to Wear” was recently launched in India but with less of a focus on up to date fashion and criticism and more about “building Indian’s women’s confidence and style”, with the addition inclusion of very well-known Bollywood stylists and actresses as presenters to create a more “Indian” appeal. This suggests more of a “glocalisation” effect, as Waters argues that our ideas are instantly “pluralized”. He also argues that that we can “virtually visit” areas instead and evidence for this is substantially positive with the BBC as not only can we consume the “original” UK version of programmes but we can also see others countries – primarily America – versions which can provide cultural comparison. Also, the BBC are bringing in more global programming with great success such as Wallander and The Killing which indicates a positive effect of global media as demand is rising for non home-grown programmes. This suggests that a positive effect of Global Media is actually the rise in the power of the audience.
Within this new world of global provision, Gilmor argues that we now have the rise of the “citizen journalist” that bypasses the “big media” control and uses the tools of technology and convergence to produce their own news and opinions, some of which become powerful in their own right, for example the social networkers in the Arab Spring orchestrating a revolution. Judging by the move of AL Jazeera and BBC News to engages in social media websites like facebook pages and Al Jazeera had a twitter database to monitor patterns within the Arab countries, this indicates a more positive force from the audience towards have a say in their own media. In television too, audiences are beginning of use their diversity of choice to search out media that is out of their own country’s production and format, which then forces companies such as the BBC to provide each-more-global online provision and VOD programming to seek to avoid the even more evitable rise of piracy online.
Global Media can be argued to have had a generally positive affect of both audiences and producers in that both are being forced to diversify, without seeming to lose their cultural identity and current trends dictate that this pattern will keep on rising. However, with the media becoming utilized by the audience to provoke political and social change and the rising move of governments towards filtering and monitoring, it has to be argued that ultimately Global media could lead people to – what Bauman argues is “a crueler fate.”
However, it could be argued that the BBC has only responded to what Robertson calls the “compression of world and the intensification of the consciousness as a whole”. For example is it through our demand for world news – as we now have a far greater interest in international events – that the BBC has needed to provide it. For example the recent news stories on the Pope’s resignation were first reported within 15 minutes onto the BBC, which then provided 24 hour access to news through twitter feeds, video reporters and live access to the Vatican. This requirement for reporting is easily traceable back to the fact that Britain has significant number of Catholics and therefore would have a connection to the news and the BBC could provide this, which suggests a positive effect of Globalisation.
A particularly positive effect for corporations of global media is – as Plunkett argues – that many media producers are now “bypassing traditional gatekeepers” in response to the rise of the individual audience member. This means corporations like the BBC are needing to engage with their audience as a local level, however this is now happening across the globe. For example the BBC makes regular requests on its websites for audiences to contact them with their own experiences for example on a local level with the recent Stansted airport developments to across the world with the recent Brazilian night club fire where the BBC contacted a local blogger who could give them an eyewitness account, which suggests a more positive move towards a global media where everyone can take part.
However, as Leadbetter points out “only 4% of the Arab world has internet access”, which also highlights the issue of access to media in general. Despite the BBC’s claim that it is a global corporation – only 33% of the world can actually access the internet (and with filtering policies in countries like China and Iraq we can assume this percentage is even less) therefore which suggests a negative effect is actually a move towards a ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, for example, the BBC devoted far more screen time towards the Syrian uprisings, the success Psy’s Gangnam Style and the Pope’s Resignation rather than the estimated 500m that have been killed in the ongoing Darfuri conflict . Although this could be partly explained by Hacup’s news values deeming a long term conflict not newsworthy, it is also worth considering that much of Darfur does not have access to any form of media – therefore the avenue for consumption is not there, whereas the Syrian uprisings have been heavily influenced by social networking demonstrating the already existing audience for news provision companies like Al Jazeera and BBC to engage with and take advantage of.
This then also raises the issue of the devolution of culture, particularly in the provision of the phenomenon of “global tv” and the rise Hybrid Programming –especially within the BBC. Currently the BBC markets many of programmes and programme concepts to countries worldwide, for example its most successful programme -‘Strictly Come Dancing’ marketed as ‘Dancing with the Stars’ (in various languages) – is the most successfully marketed programme around the world. The concept is the same, the narrative structure of the series is the same and very often the mise-en-scene and sound is strikingly similar. Although it could be argued that as the show is such a generic format, easily identifiable in any language with the standard trope of the ‘competition’, that it global success would come naturally, however it just as easily be argued that it is only due to the BBC’s money and influence that shows like this can be shown and – ultimately – this will lead to a rapid decline in local programming from local cultures and the imposition of the BBC’s own ideologies over cultures – the classic Hegemony. Or, Irvine argues, that we are “putting all our cultural eggs in one basket”.
However, a counter-argument to this is Moores theory that we have not lost our interest in “localization”. This is true for the BBC’s provision of media as very few of its programmes actually travel as a complete product: only Doctor Who is a well-known brand that is only subtitles and dubbed into different languages, not other changes are made, possibly due to its science fiction non-culture specific routes. Most of the BBC’s “global” programmes are sold as formats only, allowed local culture changes to take place. For example, the programme “What not to Wear” was recently launched in India but with less of a focus on up to date fashion and criticism and more about “building Indian’s women’s confidence and style”, with the addition inclusion of very well-known Bollywood stylists and actresses as presenters to create a more “Indian” appeal. This suggests more of a “glocalisation” effect, as Waters argues that our ideas are instantly “pluralized”. He also argues that that we can “virtually visit” areas instead and evidence for this is substantially positive with the BBC as not only can we consume the “original” UK version of programmes but we can also see others countries – primarily America – versions which can provide cultural comparison. Also, the BBC are bringing in more global programming with great success such as Wallander and The Killing which indicates a positive effect of global media as demand is rising for non home-grown programmes. This suggests that a positive effect of Global Media is actually the rise in the power of the audience.
Within this new world of global provision, Gilmor argues that we now have the rise of the “citizen journalist” that bypasses the “big media” control and uses the tools of technology and convergence to produce their own news and opinions, some of which become powerful in their own right, for example the social networkers in the Arab Spring orchestrating a revolution. Judging by the move of AL Jazeera and BBC News to engages in social media websites like facebook pages and Al Jazeera had a twitter database to monitor patterns within the Arab countries, this indicates a more positive force from the audience towards have a say in their own media. In television too, audiences are beginning of use their diversity of choice to search out media that is out of their own country’s production and format, which then forces companies such as the BBC to provide each-more-global online provision and VOD programming to seek to avoid the even more evitable rise of piracy online.
Global Media can be argued to have had a generally positive affect of both audiences and producers in that both are being forced to diversify, without seeming to lose their cultural identity and current trends dictate that this pattern will keep on rising. However, with the media becoming utilized by the audience to provoke political and social change and the rising move of governments towards filtering and monitoring, it has to be argued that ultimately Global media could lead people to – what Bauman argues is “a crueler fate.”
1b Essay Example Representation
Fiske argues that our interpretation of a representation is only based around previous ones that we have seen: the “car chase” theory. Within music videos representation of the genre itself often relies on the audience awareness and prior knowledge of media products they have already seen. Our own video demonstrates this in that the performance scene, several of the techniques directly relate to existing videos in the genre, for example the canted angle on the neck of the guitar during the instrumental scene, the heavy use of low key lighting for the performance and the increased cutting rate in the instrumental sections. These are all common features of rock videos that often represent artist’s skill and the idea of the artist being an ‘authentic’ musician . Therefore representation of the genre relies heavily on audience prior knowledge into order to decode the messages embedded within the text.
Hall also argues for the different ways approaching representation in that there is reflective, constructionist and intentional. Within music videos there is clearly a reflective approach taken as music videos often seek to reflect meanings and messages already present in the world, particularly within the target audience. For example in our own genre and work much of the hip-hop genre is judged to be criminal and urban with a heavy emphasis on individual performers and their personal history which needs to be represented. We demonstrated this through the use of black and white filters, which have connotations of the past as well as using low angle shots in conjunction with the expected dress code of hoodie and snap-back cap within the performance scenes in order to connote power and dominance. Therefore, this reflects the interests and cultural choices made by the target audience as well as providing a representation that audience members can emulate and aspire to be, a concept with is argued by Stewart in his theory of music videos providing an “inspirational lifestyle”.
Hall also argues for the different ways approaching representation in that there is reflective, constructionist and intentional. Within music videos there is clearly a reflective approach taken as music videos often seek to reflect meanings and messages already present in the world, particularly within the target audience. For example in our own genre and work much of the hip-hop genre is judged to be criminal and urban with a heavy emphasis on individual performers and their personal history which needs to be represented. We demonstrated this through the use of black and white filters, which have connotations of the past as well as using low angle shots in conjunction with the expected dress code of hoodie and snap-back cap within the performance scenes in order to connote power and dominance. Therefore, this reflects the interests and cultural choices made by the target audience as well as providing a representation that audience members can emulate and aspire to be, a concept with is argued by Stewart in his theory of music videos providing an “inspirational lifestyle”.
Friday, 1 June 2012
Student Answers
Below are three pdf files that have three students answers from last year - they are complete answers with 1a, 1b and Global Media
One is an A grade (due to boundaries the mark of 77 was changed to 88)
The other two are B grades (these also had 9 marks added to their grades for boundaries)
http://www.mediafire.com/?dqzrla8619b4x59
http://www.mediafire.com/?kcn08448ij44f64
http://www.mediafire.com/?6st8yjmgvf033qk
All three links are to my mediafire account and the downloads are safe to use :)
One is an A grade (due to boundaries the mark of 77 was changed to 88)
The other two are B grades (these also had 9 marks added to their grades for boundaries)
http://www.mediafire.com/?dqzrla8619b4x59
http://www.mediafire.com/?kcn08448ij44f64
http://www.mediafire.com/?6st8yjmgvf033qk
All three links are to my mediafire account and the downloads are safe to use :)
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Full Mark Genre Essay
The media production I am going to write about in relation to genre is my favourite piece from the whole course which is my horror teaser trailer.
The genre of the trailer is obviously ‘horror’ and this in itself allowed us to be creative with narrative etc but limited us because we had to stick to a certain amount of generic conventions in order for it to be recognised by it’s existing target audience. Steve Neal said that ‘genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations’ which meant certain generic features had to be included and repeated which in my case was the use of a creepy location of the woods as well as hand held camera and restricted narration to cause disorientation and suspense within our trailer. However, the pattern of variation Neal describes also links to my horror teaser trailer because we were able to creatively push the boundaries by twisting some generic features in order to make the trailer interesting and therefore cause the audience to want to watch the full movie. For this my group chose use a female psycho killer I order to subvert the stereotypical male dominated role. This female identification through point of view shots etc captured our female audience because were providing them with power and this is unusual for the horror genre although it is known for its forward thinking approach as it often attempts to focus on subcultural views instead of targeting the mainstream. Genre encompasses many parts and the trailer links to it in more ways than one. Its use of enclosed location and the fact the woods attempts to reinforce our society’s fear of loneliness and isolation which the woods creates when the three friends get lost. In these sections of the trailer we used a lot of heavy cross cutting between the female victim who is running anxiously through the woods in order to find her friends and get home safely. We also used the Kuleshove and collision cutting methods as the pace began slow as the friends head our in the car unaware of the danger before them and once they are in the woods we deliberately quickened the pace of editing to cause tension and to show that something is not right, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.
Editing and mise-en-scene is really important to genre and reflects very quickly certain moods and atmospheres. Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes argued that the horror genre like many others used ‘binary oppositions’ in order to show the contrast between good and evil in order to force the audience to be constantly questioning the trailer for example; in my trailer I used light and dark to connote their happiness and carefree attitude in the daytime and the darkness to emphasise their fear and reliance on their senses. This is particularly important to the horror genre as characters are often shown in high angle shots to appear vulnerable and therefore under threat.
Gore or ‘body horror’ is also a common generic convention used by most horror films that we studied including Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero who used it to make the audience feel sick by forcing them to see extreme violence. In my own trailer we were inspired to use gore differently by showing a hanging scene in slow motion to create tension and the centoring in on the face and neck which had been broken and this was shown by the rope burn we had made from latex and the blood pouring down her chest. This shot moves clockwise and slowly zooms in to force the audience to see what the hang (woman) has done. In our final two shots we finish the trailer with the male anti hero being lifted off the ground with blood pouring out of his mouth which causes the audience to assume no one survives because the final girl is stabbed by her friend accidentally which quickens the pace and adds tension but she is the survivor who as Carol Clover suggests will be terrorised throughout the film and finally overcome the monster. This plays with the audiences emotions and links back to the horror genre well by creating our own style of horror. Andrew Sarris argues because it encompasses so much and is key to explaining a film. Genre is the ideas that collectively make a particular recognisable style that draws in its existing target audience. My horror trailer had expressionist camera angles as the female victim desperately trips over the camera and we see her running above it as well as close ups of her facial expression that causes us to identify with her fear and therefore makes us scared. This meant the audience also were forced to objectify the female victim from the high angle camera shot down her top in which we can see her breasts slightly after watching other Hitchcock movies which use the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey to force us to take a male’s viewpoint.
In my trailer we also used an iconic symbol of the noose because obviously as a hangwoman she needed the prop but also as a female the circular shape suggested female power and this is something the horror genre often does but for male characters using guns etc as phallic symbols which we also used as the male anti hero takes out a knife and stabs his friend frantically when she walks up behind him. The horror trailer was made much darker in Final Cut Pro using the brightness and contrast menu and also dragged the saturated colours towards the blue in order to create a dark, dusky night time atmosphere a generic convention of horror trailers.
The generic conventions we chose to use were all important to the success of our product and since distributing it on YouTube we have over 4000 which I am really pleased with and gives me the confidence that we obviously stuck to the genre enough to capture our intended target audience but were creative enough to make people want to keep watching the trailer and virally sharing it with others.
Genre places a media text into a grouping giving it an identity which can be recognised by the mainstream society and I believe my product is successfully fitted to the horror genre using the narrative that todorov argued was important to the horror genre by following an equilibrium at the beginning then a problem which in our case was the male anti hero playing a joke on the soon to be female victim making jump running after him causing their separation then a pathway to resolution – as they attempt to find each other and then a new equilibrium at the end which we deliberately left as an open ending to capture our audience effectively.
EAA 10
EG 10
Term 5
The genre of the trailer is obviously ‘horror’ and this in itself allowed us to be creative with narrative etc but limited us because we had to stick to a certain amount of generic conventions in order for it to be recognised by it’s existing target audience. Steve Neal said that ‘genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations’ which meant certain generic features had to be included and repeated which in my case was the use of a creepy location of the woods as well as hand held camera and restricted narration to cause disorientation and suspense within our trailer. However, the pattern of variation Neal describes also links to my horror teaser trailer because we were able to creatively push the boundaries by twisting some generic features in order to make the trailer interesting and therefore cause the audience to want to watch the full movie. For this my group chose use a female psycho killer I order to subvert the stereotypical male dominated role. This female identification through point of view shots etc captured our female audience because were providing them with power and this is unusual for the horror genre although it is known for its forward thinking approach as it often attempts to focus on subcultural views instead of targeting the mainstream. Genre encompasses many parts and the trailer links to it in more ways than one. Its use of enclosed location and the fact the woods attempts to reinforce our society’s fear of loneliness and isolation which the woods creates when the three friends get lost. In these sections of the trailer we used a lot of heavy cross cutting between the female victim who is running anxiously through the woods in order to find her friends and get home safely. We also used the Kuleshove and collision cutting methods as the pace began slow as the friends head our in the car unaware of the danger before them and once they are in the woods we deliberately quickened the pace of editing to cause tension and to show that something is not right, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.
Editing and mise-en-scene is really important to genre and reflects very quickly certain moods and atmospheres. Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes argued that the horror genre like many others used ‘binary oppositions’ in order to show the contrast between good and evil in order to force the audience to be constantly questioning the trailer for example; in my trailer I used light and dark to connote their happiness and carefree attitude in the daytime and the darkness to emphasise their fear and reliance on their senses. This is particularly important to the horror genre as characters are often shown in high angle shots to appear vulnerable and therefore under threat.
Gore or ‘body horror’ is also a common generic convention used by most horror films that we studied including Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero who used it to make the audience feel sick by forcing them to see extreme violence. In my own trailer we were inspired to use gore differently by showing a hanging scene in slow motion to create tension and the centoring in on the face and neck which had been broken and this was shown by the rope burn we had made from latex and the blood pouring down her chest. This shot moves clockwise and slowly zooms in to force the audience to see what the hang (woman) has done. In our final two shots we finish the trailer with the male anti hero being lifted off the ground with blood pouring out of his mouth which causes the audience to assume no one survives because the final girl is stabbed by her friend accidentally which quickens the pace and adds tension but she is the survivor who as Carol Clover suggests will be terrorised throughout the film and finally overcome the monster. This plays with the audiences emotions and links back to the horror genre well by creating our own style of horror. Andrew Sarris argues because it encompasses so much and is key to explaining a film. Genre is the ideas that collectively make a particular recognisable style that draws in its existing target audience. My horror trailer had expressionist camera angles as the female victim desperately trips over the camera and we see her running above it as well as close ups of her facial expression that causes us to identify with her fear and therefore makes us scared. This meant the audience also were forced to objectify the female victim from the high angle camera shot down her top in which we can see her breasts slightly after watching other Hitchcock movies which use the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey to force us to take a male’s viewpoint.
In my trailer we also used an iconic symbol of the noose because obviously as a hangwoman she needed the prop but also as a female the circular shape suggested female power and this is something the horror genre often does but for male characters using guns etc as phallic symbols which we also used as the male anti hero takes out a knife and stabs his friend frantically when she walks up behind him. The horror trailer was made much darker in Final Cut Pro using the brightness and contrast menu and also dragged the saturated colours towards the blue in order to create a dark, dusky night time atmosphere a generic convention of horror trailers.
The generic conventions we chose to use were all important to the success of our product and since distributing it on YouTube we have over 4000 which I am really pleased with and gives me the confidence that we obviously stuck to the genre enough to capture our intended target audience but were creative enough to make people want to keep watching the trailer and virally sharing it with others.
Genre places a media text into a grouping giving it an identity which can be recognised by the mainstream society and I believe my product is successfully fitted to the horror genre using the narrative that todorov argued was important to the horror genre by following an equilibrium at the beginning then a problem which in our case was the male anti hero playing a joke on the soon to be female victim making jump running after him causing their separation then a pathway to resolution – as they attempt to find each other and then a new equilibrium at the end which we deliberately left as an open ending to capture our audience effectively.
EAA 10
EG 10
Term 5
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