Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Monday, 24 November 2008
O°o●◦How does the opening three minutes of 'Heroes' compare to typical TV title sequences? ◦●o°O
The episode begins with a re-cap of the previous episode, The recap is embedded into the scene creating a flow and doing what it initially intends to which is reviewing the episode for audience to remember the present story line. This is accompanied by a voice over of a male who summarises the storyline simultaneously. This would be a quick reminder to the audience about what happened previously. Many other TV programmes use the same similar method but some may differ as some TV programmes are not a continuation of the previous and don’t follow on and an example would be ‘The Simpsons’ as it is a new storyline each day. There are not many programmes who choose to include this method such as: One Tree Hill, Hollyoaks and Eastenders as they do not use these methods making it an uncommon method to use. This shows that the re-cap does not compare to typical TV title sequences but it could be ideal to keep the audience engaged in the programme, as they are always aware of what happened previously.
As the series begins the title appears: "Chapter Two: Don't look back" which is shown written on the building in capitals. The variation of any other TV programme and The Heroes is significant here as an ordinary TV programme would mark their title at the start positioned at the lower centre of the screen, whereas in this case the title ‘Don’t look back’ is shown on a building. This magnifies the importance of the buildings as the male actor is shown jumping of them, which corresponds to the previous episode. The typography of the text is quite informal and indicates that it has been hand written rather than typed, which signifies to the type of text you would find in a comic book.
Chronologically, the camera angle is changed into a bird’s eye view of the male standing on the building, this is done to intensify the drama being created as it gives the audience a full focus of the man and his surroundings. This connotes that the male may have some sort of importance or may be superior within the series or may even want to commit suicide. This would be the ideas in the audience's mind if they have not seen the series before, this shows the ambiguity of the opening title sequence as the audience may not have a clear idea of what is exactly happening especially if they have not seen the programme before. This would cause the audience to think and will create mystery in their mind which would keep them engaged into the programme. This is also an alternative technique used quite rarely as many would just open in to the first scene and establish the storyline.
On the whole, I think that the opening sequence of the programme 'Heroes' varies from a lot of other TV programmes as it uses different unique techniques to make the programme seem interesting. I also think that the programme does well in engaging its audience as not many programmes use ‘re-caps’ to set the mood of the series.
---» An anthropological guide to youtube «---
YouTube big numbers --->
YouTube has produced more material in 6 months than the three biggest networks in America over the past 60 years (which is 1.5 million hours of broadcasting). They did this without producers and instead with people all across the globe uploading their own material. Currently, You tuber's upload over 9000 hours of content everyday which is the equivalent of approximately 400 always on TV channels. 88% of the content is new material.
Numa Numa and the celebrations of web cams...
This is the story of the numa numa dancer. who sitting in his bedroom created a video of him lip syncing a foreign song entitled Numa Numa. This video has been thought to have achieved over 600 million views!
The Machine is Us/ing Us and the New Mediascape...
Talking about the new ways in which we use the Internet (web 2.o) no longer is the Internet just for information its about linking people with websites such as Facebook and Wikipedia we are no longer just consumers we also provide the material this is called user generated content. To illustrate this his own video The Machine Is Us/ing Us was done with help from a musician in the ivory coast.
Who Is On Youtube?..
The majority of users on YouTube are young adults who make up 52 % of the content. Teenagers and over 35 users generate the same amount of content.
What Is On YouTube...
A range of popular videos. Many of these have gone into popular culture such as Charlie Bit My Finger
5% of vids are personal vlogs addressed to the YouTube community, Why?...
Many believe that the abundance in vlogs is due to a loss of community in real life for example going to the big supermarkets instead of the corner shops create a loss of community in our neighborhood however due to vlogs we now have an Internet community.
Cultural Inversion: individualism and community...
this is the theory in which as we grow more independent as individuals we long for a sense of community and closeness in our relationships. Also due to commercialisation we want more authenticity. YouTube provides this.
Understanding new forms of community through Participant Observation...
Participation theory is the theory in which you have to participate in something in order to understand it. In order to understand the YouTube community they became apart of it
YouTube as a medium for community...
When you vlog on YouTube you do not know when your going to be watched or who by. You don't even know whats going to happen to your vlog it could be remixed or anything this is called content collapse
Our first vlogs...
When first making a vlog it is difficult to know how to start because you do not know how to start broadcasting yourself or what to say.
The web cam:
Everybody is watching where nobody is ("context collapse")This is when although it feels like your talking to nobody and that nobody is there really your in a very public place where people across the globe could be watching what you do.
Re-cognition and new forms of self-awareness (McLuhan)...
Due to the fact we can achieve almost a replay of the events in our life it has brought us a new sense of self awareness. We can see how far we have come as people.
The Anonymity of Watching YouTube: Haters and Lovers...
On YouTube most people remain anonymous this causes almost a community of hatred & also of love because people do not have to feel anxiety or fear due to there opinions.
Aesthetic Arrest...
This is when people feel deep emotional connection with other from the Internet but without the responsibilities that come with it in Essence it allows connection without constraint.
Free Hugs: A hero for our mediated culture...
A man who had spent a lot of time in Britain had returned home to Sydney but had no one there to greet him so he started a free hug campaign to make himself feel less lonely. This not only bring people together physically but has done so emotionally all over YouTube.
YouTube Drama: Striving for popularity...
The difficulties in attaining one of the most popular videos or channels. Stars of YouTube include Brookers, Lonelygirl15 and others
An early star: emokid21ohio...
This is almost a love story between two users on YouTube. However, it had been found that this user was not who he proclaimed to be and therefore we come to the issue of authenticity.
You Tube's Authenticity Crisis: the story of LonelyGirl15...
The story of lonelygirl15 who people believed was a teenage American vlogger turned out to be an obscure New Zealand actress called Jessica Rose. This brings up the question on can people really be authentic or genuine on YouTube?
Reflections on Authenticity --->
Is anybody really being truly authentic or are we all just producing ourselves for YouTube many people believe that YouTube has not given us authenticity but rather just another form of drama.
Gaming the system / Exposing the System...
Thumbnails of the middle of any video on YouTube are shown before clicking. Many people use this to their advantage by choosing desirable thumbnails even if there video has nothing to do with it.
Seriously Playful Participatory Media Culture...
Has serious consequences for some people. Such as McCain whose joke 'bomb Iran' was taken into what he says was the "wrong context". Also YouTube has given us the power to do things we shouldn't. Basically, whenever we rip a DVD or upload copy written music we do so in the knowledge that we are braking the law.
Networked Production: The Collab. MadV's "The Message" and the message of YouTube...
A user known as MadV posted a video telling people to simply make a statement on there hands he gave the example of one world. Soon, this became the most responded to video on YouTube. The overall message of this video was of love and community this could be seen as the message of YouTube to.
Poem: The Little Glass Dot, The Eyes of the World...
A poem about Webcam & how it changes lives in our world. The main concepts being re-cognition, exploration of self and of course entertainment.
Conclusion by bnessel1973...
YouTube user who lost a child believes that the Internet site and the videos he created helped him to carry on through the hard times in life. He rounds up by saying thank you to everybody who has supported him in YouTube.
Saturday, 15 November 2008
°¤˚ Web 2.0 ˚¤°
°¤˚ _What is Web 2.0 ?_ ˚¤°
Web 2.0 is a term that describes the changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and also the web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and it’s hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, and blogs.
Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to change the ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web.
According to Tim O'Reilly:
“Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Cross media study
There are three main media platforms:
●◦•Broadcasting•◦●
*Trailers and teasers
*Catch-ups, repeats, spin-offs
*Talk shows, news, arts and review programs
* Red button activity
●◦•Print•◦●
* previews and reviews
* stories and features on themes, characters or production.
* interviews with cast or crew
* special publications
●◦•E-media•◦●
* clips, previews, reviews, extra scenes
*official sites, fan sites, social networking sites
*actors’, writers’ and directors’ sites
* trails, advertising
*blogs
Cross-Media: "Sex and the City"(Film) and "Lipstick jungle"(T.V)
At the start of the trailer we see a series of location shots to establish New York city as the main setting of the film. The music which accompanies the trailer is quite classy which gives height to the class and status of the characters in the film. The mid camera shot of 'Big' and 'Carrey' has been used to determine their relationship as quite close, and in love. Also to keep focus on the actor's facial expressions which may also contribute to their feelings of their relationship. As the trailer progresses we hear non- digetic sound in the form of narration about 'Carrey' with shots of Carrey bring shown Simultaneous. This gives an insight of Carrey's personality and her as a person. We aslo get numerous sound bridges to intake significant information relative to the plot which marks what the film maybe about.
A constant edit which is used throught out the trailer would be the 'fade-in' and 'fade-out', as we can view shots being smoothly faded in and out in a routinal pattern, which may signify the lives the main female characters live in the film. There are small captions presented in even breaks of the trailer such as: "some things end, some things begin, and somethings never change", this reinforces the highs and lows of the film creating drama which mirrors it's genre.
The observable audience would be women in their early thirties of class audience B-C2, as it has some statements of fashion it would also attract a younger age group of females. The trailer throughout is enlightened with bright and vibrant colour hues which does not distract the audience making them assume that the film is boring and meaningless, but the assortment of colours coincides to the main target audience, again attracting a range of audiences.
Generally, to symbolise the downfall of a character in a film it would be metaphorically determined through the use of dull lighting, or sad music, however in this case, clothing signifies the breakdown of the character. This is noticeable as at the start the clothing is quite glam and high fashion, whereas in the middle the clothing becomes quite casual and conventional. The ideology relative to this maybe as fashion plays a subordinate in their friendship and lives, as the female characters are shown quite high profile and glamourous and often relating and talking about fashion on many occasions. The representation is also done by the frequent use of mid-range shots which ideally are used for focusing on the expressions of the actors, which creates the intensity of the scene as we know what the actors are feeling.
As we get sound bridges the conversations generally being spoken over them are about 'fantasies' and 'reality', relating to the narrative, which may connotate to a 'fairy tale' that Carrey is experiencing. However the use of the dialogue "...and cinderella and the prince lived happily ever after", ironically is a representation which connotates that Carrey and Big correspond to 'cinderella' and the prince. This indicates that there will be a happy ending at the end as the laughing at the end of the trailer is evident of this also suggesting that everthing resolves by the end.
Attainment: I think my attainment grad should be 2-3 as I have missed out on some media lessons last term. However I believe that from the start of this term I have kept a good attendance so far. Also I suppose that my understanding of the course has progressed over the past couple of weeks.
Effort: For effort I consider a 3 because I believe as I am new to the course and have not studied it before I should put in a bit more effort than usual and try hard and my best most of the time. I try contributing in class as much as possible.
Punctuality: I think I deserve a 2 in punctuality because I am generally on time for lessons, but there have been one or two occasions.
Submission and quality of homework: 3 is the consideration I give to my homework as I generally do tend to do it but as to some past difficulties on getting use to the blog site I have not been able to do so. However if a little more effort is put in to my work then I could grade my homework as 1.
Ability to work independently: as to my ability to work independently I have graded my self a 2, as I have the ability to work as an individual or as part of a group. I do find that in some cases, not on regular bases, I get distracted whilst doing group work, where I find that I am more focused when working individually. However I do enjoy working as part of a group as you are able to understand key concepts through each and others assistance.
Quality of writing: I believe that I should be graded a 3 for my quality of writing as I am trying my best to get used to the media terminology.
Organisation of Media folder: 4 as my media folder needs updating as well as dividing the work set by the teacher allocated. However I have started to keep my folder more organised.
Oral contributions in class: 3, I try contributing and answering questions in lessons in areas where I feel I have a good knowledge of. I try contributing in all my lessons but I think I could do with a bit more participation.
2. Working within groups and contributing ideas and understanding of the course.
3. I believe that my attendance and punctuality is now improving compared to before.
1. Homework was given in on time.
2. More contribution was made in class discussions so that understanding can expand.
3. More effort could be put in to work to show understanding.