Tag Archives: audience

SEMESTER REFLECTION

After completing one Bachelor’s degree in music already, I was tentative in my approach to start a second degree in media. I wasn’t too sure of what I was getting myself into. Thankfully, cutting the program down by a year put my mind at ease by the time classes began.

For project brief 1 though, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I was kind of just mashing together ideas in a rush to the deadline. As the semester went on though, I viewed the briefs less as assignments and more as a chance to experiment. Allowing assignments/projects/tasks to breathe by getting on to them early is a major part of my learning thus far. I put more time, effort and thinking time into project briefs 2 and 3 and as a result they were certainly of a higher creative standard than brief 1. Using found footage was a huge eye-opener for me. I really enjoyed sourcing old clips and mixing them with HD material. The contrast in quality made for an appealing retro effect.

In regards to feedback, I have always been a bit reserved when it comes to putting myself out there. Especially creative projects. The collaborative/feedback aspect of this program has been very helpful in creating media. Although it has felt a bit forced, the bouncing around of ideas with other people has greatly contributed to the thought process behind a task. I often feel stuck when I write music and the same happens for when I make a media product. Another person’s input, I have found in this setting is extremely beneficial to the product itself.

The most challenging parts of the course for me so far have been:

Not having a computer system that could keep up with the demands of the program. My laptop is getting old and slow, and needs a service. Over the break, I am keen to invest in an updated system so I make media more often and productively. This way I can go into semester 2 with a fresh mindset and better knowledge of programs.
Reading and critiquing scholarly articles. This is something I have always struggled with. I am getting better by the day, but I think the issue is how dry most of the set readings are. My research skills are certainly getting better though as I have been coming across interesting articles more frequently. And to turn a negative into a positive, when these good articles come along, they are captivating.
Keeping up with blog posts! My opinion of blogging has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Looking at my graph, you can see that during the week on Audiences, I questioned the value of the blog. Since then I have realised that it gives me a chance to write and express myself. Regardless of having an audience, it is very good practice.

A visual progression within the course can be found in the graph below:

My understanding of the blog had its fair share of peaks and troughs. That being said, I consistently enjoyed the freedom to write. Now just to keep it up! The 5 posts that I feel best show my engagement within the course are: Your Retention Please, Sawyer’s Basketball Group Flow, Approaching Media Texts, Who’s My Audience and Remix Culture. Rather than looking at this course as a strict Media degree, I have tried to incorporate past and current knowledge to better my understanding of Media. These five posts thoroughly explore my interests in Psychology, Media, Music, Collaboration, Basketball, Text, Technology and Advertising, and how they intertwine with each other.

– Gabriel

WHO’S MY AUDIENCE?

I’m falling behind on this bloggin’ situation, there’s no doubtin’. It’s not that I don’t find it enjoyable, it’s more the fact that critiquing academic/scholarly pieces is something I don’t necessarily want on public display. See, if this was a blog that purely focused on my ramblings I would be happy to push it through the obvious stream of facebook for my ‘friends’ to read. But even still, how many people would read what I’m writing right now? 5? 10? 50? I’m not looking for an answer to be honest, but it’s interaction and engagement with “the people formerly known as the audience” that I and everyone else in this Media program should be seeking.

This blog post was an interesting read. Although it’s 9 years old, the message is probably more relatable now than it was back then. Technology will not stop improving and this means the desire and ability for consumers to become the creators will continue to increase. Everyone has a voice and the Internet is the driving force behind these voices attempting to be heard. For instance, 300 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute. 12 and a half days worth, in 1 minute. That is a damning statistic, and arguably an over saturation in content, which only continues to overflow.

This isn’t a necessarily a bad thing though. I suppose it just means that the original, creative and ‘great’ content will rise to the top of consumption lists. But who’s to say this original, creative content will ever be seen or heard? If more and more people are focusing on creating than consuming, will there eventually be a point where consumption stops all together? In that case, who will the audience be then? Sympathetic mum…

Who am I kidding, there’s always an audience. Instagram and facebook are two of the most easily accessible platforms for dispersing information to huge audiences. It’s the process of ‘sharing’, ‘commenting’ and ‘liking’ in this age that ensures at least someone will be there to consume the content. I can’t guarantee anyone will be paying attention to me unless I make it so. This is the approach I want to take with this Media program from now on. We have the ability to engage in and share huge amounts of content amongst a huge audience of like-minded people, it seems stupid to not put it into practice.

– Gabriel

FORGOTTEN SILVER BLEW MY MIND…ONCE

The first time I watched Forgotten Silver, I was going in to year 11. My media teacher at the time played it to us for orientation. I distinctly remember as soon as it finished he said, “It’s all bullshit”. This was the point that I began to think more critically about filmmaking, and specifically documentaries. I’ve hated him since.

Making an event out of “exploiting the gray area between fact and fiction”, as Jones puts it, is common practice in documentary making today. The magical sense of ‘reality’ that shines through adds a dramatic effect that can’t be replicated in strictly fiction narrative.

Watching Forgotten Silver for the second time, I felt all the years of film analysis catch up to me, and couldn’t help but laugh at how foolish I was back then. Perhaps the closed environment in High School with such assurance from a teacher led me to believe what I was seeing to be the truth. It was this excitement of uncovering unknown information that led to the enjoyment I felt the first time watching.

Which begs the question Jones asks: “What does it matter what’s staged and what isn’t?” Peter Jackson is obviously aware of this conundrum and felt compelled to make a humorous ‘documentary’ about a Colin McKenzie. This story of Colin McKenzie, is so playfully absurd that it flirts with the concept of reality. A wise man once said (me): “Blow my mind once, I’m convinced. Blow my mind twice in quick succession, I’m sceptical”. Mastering the technique of mind explosion is what these hybrid filmmakers are all about.

But even if the story of Colin McKenzie were true would it really matter that much to anyone outside of film studies courses? I mean who knows the Lumiere brothers anyway?

Reference Material

Jones, Kent “I Walk the Line” Film Comment, vol. 41:1, January-February 2005

– Gabriel

APPROACHING MEDIA TEXTS

Gill Branston, besides having a pretty sweet name, analyses text in ‘Approaching Media Text’. As Branston says, “‘text’ originally referred to sacred writings, such as the Bible”, but more recently, a text has been described as “anything which is to be investigated” (2010 p11). From this we can assume that texts surround everyone in everyday life, and cannot be avoided.

Branston refers to the semiotic analysis approach established by Ferdinand de Saussure (and later used by Roland Barthes) as a primary method for understanding texts. Semiotics is defined as “the study of signs, or of the social production of meanings and pleasures by sign systems, or the study of how things come to have significance” (Branston 2010, p12). Texts are filled with a variety of signs, signifiers, signifieds, referents, connotations and denotations which create meaning. These terms suggest that whilst there are intended messages, all texts are highly interpretable across different demographics and cultures.

Branston links the study of texts to the Structuralism theory prominent in Psychology. This theory deals with audiences subconscious responses to texts and how they react to them in ways that they aren’t fully aware of. This is the genius of advertising, pinpointing target demographics, and convincing them to purchase a specific product, or instilling subconscious beliefs.

What Branston provides is a variety of methods used to understand different media texts. He quotes McKee as saying “textual analysis [is] an educated guess at some of the most likely interpretations that might be made of [a] text” (2011). This sentence reinforces the notion of texts being very ’roundabout’ in nature. Although information is presented to an audience in a specific way, there’s no guarantee that the intended audience will fully comprehend the desired message.

Just as a side note on the topic of subliminal marketing, advertising and blatant brainwashing, a friend of mine showed me this video:

Source

“TRUST THE US GOVERNMENT”

The message doesn’t shock me as much as it first did. But I think that’s just because Tony Abbott is running the country.

References:

Branston. Gill, Stafford, Roy. The Media Student’s book, (p, 9-26, 31) 5th ed. New York, NY : Routledge 2010

– Gabriel