Micro Video Essay Brief 3 Resources

The list of resources in order of appearance.

 

RACV Traffic – http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/racv/Internet/Primary/travel/before+you+go/real-time+traffic/melbourne+traffic+conditions

The Age Traffic – http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-traffic

Downtown LA Traffic Timelapse – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8bSWa71_sQ

Bangkok – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwEIYdtXjxc

Winnipeg Traffic Helicopter time lapse GoPro HD – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS6wZxNqOLg

Channel 7 Traffic Report – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewpx791Ft7s

Houston Traffic Report – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5bgZII_xtw

Hawaii Traffic Report – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZSrI9LRjWc

New Orleans Traffic Report – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmGr1boN5jU

Traffic conditions in Hefei China – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvCVo2A6bZ0

 

Traffic Sounds – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo8ly89b9us

Helicopter – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TMTWAwktbc

Driving around the highway GTA – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_pc-O7-6nU

No cars on the freeway – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF7gqy9eM3k

Free flowing traffic – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNLYi0xgbTQ

Kerner Pic – http://images.iop.org/objects/jio/insights/1/3/2/kernerpic.jpg

Mycosym Simulation Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVmtBjLD96o

Road Rage Image of man – http://www.americanconservativedailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/road-rage.jpg

Driving the Speed Limit – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX-SbTFM1xk

Synchronized Flow – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivycTcNvJQ

 

Traffic Jam Skopje – http://youtube.com/watch?v=_nRRDe9lqlQ

Monash Freeway – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcdG8RYohgg

Bus/Cycling Lanes – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePPzbZXEs_E

 

London City Road Tax – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q71MCWAEfL8

Student Edge Urban Planning – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QMxaKXsHOg

Transport Melbourne – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBoLlOv97oA

Honking Horn – http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/gty_road_rage_jef_130620_wblog.jpg

Tired person – http://www.wordofgodtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Tired.jpg

Heavy Traffic La – http://youtube.com/watch?v=yCWJmedcvQU

Television Cultures – Blog Post #2 (Scheduling and Masterchef)

We often tend to overlook the power of scheduling even though the concept of it is right in front of us every evening, when we sit down to watch television at dinnertime.

“The television schedule is a form of media temporality that simultaneously disciples and is disciple to the conventions of western ‘human time’ as they take place through standardised patterns of work, sleep, eating and family life” (Cover, 2005, pg. 14).

Schedules are important as they break down patterned audience behaviour (it is important to note that audience behaviour is relevant, as the aim for commercial television is to ‘sell’ mass audiences to advertisers in order to gain a profit from their programs). Firstly schedules include the inscribed assumptions about everyday life regarding working hours or meal times. This means that the evening television schedules often mimic evening schedules for households as this provides more relevant television and brings in viewers (therefore higher ratings, more profit). Secondly they cater to the annual pattern of seasons, events and special occasions. Thirdly, traditional slots tend to be more habitual i.e. news programs scheduled between 5-7pm (catered for the 9-5pm working day model), as this reaches a wider and larger audience range. And lastly are the assumptions about what the competition does and might do. Schedulers take into account patterns of behaviour from other networks or look at what is coming up on other networks, in order to provide the same sort of programming to compete.

The first point is relevant in regards to Masterchef as the program is broadcast around the time when individuals are preparing/eating dinner (7:30pm). Advertisers can market products relevant to Masterchef, i.e. Coles (a major sponsor of the show). For example, they may advertise half-price chicken which leads audiences to consider buying that chicken for a future meal.

Schedulers attempt to find the ‘best slot’ for particular programs especially when they are successful. This leads me to think about many popular cooking game shows that are manipulating ratings at the moment across quite a few networks including Channel 7, 9 and 10.

Channel 10 is definitely catering to my tastes with its hit television program ‘Masterchef’, an Australian reality television game show. The show features three main judges, Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston who are all highly regarded within the food industry. The first episode of season one aired on the 27th of April 2009 at 7pm, with the following seasons airing half an hour later (at 7:30pm). The first episode of season one attracted an average of 1.42 million viewers (cited in Wikipedia 2015), making Masterchef Australia the most watched show in the 7pm time slot. Six years on after moving to the 7:30pm time slot, the 2015 series averaged 1.168 million viewers each episode maintaining its spot as the number one program on television at its timeslot from May-July.

According to Paul Venzo (2009), “Masterchef was successful for a number of reasons. It coincided with the media’s focus on the global financial crisis… as it taught Australian’s how to prepare food that many of us could no longer afford to eat out.” Julie Goodwin (winner of season one) “embodied a key convention of reality television… a journey followed by a transformation into the more ‘ideal-self’.”

By playing on the stereotypical conventions of the family schedule, the producers of Masterchef are able to maximise viewing statistics and revenue through scheduling themselves around the typical family timetable.

 

References:

Ellis, J 2000, ‘Scheduling: the last creative act in television?’, Media, Culture & Society, no. 22, vol. 1, pg. 25-38.

Wikipedia, 2015, MasterChef Australia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterChef_Australia [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Venzo, P 2009, ‘Reality Really Does Bite: ‘Dead Set’ and the Development of Reality TV’, Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, no. 163, pg. 92-97.

 

Television Cultures – Blog Post #1 (Deadset)

When reality television and zombies combine, the British television show ‘Deadset’ comes into play. The show is essentially a spoof on reality TV set both on the inside and outside world of the UK version of ‘Big Brother’. A zombie apocalypse rocks Britain and the last people standing happen to be the participants of Big Brother.

The show was premiered on October 27, 2008 on E4 and was shown consecutively for the five days leading up to Halloween. The ‘scary hype’ that surrounds Halloween, perhaps suggests the reason for this “flesh-eating genre for the smallscreen” (Clarke, 2008, pg. 30) raking in E4’s biggest audience since 2002 with 1.4 million viewers for the 10pm premiere. According to E4, the show had an average audience share of 5.8% compared with an average of 1.8% at the time slot. And perhaps the fact that this show was approached like a “feature film” according to Charlie Booker and featured the real host of the U.K. version of Big Brother, Davina McCall (which is interesting considering the real meanings behind the show), is the reason it was a success.

Deadset encompasses everything that falls under the horror genre with the use of “rapid edits and a range of shots that cut back and forth between the ‘threat at a distance’ and the abstracted close-up of the bloody attacks” (Venzo, 2009, pg. 95) providing the audience with a “gore-fest” (Venzo, 2009, pg. 95). But the show delves further than a typical horror drama, where it begins to explore the idea of audience consumption (represented by the zombie apocalypse).

Charlie Booker has called the audience to question the concept of reality TV and to consider the “capacity of humankind to consume itself, via the media’s obsession with representing back to us the (supposedly) everyday experiences of the Western middle classes” (Venzo, 2009, pg. 93). This is shown through the reality television genre where we see the use of stereotypical and highly constructed characters that express their common human emotions and are faced with ‘un-scripted’ situations which are often relatable to audiences. Therefore, these characters and situations can teach us important things about the society in which we live.

The use of zombies, which can be seen in a typical fantasy and/or horror genre production as well as the combination of the already built-up reality television drama ‘Big Brother’ (made out to be based on real life events), prompts the audience to begin questioning the difference between what is imagined and what is real life. We are essentially faced with an entertaining yet typical and familiar story, whilst also being shown something incredibly different to what we have ever seen before, leading us to question whether the consumption of hyper reality has been taken too far.

But I also think beyond this, the use of zombies in this television program leads us to consider what audiences see as their own ‘threats’ within the real world. It is not just their own consumption of reality TV and whether what we are shown is real or not, but the threats we are faced with every day on our news whether it be to do with terrorism or natural disasters. I think it is also important to consider the fact that within Deadset, it is not only the audience who become the zombies, but the producers of this spoof version of Big Brother, which perhaps suggests that the threats we are faced with are often home-grown and the people we believe give us reliable information, are perhaps also ‘threats’ to audiences. It becomes a question again, linking back to the idea within Deadset, of what is real and what is imagined and can we truly believe everything that we see on television?

 

Resources:

Clarke, S 2008, ‘Television: Brit Auds Eat Up E4 Zombies’, Variety, vol. 413, no. 3, pp. 30.

Venzo, P 2009, ‘Reality Really Does Bite: ‘Dead Set’ and the Development of Reality TV’, Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, no. 163, pg. 92-97.

/ Final Post for Semester 1 /

Well the semester has come to a close and what can I say, it’s been a busy but insightful 12/13 weeks. I feel blessed to have been accepted into this course, it has been my dream since I was in primary school.

This semester I have learnt quite a lot within my elective and contextual study for this course, Popular Culture and Cinema Studies respectively. However I have to admit, Media has definitely been the basis for the things I have learnt.

I found the individual work more challenging than group work which I think was more a function of the fact that we had to do a lot of filming, something that is definitely not my forté at all. Whilst the group work was hard at times because often it was impossible to get everyone to do their work at the same time and to catch up due to various other commitments, I think have more than one brain doing research really enabled our Project Brief 4 to give a very deep insight into what we discovered about media ‘Texts’. Here is a blog post I wrote during this time to outline the task and to reflect: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/samantha-beniac-brooks/2015/05/26/feedback-in-class-group-work-project-brief-4/

Within my own creative practice, I think that looking and reflecting on the things around me has been really important as it allows me to have something to work up to or outdo. An example of this is the post I made reflecting on Sound Design within film. I have always loved film and seek to hopefully further my knowledge in the area in the near future. When reflecting on others work, I often make myself more inspired to create something quite similar but completely unique to my tastes. Here is the blog post I made about Sound Design in cinema: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/samantha-beniac-brooks/2015/05/24/sound-design/

To follow on from the theme of me loving sound, I thoroughly enjoyed the Week 7 Lectorial which gave the Media 1 students an insight into the world of sound in which I had no idea about. These lectorials have been important in providing a basis for what us media students have been learning this semester whilst also relating these things to the world beyond Level 11, Building 80. Here is a post reflecting on the lecture: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/samantha-beniac-brooks/2015/04/21/week-7-lectorial-reflection/

This semester, I have also become quite aware of the media that surrounds us and the way in which it is presented to us as an audience. It is amazing when I walk down Swanston Street and I feel quite ‘bombarded’ by the media texts that surround me almost as if there is no way out (which is a little scary at times). However there is a good side. I watched the Logies during the semester and something that stood out for me was the way in which Carrie Bickmore wore a beanie to raise awareness for Brain Cancer. I love the way in which celebrities use their power and fame to not just promote themselves and their product, but to raise awareness for charities and give information about these diseases. Here is a blog post I wrote after the Logies where I discuss the night and my reflection of Carrie’s wonderful gesture: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/samantha-beniac-brooks/2015/05/05/the-media-and-raising-awareness/

I have also loved doing the readings this semester and tried to realise how important they are for not only myself as a media practitioner but also to gain knowledge and to become more open-minded within my creations and also the creations of others. Here is a blog post reflection on a reading we were given in the first week of classes seeking the difference between a selfie and a self-portrait: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/samantha-beniac-brooks/2015/03/03/whats-the-difference-between-a-selfie-and-a-self-portrait/

And finally, here is a Learning Curve for showing progress in Semester 1 for Media 1:

25051501

 

/ Completion of Project Brief Four /

So whilst this semester has been an incredibly difficult uphill battle in terms of life, I am really happy with the final product in which Jenny, Annie and myself have created 🙂

We had to include (which can be found on google drive):

A Production Dossier:

  • Collaborative Contract
  • Annotated Bibliography
  • Blog posts
  • Release forms
  • Minutes from group meetings
  • Bibliography and any key references consulted
  • Final Product

We have created an eBook which can be found here – Media Texts eBook

I have thoroughly enjoyed the project and have definitely learnt a lot about the way in which media texts bombard people in their everyday lives. I have also learnt a lot about collaboration in which will be vital for my life as a media practitioner.

 

/ 800 Word Reflection – Brief 4 Group Project /

For Project Brief 4, I was teamed with Annie Goldring and Jenny Pham Vo to undergo an analysis on media ‘texts’. At first we found the project brief a little difficult to tackle as the area of media texts is one that is quite large. We had to narrow it down and look at a particular area (and one that intrigued us all). From this, we chose that looking at advertisements was the best choice as we are bombarded with these texts every single day whether it be on social media or whilst waiting for a tram at the tram stop. We originally set out to create a bombardment video along with a short mock youtube clip at the beginning and pop up ads, however as a group, decided that our assignment needed to be more analytical to fit in with the task description. From this we decided to create an eBook where we could explore the three different media advertising platforms in which we were most interested in (print publication, radio and video/television). However the idea that “media is everywhere” remained a key point when creating our own case studies and at this point, this is when we decided to look deeper into the formulas of these advertisements.

 

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the group work as it enabled me to gather a deeper understanding of media texts, with the use of three minds. Our annotated bibliographies were incredibly vital to the project as we all went away and did research that gathered theories and case studies from past researchers who were interested in the study of media texts. Moreover, the case studies often mentioned audiences and the ways in which advertisers attempt to persuade an audience. From this, we decided to consider the formulas in which are used to advertise a particular product. These annotated bibliographies created a basis for the idea of the eBook, in which we have included many case studies looking at a handful of advertisements that we are bombarded with in our everyday lives. The idea of the eBook enabled our group to show in depth, each of our case studies as well as inform readers with a general overview of what we believed media ‘texts’ were.

 

Unfortunately at times I found the idea of group work difficult. Whilst also having other assignments, we all have busy lives and it is very hard to come together outside of class time (however we did manage to catch up at least 4 times outside of class which resulted in quite productive work where we were sharing ideas and helping each other out with our own case studies). This project has definitely taught me to in future create some sort of schedule that enables the group to come together at the beginning to decide when we were all free and to save dates. Another problem we faced was the numerous last minute meetings that often had to be cut short because of other distractions.

 

In terms of being a media practitioner, this project has taught me that it is important to stay on top of the work and to communicate with your group members as often as possible. Communication within the group is something I would like to work on in the next media group project as without it, it is impossible to understand where your team members are at and what work they are doing. I would also like to stick to the group rules set out at the beginning (do work when required etc.) as within the group, we had lost track of each other’s work and I became concerned that perhaps we were all at different stages within the project. Although, I am incredibly happy with the work we are submitting as I believe it provides a deep insight and shows the depth we went into, to fully understand media texts.

 

After completing the work, I feel I have gathered a sound understanding of media texts. It was interesting to note the similarities between many of the advertisements we compared within our case studies. The use of formulas like slogans, colours and even monotone voices in advertisements, enables each advertisement to target a specific audience (sometimes even a wide demographic), to ‘sell’ an idea or product. The process of research and analysing specific advertisements allowed me to form a deeper understanding of the way in which the media attempts to bombard us with messages. Overall, the project has made me more aware of the bombardment of texts within our everyday lives which almost makes me feel as if I am not just another ‘audience member’ to these advertisers as I now understand the ways in which advertisers try and sell me a product or idea.

/ Annotated Bibliography from Popular Culture /

So here is a post relating to the elective I am doing at the moment (Popular Culture).

I wrote this Annotated Bibliography to submit for the final assessment piece (we had to write 3 bibliographies).

I want to know what people think of the idea between Fan-Celebrity interaction. It was previously discussed in a lecture for Media 1 and I myself am definitely apart of this fan-celebrity culture which is why I am so interested in it.

Here it is below.. enjoy!

Ferris, K 2001, ‘Through a Glass, Darkly: The Dynamics of Fan-Celebrity Encounters’, Symbolic Interaction, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 25-47.

 

In this article, Kerry O Ferris examines the interaction between celebrities and their fans, further suggesting that perhaps there could be a theory developed for fan-celebrity interaction. The article explores the dynamic relationship between fans and celebrities, and the ways in which some “fans make and take advantage of opportunities for prestige encounters at public events” (Ferris 2001, pg. 25). However some fans actively pursue celebrities to create fan-staged encounters often blurring the line of being an, ‘active fan’ and showing similarities to ‘celebrity stalkers’. Whilst Ferris acknowledges the face-to-face contact between celebrities and their fans, she also brings attention to the interaction between fans and celebrities via mass media and the way in which it “can incorporate the fictional and the extraordinary into their real, ordinary, everyday lives” (Ferris 2001, pg. 25).

 

To form a deeper understanding of fan-celebrity relationships, Ferris collected observational and interview data over a two-year period from ‘active’ Star Trek and ABC soap opera fans. She describes active fans as “pursuing beyond interest, consumption and enjoyment of the television show”, whilst also “forming social bonds with other fans and participating in activities” (Ferris 2001, pg. 28). Collected were a series of twenty in-depth interviews with active fans (fifteen women and five males), who discussed their “television viewing habits and practices, personal histories of fan ship and fan-celebrity contact” (Ferris 2001, pg. 29).

 

The article provides a deep insight into the developing theory of fan-celebrity relationships, recognising that not all fans blur the line between ‘active fans’ and ‘celebrity stalkers’. Whilst also having collected subjective data from interviews, Ferris gathered notes whilst attending “conventions, autograph signings, and personal appearances at store openings” (Ferris 2001, pg. 29) in which fans can interact face-to-face with celebrities, providing an ‘in the field’ perspective. This enabled her research to have a multi-faceted approach supporting the theory of fan-celebrity relationships.

 

Whilst the article provides a range of data to suggest that there is a potential for a theory of fan-celebrity relationships, there are some limitations which include the fact that Ferris has used an unbalanced male to female ratio (15 females and 5 males) potentially giving an inaccurate result, as the results could be gender-affected. However, this ratio could perhaps suggest that there are in fact more female ‘active fans’ than there are male ‘active fans’, implying that further research within this area is suggested. Ferris also states that the data is focused primarily on fans, as it is “solely from the fans perspective” (Ferris 2001, pg. 30), giving no other outlook (that of the celebrity/celebrities involved). Nevertheless, this could also be seen as a strength of the data, as it is purely “naturalistic data” (Ferris 2001, pg. 30) which enables for the examination of “indigenous perspectives and meanings” (Ferris 2001, pg. 30) of these active fans.

 

The article is useful for individuals looking into the fan-celebrity interaction as it provides a multi-faceted approach to the developing theory of the contact between these two groups. Potential research into different fan-celebrity groups is however required as this article only looks at Star Trek and ABC soap opera viewers. In addition, it may also be necessary to gain a perspective from the celebrity’s viewpoint.

/ There is something wrong with Teddy /

The above is a YouTube video posted by user ZeFrank1.

This little video is something my brother showed me the other day. I was a little confused at first because I didn’t understand the reason for it, but as it went on, I became more interested in it and I wanted to know what happened next.

The video is classified as a ‘dark-humour’, which explores the notion of a stuffed Teddy Bear having a medical procedure to remove ‘bad things’ from his body. Some of the contents within him include gangrene kidney crayons as well as cigarette butt filled bon-bons (which made me feel sick lol).

The whole video surrounds this teddy and we question how it got so sick. We find out that, “Teddy loved a bad boy. What did the bad boy do, Teddy? Oh Teddy, the bad boy broke Teddy’s heart’s heart.

This made me feel a little emotional because I always used to think (and still kind of do) that toys have hearts and they get hurt too. Growing up, I used to take care of my toys as if they were my babies because I had a genuine care for them. It is interesting to think about this as they obviously do not have an actual alive heart and they cannot breathe. But this video basically says that they do and this teddy has been affected by a bad little boy who was his owner.

I don’t know, maybe it sounds silly but this definitely grabbed me because of the content surrounding what we see. Maybe I am just a very emotional person. I don’t know… I loved the video though.

I definitely recommend you have a watch. 🙂

/ Feedback (in class) – Group Work Project Brief 4 /

This week our group presented the layout of our eBook to the class. We were pleasantly surprised when the whole class seemed satisfied with the work we had done at this point. People enjoyed the look of it, stating that it was “unique” and “colourful” which enables readers to keep attracted to it. This is important as we wanted to give off the effect that media advertisements do.

Annie chose www.canva.com and I have been very satisfied with her choice. It allows us to show a deep analysis with the options to include images as well as text to show the reader what research we have done.

My case studies are coming along nicely. I will be submitting them to Annie by Friday in order for us to begin the introduction and conclusion and complete any last minute work before submission on Thursday June 4. Something that came up in my research was that of the common formulas used between the two breakfast ads that I am comparing. It is interesting to note the use of families in both as well as children perhaps showing that there is a particular audience target. I will be looking deeper into this within the eBook.

I have loved researching deeper into the bombardment of media texts (and more specifically advertisements).

Our group seems to be on top of the work!

/ Week 12 – Lectorial Reflection /

Wow… well it’s the last lecture for Semester one. Crazy to think how quickly this semester has come and gone.

Today in the last lecture we discussed Media Materialism.

Some notes I took:

Culture

  1. identifying subgroups within population – youth group etc.
  2. the world as culture, humankind – think about humanity as a whole/we are a human culture
  3. art, theatre, cinema: creative expression – what you would find in the newspaper under culture.
  • Culture is multiple – different classes/races/ages
  • Messy, unpredictable, confused.
  • Brian Eno – “culture is everything we do not have to do” – we don’t need to have certain cuisines or clothing but we need to be clothed and need to eat. (we could survive without them)
  • Culture is something that we do, but also something that we are.

Technological Determinism: Technology determines its own path – each development has a preconceived course

  • – Invention of the Walkman – shut out oral cues of the world, we could shape our own music.

Social Constructivism: we control it

  • No matter how radical the innovation is, we ultimately have control.
  • Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
  • It is not a straight line, it is unpredictable.

 

It is interesting to consider the idea of culture and the way in which it is alive within the media. This lecture confused me a little as I am quite exhausted from a long semester. However it was interesting to hear of the different ideas in culture focused on the theory that technology is pre-determined and has a direct path compared with the theory that we control everything and technology is unpredictable (social constructivism).