Home Made Advertising

Another example of how digital technology is blurring the boundaries between audience and producer and how it's helping to lower the costs for traditional media institutions. Pringles will be using an ad made for just £300 by a member of the public. The ad will be first shown on terrestrial TV in Christmas day on ITV. The cost to Prigles of running the ad once on ITV is £60,000 but you could add that again to the cost if an ad agency had produced the ad for them. By running the competition for a new ad, Pringles have saved a huge amount of money and the winner of the competition has earned a reputation for himself within advertising circles - as well as the £2,000 prize. Of course Pringles can also benefit from the low cost viral marketing this will inevitably lead to.

What Makes The News?

Click on the title above to go to two radio programmes from the BBC World Service about how news stories are selected and edited in different parts of the world and by different news organisations. The second programme examines the future of news in light of new media developments. Essential listening. The more examples from current news output that you can include in your exam answers the better - it shows that your engaged with current debates not just the well rehearsed ones that examiners will be bored of.

Foundation Production Christmas Research Task

So far you've watched The Birds, The Dark Hours and Momento, examples of Psychological Thrillers from the middle and late twentieth century. The notes you have taken on these films will form a key part of your "Product Research" section in your Foundation Product folder, which acts as part of your evidence for your Planning mark (30 out of the 120 marks available for FP). This task is designed to provide you with further evidence of product research and give you a better feel for the genre and how it appeals to its audience.

The Task:
1) Select 3 films from the list of Psychological Thrillers listed elsewhere on this blog
2) On your own or together with others in the class, view the 3 films, taking notes.
3) Write a brief summary (55 words or less) of the story and characters.
4) Write a paragraph describing the visual style of the film -e.g. does it use a lot o close-ups to create a sense of claustrophobia etc? Does it use saturated colours or a lot of light and shadow etc?
5) Describe who you think the target audience to be and why.
6)Write a brief summary of the credit info - director, producer, studio, cast (easy to find on www.imdb.co.uk)

Critical Research

For all you Year 13 Media Students who have even the slightest idea that things that happen in the media have something got to do with them, go and check this out. Its worth reading for the name of the Children's Secretary alone!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7134943.stm

Hellboy HomeWork

Task

(a)To plan a complete response to the question:

How are the following used in the extract

-Camera angle, movement and positioning
-Editing
-Special Effects
-Sound
-Mise en scene

Your plan will consist of four or so topic sentences that clearly indicate the type of material you will deal with in your response.


(b) You will then choose one of the paragraphs to complete to the very best of your ability.

You should aim to write about how the different technical codes are used in the part of the extract you have chosen to focus on.

It would be helpful for you to break the extract down into key events, for example:

1. Hellboy (protagonist) reading suddenly engulfed in combat in the lift shaft.
2. we then cut to the underground station
3. the fight then begins – there are several stages to the fight
4. the monster is splattered by the train.

If you deal with the action in this way then your work will have a structure and will convey a sense of the extract to the reader. However, if you tackle the question in this manner then you will have to write about all the technical codes simultaneously. The different parts of the extract will, to a greater or lesser extent, enable you to demonstrate your knowledge of all the technical codes.

Im really sorry if I upset anyone in Mondays lesson, I really am.

Day After Tomorrow Homework

As discussed in class today, I'd like you to write about the use of all five technical codes - camera, sound, effects, editing and mise-en-scene - in the second half of the extract. Remember, write in the present tense and try to convey a sense of the extract as it happens. By doing this you will force yourself to write about all five codes at once because the camera only makes sense when discussed in conjunction with sound etc.
It doesn't matter if you repeat detail mentioned by earlier posts. What I'm interested in looking at is how you structure your response. Can you post by next Monday night - 17th December.

Hamlet Quotations to be (or not to be) committed to memory.

By way of comments in response to this post let us see if we can build up a series of worthwhile quotations as a resource for the A2 Hamlet exam. I will get the ball rolling.

Wise Children article question

The question is...

Why does Jane Ogborn believe that Wise Children is a "typically 'postmodern' novel" and what evidence can you gather from the article to support this point of view?

Please post a short response by Friday 7th December.

Wise Children question

The question is...

Whatever you need to know about magazines

Magforum is a huge online resource tracing the history and development of magazines from all different genres. There are whole sections on men's magazines and women's glossies, with lots of useful stats on audience figures and information about changing audience demands.

X-MEN Textual Analysis

Post your H/W here and dont forget to sign in or include your name in the response!

The Future of Gaming

EA Games are looking to the console producers to come together and produce a single platform. Will it ever happen?

12-32 Gladiator H/W

BBC News Editors Explain Their Decisions

The BBC News site has an editor's blog, where many of the decisions made by BBC News programmes are justified and explained by the editors who made them. This is a really useful resource for the Broadcast News and Current Affairs section of the Debates paper in Year 13.

Burntwood Students Win Magazine Pitch!!

A group of Year 13 Media students went to BBC Worldwide yesterday for a workshop on magazines. During the course of the day they had to come up with ideas for a new magazine and pitch the idea to the good people at the BBC. Using the wealth of knowledge they had gleaned from their Lifestyle Magazines unit in Year 12, they stole top prize from all the other schools in attendance and bagged a few HMV vouchers.

Look out for the students concerned at whole school assembly on Wednesday 17th October.

Make a name for yourself - make a film!

Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK are looking for ideas for short films about smoking and why it's not the best way to pass the time. You're all full of bright ideas so why not give it a go. You may well end up making the film with the support of Channel 4. For more details go to the website - click on the title of this post.

yet another Media Glossary

Try this link -it's a good one to increase your ability to engage with Media texts in the required manner.

When you get to the page look to the left and in the index box, click the EA button and hey presto!


http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/index.html

Hamlet homework 13:52

KING CLAUDIUS

Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
The imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,–
With an auspicious and a dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,–
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak supposal of our worth,
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,
He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,
Importing the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,
To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Now for ourself and for this time of meeting:
Thus much the business is: we have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,–
Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose, –to suppress
His further gait herein; in that the levies,
The lists and full proportions, are all made
Out of his subject: and we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the king, more than the scope
Of these delated articles allow.
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.

Using examples in your answer, how would you describe the performance of the King in his first appearance in the play. You may want to focus on:

• the use of figurative language
• the tone and how it changes
• how Claudius' kingship is represented

Email me on gringle@tesco.net if your not sure of any part of the question.

Independent Media in a Time of War

From what you saw of the documentary in today's lesson P3 Mon 1st October, how successful do feel TV news is as a method of disseminating information.

Has downloading killed the album?

An interesting question is posed on the BBC 6Music site - are we witnessing the beginning of the end for music albums? Do you value your album collection? Are tracks better appreciated as part of an album or do you all use the shuffle function on your iPod or MP3 player. Many artists (e.g. Travis, Ash, Prince) are beginning to acknowledge that the downloading of tracks has fundamentally changed the way audiences listen to music and have decided to either do away with or give away albums.

12:31 media home work

Stuart Hall has argued that the meaning an audience gets from a text is determined by their cultural backround and that there is no fixed meaning. How far do you agree with these ideas in terms of what you know about Audience theory?

Use examples from each theoretical perspective to support your points.

(about 200 words)-due first lesson week beginning 1st October.

You may want to include references to:

Hypodermic Syringe Theory

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Two Step Flow Theory

Reception Theory

BEWARE! Your Search Engine is working you out

You friendly-wendley search engine, the bestest friend you have is really a spy. The term 'spyware' conjures up images of evil programmers hell-bent on destroying the world. On the other hand, when we think of Google we think, 'Oh I LOVE Google, it helps me everyday!' What you really should be asking yourself is - at what price this help?

Follow the link and learn more.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6972079.stm

Who is watching Mediawatch? Critical Research / Debates Paper

I suppose its hard to argue against an organisation that believes swearing and violence, as well as misogeny and stereo typing are BAD THINGS! I would be really interested to know what you think of this article, 'NEW CALL TO CUT MEDIA VIOLENCE', and the site in general.

http://www.mediawatchuk.org.uk/

The Debates Paper

All you Year 13 Media types - I know how you just love cowboy films so check this one out! No really people you need to start getting some western type films into your diet so that when the Genre unit (debates paper) comes around you will be quick on the draw. Till then pardner, put the cattle on and have a nice cup 'a cawfee! (The film is called 3-10 To Yuma)

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2168098,00.html

Where's the bias?

This one has had me scratching my head. If you click on the title of this post it will bring you to a blog connected to the Guardian newspaper. It concerns an article on the BBC's Newsround site. There have been lots of accusations that the article is biased because it seems to either blame America for the attacks of 9/11 or justify al-Qaeda in some way.

This feeds into the article we've been reading in class recently around the issue of freedom of speech and the representation of all views in the media. Is the BBC being biased here by explaining the position of al-Qaeda or is it merely trying to fairly represent the views of all those involved in the story of 9/11? Do the accusations of bias have anything to do with the language used in the article or the way the sentences are structured ( the esteemed Mr. Graham, he of Room 81, the English corridor, thinks this may just be the case).

Psychological Thriller Titles

First of all, welcome to Year 12 Media. As promised, here is an initial list of psychological thrillers you could start to watch in your own time. I will add to this list as you and others make recommendations. Most of these are fairly accessible and mainstream. We may also look at some of them in class.
The Silence of the Lambs
Copycat
Arlington Road
Pacific Heights
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Basic Instinct
Dead Ringers
The Birds
Rear Window
Vertigo
Someone to Watch over Me
Blue Velvet
What Lies Beneath
Sea of Love
Internal Affairs
No Way Out
Narrow Margin

I refer you to Fatima's comment attached to this post for a more exhaustive list of film titles.

Blair takes on the "beastly" media

Relevance - Freedom of the Press & Broadcast News
Tony Blair made a speech today, reflecting on the state of the media. At one point, he described it as a "feral beast." Obviously this implies that, at times, it is out of control and needs taming. There is loads of stuff on this all over the web, especially on the BBC website. You could look at any number of places to find commmentary on it, including the BBC's political correspondent's (Nick Robinson) blog - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2007/06/feral_media_my.html
If you'd rather listen to a debate about it, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/drive.shtml and select "Listen Again Tue" for today's programme (this will only be available until Friday or so). Then skip forward to 2:30:30 to get to start of a report on the speech. They interview a prominent Labour MP, Gerald Kaufman, and the editor of the Independent newspaper, Simon Kelner. It's a perfect opportunity to get a sense of two sides to a debate (it gets a bit feisty) and of how politicians feel the urge to control the press - especially when it is unkind to them.
You can also read the whole of Blair's speech at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6744581.stm - he says interesting things about Broadcast News as well.
The more you can refer to speeches like this in your answers the better chance you have of succeeding - it shows that you are truly engaged with the live debates and not just rehashing the notes given out in class.

Daily Mirror Iraqi Abuse Photos

Click on the title to read more about the sacking of the Daily Mirror's editor, Piers Morgan, following to publication of faked photos which alleged to show British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. Lots of issues here - should the Mirror have published the pictures in the first place (whether they were fake or not) or should they have refused to publish them on the basis that they would be protecting the national interest by safeguarding British troops in Iraq? Once they knew they were fake, why did Piers Morgan still claim that "we published the truth.....We have revealed a can of worms. If the government chooses to ignore that, it is entirely a matter for them."

YouTube - the right to reply.

Year 12 and 13 - this is worth looking at. Amazing footage of a BBC Panorama reporter loosing his cool with a representative of the Church of Scientology has been posted on YouTube. You can click on the link above to see the clip, together with how it was reported by BBC News 24. This raises the important point of how sites like YouTube offer those who are reported upon the opportunity of a more enhanced reaction to how they are represented in the media. The Church of Scientology filmed the reporter's interview and have now been able to show the world footage which may never have seen the light of day were it not for sights like YouTube. It is likely that the BBC would have edited out the angry reaction of its reporter. Because of such postings, the audience are now able to see much more of the "whole story" than previously, thereby empowering the audience in terms of deciding upon issues. It also diminishes traditional news media outlet's (like the BBC) role as gatekeeper to what we can and cannot see. It will be interesting to see if Panorama now includes this footage in its report (tonight 8.30 on BBC1). Look at the way BBC News 24 presents the story; it seems to try to excuse the behaviour of its reporter by discussing the pressures he was under at the time.

Why Blog?

The University of Essex have published a report examining why people read and write blogs and the nature of the culture of blogging. Its conclusions demonstrate just how habit forming many new media technologies can be. Some of the respondants in the study admitted to being "addicted" to blogging.
There isn't necessarily anything too novel about this. For years critics have accused traditional media like television of being addictive. However, what is new about the nature of the habit of blogging is how it grows. With television, the habitual viewer tends to switch on and passively feed their habit (at least physically, it is harder to assess if they are actively engaging with the content mentally). This study finds that there is a link between the reading and writing of blogs. Reading blogs seems to provide the motivation for writing blogs. It is doubtful that watching TV provides the motivation for the majority of viewers to make television programmes.

Year 13 Press Regulation - Privacy Vs. Public Interest

This is an interview with a judge from the European Court of Human Rights outlining how judgements are reached when deciding on cases where someone feels the press has invaded their privacy. It's even laid out in an accessible questions and answers format - ideal for you poor stressed out things!

Interactive TV - A Swindle?

The most basic form of interactive TV is viewers phoning in to programmes. It's also potentially the most profitable for the TV companies. BBC's Panorama programme has uncovered just how profitable and potentially corrupt this form of interactivity can be.

On the commercial channels, like ITV and Channel 4, callers can often pay up to £1 per call. Their calls are usually handled by an outside telecommunications company - in the case of GMTV this was a company called Opera. Panorama revealed that Opera was choosing winners from the GMTV competition callers before the lines were officially meant to close, meaning that many callers were continuing to call in, thinking they might win, when they actually had no chance of doing so. This is similar to selling raffle tickets and then not putting them into the drum to be drawn out. It's alleged that this could have amounted over £12m pounds being defrauded from viewers who called in. GMTV has apologised for this and claims to have had no knowledge of the alleged fraud.

But why do we have so many of these phone-ins in the first place?

Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, claims that it's down to audience demand - many viewers like to interact with programming in this way so the BBC provides them with this opportunity. I suspect that in the BBC's case it's as much about competition as audience demand - so many of the commercial channels do it, thereby creating expectation amongst the audience that programmes will include such opportunities.

For commercial channels it's as much linked to a much bigger problem (created by the growth of other new media technologies like DVRs and the internet) - the decrease in advertising revenue. For a channel like ITV, who traditionally made all its money from advertising, the chance to make money from viewers using premium rate numbers to call in is too good to pass up. In fact, they've developed whole new digital channels to benefit from this new revenue stream (way of making money) - the quiz channel, ITV Play. According to Panorama, ITV Play made £8 million in its first year of operation, while the total prize money given out was £20,000.

Year 13 Press Regulation - Is Privacy More Important Than Freedom of Expression?

As promised, click on the title above to go to the Guardian article on the Loreena McKennitt case. She's a folk singer who successfully prevented a (former?) friend from publishing large parts of a book about their relationship, claiming that it invaded her privacy. This sets an important precendent for future cases that might be taken on these grounds. What will it mean for all those "kiss 'n' tell" stories that are the lifeblood of the Sunday tabloids? How might it affect the earning potential of all the WAGs an wannabe WAGs? How will the audience survive without salacious tales of footballers and pop stars misbehaving? More seriously, will this mean that public figures will be able to behave in a very hypocritical manner without ever being held to account for it? Imagine a situation where an evangelical bishop was able to block a story about a homosexual relationship on the basis that it invaded his privacy, while every Sunday he preached about how wrong homosexuality is.

Minority Report Almost a Reality

This one covers both NEW MEDIA (Year 12) and BROADCAST NEWS (Year 13). Before I go on, a reminder to sign up for the Media Guardian online - it's free and only by doing so will you be able to access this story. I know it takes time but it's time well spent.

The 3 mobile network will soon be sending its users personally targetted ads when they choose to watch news and sports updates provided by ITN. Here we're moving away from the idea of niche audiences, let alone mass audiences, and towards the concept of individual audiences. You may have seen Tom Cruise's character in Minority Report being bombarded with ads designed specifically for him. This is a classic example of how new media technologies offer even greater personalisation of media consumption and experiences.

From a news perspective, this carries all sorts of potential consequences. It increases competition for other traditional broadcast news providers like the BBC. However, it also shows that established news providers like ITN are inscreasingly turning to new technologies as a way of reaching audiences, expecially younger audiences (read the article to see the types of stories that may typically be sent to customers' phones. Within this there is also a threat to the role of broadcast news in helping to create informed citizens. News plays an important function in society. By informing the audience about events in our local and global community, the news empowers us to make more informed decisions about how we want to be governed and how we want to relate to other members of our community. If, however, we increasingly receive personally tailored news updates (by choosing the types of stories that are sent to our mobile phones, e-mail or Yahoo / MSN homepage) we will lose touch with the wider range of stories offered through longer news bulletins on traditional news outlets (e.g. 10 o'clock news on BBC 1 or the Channel 4 news), thereby becoming less well armed when it comes to making decisions about who to vote for or even whether it makes any difference to buy fair trade coffee or not. This is also true of those people who increasingly rely on blogs to find out what's happening in the world because they feel mainstream news media is just too, well, mainstream. By relying on blogs, or even newspapers for that matter, that they feel represent their perspective, they are reinforcing that particular perspective and limiting themselves to certain amount of information. Of course, some would argue that they read a range of blogs, which of course would overcome this difficulty. However, there is the issue of time - how many people have the time to devote to properly informing themselves in this way? So, I guess what all this boils down to is a question of whether you think the traditional broadcast news outlets still have a role to play, and if so how important a role?

Year 13 Issues and Debates Sample Questions

As I mentioned in the revision session this morning, you can click on the title above and go to the Mark Scheme for the Janauary exam of this year. There you will find the questions that were set for the Issues and Debates paper, including the one we went through in class, together with bullet points on what students might include in an answer. Practising answering the questions can be a great way to go through all your notes and refamiliarising yourself with the material. Most of all you should be practising structuring your responses.

Have Apple Bitten Off More Than They Can Chew?

The EU Commission (that’s the part of the European Union that regulates business and protects consumers in Europe) has started an investigation into the way that Apple allegedly limits the choice of music consumers who use iTunes. According to European Law, consumers should be free to buy the same product from anywhere in Europe, thus allowing them to shop around for the best price. However, if you use iTunes in Britain you can only buy from iTunes in Britain, meaning that you pay 79p for a track, compared to 66p if you were able to buy it from iTunes in France. Apple claim that their hands are tied by the record companies who supply them with the tracks. This is a classic example of how the internet has allowed institutions like Apple and the big record companies to take advantage of the lack of regulation aimed specifically at the internet. The regulators (in this case the EU Commission) are having to play catch up in an effort to protect consumers.

Do Rights Matter – What is DRM?

The BBC has an excellent article explaining exactly what is meant by Digital Rights Management. This is a key issue in the age of the internet and has major implications for how institutions continue to make a profit from the media content that audiences consume.

Can Gaming Kill the Cinema Star?

Computer games have come a long way since the Pong and Space Invaders. Where they were essentially a series of lines and dots on the screen, today’s games have almost cinema quality graphics and sound; so much so that many movie franchises like James Bond and Star Wars have extended their brand with a catalogue of computer games. Whatever the quality of the visuals and sound, however, games have, up until now, never been able to offer the audience the same depth of characterisation, quality of dialogue or compelling narratives as cinema. So while games may offer the audiences more interactivity than a movie, their ability to become a truly immersive experience has been limited by these shortcomings. Keen to develop new audiences, and improve the experience of existing one, the games industry is now looking to Hollywood screenwriters to help them overcome these problems. Click on the title above to read more about this and ask yourself whether games will eventually replace cinema as a mass entertainment form.

The Key Questions In Media Packed Into One Article

Mark Lawson uses the recent TV phone line scandal to ask many of the key questions in Media Studies in one tidy article - (I very much doubt this was his intention but it does anyway.) This isn't just relevant to New Media but also to Broadcast News and Contemporary Issues in British Broadcasting in Year 13. Most of all it addresses the big issue of Audience Theory - what is the nature of the relationship between the audience and the producer? He claims that the phone scandal, and the public's reaction to it, challenges the commonly held view that the audience today is a sophisticated and media savvy. He also discusses the different conceptions of the audience that are revealed through the recent Virgin Media and Sky row - with Rupert Murdoch and Sky seeing the audience as a mere consumers and television as just another product to be sold rather than some kind of cultural artifact that contains meaning for the viewer, "their status more akin to that of guest, student, even patient." He raises the issue of "trust" and how news programmes have sold themselves on the basis of their trustworthiness. However, is this now possible when so many people feel they can trust blogs more than traditonal news outlets like the BBC and NBC (in America)? Are blogs to become the main news source for the next generation? If so, what impact will this have on our shared cultural understanding? In an increasingly personalised media world, will we ever feel connected to those around us?