What motivates Facebook's modesty?

The New York Times has an interesting article about Facebook's reluctance to acknowledge its part in the popular protests in Tunisia and Egypt. It seems that fears that other regimes, like that in Syria, may curtail the service are behind their modesty. It's well worth a read as it raises interesting questions about how a business can help to promote social change. As we were reading today, Marxist critics, like Adorno and Horkeimer, wondered whether the media industry, as part of the capitalist establishment, can really promote change.

Is Social Media Fanning The Flames of Democracy In North Africa?

You may have seen in the news overnight that the popular protests in Tunisia seem to have spilled over to Egypt with an unprecedented number of people taking to the streets of Cairo to protest against the Government.  The Los Angeles Times article (click on link embedded in title of this post) mentions that 80,000 people signed up on Facebook to attend the protest.  The Egyptian government has blocked access to Twitter in an attempt to prevent further organisation and communication - a move that echoes that taken by the Iranian government previously.

Big Four Reach For The Sky

Sony have announced the latest attempt to combat illegal downloading - Music Unlimited.  The UK version launched just before Christmas and it is now being made available across Europe and later in the US.  The service allows users to access music by Sony artists, and those signed to the other big four including EMI, which is stored using Cloud technology.  This means that once you are signed up to the service - which costs a fee (the basic costing £3.99) you can access the music on a variety of devices, from PS3s to mobile phones.  It offers the user the benifits of personalisation and mobility and, what many may see as, affordability. It will be a a rival to serives like Spotify, which also streams music.  It's another example of the big music groups trying to do things in-house, allowing them to have more control over the supply chain, reduce cost and increase profits. 

Read the article from the Guardian (click on the link embedded in the title) and ask yourself how this announcement offers further examples of the synergies created by Sony Music being part of a conglomerate.

Music Industry - EMI

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/21/marketingandpr.mediabusiness

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/18/emi-trial-background

1) Click on the two links above and read each of the articles. The first is from 2008, when EMI was trying the current owners of EMI had just taken over, and second is from last month.
2) Copy and paste relevant information into a word document, with the concept illustrated by the information next to it.

Teaser Trailer ideas - test your creativity

Not the best example but look out for other billboards around town.  Possible idea for an approach to your teaser trailers.

Is Illegal Downloading More Damaging to Independents or Studios?

The producers of The Hurt Locker, Voltage Pictures, have decided to take legal action against people who have illegally shared their films through peer to peer file sharing networks.  They argue that file sharing hurts independents more than it does the big studios.  One of the founders of the Pirate Bay file sharing site argues that file sharing actually increases film revenues by creating a greater interest and discussion around films.  What do you think?  Is it easier for big studios to swallow the cost of their films being viewed at home rather than in the cinemas?  What other ways can they make money out of their films if their cinema and DVD income is reduced?

Copyright free music and sounds

For your AS Foundation Production coursework, you need to ensure that the music and sounds used on your video are all copyright free. There are a number of ways that you can do this:

• Approach local bands and get written permission to use their material
• Approach unsigned bands on 'MySpace' and other social media sites and get their written permission to use their material
• Collaborate with music students in the school to create original music and sounds
• Create your own music or sound track - learn to use Garageband  (on Youtube )

Failing any of the above there are also a number of resources on the internet where you can find copyright free music and sounds.  While the music found on these sites may be copyright free (i.e. you do not have to pay a fee to use it in your video work) you may have to pay a fee to download it. Therefore, be careful to check the terms and conditions of any site where you find tracks you wish to use. Some may also ask you to register as a user.  Before doing so, please check with your teacher.

Click on the title of this post for links to lots of internet resources.  Others can be found at:

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/
http://www.freesound.org/
http://www.mobygratis.com/
http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/