Its a fact that the digital world has grown immensly over the years and now thrives with the younger generation. This means that our culture and our identity has changed due to the popularity of digital forms, such as the internet. The internet is a powerful source that people use everyday; they have become so reliant upon it, that if they were unable to access the internet they would struggle with their work duties, social contacting and boredom.
'Digital natives' is a term used for the younger generation who have been immersed in the digital age. It refers to them being the 'native speakers' of the digital language. It comes naturally to them and they are dependent on media such as, computers, mobile phones and music players. In contrast to the natives are the immigrants. 'Digital immigrants' are people who process and think differently to the natives. They are generally the older generation who socialised differently when they were younger and are now learning about the digital aspects around them. 'Digital immigrants' have a different language to the natives. For example the accent of an immigrant is printing out an email so that they can read it like a letter or physically bringing a person to their computer so that they can see a website instead of emailling the url or page to them. This automatically creates two identities in today's society.
These two identities also mean that they don't always communicate easily or understand each other. A debate has arose about whether or not the educational system is still designed to teach today's students. The teachers (digital immigrants) don't believe that their students (digital natives) can learn from TV or the internet. The assumption that the same methods that worked for the teachers will work for their students is no longer valid. This is because our identity is so enhanced and developed now that peoples brains learn in different ways to how they used to 10 years ago. The argument leads to whether the digital natives should learn the old ways or whether digital immigrants should learn the new? Some digitial immigrants accept that their world has changed and they know nothing about it, whereas other digital immigrants are complacent and don't like the idea of a digital world. Marc Prensky invites teachers and professors to change their way of teaching so that digital natives can make the most of learning. He get them to a subject or topic and he attempts to invent a game or another digital native way of learning it. Prensky thinks it is lazy for educators to believe that the digital immigrant way is the only way to teach and that they are capable of learning the natives language as their own. He believes that digital immgrants will have to change.
The notion of todays society is more fast-paced and people tend to want things instantly. This has been caused from modern technology which allows us to access things quickly and not have to put a lot of effort into getting results. For example, instead of using a dictionary or a book to research a word or term people can access google.com which gives a fast, straight-forward result in a language that 'digital natives' understand. Statistics show that today's kids have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, whereas they spent 20,000 hours watching TV. This shows how much people rely on the internet and as a collective identity would more likely be seen on the computer than being 'active.' This links to the internet creating a lazy society and having a less active notion of fitness and health.
People use social networking sites to create part of their identity. Sites such as, Facebook or Myspace allows you to upload photos of yourself, upload music that you like or talk about your favourite things in life. These factors create our idenitity and by accessing these sites we can share them with other users. Sites such as Twitter and again, Facebook allows people to write a mini blog or a 'status' describing what they did that day or how they feel about a certain situation. This seems natural and fine for digital natives, as they have become used to naturally sharing our personal lives on the internet. Whereas, with digital immigrants sharing these parts of our identity is something that they used to do in an occasional letter. Both, letters and social networking sites are updates of peoples lives that they naturally want to share, but our collective identity has changed in terms of how they do it. By using sites such as facebook these updates are regular or everyday, this shows how our notion and collective identity is more digitalised.
The internet is so widely popular because there are no limits to what you can access. Even if there is an age restriction on a specific webpage it can be easily worked around as there is no physical confrontation. From the power of the internet people can watch, listen or organize anything they like, which makes it so appealing. The internet also has to keep up with the changing times. The internet has been updated in the past from Web 1.0 to now what we know as Web 2.0. The internet and computer became more advanced and Web 2.0 offers a lot more choice that Web 1.0 lacked.
There is no doubt that the internet has changed our notion and collective identity. It has changed the education system and the way teachers have to learn again in order to communicate clearly and accuratly to their students. I think it is right for the teachers to learn again, rarther than the students learning the old ways as the world will keep developing digitally, which means there is no point fighting it and learning in past ways when the future identity is still moving on. Without the internet people will struggle to function with their daily routines and the level of communication will decrease. Computers and the internet are now part of our collective identity. I don't think that there will be a time when the internet doesn't exist, but that it will just advance to satisfy and benefit peoples needs. It could also mean that the current 'digital natives' could one day become the 'new digital immigrants' if technology gets that advanced it could become harder as they get older to understand; causing a constant cycle of a changing identity.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Monday, 9 November 2009
Critical perspectives on "media 2.0"
Are there any distinct 'media institutions' in the era of convergence? You can now share music on facebook on, download music for free and watch videos on YouTube. Now the questions is, is there such a thing as 'audience' in this postmodern 'we media' age?
- University of Westminster said they would no longer offer degrees in media studies. They will offer them but they will be more specialist - this come from the idea that media is no longer a subject that can be taught in such a broad way, it is too fluid, too complex and too different.
- Websites like Facebook, Myspace and YouTube have been labeled 'web 2.0'.
- People don't get represented by the media anymore, instead they make their own media and share it with the world.
- Media students need to move away from the 'media 1.0' way of doing things and do things creatively such as facebook and myspace.
Media 2.0 will be more about people and less about the media. With people writing in the form of blogs it looks specifically at 'citizen journalism' meaning web 2.0 enables ordinary people to participate in politics and the news.
But in 10 years time?
Playback - using websites such as YouTube to reach ambitions and goals by posting videos.
Britney 2.0 - that idea that Britney spears has ceased to be considered a human being by the public and now is understood primarily as a 'news commodity'.
Fan culture - sharing stuff online, and fans can upload their own versions of material within hours of the official broadcast.
Tardisodes - institutions such as the BBC offering tardisodes which, like podcasts can be accessed through subscriptions and viewed on a mobile.
Club penguins - an online world where you can live as a penguin. networking with other penguins, getting jobs and taking part in activities.
- How can you be a media 2.0 student?:
Guantlett argues that media can create an image of identity. - life is complex, culture is complex and so is media studies - or whatever they decide to call in in the future.
Birth of the internet - Web 2.0
Monday, 2 November 2009
Holiday homework
How do moral panics help or fragment cultural identity?
A moral panic can spread very fast as it is a situation created by the media knowing that the public rely on media coverage to keep up to date with their culture. If the media represents a situation in a bad light, then people are heavily influenced and their opinion of that situation or the people involved is changed and stereotyped.
AIDS, raves and paedophilia are examples of the a situation that the media creates in a bad light to cause the public to panic and look at their culture differently. AIDS was an epidemic first recognised between 1981- 86. During that time the media took the issue of AIDS and created fear and panic of a supposedly 'mass epidemic.' AIDS was first discovered among gay men, drug users and haemopiliacs. There were sections of the press that represented this disease as a 'gay plague.' By blaiming and targeting gay men the moral panic was focused on them, causing the culture to fragment and mentally seperate theirselves from the gay community. This can be compared to the panic of raves that were often related to irresponsible teenagers. Like the issue of AIDS, the media targetted teenagers, leaving them in a negative view, causing the public to believe teenagers are no good. However, there were sections of the press that were aware that AIDS wasn't restricted to the gay community, but that the disease could also be found in drugs users and haemophiliacs. The panic of AIDS was both global in its impact and implications. All countries had a range of policy options which meant there were compulsory blood tests and preventive measures, meaning needle exchange schemes, treatment programmes and research funding. The USA was a strongly affected country. There was no specific direction from the US government on how to handle the disease and it did not have a national AIDS policy or a coordinated strategy for combining the health threat. In 1983, groups who had a high risk of catching or carrying the disease were asked not to donate blood. Gay bathhouses were being closed down in many of cities, for example in San Francisco, 1984. There was national controversy when children with AIDS were being excluded from schools as it was seen as discrimination. This is an example of how extreme the moral panic affected the culture. The coverage of AIDS in the US magazines focused more on the 'deviant character of the victims' rarther than the disease itself. Press coverage was also criticized for crediting conspiricies and emphasizing entertainment value. It was argued that AIDS was not an attractive issue for television because it involved taboos such as blood, sex, semen and death. All of this public debate did not help the moral panic.
Similar to AIDS, raves was also an issue that caused moral panic, although not as strongly as the controversy of AIDS, raves caused fear of a down-hill society that affected culture. Originally founded in New York, Chicago and Detroit, raves was imported into Britain in 1988. A rave is a gathering of people with the newest style of music, drug use, distinctive dress codes and extensive lighting. They were kept secretive to avoid police intervention. They often took place in rural spaces, barns, unused airfields etc. If the police followed up the event of a rave they simply couldnt react as they were powerless and outnumbered. Raves were on the rise and during the end of the eighties they were seen as the 'biggest youth subculture Britian has ever seen.' The media immediatley condemned the rave culture. By emphazising statements such as 'a facade for dealing in drugs and 'a cynical attempt to trap young people into drug dependency' the media created a moral panic. Families feared for the well-being of their sons and daughters. This panic grew after the death of Leah Butts was reported. She died on her 18th birthday due to water intoxication caused by taking ecstasy. This was the biggest emotive shock from the rave culture. Later Leah's parents warned teenagers of the dangers of drug use and the press used this case as an example of 'teenage fun.' There were bold headlines in the paper, for example, The Mirror 'one million ecstacy consumers a week 'want fun' but end of like Leah on a life support machine.' This media coverage of raves caused the panic to focus and blaim the youth, causing the culture to loose faith in the future of teenagers and gave them a negative image.
Moral panic was again created when the issue of paedophilia arose. The media did not cover any stories of the sexual abuse of children until the mid-1980's, when they term paedophile would be first associated with the abusers. Before then the sexual offenders would be known as 'beasts, monsters and fiends.' Between the period of 1983-86 paedophiles were associated with organized abductions and the murders of children. By 1988 the possesion of child pornography became an offence and to enforce this the police created a child pornography squad. By the end of the decade the strong threat of paedophilia was realised and established. New stories that invovled paedophilia between 1990-93 was rarely seen. There were two serious cases involving seriel killers and sexual abuse to a children that were reported, but no media campaign or debate came about. The press showed little attention due to unanswered questions. Ireland and Belguim by 1977 had created a sex offenders act which allowed local newspapers to publish names of paedophiles living in the area. By doing this it caused community protests and panic for peoples safety. This also put a negative affect on the area on which those people lived which could of caused people to avoid. As the year 2000 wore on, paedophilia became less of an issue, until that summer when 8-year-old Sarah Payne was sexually abused and murdered. The coverage of paedophilia was extremely high. Just day after the Sarah's body was found the News of the World published 49 convicted male sex offenders, which included photographs, offences and locations. Later the News of the World published another set of offenders claiming that parents have the right to know if they were living near sex offenders, this act was named 'Sarah's law.' With the media coverage at a high with covering paedophiles it seemed that the culture of Britian was unsafe, making parents more aware of where they were living and how much freedom their child should have in that area.
The media coverage has a large influence on a moral panic and they strongly affect a culture's identity, as once an issue has been broadcasted and realised there is no forgetting and the culture remains changed forever. Most moral panics need to focus or blaim one particular group which causes stereotypes. For example with the issue of AIDS, gay people were targetted. Similar as with raves which was aimed at the youth culture. By doing this the media is seperating society from each other and classing the victims or offenders as 'folk devils.' Paedophiles are people who are dangerous and it seems right that the media should name and shame the offenders so that the public can be aware of the safety of their children, even if it does put the culture in a bad light; whereas by blaiming gay men for the spread of AIDS and teenagers for drug use in the media, it has a powerful affect on how society treats these groups.
A moral panic can spread very fast as it is a situation created by the media knowing that the public rely on media coverage to keep up to date with their culture. If the media represents a situation in a bad light, then people are heavily influenced and their opinion of that situation or the people involved is changed and stereotyped.
AIDS, raves and paedophilia are examples of the a situation that the media creates in a bad light to cause the public to panic and look at their culture differently. AIDS was an epidemic first recognised between 1981- 86. During that time the media took the issue of AIDS and created fear and panic of a supposedly 'mass epidemic.' AIDS was first discovered among gay men, drug users and haemopiliacs. There were sections of the press that represented this disease as a 'gay plague.' By blaiming and targeting gay men the moral panic was focused on them, causing the culture to fragment and mentally seperate theirselves from the gay community. This can be compared to the panic of raves that were often related to irresponsible teenagers. Like the issue of AIDS, the media targetted teenagers, leaving them in a negative view, causing the public to believe teenagers are no good. However, there were sections of the press that were aware that AIDS wasn't restricted to the gay community, but that the disease could also be found in drugs users and haemophiliacs. The panic of AIDS was both global in its impact and implications. All countries had a range of policy options which meant there were compulsory blood tests and preventive measures, meaning needle exchange schemes, treatment programmes and research funding. The USA was a strongly affected country. There was no specific direction from the US government on how to handle the disease and it did not have a national AIDS policy or a coordinated strategy for combining the health threat. In 1983, groups who had a high risk of catching or carrying the disease were asked not to donate blood. Gay bathhouses were being closed down in many of cities, for example in San Francisco, 1984. There was national controversy when children with AIDS were being excluded from schools as it was seen as discrimination. This is an example of how extreme the moral panic affected the culture. The coverage of AIDS in the US magazines focused more on the 'deviant character of the victims' rarther than the disease itself. Press coverage was also criticized for crediting conspiricies and emphasizing entertainment value. It was argued that AIDS was not an attractive issue for television because it involved taboos such as blood, sex, semen and death. All of this public debate did not help the moral panic.
Similar to AIDS, raves was also an issue that caused moral panic, although not as strongly as the controversy of AIDS, raves caused fear of a down-hill society that affected culture. Originally founded in New York, Chicago and Detroit, raves was imported into Britain in 1988. A rave is a gathering of people with the newest style of music, drug use, distinctive dress codes and extensive lighting. They were kept secretive to avoid police intervention. They often took place in rural spaces, barns, unused airfields etc. If the police followed up the event of a rave they simply couldnt react as they were powerless and outnumbered. Raves were on the rise and during the end of the eighties they were seen as the 'biggest youth subculture Britian has ever seen.' The media immediatley condemned the rave culture. By emphazising statements such as 'a facade for dealing in drugs and 'a cynical attempt to trap young people into drug dependency' the media created a moral panic. Families feared for the well-being of their sons and daughters. This panic grew after the death of Leah Butts was reported. She died on her 18th birthday due to water intoxication caused by taking ecstasy. This was the biggest emotive shock from the rave culture. Later Leah's parents warned teenagers of the dangers of drug use and the press used this case as an example of 'teenage fun.' There were bold headlines in the paper, for example, The Mirror 'one million ecstacy consumers a week 'want fun' but end of like Leah on a life support machine.' This media coverage of raves caused the panic to focus and blaim the youth, causing the culture to loose faith in the future of teenagers and gave them a negative image.
Moral panic was again created when the issue of paedophilia arose. The media did not cover any stories of the sexual abuse of children until the mid-1980's, when they term paedophile would be first associated with the abusers. Before then the sexual offenders would be known as 'beasts, monsters and fiends.' Between the period of 1983-86 paedophiles were associated with organized abductions and the murders of children. By 1988 the possesion of child pornography became an offence and to enforce this the police created a child pornography squad. By the end of the decade the strong threat of paedophilia was realised and established. New stories that invovled paedophilia between 1990-93 was rarely seen. There were two serious cases involving seriel killers and sexual abuse to a children that were reported, but no media campaign or debate came about. The press showed little attention due to unanswered questions. Ireland and Belguim by 1977 had created a sex offenders act which allowed local newspapers to publish names of paedophiles living in the area. By doing this it caused community protests and panic for peoples safety. This also put a negative affect on the area on which those people lived which could of caused people to avoid. As the year 2000 wore on, paedophilia became less of an issue, until that summer when 8-year-old Sarah Payne was sexually abused and murdered. The coverage of paedophilia was extremely high. Just day after the Sarah's body was found the News of the World published 49 convicted male sex offenders, which included photographs, offences and locations. Later the News of the World published another set of offenders claiming that parents have the right to know if they were living near sex offenders, this act was named 'Sarah's law.' With the media coverage at a high with covering paedophiles it seemed that the culture of Britian was unsafe, making parents more aware of where they were living and how much freedom their child should have in that area.
The media coverage has a large influence on a moral panic and they strongly affect a culture's identity, as once an issue has been broadcasted and realised there is no forgetting and the culture remains changed forever. Most moral panics need to focus or blaim one particular group which causes stereotypes. For example with the issue of AIDS, gay people were targetted. Similar as with raves which was aimed at the youth culture. By doing this the media is seperating society from each other and classing the victims or offenders as 'folk devils.' Paedophiles are people who are dangerous and it seems right that the media should name and shame the offenders so that the public can be aware of the safety of their children, even if it does put the culture in a bad light; whereas by blaiming gay men for the spread of AIDS and teenagers for drug use in the media, it has a powerful affect on how society treats these groups.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Todays media lesson:
In todays media lesson we learnt about, 'morals panics and the media.'
These are some notes that I took that lesson:
Moral panic definition: Abstract concept used to make sense of 'irrational public hysteria.'
-Public and academic debates on moral panic works on the assumption that the media plays a significant role in the characteristics of a moral panic.
-Break down/lack of morals
-large public outcry
-gap in the media
-moral discussions
-complex processes that shape public perception of a perceived threat
-idea of a moral code
Attributional model: Eric Goode and Nachman Ben Tehedudah study- moral panics: the social construction of a deviance, 1994. Claims those working in the media, political institutions of the legal system impact on moral panics through 'claims making.'
5 elements of criteria distinguish attributes of moral panics:
-concern
-hostility
-consenses
-disproportionaits
--volatility
Processual model: Attends to the process of a moral panic.
7 defined stages:
-emergence
-media inventory
-moral entreprenaurs
-experts
-coping resolutions
-fading away
-legacy
These are some notes that I took that lesson:
Moral panic definition: Abstract concept used to make sense of 'irrational public hysteria.'
-Public and academic debates on moral panic works on the assumption that the media plays a significant role in the characteristics of a moral panic.
-Break down/lack of morals
-large public outcry
-gap in the media
-moral discussions
-complex processes that shape public perception of a perceived threat
-idea of a moral code
Attributional model: Eric Goode and Nachman Ben Tehedudah study- moral panics: the social construction of a deviance, 1994. Claims those working in the media, political institutions of the legal system impact on moral panics through 'claims making.'
5 elements of criteria distinguish attributes of moral panics:
-concern
-hostility
-consenses
-disproportionaits
--volatility
Processual model: Attends to the process of a moral panic.
7 defined stages:
-emergence
-media inventory
-moral entreprenaurs
-experts
-coping resolutions
-fading away
-legacy
Monday, 5 October 2009
music video storyboard
This section of the storyboard shows 4 slides, which also describes the scenes with detail to shot types and movements.
This storyboard shows 6 slides and underneath a description, with shot types, of what the actors and camera will be doing for that scene.
Our group pitch for music video.
Monday, 21 September 2009
Identify how 'Sense and sensibility' and 'Four weddings and a funeral' represent aspects of British society past and present.
Being two very popular British films both 'Sense and sensibility' and 'Four weddings...' represent a certain type of British society, middle to upper class. As they are set in different time periods the aspects of the society shown in the films differ.
'Sense and sensibility' is set in the 1800s and similar to 'Four weddings...' the characters all have, marriage, wealthy houses and family in common. Marriage is a strong debate in both films. In 'Sense and sensibilty' is seen as more of a must and a very important decision. Instead of falling in love and then marrying as shown in 'Four weddings...' marriage was something you chose and then learnt to love later. This shows the difference in gender represented in the two films and how the roles of women have changed in Britain from 1800s to the present time. The women shown in 'Sense and sensibility' are less active in the life outside their wealthy home, whereas 'Four weddings...' shows the modern day woman, being involved and equal in society.
The women represented in both films are very contrasted. In 'Four weddings' Carrie is a grown woman about 30 who lives alone, has her career and later talks about all the men she has slept with, which turns out to be a lot. This is unusual in Britians society today as women now have a lot of freedom in terms of marriage, jobs and sex life. The women represented in 'Sense and sensibility' have a completely different life. They have a role to stay at home, look presentable and care for their husbands. The idea of having their own career, own house and casual sex life is unheard of. This shows the drastic change between the women in that time period in Britian and the women in modern day Britian with the same social class of middle to upper.
The wedding ceremonys in the era of 'Sense and sensibility' were a little more intense than the ones shown in 'Four weddings...' They are very light-hearted and comical, and have a dry sense of humour that is associated with British people.
The representation of love in both films are quite different. In the time period and social class of 'Sense and sensiblilty' a man and woman would fall in love and get married without knowing that much about their spouse which is a contrast to modern day Britian where a couple in love want to be engaged for a few years and live together before deciding to commit fully. The representation of love in 'Four weddings' is shown in many ways, for example, a gay couple who live together and have been described by their friends as being the only couple who are 'truly married' meaning that they trust and love each other so much that they don't need the reasurance of marriage to spend the rest of their lives together; the reasurance that maybe some of the other couples needed in marriage.
There are some issues in the present film 'Four weddings' that are perfectly acceptable in Britains society today that would not be tolerated in Britain in the 1800s such as 'Sense and sensibilty.' For example, gay couples are well known in Britain's present society whereas in the past a gay couple would be extremely frowned upon and rejected. If there were a gay couple in the era of 'Sense and sensibility' it would have to be kept a firm secret just between the couple. In contrast, 'Four weddings' has a gay couple that were openly free to express theirselves as a couple and live together. Another issue that differ in the two films is having a child out of wedlock. This is demonstrated in 'Four weddings' where Charles and Carrie are in love have and have a child, yet see no need to get married. Again, this would not be acceptable in Britain at the time of 'Sense and sensibility.' If a woman was pregnant they would be urged or even forced to marry the father of the child. Having a child out of wedlock is something that often happens in today's Britain and is becoming more common then getting married. Having a child together is an unbreakable bond that can be seen as stronger then marriage, so couples in the modern society see less need as many marriages now end in divorce.
'Sense and sensibility' is set in the 1800s and similar to 'Four weddings...' the characters all have, marriage, wealthy houses and family in common. Marriage is a strong debate in both films. In 'Sense and sensibilty' is seen as more of a must and a very important decision. Instead of falling in love and then marrying as shown in 'Four weddings...' marriage was something you chose and then learnt to love later. This shows the difference in gender represented in the two films and how the roles of women have changed in Britain from 1800s to the present time. The women shown in 'Sense and sensibility' are less active in the life outside their wealthy home, whereas 'Four weddings...' shows the modern day woman, being involved and equal in society.
The women represented in both films are very contrasted. In 'Four weddings' Carrie is a grown woman about 30 who lives alone, has her career and later talks about all the men she has slept with, which turns out to be a lot. This is unusual in Britians society today as women now have a lot of freedom in terms of marriage, jobs and sex life. The women represented in 'Sense and sensibility' have a completely different life. They have a role to stay at home, look presentable and care for their husbands. The idea of having their own career, own house and casual sex life is unheard of. This shows the drastic change between the women in that time period in Britian and the women in modern day Britian with the same social class of middle to upper.
The wedding ceremonys in the era of 'Sense and sensibility' were a little more intense than the ones shown in 'Four weddings...' They are very light-hearted and comical, and have a dry sense of humour that is associated with British people.
The representation of love in both films are quite different. In the time period and social class of 'Sense and sensiblilty' a man and woman would fall in love and get married without knowing that much about their spouse which is a contrast to modern day Britian where a couple in love want to be engaged for a few years and live together before deciding to commit fully. The representation of love in 'Four weddings' is shown in many ways, for example, a gay couple who live together and have been described by their friends as being the only couple who are 'truly married' meaning that they trust and love each other so much that they don't need the reasurance of marriage to spend the rest of their lives together; the reasurance that maybe some of the other couples needed in marriage.
There are some issues in the present film 'Four weddings' that are perfectly acceptable in Britains society today that would not be tolerated in Britain in the 1800s such as 'Sense and sensibilty.' For example, gay couples are well known in Britain's present society whereas in the past a gay couple would be extremely frowned upon and rejected. If there were a gay couple in the era of 'Sense and sensibility' it would have to be kept a firm secret just between the couple. In contrast, 'Four weddings' has a gay couple that were openly free to express theirselves as a couple and live together. Another issue that differ in the two films is having a child out of wedlock. This is demonstrated in 'Four weddings' where Charles and Carrie are in love have and have a child, yet see no need to get married. Again, this would not be acceptable in Britain at the time of 'Sense and sensibility.' If a woman was pregnant they would be urged or even forced to marry the father of the child. Having a child out of wedlock is something that often happens in today's Britain and is becoming more common then getting married. Having a child together is an unbreakable bond that can be seen as stronger then marriage, so couples in the modern society see less need as many marriages now end in divorce.
In representing sexuality in the two films 'Four weddings' is a lot less subtle about the topic of sex than 'Sense and sensibility' is. 'Sense and sensibility' has the women covered up in long dresses showing no suggestable flesh which creates an old fashioned view of how a woman should behaive. Sex in 'Four weddings' is more suggested and happens regulary and casualy between two characters throughout the film. Showing sex scenes in a romantic comedy happens often and in a light hearted way that wouldn't be seen in 'Sense and sensibility' and if a sex scene occurs is would be shown in a very romantic, intense way.
Both the films had an aim to represent Britain. In achieving so the films have a well known British cast, for example Hugh Grant(who is present in both films) Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson(also present in both films.) Richard Curtis created 'Four weddings' as a optimistic, humoured, middle class Britain, a Britain which was rarely represented in media but often shown for many years in the directing of 'Curtisland'. 'Sense and sensibility' shows a romantic, civilised, picturesque Britain that people read about in many of Jane Austen's classic novels. Both represent aspects of Britain, past and present, and by comparing these two classic British films you can begin to notice how Britains society has changed and continues to change.
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Slumdog Millionaire and Somerstown, British films?
Slumdog Millionaire (2008):
- Directors, Danny Boyle(English) and Loveleen Tandan(Indian)
- Language, English and Hindi
- Film locations, India
Somerstown (2008):
- Shane Meadows(English)
- Language, English, Polish and French
- Film locations, London and France
Slumdog Millionaire is debatable about being a classic British film, whereas Somerstown is more obvious that it is recognised as a British film. Both films have English connections. Somerstown has stronger connection as it has been based and filmed on a town in London, with an English director and the majority of and English cast. Slumdog has an English director, but also an Indian one. It was filmed in India with a majority of an Indian cast. The main actor is English but with Indian heritage. These factors make the film debatable about whether or not it is infact an English film.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Representing contemporary Britain
This article talks about how the British cinema has represented debates such as, sexuality, gender, class and ethnicity. In representing sexuality films such as, 'Calender girls' and 'The full monty' (both 2003 films) have been used as examples. The articles describes how both of these films are erotically charged but yet remain sexless. British cinema often tends to have a sexual desire to it but usually its represented in an overly casual way or a 'joylessly earnest' way. Regarding representing homosexuality in British films remains quite broad. It isn't seen too often and if it is, its in a subtle way.
The section about 'class': "According to the results of a poll carried out by the Guardian newspaper, ten years of Labour rule has failed to create a classless society." A lot of British films for example the full monty and Trainspotting clearly shows different classes. At that time Labour was introducing a classless society.
British films have been accused of failure to represent ethnic minorities. Richard Curtis has been said to be misrepresentative and there is an overall 'whiteness' to British films. Notting Hill was accused of "trying hard to whiten the most famously black areain London."
Success of Bend it like Beckham, with its British asian leading lady comparing with the achievements of a white English footballer, suggested England as a more multi-cultural country.
This article is a good, detailed break down of how British cinema represents sexuality, class, gender and ethinicty and how they were represented during the Blair era.
The section about 'class': "According to the results of a poll carried out by the Guardian newspaper, ten years of Labour rule has failed to create a classless society." A lot of British films for example the full monty and Trainspotting clearly shows different classes. At that time Labour was introducing a classless society.
British films have been accused of failure to represent ethnic minorities. Richard Curtis has been said to be misrepresentative and there is an overall 'whiteness' to British films. Notting Hill was accused of "trying hard to whiten the most famously black areain London."
Success of Bend it like Beckham, with its British asian leading lady comparing with the achievements of a white English footballer, suggested England as a more multi-cultural country.
This article is a good, detailed break down of how British cinema represents sexuality, class, gender and ethinicty and how they were represented during the Blair era.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Richard Curtis article.
'A shiny, happy place, relaxed about the filthy rich, insatiable in its optimism, in love with happy endings, and very New Labour Welcome to Curtisland...'
This article debates whether Richard Curtis' career as a film director is starting to 'sink' along with England's New Labour. Tim Adams (the writer of this article) looks back on Curtis' most popular films and describes how they reflected England and its political influence at that time. A lot of Curtis's characters in the film are connected with the vibe from the parliment and the priminster at the time the film was written.
For me, this article works well in describing Curtis' films and how the ideas and the characters spring from English ways and Parliment. It makes me look at his films in more detail and realise how well Curtis has built the characters to represent English people. For example in 'Love Actually' when Karen finds out her husband has brought an expensive necklace for another woman on christmas she quickly has a cry upstairs and then composes herself, ready to re-join her family downstairs. This represents the attitude of a lot of English people who simple feel that they have no time to break down and have to carry on with their busy schedule and family.
This article debates whether Richard Curtis' career as a film director is starting to 'sink' along with England's New Labour. Tim Adams (the writer of this article) looks back on Curtis' most popular films and describes how they reflected England and its political influence at that time. A lot of Curtis's characters in the film are connected with the vibe from the parliment and the priminster at the time the film was written.
For me, this article works well in describing Curtis' films and how the ideas and the characters spring from English ways and Parliment. It makes me look at his films in more detail and realise how well Curtis has built the characters to represent English people. For example in 'Love Actually' when Karen finds out her husband has brought an expensive necklace for another woman on christmas she quickly has a cry upstairs and then composes herself, ready to re-join her family downstairs. This represents the attitude of a lot of English people who simple feel that they have no time to break down and have to carry on with their busy schedule and family.
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Media lesson, 9/7/09
1950s
- Dam Busters (1955)
- Many war movies
- Fixed class structure
- Nostalgic
New Wave
- Saturday night, Sunday morning (1960)
- Working class Protagonist
- Gritty
- Strong sense of North/South divide
- Set against industrial background
- "kitchen sink" dramas
- Directors trained on documentary makers
"Swinging London"
- Italian job (1969)
- Optimist
- Interested in youth culture/fashion
- Class structure more fluid
- playful
1970s: post-hays code
- Get Carter (1971)
- More graphic depiction of sex and violence
- Gritty
- Amoral
- Anti-hero as protagonist
- Strong North/South divide
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Power of myths.
In todays media lesson we talked about 'cinema and the power of myth.' We discussed what a myth was and its ideologys. We then looked at teaser trailers that included a myth using: www.traileraddict.com
This site was really informative and had the latest news and reviews about the lastest movies. It inlcuded the most popular films of the week and listed movies that are 'coming soon.'
The site wasn't specifically for British films and the a lot of the charts were dominated by American films. This site provided a search bar if you wanted to focus just on British films.
Conclusion on 'myths':
-story
-not neccessarily true
-believable plot
-moralistic
Teaser trailers with a myth:
www.traileraddict.com/trailer/new-moon/trailer
This is a teaser trailer of the film 'New moon' which is the second sequal to 'Twilight.' This is a very good trailer as it doesn't give any of the story away and leaves us with a big cliffhanger. I think a trailer can do that when the film already has a lot of hype around it. As 'Twilight' was so popular the trailer didn't need to include hardly any of the films scenes in it to draw people in. It was very effective by only showing 2 or 3 key scenes.
I think the film has a myth feel about it as it includes mythical creatures (vampires and werewolfs) but is also a believable plot because of the ordinary people, schools and scenary involved.
This site was really informative and had the latest news and reviews about the lastest movies. It inlcuded the most popular films of the week and listed movies that are 'coming soon.'
The site wasn't specifically for British films and the a lot of the charts were dominated by American films. This site provided a search bar if you wanted to focus just on British films.
Conclusion on 'myths':
-story
-not neccessarily true
-believable plot
-moralistic
Teaser trailers with a myth:
www.traileraddict.com/trailer/new-moon/trailer
This is a teaser trailer of the film 'New moon' which is the second sequal to 'Twilight.' This is a very good trailer as it doesn't give any of the story away and leaves us with a big cliffhanger. I think a trailer can do that when the film already has a lot of hype around it. As 'Twilight' was so popular the trailer didn't need to include hardly any of the films scenes in it to draw people in. It was very effective by only showing 2 or 3 key scenes.
I think the film has a myth feel about it as it includes mythical creatures (vampires and werewolfs) but is also a believable plot because of the ordinary people, schools and scenary involved.
Monday, 29 June 2009
Starting A2 media studies.
This year in media studies we are studying media and collective identity. We are focusing on British films and what makes them British. Last lesson we watched a bit of the film, 'Saturday night, Sunday morning.' We then discussed what made the film British and the difference between todays British films and the older British films and how the values differ.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
'Every rose has its thorns' evaluation.
Every rose has its thorns’ film project evaluation.
For this project I had to work in a group with two other peers to create a two minute opening of a film. The film could have any storyline and could be filmed anywhere we chose. As preparation for filming, my group and I had to create a detailed storyboard, a pitch and a synopsis. We then had to pitch these plans in front of two teachers so that they had an idea of what we were planning to do and then they could allow us to use the school cameras.
Firstly, as a group we sat down and discussed some ideas we thought would be good to use for our film. All of us agreed straight away that we wanted the film to look ‘professional’ and ‘classy’ which gave us the conclusion that mystery was the best genre to go with. From mystery we got the idea of a film noir theme. I knew a lot about Film Noir as I had been studying it in art, so I immediately knew what kind of characters were involved.
As a group we were enthusiastic about the main character being a tragic, flirtatious, young lady who often got dominated by men. From that description our story evolved and our ideas flowed easily and quickly. We sat down together and all three of us had strong input into writing our pitch and synopsis. Our pitch had to only be a couple of lines to make the viewer intrigued and therefore want to watch the film. We included its genre and the era it was set in so that the viewers would have an idea of the film’s general theme. We then added the description of the main character as being tragic and to reinforce that we ended the pitch with the question, ‘Everybody wanted to save her- But did anyone succeed?’ Our aim was to influence the viewers into wanting to also be like everybody else and try and save this tragic character. The word ‘save’ gives an effective, emotional impact and gives an insight into her life. Ending the pitch on a question created a cliff hanger which creates suspense and mystery, and as a result leaves the reader wanting to know more.
Our synopsis had to be a longer, more detailed version of our pitch. It gives a brief summary of what the film is about. My group and I wanted to make every sentence in this paragraph strong, to grab the reader, so we included descriptive and emotive language. For example words like: heart-breaking, desperate, sinister are strong words that keep your attention. The paragraph consists of a short analysis of the main character’s life/troubles, when the audience first meet her in the film, the time period of the story, the main characters heart-broken best friend and finally ending the synopsis on a question. When writing the paragraph we didn’t want to give away the whole story line but just to feed the readers a snippet of what they would be feeling and viewing in the film. Again, we ended the synopsis on a question, as we did with the pitch, to carry on with the theme of mystery because that is the film’s genre.
When creating the storyboard it was advised to have sixteen frames. It had to include detailed shot types, props and camera movements so that when we filmed we could know exactly what to do and not waste time. Our first storyboard went over sixteen frames at first and when it came to pitching the idea to the two teachers they told us to cut some of it down, otherwise the film would run over two minutes. My group and I re-looked at the storyboard and took the least important frames out; adjusted some of the shots and in the end the storyboard came to fifth-teen frames. We were aiming for our film to run in between one minute-thirty seconds and two minutes. In the end it came to one minute-thirty eight. We also had to show exactly what the camera was going to be doing in every frame and make sure that all of the props were authentic; for example, using matches instead of a lighter and wearing the appropriate outfits. I was the main character in the film so I researched what the fashion was like in the 1940s and what kind of outfits the ladies were wearing in the ‘film noir’ era.
As a group we had to decide where the filming would take place. The area had to be mostly surrounded by walls so that the camera didn’t show any modern houses or cars in order to keep the ‘1940’s film noir’ theme. The area we chose was very appropriate as it was close to where we all live and it had plenty of brick walls. We decided on the background being brick walls instead of trees or a room because we thought it fitted the main characters personality. We realised that everyone has a survival instinct in a city and if you’re not wealthy then making money can lead to some dirty jobs, which is what the main character learns.
Most of film noir is filmed in black and white and we were keen to try and do that with our film to make it even more authentic. We were happy to discover it was very easy to do so on the camera we were given.
Film noir is also known for its jazz-like, instrumental music. My group and I were keen to add music to our film to give it a professional feel. Finding music was surprisingly easy as we used the school computers and uploaded it from there on a memory to the editing process. We were very satisfied with how well the music fitted with our film.
In conclusion, I was very happy with how well the film looked when finished and I found that everything went very smoothly with planning, pitching and filming and we got the project done really quickly. Our peers had a chance to evaluate our film and we got a very positive response. They commented on the ‘artistic, professional’ feel and liked the use of black and white colouring. This was important feedback for us as that is what we wanted the audience to feel, so we felt that we succeeded in our task. The only real problems we faced was altering the storyboard, otherwise everything else went according to what we had planned.
For this project I had to work in a group with two other peers to create a two minute opening of a film. The film could have any storyline and could be filmed anywhere we chose. As preparation for filming, my group and I had to create a detailed storyboard, a pitch and a synopsis. We then had to pitch these plans in front of two teachers so that they had an idea of what we were planning to do and then they could allow us to use the school cameras.
Firstly, as a group we sat down and discussed some ideas we thought would be good to use for our film. All of us agreed straight away that we wanted the film to look ‘professional’ and ‘classy’ which gave us the conclusion that mystery was the best genre to go with. From mystery we got the idea of a film noir theme. I knew a lot about Film Noir as I had been studying it in art, so I immediately knew what kind of characters were involved.
As a group we were enthusiastic about the main character being a tragic, flirtatious, young lady who often got dominated by men. From that description our story evolved and our ideas flowed easily and quickly. We sat down together and all three of us had strong input into writing our pitch and synopsis. Our pitch had to only be a couple of lines to make the viewer intrigued and therefore want to watch the film. We included its genre and the era it was set in so that the viewers would have an idea of the film’s general theme. We then added the description of the main character as being tragic and to reinforce that we ended the pitch with the question, ‘Everybody wanted to save her- But did anyone succeed?’ Our aim was to influence the viewers into wanting to also be like everybody else and try and save this tragic character. The word ‘save’ gives an effective, emotional impact and gives an insight into her life. Ending the pitch on a question created a cliff hanger which creates suspense and mystery, and as a result leaves the reader wanting to know more.
Our synopsis had to be a longer, more detailed version of our pitch. It gives a brief summary of what the film is about. My group and I wanted to make every sentence in this paragraph strong, to grab the reader, so we included descriptive and emotive language. For example words like: heart-breaking, desperate, sinister are strong words that keep your attention. The paragraph consists of a short analysis of the main character’s life/troubles, when the audience first meet her in the film, the time period of the story, the main characters heart-broken best friend and finally ending the synopsis on a question. When writing the paragraph we didn’t want to give away the whole story line but just to feed the readers a snippet of what they would be feeling and viewing in the film. Again, we ended the synopsis on a question, as we did with the pitch, to carry on with the theme of mystery because that is the film’s genre.
When creating the storyboard it was advised to have sixteen frames. It had to include detailed shot types, props and camera movements so that when we filmed we could know exactly what to do and not waste time. Our first storyboard went over sixteen frames at first and when it came to pitching the idea to the two teachers they told us to cut some of it down, otherwise the film would run over two minutes. My group and I re-looked at the storyboard and took the least important frames out; adjusted some of the shots and in the end the storyboard came to fifth-teen frames. We were aiming for our film to run in between one minute-thirty seconds and two minutes. In the end it came to one minute-thirty eight. We also had to show exactly what the camera was going to be doing in every frame and make sure that all of the props were authentic; for example, using matches instead of a lighter and wearing the appropriate outfits. I was the main character in the film so I researched what the fashion was like in the 1940s and what kind of outfits the ladies were wearing in the ‘film noir’ era.
As a group we had to decide where the filming would take place. The area had to be mostly surrounded by walls so that the camera didn’t show any modern houses or cars in order to keep the ‘1940’s film noir’ theme. The area we chose was very appropriate as it was close to where we all live and it had plenty of brick walls. We decided on the background being brick walls instead of trees or a room because we thought it fitted the main characters personality. We realised that everyone has a survival instinct in a city and if you’re not wealthy then making money can lead to some dirty jobs, which is what the main character learns.
Most of film noir is filmed in black and white and we were keen to try and do that with our film to make it even more authentic. We were happy to discover it was very easy to do so on the camera we were given.
Film noir is also known for its jazz-like, instrumental music. My group and I were keen to add music to our film to give it a professional feel. Finding music was surprisingly easy as we used the school computers and uploaded it from there on a memory to the editing process. We were very satisfied with how well the music fitted with our film.
In conclusion, I was very happy with how well the film looked when finished and I found that everything went very smoothly with planning, pitching and filming and we got the project done really quickly. Our peers had a chance to evaluate our film and we got a very positive response. They commented on the ‘artistic, professional’ feel and liked the use of black and white colouring. This was important feedback for us as that is what we wanted the audience to feel, so we felt that we succeeded in our task. The only real problems we faced was altering the storyboard, otherwise everything else went according to what we had planned.
Monday, 2 February 2009
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