Survey

The link to the survey is here, and the answers as follows….

Inner Ring Road Project

Obsessed is the name of the video we made for the Inner Ring Road Project that was due this week. Our short film is about a girl from Germany that arrives in Coventry because she is attending a Coventry Conversation as a guest star. The story begins when she arrives at the Railway Station and follows her throughout out the journey to Ellen Terry Building. As she makes her way to the meeting she starts getting negative vibes and feels like she is being followed. Speeding up the pace the girl gets paranoid and terrified of the person following her. Soon enough different signs appear indicating that our character is not delusional and that she is indeed being stalked. A shadow, a phone call ,footseps gradually built up the tension to a point where she arrives at the destinations. Thinking she is now safe, the girl goes into the bathroom releived and …. You can access the link to see end

Creating this short film implied different stages. The first one  was scouting for locations. Along with my teammates we took a long walk through Coventry trying to figure out how to incorporate different urban and rural looking areas in our project. After seeing and taking notes about different places that we liked, and some that we really loved and insisted on having in our film, it was time to decided which ones we were going to keep. A day before starting to film we went back to all the places we chose in order to establish a timetable that would make our working day more efficient . So the first day of filming we covered the scenes at the Railway, the subway, and Coventry Market. Filming went pretty well considering that we had to deal with traffic in all of the locations and that it was absolutely freezing! On the second day we started off at Canal Basin shooting the part where the girl becomes aware she is being followed and starts panicking. Next we thought of introducing one more scene of the stalker waiting on a bridge for the train to come as if the person knew the girl would be in it. The idea was left aside  because the train never came and we were slowly going into hypothermia…. On the third and last day of shooting we concentrated of the passing between the urban and rural area by shooting a couple of scenes in a park and then moved on to the last part of the project. The scenes where the girl arrives at  Ellen Terry, goes into the bathroom and is surprised by the stalker. We were lucky to work with such an understanding actress that basically did everything exactly the way we told her to, not to mention how great she was about the working conditions. In my opinion she captured the essence of the character effortlessly and she did a great job interpreting the hero in Obsessed. Acting was a  major part of the film being exactly how we wanted it. Even though the task required us to concentrate on soundscapes i believe all of the other aspects of the project were equally important and I`m particularly pleased with the scenes shot by Canal Basin. The lighting and the setting are exactly what we imagined them to be! All in all we enjoyed the process of creating Obsessed and we were all satisfied with the outcome of our short stalking insight.

Week 8 task

     Media objects

    print based: The Supper Club – Sophie King

    television: Two and a Half Men

    film: Confessions of a Shopaholic 

  After looking at the media objects I selected I realised that Todorov and Propp`s theories apply entierly in all three cases. In the novel by Sophie King the writer begins the book with an equilibrium that rules all the different characters that make up the chapters of the book. The disruption and the recognition of the problems are blurry but most definitely present. The “mess” sort of builds up as the story goes along until it reaches a climax and then order comes back and all the pieces fall into place magically. The end oversees all the characters happy again and life even better than it was before things went wrong. The same goes for the film Confessions of  a Shopaholic with the slight difference that in the beginning what is supposed to be equilibrium is replaced with disruption followed by recognition, attemp and finally equilibrium. The  script writer tends to juggle a bit with the narrative structure as some of the segments are not necessarily in the general order and other are even repeated. A very populary technique in film is making the audience believe that  equilibrium was reached and then completely shattering the heroe`s world only for him to build it all up again in an even more admirable way. For the televison series I looked at  the basic narrative applies to each episode as the characters are always faced with a new problem that disrupts the equilibrium. Each time the heroes who at first may seem unwiling to deal with the issue, in the end turn out to be courageous, intelligent and sensible. 

As for Propp`s arguments they are also recognizable in the media objects I mentioned. Different types of characters tend to appear time and time again whether we look at print-based media, film or television. By this I don`t only mean the heroe and the villan but also all those other characters used to build up the main ones: the younger/older sibling, the needy friend, the hard to please boss, etc. All these are key in creating a characters and essential in the story line in order to establish equilibrium or create disruption.

  Although most media object follow these classic outlines there are some that go against the current and are genuine and creative.Having such examples makes things a bit more interesting and take us out of monotony. Reading books or watching films/tv series who follow Todorv and Propp`s theories makes them easier to follow and understand or be compared with other objects. But every once in while it`s nice to see something different, something particular and innovative.

Week 7 Task

                          

    Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of ploth, theme and/or setting. 

   Most of the items I selected are right at the border of fantasy and romantic comedy. Take the movie Jeux d`Enfants for example . A love story with real life characteristics that often merge with supranatural elements. A lot of other films like Stardust let imagination run wild.

     Although popular where it come to movies, this genre hasn`t really been exploited in music. There are few artists that produce such tracks and they are mostly part of an underground scenery. Music videos can be very imaginative. A recent such example is Black Eyed Peas video for Meet me halfway.      

 Television has long considered fantasy influences if you think of serie like Bewitched the longest running supernatural themed sitcom. 

  It is obvious what all of these different media objects have in common : they cultivate originality, imagination, they say no to monotony . 

  I think the most exciting part of this genre is that it is rarely predictable. You never know what to expect because you never really know how far imagination can stretch. Creativity is after all an infinite domaine. Audiences get pleasure from escaping reality and seeing a different side of things, becoming part of a different world and experiencing new.

Tony Zoreil

   Today in lecture we saw a really nice french short film intitled “Tony Zoreil”  directed by Valentin Potier. It is about a young man with a very peculiar physical deformity: giant ears. Because of this misfortune he struggles with a very challenging social life which leads to him eventually accepting his parent`s proposal to meet a canadian girl with the same features.    They speak for a while and on the day they are supposed to meet something happens that changes the way the story was supposed to go. I do`t want to give anything away for the people who haven`t seen it yet. I absolutely loved it and enjoyed every bit of the film. The originality of the story, the twist on the classic “boy meets girl”, the soundtrack, everything! I do have a soft spot for french film but I think this one is definitely worth seeing.

   This is the link to the trailer.

Activity week

  This week was activity week and on our monday lecture our tutors gave us a 72 hours challenge to produce a media object we always wanted to make. This could either be a short movie, an article or an advert.

  Along with the other members of group 1C we decided that we would make a viral advert for a dreamcatcher. Something that looked like a short movie, that was scarry, interesting and at the same time funny. So we were off to produce our media object….our first stop being a party shop. Next we split up to gather the other stuff that was need and met up at our location to shoot the scenes for our advert. All the filming took a couple of hours including make-up, rehearsal and setting up the scenes. We were finished with the whole product by day 2 ( pretty efficient , weren`t we? ).

      

  I have to admit that although at first it seem impossible to create something in such a short time we were definitely pleased with the outcome of our work and had fun throughout the “making of”. I would definitely do it again. A challenge like this just goes to show that you can do more than you think as long as you have ambition and drive. There are no obstacles when you put you mind to something and you`re determined to achieve your goal.

   Enjoy our “Dreamcatcher”….. 

About audiences

     I can`t believe it`s already week 5. For the past couple of lectures we were asked to think about audiences and all that characterizes them. This week`s task for the 100 MC Module requires us to select ( yet again ) one object from our Cabinet of Curiosities and answer the following questions : 

 1. In what ways could your media object ‘influence’ the minds of a vulnerable audience?  

 2. What possible negative ‘effect’ does this media object have on the audience and society? 

   Since my Cabinet of Curiositie consists mostly of magazine cutouts and articles I decided to select a fashion column from the November issue of Elle magazine Uk and base my answers upon it. So this is what I`ve come up with:

  1.Fashion columns can influence a vulnerable audience negatively as it encourages people to follow trends. This way we loose our identities and become part of a large mass that is easier to control and manipulate. Step by step we become addicted to following trends and being part of a wave instead of reflecting our own preferences.

2. In the case of this particular media object the “effect” is having a large number of people  standardized. This phenomenon increases sales of fabricated merchandise and therefor causes an imbalance in economy. 

 

Week 3 task

    Group 1C

 

  The media object we selected is  Rockferry , the debut studio album by Welsh singer Duffy. First released on 3rd March 2008 by Mercury Records in collaboration with Universal Records in the US and with Polydor Records in the UK the album was the fourth best selling album of 2008 worldwide.

 

   1.Given how the company make their money, how does this affect what 

they do? Is anyone overseeing what they do? How effective is the 

control? 

  The company that released the album, Mercury Records, is a label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Music Group in the US, both subsidiaries of Universal Music.  Universal Music Group makes money in the  music and entertainment industry, their revenue for 2007 being 6.14 billion $. In contrast with tv and radio  products, music business  is largely  self-regulated.

 

2.How do the three ways of looking at media institutions outlined 

in the lecture – political economy, organisational study and workplace 

ethnography – explain how the media objects that you looked at 

function? 

 

Discussing political economy, that is to say “the way in which media products are made, circulated and experienced” we came to the conclusion that music industry is not particularly influenced by power relations or any economic -political practice.  Music is not viewed as a weapon of manipulation , its purpose being purely entertainment. 

As for organisational studies, where music is concerned the processes behind production are complex. When it comes to producing an album people have specific roles they have to complete, acting in a certain way withing their organisation.

 Work ethnography is not an issue in a large industry like music where every ethny is present. Almost every cultural practice has a correspondent music genre.With 47 offices in 41 countries, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is the industry’s largest global music publishing operation. 

 

3.Do any of these models fully explain contemporary media? What 

failings do they have to explain ‘new media’?

 

While each of these models are an integrated part of media in general, none of them manages to capture the entire meaning of new media. Contemporary media doesn`t have  boundries, it is a free teritory where everyone can make their opinions/ likes/ dislikes public in any way they want (that is to say using images, audio, video, text or all of these means). There is no good or bad in new media, there is no control just critic.

Media Diary

   We were asked to keep a media diary for our 100MC module so I made notes of each time I used media during the last two days. This is what came out :

Monday: ✍ listend to music on my Ipod for 20 min, while walking to school

                   ✍ used the computer for 1 hour and a half, at the library

                  ✍ watched tv for 2 hours, at home

Tuesday:   ✍ listend to music on my ipod for 20 minutes, while walking to school

                 ✍ watch short movies for 10-20 min,in class  part of the lecture

                  ✍ watched tv 1 hour, at home

Wednesday : ✍ watched tv for 1 hour, at home

                        ✍ used the computer (don`t know for how long cause i`m still using it

Letter to self

 

    The last time I wanted to write this letter to self I started off with a general statement. That`s when I knew I was wrong. It`s  not supposed to be general, it`s expected to be particular and personal.

      I`ll start by mentioning a couple of the things that I like. In terms of concepts I really enjoy the 60`s culture ( the whole vibe movies like “Paris when it sizzels” give you). Listening to the music of those years, reinterpreting the fashion, seeing pictures and watching movies made during that time give me a really good feeling.

    On one hand I would absolutely love to have whitnessed it all but on the other hand I would hate missing all that is happening right now. With music all the pop-funk/trip-hop/electronic mélange suits me. I listen to a bunch of performers from various areas and sometimes even I am amazed at how I can enjoy genres that are completely opposite.I could listen to Frank Sinatra or Yves Montand one minute and the next I could be listening to Uffie, Lykke Li, Razorlight or Kanye. 

   A whole other story with movies where I am a bit sceptic about   action, horror and science fiction. Up to now I avoided having fauvorites in any domaines but I think that I am forced to recognise that my fauvorite movie is Priceless ( aka Hors de Prix 2006, Pierre Salvadori). With other movies I have certain times when I can watch them according to my mood, but this I could watch all day long , no matter what. 

     When I think about what I would like to do later on the thing that comes to mind is television shows. It`s something I`ve always enjoyed in terms of entertainment and I think they are better than just movies or sitcoms. They simply seem more personal and engage the audience as most request feedback from viewers.

    Because I like cooking I sometimes watch cooking shows and find them very entertaining.What`s great is that it`s also a learning experience because you get access to new recipes and techniques to improove your cooking. I can really see myself involved in producing such a programme.

    I don`t know what a good ending would be for this letter so I`m just gonna post some pictures that I like. I guess I`ll be hearing from myself at the end of the third term….