Audience Question

I am going to discuss the ideas of narrative in relation to my advanced portfolio, which was a music video for Linkin Park’s cover of Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep’.

As it was a rock (nu metal) cover of a popular pop song I decided to look into other nu metal songs, and pick apart the key points that they used to engage their audience. I looked at Linkin Parks music video for ‘In the end’. The song is about the struggles of growing up and how life isn’t worth living but the video was created to lighten and juxtapose the lyrics. The song starts and ends with the piano which symbolised the cycle of life, at the start of the music video we can see a lifeless desert but during and nearing the end of the video rain comes down and spawns life in the form of flowers, rivers and butterflies. Although it would be hard to relate this format of the music video to mine, I liked the idea of juxtaposing lyrics and visuals, and so I decided do the same in certain parts of my narrative.

Goodwin has 8 principles to his theory, I looked at; ‘there is a relationship between the music and the visuals (with visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics), and decided the relationship between my lyrics and visuals would be that they contradict. As the song was about the emotions of a scorned lover “See how I’ll leave with every piece of you”, I decided to oppose these lyrics with visuals of a stereotypical couple, but as my narrative was fragmented it does show the breakup between them as well. Todorovs theory of narrative states the stages of equilibrium, disequilibrium and ultimately a new equilibrium being formed. The audience can engage with the video as there is an understanding of equilibrium, this being the couple happy together which many people can relate to. Although the narrative is fragmented, using this theory allows for a clear storyline to be set and followed by the audience.

As my song was a rock bands take on a well known pop song, I decided to try and incorporate ideas and conventions from both genres in order to appeal to both audiences and therefore maximise my target audience. Some of the conventions featured in a pop video are; a main focus on the artist/lead singer by using close-ups displaying emotion and an engagement through teenage scenarios, with this I also included some conventions such as the use of dark clothing and live shots of the band playing in order to fit in with the rock genre. By having a couple feature in the video, which is rarely seen in a rock song yet is quite common in pop, but with doing this I appealed to the rock audience by having the couple as a punk/rock couple.

The theory of binary oppositions by Levi Strauss can be applied to my video as there is a contradiction between the lyrics and visuals. The lyrics speak about hurt and sadness within a relationship yet my visuals oppose this and show a couple happy in their relationship. Another opposition that I utilised in my video was that I had the male showing how he was hurt, when this is usually a feminine trait.

Overall I believe I have used conventional narrative approaches as well as combining them to create a hybrid genre. With contrasting narratives I've also been experimental to engage and help my audience relate and understand my music video and its fragmented narrative.

‘Media text rely on cultural experiences in order for audiences to easily make sense of narratives’ Explain how you used conventional or experimental narrative approaches in one of your production pieces.

I am going to discuss the ideas of narrative in relation to my advanced portfolio, which was a music video for Linkin Park’s cover of Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep’.

As it was a rock (nu metal) cover of a popular pop song I decided to look into other nu metal songs, and pick apart the key points that they used to engage their audience. I looked at Linkin Parks music video for ‘In the end’. The song is about the struggles of growing up and how life isn’t worth living but the video was created to lighten and juxtapose the lyrics. The song starts and ends with the piano which symbolised the cycle of life, at the start of the music video we can see a lifeless desert but during and nearing the end of the video rain comes down and spawns life in the form of flowers, rivers and butterflies. Although it would be hard to relate this format of the music video to mine, I liked the idea of juxtaposing lyrics and visuals, and so I decided do the same in certain parts of my narrative.

Goodwin has 8 principles to his theory, I looked at; ‘there is a relationship between the music and the visuals (with visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics), and decided the relationship between my lyrics and visuals would be that they contradict. As the song was about the emotions of a scorned lover “See how I’ll leave with every piece of you”, I decided to oppose these lyrics with visuals of a stereotypical couple, but as my narrative was fragmented it does show the breakup between them as well. Todorovs theory of narrative states the stages of equilibrium, disequilibrium and ultimately a new equilibrium being formed. The audience can engage with the video as there is an understanding of equilibrium, this being the couple happy together which many people can relate to. Although the narrative is fragmented, using this theory allows for a clear storyline to be set and followed by the audience. 

BBC iPlayer

BBC iPlayer on Prezi

How might the influence of new media be said to strengthen or weaken the public sphere?

It can be argued that the influence of new media is strengthening or weakening the public sphere depending on what angle you see the debate from. The public sphere can be defined as 'the social sites or arenas where meanings are articulated, distributed and negotiated by the public', we see Habermas stating that this public sphere is beginning to weaken in the 20th century. However, there is evidence suggesting otherwise, that although the public sphere face to face may not be as strong as it was, a whole new concept has been introduced through new (social) media where the community has been transferred online.

When looking at the Syrian uprising, we see the power of convergent devices such as mobile phones, where syrian rebels are able to record and share footage, which is then published online via social networking sites. It is this idea of "witness, record, share" that appears to reiterate the initial ideas of the public sphere as it then after uploading that a community, that which exists due to social networking, discusses, debates and then shares again. Furthermore this shows a strengthening of the public sphere as it allows it to bypass censorship as these individuals can show what the traditional media cannot as reporters were banned by the Syrian government. 

New media adds another strength to the public sphere that it is not only cheap but easily accessed. With mobile phones being inexpensive and all smartphones having the ability to access the internet it gives nearly everyone the chance to be active online. We see this in the Syrian uprising as the videos of protesters were shot on mobile phones which were then uploaded straight away or through a computer onto social networking sites such as FaceBook and Twitter. The only foreseeable problem with this idea that everyone can have access online is that there are number of people who cannot afford the technology needed. Another problem to take into consideration is the digital divide, that as the public sphere is weakened in a face to face sense and gets stronger as it goes online, those that do not know how to use such technology such as the elderly will be excluded from the debates and so their voice will be lost.

However, there are apparent negatives to the rise in new media, the struggle with anonymity being a strong concern. Tom Macmaster would be a prime example of this; he is an American student studying in Edinburgh, he pretended to be a young Arab lesbian blogger. His case highlights that anyone can create an identity online, one that it can be completely moulded and shaped to how you want the virtual world to see and believe it. This is clearly a poor decision on his part as it was unethical and created quite a serious problem as there was uproar on Twitter and with Blogger users as he endangered those in the eastern gay communities. Although he was trying to raise a serious issue, it turned out to cause more harm than good, when he did reveal his identity and apologised it wasn’t accepted.

In conclusion we can definitely see that new media is affecting the public sphere, with both positive and negative effects including accessibility and anonymity. In my opinion I believe that the pros far outweigh the cons as we not only have instantly accessible news, but we can share this with the world alongside our own views upon the current situation thus promoting democracy in the online age.

Derick shows Jesus the way

Are the media becoming more democratic?

Over the past two decades there has been an incredible change in the technology available to the world. One of the most notable was that of Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, which allowed for information to be shared 'online' with no restrictions or limits.

The early start of the internet was classified as web 1.0, David Gauntlett describes this stage through the analogy of each individual having their own garden, which they and only they would contribute to. This was considered a slow and undesirable start to Berners-Lee's creation as what he had envisioned fitted the description of web 2.0. A phase that Gauntlett describes as an allotment, in which several people contribute to together. This idea can be seen today through the use of social networking sites, in which the internet is a community and everyone can be seen contributing together, clearly showing that the media is becoming more democratic as there is choice. However, this idea of choice wasn't always present, traditional media; broadcasters, newspapers and reporters were the ones in power. It can be viewed upon that they had total media domination, with the only news coming from the same source over and over. They were able to do so as to create media in the past you needed, in Gauntletts words, "big stuff, big recording devices, big cameras and if you wanted to distribute it all you needed a big broadcasting company or movie studio" which the average person never would of been able to afford or store and so led to the notion of 'Media Gods sending down information to the Little People'.

Along with web 2.0 has come an uprising in citizen journalism, the view that anyone can witness, record and share what they have seen. This explosion of new media has come about due to the success of many convergent devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry and HTC, all of which allow the user to record and upload straight to social networking sites such as Twitter. This idea of citizen journalism alone truly shows that the media has become more democratic as the 'Media Gods' aren't the only people who are reporting in today's day and age. Paul Lewis describes citizen journalism as an empowering process that allows previous passive consumers of news to become co-producers in news, showing that the media is becoming more democratic as there are options available rather then just the traditional idea of media produced-media consumed. Paul Lewis uses the example of 'Ian Tomlinson in the G20 protests': the original story that was published by the traditional media was that Ian Tomlinson died of natural causes and whilst the police forces tried to resuscitate him they were bombarded by bottles, later to become bricks in the newspapers. However, upon further investigation by Paul Lewis and through social media he started to encounter individuals with evidence contradicting that of what the traditional media had originally published. He eventually helped bring the officer to an inquest in which it was decided that Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully killed. I believe this shows that the media has become more democratic as without social media and citizen journalism the case of Ian Tomlinson would have never been brought to light and those responsible to justice.

Overall, I truly believe that the media has become more democratic through technological advances such as web 2.0 and social media as we the people are able to share and discuss in a common community rather than have information spoon-fed to us by the once omni-potent Media Gods.

David Gauntletts Questions

David Gauntletts Questions on Prezi

Citizen Journalism-My Tram Experience

In this video Matthew and I discuss the citizen journalism aspect of the controversial viral video; 'My Tram Experience', whether it has had a positive or negative impact, and how much this citizen journalism is a tool of democracy in the new age. Citizen journalism refers to the idea that in the 'We media' age, anyone can record and upload footage of anything, whereas in the past the traditional media powers (e.g newspapers, broadcasters) were in control of what we were exposed to and what was censored from the population's viewing.

Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism is the idea of members of the public playing an active role in capturing, analysing and reporting information. New technology has allowed for this uprise in journalism where anyone can record what they are seeing directly infront of them and upload it straight to YouTube. Once they have this done this, they can then share it their 'reports' with anyone over social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.