Media Ecology Question Notes

 These are the notes that a group member Rania and I made as revision for our unit test regarding the question: Explain what you think is the most significant change in the media in recent years. (AI)

Key Concepts:

• Language

• Representation

• Industry

• Audience

Mark Scheme:

• Contexts, Concepts & Critical Debates

• Terminology

• Meaning

• Examples

Explain what you think is the most significant change in the media in recent years. (AI)

Start w media ecology definition 

Convergence of personal communication and mass communication 

(Increasingly social ubiquitous media) - migration of media to internet 

A01

• MEDIA CONCEPTS 

• P1: chatbots - political propaganda + misinformation (monetization by data mining underpins knowledge economy) 

• P2: (content generation) - companies relying on ai to satisfy audiences, competition for attention as media companies have to keep producing content

• P3 : Data Regulation - impact on society of technological change including collection + sharing of info = issues raised by media ownership and funding in contemporary media practice ( changes how future audience will consume and produce new media as ai may develop and with it learning more about audiences it become more “human like”) 

• CRITICAL DEBATES

• P1: (regulatory framework - section 230 -> jeopardises people’s democracy = how does this affect people’s freedom of speech) (need for new regulation, section 230 not prepared for the rapid changing tech in our world like chatbot) 

• P2: Media industry - effect on audience/industry  (process of production - shaping media products) (patterns of ownership and control - economic factors) (these scripts could be translated to fit local/global audiences) 

• P3: 

• TERMINOLOGY

• net neutrality 

• Globalization 

• Conglomerates

• AI/Augmented reality

• Technological convergence 

• Media ownership  

• Section 230 

• Technological determinism debate (social/political/cultural factors) 

A02

• MEANING + THEORY

• Media Industries : Curran and Seaton 

• Identity theory : David Gauntlett

• Regulation : Livingstone + Lunt 

• Reception theory : Stuart Hall

• Cyber Utopianism : Morozov ( 2011) = morozov warns against cyber utopianism, data control allows for manipulation = concerns around “free election” - effect of bypassing institutions designed to protect privacy. 

• Surveillance capitalism : Zuboff = undermines personal autonomy + democracy 

• Case Studies: 

• P1: Joe Biden’s use of digital propaganda

• Joe Biden’s victory was fuelled by an extensive digital campaign, which relied on new methods to reach out to voters. Among these was conversational AI deployed as a chatbot via Facebook Messenger and designed by Amplify.ai.

• Spam and Misinformation: In some cases, malicious actors have used chatbots to spread spam, fake news, or political disinformation, potentially impacting public opinion. Chatbots can be programmed to share political messages and campaign updates across various social media platforms, amplifying a candidate's or party's reach.

• Automated Messaging Campaigns: Political campaigns have used chatbots to send automated messages to potential voters, disseminating campaign materials and gathering support. Chatbots can use AI to analyse user data and tailor political messaging to specific demographics, potentially influencing voter sentiment.

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• P2: Washington Post using Heliograf to produce automated news stories and alerts

• give readers localised results updates for House, Senate and presidential races at the top of “Post Reports,” “The Big Idea,” and “Can He Do That?”

• “ensure our readers have timely information that’s relevant to them and easily accessible on the platforms they turn to for news”, says a washington post executive

• By ‘relevant to them’ this could be tied in together with the risks of biased information/misinformation being widespread using the ai program.

• P3: Writers’ Strike getting rid of peoples’ jobs

• During the WGA strike, production stalled on dozens of TV shows, including “Stranger Things,” “The Last of Us”, “Emily in Paris” and “Severance.” Once the WGA authorizes its members to start working again, it sounds like writing on some shows can resume, although acting work is still banned under the SAG-AFTRA strike. (AS A RESULT) Younger consumers are transforming the media industry and have gone mobile. They have cut the cord from cable and switched to OTT providers like Netflix and Amazon Prime by the hundreds of millions. Older generation consumers are heavy users of Facebook, while their kids create and share TikTok videos

• (Focus more on regulation rather than content generation)

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Mini Project: Lip Sync Video

 Our teacher has instructed us to make a short lipsync video of the song "I want it that way".

Our expectations for this are that we will be able to give a modern edge to this 90's music video.

We are worried that we might not be able to get all of our brilliant ideas out in this 1 period.

This was one of our original ideas for a music video before we were told were only allowed to use music from the last 5 years, so we had to scrap it.

Reflection: Whilst doing this mini project, we faced many difficulties, including time, decision making and the technology available.

Due to the time crunch given, we were forced to use clips that didn't match up to our vision of certain scenes, as we had to move on to the next once we got something of it already.

With very little time to plan, we diverted quite a bit from the storyboard which resulted in a lot of conflicting ideas during the filming, in the hot sun, where we had to find compromises between ideas, which didn't turn out as we may have expected, such as the falling scene where one of our members falls backwards but lands in a side shot, supposedly in my vision a match cut both from a side shot.

The technology available to us was very different to our previous projects, where we had professional cameras and gimbals ready, as well as a friend very much literate in camerawork. So we had to improvise using our handphones, making the quality go down by a lot compared to our previous projects, due to the resources we had available.

Our final result is merely a fragment of the vision we had, and could have achieved given that we had more time allocated to work on this project.

in case video doesn't work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V7ygCqvC7mmnI187huosSpDfbuq-CbM2/view?usp=sharing

This is the final product that we compiled as a class, edited together by our media teacher Mr. Nick. 

Postmodern Question Example

 Postmodernism is the era that we live in right now, according to most theorists. There are many different ideas supporting this as there is the change in authority from god, to man, to noone, the hyper reality, simulacra and meaning implosion that comes with media and features of postmodernism texts classified through forms of copies such as parodies, homage, bricolage, satire, intertextuality, and more. In this essay I will be discussing media texts and how they are postmodern.

She-Hulk is a heavy example of postmodern text. It uses a lot of the features of a postmodern text such as loss of reality, self reflexivity (the most prominent in the series) and parody and much more. The concept of these superheroes fitting into society itself could already be considered a loss of reality, especially when a character like Hulk or She-Hulk is quite obviously so fictional, that the producers need to create their character on screen through post-production editing and CGI. The concept of superpowers and big green humans bringing justice to the world is a big example of how superhero movies condone this loss of reality, or hyper reality that most audiences enjoy as to distract themselves from the reality they live in (Uses and Gratification - distraction). The really prominent self reflexivity in this text isn't the first we've seen from Marvel, as it was already used in another one of their film series, Deadpool. She-Hulk is seen breaking the fourth wall multiple times throughout the series, usually to make a remark about something that just happened in the plot, like an audience would, making comments such as "no way this is how the series goes, right?" or regarding her own thoughts when she was facing an internal conflict of decisions, all the way to jumping out of the netflix thumbnail selection and into the real world, to debate with the producers of the show. This self-reflexivity just supports the loss of reality presented throughout the show even more. There is also a parody of one of Marvel's Presidents, Kevin Feige, through the representation of a robot known as K.E.V.I.N. This robot is a parody of what people in the community and production crew thinks of Feige, being authoritarian and cliche. 

Describe a text, or texts, which are essentially postmodernism

Jean Baudrillard is a theorist that has publicised his ideas regarding postmodernism and its effects on the audiences. Some of his main ideas include Hyper Reality, Simulacra as well as Meaning Implosion. What I will be discussing in this point, will be Hyper Reality and its relation to Heightened Reality in different media texts. One text I believe to be postmodern would be Keeping up with the Kardashians. It has been debunked time and time again just how much of the show is scripted, having the stars act out different plotlines, certain reactions, etc, simply to be recorded on the camera which is clearly in the room with them, to satisfy audiences’ craving for exaggerated reality shows. One scene in the show depicts Kim’s daughter proposing an idea for a prank, that certainly isn’t the way a child would think of a prank, however scripted to be believable enough that a lot of the audience would believe it to be real. The idea of Hyper Reality, which is used in this show, is that audiences would not be able to say definitively whether or not the actions are real or aren’t. This is different from Heightened reality, used in a different media texts, such as David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet. This documentary presents a powerful first-hand account of humanity’s impact on nature and a message of hope for future generations. This show is very much an informational and factual documentary, however in this postmodern world, it does use a few features that some may see to be ‘lies’ or ‘deception’. Heightened Reality is nowhere near as extreme as Hyper Reality, as Heightened Reality only uses these postmodern features to give a certain effect, but not to deceive the audience into believing that their depictions using these features are true, thus allowing audiences to tell when something is used to give an effect and are able to distinguish between reality and simulation, rather than that with Hyper Reality. A Life on Our Planet regularly uses music in scenes of the outdoors, such as forests, jungles, etc. Of course, in reality, there is no tense background music playing as we trek through a forest, thus perhaps making audiences feel disappointed with the reality. However, we are able to distinguish this simulation from reality, as the way it is depicted does not force the idea on us that the music in the forest is reality. It is a representation of the feeling you get as you trek through the forest, but not an actual part of it. Another Heightened Reality feature that is used in this documentary would be the clips used for wildlife, which often times is comprised of different clips from different times and places put together, to keep the screen interesting. The show doesn’t state that it is the same clip or shot, but we come to this conclusion with how well in post production it is put together, as to chronologically continue the story our eyes tell us.

its spelled Baudrillard, I need definitions, where is your second example, no critiques, no effects on the audience

Research (Music Video) - Comp 3

  Here is the research for our component 3 music video

bad idea right? - Olivia Rodrigo

"bad idea right?" is a pop song released by Olivia Rodrigo in 2023. The music video has a narrative that is driven forward by a woman, breaking the stereotype of men always being the one to drive the narrative. In between this narrative progression, the start of the video also cross cuts between scenes of Olivia on the way to her ex's house, facing multiple disasters as if the world is preventing her from going there, associating with the title implying the universe is trying to tell her that going there is a bad idea, and the party held at her ex's house, showing what she's missing out on. This video conforms to audiences of youth who participate in clubs, parties, and the ideals of a wild youth life. The square aspect ratio also gives a vintage nostalgic feel to it. we would like to implement the retro tint on some parts of our music video, as it pops more on the screen compared to standard modern music videos

My Hero - Foo Fighters

"My Hero" is in the Punk Rock genre, and the music video once again has a narrative drive, as we follow a main character as he becomes this 'Hero' by saving multiple people from a fire. The camera follows our main character from the back throughout the majority of this music video. This video is a representation of many peoples' perception of a 'Hero', as this person really rescues people in the scene of a fire without the getup and professionality of a regular firefighter. I like how this music video transitions between the man running into the house and his acts of heroism to shots of the band members playing their instruments seamlessly. It makes the story and the band feel like they are a part of one universe, yet separated as both events happen at once without affecting the other.

Pompeii - Bastille

Media Language

The visuals in this music video utilise a lot of effects that convey the narrative clearly. Set in an abandoned city, it references the ancient ruins of pompeii. To show this they use a combination of wide establishing shots and closeups of certain features that capture the isolation of this environment. A lot of brown colors were used here which further enhances the desert-like feel of the whole music video, being ruins of an old civilisation. Occassional bursts of color then stand out when the world is shown being frozen in time. Bastille is often presented against a big landscape backdrop, highlighting his performance in comparison to the abandoned city. Visual effects such as ghostly apparitions and crumbling structures enhance the haunting feel of the video.

Representation

This text represents many ideas such as mortality, time, and a sense of urgency in this time and space. The shots of the abandoned city and the uncanny people that 'live' in it symbolize the remnants of a forgotten civilization, making the existing nature of humans seem long gone. The contrast of Bastille's performance in comparison to this deathly atmosphere creates a sense of rebellion against the destruction the location suggests. The actors casted for this music video were diverse, and so anyone can see themselves in the position, although not a very positive or negative representation, however it can immerse them into the video a lot better.

Audience

The target audience for the "Pompeii" music video is likely diverse, encompassing fans of Bastille's music as well as audiences interested in deep stories presented to them through visual pleasure. Given the introspective nature of the song's lyrics and the engaging imagery, audiences may include those who appreciate artistry and deeper thematic exploration. Additionally, fans of alternative and indie music genres may be attracted to Bastille's unique sound and visual aesthetic.

We are Young - Fun

Media Language

The choice of lighting and location in this music video gives off a real sense of youth, particularly the youth night life. The whole video takes place in the same scenery, the same location, but in 2 different sides of the club. The camerawork is almost always comprised of still shots, but this allows for a lot of movement in the shot from the people around. The dynamic of the music video increases parallel to the dynamic of the music, having the first climax break the silence of the club with someone smashing a glass on a girl's head, leading all the way up to people flying around the room, drinks in the air and exploding styrofoam by the end of the music video. The band on stage is seen to be unfazed by the chaos unfolded in the crowd, once again having the whole community in the club be seen as one but apart, as they are depicted as separate events in one place, not affecting each other, which is commonly used for music videos. A sharply dressed woman also appears near the end of the video, not as part of the band but as part of the chaotic crowd. She stands in the middle unfazed as well, just like the band, but is clearly in the midst of everything. This is a connotation on how where there is chaos, there is order. This can also be seen as a binary opposite as chaos and order is a common theme when it comes to narrative hooks. This keeps the audience hooked on the music video as it has this sense of tension between the two.

Representation

Both the song and the video are representations of the youth, particularly the youth that participate heavily in nightlife. The whole concept of the music video is the chaos unfolded in the club, justifying this chaos by talking about it as the best part of their youth. The choice of lighting and location is also very much implying this, as the dark scenery is often a trigger in which youths in clubs tend to go crazy, as they can't see much and so don't feel as much of a sense of responsibility with anything that happens. This may also be relatable to people in the music industry, as often times when bands of the such sign up for a gig, the audience could possibly be the rowdy kind, but despite that the band continues to play. People who take gigs in clubs and bars and the such will be able to relate to this, as it is often simply their job to continue playing to get the recognition or the pay they signed up for.

Audience

The audience targeted in this music video is of course the youth of the nightlife, and since it takes place in a location that is familiar to their target audience, the viewers may feel a sense of nostalgia, reminiscence, relatability, etc. Since the genre is indie pop/rock, audiences may feel a closer relationship with the music and the band as they talk about more niche topics, allowing audiences to get a better feel of the meaning behind the music. 

Industry

This music video is a typical VEVO/YouTube music video, as it conforms to the style of a lot of other music videos released in its time. It was one of the first alternative/indie of its time, leading to the now popular genre of indie artists. The fade out at the end of the song on youtube allows for viewers to click on the popups regarding their other works as well, although most likely not the initial idea of the fade-out, is often used in that manner.

Reflection: For my research into music videos, I finished 2 small ones and 2 big ones. I mainly did them all on my own, except for "bad idea, right?" which i watched and discussed together with Rania in class when my laptop was dead and then proceeded to write down separately. For the big research, it took me a while to decide on a music videos I really wanted to dive into, but eventually stumbled upon the nostalgic song that as a class in year 7 we performed on stage. This music video utilised a lot of visual effects and choices of lighting, location, and characters' behaviours in comparison to the band, of which I'd like to implement a lot into the music video. Having analysed a lot of different genres, I think settling on our current song was a good choice.

Statement of Intent - Comp 3

 This is the statement of intent for our music video project, written by Rania, with some input from the rest of us in the ideas and concepts.

Reflection: The research done for this music video I have done mostly individually, except for "bad idea, right?" since Rania and I did that one together in class while my laptop was dead. We watched the video together and discussed our opinions on it, but wrote it down separately. For the big research, it took me a while to find a music video that I really wanted to go deep into, and eventually stumbled upon a nostalgic song that as a class in year 7 we performed on stage. This music video utilised a lot of visual effects, choice of location and behaviours of their actors in comparison to the band, which I thought was very interesting.

Research (Logo, Album, Socials) - Comp 3

Branding

MUSE

Original Logo:

Most Recent Logo

Album #1: This is a Muse Demo

Album #2: Origin of Symmetry

Social Media Page

Childish Gambino

First logo

Most recent logo

Album #1: Camp

Album #2: Because the Internet

Social Media Page

Reflection: This was tasked to us as part of the music video project, as part of the score is the album cover and social media page. We have not completely worked on this yet, as it is our task for next term.

My Team - Comp 3

 Here is my group for this project

Jason - https://jasonmediastudies2223.blogspot.com

Baron - https://baronmediastudies.blogspot.com/2023/10/component-3-weekly-progress-and-plan.html

Rania - https://raniasurimulyadi.blogspot.com

Reflection: For this component, one of our old team members - Gemi, as seen in our Component 1 Project, has left the school to go to Australia, and so we were down 1 person. We had 1 person willing to move to our team, due to unaligned visions with the previous team, Rania. With this, we have a strong addition to our pre-production stages, and although our main editor Gemi is in a better place now, through the efforts of some other mini projects using this group, Baron has proven to be a more than capable editor who we can trust to not mess anything up through cringey fades and fonts.

Weekly Progress - Comp 3

 This is the weekly progress for our Component 3 Project

Week	Term 2	Week	Term 3
1 (2 Oct)	Brief, Research	8 ( 8 Jan)	Development
2	Research	9	Shoot
3	Research	10	Shoot, Self Reflection
4	Proposal	11	Post Production
5	Development	12	Post Production
6	Development	13 (13 Feb)	Deadline (Tuesday 13th February)
7	Development	14

Semester 1

Week 1

- Worked on Brief & Set up the Blog

- Did a few small research

Week 2

- Today we learnt about Rod Stewart and the best hair in the show business.

- Researched a few more music videos, as well as artist logos, album covers, and social media pages

Week 3

- Further research

- Started Statement of Intent

 - Changed initial music from "Smooth Operator" to "Out of Time"

- Changing my weekly progress format to go into more detail regarding problems, solutions, to do list, and to be more reflective.

Problems: Some of our ideas advised to avoid, had to change entire music and concept

Solution: Re-brainstormed, found a new song to base our project off of, lots of ideas following up from it already.

To-do: Continue statement of intent, finish research, get some reference shots

Week 4

- Finished Research

- Finished Statement of Intent

- Created a Moodboard

- Mini Project as a class (I want it That Way music video)

Problems: clashing ideas for the concept to match our song, artist names clashing

Solution: listing down ideas and will narrow them down later, made a shared doc to brainstorm ideas

To-do: more research 

Week 5

- Mini Project finished

- Discussing lyric structure with the atmosphere, lighting, mood, etc.

Problems: conflicting structure visions, fragmented narrative and chronological stuff clashing

Solution: working on finding a compromise

Week 6

- Cast list candidates finished

- Intro idea finalised

Problems: conflicting cast ideas, structure ideas, unrealistic filming scenarios

Solution: hosting auditions, writing down our ideas, compromise on easier-to-film scenes

Week 7

- Cast finalised, star: Juna, characters: me and Rania

- Storyboard in progress

- Done reflection on all blog posts

Problems: want to start filming, but lots of clashing schedules due to exams, performances, internships and holiday plans

Solution: find another time

Semester 2

Week 1

- Started the new semester, new blog format to make it easier for my dear examiners to check <3

- Done with location scouting

- Risk assessment done

Problems: no filming done yet, storyboard needs improvement, allign our ideas and views

Solution: filming schedule, will work on storyboard together to allign ideas

To-do: 

- make reflection more personal and how i felt about the tasks rather than descriptive

- credit in red text on top to whoever did it

- research not finished

- branding research (digipack, sosmed, mv, connection between all)

- storyboard additional pages as ideas change

- weekly progress more detail on tasks that ive done. problems not concise enough, adding to-do list

Week 2

- Storyboard for intro/outro done

- Outfits in talk

- Made a filming schedule, getting intro/outro done in a few days 

Problems: when demonstrating ideas for scenes, we didnt have a car in the classroom

Solution: we used a person and a chair to demonstrate and recorded on our phone

To-do:

- Filming (See link above)

- Social Media

- Photoshoot for album covers

- Group Photo

- Research not finished

Week 3

- Most of the lyric sheet is outlined with certain scenes

- Filmed a few verses and Intro/Outro

Problems: RAINNNNN

Solution: Filmed indoors

To-do: 

- finish filming soon

- digipack/album/social media

Week 4

- Recorded moving scenes with vehicles, mall lipsyncing

- Finished lyric sheet

Problems: Rained on again

Soultion: Brainstormed different ideas to do while it was raining, or take advantage of rain

Week 5

- Recorded room scenes, mall scenes, most lipsyncing done

- Digipak ideas done, social media outlined for a theme and using celebs/people we know as reference

Problems: RAINNNN

Solution: Filmed indoors and took advantage of puddly parking lot. take that rain :)

To-do:

- Photoshoot for digipack and social media

- Finish off the last few verses of the video

- Edit

- CSR

Week 6

- Did digipak and social media photoshoot

- Final product music video finished

- Digipak front cover finished

- Made a teaser

Problems: Actors now on different schedules, different curfews, etc. When some directors weren't on set we finished up different areas of the project.

Solution: Found the right time windows, prepped everything before actors got there to be ready for a 10min shoot

To-do:

- CSR

- Blog Development

- Uploading Sosmed

- Digipak inside and back

Brief - Comp 3

 This is the brief for our final Music Video project

Reflection: This brief has given us just about enough information, but broad enough to let us have creative freedom in creating our music video. Although initially our idea was scrapped due to the restriction of music having to be released in the last 5 years to be used in our music video, we were quickly able to find a new alternative that satisfied most of our wants.

Postmodern Critique (Guy Debord)

Debord's critiques of postmodernism were rooted in his broader concerns about the dehumanizing effects of consumer culture and the spectacle, as well as his call for a more authentic and revolutionary engagement with society.

Commodification of Culture: Debord criticized postmodernism for perpetuating the commodification of culture, where art and culture become commodities to be consumed rather than authentic expressions of human creativity.

- Content is put out for money these days, less as a way to express creativity. (consumerism)


Spectacle: He argued that postmodern society is dominated by the "society of the spectacle," where images and representations of reality take precedence over authentic experiences. This leads to a superficial and alienating culture.

- All media meant for consumerism


Simulacra: Debord shared concerns with Jean Baudrillard about the proliferation of simulacra—copies without an original—in postmodern culture. He believed that reality itself was being replaced by hyperreal simulations, making it difficult to discern what is real.
- It is hard to tell which media texts are real/genuine

Alienation: Postmodernism, according to Debord, perpetuates alienation by promoting a culture of passive consumption and the pursuit of false desires created by the spectacle. This alienation separates individuals from their true desires and from one another.

- Human desires are now derived from media influence


Loss of Authenticity: He argued that postmodern culture erases the authenticity of lived experiences, replacing them with mediated and commodified representations of reality. This contributes to a sense of disillusionment and disconnection.

- We'd rather watch the hyper reality than do stuff ourselves


Desire for Authenticity: In contrast to postmodernism's embrace of the hyperreal and superficial, Debord advocated for a return to authentic human experiences, genuine interactions, and a rejection of the spectacle-driven culture.

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