Wednesday 28 January 2009

Notes on Audience
Some people have seen media audiences as being easily manipulated masses of people who are persuaded to buy products through advertising, or to follow leaders through propaganda. Media texts influence the audience and influence them into behaving in different ways, for example becoming more violent. However, many critics oppose and argue the media as having a much less influence on the audience and working in more subtle ways.
Another problem which arises with the media is that the arrival of video games and portable televisions for example has the amount of children who go out to decrease. So even though people are seeing the same things through the media, they are often experiencing them alone without anyone what is good or bad about it, and so in this case, the media can negatively affect us.

History of Media...
The media has quickly become very popular and there is a hugely important difference between the new forms of entertainment and the old. In the past, forms of entertainment were only available to people who could afford them, however, nowadays, entertainment such as films and radio are available to all.
Sociologist Blumer came up with ideas of mass audience
Membership
Anonymous
Little interactionMass-Loosely organised

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Evaluations ...

Self Evaluation...
Effort- 1 - I gave myself 1 because I put in alot of effort in the homework.
Punctuality- 1 - I gave myself 1 because even though I was late twice last term, I havn't been late this term at all.
Submission and Quality of Homework- 1 - I gave myself 1 because my homework is always handed in, and is always to the best of my ability.
Ability To Work Independantly- 2 - I gave myself 2 beacause even though I work better independantly, I find it easier and more enjoyable to work with other people when doing classwork.
Quality of Writing- 1 - I gave myself 1 because I think that the quality of my writing has improved since the beginning of the year, has become much more flowing and includes relevant media terminology.
Organisation of Media Folder- 1 - I gave myself 1 because my folder is very well organised and has separate sections for both teachers and work linking to our case studies.
Oral contributions in Class- 2 - I gave myself 2 beacause I only participate or answer occasionally.
Contributions to Practical Production Group- 2 - I gave myself 2 as I have contributed with the work by doing all the aspects I needed to do, however, I may need to make a bit more effort in meeting up with the other group members to actually discuss important things such as the pitch etc.
www - concentrated more on the work / and improved written work in class and homework
Attended media classes on time / caught up with any missed work
ebi - participate more in class - oral contributions
Put more effort into the Practical Production Group

Next. Best. Step - Linking To Genre //Pulp Fiction\\

The following shots display continuous sharp cuts from the male character to the female character as they are seated opposite each other at the table. These continuous cuts emphasise on the closeness of the characters which illustrates the irony as they hardly know each other. It also relates to the genre of the film as it is a gangster film and the fact that the main characters are shown to be paired up or displayed in groups follows the gangster conventions. Furthermore, the dialogue between the 2 characters becomes increasingly short, sharp and snappier. This raises the tension in the scene as the pace of their speech quickens, however juxtaposes to the slow subtle music in the background decreasing the tension and influencing the mood which is being created. This also follows gangster film conventions as it is fairly contrapuntal rather than parallel especially at this point. More on, the close up shots as the camera cuts emphasises on the facial expressions of the characters, which are fairly calm and flowing as the characters facial expressions are similar. The effect this has on the audience again decreases the tension, which is also accompanied by the mise-en-scene and non-diagetic sound, which is evidently parallel to the narrative of this particular scene. One aspect which shows how the close up shots relate to the genre of this film is that by focusing on simialr facial expressions through a series of close ups, this decreases the tension, which again is a convention of a gangster film, as the main target is to try and build the tension up slowly creating an enigma for the audience, until finally reaching a climax. The shots when looking at the opposing character is taken as a point of view shot which encourages the audience to identify with the characters as if they are being spoken to.