“Identity is complicated; everyone's got one.” Gauntlett believes that while everyone is an individual, people tend to exist within larger groups who are similar to them. He thinks the media do not create identities, but just reflect them instead
Let's look at this article and clip from David Gauntlett himself
Why is it hard for us to ask the question 'how does this media text construct identity'?
What are some key notions of identity that we should take into consideration?
Use one of the clips from this week's homework assignment and write a paragraph that uses both Stuart Hall, Blumler and Katz (Uses _+ Gratifications theory) and Gauntlett's theory correctly.
I want you to watch it through from 1.36 mins to the end (please note, this will be longer than the average clip you'll get in an exam but for the purposes of practise, it's a great clip).
Task 2:
Create a blog post with the title, "Downton Abbey Representation Practise" with your notes
Questions;
1. Who (out of the 7 core representation areas of society) are being represented in this clip?
(you can choose more than 1 category if you feel it's relevant)
2. How are they represented to us? (what messages are we told about these groups? What are they like? What are their lives like? What are we encouraged / pursuaded to think about them?)
3. Split a planning page up into 4 squares and include your 4 technical elements. Go through the clip from 1.36 and collect EVIDENCE (or examples) of where each technical area created meaning. Use correct terminology AND details of the example you're referring to (you can't just say 'there's lots of close-up's") You will need to watch the clip through 3 - 4 times, like you would in an exam, to get the notes you need.
Task 3:
Watch this video as it goes through each technical element and how you should be taking notes for your essay;
Task 3:
Write an essay over the next 2 lessons in response to the exam question,
'How is meaning created using the four technical elements?"
3. Why is this a good example that illustrates how NZ film is used for a different purpose than the films created for the Big 5? Was this safety video purely for entertainment?
Let's look at this together and make some notes about how marketing is changing with technological advancements to be more interactive. Also, for a marketing essay, let's use this as an example of how movies can create hype/ buzz in creative ways. This was produced by and distributed by Warner Bros. Use this as an example of how big studios have an advantage for this sort of reach, in their marketing.
Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology. This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘prosumer’.
Amateur content made this way has different values to professional media producers, in that it promotes a connection between other amateur producers – they both deeply care about the products they make and can help them work together.
When they work together in this way, audiences can make more content than producers – Wikipedia is a good example of this.
What is the advanced version?
In the ‘old’ media, centralised producers addressed atomised consumers; in the ‘new’ media, every consumer is now a producer. Traditional media producers would ‘filter then publish’; as many ‘new’ media producers are not employees, they ‘publish then filter’.
These amateur producers have different motivations to those of professionals – they value autonomy, competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connection between people who care about something. This can generate a cognitive surplus – for example, Wikipedia can aggregate people’s free time and talent to produce value that no traditional medium could match.
‘The Audience’ as a mass of people with predictable behaviour is gone. Now, behaviour is variable across different sites, with some of the audience creating content, some synthesising content and some consuming content. The ‘old’ media created a mass audience. The ‘new’ media provide a platform for people to provide value for each other.
Research the definition of the following terminology and get examples from the case study above (Avengers Endgame) and/or Avatar, Way of the Water, for each one;
- 360' Marketing / immersive marketing
- viral marketing
- hype/ buzz
- global marketing
Also look up the following;
- Box office for this film, how it was released and how well it did.
Activity #2 - we will work on this during the week
Write an essay in response to the question below, using all the terminology and case study research above...
"How far does cross-media convergence and synergy affect the success of a film?"
