It was a bit of a rough journey, but we’ve all eventually gotten here; the end of semester 1. So far this course has made me laugh, cry, angry and happy beyond all belief, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Coming into this course was a bit of a far cry to what I was accustom to: having taken gap year to be able to move as well as completing units 3 and 4 of Media in VCE solo, it felt peculiar to be back in a media classroom again and back in a learning environment, though comforting nonetheless. It was during this time in which I had to make the majority of my adjusting to the course as well as the workload. It was also when I laid out my somewhat loose plans for the future of the semester: I wanted to take in as much information I could, to take my time with doing readings – not only wanting to comprehend them as they were given but to also apply my own level of understanding, my own interpretation to what I come across within the course, as that it come to shape me as a person and as well as a media practitioner, and subsequently the media that I will come to produce in the future. If I could do this effectively, in conjunction with completing the work to a high standard, and producing material of a likewise standard, then I just may have a chance of standing out in the field. But who knows, that requires work; an ethic of mine which I know had been greatly lacking in the past. And so this was what I set out to achieve.

As I became more and more  familiar with people, equipment, programs and techniques of the course I became more comfortable and was able to complete work not only in a shorter duration of time, but also of a higher standard. Unfortunately this improved ethic of mine began to falter around the middle of the course after the mid-semester break, falling slightly out of practice although I was able to get back to my ‘usual’ self soon after.
Having a plan as well as a goal, all I had left to do was actually work and learn, and learn I did.  Throughout the course of the semester I slowly began to learn identifying media techniques and elements , being able to then identify their effectiveness, both via the strong points and their faults. But personally, I found the most important thing I had learned was how to operate as a media practitioner; as an individual as well as within a group, knowing how to interact with surrounds and the industry. After all, success in the media industry isn’t solely based upon merit, but also who you know and how you present yourself to new people, being either the audience, new colleagues or new employers. I tried to pay particular attention to this note, as that I generally like to conduct myself in a professional and likeable manner (subjective), but now I knew that I had to be constantly aware of this, as that soon in my life I had to live and breathe media.
What I had learned thus far was all well and good, even surprising knowing that I had managed to retain a decent portion of what was taught, but unfortunately it wasn’t really my learning style. There’s something less engaging about merely reading something – if I’m the only one doing it and I’m just sitting still, then I tend to lose focus and give up sooner than I would if someone else was involved, say in a conversation for example. It is in this where the greatest difficulty of the course lies for me; blogging. Such a simple task should be easy to remember and complete, right? Well, not always in my case. Being easily distracted I often found myself going several days without posting a single blog, particularly any initiative posts of my own volition. To compensate I would then have to post multiple blogs in a single sitting in order to catch up and meet the requirements. For semester 2 it is my goal to blog not only more frequently but also to improve on the blogs themselves, whether they be more insightful, more in depth, or merely explore more personal interests (something which I had seldom done this semester).
It is for this reason why I look forward to next semester and working in the studios; I find myself to learn a lot faster and retain more information when amongst other people and being tactile in my learning approach – actually engaging with media, working with people and equipment alike.
Knowing what’s to come in the course, as well as having identified my past faults and future goals, I can’t wait to take on semester 2 and that comes with it!

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/cody-nelson/2016/05/02/week-8-workshop/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/cody-nelson/2016/05/11/readingss/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/cody-nelson/2016/05/09/god-damn-thats-some-tasty-vidya/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/cody-nelson/2016/05/05/change-and-not-the-20-cents-kind-readings/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/cody-nelson/2016/05/27/week-11-class/

FINAL BIBLIOGRAPHY POST, sorry for the clutter, everyone.

The Reinforcement Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYWPuG_u6gE
http://lessonbucket.com/media-in-minutes/the-reinforcement-theory/

This article and video focuses Joseph Klapper’s Reinforcment theory, explain and going into depths of its inception as well as its implementation in history, showing how it continues to be relevant in modern day society and how it has come to remain has as a dominant theory in the world of media and communications, stating that even now if “you find yourself nodding in agreement when you watch a news or current affairs program, it’s probably the Reinforcement Theory in action”, thus showing a professional within the industry to still share the beliefs and theories of Klapper, proving it to be relevant to current media form and attitudes.

Akin to my research into the Hypodermic Needle/Magic Bullet Theory, I delved into previous working with communication theories to find this article and containing video on the Reinforcement Theory to serve as the main counterargument for statements on the Bullet Theory itself. Again, due to it being a source I am familiar with, I trusted it to be reliable, also due to that it comes from a heralded site frequently used by several educators in Australia. Subsequently it came to serve as the basis for my following arguments in my closing statements, driving the contention of the passive audience being impossible to exist in the modern day world.

Am I the only one that think Orson Welles looks like a cross between Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson? yeah?…okay then.

America under attack I: a reassessment of Orson Welles’ 1938 war of the worlds broadcast
http://search.proquest.com/docview/219597501?pq-origsite=gscholar

Despite not being a thesis on a communicative matter this article stilil came to be an important piece in my main argument adhering to the Hypodermic Needle/Magic Bullet Theory, proving as a valuable case study on the matter. Out lining the events surrounding the incident caused by Orson Welles’ War of The Worlds broadcast in 1938, this served as a key demonstrating of the effects of the Bullet Theory being used outside of the Nazi Party’s regime (being the most commonly drawn on example): causing widespread panic as over 1 million listeners believed the radio play to be an official broadcast of invasion, creating widespread hysteria and disarray.
This is also showed how the theory can be effectively applied in two highly differing scenarios, being viable in both a leftist democratic nation, America, and a tyrannical right dictatorship, Germany. Being a historical documentation there was no arguing its legitimacy as a source, and so it proved to be an apt case study. That, and I personally found it to add a dash of comic relief to the argument, finding it to be a humorous case study.

TOO MUCH SUGAR TODAY
#RestInPeaceCody’sDietThisWeek

Hypodermic Needle Theory.
http://mymediaproject.wikispaces.com/Hypodermic+Needle+Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd88H_5k-rY&feature=youtu.be

In collaboration with one another these two sources (being linked to each other) identified  and explained they key elements of the Hypodermic Needle/Magic Bullet theory, as well as showing its major uses (whom it was used by), examples of its use, as well as showing the period in which it was most popular. Being attained from the RMIT library as well as being able to be found via a simple google or youtube search, not only did this source present itself as not only a valuable and reliable source, but a popular one too, having a large view count on Youtube showing it to be trusted. Anecdotally I remember the very same video being shown for my VCE Media course, and so in recognition of this I came to trust it.

In conjunction with one another the two aforementioned links as one served as a great source of information in forming the bulk of my argument for a passive audience. It was this which started off my main body and further allowed me to then go on to counter said argument  with the opposing theories, such as the Uses and Gratification Theory as well as the Reinforcement Theory.

STILL GOING!

‘Audiences Defining and Researching Screen Entertainment Reception’
Ian Christie
http://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do;jsessionid=5E275316578327C6B90CBADEF3ACDC1F?tabs=viewOnlineTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=RMIT_ALMA5160048250001341&indx=8&recIds=RMIT_ALMA5160048250001341&recIdxs=7&elementId=7&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=2&vid=RMITU&dscnt=0&vl(freeText0)=audiences&dstmp=1461908241417
This text delivers a complex understanding of how audiences work and their responses to various mediums, particularly focusing on television and other visual based mediums of the modern age, showing the transition of the media of yesteryear to the state of our current day consumers.  The Acknowledgments of the text states that” audiences are an essential yet often neglected part of the audiovisual scene” to which became a key focal point in shaping our arguments around the prospects of a passive audience.
Whilst the text is lesser drawn on for example in the construction of my main body points of my arguments, it was still crucial in influencing my arguments to come in reference to other texts.  IN terms of authenticity I viewed this to be a respectable source for the presentation as that it was acquired via the RMIT online library. Whilst the relevancy of such is subjective, I personally found it to be a great help, albeit a lengthy read, in the creation of my essay and the standpoint of my arguments, attempting to remain unbiased but observing, drawing on factual evidence rather than personal opinion or claim.

LET’S KEEP THIS LIL’ ADVENTURE GOING

http://www.freetv.com.au/SiteMedia/w3svc751/Uploads/Documents/Free_TV_Australia_FREE_TV_TODAY-1.pdf
The original intent of this presentation was to promote and elaborate on the extensive reach and popularity of FreeTV in Australia, claiming it to be the strongest medium in the nation in terms of views and reception. The presentation primarily covers frequency of media use in Australia, as well as age and regional demographics in terms of use, showing favour for popularity of both channels and time of day in which a programme was viewed.
Whilst the presentation was rather biased in favouring FreeTV over paid TV, it offered its legitimacy in fact rather than assumption or claim, making it a  trustworthy source of material for our argument. In this, the FreeTV presentation became the bulk of reinforcement for my arguments in audio presentation, offering the comparisons needed for radio. Not only to be used for comparisons, it offered its own basis for arguments in displaying the rise of all media platforms in Australia, showing a growing use of TV, radio as well as internet in consuming media. IN this we were able to speculate the exponential growth of media consumption, whether it be due to expansion of device availability and reaching a larger audience or merely an increase of consumption in a fluctuating market, that rather than reaching more people, it’s reaching the same amount but more frequently.

As it appear I had nearly forgotten about being able to post each of our bibliography sections as blog posts. Therefore, in order to catch up on some much needed blogging, I’ll indulge in a quick way to increase my blog count #NotShiftyAtAll #Sorry #IHopeThisDoesn’tLookRushed.

AUDIO PART 1

http://www.commercialradio.com.au/content/mediareleases/2015/2015-01-23-figures-show-a-strong-year-in-commercia#.VzV7WPlcSko
The purpose of this census was to gather data on the Australian radio audience between the year of 2014 and 2015, comparing the figures of the current year (at the time) to those before it and determining the growth of the medium. In this, not only were we able to see a growth in radio audiences, but a rise in listeners despite the growing audience for television, indicating that rather than an audience shift, it was gaining numbers by its own merit. This became an integral part in my argument for the audio essay in attempting to prove that the strength of audio based mediums had not diminished amongst more modern media, but in fact had increased. Being both a recent study and being from a respected and official source, not only was with trustworthy source for the presentation, but a relevant one as well, offering vast amounts of useful information.

It was so long ago. If only I remembered or bothered to actually do a blog post relevant to the day of the event, but oh well.
I recall feeling despair and fear followed by relief. Feeling doubtful in what I had produced editing wise for the visual portion of the assessment, I became worried for what Rachel would say about it. However, surprisingly, or unsurprisingly enough, I don’t know, I don’t have a great deal of confidence, she said she liked and and was pleased with what had been produced. So alright then. That was neat. After that I became a little bit more comfortable with my editing and was given a slight confidence boost in my efforts.
Anyhow, I’m being distracted right now. Back to editing I go!

Captains Log: Day #579 without a blog post, the due dates for the assignments are drawing nearer and the stress is setting in. My breakfast was too much sugar and a jar of salsa, my mind and my body are faltering, not sure much how much I can take….

and with that, the old Cody dies off alone at sea on a wooden door where there was totally enough room for Jack, and in his place comes the NEW Cody! So dear future self: Don’t be a freakin’ idiot. If you have blogs to do then do them, if you have an assignment to do, then start it when you get it, not a week before it’s due and freak out about time constraints, ‘coz that’s just time. A problem so simple that it could only be made from an issue from someone being so stupid. C’mon man, get yo shiz together. Future you doesn’t want to fail, nor does past/current you. Talking in 3rd person like this feels strange, but I guess that’s the point of a ‘dear future self’; to seem more motivating in seeming as though it was written by someone else. Which technically true as that our memories determine who we are by by the time you read this in the future you’ll have a different set of memories and experiences, thus being a different person… but I digress. You have nice hair and a good taste in music, good job future Cody, don’t change those aspects.
All in all I think the entire point of this is to say don’t be shite, man. I don’t know. it’s difficult thinking right now. Just keep going. Do what you can, and don’t give up, no matter what.

TL;DR – You’re shite. Don’t be,