Courtesy of https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/case-studies/jamie-oliver-youtube-case-study.html

In order to familiarise ourselves with researching on our annotated bibliographies, the topic of Jamie Oliver and celebrity chefs was the main focus in researching relevant sources. So where do we begin? Start off by establishing where you’re going to search:

• A quick Google search?
• His Twitter account?
• Hi website?
• Equella?
• RMIT Library search?

Next, what type of content are you hoping to find?

• Academic sources
• Books
• Journal articles
• Videos

So from that, what were the common topics throughout all these texts?

• The idea of masculinity within a domestic setting
• The culinary culture
• Popularity between other celebrity chefs: Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson etc.
• Class authenticity – the keeping of his cockney accent
• Social issues and debates: child obesity, sugar tax, school dinners
• From the kitchen to the cookbooks, the television show and the YouTube channel

As we can gather, a variety of sources apply to Jamie Oliver that a controlling idea or two can be developed for both an audio and video essay. One of the biggest things to consider is to what extent should the non-academic sources be used compared to the academic ones?

Sleep informs the audience about the various sleeping patterns of various creatures through an audio essay. What’s enjoyable about this audio essay, is its ability to entertain its young target audience through its conversational style of the narrator. The narrator propels the narration along with the use of responses from interviewees that is further enhanced by atmosphere sounds. Through differentiating the volume, the narrator is emphasised to progress the narrative along, however it can become overbearing and seems as though it interrupts the information that the interviewee provides.

Overall, Sleep provided a balance of being informative and entertaining and has definitely inspired our approach to the audio essay for Project Brief Four. Inspired through using a variety of elements that provides texture, such as narration, spot sounds, sound effects and atmosphere sounds that cleverly provide connotations to the context of sleep.

For Project Brief Four, Bradley, Emily and I were assigned with the topic of Texts and Narratives. Below I analyse one of the academic sources I’ve discovered as part of our research and annotated bibliography.

Chapter sixteen of Contemporary American Cinema exhibits the use of technology in providing spectacle to the narrative of contemporary Hollywood films as well as analyse the growth of sequels from its conception throughout Hollywood Blockbusters. Therefore, the writer argues the positive implications of innovative technology to aid in delivering a new dimension to narrative, while analysing how narrative adapts to particular genre conventions. Mainly relying on expert opinion, film theory and successful blockbuster hits, the writer reiterates and defends the superficiality of CGI and its relationship with reality.

Written in the early 2000s and exploring cinema from 1990s onwards, this chapter is outdated by eleven years and the analysis of contemporary American independent films could expand on their argument. However, it highlights how audience expectations have evolved overtime through narrative and criticisms by expert opinions. Furthermore, the topic of Audience could potentially lead to side-tracking of the controlling concept. Overall, this chapter is heavily on the opinion side rather than the factual, but does provide sufficient amount of reason and logic to consistently support the argument and be relevant on the assigned topic of Texts and Narrative.

Reference: Williams, LR, Hammond, M, & Dawson, B (2005), “Spectacle and Narrative in the Contemporary Blockbuster”, Contemporary American Cinema, McGraw-Hill Education, Maidenhead, pp. 334-349, 352