Internships

Internship just feels like a completely foreign concept as I’ve always thought it was ages away. It was only today that the realisation came upon me that we are beginning to actually think about it. It’s so exciting! I feel so old. I feel so inspired now, now I finally can start to think about what I want to do and what area I am most interested in.

I am super keen and egar to go into the film and TV industry at the end of this course, so I will definitely consider doing interships at different film and TV studios and companies.  I have no idea exactly what without this area yet, but I will definitely soon find out after lots of researchJ

Continuing PB4

Today in tutorial we continued to work on our PB4’s in our groups. Ryan, Lydia, Jason and I assigned each other specific roles so everything can be done quicker and more efficiently. Since a draft of our audio section to the assignment is due next Wednesday, we assigned roles for that first before the video section.

audio essay planvideo essay plan

My task to complete before next Monday (because our group meets on Monday and Tuesday) was to interview Hannah in our class. Trigger warnings essentially originated in the US and are predominately used there. Hannah is from Detroit in America, thus would have a greater understanding of trigger warnings, and her opinion/ experience with them is valuable information. I borrowed an audio zoom microphone and found a quiet room on level 9 where the interview could take place. The room was small, however the effects were still quite echoey, which didn’t really affect the quality, just could have been a bit clearer.

I asked Hannah about her experiences with trigger warnings, and when she’s encountered them or being immersed within them in any way.

She began discussing how predominate they are on social media or online in general, which she believes is a positive as acts as a protector to graphic or offensive material.

She then drew the issue of trigger warnings being placed on content in universities or any other educational environment, which she finds ‘ridiculous’ as university in particular is meant to set people up for life, and there aren’t trigger warnings for life. Good points Hannah!

PBS + social media

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PBS = public broadcasting service. When PBS’s butt heads with social media, it can become problematic very rapidly.

Q and A is a television program on the ABC that involves two sides of politicians discussing current issues in the media, with the input of the audience. It is an incredibly interactive television show where the audience is able to have their say, their opinions are valid and they are most of all encouraged to be a part of incredible discussions with intellectually experienced individuals in the political field.

Although the producers and everyone involved with the production have complete control over the show and what it involves, they definitely can’t control what these audience members say. To my recollection, I believe the questions of those within the audience are checked and possibly manipulated, however the producers still can’t guarantee that these individuals will say their question. When it comes their turn to ask their question, an audience member could flip and start swearing, saying something completely different to their question, completely irrelevant, they could start dissing the program – anything could happen, and the producers don’t have control of this.

 

Furthermore, audience members on twitter are able to provide their input as well. Tweets with the hashtag #qanda are included in the program at the bottom of the screen throughout the show. During an episode recently, a tweet with the hashtag #abbottlovesanal was included on the screen. This is what can happen when PBS collides or comes in contact with social media. Although social media is a fantastic way for the public to come into contact with specific things related to the media, it can definitely be a negative because is can’t be controlled.

Institutions

This week in lectorial, we spoke about institutions and the different types including social and cultural.

“Concern with organising structures of society and have certain values and principles.”

Marriage as a social and/or cultural institutions. I never thought of these events such as marriage that we hear in every day to be classified as certain institutions, until now it does make sense. It means different things to different cultures and is celebrated in different ways – thus is a cultural institution. It is looked upon differently through different groups of people (society). It changes family values as two people are coming together to create a family – thus is a social institution.

In regards to both the audio and video essays for our PB4’s, it was suggested that ‘ideas’ was the central element as all the other elements seemed to draw back to it. The other elements within essays consisted of research & observation, quotes, intelligence as primary matter, personal voice ‘subjective’ and affordances of the medium/ techniques.

Update on PB4

This week I was unwell so didn’t come in for our group’s scheduled meeting; and I missed much more than I was expecting! My group entirely changed our main idea for the audio essay to a concept I have never heard before – trigger warnings. I literally had to google what these were because for some reason I didn’t know a thing about it!! So after some research I found out that it’s essentially a warning presented before any material that could be offensive to viewers or ‘trigger’ certain things in people.

 

Urban Dictionary:

Trigger Warning

A phrase posted at the beginning of various posts, articles, or blogs. Its purpose is to warn weak minded people who are easily offended that they might find what is being posted offensive in some way due to its content, causing them to overreact or otherwise start acting like a dipshit.

 

They are predominately in the United States and there is apparent speculation that they will eventually be introduced here down under.

 

Since I didn’t know what it was/what they were, I couldn’t contribute to the group meeting even over social media / our collaborative google doc because I have nothing to share, however I am looking forward to our next meeting where I can actually hear what Jason Ryan and Lydia have come up with regard to this topic, and hopefully by then I will be able to contribute a bit more! Go team

Lectorial

This week’s lecture was based on the concept of audiences. I was able to gather the information given at the lectorial and come up with the distinct differences between two types of audiences – passive audiences and active audiences.

Passive audiences are easily convinced by the media, they are brainwashed and essentially believe all they are told, and are easily manipulated by the delivery from the media.

Active audiences are not easily influenced by the media and are able to make their own decisions on what to believe.

Fans were also mentioned in the lectorial as they were described as regressive social subjects. I initially didn’t understand why it was necessary to alienate them as these so called ‘subjects’, and why they were referred to as regressive. Do they mean they are less developed in the knowledge they hold in regards to the media? It was also said that the emergence of participatory culture and interaction practices on the part of audiences due to new technologies and changes in media industries.

David Attenborough

The only narration I actually enjoy listening to is David Attenborough. He is so wise and I feel so empowered by just listening to his voice. It made me think about all the types of narration there is out in the world today whether that be in television programs, podcasts, films or radio talk show programs. I would believe anything he said.

I can assure I am not the only one who only really enjoys listening to Attenborough’s voice. There was a video that came out a few years ago on YouTube. It was a short documentary clip about fan girls who obsessed over celebrities, however it was not just any old documentary. The ‘spoof’ used David Attenborough’s narration to narrate the piece, using exact footage from his previous work, so basically describing the fan girls as if they are animals. It is not only funny but so clever how the concept works so effortlessly well.

It just made me realise how the same narration can be used for completely different things and accompany completely different shots to create a specific story or idea!

 

Thinking about narration

When I think of the word ‘narration’ I immediately think of a voice over discussing an issue while videos, footage, images (any sort of footage) accompany as the visuals.

The definition of narration essentially suggests that it is an action or process of telling a story or a tale. It also suggests that it’s a commentary used to accompany some sort of visual whether that be film etc.

How is a narration different to a narrative?

Narrative is a ‘spoken’ or ‘written’ form of events, creating a story, whereas narration is the process conducted to tell a story. So basically a narrative is told through narration.

Fantastic Podcasts

Why listen to music on the train when you have podcasts? I only recently discovered the beauty of podcasts. I have always thought that they purely consist of Ted Talks or debates; aspects of which I am not remotely interested in. I love stories. I love listening to people tell stories. I love listening to people telling personal stories.  Little did I know these could be found as podcasts! So exciting.

So over the past week I have listened to the podcast ‘Story Club’ hosted by Ben and Zoe, recorded live in Sydney. And guess what – it’s people telling personal stories!! It’s fantastic. These people are so engaging, and have the most interesting, funny and pleasurable stories to listen to. It’s exactly what I want to listen to on the way to uni. There’s only so much music you can listen to when waiting for public transport, and often I find listening to music on public transport is just frustrating because there are so many things going on, I’d rather just listen to nothing; but then I get super bored. The whole process and situation is a serious dilemma. The only time I listen to music on trains or trams is when it’s virtually empty, I have a seat, and I am staying on for at least 3 stops. When it’s busy and all the seats are taken, there is so much going on with people constantly hoping on and off, especially when I’m standing awkwardly near the door way because that’s the only spot. I always find myself awkwardly getting out of people’s way and embarrassing myself half the time by yelling ‘sorry’ because I can’t hear myself due to the music, or just getting so confused with people talking and my music. I just can’t enjoy it!!

So with these podcasts, I can actually enjoy myself because there is no distraction, I get lost in listening and completely zone out so the train time flies, and I can just easily hop out of someone’s way because I can actually hear what’s going on!

 

Jamie Oliver vs Nigella Lawson

jamie vs nigella

To help and prepare us for our annotated bibliography exercise that we got given in class today, we did an exercise on how to find adequate resources to use as evidence and back up arguments. We were instructed to use sites such as Google Scholar and the RMIT Library Search to find resources about Jamie Oliver.

These were the three questions:

  1. Where will you search?

Google scholar

RMIT learning hub

  1. What sources?

Books, articles, journal articles

  1. Compare the content of the sources

Class and authenticity – roots, identity

Jamie Oliver is an everyman – family, children, cooks a lot with family and his children are often in his programs and ads.

Nigella v Jamie – their different approaches and qualities, Jamie healthy whereas Nigella baking

Social issues:

  • Child obesity
  • School eating habits
  • Sugar tax
  • School dinners at canteen

This was a great way to get us familiar on the types of sources we will need for our bibliographies and future research in general as we progress through the course.