Today was our final media class for the semester. We reflected on the different elements of the course and how our work has evolved and progressed. The blog is one major component of the course which involved weekly blogs about the class, lecture and correlation between the 2 and the outside world. The blog has been good in enabling me to make connections and create relevance between the topics covered in class and the media effects in the wider world. We were required to develop and expand on the ideas that were mentioned in class, we had to come up with our own take and additions to these concepts. The course also involved the production process, this was my favourite element of the course. It gave us the opportunity to demonstrate our creative and visual skills when creating portraits that represent ourselves as well as another person. This process involved reflection on what represents each individual and how to communicate this and depict it in a media form. Lectorials often had guest speakers talking about media. Workshops usually involved presenting and sharing work which was good to get inspiration from other peoples ideas which in turn influenced my own work. It also enabled you to gage an understanding of what was expected of you and the requirements of the assessment tasks. Readings were often thought provoking and provided inspiration for blog posts. Lastly he course involved a collaborative process where we were required to work worth other people to create a unified and consistent piece.

Humans have been around for centuries, constantly evolving, coming up with new ideas and entrepreneurial adventures but are any ideas ever really original? Are they just appropriations of other information you have collected over the years. Have you used history as inspiration or copied it? Korbys film presented the fact that ‘of the 10 highest grossing films each year for the last 10 years, 74 out of 100 of those were sequels, remakes of preexisting movies or adaptations of books and comic books.’ Even if you think you have a truly original idea chances someone somewhere else on the other side of the world is probably thinking the same thing but with the degrease of separation you may never come to know this. Sometimes when paraphrasing a text I find myself composing a sentence that I am extremely proud of. I sit there writing, thinking ‘Wow, I sound really smart’ only to read over the original text only to find it is almost exactly the same. Its almost like a scene from Inception when I believe that an idea is solely mine when actually it has been planted there from past exposure to other material. At the end of the day sometimes the differences in a piece of work are original and intriguing enough to distract us from the other exhausted conventions.

Every year I notice the Christmas, Easter and Halloween decorations seem to appear in our stores earlier and earlier. It seems like the day after they have torn down one holiday display they are onto the next. The medias role in publicity has played a massive role in transforming these long standing traditional festivities into marketing ploys. Where people would once celebrate with loved ones and appreciate the simplicity of each others company we are now expected to plan lavish, expensive and extravagant occasions. Take Valentines day for instance, this day was supposed to be an opportunity to express your love and appreciation for another person, the media has transformed it into a day where love is measured in generosity of expensive gifts. Stores are inundates with chocolates, cards and flowers for people to purchase as a token of their love and affection. Is this really the way we want to be measuring love, with materialistic goods? The advertisements on TV and the radio prime you to think that without the biggest and best food, decorations, cards and the perfect accompanying outfit you are inadequate, it has almost become a competition, a showcase, a display designed to impress the rest of society. Has it all gone too far?

Today in class we discussed the effects of giving out your information on the internet. Once your information is out there it is not removable, it is out there forever for anyone to see. Companies can collect this information and specifically target you with advertising material e.c.t. Yes that is a bit invasive but in a way I think it is convenient. If your webpage is going to be framed with adverts wouldn’t you rather it be ones that are relevant to you? Maybe they will inform you of a new product that is exactly what you have been looking for. If not well it is your responsibility to recognise that this is just an advertisement, no one is pressuring you or forcing you into purchasing anything. An argument was made in class to question the difference between using data to make assumptions about clients and face to face sale tactics. People were also complaining about sexting and how anyone can access there photos. Everyone is aware of this though and should realize that if they are going to take or send photos its at their own risk. We know where it may potentially end up with the capabilities of modern technology so we need to take more responsibility for our actions. Privacy violations are valid concerns as it is possibly for someone to find your bank details and address and steal your identity. When it comes to the government being able to access information such as security camera footage I believe that safety comes before privacy. If access to this information allows the police to locate and imprison a serial killer then I am more then happy to sacrifice my privacy. Everyone seems to be concerned about themselves as individuals and their ‘right’ to privacy. I think peoples focus of concern should be on the accumulative effects on society rather then the personal effects on them. The thing that scares me is what large corporations could do with a large scope of information. Will in enable them to monitor and manipulate the community without our knowledge. Will they be able to change the way in which we live our lives and the way society operates? They are the real concerns.

Today we were introduced to the concept of media institutions. Institutions, defined as “stable, valued, recurring patterns of behaviour.” Generally these are viewed as organisations but they can also include things like religion or marriage. Both are social institutions that develop a set of values and expectations. Society sets standards and rules, which create the makeup of these institutions that are less specifically defined. Traditions and ritualistic occasions are often undertaken to meet the conventions of each institution. Many of these traditions are symbolic and reflect meaning of important values embedded in each institution. Although beliefs are alterable and interchangeable there will always be dominant beliefs that are generally maintained out of convention. Marriage in particular is a widely accepted and practiced institution. It is a legally accepted practice that is accompanied with a legally recognised document that is acknowledged by the government. This is a powerful institution that alters the applicable legislation. Institutions have the power to alter how a community or individual conducts their lives.

On Saturday the 9th of May channel 10 broadcast a Melbourne Comedy Festival debate asking the question “is social media antisocial”. Sara Pasco and Katherine Ryan although on opposing teams both took the same angle that, yes social media is antisocial but that is a good thing. Both comedians talked about the benefits of not having to deal with your friends in real life. The internet draws an imaginary wall that allows you to insert another degree of separation between yourself and your friends. If someone inboxes you your are not required to respond to them instantly as you would be with a phone or face to face conversation. You can have the time to consider what someone is saying before replying. You are no longer required to remember friends birthdays because Facebook will helpfully remind you. You are no longer required to make an effort to get dressed, put on makeup, make yourself presentable, travel to a destination to meet your friend and risk exposure to certain environmental elements such as the wind and rain which could possibly make you sick. Now you can interact with your friends via various online multiplayer games. FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR VERY OWN BED. When your friends make statuses on the tragedies or triumphs of their lives you will be informed about these milestone events without having to demonstrate a false façade of empathy for their situation. In your own time you can inbox them with messages of consolation or congratulation without trying to maintain appropriate facial expressions. Your happy, your fulfilling your duties as a friend and your friends are also reaping the rewards. It’s a win – win. Yes social media can be antisocial but is that really such a bad thing.

In class today we shared our ideas for presentation and content for our project brief 4. Most people are using interactive mediums to present their work. This allows the audiences to have more control and influence over the information they are consuming. It makes the material more engaging and easier to follow. It gives the audience time to process material and continue consumption in their own time. This in itself is demonstrating the ways in which we consume media and what the audience looks for in their conscious consumption of material. Audiences are becoming more powerful in the ways they consume media. We are able to individualize and design a method or ritual that specifically suits us. We can tailor our consumption to the constraints of our everyday lives. This is why it is important for media distributers to understand this and maintain up to date knowledge to keep up with the demands of the public in each sector of media consumption.

It is said that to be considered an expert in any one thing you have to do … hours practice . This practice is essential to the learning and developing process but it can be an intimidating thing to take the first step and physically initiate this practice. People often waste this valuable time thinking. They think about the future, they think about all the work they will do, they think about the hours they will spend practicing, they think about the rewards they will receive at the end of this hard work. All this thinking can create a false sense of achievement. It can make the individual feel as though they have accomplished something and as though they are moving forward when really they have not improved or bettered themselves in any way. When we set ourselves goals we are often inclined to tell our friends and family about our future plans. This can work to inspire us as we feel pressure to maintain and meet peoples expectations, we don’t want to let anyone down. However it can also have an adverse effect on our goals. People tell us how courageous and inspirational we are. This support can then create a false sense of progress and diminish our drive and ambition to achieve.

Todays lecture was based on audiences. The first question posed was who cares about audiences? Advertisers, who work to promote certain products and aim to manipulate the audiences associations with the product. Commercial broadcasters, who produce work for public viewing and entertainment therefore it must appeal to a large scale of the public in order to be successful and popular. Government policy makers, who look to the public to base their policies and aim to please as many people as possible. Social scientists, psychologists, academics and cultural theorists who study and analyze the ways in which audiences seek out media, consume media and react to what they have been viewing. Does the media control the public or does the public control what’s broadcast in the media? It’s the typical question of what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Does the media form a view on a particular topic, then broadcast it with a certain angle shaping society’s views and attitudes? Or does the media reflect and enhance society’s pre existing ideas and beliefs. Maybe these 2 elements work together and bounce off each other to create focus issues and ideals. Is this cyclone successfully shining light on topics of interest or blowing these issues out of proportion?

In todays class we developed the base ideas for how we will divide our project, the key concepts we want to focus on and the way in which we will present the piece. We want to focus on the conventions that create expectations for audiences and how audiences read into different materials and develop ideas which alter the way we live our lives and alter society values and trends. This week I will be focusing on war music and how songs were used during the 2nd world war as a method of propaganda to reassure the public. I will also look at the effects that the media depiction of drugs and alcohol has on society. I will make a montage of famous movie scenes that represent drinking in a positive light as well as the advertisements and campaigns against drinking. This will juxtapose how mixed message effect the individual and how they carry out their lives. We will be looking at how people look to the media to help better themselves and develop the idea of a “perfect person”. We may adopt a sarcastic and satirical approach to the piece by creating a instructional guideline as to how to be this “perfect person” according to the media.