Before I upload the first copy, I had other ideas of laying the text and the pictures out. However, they didn't come out as well as the first edition. Those are only some attempts and tryout for my double page.
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Compared to the second revision that is darker and dull, this copy is adjusted to be more colorful and bright.
The changes to the double page spread is mainly on the font style of the text and title. Some of the titles are repositioned and moved so that it doesn't look too cramped. I consider on doing some changes about the text and picture on the second page in the next revision, so that it can look more fluent with the first page and not so colorful and cramped.
I have decided to use this picture as the background for my table of content. Not only does it solve the problem of the pictures mentioned before, but also it lets the reader see that every page of the magazine has a similar element. This would be the background, every page has a picture blown up for the background making the pages colorful and memorable. This picture was taken on my previous trip to the Grand Canyon in winter. I think this kind of picture would be very interesting and realistic for the reader to see the Grand Canyon in Winter. Although the clarity is not high but the beauty can still be seen.
The new revision includes borders around the pictures and added a little designs to the sides of the content. The purpose is to add a border so that it doesn't look empty but it is also used so that the audience can direct their attention to the content. the background is also made a little more transparent so that the TOC can stand out. The picture may be a little out of place so there might be more changes to it.
The issues between a global and local institution in targeting international and national audiences raises in different areas of production, distribution, and consumption. The advantages of big media institutions like Disney is that they have more resources, money, platforms, subsidiary, people involved in one film. They are able to complete the process from production to distribution and consumption with complete control. From production, not only are they able to gather directors, actor, producer, famous people for their movie, but also have the power to create or use settings that are not open to others. In another word, conglomerates like Walt Disney are able to bring the film to another level, the special effect in movies like Aladdin requires specialists to bring the genie from animation to reality.
Another advantage of conglomerates is that they are not limited to one industry, they can cover film, news, print, games, and other publications. Using Disney as an example, they don't only produce the movie Star Wars, but also open rides sells products, install games that are all related to Star Wars. This is involved in the distribution, this large scale of the product will bring exposure to the film and Disney have their own platform and channels to distribute the movie to their audience. For consumption, Disney is not limited but has a wide range of subsidiary companies that they own. Furthermore, Disney targets national and international audiences as consumers; due to the scale of the production, they also have the ability to gather audiences who specifically like one of the actors or producers of the film and spread the film to a wide range of people from advertising. However, big conglomerates also have issues and disadvantages, which is they lack the freedom in deciding the content of the film. They have less control of their production, like which scene to include. In this case, independent companies will have a better advantage, or freedom to upload the theme they want to express or scene they want to include without worrying about others' opinions. They are also different from conglomerates because they are not influenced by them and they only work in particular fields and specialists in that field. Their biggest disadvantage is that they have to work on the production with a smaller budget, smaller scale, and may even need help from other companies to handle the distribution, called joint venture. Independent companies may have more difficulties targeting international consumers, audiences. The first difficulty is a difference in understanding and language barriers. This would require more budget to put in the film to have subtitles translated and have a specialist alter the film so that audiences with cultural differences can also get the idea that the film is trying to express. All the barriers here involve a budget and human resource, specialist. another issues is that independent companies usually target local consumers and are more specialized in targeting locals. So channels for local news usually don't get out to the international audiences, they also don't have the platform to distribute it. While big conglomerates already establish themselves in the mainstream, small companies are not as recognizable. As a consumer, I use to go to a cinema to watch a movie, but nowadays when technology is advancing, we were able to watch movies using various platforms like Netflix, YouTube. Downloading the movies online is much more convenient and easy to access when you prefer to watch the movie at home, the cost is also less expensive. In addition, consumers are also advertising the film on social media for the institutions for free. Every time an individual shares, post, comment, rate, talks about the film is letting more people getting involved and spreading the film to a larger group. Words are spread from mouth to mouths, consumer's actions are natural advertisements for attracting other people. As consumers, we also produce products. There are people who make videos commenting, analyzing films, people who edit and cut out scenes of characters for fans to enjoy. These people are kind of like the smaller version of the media industry. There are multiple directions where consumer's actions match the media industries, like situations where consumers share and advertise, produce by making short videos, and different access in different places online or cinema.
The advancement of digital media technology has greatly affected the media institutions and audiences in both positive and negative ways. Improvement and development of technology enable the film-making process to be smoother and create realistic side effects for imaginary events and replace animals using digital tools. This can get the audience to be more engaged with the film and have them be amazed at the realistic side effects. In other media institutions, it enables the mass media to transfer information and make advertisements easier to more audiences online using apps like Instagram and Facebook. With the technology advancing, it would be cheaper and easier to reach their audience online. Their audience would also have more access and availability to the product in any electronic devices they have at home.
However, there are always things to consider when technology is advancing and information is easier to reach. When everyone has access to online resources and many have the power to create information, it would be hard to identify the real news when you are bombarded with a large amount of information from so many people. Media institutions have to identify their audience and gather their information to meet their needs and wants. For example, when the news of a certain topic is being discussed and shared then this may be a good time to release a film with similar genres. The audience will also be greatly affected by the advancement of technology because they have to avoid getting into advertisements that may actually be a scam, fake news is everywhere on the internet. Other negative effects of technology maybe that big media institution has more competitors when everyone can access the different strategy brought by the development of technology. The video talks about the interactions between technology and users in ways that we construct technology but we also become what technology allows us to become. Discourse is logic, the way we view the world and construct it. It creates identity, leading to actions, and possibility on things. In the video, identity is mention many times, it is important because you make that identity from the social connections and you find yourself striving to live up to the expectations of others or obligations that you give yourself to be responsive. It is important to think about the identity you use and the way technology restricts it.
I personally am not really using social media a lot but there are times when social media influence me. For example, when I construct my identity as a student, a future designer, a little idealistic and maybe strictly organized, I want to be a good producer of my product which is the magazine that I am working on. However, with little experience, I would look for other's opinions and posts on social media to make corrections and change, so that the people who read it would think it is professional and nice. Social media shape my understanding of different types and formats of magazines. I take in some advice and change it so that people would feel that it's not created from an inexperienced student but someone who is an expert in the field. That's the expectation and that would be my obligation to make it. However, there would be problems where I start to feel that it is the technology doing the design and not necessarily my original idea. There is also a time when news about policies that don't work so well or movies that have bad ratings influence the way I perceive the movie, getting a bad impression of it. I agree that the examples in the video are making logical sense and that the examples can be seen in real life. I also agree that we are exploring our inner self, pulling different discourses, and adding new tags to our identity. However, I think that when you are in a social group, you will consider others when you interact with them. There will be different voices, so for some of the examples, I don't really disagree because it only gives one possibility of the outcome, like being an entrepreneur and friends will have some demands or expectations. The lesson is okay but I think I am getting confused about the topic of identity. The article is about the negative influence of news and how people tend to be more affectionate towards bad news rather than good news. The reason for us to focus so much on the bad news is that we are all concerned if there a crisis coming towards us and it would be natural to gather information on it, I guess it's like a way of controlling the situation. This is why stress is built and people get overly anxious. The article uses many examples of the 2014 Ebola crisis, the 9/11 attack, 2008 earthquakes, and even the pandemic we have today to convey that the more bad news one is exposed to the more stress and likelihood of PTSD is going to occur afterward. Subconsciously, the news we watch every day will affect us mentally, raise our stress hormones, increase heart rate and increase the risk of our health problems.
I do agree that the overwhelming bad news that we are exposed to every day does have a big impact on us mentally. The news also repeatedly cycles and broadcasted on channels and websites from a variety of sources, which will increase pubic anxiety and build-up stress. I think it would just lead to a cycle of getting exposed, get anxious, gather more news, be more exposed, and then have a big health problem. The way people look into negative news and gather information in order to have a handle or grasp of the situation is something that I think is natural but it falls into a cycle that will get them to become overly stressed. In addition, news reporters or media industries often tend to exaggerate and brighten things that are going to word the news in a way to raise public attention. So I do agree that bad news can impact us greatly. |