The issues raised by media ownership and funding in contemporary media practiceMedia is where we found our information, news, entertainment etc. They hold an enormous power to alter the way we perceive society through the text, picture, videos, or films that we watch and see. Every picture and text may have a deeper meaning in them. Although we might not notice but the details will give us an unconscious impression of how that object or person is viewed. In films and movies, we can immediately identify a bad guy from a good guy because of their appearance or outfit. This is a strategy that will create an image in the audience’s mind and make them go along with the flow. The reason why we have this concept in our mind is because the media has been giving or feeding us this type of information. Naturally, a person wearing black may not necessarily be a bad gut and someone with white dress may not be a good person either. The text doesn’t have a specific meaning until a meaning is placed on it. Media is the one that will give the image or text a representation. This rise an issue that comes with the media ownerships, there should be a larger variety or wider diversity of voices in media so the people will not be easily blinded or controlled by the influence of media.
Layers of hidden meaning is behind the information and it ultimately will create a different feeling to different people. As audience, we can have three ways of interpreting the information, fully accept the information, understand the point but disagree with it, or completely rejects it. Every individual may have a different understanding of the information presented because of different backgrounds or culture. For instance, Joker who is shown in the video, is an example of dominant reading. He has greasy hair, messy make-up, dark black circles around his eyes all portrays him as a bad guy. However, to few that doesn’t view him as bad guy will have a different view. In my opinion, Joker may be a bad guy because he is portrayed as one in the view of the justice side, but I might think that he has all the mascara on to protect himself and he became a bad guy because of his past experience. This way, he doesn’t look as bad. Media presents their work to the audience and the audience will have different response to it. The media does not always show the true meaning behind every picture or text they put up, instead, they distort some part of the information to make it fit their ideology. Other than the meaning behind the text, it is also important to know the reason for portraying it and who is portraying it. According to the video, Stuart Hall’s view is that there is no fixed meaning until it has been represented. So, in media, various news information from politics, sports, entertainment might not have such a deep meaning until the media portrays it with certain meaning. They make the meaning. There could be an entirely opposite meanings of the same thing in two news stories. An example, borrowed from the video, is the Brexit for The Sun which has a positive and good representation, but the same event in The Guardian has a distant and cold representation. In society today, many of our view are getting influenced from the media. We unconsciously establish a meaning or impression on to the event because of how the media represents it. An issue with the media ownerships is that there is a limited point of view. As the audience are more engaged with the mass media and technology is further advanced. It may be hard to differentiate the accuracy of the text verse the distortion of the text. Therefore, it is important that people can have a diverse representation different from the main companies like Disney, Time Warner, etc. Those conglomerate controls what is released in the media, they control how the media presents the event. They also have the right to reject the release of certain news, commercials, information that will create a negative effect or hinder the company. This way there will be more involvement in media, eliminating the way how big corporations are dominating the media and limiting their influence on our perspective of society.
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Dating back to the period when technology is not as advanced, when telegraphs are not yet invented, people can only communicate through letters and travel by carriages. As time goes forward, newspaper reporting current events and article become the first source of information for the people. Print media is the only choice people have to see and hear the news from other cities, state, or country. However, after technology advanced, print media is not the only option for people to get their news. Social media and online web sources have drawn the attention of consumers, most people nowadays have gotten increasingly dependent on social media for communication, news, entertainment, games, etc. The younger generations do not really use newspapers, but online news sites become a new tool for people to look up current events, which is much more efficient and has a wider range of articles.
Although social media has drawn many attentions from consumers of the print media, such as hardcopy of the newspapers and magazines. However, social media and print media also shares a mutual relationship. Print media can benefit from the advertisements for selling magazines, books, or newspapers, while social media can earn a profit in this relationship. Social media can reach out to a wide range of people that printed papers may not reach. When social media helps advertise for the magazines and hard copy of books and articles, print media will be able spread their brands to people, creating a market and brand. For instance, advertisements that pop up on your screen when you watch a video on YouTube can be advertising for a new series of comic books or animation. Even though people might ignore it and continue but it would leave an impression in their mind. If the advertisement is very attracting, then the audience will pay attention to the product and this increases the chance of buying the product. The audience will then become one of the consumers. Social media has the ability to get attention from potential consumers, it is an effective way for people to know the product and turning them to consumers. Social media is everywhere; in this highly technically advanced society, social media is a quick route for information gathering. Ever since computers, phones, and televisions are invented, productions of printed copy of magazines, newspapers, books, etc. has been affected. There are less people today who will visit a bookstore and buy a book or magazine. However, this does not mean that print media is not popular in some areas. Online copy may be beneficial and easy to access, but there are many printed hardcopies that are popular as well, for example: manga, books, school textbooks, etc. A hardcopy would be safer to use when there is a possibility of internet or technical issues. Fans of manga, books, novel, would most likely keep a copy of the hardcopy for signature purpose or keep as a souvenir. An example would be the manga called demon slayer; more than 400,000 copies are sold and not to mention all the other printed product that goes along. It is one of the bestselling books in Japan. The big success cannot be done without any advertisement on social media, people who do not want to buy from a bookstore can purchase the hardcopy online in the official web stores as well. Usually, for advertisements, there will be discounts, coupons, or unique offers displayed as a type of attractions. Social media can not only be used for advertisement but also links to online webstores for products. Overall, social media might limit some of the productions in print media as the younger generation has more interest for current news online. Some people will not take the tour to a real store and purchase a printed copy. However, social media is also benefiting the print industry; with advertisements online, more consumers are attracted to the product and boost the numbers of production. Special offers that come along with the commercial and ads will also trigger the audience’s thought of buying a copy. When social media blocks a door, they open another window. People can get a better understanding of the product on social media more efficiently and online stores save them more time. Social media allow the product to be widely known, more people will get a chance to see the product and thus more consumers will be coming for the purchase. Marketing is important in print media; it helps you reach your targeted audience. Either in magazines or newspapers, marketing takes a significant role. Placing your product in print media will help you show your brand. For example, in business, a type of marketing is your business card. Your client will contact you with business cards and gain a basic understanding of your brand, name, contact, and address. It is also easy to carry around so it would be an effective method to spread your brand name. Other types of print like brochures and flyers can easily reach the audience. They might not want to sit down and look at advertisements all day, but they would take the time to look through printed magazines with discounts and other benefits. A physical copy of your brand will leave a deeper impression on your audience. Unlike ads and commercials on television or shows that will only appear for a few seconds, a physical copy of the publications is something that your audience will take time to read over. Commercials and advertising are usually ignored or skip, it is far less convenient for the audience to understand the product or service. The people who don’t look at commercials, advertisements online will be more attracted to your printed magazine, flyer, brochures, newspapers, etc. Places, where there is no internet, will take special attention to the printed media. Your audience can also look at the publications any time they are free; it is more leisure to read magazines during free time than to be bothered by the advertisements that pop up on the screen every ten seconds. For instance, commercials like State farm keeps popping up when I try to watch a video on YouTube. It is better to read advertisements than to have them pile on your email and screen.
Marketing takes a key role in every part of media, but in print media, colorful texts and brilliant pictures are key elements to capture the audience at first glance. For example, the masthead in magazines is always big and eye-catching. Once the audience is captivated by the looks, they will spend a good amount of time reading those papers. When the audience gets attracted to the enjoyable content and interesting elements, they will become a consumer. This is the process of setting up your brand, a stable amount of audience will become your consumers and will follow your weekly or monthly publication. An example of a brand can be National Geographic, New York Times, The Atlantic, etc. They have set out their brands and become widely known. There is no need for them to have much advertising because they spread their name and people will automatically purchase their magazines or paper. However, before the brand becomes known, there needs to be advertising to make it well known. The advertisements on webpages, coupons in magazines, or flyers are some of the ways to attract the audience’s attention. Cookies, for instance, is one way for ads to come up on websites. It is important to market your product because this is how the audience gets to know your brand. It is also the key to make a good first impression of the print because even newspapers and magazines need the advertisement on social media to attract attention. Notes- Camera-
MY response-
The first scene on the train is set with dull colors, dark black and grey. There is no color and it introduce us to the way the character looks at society. From the setting, low lighting, and deep emotionless tone, it can be inferring that the character is very emotionless to the surround, the hood he has on is a way to hid from the people. The person sitting across is speaking in a mockery tone and appears to be warning about something. When the scene transfers to the streets, taking a dolly and tracking shot, the non-diegetic sound in the background is emphasizing how the person is distant from the society, as if staying in his own world. Another detail is the pace of the scene and how it transfers to the next, the way he ways through the streets, in the office, down the roads, is also details showing that the character is in a highly technical advance society that works at high pace. From the formal attires and clothing, many of the actors are working class, it is very formal, robotic, and emotionless. The character also has many inner thoughts, but he does not express them until the scene where the psychologist asks what is society that you do not like, the actor express his thoughts for the first time and with the increasing anger and stress from his voice, he hates society. Through the video, the character has a moderate expression, moderate tone, moderate relationship. The character is handling everything like it is a job, it is work, he hides his thoughts from everyone. In the video, the sound of traffics, people, even conversations are a little blur unless the character is paying attention to it. For example, the reverse shot of the conversation between the girl and the character starts off clear but then her voice trails off and the scene has changed. The character appears to be stuck in his thoughts about what he sees last night outside the store, the sound of the traffics in the background is extremely irritating and loud until the girl pulls the character’s mind back from his thoughts. The conversation between him and the psychologist is also a way of showing how rejecting he is to interact with people. In this scene, you can tell that the character has a very wide range of thought. Jumping from the research on the psychologist to her marriage status etc. He also jumps to different subjects when he first expresses his feeling of society. Jumping from famous or well know people to objects like hunger game. When the psychologist asks the question there is a close shot of the character’s face, showing his facial expressions. It appears that he is expressionless, as if his own society is completely frozen. The shots in the video are mostly dolly showing his movement and walking through the streets and office. Reverse shots between his conversation with the girl and the psychologist appears to be his only interactions with people in the society. Every scene changes fast and the insert of extreme close shot of different pictures, short clips, and items shows how active his inner thoughts were. It contrasted how emotionless he looks on the outside. However, the dark color of the setting and the dull non diegetic sound in the background is details that represent the character’s attitude towards society. He hates society and presents a mocking tone. He rarely interacts with other people, just like he walks off when another gut interrupts his conversation with the girl. It appears that he is shutting himself from society, the shift pace of how each scene change to the next is emphasizing the way society runs, fast pace and emotionless. |