Amercian Gangster Case Study - First individual research task

The film trailer i have chosen to carry out my case study on is "American gangaster", which is a gangster - action genre.

The audience for this product is 16 - 30 year olds.
The institutional factors this movie provides is the effects of the drug business and what such crimes can lead to in ones life and since this is based on a true story it allows it audience to have a greater understanding of what happens in the drug business and how it affects peoples lives.
This trailer shows a sequence of the best quotes said in the movie too attract the audience and it also shows parts of the movie but nothing that woould give the movie away too much. The most noticable thing about the trailer is the fact that its a black man whos supposedly become bigger than the mafia in the drug trade business which makes the plot of the film interesting for its viewers. Also the quotes in the traiiler have such emphasis in them and such meaning that it draws in that wider range of audience.

The use of the music is dramatic in this trailer because it starts off with a nice soulfull beat and this is when the trailer is being based on the "bad" people (dezel washington and his drug abuse) and then half way through after the sound of a gun fireing, the music then turns into a slow and more serious type of beat which is played when the cops and dectives are talking about what denzel washingtons character realy does and how he comes across succeeding in to doing so.

Media Awards Evening Review

Crime

I thought this was a realy good true life based trailer. It was one of my favourites because it was so up-to-date and so real so people could relate to it and i thought it was a realy good way to educate people about drugs. I thought the way they filmed a drug dealer telling his life story was realy good becasue it showed a sense of realism instead of an actor acting the role of a drug dealer. I also liked how the camera angle was just focused on the drug dealer and there was no colour so the main focus was on him and his story so the audience couldnt get distracted from anything else. This made the trailer feel really personal for the audience which is why it was memorable.

Face Of Fear

this was one of my favourite trailers because i realy enjoy horror films so to see a fellow student create one was so intriguing to see how they would use all the typical things expected in a horror film and see how they used the same techniques. I liked the use of camera angles of zooming in the villians face and also the use of his body language. I also liked the fact that they had a typical horror setting (in the woods, in the dark) and i also really liked the fact that they had a typical female victum (female in distress). I thought they made a realistic horror trailer in which you would expect.

Silent Pain

I thought this was a really good trailer because the way it was set out and the way it was portrayed was again very realistic. I loved the use of the music. I thought it fit the trailer and the genre perfectly. I also thought the rewind within one of the sections of the trailer was a really good technique to use because it fit so well with teh trailer, the genre and especialy the music. It was also a really empathetic type movie which is why it was also one of the memorable ones.

Evaluation

attainment - 3 - i havent attainted as much as i could of done in this course so far but i think thats because i did GSCE media so right now im basicaly doing the same stuff so i havent been given the opportunity to attain more skills.

effort - 2 - i have tried to put alot of effort in my work but yet i still havent been given a task where i can put all my effort in

punctuality - 3 - i cant remember ever coming late to a lesson, but i have missed approxiately around 3 - 4 lessons

submission and quality of homework - 2 - i am proud of my homework, especialy my blog. i think i have done each homework very well and to a good standard.

ability to work independantly - 1 - i know from previous experiences i can work very well on my own but i dont think it has been shown very well yet in the class since i havent been given the opportunity

quality of writing - 2 - the quality of my writing is good because i use good technical terms when needed and i also take english A levels and took english GSCE and attained a B grade for it, so i know the quality of my writing is exceptionaly good

Organisation of media folder - 2 - i have segregated Mr Bush's work from Miss Holidays work and everythin is in order of date and lesson

Oral contributions in class - 3 - i could speak out and offer my opinion or answer more questions in class as i do know the answers most of the time. i just personally dont ever see the opportunity to do so due to the size of our class and the way the lesson is taught

Magazine Pitch

Magazine title : Glossy

Profile : Young independant women who are self-confident and self-ritcheous about themselves and their occupation. Most probably single women around the age of 21-35.

adverts that you would expect in this magazine would be:-
- hair products and equipment such as shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, hair gel, straightners, curlers, hair dye, etc.

- make-up and other cosmetic adverts such as foundation, mascara, eye-shadow, etc.

- skin care products such as anti-aging cream, eye-cream, facial wipes, lotion, etc.

- latest clothes and accessories

- perfume ads

all the adverts in this magazine would be from big brand companies and they would all typically have either vibrant colours on thier magazine or a famous person/icon.

MY PITCH

The advert i have chosen to run a competetion is the mariah carey perfume advert. The reader of the magazine will have to enter the answer to the question:

"what was mariah careys new single called?"

and text this to the number provided and if they win they will recieve a mariah carey goodie bag which includes the new single that would be signed by mariah carey herslef along with the new mariah carey perfume and lotion in a bag with a signed mariah carey poster. If the contestant is lucky enough to win the competition, then another text from our company will be sent to them saying congratuations and if they could send us their address so we can deliver the goodies they have just won.

The reason for this is competition is that when readers see this opportunity they will buy the next edition of the magazine purposely to enter in the next competition to get the chance to win such a fortunate prize and this would be thier motivation to keep buying the magazine everytime the new edition has been released therefore increasing our sales. Also this is good promotion for mariah carey herslef as an icon and celebrity. This could give her good publicity along with advertising her new perfume AND her latest single. If this promotion became very successful then we would be lucky enough to recieve more requests from other companies or brands to advertise a promotion of thiers in our magazine which means not only would our sales go up but our popularity of the magazine itself would go up along with the price for other companies to actualy be able to advertise their promotion in our magzine which means in overall we will get alot more revenue. The good side of this is even if this promotion wasnt as successful, we would still be getting more revenue due to the fact that the brand or company has paid us to advertise this promotion in our magazine anyway so either way we do not loose out on anything and it is a good thing for us regardless. Also, since the person to put thier promotion in out magazine is some-one so famous as maraiah carey, this will persuade and convince more big brands and icons to put such promotions in our magazine to help themsleves sell whatever thier product is and at the same time it will help our sales go up.

I would highly recommend proceeding with this promotion since, in conclusion, if this promotion is a success then not only do our sales go up and we get more revenue, but the price of putting these types of promotions in our magazine can go up also. More over even if this was not a success, it is still beneficial to us because we do not loose out on anything (it has no bad affect on us as a magazine) and we still get revenue from the company who put their promotion in our magazine.

The target audience will be dependant on the product, the icon and the prize from the promotion. In this case the target audience would be 16 - 25 year olds since mariah careys music is mostly aimed at that age range and also since, the prizes would be more appealing to this age range.

An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube

0:00 - Introduction, YouTube’s Big Numbers
Stephen Weiswasser (of ABC) said “You aren’t going to turn passive consumers into active trollers on the Internet”.. BUT in 948 ABC became the 3rd major network or broadcasting with over 6million viewrs but youtube has produced more than that in just 6months without any producers help, just by US the consumers.

youtube has 9232 hours of video uploaded per day, 385 always on T.V channels, 200, 000 3 minute videos and 88% of this content is new and origional.

2:00 - Numa Numa and the Celebration of Webcams
The numa numa audio track was mimed on webcam by a boy called gary. He could be known as the guy who "launched" the ideas of webcam and made it so popular throughout the world by doing something as simple as enjoying himself with his webcam miming lyrics to a song. At this time youtube was just created and still in the process of being produced. Before youtube was created it was very difficult for people to upload thier own videos onto the internet but since the numa numa video by gary, over 58,000 people posted up new videos.

5:53 - The Machine is Us/ing Us and the New Mediascape
Michael Wesch first came up with the idea of moving normal text onto a digital format. His video is about socially connecting people through new ways which keeps changing every 6 months.
user generated content alows more and more people to view peoples videos or audio clips. When peoples things have been bookmarked or blogged then it alows even more people to view these self made videos. Micheal Wesch sugested we now live in a very intergrated mediascape and that we are at the centre of the mediascape that isnt just a form of communication but it changes the relatiionship between people (mediates human relationships).

12:16 - Introducing our Research Team
in the last 2 years, 10 graduate students, every spring do a study of youtube. They analize the videos posted on youtube and find out the different age ranges that use youtube, what is on youtube, etc.

13:25 - What’s on YouTube? Charlie Bit My Finger, Soulja Boy .etc
the videos posted on youtube are usualy home made videos such as "charlie bit my finger". this video was remixed 2,000 times and viewed by over 30million people. "soulja boy" made himself so popular that he actualy got a record deal from a label due to how popular his song became and the huge amount of people who remixed his song into their own video.

17:04 - 5% of vids are personal vlogs addressed to the YouTube community, Why?
when woman joined the workforce there was suddenly less free time.
"moving from place to place to person to person connectivity".. says bary wellmon and "network individulism". He thinks that the more individual you become the more you long for communitity. Meeting people over the net is not the same as meeting them face to face so thats why in order to feel more social over the net people usualy post up thier stuff on youtube community.

18:41 - Cultural Inversion: individualism and community
people are becoming more increasingly individual but have strong sense of value stil and a big desire of community and this makes us long for relationships.

19:15 - Understanding new forms of community through Participant Observation
Micheal wesch and his students participated in the community because he thinks that you actualy have to experience the phenomenon to fully understand it. This method is called participant observation.

21:18 - YouTube as a medium for community
The students came up with a idea that when media changes, human relatioship changes with it. They used a media platform of self made webcam videos to make a community on youtube.

23:00 - Our first vlogs
Making vlogs for the first time is difficult because the people making the video is not sure how they may be precieved by the people who view their video is being watched. Also you dont know who is actualy goin to veiw ur vlog or who may reply back to it along with the fact of knowing that ur video could be remixed by some-one else. This is called context collapse, where u dont know whats actualy going on. First vlogs seem very aukward at first because you dont know what to talk about or what to do and the fact that ur talking to a camera is weird at first because it gives back no expression to what your actualy saying. first vlogs are often taken many times and obvious that they are actualy first vlogs because of the aukwardness of the person talking in it and the way the are reacting to the idea of talking to a piece of technology still.

25:00 - The webcam: Everybody is watching where nobody is (“context collapse”)
There begins to be alot of self-reflection in youtube vlogs. Micheal wesch says that its like looking through a looking glass and seeing ones reflection of what others percieve them as. The thought of everybody watching you on youtube is strange because when your actualy making the video nobody is realy there which becomes complicated when you try to mediate your life in a webcam.

26:05 - Re-cognition and new forms of self-awareness (McLuhan)
In the future you could view ur previous vlogs and see or judge how others may. McLuhan says that re-cognition and self awareness are and it offers a deeper level of awareness from the first time youve made your flog to the last time since it alows you to judge yourself which then allows you to become more self aware of the way people percieve you compared to the way you percieve yourself.

27:58 - The Anonymity of Watching YouTube: Haters and Lovers
vlogs alow people to have the freedom to experience humanity without fear or social anxiety. This is because it alows you to watch other people without making them feel uncomfortable since they cant see you or even know that youve checked thier vlog. It also allows you to make comments or use certain diagologue without having to face great consequence which encourages in some way for people to be more themselves and say what they feel.

29:53 - Aesthetic Arrest
People can sometimes be overwhelmed by the "beauty" of the human being infront of them and through youtube they begin to have a deeper connection with someone because know they can stare and no matter what, not make people feel uncomfortable so and experience them as a human being.

30:25 - Connection without Constraint
Youtube allows us to have a connection with people without actualy having to ever come face to face with these people so we dont have that sense of social responsibilty to look to so the connection somehow becomes more deeper. Youtube connects people in a different way and this is an example of it.

32:35 - Free Hugs: A hero for our mediated culture
Juan Mann walked around with a sign that said free hugs and from then it turned into a video on youtube which bought over 30million viewers together just through a gesture. This has become a worldwide and becomes an icon on youtube which is important because it tries to reconnect humanity in an odd way.

34:02 - YouTube Drama: Striving for popularity
For people to view ur vlog, your vlog has to be the most popular in youtbe for it to be placed in the front page. It is common for people to always be competing to be one of youtubes "stars".

34:55 - An early star: emokid21ohio
he made a vlog in which a girl had viewed and which then escalated into a love story which made alot of people keep viewing there vlogs to eachother. One day emokid21ohio was then proved to be a fake and a liar about that he does not live in ohio but in the uk among with other things as someone had found his real myspace profile.

36:55 - YouTube’s Authenticity Crisis: the story of LonelyGirl15
People thought she was also lieing about herself and was being fake when actualy she was a soap opera created by 3 writers. The writers said the she was supposed to be a reflection of everyone. This then rose into a bigger issue about whether youtube was realy authentic in the content in which it first uploaded onto.

39:50 - Reflections on Authenticity
we are the producers of youtube so this means we can play with our own identities, re-take videos and edit our own history. What is real or fake on youtube is very hard to distinguish now. Remixing has now become illegal.

41:54 - Gaming the system/Exposing the system
People often put porn thumbnails in order for their video to get more views when realy they have no sexual content in thier video. User generated members should be allowed to get the video exposure they deserve ratehr than having obscene contect uploaded onto it.

43:37 - Seriously Playful Participatory Media Culture
These days there could be a camera anywhere so you never know what can be uploaded onto youtube about you. Things you do or say can be remixed easily now so this has now become illegal. This is another example of content collapse where people may use images or videos about you and you dont know whats going on.

47:32 - Networked Production: The Collab. MadV's “The Message” and the message of YouTube
The most responded to video is the MadV platform where people write small statements on their hands and then posted on to youtube.

49:29 - Poem: The Little Glass Dot, The Eyes of the World
This poem was created by wesch and its about how the webcam is the eyes of the world. He mentions in this poem that the webcam can be used for many things such as fame and glory or just a way of connecting with people. He says that the little glass dot is not what you make of it but what WE make of it.

51:15 - Conclusion by bnessel1973
in conclusion, youtube has been a sense of therapy and allowed people to act how they wanted to. He also thinks it was created to change the world into a better place and help him live in it.

Internet Regulation

Firstly the issues surrounding being able to access ideas from all over the world and being able to publish our own words or images are that it can cause alot of controversy and complaints depending on the image put up or words used. This is because these words or images are being published on the interenet by US from the ages of if you can actualy understand what your doing and how to use these programmes to ages in which you are still capable to move and the problem with this is WE have our own views, opinions and interests about many things. So what WE choose to put up sometimes isnt always viewer friendly, for example...
- there could be a site or blog about how someone dislikes another person, product or company and this could include the use of inappropriate pictures or words in which some viewers may be offended by due to the content or due to the fact that small children or unsuitable ages can view/ access this. The solution for such things often leads to the banment of the website, blog or image.

I personally think that there should be a new organisation created to be responsible for internet regulation and this is because existing companies would be too busy to be in control of this along with their origional purpose. A good organisation n which they could follow in the way they regulate the internet could be the ASA as they do a very good job in regulating what is shown to the public in advertising and what isnt. So this new company could be the ASA of the internet!!..

The regulation could be monitered by having highlighted key words so that when these words are used, it is reconized and then the organisation can go check how and where this word has been used and then decide to block that site/blog for its inappropiate use.