Mest 3 January 2011 part b

To connect, to create, to share creativity or thought, to discuss, to collaborate, to form groups or to combine with others in mutual interests or passions. If you can’t see the point of any of those things, you will not see the point of Facebook.’

(www.guardian.co.uk)

What opportunities and/or disadvantages do new and digital media have for audiences?

New and digital techniques has created more opportunities to audiences as they can now connect, create media texts, share thoughts and creativity, collaborate and discuss, and form groups with people that have mutual interests and passions. Although all these things seem positive there are disadvantages such as less privacy, less censorship, danger of the growth of bad groups and several or things that will be mentioned later in this essay.

An example of how people can share ideas is Youtube. People can produce media texts expressing their ideas and values. This gives people the opportunity to share ideas and highlight problems with society. An example of this is Kony 2012. This was an online campaign that was put online to spread awareness of, and helps catch a man guilty of war crimes; it raised thousands of pounds and helped keep some military advisers in Africa to help local militaries catch this man. This is an example of possible benefits to society of new and digital media.

Another area were new and digital media has benefited society is with the ability to discuss topics in the public eye. On most the news channels there is areas for people to leave comments, opinions and feelings about the article. This allows the public to discuss and share the feelings about the topic and take action is necessary. This can be done on separate website not only news websites. This is one of the ways the student protests were set up; lots of people were unhappy about the increase in tuition fees and shared their feeling online. A protest was then setup on these sites. This shows that new and digital media has allowed people to with similar to discuss and then meet to take action about things they are not happy with in society. This is something that would have been very difficult and long to do in the past.

Another benefit of new and digital technology is it helps the police and authority prevent and reduce crime. This is because is people talk about illegal activities online it can be seen by police; the police can then go to the places and stop the people from committing crimes and arrest any people guilty of committing crime. Also the police can use and video or image in court to prove someone is guilty of the crime; this was something used a lot after the London riots to imprison people who participated in the riots and broke the law.

There are also disadvantages of people with similar ideas being able to connect; this is that it is likely groups of people who may abuse this power and may meet up and commit acts of crime. An example of this is the London riots. Many people used social networking sites and other websites and platforms to communicate and arrange to meet and cause mayhem. This allowed these people to meet up in large groups and cause destruction and loot. This ended up costing the government millions of pounds and is an example of a disadvantage of new and digital media.

Another disadvantage to audiences is they can be exposed to incorrect information. This could be put presented in a way to make audiences ideas and values to change. By doing this people and businesses can make audiences do things and think things that they wouldn’t have done before. This is because audiences are used to consuming texts and content from large trust worthy sources and because of this don’t often question idea shown to them and often just believe them; this can be harmful to society if a large percentage of the population believe take on board these ideas that are not necessarily true.

In conclusion new and digital media has provided many opportunities for people as well as having several disadvantages to audiences, this means people must be responsible when using new technology and not abuse the power it gives them and regulation should be in place to stop people from abusing opportunities they get from new and digital media.

Mest 3 June 2011 part b

‘New and digital media erodes the dividing line between reporters and reported, between active producers and passive audiences: people are enabled to speak for themselves.’ 

(www.indymedia.org.uk)

 Have such developments made the media more democratic, with more equal participation by more people?

New and digital media has led to the production of media texts possible for members of the public and small independent organisations, also since the increase of internet speed and popularity they have a place to put their texts. This has led to an increase in audience production which means they are less passive and are now the producers of texts as well as consumers. This means that consumers will have the option between consuming texts from the big media companies or smaller independent producers and therefor can chose media texts that have alternative ideology in the media.

One way in which developments in new and digital media has created more consumer participation is the increase of mobile phones with cameras. Since the increase in use of smartphones, people have been taking photos and videos of events which are then broadcasted on new channels.  Also this increase has led to more people making videos as a response to events shown in the media; they are often labeled “RE:” and then the issue they are going to be taking about. This shows show developments in new and digital media has led to more participation by more people.

Another development that has led to an increase in production by audience is the increased availability of cheap camera and editing software. This has enabled people to produce media texts; also the increase in internet usage means that they can post their products online and gain viewership. This has been very popular recently and now there are hundreds of producers of media texts that do not belong to large media companies. These independent producers are more likely to produce content that has alternative ideology. Also these smaller producer offer there viewers a chance to tell the producers what to create in the texts; this means the media is becoming more democratic as consumers are having more say in what is being produced.

Another way in which the media is getting more democratic is people can now communicate their feeling about media texts that can lead to a change in the media text itself. People can email in to the media producer or can talk about the issue with the media product online on social networking sites and forums. In the past this has led to changes in media texts and sometime even public apologies to groups offended. This shows that developments in new and digital media has given people a chance to speak for themselves and made the media more democratic.

Despite the developments in new and digital media talked about above, there is not as much of an increase in equal participation. This is because even is more content is produced by lots of smaller companies when the products get very popular they are often bought out by a big company; an example of this is S.B.T.V. This is a channel that started on Youtube by a man called Jamal Edward; he used to record videos of his friends rapping and then uploaded them on to Youtube. When he became more popular he started recording songs with more popular underground artist and was eventually bought by Sony. This means that views of people are not being shown to the masses and there is not more participation by people as they are being added to big companies as soon as they get popular.

Also even though people are now able to communicate with media producers and view their opinions about issues with media texts, it doesn’t mean that producers have to change their texts. This shows that developments in new and digital media have not necessarily made the media more democratic as the producers can make their products however they want despite their viewer’s feelings about the products.

Although participation by people has increased, I feel it goes unnoticed most of the time; this is because when someone produces a media text and is not made by a large recognizable company it tends to get ignored by people. This could be for a number of different reasons, such as them being put somewhere where they are unlikely to get views, this is because it is likely to get put on a site like Youtube were millions of people upload videos everyday so videos from a nobody are unlikely to get viewed. Also content made by someone made by someone that is not well known is unlikely to get viewed as people would rather go with a more well-known and reliable source .This shows that even though more participation taken by people the market share of large companies is not really changed meaning that the media is not more democratic.

In conclusion develops in the media and new and digital technology have made the media more democratic than the past and has created more participation by people but despite this I feel that the big media companies still display the views and ideologies that they want to and still have the majority market share of the audience over smaller producers. This means that the changes are insignificant as the majority of the population is still behaving the way they were before the changes had occurred.

Mest 3 June 2011 Part A

Evaluate how each media product represents young people.

Both of the 2 media texts provide represent of young people in a different way and are made with the intention of representing young people in a specific way. Although in the Adidas advert there is 2 possible reading with are apparent.

Adidas video has two possible readings, the preferred reading and the oppositional reading. The preferred reading is the reading that the producers want the viewers to receive. It is likely to be read by young people whom Adidas products are aimed at as they can relate with the characters in the advert. This group may feel that the characters in the advert are represented as fun loving, cool and fashionable. They also feel that the activities being done in the advert are normal and completely harmless. This is an alternative representations of young people as they are seen partying but are not seen drinking alcohol or doing drugs or anything which is negative or stereotypical of young people.

Also there is an oppositional reading that could be read which enforces most of the stereotypes of young people. This is that they are anti-social, wild, crazy and out of control. This could be due to a couple of shots in particular; the spray painting at the beginning and .This is a reading is likely to be read by an older viewer who is unfamiliar which modern day youth culture. An may be believe stereotypes of young people due to their consumption of dominant ideology in other parts of the media.

The NHS binge drinking advert represents young people as being irresponsible and careless. It does this by showing the female in the advert doing all the things teenagers do as a result of binge drinking while they are out at her home before she leaves and ends with text saying “you wouldn’t start your night like this so why end it that way?”. This enforces the idea that the way the girl leaves the house is how young people come home after an evening out. This is obviously a very negative and unfair representation as it makes it seem as if all people binge drink on outing when that is not the case; therefore this is an negative and unfair representation of young people.

Why are shock tactics, such as those in media product two, so often used?

You may also refer to other media products to support your answer.

Shock tactics are used in media product 2 in an attempt to get the attention on the audience and make them take serious the issue shown, this is done by showing the extremes of the problem and the worse possible consequences in an attempt to make the audience change the way they act.

An example of shock tactics in a media text is in an advert made by “think” which was in attempt to increase awareness of road safety among young people. This showed filming from a mobile phone of a group of typical friend when suddenly a loud bang is heard and then one member of the group is shown on the road in front of a car, dead and then a statistic was shown saying the amount of teenagers killed and seriously injured on the road. This was an attempt to scare young people into being more careful and aware when crossing the road, and when being on the road and pavements in general.

Another common use of shock tactics used in the media is in charity adverts. These adverts often show images of shocking thin and ill children used to try and make the viewer feel sympathy towards the children shown and then donate to the charity to help alleviate the problem. This is an effective technique as people are more likely to react to shocking and graphic content as opposed to more soft content.

Documentaries are another media product that use shock tactics regularly, this may be to engage the audience and keep them interested my having clips of shocking content and then interviews with professions etc in-between. An example of this is Ross Kemp on gangs, this documentary series often had clips of when Ross Kemp interviewed gang members, and they showed of their gun and gave examples of their activity in the gang. This was often followed by an interview with the police in the area.

Consider the value of using online marketing to target a youth audience.

You should refer to other media products to support your answer.

Online marketing is the most effective marketing when targeting a youth audience. This is because the youths of today consume most online as opposed to the traditional media platforms such as broadcast and print. This means that any advertising put online on sites popular with young people is more likely to get seen more than adverts put on the print or broadcast platform, for example magazines or radio.

An example of effective online marketing is with Youtube. Youtube is the biggest video sharing/ streaming site on the internet and is very popular with young people. A recent change is before a video starts playing an advertisement is shown; these often come with a skip ad button that appears after 5 seconds of the advert and sometimes the full advert has to be viewed. This is a very effective way of advertising as advertisers can have their advert put before videos matching certain genre etc, so that they can get their advert seen by their specific audience. Also most videos viewed on Youtube are less than 10 minutes long and several short videos are viewed; this means the frequency of which the advert is seen is much higher. Also unlike TV and radio advert which have several one after another, Youtube adverts only have one which means the viewer is more likely to view it as opposed to TV or radio were the viewer will switch channels while adverts are shown and then come back after a few minutes. This is why online market can be more effective than adverting in traditional media products.

Another example of a media product that has used online marketing is Batman the Dark Knight. This movie used viral marketing which was a very interactive marketing campaign which had fans/ viewers meet in places and support certain movie characters etc. this was only possible because of the interactivity possible with online marketing and would not be possible with traditional media were viewers are passive when consuming advertising.

A possible problem with online marketing is the amount of places where it could be put. Because of the size of the internet it can be difficult advertisements were they will be viewed and by the target audience; if the advert is not seen, or is seen by the wrong audience it is pointless. This is not the case with traditional media like television as it is easy to find a suitable place to put advertising, and despite the increase in channels available recently it is still nothing compared to the amount of internet websites.

Another issue with online marketing is it can easily be ignored. For example adverts on the sides of websites such as Facebook can be very expensive to put there but the user of that website can use the website and not pay attention to the advert; this means it is not an effective method of advertising. Whereas on a TV advert the programming is paused and removed from the screen during adverts so if the person looks at the TV all they can see if the advert, because of this it is difficult to ignore when viewing the program.

Another issue with online marketing is it can easily be ignored. For example adverts on the sides of websites such as Facebook can be very expensive to put there but the user of that website can use the website and not pay attention to the advert; this means it is not an effective method of advertising. Whereas on a TV advert the programming is paused and removed from the screen during adverts so if the person looks at the TV all they can see if the advert, because of this it is difficult to ignore when viewing the program.