So here we are, at an end. My last media task ever. I've gotta say, I'm feeling quite sentimental. Anyways so we're supposed to, and I quote "create detailed scripts, plans and design proposals that elaborate ideas, purpose and audience". Clearly I can't post my visual diary with the scripts, storyboards, brainstorms and such, but I can "and acknowledge the values, aesthetics and ethical decisions underpinning their ideas."

So I'll begin by telling you how the whole crazy idea for our doco came about. We were sitting in economics (when Nathan was still in the class), and Xavier for some reason was talking about "some guy" that broke a world record for pushing an orange with his nose the fastest. We all commented on how stupid the whole idea was and then thought, hey! Whose dumb enough to actually challenge this record? And there was Nathan, willing and determined. He started to research and thought that he actually had a chance of beating it. He then came to me with the idea of documenting the attempt and the weeks leading up to it for this our media project. I thought it was a dandy idea. So there we were, we recruited Vicky and we were off, ideas coming from everywhere!

So the original plan was for it to be a serious doco as he was actually making a real attempt, but when we soon realised after his fete attempt that it was pretty much impossible, we thought it would be better as a mockumentary. So we wanted his first attempt to be somewhere there was a crowd, and our school fete was coming up. So we thought...perfect! that would bring us a crowd to cheer on Nathan and make it appear like an actual attempt.

After watching the footage from the attempt we decided to create another key character - Hannah. She was in a lot of shots on the day so we thought that we could give the audience another character to relate to and sympathise with. So we created Hannah - Nathan's over-supportive, clingy girlfriend. This gave the film an aspect of love that audiences can relate to.
To make our film comedic, as it is a mockumentary, we have decided to end the film with Nathan pretty much forgetting his entire world record dreams (hat the entire film is about) to run off to Scotland and marry the love of his life that he met on his trial day. He will leave Hannah who will breakdown and never get over the breakup. We decided upon this unconventional ending because it is exactly that, unconventional. We didn't want our film being predictable as it would be if Nathan and Hannah lived happily ever after, so we spiced it up a bit.

So that is essentially our film in a nut shell. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm sure glad this blogging is over! But it is sad that we only have a couple media lessons left L Just think people.....no more Men in Bruce references, no more stories of Peacock on a gay cruiseship, and no more Charlie still not understanding Colin McKenzie doesn't actually exist..... actually, that will probably still happen.

So I thank everyone for making media the best and most comical class of all and im sure i speak for all of us when I say thanks a bunch peacock for being a great teacher over the past two years.

Au revoir et salut.

Outcome 1 Aspect 2 - • explore technologies, codes and conventions to create meaning and develop ideas.

Remember the days of the old cassette tapes, sitting listening to the radio for hours just waiting for your favourite song to come on so you could hit record on your stereo? Now think about how you would go about getting your favourite song today. Some of us would go to the shops and buy the album, but most of us would likely just download it...not always legally ;). We have come so far in technology. I mean, before the cassette there was records, and then there was CD's and Discmans and now mp3's. We are constantly progressing in not just music, but all types of media. Just as music has progressed, so has film. I mean we've gone from VCR's to DVD's and now blue-ray's. Just as in the way we watch movies has changed, so has the way in which they have been made. Different editing technologies have been adopted and higher quality cameras and film are now being used. The codes and conventions used have also changed and ‘progressed' through the development of these technologies also. New innovative ideas have been developed and used in film. In different genres of film we can see different use of codes. Just look at film noir with all the dark shadows and one-source lighting that is used, then look at a brightly lit Hollywood blockbuster. These are two different forms of film and adopt the use of different codes for their intended purposes. But does this technological development change the meaning and jeopardise the artistic vision of films today compared to in the past? Now I'm going to answer this question with another question. Does the meaning of a song change if it is played on a record, CD or mp3? Of course not. Essentially the song is the same, it is only the means in which it is presented to us that changes. Once again, this is the same with films. A film made on a smaller budget 20 years ago could be portrayed with the same meaning and ideas today with more modern and developed technology. Look at an old film like Casablanca - filmed in early 40's this black and white portrayal of love and virtue is an ultimate classic. Now back in the 40's filmmakers didn't have the technology we today have at our disposal. Their cameras and film would be nowhere near as advanced as ours today. However, we could still create this film today using our advanced technology. It could be filmed using similar style conventions in colour and later edited into back and white. A filter could be placed over the top to give the film its authentic older look and no one would be the wiser. So our modern technologies allow us to not only create new and innovative conventions and meanings, but they also allow us to recreate film styles of the past which we would otherwise not be able to unless we lived in that era. Technology is constantly developing and allowing us to be inventive and original and create our own era that will hopefully be recognised in the future as ‘classics'.

Just incase your wondering, I'm listening to The Joker on my ipod so that's were my entry title came from, always reminds me of Homer :) Alrighty, so back to blogging. Okay so I'm going to have a shot at level 7, I know it's pretty crazy but hey I'm feeling adventurous! Anyway so we are asked to ‘understand how particular media forms and styles communicate ideas that reinforce or challenge audience values. Recognise some media products will be accepted by the mainstream audience and note how other forms challenge what audiences believe in.'
Now this is good for me seeing as a movie I just rented is well fitting for this aspect, and a great example to talk about. This movie is called State's Evidence, and I'll quickly get you up to speed with the plot of this 2006 film by director Benjamin Louis. The story follows six teenage students who make a suicide pact. And leading up to the event, they decide to document their last days using video cameras. They experience emotions like never before. A certain freedom because ‘with no future, there are no rules. With no rules, there are no limits'. However, the search for the final adventure takes an unexpected turn for the worst, and the journey turns into much more than they ever anticipated.

This dark and twisted film is one that challenges mainstream values and beliefs. First of all because the entire story is based around 6 teenagers planning to kill themselves. Now a mainstream audience does not want to see this, teen suicide is not something they ‘value'. Now a teen movie such as Mean Girls (admittedly another film I rented) has themes and issues that would be far more accepted by the values of mainstream audiences, where all the characters overcome their problems and everyone learns from their mistakes and lives happily ever after. However, in State's Evidence this happily-ever-after ending is not the case. It challenges audiences values and ideologies because in a movie such as Mean Girls, it is clear that it is just a movie - unrealistic and unlikely. However, State's Evidence displays a very real and very widespread issue that is plaguing society everywhere - teen suicide. But audience's don't want to face this issue, they'd rather pretend like it doesn't exist and watch a light-hearted film with no real underlying issues. However, it's not just the suicidal style of this film that challenges the audiences values, it is how the audience it positioned to think and feel about the characters and issues. As in most films, the audience is positioned to sympathise with the main character in the film, and it is no different in State's Evidence. And this is where the audiences values are very challenged. They find themselves wanting these characters to succeed in their journey - to kill themselves. This is extremely jarring and somewhat disturbing to the audience as they find themselves thinking this. As the characters talk about the idea of death and how freeing and liberating it is the audience who experiences their point of view. The audience somewhat feels frightened by the fact that they can make sense out of and understand a lot of what these characters are thinking and saying, this is very challenging at the fact they can understand what is going through the minds of someone suicidal.  As the characters in this movie have become so unsensitised to the idea of death so do the audience. There becomes a lack of care about the finality of death in both the characters and audiences mind, until their ‘final adventure' takes an unexpected turn down a very dark road as the characters realise that their actions opened a Pandora's Box, and affected everyone around them.

This is one of the most powerful and shocking teen movies I've ever seen. I would definitely recommend it as although it may be jarring and challenging to your values, it had to be done in this way to really get the message across. Teen suicide is such an important issue that needs to be addressed, and this film has done exactly that. It gives the audience an insight into the minds of different teenagers, what they are thinking and their reasons behind suicide. State's Evidence is a shocking but realistic portrayal into a very important issue, that while may be distressing and challenging to viewers, I found very impacting.

Over and out!

Quick update on our doco progress. We have got quite a bit of footage, just trying to figure out where to put it. We still need to get some footage for the opening and some inbetween training. We have started filming some interviews in which we have used some of the superdooper techniques Peacock taught us about. Well really we just kind of set her up and then she just talked and talked and talked. It was great! So we hope to get more interviews done also with other people who are ‘close' to Nathan to make it a bit more appealing to the audience.

Anywho okay, so today's outcome asks us to explore how cultural values of dominant and sub-cultural groups are reinforced by media production and also influence media productions. Wow, that was a mouthful. So anyway, in our Western culture we hold a few common values that most people in our society share. One very large value that can be seen all over the media is love (nawww). It would be very rare these days to go to the movies or watch a TV show where there is absolutely no romance or some sort of girl-boy relationship. Why do you think there is so many romance movies, or "chick flicks" as most guys like to refer to them? It is because this is what we, in our modern western society value. There is a high demand for this romantic love aspect in the media, so media producers supply this - it's simple economics people! But why is there such a high demand for this ‘love' value, you ask? Why do girls watch so many of these "chick flicks" (that we all know you boys secretly like as well)? It is because the media has originally presented us with this value. We have watched these movies, where a girl is swept of her feet by her prince charming, and we want more. No wonder women are so disappointed with their real love life, because it's nothing like the movies. It's not a fairytale or some romantic comedy. The media has given us a false sense of reality, and even though the chances of finding these things are slim, we still want to watch them on TV or on the big screen. I mean, we can only hope...
So it is clear that love and relationships are values that are very dominant in our modern western culture, it is what people (mostly girls...and some boys) want to see. And this is why we have tried to incorporate ‘love' into our documentary. Sure, it may not be your typical boy-girl, fall in love, fight, make-up, and live happily ever after kind of story, but you get the point. We have used Hannah as Nathan's full-time, over-supporting girlfriend. We hope that this will give the audience a larger scope of ‘important' characters in Nathan's ‘life'. We hope this will give viewers more characters in which they can follow, relate to, sympathise with and hopefully want to follow in their journey that is, ‘Smells like teen citrus.'  
So I hope you have enjoyed reading this week's blog. And I encourage all guys who read this, if you have a special lady do something sweet and romantic for her, because not only is it your job as a male, but because every girl wants a fairytale! :)

The end.

Week 5
Outcome 4 Aspect 2 - • understand the influence of social, historical and cultural contexts on media production and use.

Level 7 - understand ideologies in particular cultural contexts impact on media production and use, and how perceptions of history are shaped by the media. Understand political beliefs influence films, etc, and that the media is powerful in influencing public opinion about past events.

Throughout the past media has covered different historical events. It is the way this media has been used and the cultural and social context behind it that shape the way different people think and respond to these events and other media productions.
Okay. Let's look at World War II and the movie Pearl Harbour. The film is a dramatic re-imagining of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and also accounts the Doolittle Raid, the first American attack on the Japanese islands in World War II.  The film was created focusing on the main characters - two American pilots fighting in the war, and a young American nurse. Pearl Harbour was obviously related by Americans, in the point of view of Americans and how they viewed World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbour. Through this, the audience therefore get the impression and view of the Americans as the ‘good-guys', if you will, and sympathise with them and their losses in the war. Because the American's are portrayed as the ‘good-guys', it means the Japanese were portrayed as the ‘bad-guys', attacking the ‘innocent' Americans.
The attack of Pearl Harbour is one could say, a sore spot for the Americans, and the Doolittle Raid, a sore spot for the Japanese. In these events both countries lost soldiers and civilians. This historical event, as well as cultural context, could shape the way in which a person will interpret and respond to this film. Take an American viewer for example. Watching this film would reinforce their patriotic response to America and their feelings about World War II. As they watched the film they would follow the emotional journeys of these American soldiers fighting for the right of their country. And when the lives of these men are taken by the Japanese, these audiences feel sad and anger towards the Japanese.  But now, let's turn the tables and take a look from a Japanese point of view. Someone who was born and brought up in Japan would have very different views on Japan's involvement in World War II, then that of an American. This meaning, that they are also likely to respond very differently to that of the American when watching the film Pearl Harbour. It is a fact, that in any country, when talking about historical events such as wars, the people are going to feel patriotically in favour of their nation.
Just as the American's see themselves as the ‘good-guys' and the innocent victims of a resource hungry Japan, the Japanese would also think of themselves as the ‘good-guys' that rose up against the power hungry U.S. It is all part of their cultural, historical context. Naturally, even without any knowledge on the subject, when the subject of war is raised, that person is most likely going to defend and support their country. Its basic human and national, instinct and pride. So it is this historical, and cultural context that will shape the way different people view the film. An American will obviously feel very passionately towards the portrayal in the film of the heroic soldiers that gave their life defending America against the Japanese - they will accept the film and its messages. A Japanese, however, is most likely to form a resistant reading of the film. Their culture and background have shaped the way they view historical events to believe that their nation and its soldiers were the real heroes. They will therefore not agree with the messages and ideas raised in the film. Their country has been portrayed as somewhat ‘evil', and it is human nature for someone of this nationality to oppose and resist this message. And it is the same for everything. But why is this so? Where have these people got these ideas and opinions from to begin with? The answer is simply, the media. Different types of media shape the way in which people view past events. Years ago, when I first watched Pearl Harbour, I had no previous substantial knowledge about the War. But after watching it I suddenly found myself ‘rooting' for the Americans if you will, and viewing the Japanese as ‘evil', attacking the ‘innocent' Americans. And this is exactly what the director wanted. He deliberately positioned me, the audience, to follow these characters in their journeys and sympathise with them - in essence, wanting them to win. I had no knowledge on the subject, I could have been lied to for all I knew, but that's the power of persuasion. The media is a powerful art. It can both shape social, cultural and historical factors. And be shaped by social, cultural and historical factors.

 fin.

Blog #4

Globalisation and technologies shape and impact local, national and international media audiences with various controls and constraints.
Documentaries are shaped by these constraints. In our documentary, Smells like Teen Citrus

(yes! We finally have a name) we have been faced with a range of these constraints. So we all know the types of constraints, but just in case you forget let me refresh your memory - political, ethical, time, budgetary, audience expectations and offcourse technical constraints. We have already experienced all of these controls.
First of all a political constraint that we just experienced, not in our documentary, but today we submitted out Don't Fight It video, well now I guess it's The Company Man video, to a Media Production & Analysis competition. Yes, that's right, because we don't have the consent from The Panics to use their song, we had to change the entire song all together! So this is one political constraint that we have experienced, but it's one that we had to work around ( even if it was at the expense of our artistic integrity. But hey, that's commercialism for you!)
But now, back to Smells like Teen Citrus. Just like everyone, our group has experienced various constraints.

In the interest of P.E.T.B.A.T, let's start with political and ethical shall we. Okay let's pretend our school is a country, let's call it Swaustralia. Now in this country there is a hierarchy. Mr Lewis is the president and the teachers are the untrustworthy politicians! So these leaders have values and morals in which our ‘country' is supposed to abide by. This means that we cannot put highly offensive footage into our film. Not that we want to, but yes Nathan is known for his explicitly gay acting. Men in Bruce - need I say more? So just like Men in Bruce was banned from ever EVER leaving the media room because of it's material that didn't correlate with the school ethos, we have to make sure that our film doesn't contain inappropriate footage, because we would like it to be seen. So sorry Nathan....no spying into boys bathrooms in this film. These political and ethical constraints that are placed in every media work often jeopardize directors artistic vision if the messages and features of a doco don't correlate with popular values. Also, producers of documentaries are restricted by their own ethics, they may have some great footage but chose not to use it as they believe it is morally not right.

Time is of the essence! We have to have our film finished by the time we leave school. And with our other subjects and mocks im sure we will struggle with time restraints as we find ourselves overwhelmed. Producers of documentary are often, just like us, placed with time constraints. Michael Moore for example had a specific purpose with Fahrenheit to convince the American people to vote against Bush in the next election. He therefore had to finish, screen and distribute the film long enough before the election for it to have the desired effect.

Technology and budget are offcourse major issues for us. Well we are well equipped with most of the technology to make our film, it's just whether we use it correctly. We learnt this lesson the day of Nathan's magazine shoot where i take full blame for not checking the audio was on auto. So, we had great picture, but unfortunately no sound. But i guess we just have to work with what we have. Budget is of course a major constraint. We have a very small budget if any. I think the only thing that was purchased by our group for this film was knee pads for Nathan, maybe some razors and shaving cream too. Because of this budgetary constraint we obviously cant hire thousands of extras and famous actors because it simply isn't realistic. But hey, our amateur actors are doing fab!

Now audience expectations is a major constraint that affects all type of filmmakers, especially documentary. Various groups in society affect what is included and not included in doco's.  For example, in making Fahrenheit Moore would have been greatly influenced by lobbying anti-war groups who disagree with the Iraq invasion. Moore would have taken the chance to make these people agree with him and his idea by portraying in his film his anti-war perspective. He would hope that those people who disagree with the war, after watching his film, would see he also disagrees with the war and thus they would also take on his opinion and perspective of Bush.
Producers of film, just like Moore, take advantage of people's opinions on certain subjects to influence them into agreeing with their point of view on other subjects. Other producers are forced to leave out footage and subjects because they know it will offend certain groups. Essentially, producers make what the audience wants to see.