My 4 minute documentary about video game addiction is complete. I took on-board the suggestions made to improve my video. I changed the music in the second half of the documentary to a slower beat to reflect the seriousness of the situation.
The voice-over went through several changes, I recorded my voice-over for a second time taking in the suggestions to talk a little bit faster and with more emphasis on words so that it sounds more interesting for the viewer. However upon completion of my voice-over, I still was not happy about it as I just do not like the sound of my own voice, so i got a friend to do the voice over for me.
I added in extra segments about addiction to gaming. As the assignment was limited to 2-4 minutes, I would have liked to included another 2 minutes of footage focusing on more of the decisions made in Asia to help online gaming addictions such as the 'online gaming clinics'.
I am very happy about the outcome of this project and felt that I learned much from it. I went through much research but due to the length of the documentary, could not fit it all in.
I realise that this addiction is similar to other addictions such as television, social media and the internet in general.
This week is our final lecture for Digital Media Within Society and it deals with Changing Media Worlds.
Here we assess the many development changes that have taken place with new media technologies and networks that have changed the world over the past 10 to 20 years. We also examine the world-wide media networks and how they have shaped an international global culture.
Postmodernism Explanation link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism
Postmodernism is the general term which applies to literature, art, economics, philosophy, architecture, fiction and literary critcism. It is a reaction to scientific or objective efforts to explain reality. It can be defined as the period after modernism where established values are changed due to new technological advances and a fresh understanding of what the future holds.
In Postmodernism we learn to accept a number of different perspectives from the culture or information stream. Postmodernism has taken culture and practices we had in the past and updated them to modern society and technology.
The Change in Media
Over the past 20 years we have evolved from an analogue to digital world.
Analogue television has been replaced in most cases by digital terrestrial television or digital satellite television as well as television over the internet services.
Mobile digital telephone networks are now used most commonly than traditional telephones.
We have witnessed the birth of the internet which led to the dot.com boom.
We have since moved onto Web 2.0
Marshall McLuhan argues that the technologies which carry media products change human perception of the world and practices within it. He also argues that the content of any medium is always another medium.
e.g. early cinema evolved from existing theatrical/drama conventions and gradually made it's own form. Cinema has constantly evolved ever since with more genre's of cinema now than ever. Computer games later re-mediated cinema, but the difference is that games are more immersive.
This is a theory that presumes that a society's technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values. Technological determinism seeks to show technical developments, media or technology as a whole as the key mover in history and social change.
The general idea behind this is that the development of technology itself follows a predictable path beyond cultural or political influence and that the technology has 'effects' on societies that are inherent because the society organises itself to support and develop a technology once it's introduced.
Television itself has changed much over the years. Previously it was something that we could only watch without any interaction from the viewer but today the viewer can interact with many tv shows and news programs but using social media such as twitter to get their point of view across.
Social Media debates
Social media can be viewed as either Pessimistic or optimistic.
Pessimistic
People claim that social networking via social media is causing some people in society to substitute this virtual social interaction as a replacement for real physical relationships.
In the past we had to make physical contact with somebody in order to talk to them but today, many people sit at their computer or use their phones to 'chat' to people using social networks or instant messaging applications. This lack of social contact with others can become a real problem.
Social media can be highly addictive, where people spend all their time in a virtual reality, rather than in physical contact with friends and family.
Other examples of social media addictions include video game addiction where players can become highly addicted to online multiplayer role playing games. These games can also have other side effects such as over exposure to violence and sexual themes. This can be unhealthy especially to underage gamers.
Optimistic
We are living in a time when smartphones serve as a full multimedia devices offering users 100s of usefull apps. Music is freely available on the internet, ebooks are quickly replacing the traditional paper book. We can use Google live street view to help us find where we are going. We can buy blu-rays cheaper online than in stores. Social Media is wonderful, it has brought everyone closer together, the world is not such a big place anymore. If I have a problem I can voice my opinion online and it is instantly send all around the world.
The Long Tail Effect
This term refers to a ratailing stategy of selling large numbers of unique items with small quantities sold of each item.
The Amazon database helps to locate any item in the warehouse out of thousnads and it helps the customer to be aware of alternatives.
The Pros
Consumers have a much wider choice. This gives creative artists outside of the mainstream media a chance to receive more royalties.
The Cons
Due to the large size of Amazon and other similar business' it can put smaller 'niche' competitors out of business.
Amazon deals with 1000s of products so they do not really have any experts relating to any particular area. e.g. if you buy camera equipment from Amazon it is unlikely they have anybody knowledgeable to deal with cameras compared to a proper camera store that you can find on the high street. Due to lower prices, consumers abandon these expert services in favour of Amazon. This can put these specialist high street stores out of business. The amazon site itself is very slow on dial-up connections, so they assume that everyone has a decent broadband connection.
Copyright
Kevin Kelly argues that digital copies of media are essentially free and that it is pointless to expect a return as you own the original rights. It is becoming difficult to support creative work in this new world of collaboration.
Traditional forms of copyright are granted to authors for their expression of ideas for a limited number of years. When the copyright expires, these ideas are passed into the public domain where anyone is free to use these ideas. This is a case with many old films now freely available for download and are open to be re=produced by somebody else.
This week we deal with Globalisation.
We discuss the extent of current global media as well as what is involved in it.
What is it? Linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization
Globalization is the process of international integration from the exchange of world views, products, ideas and aspects of culture.It refers to the processes that promote world-wide exchanges of national and cultural resources with advances in transportation and telecommunications infrastructure such as the internet. It helps connect individuals, societies and countries/continents. This is reflected by a reduction in terms of time and space. It has caused widespread development of computers as well as communication infrastructure.
Globalization isn't all good. It has caused decreased significance of minority and ethnic identities. It has made local, region and even national significance less of an influence.
e.g. small local shops are becoming a thing of the past with massive supermarkets, food outlets and shopping complex's taking over.
E.G. Wal-Mart, Tesco, Mc Donalds, Starbucks.
Globalisation has also caused increased exploitation of Third World Countries.
We are constantly bombarded with globalisation in our daily lives through;
Social Media
Branding
US TV-Shows
Online Role Play
Global News Coverage
The method of delivering globalisation to the world has changed over the years.
It started off as a one to one interaction such as printing, newspapers and telephone calls, and then moved onto a one-to-many basis such as broadcast speeches, television and radio. Over the past twenty years has has changed to a many-to-many basis with the rise of the internet where social media, online games and social networking sites help spread globally almost instantly.
History of Globalisation
Power structures on a larger than national sale have existed for many centuries. E.G. Chinese and British empires.
Today, media globalisation is very different.
It occurs when activities take place on a global scale, not rational or regional.
They are deliberately organised on a global scale and involve some interdependency so that activities in different parts of our world are shaped by each other.It often involves media and technologies which is instantaneous.
Watershed Moments
In 1993 US President Nixon cancelled an agreement, Bretton Woods, which opened up the financial markets. This helped accelerate free trade and deregulation and a corporate capitalism which led to cheap labour in certain parts of the world. This process is called Newliberalism.
The second moment was 9/11.
The term 'Global Village' was invented by media theorist Marshall McLuhan in the late 1960s.
World satellite news channels are enabling a 'global public sphere' to emerge.
With globalisation there is no escaping western culture from the United States.
Traditional, local cultures are quickly being destroyed by external pressure from powerful countries such as the United States and United Kingdom etc.
There is a dominance of US advertising, especially of branding commercial media.
E.G. Coca Cola, McDonalds, Starbucks etc.
There is also a wide distribution of advertising/branding which funds media, causing desires for US style consumerism and fashions in societies where most people cannot afford to buy them.
E.G. Apple Products, Nike etc
US World dominance started in the 1950s but this has changed since the 1990s.
Japanese company Sony bought columbia and Tristar pictures in 1989.
Australian Rupert Murdock bought 20th Century Fox in 1986.
Asian culture has become very popular in the western world and now American movie studios are remaking many asian films such as Oldboy and The Ring.
Before are arrival of mainstream media from the USA and other developed nations, third world countries were enjoying their own brand of culture with authentic traditions. It was very difficult for the new western culture to break into some nations. People often mistake globalisation as an easy process of rendering the world all the same but in reality this simply is not the case for the entire world.
This week's Digital Media Within Society class started off with Representations and Realism.
Representation
This is a concept about how the media construct meanings about the world, how it is represented. This helps the audience understand it better.
This refers to the construction in mass media of aspects of reality such as people, objects, places, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. These representations can be in speech, writing as well as still or moving imagery.
It refers to the process as well as to it's products. It emphasizes that regardless of how realistic or compelling media images become, they never present the world direct. Sometimes the media represents certain images, stories and situations repeatedly.
E.G.. supermodels are usually represented more perfect than they really are in real life. Photoshop artists will remove any blemishs on the skin, make the person even slimmer or perhaps change the skin tone.
If certain groups, ideas, situations are constantly represented in oppressive or limited ways, how does this relate to our understanding of the situation in reality.
There is an increase amount of possibilities for 'self-representations' in digital forms.
Sometimes the media's representations of other countries and it's people can be quite annoying. American media usually portray Ireland as an empty green country where we all speak the same way with over-the-top Irish accents, shamrocks and drunk people everywhere.
Hegemony
The term Hegemony is used to describe the predominance between the different levels of social classes.
Hegemony refers to the winning of popular consent through everyday cultural life, including media representations of the world as well as education and family.
The mass media regularly shows the dominance that world governments and corporations have over the general public.
We see imagery of royalty and government dressed in very expensive clothing often visiting poor districts where the general people look very much out-classed by the leaders. The media can also portray celebrities and people with power as 'better' than us when in reality we are just all human. In Northern Ireland there has always been hegemony where the protestants feel far superior to the catholics. This is not as much of a problem as it used to be there, but in the past catholics had less rights and often did not get jobs. We have also seen images of innocent protestors who have been shot/fired upon by the ruling police/governments.
Ideology
Ideology refers to a set of ideas which give account of the social world..
It is a system of ideas and beliefs or principles which forms the basis of economic or political system and policy.
Ideology often gives way to widely held beliefs which everyone takes for granted as they are seen as 'common sense' making widely acceptable certain forms of social inequality.
Many of these beliefs are not entirely accurate but some ideas can be seem more 'natural' or 'truthful'.
Through ideology we have seen huge differences in social class as well as gender and racial inequalities.
Our media often circulates and reinforces dominant ideologies. Sometimes the media tries to understand or challenge certain ideologies.
Myth
Ideologies work though symbolic codes which represent and explain cultural phenomena.
This symbolic representation gives a sense of appearing natural or the reality.
This is used extensively in advertising where the product or company will advertise their brand as the perfect solution for our problems but may in reality hide some harmful truths.
E.G Diet Coke or diet drinks in general advertise the fact that their products contain almost no calories but in reality there are chemical agents in those drinks which are more harmful than the normal versions of these drinks.
This weeks lab
In this weeks lab we were asked to show/report our progress on our visual essay. I also showed this to several students for suitable feedback.
It was suggested that:
1 - I should use a few more examples of addiction to gaming in my documentary.
2 - It was suggested that I change the soundtrack used in the second half of the documentary as it was too upbeat and did not reflect a serious situation.
3 - My voice-over was too slow paced, it was suggested that I change the tone of the voice-over with more variations in tone to emphasis situations.
I have been looking up many examples of video game addiction for my assignment. I decided to focus my assignment on the effects of video game addiction, looking for examples of videos and newspaper articles online. I also wanted to focus on the growing addiction problem in South Korea.
I found the following web articles relating to online gaming addiction:
the following is the project proposal for Visual Essay Assignment.
We were required to pick between two different aspects:
The Sociological Aspects of the Media and Popular Culture Or Media's Effect on Society's Perspectives
Project Summary
I decided to base my assignment from The Sociological Aspects of the Media and Popular Culture topic and focus my attention on the negative effects caused by online gaming addictions. Online gaming addictions have become a serious problem especially in Asia where gamers often spend 7 days a week playing games up to 16 hours a day or more becoming sucked into a virtual world.
Synopsis
The reason I have decided to base this assignment on gaming addictions is because I have previously suffered from this. During the same time period another friend of mine also suffered from this addiction. The game that caused the both of us to become obsessed is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) called World of Warcraft. Luckily our addiction did not last long but it gave us an insight to how quickly one can become obsessed and this starts harming social, family, educational and work life very quickly. Once the addiction becomes long-term it can really affect your mental and physical health as well. However there are many people across the world who have let their lives become consumed by online video games. The addiction has become so serious that people have died from playing video games over recent years. Gaming addiction clinics are now commonplace in most countries. Korea has the highest percentage of gaming addicts in the world where online gaming has become a competitive sport where some online gamers have become national celebrities earning six figure salaries.
Background Information
While online gaming is great fun, too much of it can cause a serious negative effect on people’s lives. It has ruined the lives of many people. The seriousness of online gaming addictions has often been compared to drug addictions and alcoholism. Many gamers become addicted to online games to escape reality or problems in real life. They feel superior in the online world and can become emotionally attached to their gaming characters. Online games especially games like World Of Warcraft, Starcraft, Everquest and many Korean based online games have no ending or finish line like most single player games. Because of this never-ending quest of progress, gamers become addicted. In 2010 a South-Korean couple was convicted of letting their baby starve to death while they spent hours online. There has been several other deaths and suicides over the years relating to online gaming including a 13 year old boy who jumped from a 24 story building and the note he left behind for his parents was written from the point of view of his Warcraft video game character. The Korean Government has since injected millions into helping addicts. Unique Aspects of this project I feel that this project is unique because I have personal experience of this addiction, I experienced many of the negative effects associated with this addiction but luckily I soon realised what was happening and cut down massively on my gameplay before things became totally out of hand. My
Approach to this project.
For this project I will be producing a 3-4 minute video highlighting the negative effects online gaming has on society. The film will contain found footage online where I will build montages showing different online games set to a suitable soundtrack along with onscreen text. The film will also show short interview segments which will highlight just how serious online gaming addiction can be and how it has affected people’s lives. I also want to include some serious facts about this gaming addiction relating to deaths that have happened over the years. Toward the end I want to show what society is doing to help cure some gaming addicts such as addiction clinics etc. There is a lot of information online about this topic to research and plenty of documentaries highlighting this serious issue.
This week's lecture deals with Structuralism & Narrative Codes.
We first took a look at how colors are represented in culture.
The same color can represent different meanings in different parts of the world.
The Color Green -
In China green hats indicate that a man's wife is cheating on him.
In Ireland the color green represents St. Patrick and the whole country.
Most western countries the color green can have several meanings such as health (pharmacy's usually have green text). It can also indicate spring, birth, nature and 'go'.
The Color White
In Japan white represents death.
Most asian countries white is worn at funerals.
In Western countries white represents peace, angels, good guys, weddings.
The Color Black
In China black represents a color for young boys.
In Western countries it represents death, funerals and evil.
The Color Orange
In Ireland orange represents the protestant religion.
In Western countries it represents halloween.
The Color Red
In China red represents good luck, celebration and summoning.
In India it represents purity
In South Africa it represents death and mourning.
Many asian countries red is worn by brides.
Most western countries the color red can represent several things including excitement, danger, love, passion and stop.
Structuralism
Structuralism emphasizes that the elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger, overarching system or structure.
I had great difficulty understanding what the above means so googled a simple definition or explanation for it. I came across this webpage http://archaeology.about.com/od/sterms/g/structuralism.htm which helped me to understand it a bit more.
'Structuralism started out as a theory of language and ended up impacting most of the social and historical sciences including archaeology during the second half of the 20th century. Linguist Ferdinand de Saussure believed that there are subconscious yet identifiable structures in our language.
Anthropologist claude Levi-Strauss believes that there are subconscious yet identifiable structures in our behavior that are binary such as left/right, night/day, hot/cold and magic/science etc. Structuralism is a scientific way to look at peoples behavior
I also looked up a dictionary and it says that structuralism is 'an approach to social sciences and to literature in terms oppositions, contrasts, and hierarchical structures as they might reflect universal mental characteristics or organizing principles. It is also an approach to linquistics that analyses and describes the structure of language, as distinguished from it's comparative and historical aspects.'
Psychological Structures
That all human social order is determined by large social or psychological structures with their own logic, independent of human will or intention.
Denotation & ConnotationThrough this we learn that signs signify, name or Denote different aspects of our experience of the world.
Denotation refers to the direct meaning of a word or expression. E.G. the colour RED.
However the colour Red can be associated with many things such as danger signs, blood, romance, royalty and many other things. This is Connotation which is imagery that people associate with a colour, word or object.
e.g. home can connotate feelings of warmth, relaxation, comfort, family.
Our method of connotation may come from past experiences, repeated references, cultural value etc.
The video below demonstrates the meanings further.
Colour brings large connotation references in society today and can be used to great effect in business and advertising. The Link below brings us to a webpage which tells us what a specific colour connotates.
e.g. The intertextuality between two novels with the same setting.
In advertising it can be used to carry a similar theme in design from advert to advert under the same brand.
Bricolage
Bricolage is a process of borrowing signs, text, media from a diverse range of things that are available. An example could be taking a fashion style from the past and re-introducing it today as a piece of modern clothing. Another example would be taking sections of music from the past and overlaying it into a new song or music genre. As a cultural practice, bricolage refers to the activity of taking
consumer products and commodities and making them one's own by giving
them new meaning.
In the above example, cupcakes are shown in an untraditional way to present video game icons from Super Mario World.
Multimodal Texts
Multimodal texts use a wide range of media such as fonts, text, images, video, music etc and mixing them from one medium to another.
e.g. the transformation of a book or magazine from print form to a digital download or 'app'.
Narrative Codes
All forms of media tell some kind of story where the narrative is the way the process of telling stories is organised. From this we see how stories are shaped, structured and understood.
Stories should follow a typical pattern:
Equilibrium - things are as they should be Disequilibrium - disrupted by an event
There are two key codees involved in the sequencing of narratives:
Action Code - used for advancing narrative Enigma Code - explains narrative by controlling what, whre, when and how much information is given to the audience.
Certain moments that resolution of equilibrium can take place.
Vladimir Propp used fairy tales as a basis for his model of character types.
Character roles The Villain - struggles against the hero The Hero - a seeker character The Donor - provides an object with some magic property The Helper - aids the hero The Princess/Heroine - reward for the hero and object of villain's schemes. Her Father - validates the hero The Dispatcher - sends the hero on his way. False Hero - appears near the end of a story in order to trick the hero.
His model of character roles is a form of structuralism, which is the view that all media is in the form of fixed structures. These structures are culturally derived and form expectations in our minds.
e.g. fairy tales always have happy endings or the bad guys always lose out in the end and the hero saves the day. e.g. Bruce Willis in the 'Die Hard' movies.
