Feedback from my Power artefact…

The feedback I received from my peers after watching my power film was quite good, there comments are shown below my artefact. Some of them said how I used too much of the Michael Jackson video which is probably true but I thought by using edited bits of the video, along with my still images would really work well together a create a powerful video. As you can see from this artefact film making isn’t my strongpoint but as a media production student I need to be versatile and be skilled in many areas of the media including film making in order to be more employable when I graduate.
Mez gave me some good feedback for my artefact, she said that it was good but yet again I have used footage from the internet and just edited it for my work, she said that for my next piece she wants it to be more personal to me. She suggested that maybe even if I just tried to film footage using my phone would be acceptable, as she knew about the problems I encountered when it came to converting youtube files to edit them for my artefact.
The next theme I need to start thinking about now is Memory…

310MC Power Artefact

This is my finished power artefact, as I didn’t actually have a solid idea until a few days before it had to be handed it I feel it is not as good as I imagined it would be. I came across different issues when it came to editing and putting the film together. At first I had trouble converting the youtube files into media player files for me to start editing with on moviemaker. Another issue I had come across was the copyrights to the Michael Jackson song but then I found another version and it turned out alright to use for my film.
Unfortunately I didn’t keep to the obstruction for this film which was for the duration to be one minute and thirty seconds exactly, I did really try and end it at this time but I felt it had to go a bit longer for the story to be portrayed properly. This is probably something I will get negative feedback on.

Research… Power we have over nature…

I found this artefact online about how we should be preserving the rainforest, it has made me aware of how bad things really are. It had brought to my attention that we should be careful which the amounts we consume of certain products and how we should always buy products from companies that make a commitment to safe environmental practices.

PRESERVING THE RAINFORESTS

The world’s rainforests are currently disappearing at a rate of 6000 acres every hour (this is about 4000 football fields per hour). When these forests are cut down, the plants and animals that live in the forests are destroyed, and some species are at risk of being made extinct. Further, as the large-scale harvesting of lumber from the rain forests continues, the balance of the earth’s eco-system is disrupted. We need the rain forests to produce oxygen and clean the atmosphere to help us breathe. We also know that the earth’s climate can be affected, as well as the water cycle. Rainforests also provide us with many valuable medicinal plants, and may be a source of a cure from some deadly diseases.

Forests can be managed effectively without endangering rare species of plants and animals and without risking global environmental damage. Companies that harvest timber should not be allowed to “clear cut” large areas of forest and should be required to plant new trees after they cut old trees down. Governments should create large parks and reserves where hunting and logging are not allowed. As a world community, we must be careful not to destroy the resources that people will need in the future.

Many animals from the rainforests are brought to our country illegally. Parrots and iguanas, for example, are often imported illegally. We should not buy these animals, since that encourages other people to bring in more animals.

Most of the products that we use in our country come from rainforests, such as rubber, coffee and rain forest lumber. Rainforests are cut down to harvest the timber and also to make room for farms to grow coffee and spices. Each of us needs to be thoughtful about the way we consume these products, and support companies and programs that make a commitment to safe environmental practices. Recycle and re-use whenever possible, and help keep the earth green and healthy.

Power Artefact idea…

I have just come back from the cinema in which I went to see the new Michael Jackson movie called ‘This is it’. Whilst watching the film I got inspired for a good idea I could do for my power artefact. In the film it showed Michael Jackson’s song ‘Earth song’ and the video to support this was brilliant it featured a little girl in a beautiful rainforest surrounded by lovely things and then she falls asleep, and whilst shes asleep all this horrible stuff is happening to the world, people are starving, people are destroying the rainforest and so on. She then wakes up to see this horrible stuff going on around her. I thought this video in the film was great as it portrayed a worthy message to me and highlighted the fact that ‘WE, as people have POWER over nature, we can change what goes on around us and make things better’.

This is the message I would like to portray through my artefact I will now get started on preparation for my artefact now that I have my idea. I’m thinking of using the soundtrack earthsong, editing parts of the video with the little girl as well as using still images I found myself. I think by doing it this way I will be able to portray this important message to the audience.

Below is Michael Jackson’s original video for ‘Earthsong’ I have posted it for those who are not familiar with it although it is one of his all time classics.The rather dramatic footage was shot in four locations – the Amazon forest, a war zone of Croatia, Tanzania and New York.

Also, by actually reading the lyrics of the song I can fully understand the meaning of it and the message Michael Jackson is trying to tell us through his song;

“Earth Song”

What about sunrise, What about rain, What about all the things That you said we were to gain…
What about killing fields Is there a time? What about all the things That you said was yours and mine…
Did you ever stop to notice, All the blood we’ve shed before
Did you ever stop to notice,The crying Earth the weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah

What have we done to the world, Look what we’ve done,What about all the peace,That you pledge your only son…
What about flowering fields, Is there a time, What about all the dreams, That you said was yours and mine…
Did you ever stop to notice, All the children dead from war, Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores

Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah

I used to dream, I used to glance beyond the stars, Now I don’t know where we are, Although I know we’ve drifted far

Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah

Hey, what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can’t even breathe
(What about us)
What about apathy
(What about us)
I need you
(What about us)
What about nature’s worth
(ooo, ooo)
It’s our planet’s womb
(What about us)
What about animals
(What about it)
We’ve turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us)
What about elephants
(What about us)
Have we lost their trust
(What about us)
What about crying whales
(What about us)
We’re ravaging the seas
(What about us)
What about forest trails
(ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)
What about the common man
(What about us)
Can’t we set him free
(What about us)
What about children dying
(What about us)
Can’t you hear them cry
(What about us)
Where did we go wrong
(ooo, ooo)
Someone tell me why
(What about us)
What about babies
(What about it)
What about the days
(What about us)
What about all their joy
(What about us)
What about the man
(What about us)
What about the crying man
(What about us)
What about Abraham
(What was us)
What about death again
(ooo, ooo)
Do we give a damn

Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaah

Power research continued…

As I am trying to research more into word power I thought I could look into the word ‘hegemony’ a bit more and Antonio Gramsci’s theory behind it…
Gramsci and hegemony
Antonio Gramsci, an Italian (1891-1937), was a leading Marxist thinker. Like Althusser, he rejected economism, insisting on the independence of ideology from economic determinism. Gramsci also rejected crude materialism, offering a humanist version of Marxism which focused on human subjectivity.
Gramsci used the term hegemony to denote the predominance of one social class over others (e.g. bourgeois hegemony). This represents not only political and economic control, but also the ability of the dominant class to project its own way of seeing the world so that those who are subordinated by it accept it as ‘common sense’ and ‘natural’. Commentators stress that this involves willing and active consent. Common sense, suggests Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, is ‘the way a subordinate class lives its subordination’ (cited in Alvarado & Boyd-Barrett 1992: 51).

However, unlike Althusser, Gramsci emphasizes struggle. He noted that ‘common sense is not something rigid and immobile, but is continually transforming itself’ (Gramsci, cited in Hall 1982: 73). As Fiske puts it, ‘Consent must be constantly won and rewon, for people’s material social experience constantly reminds them of the disadvantages of subordination and thus poses a threat to the dominant class… Hegemony… posits a constant contradiction between ideology and the social experience of the subordinate that makes this interface into an inevitable site of ideological struggle’ (Fiske 1992: 291). References to the mass media in terms of an ideological ‘site of struggle’ are recurrent in the commentaries of those influenced by this perspective. Gramsci’s stance involved a rejection of economism since it saw a struggle for ideological hegemony as a primary factor in radical change.

Criticisms of Althusser’s theory of ideology drew some neo-Marxists to Gramsci’s ideas.

I found this passage on the internet and it portrays how Gramsci’s theory of hegemony can be linked into the power over the classes in society.I could maybe think more about this theory of Hegemonic power when it comes to creating my power artefect.

When I was looking on the internet for some inspiring pieces of work for this power theme I came across this really inspirational short video created by an ad agency called ‘mother’ for Amnesty International. It was released to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2008/dec/10/amnesty-international-you-are-powerful-film

I found this video very inspiring as it shows how people can do something to stop all these terrible things that are going on in the world. It looks like it uses archive footage found off news bulletins and videos off the internet but it is edited so that the people are featured in these videos by running in to stop the violence. It is very cleverly put together I would love to do something like this for my power artefact but i wouldn’t know how to edit the people into the film artificially it probably requires the latest editing software which i don’t have on my own laptop.

hmm… I’ll keep thinking about a different idea…

Research…

Whilst looking at different adverts for a bit of inspiration for my power artefact I came across this honda advert;

It made me think about the thought process that goes into an advert like this, it is a very clever idea and maybe I could do something like this for my artefact. Maybe changing the idea of them making the noise of a car and get a few people to make the noise of something else such as- someone making a cup of tea, making the noise of boiling the kettle, stirring with a spoon, adding sugar etc but making the noises through our mouths. It is something I could think about, I could maybe ask round a few friends and see what noises we could come up with.
I really need to start considering the actual meaning of the artefact though and doing this kind of thing doesn’t really portray power.

Brainstorming Ideas…

I have been thinking of possible ideas I could do for my power artefact… here are the ideas I have come up with so far..
*Portraying the power of love- showing how love can develop through time, maybe using footage I have shot combined with footage found on the internet.
*Showing the power of obsession how someone can be obsessed with something
*The power of nature- using a collection of images showing how flowers depend on water, some animals depend on plants to survive.

Looking at these ideas I feel there is nothing is I can build from these to make an artefact so I’m going to keep on researching the theme of ‘power’ looking at different videos and films online to help inspire my idea.

Power Research…

Four our power artefact we have now been given our obstruction…
The obstruction for this theme is very simple. It is merely a time restriction. Whatever the medium you are using: a still photo essay, an audio piece, animation or other moving image piece there is a time limit of 1 minute and 30 seconds exactly.

In our workshop with Mez she was helping us discuss possible ideas we could do for this power module, she told us all to write four words down on a piece of paper in which we thought were powerful and then we all had to share them with the group, it was interesting to see what words some people found were powerful.
The four words I chose were;
*LOVE- I think it is the most powerful thing in the world, knowing that someone loves you and cares about you.
*HATE- I think that hate is a very powerful word and should not be used lightly, lots of bad things develop from the world hate.
*WAR- again another terrible word, a war is something that effects so many people so the word alone is powerful and the effects of it.
*RESPECT- I think respect is very powerful we notice respect and discipline in our lives, if someone is respected that are thought well of and that alone can make them powerful .

Other words that other people thought of as powerful were- SEX, BOMBS, MUSIC, HURT, JUSTICE, SACRIFICE, GOD
The most popular power words that everyone came up with were- LOVE, WAR and SEX.
I found this exercise very helpful as it allowed me to start thinking about what sort of idea I could come up with for my power idea.

I found this little passage on the internet which explains how power words can evoke certain moods and feelings I will keep this in mind when it comes to making my artefact.

What are power words?
Powerful words are words that create a dominant image or an impression in our minds. Words such as bravery, hurt, sacrifice, worship, justice etc. generate a strong impression whereas words like hill, sea, paper, water, stairs etc. remain passive. That is because we associate feelings and actions with powerful words.

‘Push-Button Technology’ and ‘Killer Sales’ are powerful words. Most writers use these kind of words where they bring together two entirely disparate objects in a simile for effect. People enjoy it because it’s novel. You can also create words such as these to impress people with your innovativeness and cleverness
found on- http://www.write101.com/power-words.htm

Power…

We have moved onto the theme of ‘Power’ within our work so in order to get more of a grasp of the idea of power and how I can use this theme within an artefact I have looked up the meaning of the word;

Power- Power refers broadly to any ability to effect change or exert control over either things or people, subjects or objects.
• Political power, power held by a person or group in a country’s political system, such as
o Executive power
o Judicial power
o Legislative power

• Power in international relations refers to the ability of national states to influence or control other states; states themselves may be referred to as powers, and may be further distinguished as: historical powers, middle powers, regional powers, great powers, superpowers, or hyperpowers
• Economic power, multiple meanings
• Power (communication), power in interpersonal communication

o Human power is the amount of work a human does in a period of time
o Motive power is power which moves something
o Optical power of a lens is the inverse of its focal length
o Effective radiated power in radio telecommunications is a measure of radio station antennas
(found on wikipedia.com)

After looking into the meaning of ‘power’ it has enabled me to start thinking about what aspects of power relate to the media and what sort of thing I should think about to research for my work.
Here are a few things relating to ‘power in the media’ that I will be considering in my research;
* power class in society (upper,middle,lower)
* Knowledge is power
* Male and Female Power- who’s stronger? (physically,mentally)
* Hegemony
* Maybe considering Foucalt? (power theorist)

Like I did with the theme of Spectacle I will now look at different aspects of the media and how I could research them in terms of the theme of ‘power’ this will help me to develop knowledge on the subject as well as exploring the theme in many ways and then ultimately contribute to me coming up with an idea for my ‘power artefact’.

Looking at the theme ‘Power’ in relation to art
When talking about power in accordance with art I could relate it to Pablo Picasso’s artwork. His ‘class’ in society. From making his artwork it enabled Picasso to make more money, therefore allowing him to move up to ‘upperclass’ in society giving him more ‘power’.
His knowledge of art may have also been his power?
As Pablo Picasso established himself into more of a successful artist, his art had ‘power’ over the public. The public enjoyed his art and therefore wanted to buy it therefore being powerfully inspired by his artwork.
When Picasso started to reflect ‘cubism’ into his artwork which shocked the critics, he ultimately made his name and therefore made him a ‘famous’ artist whom everyone knew of.
When I was researching into how art is powerful I found this short paragraph which I found intriguing which Simon Schama dicusses the power of Picasso’s artwork ‘Guernica’ and how it is powerful to the viewer.

Simon Schama on Picasso

“Pablo Picasso’s Guernica is so familiar, so large, so present. It’s physically bigger than a movie screen. But what is the painting about? Is it an account of the Spanish town obliterated by Nazi warplanes – a piece of reportage? Is that why it’s in black and white?

This is the reason why the painting has such an impact. Instead of a laboured literal commentary on German warplanes, Basque civilians and incendiary bombs, Picasso connects with our worst nightmares. He’s saying here’s where the world’s horror comes from; the dark pit of our psyche.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/powerofart/picasso.shtml

Power in relation to television
When looking at the theme ‘power’ in relation to a television show I could use the same example as I did for ‘spectacle’ which was the ‘X Factor’.
Television shows such as the X factor have power over society, appeals to all classes lower, middle and upper. The show seems to have good ratings, seems to have ‘power’ over peoples Saturday nights people plan their Saturday nights around the show if they go out on a night out and miss it they make sure they watch it the next day or on catch up. It has ‘power’ over the public, people tune in for entertainment they like watching the story unfold making someone’s dream come true. They get satisfaction watching the show, gets people talking people discuss their favourites their least favourite contestants with each other.

I have found an article off the internet which displays how television can be powerful in a bad way for us as we just take in everything we watch instead of stepping back to analyse and take in the message it is giving us.

The Power of Television-

http://www.homeschool.co.uk/resource/the-power-of-television.html

About 18 years ago I read Malcom Muggeridge’s book “Christ and the Media” which was a real eye-opener. The most telling passage is where he discusses how what we see (via television) enters directly into our minds with hardly any chance of being questioned, while what we read has to be analysed (at least to the level of deciphering what the words mean) before it can be assimilated. It isn’t the bald statement of falsehoods which is dangerous, so much as the things which are assumed by everyone on the screen eg. that violence is an appropriate response to a disagreement.
found quotes from C S Lewis “The Abolition of Man”: he is talking about an English textbook, but it applies equally very well to the unspoken assumptions implied by every character in every soap: “It is not a theory put into his mind, but an assumption, which ten years hence, its origin forgotten and its presence unconscious, will condition him to take one side in a controversy which he has never recognised as a controversy at all. The authors themselves, I suspect, hardly know what they are doing to the boy,. and he cannot know what is being done to him”. (p9)
” (the authors) have cut out of his soul, long before he is old enough to choose, the possibility of having certain experiences which thinkers of more authority than they have held to be generous, fruitful, and humane”. (p11)
“some incentive to cruelty and neglect they will have received; some pleasure in their own knowingness will have entered their minds … Another little portion of the human heritage has been quietly taken from them before they were old enough to understand”. (p12)
In this respect, TV is much more powerful than books. A book has to be read in order to gain the information in it: it has to be processed by the mind before the information can be assimilated. With a book you can stop and argue with the author at any moment. But, as Malcolm Muggeridge points out in his book “Christ and the Media”: TV images are absorbed directly by the unconscious mind with no conscious effort required. As someone who worked in the media for several decades, he is well aware of just how “unreal” is the TV world view (including the TV news!).
G K Chesterton is “Orthodoxy” explains why fairy tails are more realistic than the “the sober realistic novel of today”: “The fairy tale discussed what a sane man will do in a mad world. The sober realistic novel of today discusses what an essential lunatic will do in a dull world”.
Donald F Roberts, Thomas More Storke Professor in the Department of Communication Stanford University writes: “Most research has focused on whether or not viewers learn aggressive behaviours or attitudes through exposure to medial portrayals of entertainment violence. Several exhaustive reviews of over 2000 scientific studies conducted during the past 40 years lead to the unequivocal conclusion that exposure to mass media portrayals of violence contribute to aggressive attitudes and behaviour in children, adolescents, and adults (see, for example, Comstock with Pail, 1991; Paik & Comstock). Obviously media violence is not the only cause of violent social behaviour, but few social scientists would debate that it plays a contributory role. Indeed, as long ago as 1982, a National Institute of Mental Health report on television and behaviour concluded: “In magnitude, television violence is as strongly correlated with aggresive behaviour as any other behaviour variable that has been measured” (National Institute of Mental Health, 1982). Studies conducted in the intervening 15 years have not altered that judgement (Comstock & Paik, 1991)”.
A prolonged exposure (especially at an early age) to violent television and violent, realistic, interactive computer games, also contributes to the systematic destruction of a child’s ability to think rationally and control his or her life. The average American child is exposed to 25 hours of television each week, and will have been exposed to an estimated 8000 murders and 100 000 acts of violence on television by the time the child completes elementary school. It is absurd to claim that such an exposure will have no effect whatsoever on a child’s world view!
Can what you see on television affect your behaviour against your will? Of course! Why do companies spend billions of pounds a year on television advertising? Because they expect to recoup the money in extra sales: in other words, they know that viewing television (even the few minutes of an advert) will modify the viewer’s behaviour. How much more effect will two hours of a violent film have?

Power in relation to radio shows
After doing my work experience at Mercia FM ( a local radio station) and also being employed by them now as a ‘thunder’, I have been able to ‘sit in’ on a few live breakfast shows and got more to grips with how a show is put together.
The items of the show include;
*music
*competitions
*Back in the day (9 at 9am) -nine songs get played from a certain year and people phone in to guess the year.

I personally think the show could be improved by changing the ‘Back in the day’ item as it has been going for some time now and it needs something new to bring to the format of the show. However, it does seem popular with listeners but I think something fresh being bought to the show will benefit the breakfast show as a whole.

The ‘Breakfast show’ is listened to by so many listeners being especially appealing to housewives and ‘lower classes’ with people who don’t go to work. Also, middle class people who listen to it at work, this shows that it has power over the classes. Mercia is also a very powerful radio station in terms of advertising. Mercia is advertised at many events with the ‘thunders’ . Also, listeners can keep up to date with the show online. All the presenters on the radio shows at mercia are prominently male with a female travel presenter.

When researching about the power of radio I came across this article on the internet which illustrates the physchological power of radio by Tim Crook

When you consider the history of the twentieth century, broadcasting skits or hoaxes are more associated with radio than with television. This is because radio was the first electronic medium of mass entertainment and radio is a more psychological medium. Its relationship with its audience is based on an emotional and imaginative bond. In 1997 radio has not lost its importance as a huge and significant source for news and entertainment and the opportunity to hoodwink the audience is as strong as it has ever been.

There are few people who are unaware of the panic created by the Mercury Theatre on Halloween night 1938. The radio adaptation of H G Wells’s ‘The War of the Worlds’ had been transformed into a close representation of an American entertainment programme interrupted by urgent news bulletins. Orson Welles is credited with the idea, Howard Koch is credited with writing the script and the outstanding, almost naturalistic acting of the cast is credited with convincing hundreds of thousands of people that the Martians were invading New Jersey.

Professor Hadley Cantril at Princetown University researched and published the only study into the relationship between the power and effectiveness of a broadcast of this kind and the reaction of the audience. ‘The Invasion From Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic’ remains one of the most significant sociological and psychological studies of radio.

I think we can now say that the panic was the result of a mischievous determination to shock and confuse by Orson Welles and the unusual circumstances of the period and the actual day of the broadcast. I think the evidence available to us indicates quite strongly that Orson Welles deliberately sought to create alarm, although he did not anticipate the scale of the panic.

So the spoof potential of radio lies in the willing desire to suspend disbelief. If this can be described as a human weakness then it is present in all of us. In radio, both listener and broadcaster can now find ways of exposing the medium’s vulnerability