Theorising Media

  Think about the importance and the structure of Narrative in contemporary western media culture and in other cultures (modern and historic). Narrative is integral in every story. If there are no dips and heights to it, it can quickly become stale and boring. This is why most narratives follow a similar pattern of: Exhibition. Conflict and Resolution. This is a tried and tested narrative that has shown to work in keeping an audience interested in the story. This is a narrative that dates back to the very first stories written, where our protagonist goes on a journey or quest to obtain something and on this journey we see them face a great conflict and they overcome this and collect their treasure for example. This has then developed to todays films and stories, but it has evolved to a point where the biggest conflict isn't necessarily against another individual, we see the biggest conflict be an emotional challenge or psychological challenge. This opens the door for more advanced ...

 This reading focuses on the construction of narrative within radio and how audio can be used effectively to develop and strengthen the narrative. Overall, on paper this topic isn't something that will necessarily help with my project this year, however after reading this text I found there are some things that may benefit us in making the documentary.  One idea I found that could possibly really benefit our project was the information on silence. 'Oral historians and seasoned radio documentary/feature makers know the benefit of silence. It can presage the most precious moments of the interview'. Whether this be a moment of reflection or realisation, the use of silence can be imperative in strengthening a narrative moment, this is why silence is known as 'the compost of deep conversation'. This is something we will definitely want to use for our documentary, especially in moments where we reach the climax and things take a turn in the narrative to a more deeper mome...

 

 For a few year now I have been well aware of Laura Mulvey's theory on the Male Gaze and from this reading I have gained a better understanding of where this idea has developed from. The whole idea of the male gaze is that, 'women are an icon, displayed for the gaze and enjoyment of men' within all forms of media. It's the idea within media the 'narrative is driven by the main male figure', but 'women are there to be looked at'. Mulvey argues this stems from the 'sexual imbalance' in that the 'pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female' and that men in this situation are 'the active controllers of the look'. Also when she speaks about the male gaze the idea of the 'phallic lens' comes up, this is the idea that the camera itself has a 'phallic (penis) lens', in other words it looks for the things that will best please the man visually i.e women.  This is of course somewhat an outdated ...

Hacktivism is the use of computer based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change, for example Anonymous. Of course however you look at it, by hacking into anything you are committing a crime, so straight away it is ethically wrong. Whether or not you are doing it to reveal something that we are being lied about or just to steal personal details from somebody, both are ethically wrong. However, one is worse than the other. Creative hacktivism at the end of the day is still an illegal process, but used possibly in a more positive light, so in some sense less ethically wrong. But overall it is still a morally debatable thing to do.

 The main issue raised throughout this weeks reading is the idea of voyeurism and is it okay, especially within a field like documentary filmmaking, where you are going into people's homes and telling their story. The reason documentary has to indulge into voyeurism is because natural material is documentary, without it, it is just a regular film. In this reading the main principles are spoken about, how you should film in a living scene with a real story, the best docs have the original actor to give more meaning to doc and the need for raw material with spontaneous gestures is what the whole field stands on. The way to combat this issue is to build trust with the pps and to make sure they are consenting the whole way through. With this there should be no issue of voyeurism being too intrusive.