Game debate

This is the final blog post for this blog, it will go out of the norm as it will give information on the pros and cons of video gaming and the effects on people.

For is the agreement for games.

Against is the agreement against games.

Age Restrictions

For:
The Pan European Game Information (PEGI) says 'PEGI is usually treated as being mandatory by nearly all game retailers in their company policy. We encourage the public to always notify store managers to where the age ratings are clearly being ignored by their staff.

Against:
The Store may sell a violent 18 game to an adult but the adult may be buying it for a child under 18 years of age.

It was because of a report by Professor Tanya Byron that lead to the UK to change the laws of age restrictions and adopt the PEGI system. However she said 'It would be great to see parents taking an interest in their children's video game playing. This can involve taking direct control of what games their children play at home'

Censorship:

For: Censorship keeps anything that may be seen as in proper to a certain age group and keep the game in tact.

Against: The game Fable was sold as a 12 game but it contained murder and sexual activity which was blacked out but could be clearly heard in audio.

I would make the argument that this is censorship at work, but then again, if this sort of stuff is in a video game and needs to be essential for the game, that it is not cut out completely then why is it being sold as a 12 game?

Effects of Games:

For: In the case of games like Brain Training and Wii Fit, the effects of the games are beneficial your brain is further developed and you are more healthy. It also allows hand-eye coordination.

Against: In some cases violence in video games have caused violence in real life. In 1999 after the Columbine high school massacre family members of victims sued 25 video game companies which they blamed for the deaths. The game Doom came under intense scrutiny over reports that those responsible may have been influenced by the spectacle of shooting various targets to gain points.

Content of Games:

For: The content of video games are clearly stated on the rating area of the games packaging and is also influential in the rating of the game.

Against: As previously mentioned, negligent and irresponsible actions will lead to players being exposed to content they should not be exposed to. Also it may not be the adult action that are to blame it maybe that the game has been given the wrong rating e.g. the game Heart of Darkness for the PlayStation 1 was realised with an E rating (the equivalent of U) however became infamous because of the death cut scene where the main character (a young boy) get killed in many horrible ways including having his spine broken and being eaten alive, and yet today the game has still got an E rating.

Another example is when the game  Fallout 3 was edited in Japan because a weapon in the game was called Fat Man, this is the Reception Theory at work as this had historical context, "Fat Man" was the code name of the second Nuclear Bomb dropped the US Air Force to end the Second World War, because this caused mass devastation and the lose of hundreds the scene on the game was thought be offensive.

Advertisement of Gaming

For: Advertisement allows that player to see what the game is like and may consider playing it, it is important to showcase the game.

Against: In some cases no actually gameplay in show the only parts shown are the cut scenes, as well as the fact that adverts have the ability of overhyping a game, making a game look amazing but in the end it turns out to be rubbish. It also depends on the content shown in the advertisement e.g. the latest Tomb Raider allegedly contained rape (this turned out to be false, it was that there was attempted rape) the controversy it did create and the scene was also seen on an advertisement.

Conclusion
This idea that violence in the media is influences children in a negative fashion is not new having being said for every type of media that allow child viewing that contains violence, it relies on the out of date theory of The Hypodermic Needle (explained in an earlier post).

Also this idea depend on the User Gratification, the majority of people use games as a means of escapist fiction that has the added bonus of allowing the player to interact with the world the game establishes, as Richard Gallagher Ph.D. wrote in an article "Most youth are able to recognize the difference between reality and fiction" so this mean that the majority of children will not be effected by the game as they know that it doesn't exist.

All in all I don't believe games are to blame for anti-social behaviour, it is only an excuse that people have created to try and understand the reason, trying to make connections and jumping to conclusions.

Reference
http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/26#question_7
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19042908
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness_(video_game)#Gameplay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games#Japan
http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/video_games_cons_pros
http://www.gamesradar.com/controversial-tomb-raider-rape-scene-youve-already-seen-it/

Audiences Responses

In this post we will look at the different types of responses audiences can have to a media product. After I have given a definition and an explained example of how these theories come into affect I will talk about the music video of Coldplay's The Scientist, and determine type of response my views are reflecting the meaning of the video in compassion to the director's explanation of the meaning.

The Types of Response

Negotiated:  A negotiated response is with the audience will talk with one another and come to an agreement or disagreement with certain parts of a media product.

This can mean the way that you view a film, like if you have to emphasis with a character that you don't like, and yet you seem to be able to enjoy watching the film, this basically boils down to your viewpoint.

Oz The Great and Powerful
 Poster

E.g. A few months ago me and my family saw "Oz, The Great and Powerful", this is a prequel to both the MGM film and the books by L, Frank, Baum as it tell the story of how the Wizard came to Oz. I do like the Oz films having already seen the other Oz films and having read the first three Oz book, so I know a bit about Oz, my favourite Oz film is "Return of Oz" being it was closer to the original books, but still having a few changes as it was a hybrid of books two and three, "Oz, The Great and Powerful" I also liked, (while I feel the story at some points was a little off, some choices were rather questionable, like the make-up affect on the Wicked Witch of the East, and it was odd how Bruce Campbell was given a credit when wasn't in the film for 5 minutes) I like how the visual style and the backgrounds made a hybrid between the books and the MGM film. Sadly the Oz film I like the least is the MGM film "The Wizard of Oz", this doesn't mean I don't like it, it is just it didn't resonant with me as much as the other two did, whether I was being scared by "Return to Oz" or admiring the visual design and story-telling of "Oz The Great and Powerful".

That was my view and both my Mother and Brother agreed with me however my Father said he didn't like it, for the simple reason that it wasn't the MGM film, he said that he grew-up on "The Wizard of Oz" and to him there was no other Oz film that came close to it, he also said that he did not care much about "Return to Oz", even when I said that you could not really compare the MGM film to either "Return" or "The Great and Powerful" he was still persistent about it, and I can't argue with that.

Long story short, after discussing the film, my father wouldn't change his mind.

Preferred: This is when the audience saw the media product the way that the creator intended it.

This example is not about a film but about a book: my favourite book: George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Orwell wrote the book in response to the rise of Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union, the book talks about a group of farm animals that drive the ruthless and rather dictatorial farmer out and decide to run the farm by themselves, eventually a pig named Napoleon becomes the leader of the farm and the way he runs the farm he and the other pig seemingly turn into the humans that the animals hated so much.

It is obvious that the character of Napoleon is Orwell's interpretation of Stalin and the Stalinist regime. Other obvious comparisons that Orwell created, the farmer Mister Jones is the Tsar, the character of Old Major is Lenin, the person who started the revolution and the character of Snowball (Napoleon main reveal and the main advocate for Old Major's words) is Trotsky.

Now Orwell did like the revolution for dethroning the Tsar, which is why he wrote Jones as a cruel man who spent his money on drink, like how the Tsar had absolute power and spent his vast wealth on the finest objects in life. But he hated Stalin and the abuse of his power he did over Russia, so this was why he wrote Napoleon as much more of a cruel dictator than Jones and had Snowball as a benevolent leader and would have lead the farm to prosperity and democracy.

Almost everyone, myself included could tell the intention, being that I know the history of the Soviet Union.  However something that I have come to understand is the authorial intent is not important, what  is important is what the audience understands and interprets from the product.

Oppositional: This is when the audience finds themselves in opposition to the product due to their views.

E.g. the majority of the audience reaction to the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, the majority of those who watched the prequels found themselves hating the films due to the massive amounts of CGI, the boring political jargon, the annoying characters and performances, and the changes to the story that the original trilogy established.

The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Posters.

George Lucas's intentions was to expand the story of the Star Wars universe and explain the events that lead up to the original trilogy, but while "A New Hope" was the only film in the original trilogy that Lucas directed and written, the other films have other director and writer working a basic story idea that Lucas created, all of the Prequels were written and directed by Lucas, in the time between the release of "Return of the Jedi" and "The Phantom Menace" Lucas seemed to have lost the plot so the speak and made numerous changes and additions to the plot which caused the Star Wars fans and others alike to become outraged and act in opposition to the prequels.

Personally, while I understand the changes and hate the annoying characters the prequels do not get under my skin as much as other changes to franchises that I hold dearly and hate being destroyed. Personally what I hate the most as a media product is Hit Entertainment's run of Thomas and Friends this is due to me being a long time fan of the show and the characters and I see how changes and additions similar to this affect that long time fans of Star Wars, I can't hate the prequels as much as them because I am not a fan of Star Wars.

Coldplay's The Scientist

I watched the music video for a deconstruction for my one first college production. The video sees the story played backwards, the narrative is that the singer has walked away from a car crash that killed his girlfriend. In my view the started of the video itself, is the point when the man wants to reverse time wishing to forgive her and wanting to live in the time before this happened.

According to what director says "I had this idea that I wanted to do a story that's tragic but starts off happy and ends happy, and the video is about rewinding to that happy ending" well in context to the video it ends happy, but the story it starts happy. Personally I don't why the story ends happy, the man will never be able to see his girlfriend alive.

While I do agree on the tragic story I don't understand the part of the "starts off happy", so my view is Preferred even if I don't agree on some points, with that said you could say it is negotiated.

7/05/13 update

Participatory: This is when the audience has the ability of interacting with the product. Like commenting on a blog or a Youtube video.

In the case of a music video, the artist Professor Green in a collaboration with the food company Doritos created a music video with a panoramic effect. Using a special camera that films five points at the same time the video points were put together, so the user of the video can control the view of the video.

This technology is new and may become popular with the rise of new media, along with rise of this type of audience response.








Cultural Competence: This is the ability to understand different cultures.

Different cultures will look at a media product in different ways. In the film "Vantage Point" the way the different people were portrayed shows the way the culture that produced the movie sees the other cultures, how the American with the camera on holiday was a heroic person for saving the girl and how activists were portrayed as the antagonists and terroristic in their actions. This shows how the American creator view that type of culture, and shows they are not fully competent. However the sub-plot that a good cop was apart of the group adds to the idea that it is not the culture that is bad it is just the people.

Media products will take cultures and portray them in different ways.

Being culturally competent can allow one to understand the cultrure and those get along with the people of those cultures.

Fan Culture: Fan Culture is when the fans of a certain media product can cause changes to the media product.

The Culture itself could be a certain group that our devoted fans to a certain franchise e.g. the Trekies or the Bronies.

An example of how fans can effect a media product, remembering the fan-backlash against the prequels   have lead Disney to keep George Lucas from having any major position in the production of the new Sequel trilogy to Star Wars, having him only be a creative consultant.

In this modern era when people are better connected to each other we can act more pro-active to the media products and the fan culture that we enjoy adding to it and allowing us to take a stand when something in that media product is wrong.

Information from:
http://brianair.wordpress.com/film-theory/audience-responses/
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1472164/lens-recap-coldplays-scientist.jhtml
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/october/doritos-professor-green-chris-cairns

Audience Theory

This will be the first of the music video post.

This post is on the four theories about the audience, I will explain the theory and how these theories relate to music videos.

Hypodermic Needle Theory: This theory implies that mass media has a large influence on the audience. This theory was first observed due to the response of people to propaganda posters and advertisement. The theory states that the way information is given in a linear and direct way, the audience is passive (more information below) and that they respond to the information in the same way, this theory is no longer regarded as true due to the increase of social media allowing people the ability to be more active in their response. This theory relates to how the music video presents the artists of the video and the imagery, how this influences the audience about artist's looks and the way the preserve the genre.

Passive and Active Consumption: This theory takes about the ways that the audience reacts to the media product. Passive response means that the audience does not have an opinion and will not pay much attention to the product. Active response means that the audience will have an opinion and will react to the product, in either praise or criticism. This theory relates to how many people who watch the music video will feedback on the video, if the majority don't feedback then it means that I have not done enough to get their attention.

Reception Theory: This is how an audience of different backgrounds will perceive the message. I have already talked about this in my previous post so this mean I don't need to go over this. I will however talk about how it relates to the music video, this will tie into the Passive and Active Consumption Theory above, how events that lead up to the point they view the products effect how they react to the product.

 

Uses and Gratification Theory: This theory is an approach on how people understand media; sometimes it is for Diversion: the need to escape from reality, Personal relationship: when the person uses the media product to form relationships with others, Personal Identity: where the person uses the product as a way to find who they our, what they like, sometimes the way a person is portrayed in the product reflect us, finally there is the use of Surveillance: when the person is using the product to find out about current events and/ or issues. The theory applies to the music as how the audience uses the product, they may wish to view the video as a way to escape currents events in life e.g. taking a break from work, they may also wish to use it as a way to become apart of the social that enjoy the artist of the music and discuss it, they may use it to find who they our, if they like the video they can get a better understanding of themselves, the video can also help the audience to get information about the artist e.g. the current image that he/ her are presenting themselves as, either as a one-off or as their famous and most identifiable image.



Reception Study/ Theory

Reception Study/ Theory provides a means to understanding media texts, by understanding how these text are read by audience, how events and moods can effect they ay an audience understands a film or television show.

In college we watch the film "Vantage Point", in this film the narrative structures break the normal formula, instead of a single protagonist, linear structure narrative, in "Vantage Point" the events of the film are played multiple times from the perspective from numerous characters, in these re-plays details are that we did not know about or see from that point are shown. In the first run we focus on a news crew at the summit in Spain when the President of the USA is shot, the second run is of one of the President's seconds, the third is on a man who we find out is one of the assailants, the fourth is of a man with a camera who records the events, the fifth is of the President, who has been swapped for a double and the sixth and final perspective is of the main assailant and who all of these characters interact in the final act.


I watch a film with an open-mind so I can enjoy it as a whole, some people will focus on the small points and critic it, this is one of the ways the theory works, how people watch a film. Secondly location my effect it, we were in a classroom, this can effect the way watch a film, I was in working mood because I would have to make this blog upon it, in a cinema I maybe in a more relaxed mood not really caring if I have to talk about it. Thirdly Weather, this can effect a person emotions, e.g. if the weather is cold and wet I may be a little grumpy and be more negative about a film. Fourthly who you are watching it with, all in the room were friends so we didn't wish to spoil it, in a cinema there maybe those who just seem to keep in talking and distract you. Anything that happened within the lesson was that the film was stopped so we could have a break, this gave me time to think a piece things together, on previous events shown and how the film may end, I got most of it right, but I was off on a few details.

All in all Reception Study/ Theory show that when you watch a film you cannot rely on one viewing alone, you have to watch it a few times to get a final view.

Radio Drama - Audience Research

This post is the first on the radio drama, in this one we will look at how the producers research on the audiences for there programmes.

There are four theories of research: Primary, Secondary, Qualitative and Quantitate.

Primary research is when the producers would conduct the research themselves, the most used form of primary research is the questionnaire where the producers would ask questions relevant to the product and the audience. There are many places to conduct questionnaire research, on the street or in social areas where people of the target audience would spend time together. Focus Groups are another foam of primary research, I will put a link at the bottom of this post to another post that goes into detial in how focus groups effect a media product.

Secondary research is when the producer looks at research conducted by another person, a prime example of this for radio is RAJAR: Radio Joint Audience Research. This website allow the producers to check which radio show attract which age of audience and at what times they would listen.

Qualitative, this can be done thorough focus groups or by studying forums, this form of research may not result in a large amount of results but well detailed results.

Quantitate, this is the type of research that results on a large amount of results, this can be done by polls the results may not be detailed but this depends on the type of questions the researchers were using and the answers they were looking on.

Secondary research is usually found on RAJAR which gives the percentage of the population listening on certain radio channels, average hours of listening per head, and the average listening hours per person this would be Quantative research. If you wish to create a more specific search criteria to fit the target audience you would need to subscribe to the website.

The image is a speadsheet from RAJAR with the listerning figures with the options decided above.

The Ofcom report the information has been researched from was published in April 2013, this report is Ofcom’s Radio: The Listener’s Perspective. This report is on how people listen to radio and its role in a changing media landscape.

Amongst other things it includes a breakdown of the age groups including the target audience age group, what they prefer to listen on the radio and the reason why they listen to those preferred options.

‘BBC Radio 1 was the first choice station for this age group, valued particularly as a source of current and new music, as well as its exclusive live sets, guests and celebrity news.’ Section 4.4.1 18-24 age group.

The report suggests that the 18-24 age group primarily listen to radio for music and news for background listening.

This research is Qualitative, and from it I can tell that my radio drama would be for an extremely niche market indeed, but because this research is not my own I would need to do primary research of my own in order of prove or dispel this idea.

Primary research has the advantage that those who conducted it in this case the producers can verify this research as they have done it themselves; secondary research has the problem where if it is not sourced thoroughly enough then the information can be false, primary research can also be tailored to fit a specific group on a specific subject.

Primary research would be thorough a questionnaire, this could be done in streets, social areas that relate to the target audience or on Facebook. A questionnaire has the advantage that it can be done quickly and that it asks all the people involved the same questions to answer. E. g. A questionnaire for a radio drama for the 18-24 age groups could be targeted at people within that age range. A disadvantage of this is if the questionnaire is givien to a small collection of people who are either in favour of the subject or completely uninterested this would result in biased results. A problem with using Facebook and other social networking websites is that it would be harder know if the people who have filled in the questionnaire are the correct age.

Another method of a focus group which has a small number of people discussing the subject this would result in Qualitative results. The results would include in-depth opinions which would be useful in planning the drama and its presentation. This can be helped with giving the group evidence of the initial plans and possibly a sample recording or a pitch.

This is my Audience Profile on what I believe to be an average person to listen to my radio drama. The idea for this radio drama is based off "The Goon Show".

http://www.thegoonshow.net/

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/radio-research/ressearch-findings13/listeners-perspective.pdf

http://www.rajar.co.uk

http://wghkfmp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/audience-feedback.html

Audience Feedback

This post details that use of, focus groups, audience panels, trialling and testing, reviews, complaints and how they would affect the media product.

Now in the case of Unwind, comments on Youtube could help shape the look and feel of the up-and-coming film, the feedback for those who watch this and comment can tell the film-makers what the audience like about this short so that they can replicate this in the theatrical adaptation.

Now I would go into this in more detail but as I am not an expert on the book and the film I cannot (as the film has not been released and production note and test screening documentation have not been realeased as well). But I do have a perfect example of how audience feedback can affect a film, whether making it better or in some cases worst. This example was improving the script of a film but in other cases ruins it.

This example is "Thomas and the Magic Railroad"

The film was written, directed and co-produced by Britt Alcroft, (the woman who created the original television programme). Her original script was rather different.

In the movie the main villain is the character Diesel 10, who was done by model effects, but in the original script the villain a human called PT Boomer, in the script he is the adversary of Burnett Stone (played by Pete Fonda).

After test screenings Boomer was removed for being too scary, same with the original voice for Diesel 10 (provided by Keith Scott), which sounded like the Big Bad Wolf in Disney's "The Three Little Pigs". Both Boomer and Keith Scott's performance were in the original theatrical trailer as well as Boomer appearing another trailers, this meant that these changes were made only a few months before the film was realised. Due to this scenes within the films still have Boomer within them, cut down or left by mistake. There is a scene set in the Indian Valley were Burnett Stone is giving a motorcyclist directions, in the original script, the motorcyclist was Boomer and he and Stone were having an argument. Also in the climatic chase-scene Boomer is seen clinging onto the back of Diesel 10.

In my view the exclusion of Boomer was an improvement, due to a fact that one of my favourite reviews Doug Walker for his internet review show "Nostalgia Critic" noted that a problem with the movie is the lack of screen time of Thomas the Tank Engine, due to the plot involving Shining Time Station (set in the Indian Valley) and Burnett Stone, with the PT Boomer character we would have meant more time in the Shining Time subplot. However all that the test screening did to the film was to remove Boomer from it, as far as I know, no-one noted that Thomas had little screen time, all that removing Boomer did was shorten the length of the film.

That is an element of story removed that help the overall story somewhat, overall the story seems confusing, both Walker and Roger Ebert mentioned this, removing Boomer made that story less complicate, but as the Sodor Island Forum site (where I am getting the majority of this information from) mentions lines and story elements that involved Boomer still remained making the realised film more confusing.

Other elements that were removed due to test audience reactions (in this case mostly American audiences), the original voice for Thomas, John Bellis was removed due to his Liverpudlian accent making Thomas sound too old (side note- I would like to mention that the original narrator of the series in both the UK and USA was Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr, who being a member of the Beatles was Liverpudlian). Also Michael Angelis the UK narrator from 1991-2012 was to play Percy and James but the same test audiences that hated Bellis hated Angelis, Thomas, Percy and James would be replaced by Canadian voice actors.

In the end due to the changes made the film became heavily Americanised, far removed from the British version of the TV programme (before the films release), and the Railway Series written by the late Reverend Wilbert Awdry OBE of which the original TV programme was based on.

This post could be called a review of both the final movie and the original script, but in response to the two reviewers, and the questions in their reviews I will give the reasons why: 

•Both Walker and Ebert asked why Alec Bladwin was in the film as Mr Conductor, my answer will also explain Walker's question about the Shining Time elements, Britt Alcroft made the series Shining Time Station, so to get Thomas into the USA. Three episodes of the UK series would be played in one episode of Shining Time as an anthology, Ringo Starr being the UK narrator at the time played Mr Conductor as a way to get round re-dubbing, when Starr left in 1991 he was replaced by Michael Angelis for the UK series and American comedian George Carlin replaced Starr as Mr Conductor, meaning that Carlin would have to re-dub episodes, Carlin left in 1995 and Shining Time ended, in 1998 Thomas and Friends would start in the USA in the same format as the UK series and Alec Bladwin was the narrator for the US version until 2003, so as the previous narrators played Mr Conductor on Shining Time it would make perfect sense that Bladwin would play Mr Conductor in the movie. Alcroft I think was probably wanted to honour her previous work and get people into the film thorough the nostlagia of watching it, so the Shining Time element was to the American audience who watch Shining Time Station.

•Both Walker and  Ebert mentioned that the mouths of the engines don't move, but we hear the separate voices of each character, this complaint is invalid as the models used in the movies were almost exactly the same as those used on the TV programme which were roughly G-scale in sizes, due to this the room behind the faces were occupied by the complex eye-mecanism, also adding a moving mouth may effect the changing faces, possibly meaning the the expressions would stay the same and the mouth moving to lip-sync make these character act on similar principles to ventriloquist dummies , personnally as a fan of the original series I don't mind that the mouths do not move, it gives it a stylised look, also another television programme direceted by the late David Mitton (the direcetor of the television version of Thomas) known as "TUGS" had sperate voices actors for the characters and it proved that the fomula worked.

In the end I give the film credit for trying to get Thomas to the Big Screen, but I have to deduct points for the rather slopy execution, if was able to remake the film I would cut out most of the Shining Time parts and have it set more on the Island of Sodor and actually give Thomas the screentime he disreves being the title character.

Infomation from: http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrrevealed.html

Nostaglia Critic Review: http://blip.tv/nostalgiacritic/nostalgia-critic-thomas-and-the-magic-railroad-6006535 Note -  This video contains swearing.

Roger Ebert's review: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000726/REVIEWS/7260301/1023

Representation

In media representation normally means stereotypes.

The stereotype of science-fiction as a genre is that it is set in the future, or concerning science whether true or made up.

I have already talked about dystopias but the stereotype is that they are unpleasant, making it a terrible place to leave in, the people who work for the authority in charge are normally in some way are unpleasant, uncomfortable and are devoid of emotions.

A prime example of this in the short film of Unwind is the nurse, the way she talks to our main character (the girl), seems to be stilted, like is a robot or a hologram of a nurse saying pre-programmed lines, she also does not properly answers the girl's questions. This seems to be a break away from the stereotype is the nurse character as careering, sweet and loving individuals, in nurse in the short is the opposite to proper nurses. The nurse is also dressed in stereotypical hospital clothing, this is a way to identify the nurse character as a nurse, the clothing also add to the stereotype of the unpleasant dystopian worker, wearing a mask over her mouth, keeping her lip movement from being seen, this make her look different and off-kliter. The interesting thing about the nurse is that she is out of the character of nurse stereotype, but in character for a dystopian worker character.

In the end representation in the media terms means stereotypes, and Unwind does have definite stereotypes, in the case of the dystopia workers, but in the case of the worker's actual jobs they do not fit the stereotype.