I changed the template of my blog after a lot of messing around with html and googling blogger templates. I uploaded images to photobucket.com and then replaced the links into the main html body. I then had to get some help changing the code and deleting widgets. The source for the blogger templates. http://btemplates.com/.
I also added some gadgets to improve the appearance for example news headlines on the side, a search tool and some fish down the bottom. Hope it helps!
WEEK 6 EXTRA TASKS EXTRA TASKS EXTRA TASKS EXTRA TASKS
So to do something else extra relating to the Consumption and Production lecture, I've decided to look at citizen journalism and how it has grown. This relates as it is a consumer producing media to then be consumed by other users. We contributed to this with our iReports that we uploaded to the internet, free for all to consume and interpret as they saw fit.
The first important thing to note about citizen journalism is that its practionioners are not professionally trained. They can be absolutely anybody contributing to the flow of information. It is easy to confuse citizen journalists with freelance journalists or community journalists. These journalists are not employed under news organisations.
Mark Glaser, a freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues, said in 2006:
"The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube."
Another name for citizen journalism is participatory journalism. These fall under five categories as defined by JD Lasica are:
1. Audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories, personal blogs, photos or video footage captured from personal mobile cameras, or local news written by residents of a community)
2. Independent news and information Websites (Consumer Reports, the Drudge Report)
3. Full-fledged participatory news sites (NowPublic, OhmyNews, DigitalJournal.com, GroundReport)
4. Collaborative and contributory media sites (Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Newsvine)
5. Other kinds of "thin media." (mailing lists, email newsletters)
6. Personal broadcasting sites (video broadcast sites such as KenRadio).
The first ever newspapers were extremely subjective and written by the ordinary citizen. It could be said that this is where citizen journalism began. It was only after the introduction of advertising in newspapers, did journalists receive official training and wrote objectively. Another factor that led to this was the introduction of the inverted pyramid, implemented after receiving messages through the telegraph. The 1988 US presedential election was a jumping point for citizen journalism, where trust in the media organisations began to wane in the public.
Professor Mary-Rose Papandrea, a constitutional law professor at Boston College, notes in her article, Citizen Journalism and the Reporter’s Privilege that
"In many ways, the definition of journalist has now come full circle. When the First Amendment was adopted, “freedom of the press” referred quite literally to the freedom to publish using a printing press, rather than the freedom of organized entities engaged in the publishing business. The printers of 1775 did not exclusively publish newspapers; instead, in order to survive financially they dedicated most of their efforts printing materials for paying clients. The newspapers and pamphlets of the American Revolutionary era were predominantly partisan and became even more so through the turn of the century. They engaged in little newsgathering and instead were predominantly vehicles for opinion.
The passage of the term “journalism” into common usage in the 1830s occurred at roughly the same time that newspapers, using highspeed rotary steam presses, began mass circulation throughout the eastern United States. Using the printing press, newspapers could distribute exact copies to large numbers of readers at a low incremental cost. In addition, the rapidly increasing demand for advertising for brand- name products fueled the creation of publications subsidized in large part by advertising revenue. It was not until the late nineteenth century that the concept of the “press” morphed into a description of individuals and companies engaged in an often competitive commercial media enterprise."
This quote backs up what I was initially saying.
Citizen journalism can be found in many places. Things as simple as blogging can be considered a form of citizen journalism and is an example of the consumer taking in media products and churning them out with their own intepretation and experiences influencing the end product. This can help by "dumbing down" journalism and making it easily interpretable for the average consumer. It also hinders journalism by sending out false or biased messages, which undermines the underlying ideals of journalism by ensuring objectivity in reporting. Nevertheless, news organisations are beginning to realise the benefits of citizen journalisn. These citizens can make their jobs easier by finding news and bringing the stories to them. They can directly upload videos to professional news sites and the news organisations can filter through and find newsworthy stories.
The first important thing to note about citizen journalism is that its practionioners are not professionally trained. They can be absolutely anybody contributing to the flow of information. It is easy to confuse citizen journalists with freelance journalists or community journalists. These journalists are not employed under news organisations.
Mark Glaser, a freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues, said in 2006:
"The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube."
Another name for citizen journalism is participatory journalism. These fall under five categories as defined by JD Lasica are:
1. Audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories, personal blogs, photos or video footage captured from personal mobile cameras, or local news written by residents of a community)
2. Independent news and information Websites (Consumer Reports, the Drudge Report)
3. Full-fledged participatory news sites (NowPublic, OhmyNews, DigitalJournal.com, GroundReport)
4. Collaborative and contributory media sites (Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Newsvine)
5. Other kinds of "thin media." (mailing lists, email newsletters)
6. Personal broadcasting sites (video broadcast sites such as KenRadio).
The first ever newspapers were extremely subjective and written by the ordinary citizen. It could be said that this is where citizen journalism began. It was only after the introduction of advertising in newspapers, did journalists receive official training and wrote objectively. Another factor that led to this was the introduction of the inverted pyramid, implemented after receiving messages through the telegraph. The 1988 US presedential election was a jumping point for citizen journalism, where trust in the media organisations began to wane in the public.
Professor Mary-Rose Papandrea, a constitutional law professor at Boston College, notes in her article, Citizen Journalism and the Reporter’s Privilege that
"In many ways, the definition of journalist has now come full circle. When the First Amendment was adopted, “freedom of the press” referred quite literally to the freedom to publish using a printing press, rather than the freedom of organized entities engaged in the publishing business. The printers of 1775 did not exclusively publish newspapers; instead, in order to survive financially they dedicated most of their efforts printing materials for paying clients. The newspapers and pamphlets of the American Revolutionary era were predominantly partisan and became even more so through the turn of the century. They engaged in little newsgathering and instead were predominantly vehicles for opinion.
The passage of the term “journalism” into common usage in the 1830s occurred at roughly the same time that newspapers, using highspeed rotary steam presses, began mass circulation throughout the eastern United States. Using the printing press, newspapers could distribute exact copies to large numbers of readers at a low incremental cost. In addition, the rapidly increasing demand for advertising for brand- name products fueled the creation of publications subsidized in large part by advertising revenue. It was not until the late nineteenth century that the concept of the “press” morphed into a description of individuals and companies engaged in an often competitive commercial media enterprise."
This quote backs up what I was initially saying.
Citizen journalism can be found in many places. Things as simple as blogging can be considered a form of citizen journalism and is an example of the consumer taking in media products and churning them out with their own intepretation and experiences influencing the end product. This can help by "dumbing down" journalism and making it easily interpretable for the average consumer. It also hinders journalism by sending out false or biased messages, which undermines the underlying ideals of journalism by ensuring objectivity in reporting. Nevertheless, news organisations are beginning to realise the benefits of citizen journalisn. These citizens can make their jobs easier by finding news and bringing the stories to them. They can directly upload videos to professional news sites and the news organisations can filter through and find newsworthy stories.
WEEK 8 EXTRA TASKS EXTRA TASKS EXTRA TAKS
So this is the extra tasks section of my blog to try and earn extra marks, although I did it in the last round apparentely I have to make it stand out. So here it is. READ ME!
eDemocracy
The first part I will be extending on is eDemocracy and how the internet plays an important role in informing the public about real life politics. A lot of people agree that a big part of Kevin Rudd winning the election over John Howard was his ability to utilise the internet and connect to a younger populice. He posted his youtube video and it is clear that he has the right voice, manner and presence to speak to his younger audience. When John Howard attempted the same stunt, he was seen as old, outdated and stifling. While Kevin Rudd managed to capture attention, he then proceeded to make his policies known. I can't find these videos on youtube anymore, but I was shown them in a different lecture.
Another politican who makes good use of the internet to connect to the youth population is Anna Bligh. She is a big Twitter user and the internet is a great way for her to communicate the messages she wants. She manages to post links to her followers to provide them with more information about her policies or to defend something she has implemented. Because of this, she is also percieved as accessible and it somewhat humanises her; many politicans can seem distant and unreachable. It is a great PR tool as well.
The Mass Media
I will now reflect on the media as the fourth estate and how the internet can also act as a fourth estate and work to better serve democracy. Government messages are often smokescreened by their public relations officers to put the right spin on something. They freeze out the media or release information right before deadline to avoid print or send them media releases praising the politician and how they are doing wonderful things. It is the media's job to expose government corruption and mistakes to better inform the public. The internet can work by doing the same thing but it is more effective in reaching a mass audience. The internet does not have to serve public owners or advertisers so it can communicate freely to the public. The internet can also work as Habermas' public sphere; a place where people can come together for political or public debate. This can stimulate people and they can persuade or be persuaded. When this occurs, the public as a whole is better informed and democracy is better served. The free flow of information and deformalising of information also helps.
eDemocracy
The first part I will be extending on is eDemocracy and how the internet plays an important role in informing the public about real life politics. A lot of people agree that a big part of Kevin Rudd winning the election over John Howard was his ability to utilise the internet and connect to a younger populice. He posted his youtube video and it is clear that he has the right voice, manner and presence to speak to his younger audience. When John Howard attempted the same stunt, he was seen as old, outdated and stifling. While Kevin Rudd managed to capture attention, he then proceeded to make his policies known. I can't find these videos on youtube anymore, but I was shown them in a different lecture.
Another politican who makes good use of the internet to connect to the youth population is Anna Bligh. She is a big Twitter user and the internet is a great way for her to communicate the messages she wants. She manages to post links to her followers to provide them with more information about her policies or to defend something she has implemented. Because of this, she is also percieved as accessible and it somewhat humanises her; many politicans can seem distant and unreachable. It is a great PR tool as well.
The Mass Media
I will now reflect on the media as the fourth estate and how the internet can also act as a fourth estate and work to better serve democracy. Government messages are often smokescreened by their public relations officers to put the right spin on something. They freeze out the media or release information right before deadline to avoid print or send them media releases praising the politician and how they are doing wonderful things. It is the media's job to expose government corruption and mistakes to better inform the public. The internet can work by doing the same thing but it is more effective in reaching a mass audience. The internet does not have to serve public owners or advertisers so it can communicate freely to the public. The internet can also work as Habermas' public sphere; a place where people can come together for political or public debate. This can stimulate people and they can persuade or be persuaded. When this occurs, the public as a whole is better informed and democracy is better served. The free flow of information and deformalising of information also helps.
Week 8 Lecture
This lecture talked about politics. Stephen Stockwell took the lecture and I think it is important to firstly define cyberpolitics and edemocracy, both recurring themes throughout the lecture.
Cyberpolitics: the politics of the internet that exists predominantly on the internet. Cyberpolitics stretches from the powerplays around the actual structure and functions of the internet that are decided by the Internet Society and ICANN through to the political activities that occur on forums, between bloggers and even in games.
eDemocracy: the internet's intervention in and contribution to real world politics that exists predominantly off the internet. eDemocracy covers everything from political campaigning on the internet and the government's use of the internet to raise awareness and debate on issues to the people's use of new technologies to criticise governments and reveal their mistakes.
The internet is now acting as a fourth estate, much like the role of the journalist. How can we be able to vote on a government if we are not well informed about our decisions? The internet is an effective means of communicating vital information about politician's mistakes and policies so that democracy is better served.
The lecture moves on to explain the meaning of democracy. It is an ambiguous term that comes with many meanings such as representative democracy and participatory democracy. Representative democracy refers to when the mass population is required to vote, while participatory democracy is a voluntary involvement in elections.
While both sides have their positives and negatives, I believe that society should function as a representative democracy. One reason being that the women suffragettes were willing to die to give us the right to vote and have a say on who governs our country and another being that I believe that many people will at least do a little research when placing their vote. Also, everyone is exposed to mass media whose role is to critisice government, so everyone can make at least a semi informed decision.
We are now in the "second media age." Our media is becoming more and more decentralised with information coming from many different sources rather than just a few. It has been argued that the media is focused primarily on the interests of the private owners and advertisers. While this may be true, I think that the media as a fourth estate recognise their need to satisfy the public's need for information. Advertising in newspapers is what forced journalists to become more objective in the first place, so this argument is void as advertising serves to help objectivity in reporting. The internet is distributing this information to a wider audience and is helping the public to be better informed. The internet is not serving private owners, so they are free to publish what they like.
Cyberpolitics: the politics of the internet that exists predominantly on the internet. Cyberpolitics stretches from the powerplays around the actual structure and functions of the internet that are decided by the Internet Society and ICANN through to the political activities that occur on forums, between bloggers and even in games.
eDemocracy: the internet's intervention in and contribution to real world politics that exists predominantly off the internet. eDemocracy covers everything from political campaigning on the internet and the government's use of the internet to raise awareness and debate on issues to the people's use of new technologies to criticise governments and reveal their mistakes.
The internet is now acting as a fourth estate, much like the role of the journalist. How can we be able to vote on a government if we are not well informed about our decisions? The internet is an effective means of communicating vital information about politician's mistakes and policies so that democracy is better served.
The lecture moves on to explain the meaning of democracy. It is an ambiguous term that comes with many meanings such as representative democracy and participatory democracy. Representative democracy refers to when the mass population is required to vote, while participatory democracy is a voluntary involvement in elections.
While both sides have their positives and negatives, I believe that society should function as a representative democracy. One reason being that the women suffragettes were willing to die to give us the right to vote and have a say on who governs our country and another being that I believe that many people will at least do a little research when placing their vote. Also, everyone is exposed to mass media whose role is to critisice government, so everyone can make at least a semi informed decision.
We are now in the "second media age." Our media is becoming more and more decentralised with information coming from many different sources rather than just a few. It has been argued that the media is focused primarily on the interests of the private owners and advertisers. While this may be true, I think that the media as a fourth estate recognise their need to satisfy the public's need for information. Advertising in newspapers is what forced journalists to become more objective in the first place, so this argument is void as advertising serves to help objectivity in reporting. The internet is distributing this information to a wider audience and is helping the public to be better informed. The internet is not serving private owners, so they are free to publish what they like.
Week 7 Lecture
In this lecture we talked about open source software. Jason gave this lecture and showed us a site where we could download free applications which work just as well as the ones you pay Microsoft for. Open source software opens the code up to everyone, which means the general consumer can improve the software by tweaking the code. They can then share this with the public, thus making all software a constantly updated tool for consumers. There are also online communities for open source software where the creators of these can come together and discuss their ideas etc.
http://www.freewaregenius.com/ is a website specifically for software packagaes that perform small specific tasks. People wouldn't normally profit from these if they tried to sell them as they are performing tasks that do not suit everyone. The only problems are you have to manually update the software and it is an easy target for viruses to attack.
For this lecture I have to download some free software, use it and then comment on my experiences.
I downloaded Songbird, which is an open source music player which integrates its content directly with the internet. I like to use www.lastfm.com and I can listen to the radio directly through my music player. I find that iTunes has a lot of problems and although Songbird has a few problems that need ironing out, I am confident that people will recognise these and tweak the code to improve the software. You have many options for appearance, organisation and management, web browsing etc. You can find similar artists or even display lyrics while you are listening to a song. People can create their own add ons and put them on the website to share with people, so I will definitely be checking back on a regular basis to see how I can update my music player. I'm sure any add ons that iTunes may introduce would not be free and so readily available. It processed my songs really quickly too, a lot better than iTunes where I would be waiting around for ages. Songbirds growing popularity is only serving to improve the quality of the software, with people keen to tweak the program to make it better for all.
Week 6 Lecture
This lecture focused on consumption and production. In this lecture, we were told about how we consume produced content in relation to the big and small screens of life.THE BIG SCREEN
The big screen primarily talks about the cinema. When cinema first opened up, it primarily showed news reels, topicals or locales. The Nickoldean boom saw a rise in cinema attendance which exposed more movies to the consumer and made more money for the producer. The
introduction of television saw a move to the private consumption of media and entertainment. The introduction of the PC led to consumers being able to output media.
Picture Source: http://www.channel4.com/film/media/images/cinema-585x525.jpg
THE SMALL SCREEN
The small screen means ipods, mobile phones etc.
They talk about this in relation to
"consumers becoming increasingly involved in the production of products, and they also produce their own identities in the process of consuming and producing products." (Facebook, YouTube).
Source:
http://apple.qoody.net/wp-content/uploads/
2007/12/ipods-2dheart-small.jpg
It is important to take a look at the way consumers produce media. This can be done through fan made films, mash ups and recuts, citizen journalism and blogging. People who are fans of produced content decide to make a film about it which is in turn consumed by other fans of the media. An example of this is the fan made film Troops, which mashes Star Wars with the popular TV show Cops.
Week 7 Tutorial: IReport
This is mine and Megan's ireport about Griffith University Students robbing vending machines on campus.
Week 8 Tutorial Task
Sign an e-petition
The first thing I must do is sign an e-petition. I signed an e-petition about decriminalising abortion in Queensland. This petition currently has 582 signatures and closes on the 23rd of October. On the left is the confirmation of my signature <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< class="Apple-style-span" color="#3333ff">http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_QLD/Default.aspx?LIndex=0
Respond to a Professional Blogger at a News Site
The next thing I must do is respond to a professional blogger at a news site. I went to www.news.com.au and found many professional bloggers I can respond to. Evan Maloney is a screenwriter who attempts to understand the issues of the world. He has a blog about the 80's video dating montage on youtube that shows a series of real dating videos posted by men. He contemplates whether it is real or fake. I responded by saying my favourite 80's hunk was the one that says "As you may have noticed I have incredibly blue eyes." This video highlights the blurring of the lines between audience recognition between what is real and what is fake on the internet and how easily they can be tricked.
Local, State and Federal Representatives
My next task is to find out who my local state and federal representatives are.
The member for Southport is Peter Lawlor. To find out more about him, click here
Source: http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/southport/pages/posts/Active-Communities-Project. The local representative for Parkwood is Councillor Dawn Crichlow.
Source:http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/image_content/councillors/councillor_crichlow_large.jpgThe member for the state is Anna Bligh. Her official website is http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/. The state representative is Peter Lawlor.
Source: http://www.vision6.com.au/download/files/11523/791291/New%20Picture.jpg
The federal is prime minister Kevin Rudd. His official website is http://www.pm.gov.au//. The federal representative for Gold Coast is Hon. Ronald Boswell.
Last Time The Local Representative Spoke in Parliament
The next thing I did was search for the last time Peter Lawlor spoke in parliament. I searched the Queensland Hansard but didn't find anything in particular on Peter Lawlor. The website for the Queensland Hansard is http://parlinfo.parliament.qld.gov.au/ISYSHanSimp.htm. I found it much easier to find his speeches on his official webs
ite. The last time he spoke in parliament was on the 22nd of September and was about how the Queensland tourism industry is suffering from the current economic climate. The speech is basically public relations spin to promote the Labor government positively. The internet is integral to the government getting their message across to the general public, and consequently, the public is better informed about the government and democracy. I managed to contact Peter through his website to tell him that it is good to focus on the tourism environment but asked him if the costs involved in the advertising campaign will be paid back from visitor expenditure and whether Queenslander's money is going to the right place. This is the contact form for Peter, if you would like to contact him about labor policy.
What is Barack Obama doing on this day? 
On this day, 23rd of September 2009, Barack Obama did his first speech at the United Nations about working globally to solve the issues of the world including the recession and global warming. You can access a news article on this http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/24/president-barack-obama-s-plea-we-must-all-save-the-world-115875-21696417/
The Australian Government's Plans to Censor the Internet: The Clean Feed
I believe that the government's plans to censor the internet will be a waste of taxpayer money that could be put to better uses in this economic climate. The government places a high importance on modernising broadband within Australia, but this move can only serve to slow our internet connection and increase prices for home broadband. Many Australian households are diverse with different needs, so implementing only one approach to censorship will not meet the needs of the Australian public as a whole. Perhaps the money would be better spent on educating parents about the dangers of the internet and what they can do to better protect thier children. Censoring the internet will also go against the ideals of representative demoncracy i.e free speech. Granted, there are things that a general consesus will agree should be banned but ideals will always differ between individuals and who is to say what is right and what is wrong. If we go too far then the very core of representative democracy will be challenged in a country where these ideals are what make this country such a good place to live in. In the paper, parents were cracking up at a school because they hadn't banned a Libra website, made specifically to help young girls. How far will we go before everything we stand for fades away?
Week 5 Lecture
In this w
eek's lecture, we had a look at the different sites out there on the internet. We also had a talk about social networking sites and how the popularity of them changes over time. Myspace has been replaced by Facebook and Facebook will be replaced by Twitter. There are some really interesting interactive sites out there and I've got some example of how I've interacted with them in the tutorial task blog.
eek's lecture, we had a look at the different sites out there on the internet. We also had a talk about social networking sites and how the popularity of them changes over time. Myspace has been replaced by Facebook and Facebook will be replaced by Twitter. There are some really interesting interactive sites out there and I've got some example of how I've interacted with them in the tutorial task blog.To the left is a ranking of current social networking sites. It is interesting to see how trends have changed over time and continue to change.
There are arguments that social networking sites are damaging to youth and their social skills. It has been said that instead of developing real friendships, youth replace this with talking on the internet. They believe that this is good enough and it is no longer necessary to interact face to face to maintain a real relationship. Nevertheless, social networking sites are a good tool to keep in touch and are a quick and easy form of communication.
Tutorial Task Week 6: My Movie Moment
This movie is from week 6 tutorials, and shows me as the Terminator! Grrr! It is the 5th site I interacted with.
Week 6 Tutorial Task
1)This week's tutorial task we have to interact with 5 different websites posted on the blog and also create our own google map. The first site was called "Persona" and shows all the information about your name that is posted on the internet and sorts them into categories. It is also a visual representation and is an example of digital artwork. An example of mine is on the left.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
View Sarah's Important Places in a larger map
View Larger Map
4) The next website I chose to interact with was the waybackmacine.com. I searched for youtube and got a picture of the first ever youtube page back in 2005.
View Sarah's Important Places in a larger map
View Larger Map
2) This is a map I created in Google Maps of all my important places. It includes places I've lived, places I like to go etc. This is just a small preview that has the most places clustered in the one area.
3) This is my artistic rendition of my my encounter with Guy Sebastian at laser tag. Needless to say I beat him. By a lot.
4) The next website I chose to interact with was the waybackmacine.com. I searched for youtube and got a picture of the first ever youtube page back in 2005.
5) The next site I chose to interact with is VampireRave.com. I'm not quite sure how it works but it seems you advance levels according to how many pages you view and how much time you spend on each page. Vampire pages? I don't know. Below is a table of the levels you can obtain. I guess this is another social networking site... I'm not quite sure how to interact with it cause I don't want to join up or anything so I'll just show you this little bit of how it works.
| Level | Power | |
| 1 |
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| 2 |
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| 3 |
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| 4 |
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| 5 |
| |
| 6 |
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| 7 |
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| 8 |
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| 10 |
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| 12 |
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| 15 |
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| 17 |
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| 18 |
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| 20 |
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| 25 |
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| 30 |
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| 40 |
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| 50 |
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| 65 |
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| 80 |
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| 90 |
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| 100 |
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6) This is an interactive site called Polyvore.com in which you can create outfits or art or interior designs. I chose a few pieces I liked and put them together to make this. It was really cool because they had a lot to choose from and you can buy the pieces online too. It helps to visualise what looks good together.
7) The next one I did was www.generatorblog.com. On this site I found moviemaker.com which takes your photo and superimposes it onto a famous clip from a movie. On this site, I managed to star as the Terminator! It's actually really creepy but it's cool! I couldn't get it into this blog post but the actual video is on a different blog.
Week 5 Tutorial Task
This week I have to find three videos and post them on my blog. The internet is important to short films as they are made with no budget and therefore, have no money for any other means of distribution. By filmmakers distributing their short films on the internet, they are reaching a wide audience of all different types of people and this is an effective means of getting their message across. Most films are made specifically for internet distribution or if a film has won awards at festivals etc, the internet is a great way to stream them to the general public. The public can then view these forms of artwork and can interpret the message they send.
The first film is a Tropfest NY 2008 winner. It is a film that explores the human condition amongst Sydney and New York and deals with issues such as human compassion, family, homelessness etc. This is done entirely with a cell phone, recording words found around the city and set to music. As this movie was made with a non existent budget, the internet is a great way to get people to watch the movie and provoke them to think about the issues presented in the film. The film's intention is to reach out and connect with its audience, hopefully provoking them to perform acts of kindness and "listen". There aren't a lot of different shots in this film, but it makes good use of the mid shot to explain the "what". Nearly all the shots are mid shots of words found around the city, joined together to spell out a message: the what. There are also a couple of long shots of the city to answer the "where" question and also an extreme close up of an old man's eyes; it shows us a deeper side to his personality and we can see the sadness in his eyes.
This video won the award for best cinematography. It shows society going at a fast pace while the one person is isolated from the world by moving at a normal rate. It utilises interesting camera effects and again, the internet has won it far more views than what it would have got without it. In the end he finds a girl and the world slows down to a normal pace. This video also shows a lot of long shots of the city to give the audience an understanding of where this is taking place and gives context to the business of the city people. There are a few mid to close ups of the main character, so the audience can better understand him and relate to his situation.
This is a really cool short film that also won an award. It shows simultaneous actions occurring on opposite sides of the screen, one seemingly good and one seemingly bad. The two switch at the end though, perhaps suggesting that nothing is as it seems. A cool piece of filmmaking though, displaying many different shots. There are close ups of the toast popping up, answering the what and the how. One side the toast is burnt, and the other the toast is perfect. Mid shots of the character answer the who. And some mid to long shots also show the action, answering the what. Another film also made without a lot of money and utilising the internet as an excellent distribution tool to get the video into the public sphere.
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