Free Choice Case Study

Ethics and Values…

One of the main institutional constraints in any media practice is a shared sense of values. This often translates into a set of ethics, perhaps inscribed in a Code of Conduct such as the Photographers’ code. The difficulty with ethical behaviour is that it often runs counter to what might produce a ‘good story’ (another institutionalised feature of working in many media) and in turn ensure higher circulation, ratings etc, and both professional kudos and financial reward. This is the basis for the narratives for much of the literature and film based on journalistic adventures e.g. In the film Under Fire (US 1982) a photojournalist fakes an image persuading revolutionaries that their inspirational leader is still alive – they go on to defeat the evil dictator.
Few media practitioners set out to behave unethically, most media organisation attempt to deal with such behaviour through some form of redress and also try to prevent it happening again.

Example: Radio

In January, Radio 4’s feedback programme which airs listener’s comments, ran a piece on Radio 1 DJs. Listeners, including a parent of an eighteen-year-old had complained about references to excessive drinking over the Christmas holiday. One DJ had run a competition for the most ‘evil’ cocktail made up from left over Christmas drinks. Another had boasted about how much she had drunk the night before, inviting listeners to phone or e-mail with their own exploits. The implied question was that is this celebrating excessive and even dangerous amount of drinking?

This shows the extent at which audiences are influenced by the media and the fact that parents are complaining about topics such as these shows that they are aware of its influence. New media technology such as DAB radios are widely utilised by the younger generation, or even any age group, and so audiences can be easily accessed and influenced.

Fansite Case Study

Zac Efron Fansite...

This fansite is a perfect example of narrowcasting as it targets a very niche audience as it offers entertainment to a group of people with a very specific interest. Zac Efron is a generic American ‘heart throb’ and so the most likely target audience would be young females or homosexual males aged between 10-18 years that would be attracted to this young actor. Audiences are offered all of the latest news concerning Zac Efron e.g. the mystery surrounding his relationship with Vanessa Hudgens, are they dating? There is an ‘Efron forum’ which allows fans to interact, talk to each other and discuss their interest in Zac Efron and to share ideas. There is also a number of galleries with the latest picture of Zac allowing fans to keep up to date with the actors latest ‘look’.
By advertising Zac Efron’s latest works, the institution is benefited as the consumers are aware of what he is doing and we will be waiting for the film/series to come out etc. For instance, Efron’s part in ‘The Derby Stallion’ advertises the soon to be released DVD and its new cover. This means that the consumer is then able to look for the DVD with a visual example so that they know what to look for. The website is sponsored by Google as it has ‘Ads by Google’ which includes a video clip for shopping.kelkoo.co.uk. This renowned search engine benefits the institution that runs the website as it makes it appear more genuine and reliable, it borrows the ‘Google image’ and applies it to its own website to gain familiarity.

New Release Case Study

The i-phone had been described as four things, “A Widscreen iPod” “A Revolutionary phone” “A Breakthrough internet device” and “High Technology”. This soon to be released device is a manifestation of one of the most converged pieces of technology yet. This will allow the consumer to combine the uses of the internet/computer, a mobile phone and an Mp3 player all in one device and will withhold the brand of Apple’s image as innovative and stylish.

"iPhone combines three amazing products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone."
From the official Apple website babeyyy!

Online Newspaper Case Study

Times Online…

Times online is an online newspaper which allows the consumers to read about all of the same issues and stories that they would read in the written newspaper from places all around the world but they are able to be a lot more interactive. The heading available to the consumer on this website are; world, politics, weather, sport, arts and entertainment and life and style. These categories make it easier for the consumer to break down their daily reading; another benefit of course is that it is entirely free.
The audiences also benefit from the use of other new media technologies on this site as it uses audio and video. Consumers are able to download Podcasts of interviews and such and also watch videos of the latest cricket game etc. This allows the news to be portable and the consumer is able to be a lot more flexible with their consumption of the media. Another benefit for the consumer is that they are able to express their opinion on different issues and interviews or speeches as there is a comment page. This allows readers to interact and share ideas that they would not usually be able to do in every day life.

Podcast Case Study

Podcast…

Podcasts are audio recordings that can be downloaded onto new media technologies such as; iPods, mobile phones, MP3 players etc. These Podcasts are useful because they allow consumers to schedule their listening around their own schedule and break the rigid pattern of scheduling. This personalisation means that consumers can listen to; radio shows, commentaries, interviews etc when they want to and are not forced to at a certain time.
Podcasts allow institutions to increase reach because more people are able to listen to their shows etc as there is a more flexible time range. Consumers that could not physically enjoy the show at the time of its schedule can still remain loyal consumers to that institution. The technology involved in downloading Podcasts is very up to date, by using the internet and data transfer etc, making the institution itself seem very evolving and innovative. This means that the Podcast also aids in the image of the institution, further increasing its reach and popularity.
Audiences are further effected by personalisation with Podcasts as they are no longer burdened with the strict and unchangeable scheduling of the radio, television etc. Consumers can now make their own schedule and not follow others.

Here is the link to the official iTunes website babeyyy!

iTunes is an institution that offers podcast for consumers to download and gives them the opportunity to subscribe to their website to get weekly updates on the latest podcasts. One of the specific podcasts that is available is the Ricky Gervais show. This show benefits the institution as it allows them to get a bigger audience share and a larger reach. All of those consumers who are not able to watch the show at it's scheduled time are able to download it as a podcast and listen to it at a later date or time. By using such modern new technology the institution would create an innovative and evolving image for it's brand which would mean that consumers would see the company as moving with the times. This increases the personalisation and the portability of media text as now consumers are able to download audio technology on their iPod or Mp3 players and listen to the show whilst on the road.

Convergence Case Study

Convergence…

Because digital media technology treat text, graphics, photography and sounds int the same way, the differences between texts in different media have disappeared. The ‘essence’ of each separate medium has disappeared and with it many of the institutional aspects of the media production in that area. The consequence of this are not yet clear. Take the example of the ‘e-book’ – a portable device that can be loaded with text and image file and ‘read’ via the screen.

Traditional book purchases have scoffed at the possibility of reading a novel ‘on screen’ – an unappealing proposition? Yet the e-book has many advantages for kinds of text access. If you own this book for instance, you might be frustrated when a new edition comes out. What if you could simply ‘download’ the new bits from the Internet and update your copy? Did you curse your teacher when you had to lug a huge bag of books round school? What if all of them could fit on an e-book reader?

Sound editing technology now looks the same as video editing or photographic retouching technology: all data appears on a computer screen and is manipulated via mouse and keyboard. Multimedia programs are ‘authored’ by someone who writes a script comprising a set of instructions which in effect command the software to play a video sequence or sound sequence or to display a text of still images, all of which are just data files to be ‘called-up’.

Vlog Case Study

YouTube is a popular free video sharing website which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. Videos can be rated, and the average rating and the number of times a video has been watched are both published.
Founded in February 2005 by three former employees of PayPal, the San Bruno-based service utilizes Adobe Flash technology to display video. The wide variety of site content includes movie and TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content such as videoblogging and short original videos. The site is praised as one the most user friendly sites on the Internet. Unregistered users can watch most videos on the site while registered users have the ability to upload an unlimited number of videos. Related videos, determined by the title and tags, appear to the right of the video. In the second year, the site gave users the ability to post responses and subscribe to any registered user.

YouTube is dominantly used to broadcast; personal home videos, humorous videos, film trailers or videos that have been enhanced/altered using high-tech editing equipment.

This particular video broadcasted on Youtube of the television programme The O.C is used to promote itself and to increase it audience reach. The institution benefit as they are able to hook more consumers to their programme and are able to gain more audience shares. The audience benefit as they are able to get a taste of the programme and, if they enjoy it, can watch the programme and be entertained.

Audience Activity Case Study

LimeWire...

LimeWire is a peer-to-peer file sharing client for the Java Platform, which uses the Gnutella network to locate and transfer files. Released under the GNU General Public License, LimeWire is free software.
However there has been some controversy and legal issues over the exploitation of this software. For instance, some have mistakenly posted private personal copies of business documents on LimeWire which are available through standard searches. Some found documents include credit checks, tax records, cancelled checks, and other documents stored in a variety of formats. This has opened the door to identity theft. Attorneys have cautioned several companies, including mortgage lenders, real estate agents, attorneys, contractors, and others, that the use of LimeWire by employees opens them up to significant liability.

Audience Consumption…

LimeWire allows audiences to interact with each other via the internet and share files such as; music tracks, films, images etc.

Blog Case Study

Myspace is a website that allows consumers to bring together and access all of what the internet offers and make a highly personalised profile/blog that has its own URL that others can access. The concept of blogging on the internet is all about personalisation and giving the readers of your blog a virtual taste of your character and life style. Even the simple name of the website, ‘Myspace’ is very personalised and seems directly associated at you.
Myspace brings many different types of new media technologies together such as; film, music and videos. Myspace has its own search engine for music which allows the consumers to browse through a wide range of artists and tracks to see which one suits them. This allows for a very diverse audience as people of all musical tastes and genres can express their interests on their blog. As the song automatically plays when the blog is entered, those viewing the blog can instantly find things that they may have in common with this blogger as their music tastes may be similar. In the same way, personal videos on your blog allow consumers to actively watch a moving image of the blogger or their interests which attracts ‘friendship’ and interactivity. This is a use of convergence to increase the institutions reach and diversification.
As Myspace has had such a huge impact on the recent development of ‘blogging’ it has become the latest hotspot for internet advertising. There are many large institutions being advertised on myspace such as; Pizza Hut, Channel 4 and E4. One of the most prominent and unique use of advertising on Myspace was the ‘MAC’ advert which spoke directly to the audience as soon as they signed in. There are a lot of opportunities for companies to advertise and ways to contact Myspace at the bottom of the homepage, there are several links to ‘advertise’ ‘Jobs!’ ‘Myspace International’ ‘Promote’ etc.
On the Myspaces themselves, others who are registered can view others blogs and either add them to their friend lists and see if they accept their offer, message them, rank, instant message or even block them. This creates an online community for individual consumers as they are able to pick and choose their own members and refuse entry to other. This concept of selecting and having the choice reinforces the idea of personalisation.

Here is the link to the official Myspace website babeyyy!

Film Marketing Case Study

Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown

How have the distributors used the internet as a tool to market/promote the film?

The webpage promotes the DVD – gives the email addresses and phone number that allows the consumer to order it.
There were even links to separate websites that the DVD could be purchased from.
It has games that the consumers can play and promotes the fun, light hearted genre of the narrative.
The website promoted the actors whose voices were used to. It gave their picture and a bit about their background and previous films. This was a good way of promoting the film as the consumer may have been familiar with the actors and so would have felt that the quality of the film is good.
They have given the consumer the chance to download an Ice Age 2 screen saver, desktop or image icons for their computer which would then promote the product even further as it would spread through consumer word of mouth.
There is also promotional branding on the website from the 20th Century Fox Company and the Blue Sky Company.
The website has a gallery of picture stills from the film that would create more narrative enigma as it would give snippets of the narrative and the genre but would not be entirely clear, would still be a degree of mystery.



How have the distributors used the internet as a tool to attract the audience?

The webpage gives a short summary of the narrative which creates narrative enigma as it gives the whole story but not the new equilibrium. This would attract an audience more as they would by intrigued and want to see more.
There are interactive games that you can play that test your knowledge of the film, meaning that the consumer would have had to have seen the film before hand, promoting it further.
There was a link that allowed the consumer to download one of the games from the website on to their mobile phone so that they could play even when not on the computer or online at all.
There was an opportunity for the consumer to register to the website so that they could get regular updates on the latest offers, news and merchandise surrounding the film.
The website offers separate profiles for all of the animated characters which would attract particularly the younger audience who are more attached to the reality of the animation films.

Here is the link to the official Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown website babeyyy!

Radio Station Case Study

Kiss 100 FM <3 href="http://www.totalkiss.com/">Kiss website babeyyy!

E4 TV Pogramme Case Study

The Skins website has a range of interactivity for the consumer and the fans of the programme. The website offers all of this interactivity, and then promises to offer more if the consumer is willing to register to the website or ‘sign up’. By registering, it allows the consumer to be a ‘member of the skins community’ and receive text alerts, emails and other freebies. This would make a follower of the programme unique, as if they are an exceptional follower but at the same time involved in a group with similar interests. For the institution, this would give them the limited details they need to stay in contact with their members and advertise their programme. By keeping the consumer updated on the latest news in skins, it doesn’t only benefit them but also Channel 4 itself because it is guaranteeing more viewers and publicity.

One of the ways that interactivity is offered on the official skins website is through chat forums. The chat forums are places where all of the fans a ‘members’ of the skins programme can share there interest and meet new people. The forums can be personalised as the members can create their own forums with a title that might appeal to different people. For example, one of the forums headings is “How Nice Is Tony!” This would suggestively relate to all of the heterosexual females and homosexual males who are attracted to the character ‘Tony’.

There is also an opportunity for the consumer to comment the blog of skins as there is a direct link to their ‘myspace’ webpage. This would allow the consumer to communicate with the institution on a more personal level also suggests that the programme is targeted at the younger generation as myspace blogs are a new development and only utilised by teenagers.

The main benefit that the consumer receives from the Skins website is the opportunity to watch ‘Unseen Skins’, the unseen footage that has not been broadcasted officially. This would give the consumer a sense that they were discovering something that had not been seen before, pioneering the understanding of their favourite programme. There is also the opportunity to watch episodes of Skins on the myspace webpage which encourages interactivity. The offer of watching trailers to all of the episodes on the website is another benefit and it gives the institution the ability to rake in new viewers. New viewers that are not aware of the storyline or characters in the programme can get a taste of the programme by watching the trailers and potentially gain more viewers. The trailers are also specific to different characters which allow the new viewers to get a greater insight into the characters personality before they begin watching the programme.

The Skins competitions that the consumers are able to enter are particularly impressive as they ask the viewers to compete by doing a number of constructive and almost educational activities such as; redesigning the logo, styling the characters for a shoot in ‘More’ magazine, composing the music which will accompany a scene in episode 5 and creating a short film based around one of the characters. The winners of these competitions are then published on the website which gives the winners a sense of pride and gives all of those wanting to compete, an incentive to do well.

The fact that the skins website is sponsored by BSM, the leading driving instruction institution, reinforces the theory that the website is targeted at the younger generation.

Here is the link tot he official Skins website babeyyy!

TV Channel Case Study

Channel 4 is a public-service British television station, broadcast to all areas of the United Kingdom, which began transmissions in 1982. Though entirely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned: Originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by the Channel Four Television Corporation, a public body established in 1990 for this purpose and which came into operation in 1993, following the abolition of the IBA.

The station was established to provide a fourth television service to the UK that would break the duopoly of the BBC's two established television services and the single commercial broadcasting network, ITV, then the only services broadcast there. Though having seen new competition through the subsequent availability and growth of cable, satellite and digital terrestrial stations, Channel 4 still enjoys almost universal coverage, and a significant audience share.

Channel 4 was established with, and continues to hold, a remit of public service obligations which it must fulfil. The remit changes periodically, as dictated by various broadcasting and communications acts, and is regulated by the various authorities Channel 4 has been answerable to; originally the IBA, then the ITC and now Ofcom.

Channel 4 has many related channels such as:
E4
More 4
Film4
4Radio
4oD(On Demand)

These links are all available from the channel 4 website itself, this vertical intergration provides an intergarted customer experience to encourage loyalty to the brand. There is also a sense of synergy within the institution that uses the most reknowned channel to promote the others.

By promoting a different type of enetertainnment that is accessed from a different NMT (e.g. 4radio) the institution is increasing its reach to audiences and also shows the coming together of television and radio to allow a varied media to be consumed...CONVERGENCE!

The 4oD is a good example of showing the flexibilty and convenience that the institution offers. It allows the audience to be more autonomous and have more control. The audience are able to time-shift their media consumption as they can pick and choose when they are going to watch a programme and they can also catch up on missed programmes.

Here is the link to the official Channel 4 website babeyyy!

Skipper's Blog!

Skipper's blog is up and running...
Coming along nicely i'd say :D

welcome to your new tech blog

hi rachel happy blogging! ms b