Upon receiving this assignment and joining a group, I have to admit that I did not know a whole a lot about the subject we were tackling. When we first began our topic, initially it was, ‘What impact does ownership have on ownership on press freedom in Australia?’ I discussed how I was going to approach this topic in my blog post ‘The Research Methodology – Worksheet 3′ (http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3290645/blog2/?p=1023) due to my unfamiliarity with the idiosyncrasies of the subject as a whole. In the post I talk about how Hugh knew quite a lot the topic and how this assisted me in knowing what information to look for, as I didn’t really know what it was that needed to be researched.

I felt it was necessary to include this because it was my experiences early in class that helped me define my role in the group as the semester progressed. For the first few weeks the groups roles were undefined as we were still trying to figure out what issues in regards to media ownership we were concentrating on. In the initial developing stages of our topic we decided to change the first section of our scoping document to put a greater emphasis on the effect media concentration is having on Australia’s democracy as opposed to journalistic standards and regulations.

Once we had worked out what it was we were exactly doing, the role I was assigned was to investigate arguments for and against Media Concentration and decide if they are for or against democracy. Did either of these arguments contradict our predetermined definition of democracy?

As I grew more confident with my knowledge (as a result of extensive research) I felt more confident in my abilities to offer advice to other group members in regards to the issue they were focusing on and also felt more of a liberty to help out with the putting together of graphs, the presentation etc

Progress

I feel when it comes to displaying the progress in my research capabilities my first post on self-assessment is quite indicative as to how meticulous I became with my research
(Read post here: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3290645/blog2/?p=1029). In one of my earlier blog posts I discussed how I felt that with a large amount of my assignments in the past, I would work on them but never really get that invested so I didn’t take that much away from the work I put into the assignments. With this particular assignment I felt quite motivated for this not to be the case, as I wanted to be able to feel like I gained something out of the task, especially after dedicating a semesters worth of work to it. Therefore I made sure I was quite anal and thorough with not only how I approached my research but also how it was executed.

In regards to progress in observing my learning behaviours, I feel like this assignment was a perfect gauge of finding this out. Largely due to my relatively small knowledge on the subject I was researching. This small amount of knowledge meant that because I was basically beginning with a blank slate; it then gave me the ability to look back as to what knowledge I possessed when I first begun in comparison to now. When it comes to my learning behaviour, and sorry to get all cliché on you here, I think my greatest strength is also my greatest weakness.

Whenever I’m involved with something that I’m not to familiar with or if it’s a little bit foreign, my anxiety usually acts as a catalyst for me to put a great amount of effort into whatever it is. So that eventually, the anxiety is eventually replaced by comfort. This assignment was no different. When you’re working with other people, you do not have the luxury to be complacent with ‘doing it the night before’ or whatever other reason for putting off an assignment. Group work needs to be a collaborative process in which people are able to benefit off each other’s knowledge and insights. My initial limited knowledge and desire to be a decent group member is what motivated my learning.

Strategies

As mentioned in the above section, I went into quite a lot of detail of my research strategies in one of my blog posts. Here they are again:

The strategy I utilised in my research initially consisted of my going straight to the bibliography of the case study we began our research with. I decided to start here because the information the thesis contained was obviously informed and backed up by information from other sources. This includes, essays, other thesis’, newspaper articles etc. Another benefit of doing this is the fact that the other resources the bibliography leads me to, only leads me to more related information sources via the latter’s bibliographies.
However, even once I had done this, I still felt that I had not fully grasped the concept and what I was doing. As a result of this, I tried to get a little more focused and structured with my research strategies. Even if this meant starting with the simplest of strategies:

My research strategy breakdown
-Planning
-Background reading (seek advice and consult reference tools to identify some basic key works)
-Defining the topic
-Compiling a list of keywords (I found it helped to state the topic as a series of questions, something KB and Hugh thankfully did)
-Record the topic in the form of search statement/s (I found having a bunch of refined keywords helped me yield better search results)
-Identifying sources
- Selecting appropriate research tools – Catalogues & Bibliographies & Indexes (for published sources), the RMIT library research database.
-Discussing and posing questions to my fellow group members.
Upon finding sources
-Checking the – Authority, Objectivity, Currency, Accuracy and Relevance of sources (in all formats, especially internet sources)
-Reviews and citation indexes to check authority, objectivity and accuracy.
-Documenting sources via the correct citation method.
-Maintain complete records of all references – Author, title and publication details (and in the case of internet resources, URL and date accessed)

I also attempted to organise interviews with people related to our topic. I got in touch with the chair of the Australian Press Council, Julian Disney but they unfortunately declined an interview. Which is understandable because Australia’s media situation is quite a hot topic at the moment.

Although in some ways it may seem a bit meticulous, all this detail to my research really helped me when putting my final product together.

Problems

The main problem I encountered has been being able to find supporting arguments for both sides. As we were making a case study of our own, it would be unfair of our group to provide information that is not impartial. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the majority of the material I came across arguing their point in relation to media concentration and if its for/or against democracy has said that they’re against media concentration as it compromises the idea of democracy.
Although this was not technically a ‘problem’ so to speak, it was still a bit of a hindrance that I encountered. In the case study we chose to focus on, the findings aren’t blatantly opposed to media concentration, but in some cases, usually in countries with weak democracies, it does state that ownership concentration does lead to a lack of pluralism.
What I gathered from this is that, the idea of media concentration effecting democracy could possibly be a subjective thing depending on the countries they are in, what their media ownership is like etc. I considered this to be a little bit of a hindrance mainly because this realisation revealed to me that there are going to be several different instances (of media ownership effecting democracy in countries) that may not be necessarily black and white, wrong and right, for and against.

There was no real way to resolve this problem other than dedicating quite a lot of time to reading a lot of related resources until I was able to find specific case studies that addressed all sides effectively.

Connections & Intersections

To be completely honest I’m not really 100% sure as to what the value of this course is to me yet. This is not to discredit the subject at all, but it’s just that we’ve been working in group scenarios for the last three years so the collaborative process is not that unfamiliar, for me at least. So from that point of view I don’t think I’ve learnt too much.

I do feel this assignment did help me refine my research skills however. This is largely due to the fact that I went in with the mentality that I really wanted to get something out of this assignment. Both on an educational and personal level. By personal I mainly mean in regards to work ethic etc.

I feel like because I’ve only just recently finished the assessment that’s it’s a bit hard to get an idea of what I’ve learnt about myself via the process of the content of my research fitting into my future career development and future work. After the dust has settled and I’ve had time to properly reflect on the process I feel that I will be able to see what I have taken from the assignment.

Alister emphasised that in a film, everyone has a set of skills, so those in authoritarian position should try and let go of control and let everyone do your job. Although I will not be in this sort of position as I will be fulfilling the role of the director of photography, what Alister said implies that if you are assigned a particular obviously others will assume that you have a comprehensible knowledge of what your title represents. Over the coming weeks (fortunate that holidays are approaching) I’m going to make a concerted effort to hire camera equipment from Uni so that I can explore and discover exactly not only what the camera is capable of, but what I am capable of with a camera in hand.

I think I almost crapped myself when I saw the spreadsheets Alister had put together for his films. His spreadsheets were filled with meticulous detail and every shot that was chosen and planned was justified with a reason. Each shot was going to add something to the film, to fulfill a purpose. Although I was initially taken aback by the amount of work put into the spreadsheets, as Alister continued to explain why he had put in so much work it made sense. Alister’s philosophy was that the more planning you put into pre-production, the more you will be able to immerse yourself into the shoot on the day day, giving things a more organic and relaxed feel.

As mentioned in the post below, I am very much a person whose anxiety leads them to over preparing so once Alister explained the spreadsheets in similar terms it made complete sense. Just like the actors need preparation for how they are going to prepare, so do the movements of the camera. Camera movements are just like a choreographed dance. There are beats that you need to hit and a rhythm you need to adhere to in order to compliment your partner, which in this case is the actors performance. To further this idea of camera work being akin to a dance number, a film of recent memory that showed to me just how effective well rehearsed shot preparation was, you guessed it, Black Swan. The camera was following the characters and the dancers whilst never compromising the initial framing of the shot. The shots feel very smooth and organic. So organic that for me personally, in some of the scenes it felt almost as if the camera had been attached to the dancers. Below is a one minute video showing behind the scenes of how the Black Swan dance numbers were shot.

Obviously a well written script is quintessential in order to make a great film but this doesn’t mean that the film will be great regardless of how the film is shot. The visuals need to help further assist the audience to become immersed in the world they are being shown. And I think Alister’s preparation is a testament to that.

Of course a significant part of film is being able to embrace and improvise the unpredictability of what is going to happen on set, but I think with something such as how a particular scene will be shot, requires great preparation to the extent of seeming obsessive compulsive. Alister Grierson was a really great guest and I hope others feel they benefitted from attending his workshop as much as I felt I have.

The movie was written by writer/director Joss, Zack, Jed Whedon and his wife. The four of them wrote the musical during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Their idea was to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike. Upon its creation the film was released in short webisodes and was then made available in its entirety as a 42 minute film.

Joss Whedon summed up the story as “It’s the story of a low-rent supervillain (Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible), the hero who keeps beating him up (Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer), and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to (Felicia Day as Penny).” A simple enough concept yes, but its the execution that made this little web series that would lauded by critics.

42 minutes shot in 6 days. Quite an amazing feat considering the quality of the finished work. Obviously there are notable actors and seasoned professionals working behind the scenes that legitimise the end result but never the less it is a great example of what can be achieved through the medium of film when the right amount of planning and preparation is implemented.

Although I have filmed some videos of my own and videos for internships I’ve never had the sole responsibility of being the director of photography for a film. This both excites me and frightens me mainly because filming in this sort of context is in someways largely unfamiliar. I actually like that I have some fear in regards to the role I’ve been assigned mainly because whenever I feel anxious about something this usually works as a catalyst for me to become proactive and to take whatever means necessary in order to extinguishing this anxiety replacing it with confidence. This is one of the reasons why I chose Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

The whole essence of the short film feels very DIY and in someways possesses components of student films. Despite these characteristics, the execution of the film i.e. the way the stories told, the visual and the performances of the actors are all done so effectively that any shortcomings that are apparent whether it be due to budget or time constraints, don’t hinder the end result. This is not to say that one should be lenient and easy going when approaching such things as a shot set up etc but short films such as this are encouraging for filmmakers (not that I consider myself one, but I hope to be one in the future) because it showcases that even though you may not think everything is perfect from a technical point of view, that people can still respond to positively to the end result.

As I mentioned earlier I do not have a great amount of experience as a cameraman so a short film like Dr Horrible is comforting to me because even though a shot may not exactly turn out how I intended it to be, this necessarily isn’t a bad thing because if the finished product is truly great then shortcomings such as lens flare in a shot are irrelevant.

Despite this video being a Radiohead music video, it is mostly remembered for the simple but highly impressionable ending. A man inexplicably lying on the floor, informs the crowd as to why he’s lying on the ground which in turn results in al the bystanders joining the man lying on the floor. The reason this short film works is because not only is it a stand alone story in itself, it also carries a contrast with the lyrics of the Radiohead song. The lyrics of the song enables us to imagine a character profile of the protagonist in the video by saying, “Can’t get the stink off, he’s been hanging round for days” creating an image of a particularly lonely man. There is also the repetition of the lyric “You do it to yourself, you do” being repeated several times throughout the song which may also cause the viewer to think that the mans supposed ailment is self inflicted and deserved as he has in fact done this to himself.

Although there is a nice contrast between the music and the visuals of this music video, the film essentially embodies the narrative structure of a silent film. It relies on subtitles and music in order to progress the story further. The video essentially has two components. All the dialogue is all communicated through subtitles while Radiohead provide the subtext with the song’s chorus of “you do it to yourself”.

When the man finally reveals to everyone why he’s lying down, the editing becomes disjointed enough to prevent any effective form of lip reading. The whole point of the video has nothing to do with what the man says, which is meant to be as much of a mystery as whatever it is Bill Murray’s character whispers into Scarlett Johansson’s characters ear at the end of ‘Lost in Translation‘. Evidence of this is when the band and director have been asked about what was said. The band is expectedly quite silent on the issue. The director, Jamie Thraves has addressed the video but in a very ambiguous manner, when asked Thraves has said, “To tell you would deaden the impact, and probably make you want to lie down in the road too.”

The film works because it possesses an enduring mystery. Even now, there are still countless online discussions in forums etc trying to figure out what exactly the man has said. The majority of people know that it presumedly wasn’t actually anything of substance but it is an innate characteristic of humans to be curious and to want answers to what is essentially the unknown. It’s a simple yet effective idea that works perfectly for a short film, whereas if it was a feature film the idea would most likely seem like a cheap novelty.

I will be DOP on the short film. The mise-en-scene, edits and shots are not particularly remarkable yet they are effective in reflecting the story this song is trying to tell. The costumes are archetypal and all the characters are dressed the similarly emphasising the normality of these people and how they are all alike in some way. The presence of the lyrics are also mirrored in the visuals; like the lyrics, many of the shots are also repeated.

The main thing I took from this video is the way the story is told visually. I think a lot of the time people can get caught up on setting up and achieving the ‘perfect shot’ which I completely understand but do not think is a necessity. The important thing to remember is not forget that the telling the story is the most important thing. The shots used in this music video help push the story forward and that is what is most important. Being simple but effective.

The role I have been assigned is to investigate arguments for and against Media Concentration and decide if they are for or against democracy. Do either of these arguments contradict our predetermined definition of democracy?

The progress you have made so far (what have you done)
As I was only delegated this role recently I unfortunately haven’t made too much progress. That being said, it is this exact reason that I have dedicated what time I have had available to doing what is required of me in order to fulfill my role successfully.

As Brian told our group in class Brian, we should focus on one case study and go from there. The case study we chose was Conflicts of Interest: How Media Pluralism Protects Democracy and Human Rights’ by Eric C. Schwarz. The article is primarily concerned with using longitudinal analysis to assess claims that declining media pluralism impairs democratic institutions, the observance of human rights and the control of corruption.

I immediately read the chapters relevant to our topic in order to find what information was relevant to the question I was assigned. From there I have then moved on acquiring more articles, essays and books that relate to my question.

Unfortunately I haven’t been documenting my own personal progress on my blog as I have been a bit preoccupied with other assessments. I have also have been a bit lazy with constantly updating my blog because before starting this assessment I was not that well informed with the idea of media concentration and ownership. So as opposed to documenting my progress I’ve been more focused on just getting a grasp of the issue we’re tackling and trying to become as well informed as I possibly can. Although this is definitely not an excuse; and if anything this should be more of a reason to document my progress but I guess I got a little bit distracted. I will hopefully increase my blog input/output to show a more well rounded and comprehensible documentation of my progress in the Media Industries course.

What strategies you have utilised in your research?

The strategy I have utilised in my research initially consisted of my going straight to the bibliography of the case study I mentioned earlier. I decided to start here because the information the thesis contains is obviously informed and backed up by information from other sources. This includes, essays, other thesis’, newspaper articles etc. Another benefit of doing this is the fact that the other resources the bibliography leads me to, only leads me to more related information sources via the latter’s bibliographies.

However, even once I had done this, I still felt that I had not fully grasped the concept and what I was doing. As a result of this, I have tried to get a little more focused and structured with my research strategies. Even if this meant starting with the simplest of strategies.

My research strategy breakdown
-Planning
-Background reading (seek advice and consult reference tools to identify some basic key works)
-Defining the topic
-Compiling a list of keywords (I found it helped to state the topic as a series of questions, something KB and Hugh thankfully did)
-Record the topic in the form of search statement/s (I found having a bunch of refined keywords helped me yield better search results)
-Identifying sources
- Selecting appropriate research tools – Catalogues & Bibliographies & Indexes (for published sources), the RMIT library research database.
-Discussing and posing questions to my fellow group members.

Upon finding sources
-Checking the – Authority, Objectivity, Currency, Accuracy and Relevance of sources (in all formats, especially internet sources)
-Reviews and citation indexes to check authority, objectivity and accuracy.
-Documenting sources via the correct citation method.
-Maintain complete records of all references – Author, title and publication details (and in the case of internet resources, URL and date accessed)

I have also attempted and am planning to organise interviews with people related to our topic. So far I have only gotten in touch with the chair of the Australian Press Council, Julian Disney but they unfortunately declined an interview.

What problems you have encountered?
The main problem I’ve encountered has been being able to find supporting arguments for both sides. As we are making a case study of our own, it would be unfair of our group to provide information that is not impartial. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the majority of the material (I have come across so far) arguing their point in relation to media concentration and if its for/or against democracy has said that they’re against media concentration as it compromises the idea of democracy. I will continue to research to see if there are any definitive ‘for’ arguments but. In a few weeks time after more research, if there are no definitive arguments we may have to consider rephrasing the question I’m addressing to an even more focused question in regards to relating to our argument.

Although this is not technically a ‘problem’ so to speak, it was still a bit of a hindrance that I encountered. In the case study we chose to focus on, the findings aren’t blatantly opposed to media concentration, but in some cases, usually in countries with weak democracies, it does state that ownership concentration does lead to a lack of pluralism.

What I gathered from this is that, the idea of media concentration effecting democracy could possibly be a subjective thing depending on the countries they are in, what their media ownership is like etc. I considered this to be a little bit of a hindrance mainly because this realisation revealed to me that there are going to be several different instances (of media ownership effecting democracy in countries) that may not be necessarily black and white, wrong and right, for and against. Therefore I am going to have to get case studies covering all instances in order to present a well rounded and extensive answer to the question my role pertains to.

How you have resolved these? (or intend to resolve them)
As mentioned above I am going to have to get case studies covering all instances in order to present a well rounded and extensive answer to the question my role pertains to. Not only that, I am also going to have to get supporting arguments from both sides of the spectrum in order to fully answer my question. There is no real way to resolve this other than dedicating quite a lot of time to reading a lot of related resources until I am able to find specific case studies that address all sides effectively.

How you believe your project may connect &/or intersects with other research projects? (either in the course or elsewhere)
I believe our project connects with the Finkelstein report because of the subjects it discusses. The report covers the regulation of the fourth estate (news media), the regulation of the news media in a digital world, the viability of newspapers’ business models and the impact on journalism.

A quote from the Finklestein report in regards to media and democracy:

“What is lacking, at least in Australia, is a robust discussion on what institutional mechanisms are necessary to ensure the press adheres to its responsibilities … This is the situation this inquiry must address: how to accommodate the increasing and legitimate demand for press accountability, but to do so in a way that does not increase state power or inhibit the vigorous democratic role the press should play or undermine the key rationales for free speech and a free press.”

- Hon R Finklestein QC

Ones conception of results may not apply to others; ‘what are we trying to acheive here? the final outcome? what is legitimately exciting here?’

In a professional setting you need proof, ‘demand driving’. How do you demonstrate demand for something that doesn’t exist yet?

User-generated content
A two-way conversation – a fundamental aspect – it’s a multi-path, not usually just two-way
An ongoing relationship – these two things are predicated on identity (not necessarily a real identity but an identity)

Government do not maintain ongoing relationships.

Your very own audience
You control what’s going on.
An opportunity to understand what people in the world think about you, your brand, your service.
Instant feedback – quickly and fine grained.
Has the ability to step into the conversation and steer it.
Much more genuine than ‘Prime time TV’

Gov 2.0
Open government
Intersection with Web 2.0 and Government
Moniker of transfer of government paradigms.
There was a taskforce ‘government 2.0 taskforce’

‘Smaller, faster, cheaper…and doubling every 18 months’
Makes technological advances (in such products as Apple0 a bit more predictable.

Question many companies are currently pondering:
‘We need to do something in this space but we’re not sure how…or why’

Government –> Social Technology- ‘The Gov 2.0 Match Makers’

Theme: Collaboration
World’s 1st collaborative city plan – Futuremelbourne.com.au
Public add, edit, delete content 24/7
City planners collaborating with the public

‘Social proof’ – In this sort of context participation is essential.
We don’t want people criticising people, we want them criticising ideas.

When the public came in – the minute they made any changes, the planners took immediate notice. ‘Immediate dynamic’

The scoping process

Vision – determining the vision; Goals –> Objectives
Approach – Reslolving how to integrate social; Your organisation –> Mapping business as usual
Explore – Exploring technologies; Create? Consult? Promote? –> Staff? Stakeholders? Public?
Prioritise – Prioritise & Plan; Which options support the vision? & operate within your constraints.

What impact does ownership have on ownership on press freedom in Australia?’

In this tutorial our group was able to take our general theme of ‘Ownership’ and condense and concentrate into a more narrowed and fixed problem. The end result is the question displayed above. We were encouraged to make our idea more concentrated so that the focus of our project was more fixed and understandable to those not only involved working on it but the audience it will be displayed to.

What kind of information will you need to start exploring the problem?
As a group we have already began accumulating articles that we feel will be helpful for the immediate and future of our project.

Some examples of what we’ve found so far include:

http://www.dbcde.gov.au/digital_economy/independent_media_inquiry

http://theconversation.edu.au/finkelstein-inquiry-report-cause-for-cautious-optimism-5661

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/finkelstein-would-take-us-back-before-1695/story-e6frgd0x-1226300876604

We have also been exploring Australia’s Press Freedom in comparison to other countries. As a result of the latest Press Freedom Index (an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders based upon the organization’s assessment of their press freedom records) Australia currently stands at number 30. Australia’s media ownership has been described as one of the most concentrated in the world. With information such as this we can analyse what has improved/harmed Australia’s press freedom, the negative effects of this and what this means for the consumer.

Identify the first three steps you will need to take to find an answer to the question you formulated in worksheet 2?
- I think the first step before even approaching the question is talking to my group members. Hugh already had quite a grasp on a lot of the issues pertaining to ownership which was very helpful. His prior knowledge helped steer KB & myself on the right direction as to what to what areas we should begin gathering information for.

- Gathering and reading as much information as I possibly can in regards to our issue. Although I have a grasp on the issue our group is tackling, in order for me to get the most out of the content we are creating I will require a higher and more informed level of comprehension in for me to apply this knowledge constructively. Although this step may appear to be a given, there have been times in my past where I have completed and submitted assignments without fully understanding some of the content I used to help put together the particular pieces of work. With an assignment like this, the more I know is going to make the process easier and the final product stronger.

- Dissecting the question and applying the information gathered. Although I wrote above that we used our time in class to make the problem we were tackling more ‘concentrated’ in order to get the most out of our question we need to dissect it in order to discover all the other minor issues that amalgamate under the auspice that is our question. Once we have discovered all the possible avenues to go down within the question, we can then apply our acquired knowledge.

Who do you need to talk to in order to get started with your research?
Media analysts and if possible, representatives of these companies:
1 Nine Entertainment Co.
2 WIN Corporation
3 News Corporation
4 Southern Cross Broadcasting
5 Ten Network Holdings
6 Seven Media Group
7 Fairfax Media
8 ABC
9 SBS

One of the topics/questions brought up in last weeks tutorial was whether or not there ‘Is there an increasingly short attention span for media’ and how to respond to that as a maker.

List some of the reasons why this would be considered an important issue to the industry and the broader community

For me personally, the idea of getting someone (minus family, friends etc) to watch content you have created is an endeavour in itself. The notion that that even though you may get people to initially view your content but then not have the attention span or desire to stick around for the running time of what you have created is quite a daunting prospect.

Now because of the internet and such content providers as Youtube, Vimeo etc one can monitor and analyse trends in video content, video styles etc. This is important to the industry because like fashion trends because of aforementioned content providers, content creators can then pay attention to what sort of videos are currently popular, create content accordingly and then strike while the metaphorical iron is still hot; thus maximising the amounts of hits their videos receive and ultimately garnering a larger audience (via subscribers) of people who may continue to view future content they create.

As a result of their being a shorter attention span, content creators have to more calculated with running times, editing styles etc when it comes to creating videos.

Try and see if you can formulate the topic into a question using the following formula

A) TOPIC: I am studying how a media content producer deals with the seemingly increasing short attention of today’s audiences.

B) QUESTION: because I want to find out how a media producer would deal with this and how this would effect the content one produces.

C) SIGNIFICANCE: in order to help my reader understand the constantly changing landscape and intertwined relationship of media and technology.

What types of evidence will you need in order to answer this question?
-A look at the most popular videos since the inception of video mediums such as Youtube, Vimeo etc
-The progression and changes incurred in regards to the video time. This would include content, types of shots used etc

What resources will you need to access in order to answer this question?
Books, people, Video trends information, lists of popular videos etc

How will you know you’ve solved your problem?
With this sort of problem I don’t think there is a real way of solving it. The media landscape is constantly changing and evolving so to come to the conclusion that there is a permanent solution I feel would be incorrect. From the research one may be able to ascertain how their content can stay relevant but the answer this year may not necessarily be the same next year.

What new information will you have?
A well rounded idea of the evolution and trends that currently define the media medium and why the attention span of today’s audience is dwindling.

TUTORIAL
Future of media in 10 years
Control
Technology

Owenership → Concentration

Is there an increasingly short attention span for media…and how to respond to that as a maker

Political role of media → newer digital technologies

Where are there jobs? For makers of new media

Regulation/relationships between producers/consumers

Social responsibility around media → Trust

Regulatory censorship of the internet → Is it needed? → How can this be done?

The show that I’ve been assigned to work on centers around up and comers in the sports world. The last two weeks I have been watching and transcribing interviews that they have had with various athletes. Transcribing consists of writing word for word the words spoken by the interviewee.

In my second week at the company I was asked to find footage for two projects they are currently working on. The first project they needed footage for was a video about the creator of vuvuzela horn made famous during the 2010 South Africa World Cup. The second video concerned the 2002 World Cup in Japan. In order to find this footage I was assigned to a computer that had access to the companies video library. To find the footage that was needed, I had to type in key words and a ‘Date’ to ‘Date’ in order to limit the search. Once the search had acquired some results I had to make sure that the footages source was attributed to the company or else they were not allowed to use it/could use the footage but under certain restrictions.

I continued to intern with Sportsbrand for another month, where I completed similar jobs to the ones mentioned above. I spent a lot of time transcribing video interviews, going through B-roll; identifying what shots were usable and labelling what each contained.

After my 6 weeks with Sportsbrand I was offered one more week to intern but unfortunately was going to be away at that time. After that week I was informed that there would not be a lot of work available Sportsbrand as the holiday period was coming up.

Overall I enjoyed the time I spent at Sportsbrand. Through transcribing interviews (marking the time code when a new question was asked etc) and sifting through copious amounts of B-roll it gave me insight into the benefits of taking such action. By categorising the interviews and b-roll into what type of shot they were, what information the shot contained etc it resonated with me as to how I had approached editing sessions in the past. My favourite thing about working at Sportsbrand was the fact that practically in every corner of the office was a different show. From week to week I was assigned to work on a different show, therefore the kinds of footage I was dealing with was always different. It differed from vox pops to b-roll to observational footage. Sportsbrand also gave me insight as to how shows came together as I got to discuss with one of the show runners what their process was for shopping shows arounds to networks such as BBC and Sky.