Global warming: The Hot and Cold debate

When it comes to what we expect from our news it is simple, we want a network that will inform us in a balanced and unbiased way, allowing us know about what’s happening in our local areas and globally. The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)’s code of ethics states the journalists should:

– Be honest
– Fair and courageous in gathering/reporting/ interpreting information
– Act independently
– Be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know
– Be accountable to their readers/listeners/viewers and each other
– Seek truth and report it

In turn Journalism becomes the ‘voice for the voiceless’ (Ward, 2009, p. 14), creating discussion and shaping the view of a situation to the masses. Thus a further need for any organisation to discuss a firm and institutionalised set of values based on an explicit statement of purpose. However when adding political, social and military interest into the mix and lines are blurred, distorting the truth as representation focuses on prompting one side’s agenda. In the video below the focus on the financial gain and politics of Al Gore by journalist take away the focus on the important issue, global warming.

When it comes to global warming people are confused so much that the people at Yale’s school of Forestry and Environmental Studies has named them the ‘6 Americans’ ( see image blow), the study did content analysis on a sample of the populations views on the hot topic and compiled them into 6 state of minds.

6 AMERICANS

BOTH SIDES: THE FACTS

When both sides are given equal representation time does it mean that both sides are equally true; journalist today struggle with the ethical responsibility to report the majority of scientific study or whether they should report and amplify the ‘unheard voices’ of climate skeptics.

References:

Ward, B 2009, Journalism ethics and climate change reporting in a period of intense media uncertainty, in Ethics of Science Journalism, volume 9, pp. 13-15
http://www.policymic.com/articles/3824/a-really-inconvenient-truth-global-warming-is-not-real
http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html

Editing and editing : Geo Smart

This week I spent most of my time editing the Geo Smart logo, once again like last weeks post I used the feedback from the round table to break my designs down in positives and negatives as well as taking not of any ideas that needed more exploring.

With this one I was more nervous than any other I hadn’t been able to link my mark and logo type and was really struggling with implementing this into the logo. However after input from my peers I felt more at ease as I gained valuable information. Once again here are some that I found:

– Need to explore positioning of the icon and sizes
– Edit the shape behind icons as it is distracting and go for more oval shape
– Add white outline in some bits to break icons and background up
– Cut down on icons go for 2 instead of 3 and increase their sizes

However there was things that I did do right like my use of colour and and font. However I do feel that there wasn’t alot of refining of my logo from project one, only editing to fit the mark, this worries me as I dont know what they didnt like about the logos themselves so I am unaware of what needs editing. I will continue to check in with my teacher on what I need to change but for now here is my logos so far. Enjoy

Geo Smart copy

Editing and more editing: EVOLVE

I have really taken into consideration what was discussed around the round table and implemented some of these ideas into my designs. I was really struggling with how to incorporate my mark with my logo as it was already strong. The feedback was really valuable as I got feedback on what worked and what didn’t here are some of the comments:

– Experiment with diffrent angling and placement of the logo mark
– Prototypes need to connect more with the design and mark this could be done by implementing the ‘tear drop’ shape into the prototypes in a sort of background figure
– They loved the ‘sketchy’ look and bold look on another and wanted me to experiment by making all sketchy and then experiment with the bold look
– Change the use of house icon to something subtle

Things they loved:

– Use of colour and shape
– Consistant and strong design
– Clever use of symbolism

So I took these into mind and made the necessary edits, while it is not perfect yet here are the designs currently.

I really think I will implement this around the table idea in other classes if there is a lack of this and in my workplace, it gives you a new perspective on the designs, new ideas to explore and it is amazing to see how people come up with so many diffrent ideas. I really think this will help me in the future to think outside the box and think in diffrent ways, offering a new twist or presepctive on designs.

EVOLVE FINAL

Cultural translation for dummies

There are obvious reasons the Kath and Kim American remake of the Aussie original didn’t work as the humour in the show derived directly from the characters’ perceptions of themselves as being different from reality and because the US version’s reality matched these perceptions it completely missed out on the comic gold of the Australian original.
Comedy is one of the hardest to culturally translate as comedy depends on the breaking of rules of language and behavior and our laughter “signals that we have recognized the break, but first we have to know what the rules are.” (Susan Purdie cited in Turnbull). While there are rules that can be applied to many contexts like a person slipping over a banana or a toddler hitting their father in his ‘crowned jewels’, which are universally comical. There are certain things that have to get translated when media is shared between cultures, these include country specific:

• Cultural references
• Culturally specific character types
• Recognizable actors
• Audience tastes

Andy Medhurst breaks down this cultural exchange in his essay A National Joke that refers to comedy as a cultural and social practice which is “shaped by and contributes to historical conjunctures; pivoting on contested and ambivalent relationships to power; constituting a repository of symbols that can be drawn on to indicate how, where and why people place themselves”. Whilst Kath and Kim failed due to the lack of effective ‘cultural translation’ the ‘It Crowd’ which showed two socially awkward friends (nerds) embarking on the road of manhood battling girls, love, friendship and life in general. I think the reason the show translated so well was due to the common themes in both the US and UK version as well of the global portrayal of the ‘nerd’ stereotype seen in current shows like The Big Bang Theory.

The clip shows a side by side comparison of the pilots episodes of both versions, so you can judge for yourself which version was more affective or how they were different.

While the US and UK culturally shares similarities, there have been remakes from completely opposite sides of the world. In the world movie channel’s ‘Ripped Off’ series it shows the original version followed by the American remake, this week’s showing Funny Games, a thriller about a home invasion. I found very little differences in script and setting as the US did its best to copy the 1997 German (Austria) version in the 2007 remake starring Naomi Watts and Michael Pitt.

I noticed more aggression and violence shown to the mother and son in the German version than the American version, presumably due to the focus on child abuse and violence against women in the US at the time. Other minor differences was the use of a German Sheppard as the family pet in the Austrian version which was replaced with the all American favorite Golden Retriever ; as well as merchandising differences in the products advertised (Coke German equivalent).

There are also ‘format type’ shows such as Big Brother, Biggest Loser and Come Dine With Me which is when the structure/ format is taken and applied to different cultures while stylized the same, just altered to appeal more to the desired country. When I finished comparing the two Funny Game versions I found myself leaning more towards the American version, why is that I wonder, something that I will be exploring in my essay. So stay tuned.

References:

Turnbull, S (2008) ‘It’s Like They Threw a Panther in the Air and Caught It in Embroidery’: Television Comedy in Translation’ Metro Magazine Issue 159

To infinite and beyond: The Exploitation of the Bollywood Spectacle

Lets get you started, watch this video before reading and then analyse it once your done reading. For those with a sweet tooth.

Previously Hollywood ran the pack being first in the world film production but lately there has been a shift and as India and China wrestle to take control of global film flows from previous western dominance. This change seen as recent as 2009 where Hollywood ranked 3rd in the Big 5 of the film production world despite producing 734 film , a far cry from leader Bollywood (India) with 1288 and Nollywood (Nigeria) with 987. The inter-relationship between countries had created structures of hybridity in order to meet increasing demand for glocalized content within globalized distribution networks. This is seen all around the world but more so in media capitals ( which I talked about in my previous blog) and Ang Lee’s “Crouthcing tiger: Hidden Dragon” is a perfect example of hybridisation as it was a “eastern movie for western audiences and a western movie for eastern audiences” (Schaefer & Karan , 2010, p. 311). Hong Kong’s success as a media capital lies in its centrality and marginality, and is “very Chinese and remarkably Western, and yet it’s not really either” (Curtin, 2003).

Let’s break down elements of the film to decide what country has the right to claim the movie as its own. Okay:
– Ang Lee was born in Taiwan but is now an American citizen
– The cast were from Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and Taiwan
– The genre is Wuxia Chinese Martial Arts
– The grew from Hong Kong, China and Australia
– The movie was Mandarin with English subtitles

So what country has the right to claim this film as its own, that is the hard thing and it has always been like this transnational films has always been around. Lets take a quiz, which one of these directors are American, Chaplin, Fritz Lang, Greta Garbo, Hitchcock, Billy Wilder. The answer none. See the thing is that countries more so America has always utilized the best of other cultures and ‘copy-and-pasted’ them as their own, in order to boost the entertainment value.The interest in the Bollywood spectacle, (frequent dance numbers and bright colours) and Indian culture is something Subway employed in their new commercial. It showed stereotypically Bollywood dancing girls a blend of “iconography and American consumption practises” (Schaefer & Karan , 2010, p. 312).

Bollywood film’s success may be contributed to the entertainment value, and the emergence of global network of formal and informal channels for the promoting of these films just shortly after India’s economic liberalization in 1991and even though many may not understand the Hindi dialogue they catch the spirit of the films and look at India with stars in their eyes as a result.

This may result in obvious ‘cultural appropriation’ as the two videos featured which use the New Zealand ‘Haka’, a traditional dance/ chant of Maori and Islander. Ask yourself the question is this a good thing or bad, is it better for all the world to share ideas and resources or does it destroy cultural identity, the true consequences or benifits are yet to be seen.

Refrences:
Schaefer , D.J & Karan ,K 2010, Problematizing Chindia: Hybritidity and Bollywoodization of popular Indian cinema in global film flows, in Global Media and Communication , volume 6, Sage publications, London, UK, pp.309- 316

Media CAPITAL exclamation point!

In the Curtin’s essay Media Capitals he works toward defining the term, summed up as “sites of mediation, locations where complex forces and flows interact…. The meeting places where local specificity arises out of migration, interaction and exchange” (2003, p. 204). He suggest that this is where generation and circulation of new mass culture forms will become possible evident in recent movement away from one way flow of information towards a multi-directional flows of media imagery.

The big media capitals are places like Hong Kong and Hollywood, their mission is to focus on finance, production and distribution of the commodity (also known as financescapes) aka transnational film. Whilst still relying on the centralized control and management of geographical distribution which Curtin’s refers to as a “world system”. Serving national interest while having a local agenda is the embodiment of the concept of “localism”, this creates new distribution opportunities and further emphasises national systems of mass production, distribution and consumption. These products could be marketed to local stations and sold in newly emerging markets overseas something that was not possible before and created the following:

– National-foreign ownerships of media enterprises
– Transnational co-productions
– Conscious design and marketing of transnational programming

Largely due to government regulation of technology and program distribution which sought to minimize the number of network competitors at the national level and to control the flow of international programming. This sparked research into how to take advantage of media capitals and how one could use it to break international boarders and expand into new distribution channels, a short video of a conference in Chicago (link below) explaining the benefits to be gained from this knowledge.

The new interconnectivity between nations introduced an issue as the era of hybridity allowed for what some refer to as ‘cultural appropriation’, which is when one country ‘borrows’ certain aspect of another culture in order to create profits an example seen in the breakdown of James Cameron’s recent film Avatar which mixed native-American themes with Ancient Hindu concepts.

The questions remains as to what extend these ideoscapes will affect how we view other cultures and to what degree will these one sided view of a whole culture influence our knowledge of the outside world, a world these media capitals create through the expressive medium of film. Don’t believe me watch the clip below to see an example of this in Disney’s stereotypical and racist portrayal of the Middle East in Aladdin.

References:

Curtin, M 2013, Media Capitals : Towards the study of spatial flows, in International Journal of Cultural Studies, Sage Publications, London, UK, pp. 202- 228

The result

Yay so happy got an amazing mark for the logo’s going better as I thought I would. I do agree with the feedback about that the second (Geo Smart) needed further extending on balance and scale but I am excited for the new topic. I have decided to focus on categories or topics for Geo Smart that can be used in book or web format and in any level of education. They are:

– Engineering and Mechanics
– Earth Science (water, fire, rocks ect)
– Biology and chemistry
– Astronomy

While for Evolve (advertising company) I decided to focus on the types of buildings that could be made for example:

– Restoration and renovation
– Environmentally Friendly
– Residential
– Industrial

Here are some of the examples.

Around table copy

Will Keep in touch about progression on Project 2.