Little Women (2019’s version) Proposal for Film and Screen cultures:
For this proposal of analysing a two-tiered film I chose to write about ‘Little Women’ which is set within the 19th century centring around four sisters and their stories. This film has a heavy portrayal of men and women and how they are viewed and present themselves within this time period. Women within this are represented as elegant and feminine through the women’s attitude towards men and the way they dress, this can indicate the class of the women and the men.
When I analysis this film in full I will look further into moments in the film that involve intertextuality and blank parody within this film. The film could be reference and compare to both the book and other version of the film which demonstrates similar aspects but has many differences however still manages to create a similar effect to each other.
The March Family (sony/columbia picture) – https://images.app.goo.gl/pmXVG3EiqFhK58Np8
The film as several aspects of intertextuality and relies on nostalgia, the imperfect memory of humans and postmodern feminism.
Within this I would look further into how Gerwig decided to structure the film and uses tone when jumping back and forth between the different presents and parts and how she cleverly uses parallels or transitions throughout the film to do this smoothly. Along with this I would look into how the choice of actresses effect the performance and could contribute to the theory of Mulvey such as the four different sisters presenting themselves as four different archetypes of femininity by each presenting different aspects of how people view women such as Meg gets married and has children whereas Beth is fragile and weak, this follows Mulvey’s ‘bearer of meaning, not maker of meaning’ (Mulvey, 1975) and is suggested by several theorists that due to the absence of the father and their relationship with their mother could’ve had an effect on each of the women. The women are represented in different ways using men and society as a way to demonstrate how women are treated as a means of nurture, this is especially shown through the mother’s character and these aspects of the film fall into Mulvey’s narrative theory of the ‘Male Gaze’ and how women in film and for the audience are put within film for the viewing pleasure of men.
Amy and Laurie (Belonging to Sony/Columbia Pictures) -Demonstrate the concept of Mulvey’s theory within their relationship well.
Sony/Columbia pictures – the idea of a fragile and gentle women Beth and Joe scene.
There are different points where using some IMR rules to enhance Mulvey’s theory. Examples of this is when the camera is on Joe, the lighting is warm, and the camera follows Joe. Throughout the film the lighting switches to indicate the idea of the present and the past as it’s been written through the perspective of Joe (which carries throughout the film and shows a lot of her emotions and experiences), the idea that this is written is shown more towards the end of the film where Joe’s character experiences loss and grief and ends up writing down her life for her sister. This is a clever way of ending the film as though it were written, which is suggested that it is fiction through the use of the lighting and how the last couple scenes are presented, that she gives the audience this romantic ideology of her falling in love with a guy to please the reader which ends up falling under the notion that Mulvey puts across of Women having to end up with a man in the end (or die) so that the men have this view of control.
With analysing this film, I will talk about how this film can be classed as both a 1st tier film and a 2nd tier film depending on how the audience is viewing it and I will look into the IMR and how the film follows a lot of the classical Hollywood style of film. Analysing this will also allow me to see what kind of elements the film could lack and how the author and film uses the common ideologies of how people view women/feminine presenting people (especially in this time period) to create this idea of a perfect ending.
Watching this film from a two-tier perspective allowed me to analysis how the plot line and the way it is produced and uses the rules of IMR and the idea of scopophilia is used both for the audience and with the male characters when it comes to their perspective of the women. The women are often shown as beautiful/graceful however we do see a side to the women’s personality which doesn’t specifically fall into Murvey’s theory and could fall under William’s theory, however at the end it still has a lot of moments where the characters are evolved around men.
I noticed how the film uses the idea of the 4th look (surrounding Mulvey) at the end as it grabs the audience’s attention and makes them very aware of their surroundings due to how the ending sequence took place and how cleverly it was designed to make the audience question whether this was reality or not which really enhances the 1st look due to how the audience watches the film.
So, when I go into writing a full analysis of this film, I will look more in-depth at these different theory concepts and representation within the film Little Women, I can approach each of these different theories in detail with different aspects of the film.
This book is written by Laura Mulvey who did a feminist’s perspective of film narrative and IMR. She theorises about how cinema is shown through the ‘male gaze’. Mulvey believes that within cinema women are often shown within the perspective of a heterosexual man. Within normal old cinema there is a patriarchal ideology where women are viewed as objects for men visual pleasure, this is shown within Hollywood style of film.
Mulvey believes there are 3 gazes: the spectator, camera and the character which can be represented as the real, the symbolic and the imaginary. As this is presented through the eyes of male power it is often viewed in three ways: scopophilia, voyeurism and narcissistic. ‘Women as image, men as barer of the look’ shows that Mulvey believes that within cinema women are represented through a way that a man would want to see, which in this case-study demonstrates that in a range of different ways such as the sister’s personalities showing through with the way they dress such as the character Amy who dresses in big, elegant dresses to show try to show of class compared to her sister Joe who dresses more casually and comfortable. Mulvey suggests that women are either shown as passive and men are more active when it comes to the gaze of women in narrative cinema.
Noel Burch wrote about the making of cinema, and how by the 1940s the cultural ascendancy of narrative cinema was complete. This book goes into how Vertov and Eisenstein developed two different forms of cinema and only one was popular due to the demographic of people who had access to watching film, which then will develop into the Classic Hollywood Narrative that we see in cinema today.
Noel Burch talked about how camera shots were developed and made, as well as lighting, montage and editing put together this Hollywood industry style of film making. How a lot of these elements are meant to be invisible and almost natural to the audience watching, this was part of the development of IMR roles that Noel talks about within the book. Which within this case-study demonstrates a range of the rules of classic Hollywood cinema and how they want to keep this idea of a veil on the production such as the camera movements with Joes character and the subtle switches in lighting to enhance the plotline.
This book covers how the language of sixties films is constructed and how there have been changes of the nature of Hollywood symbol systems. This book goes into depth about what allusions are and how they are involved within different films. The book mainly goes into the old vs new on the language of film and the elements that make up film such as genres as symbols.
Carroll also goes into how the two-tier model was constructed and what the two-tier model can involve within Hollywood illusionism. Carroll talked about within two-tier film are successful due to being able to create a mass audience and but still manages to communicate different messages to select groups who would understand subtleties and Carroll goes into depth on this and how it applies to older films from the 60s/70s.
Within this report we delve into four of the MCP’s guest and what I have learnt about each of their industries and my own experience in learning about creating and producing this podcast. This report will reflect on the professional experiences of each of these guests as well as my own goals and ambitions throughout this. This Report also will go over aspects that I did for the production of this and how each of these guests impacted me as well as how I think knowing about the advice that these guests could help someone when preparing to go into the industry.
Fahima Mohamed
Fahima Mohamed is a TV host and has her own live shows and actively works as a mental health advocate and life coach whilst doing her (MA)Master’s degree. She also had several interviews at the BBC and talks about women and Muslim experiences.
I had the pleasure of being the main producer of her podcast and learning a lot about both the radio production industry and the tv industry. Within this interview she highlights the importance of creating content that she is passionate about, and I think this is such an important message especially when it comes to the production industry, this is an industry that I am interested in exploring and developing my knowledge on.
Whilst I was doing the production of this, I learnt that through her experiences, and challenges she has used these to enhance her career and using her BA in Business Management, her range of networking skills and her ability to adapt under pressure she has managed to get this vast and big career in British Muslim TV, Live shows, and appearances on BBC radio.
Although I personally am unsure what type of career I would like to go into in the future learning about her experience within the field of TV and how she has sometimes had to make quick and bold decisions to move the production along and I found this aspect I could relate too as this is a task I had to face when in my production role.
As Mohamed hosts and presents shows I gained an understanding of situations that often go on within the environment of the production industry. Mohamed talks about how situations such as a guest cancelling would be sorted and how she uses her vast network to help find a new quest quickly to replace them and to prepare them. This was important as I found that quick solutions were vital for the production industry, and I found that whilst creating the podcast situations can take place and things do go wrong. When this occurred during the actual interview the presenters discussed with the guest the situation and she understood, and we came up with a solution to fix the issues that had occurred.
During the interview she talked a lot about how she takes advantage of social media and networking as part of her job, and it brings her opportunities and chances to work with a range of different people. This is great advice for people, like me, going into the media industry and building a social media presence could allow me further opportunities when trying to go in the industry in my future career.
She kept mentioning the importance of experience and taking it step by step when it comes to going into the industry and that it is important to try and take that leap at the opportunities you are passionate about. When listening to her advice she mentions that when you go into being of your career you there are going to be struggles and when you start your career you will have to take on challenges. So, when going to investigate this part of the industry of media I would look at building these experiences and networks, which are definitely aspects that I personally have to build on and improve as I continue on throughout my time learning about the industry.
Fausta Dambrauskaite
In this interview we met our guest Fausta Dambrauskaite who is a self-taught photographer talked to us about how they are working towards their degree in Phycology whilst using their photography skills to work as a professional photographer and editor at events and weddings and their work has even appeared in some local papers. Even though photography is not their main career they still have many opportunities within the photography field.
Dambrauskaite started off capturing the beauty of nature and developing the skills that were needed to go into the field of photography. This interview was really fascinating in the fact that Dambrauskaite acknowledges that people have to start somewhere to develop your skills and that it takes a lot of practice and dedication to start getting into the field. I found this aspect of the interview to be really impactful as I don’t think that a lot of people acknowledge the challenges or the struggle of getting into a particular part of an industry.
Within this interview they talk about how photography is a vast industry with a range of styles such as portrait photography to nature photography and how different photographers capture images in their own way as well as how they go about editing their images, which can take hours to create and finalize depending on how big of a project the artist is creating. This is part of the interview I thought hit some really interesting points as I have done a lot of photography outside of the industry both in an educational setting and outside of my education and I think capturing photos and moments would absolutely vary depending on the artist and what they are going for.
When it came down to the production of this podcast I was heavily involved, along with my teammates Kristof Poloskei and Yujin Lee, within creating this episode and this led to us learning some really valuable skills alongside learning about the photography industry. This includes working with other crew members to make sure the camera was at the right angle and that the sound was at the right levels.
I found it interesting that they highlight the importance of how much goes on behind the scenes of doing photography. Which in our case we could heavily relate too as there is so much that went into this project and as I have done some of my education with photography and it was something I had found myself passionate about, I found it fascinating to hear other people’s perspectives that have actually worked in the field and have experienced a lot of the struggles and the positives that come with working within the industry. I learned a lot about how it is necessary to have a contract between the photographer and the client so that both parties are fully aware of what they should expect and need out of one another throughout the shoot/after the shoot. So, within a range of different media fields I learnt that contracts are a necessity when it came down to working with guests, clients or other individuals.
Dambrauskaite talks about many important aspects that I thought stood out as both impactful to me but to others that are striving to be within the industry, and not just the photography industry, which would be to practice and build our confidence within your skills. This is an area that I would always have to be improving on and dedicating time to so that my skills get ore defined using different equipment, techniques, software’s and just generally my skills in general.
Daniel Ball
Daniel Ball was a different interview than what we had done previously as they are a Media and Production BA student at Coventry University on their way to graduating. Daniel is pursuing going into the field of being a director or producer assistant.
Throughout this interview Daniel Ball talks about their current projects and how they are creating a series of 3 videos to represent queer experiences through a fantasy lens as their final project at university. They talked about how their hobbies such as playing DnD has contributed towards their skills on the course and how they believe that having consent (positive) representation for minorities like the lgbt+ community is a vital need in media. Along with this Daniel has talked about gaining experiences with his course and how vital teamwork can be to create these projects. They have helped build sets for a classmate’s game show and create an audio drama whilst doing their own project of recording a narrative audio with poetry and filming. They are also using their skills that they have learnt and developed to make these projects happen such as they are certified on Adobe Premiere Pro which would defiantly help when it came down to editing their projects.
Daniel was one of the interviewers that I could honestly identify with as they make talk about parts of production, they are passionate about, but they also demonstrate their struggles and using their own experiences as a way to want to represent communities that are vastly underrepresented. I, myself, have wanted been passionate about creating projects to represent for the queer communities for similar reasons. A lot of these reasons being similar to theirs of wanting more of a vast representation of lgbt+ experiences as well as for our younger generation, as I think that if I had more queer and transgender representation growing up, I think it would feel slightly less isolating and if queer and other minority kids could feel more represented it could do a lot of good for those communities.
During the interview I was an assistant producer working alongside several producers (mainly Kristof Poloskei, Yujin Lee and Charlotte Grauby). I made sure that everything went smoothly and overlooked the production process and helped out where I could. So, when talking to our guest I found that their experience was probably the most relatable to me out of all the guests due to the fact that they are doing a similar field to what I am, is a similar age to me and has some similar type of experiences.
One of the aspects that I could really identify with was the fact that they touched on mental health and how it can affect your experiences. They mention how moral support is important when creating and that when ‘you get to that low point, and you don’t find joy in creating take a step back’ which is good advice so that when you get back into creating you can ‘engage in opportunities that you would want to do’. One of the main aspects of the interview that I think helped me would be the fact that they talk so openly about the fact that there can be a struggle within the career field but what a lot of people are after is for you to be yourself.
Within this I learned a lot about how creating these projects are done, both through the interviewing and looking through their network to see some of the behind the scenes of their projects. During this interview they stated that they need to work more on growing their network and I think that is a aspect that I definitely need to work on as well due to the fact that I do not really take advantage of social media and use it in a way that would be affective to be building my networks.
Dale Moon
Dale Moon is a media and content manager for Birmingham City Football Club, he deals with a lot of the communications within the club. He works heavily with managing the social media, conducting interviews, and creating preview videos for the club.
Moon discussed how he went from originally playing football to going into his career in his BA in Broadcast Journalism to finding a job within the football field within the media industry. Due to his knowledge in football and his experiences he was able to gain a career in working in the foot ball industry as a PR and Advertising working with nationally.
Listening to this interview I was fascinated by how much goes into the media industry for football. As I personally don’t have an interest in the world of football, I found it fascinating to see how much time and effort goes into the production of promoting, interviewing and creating the social media sides of football and as someone who is interested in the way that production takes place in different fields, I find it fascinating the different aspects that go into the football media field.
One of the aspects that Moon talked about that I found helpful would be the fact that he talked about the fact that university set the fundamentals and foundation of the career he does now, which as a university student is useful to hear when going into the media industry. He also talked a lot about growing networks and how it is a necessity for his job to create these connections and building networks for creating new content for the football industry, this involves being active on his social medias.
When recording this I was once again one of the people in charge of production, where I worked alongside a range of crewmembers, this was our last recording and we wanted to make this one the best that we possibly could. So, when we met with the guest, we made sure that we had both cameras at angles that showed off the guest professionally and Kristof in particular set up the cameras with the exceptional lighting behind them so that the entire podcast was shot professionally.
This interview was inspiring as Moon shows that he worked towards a particular career and even left what others would consider the better career to do the career he wanted to originally do. This is inspiring with the fact that you might not immediately get the career that you are after, and you could get experiences within a different career that could lead you to what you want to do with your career. This particular aspect struck me as something that would be useful to know when going into the media field, as there are potentially going to be careers that I could do that I like but not love that I could eventually go down another path within the industry once I had gained more experiences.
Conclusion
To conclude this report a lot of these guests that have come from completely separate fields, industries and experiences all have their own impactful messages and experiences when creating content and becoming a part of the media industry. The most common message and advice seemed to be within the aspects of build your networks, create content that you are passionate about and build your skills with practice. This experience within creating MCP has been unique and somewhat stressful but has given me a range of experiences that I can take within me into future projects.
Within this first week of being on this semester we were introduced with this huge project of creating this podcast within a month with next to no experience within the radio and podcast industry. The podcast would be surrounded around people and the different industries that are within media. We started off deciding on looking into information about podcasts, logos and the basics on what we would want to portray during this podcast.
For this week we decided on who within the team would play what role. This would include: Production, Pr & Marketing, Research, Guest Liaison, Events Management and Presenters. These roles will be what each crew member will do throughout the creation of the podcast, which in my case I was put on the production team and this would mean I would be heavily involved in the practical elements of creating this podcast. I would also have to work along side a lot of the rest of the crew, particularly the presenters.
James Mulvany Channel. (2020, October 16). Best Radio Station Setup | Beginner to Professional Radio Equipment. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgLpgWSMd1g
This is an example of a type of radio set up that would be helpful in learning more about how to use radio type equipment.
Within this week we also looked into what the radio station which we would use throughout the weeks entails.
So during this experience we went into one of the radio rooms and learnt about the equipment an the basics on how to use the equipment. This allowed us to see that there are many elements to using the equipment and practicing with the different studios and the equipment in them would be a necessity into get a high quality podcast.
The second week of this project we all started to come up with a list of potential guests that we knew that would be willing to be interviewed either in person or through zoom for our podcast. Along with this we all started to contribute towards our own potential logos for the podcast that would be used to help the PR team develop a potential logo for the for the ending result.
Within this week we were officially given our roles and what we would mainly be doing throughout this process.
We were officially given our main roles and started working within our selected roles. So as I am part of the production team we started off learning one of the main equipment’s for the radio station. So, we learned about the transportable equipment and how to set them up. This includes putting together microphones, the sound/radio board and the stands. Within this we made small recordings trying out the equipment and doing this we worked alongside some of the presenters and allowed them to practice in front of a microphone for the first time.
This was our set up within this week were we had a mixing console , microphones (that we put together) and headphones connected to the soundboard console.
Week 3 within production we worked alongside the presenters again and we started of learning the basics of both studios settings. In doing this we started of as two whole groups and then we spilt off into two group where we went into separate studios to learn about the settings. Within this week I worked alongside Eirini Skarmoutsou where we practiced within the studio and created different practice recording using the equipment.
Whilst a bigger team went in the separate radio room to to test out the equipment and record in there we stayed behind in the singular radio station, named by Jeremy Vine, to experiment with the what each element of the soundboard does. Within this we used sounds and music that was set up on the soundboard on the computer to test out levels and audio sound.
This is the soundboard mechanic on the computer, where the: music, levels and soundboard tracks such as laughs, introductions, jingles and more.
A photo captured of Eirini practicing with the presenters microphone.
We created just a mini practice rehearsal run through where we simply just talked into the microphone and saw what we would need to change when it came to audio settings and different peoples voices and their tones. Along with this we experimented with music audios and how loud and quiet they need to be when people, the guests, are talking.
After that we then practiced using the mixing console in the other radio station to see what the difference is. Experimenting with both radio stations taught me that we needed to learn more about the equipment to pull of theses high quality podcasts.
Within Week 4 we, the production team, worked closely with the event managers and whilst continuing to practice with one of the radio stations equipment. This was one of the first official meetings that took place outside of the production team.
During this session we were informed and recorded (some of the meeting) about what the Events Managers had been doing during the weeks and how they had worked alongside other crew teams to set up the podcast.
During this meeting we demonstrated to the events team the basics of how to use the big radio stations equipment and we recorded some of our session of trying to practice with the equipment, especially with multiple guests. The events team during this found out about what we had been doing and how we had developed knowledge of all the equipment to make the podcast run as smoothly as possible. However, even though we had learnt a-lot about the equipment there most likely will still be some mistakes made in the future as we are still developing our skills with the equipment and some elements might pop up in the actual podcast that we are unfamiliar with and might need to work to learn more about, which we only had a limited amount of time to do before the recordings happen.
Week 5 was the week we, as the production team, would have to make sure that we were completely comfortable using the equipment to the best of our abilities. So, we started off by doing a practice run through of each part of the equipment that we would mainly be working with and came up with a contingency plan encase we needed one for the following week.
(Credit To The PR Team) This was the colour scheme that the Pr team showed us during our meeting.
Within this week we split up into separate teams where some of the production teams went to continue practicing with the equipment whilst I and Yujin Lee went and had an official meeting with the PR and Marketing team. This meeting allowed us to see how far along the Pr and Marketing team had gotten and what they had been contributing towards the podcast. Within this meeting we talked about the logo design, the tagline, the brand name (MCP) and other elements that they were currently working on such as designing social media posts, potentially helping on of our team members who was working on the MCP Website (Kristof Poloskei) and other elements that they would start to develop. Within this meeting we also discussed what we, production, had been learning and put towards some suggestions for the PR to potentially use and along with this we offered to assist on any design/production or general elements that they would want a second opinion on or need assistance with.
Once we had this meeting we then went back and practiced more with the production team and then I led a second meeting, with Juliette Duhez, with the Guest Liaison: Masooma Zahra Shah. This was held to find out more information that would be necessary for the following weeks and how many guests they have contacted. Within this meeting we found out how the two guest liaisons had worked with the researchers and how they had got in touch with all the guests. Originally when we had this meeting we had around 8 or 9 guests set up however we were told there is potential for change, cancellations or for more depending on if an further guests get in connect.
Along with this some of the production team had a meeting with Toby Mountain, our lecturer, to gain a better understanding of what he would expect from the team and what we would need to do for the assignment, more specifically towards the meeting elements.
With both our presenters and guests consent we filmed and recorded the entire experience. When it came down to these two sessions I was in charge of the recording of both of these podcasts, with Yujin Lee was also in charge along side me for the second one where she took control of the soundboard during the recording.
Week 6, the week of the 24th of February 2022, was the first big event day, the first 2 recordings of the podcasts took place. This was a chaotic and stressful day as we had to set up quickly and we fortunately had Kristof Poloskei come in with a plan of using cameras and we filmed the entire experience for this week. Kristof Poloskei during the entire recording set up for both episodes of that day was in charge of filming and photography.
{For all of these recordings and future ones [Weeks 6-8]: The PR team and Researchers team helped with before photos and the lead up/ research on the guest.}
Recording 1:
The very first time recording we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Masooma Zahra Shah [Guest Liaison], Kristof Poloskei [Production – Videography, Photography and Lighting], Eirini Skarmoutsou [Presenter/Interviewer], Shangyong Yu & Jie Zhou & Kexin Zhang [Online Event Managers], Hauana Santos Nascimento [Event Manager], Me (Freya Glenton) [Lead Producer].
Guest: Fahima Mohamed
This was probably the most stressful podcast that I would be in-charge off as it was the MCP’s very first recorded episode of the entire series which put a lot of pressure to make it run smoothly, which ended up causing the opposite effect. A few mistakes were made during the process and this resulted in this episode of the podcast being one that could have been improved greatly.
This recording did not start off anywhere near how we had planned it to go, this particularly was the case at the start due to the fact that we were still setting up the audio levels and the computer when the guest connected into the zoom call earlier than expected so we had to get the producer to promptly talk and distract the guest whilst we finished making sure that the call was set up to the best it could be. The guest, Fahima Mohamed, was very patient, professional and accepting of these issues which we were very grateful for.
During the recording of the audio one of the mistakes that was made was not double hitting the record button which makes the audio record properly, however this went unnoticed only for the first 5 minutes of the recording before it was promptly fixed. We did this without interrupting the interview between the guest and the presenter and would proceed to fix this issue at the end, however during this particular recording we did have a back up plan as Kristof’s camera had a microphone set up that was synched up which would be extremely helpful when it comes to editing the final product of this podcast.
The guest was extremely understanding of the fact that a mistake was made and offered to redo the first few questions and the introduction for us to have more to work with when editing the recording in the future. The only other issue that came up would be the fact that we could not easily adjust the levels during the interview in this room due to the placement of where the computer had to be to connect through to zoom, so we would have to hope that the levels and worked from how we set them during the interview.
Overall even through this particular production was not as success as it could have been it taught me ways around particular situations and would allow me to learn and develop from these mistakes.
Recording 2:
With the recording of the second episode we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Yujin Lee [Lead Producer], Kristof Poloskei [Production – Videography, Photography and Lighting], Emilija Metlovaite [Presenter/Interviewer], Masooma Zahra Shah [Guest Liaison], Hauana Santos Nascimento [Event Manager] and me (Freya) [Co-Lead Producer].
Guest:Fausta Dambrauskaite
This production was with a guest in the other radio studio where we had the guest liaison and our team met the guest, as they took the time and was able to come to our studio in person. I made sure the guest was comfortable and the guest liaison made sure that we had the guests consent to film and record them. Once the interviewer, Emilija, and the guest, Fausta Dambrauskaite, were set up and Kristof had the cameras all sorted out we were able to start recording.
With Yujin as the main producer for this production she was controlling the soundboard and I helped out with adjust the levels where needed, making sure the audio was recording and I made sure we had everyone we needed within the recording studio for the actual recording and then made sure that people that did not need to be there left as to not make any disturbance within the recording.
This overall recording went very smoothly and everyone involved seemed to get into a mindset that was productive and concentrated on not making any mistakes that had previously happened. We then saved the audios onto the OneDrive in order to then edit them in the future.
Production Meeting:
After the production of these first two guests episodes we then came together as a team to talk about what happened and what could have gone better. As I ended up taking a leadership and a sort of an events manager role throughout this day I explained some of the mistakes made and how could prevent this from happen next week and I also asked the team if they had an concerns or anything they needed help within for their recordings in the following weeks. With this I helped a few of them go over the equipment in the bigger studio and with the meeting forms. After this I discussed with Kristof how we could possibly set up for the following week until he had put the cameras and other equipment away safely.
Week 7, the week of the 3rd of March 2022, was probably the busiest day of recording we would have as our guest count went from 9 to 10 guests, which means on this particular day we would go from 4 guests to 5 guests coming in (either through zoom or in person). So, within these 5 recording sessions we had to often change over from presenter to presenter, computer to computer as 4 out of the 5 guests were online. This day was full of different recordings and the production team helping one another out so that no-one got too overwhelmed. Within this week I checked in with our team and made sure they were okie with how everything is set up and helped to double check that they had the equipment set up right and then I left the Lead producers to producer their part of the podcast and then I helped make sure that everyone was informed of the recordings happening and that the people who were going to be recording that day knew what they were doing. I checked in with other crew members such as the presenters and PR & Marketing team to see what others were doing during the recording sessions.
During the other production members taking over this recording, I found out that we had took on a fifth guest and I put myself forward to be the lead producer for the guest and helped sort out who would be interviewing the guest, which we decided would be Masooma Zahra Shah, and I asked if she needed any help with the script and other presenters offered to assist as well. Once this was done I made sure everyone else who was recording this day was prepared, told when they needed to head to the their session and made sure if any of them needed help that they would be able to receive it, either by me or someone else.
Recording 3:
This was the first recording of the day, for the 3rd episode of MCP, we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Sergio Galiano Navarro [Lead Producer], Juliette Duhez [Co-lead Producer], Samuel Hopley [Event Manager], Laud Gyasi [Guest Liaison], Beatrice Bergaudaite [Presenter/interviewer].
Guest:Laura Mason-Byers
My role within this recording: Within this particular recording I would say that my roles was more of an assistant producer or an events manager. This is due to the fact that I helped the production team set up and made sure they were running smoothly before the recording started and then I was around the area helping others out and was in close enough range encase the other members of the production team needed any help. Along with this I played more of a supporting role making sure other crew members were alright and helping out if they needed, along with that I made sure people such as presenters knew when their particular recording was taking place and made sure they got there in time. I took on this more support role as I wanted to make sure that I was involved and could help out with the project as best as I possibly could.
What I did: During the time that other production team members took upon the role as lead producer I mainly communicated with the presenters, the guest liaison and some of the other team to make myself more aware of the other teams contributions and works.
How the meeting with the lead producers: Once the main team for 4th episode recording was done, I meet with the producers and got up to date with how the recording went, if they had any issues and whether they found the set up good to work with. Along with this I helped watch over the set up for the next podcast before letting the lead producers go onto creating the next recording.
Recording 4:
The second recording of the day is for episode 4 of the M.C.Podcast series, we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Juliette Duhez [Lead Producer], Sergio Galiano Navarro [Co-lead Producer], Ademide Liam Banjoko [Presenter/interviewer], Samuel Hopley [Event Manager], Laud Gyasi [Guest Liaison].
Guest:Marsela Qazimi
My role within this recording: for this I once again played a supporting role where I made sure the next three presenters after this recording was prepared and happy with their script and information. I did not really play a major part within this particular podcast recording apart from making sure the team knew what they were doing and giving out advice to those who needed it.
What I did: Within this recording session, once the presenter was set up and ready to start the interview I made sure that the lead producers knew what they were doing and if they needed anything and then I let them take over the production elements of the recording. As this was online we only had access to one studio to make the set up work, it was best that there was not people within the room that didn’t necessarily needed to be there. So, once they started recording I went into the other radio station where our next guest would arrive shortly and I made sure the lead producers: Yujin, Charlotte and Kristof, were ready and set up for their production and helped out where necessary without over stepping the leads role.
How the meeting with the lead producers: Once this particular recording was over I once again checked in with the lead producers and found out how the recording went and also found out that due to the recording running a bit short that they had to record extra parts without the guest to make the podcast slightly longer, this was a good solution to a problem of the production not making it to the 30 mark.
Recording 5:
This is the third recording of the day where we recordedepisode 5 of MCP, we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Charlotte Grauby [Co-Lead Producer], Yujin Lee [Lead Producer], Kristof Poloskei [Production – Videography, Photography and Lighting], Vera Lucia Agostinho Nascimento Moniz [Events Manager], Maria Mitul [Presenter/Interviewer], Laud Gyasi [Guest Liaison].
Guest:Daniel Ball
My role within this recording: for this recording I took it upon myself to play more of a supporting events manager or assistant producer. I greeted the guest once they got to the radio room and allowed the producers to prepare the audio and cameras, I made sure that the interviewer, Maria, was comfortable and made sure that any nerves towards the interview were talked about. This would help the interviewer become more comfortable when going into the interview and I made sure the guest was comfortable with all the equipment being used. Once the lead producers were ready, I stayed for the first several minutes to make sure that it was running smoothly before going to check on the upcoming presenters. I came back at around the 20 minute mark to make sure everything was still going well and that all the crew with the station were content with the production so far. I then went back to inform the next presenter to go and set up in the other room so that we were prepared.
How the meeting with the lead producers: Once the recording was done I met with both the producers and talked with both the events manager as well as the presenter to see how they thought the recording went. I kept informed about if there were any issues or if the other producers thought it went smoothly overall.
Recording 6:
This is the MCP’s forth recording of the day creating episode 6, we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Masooma Zahra Shah [Guest Liaison], Wiam Zairi [Events Manager], Zainab Adisa [Presenter/Interviewer], Jake Iliffe [Co-Lead Producer], Kristof Poloskei [Production-Lighting] and Me (Freya) [Lead Producer].
Guest: Taiwa Musa
Within this recording I worked, as the lead producer, along side an Events Managers who wanted to have a go at some of the production side of things, so we set up the zoom meeting and as this meeting was originally gong to be on a Wednesday we had to reorganize the slot for this guest. We set up the meeting, greeted the guest and made sure that everything had the right levels and was recording properly. This recording session went smoothly, we informed the presenter silently adjustments that she needed to make when talking to the guest to not effect the tone and at one point we stopped the interview, which was allowed by the guest as well, so that the interviewer could get assistance with added more to her script as she did not end up having enough questions to get to the 30minutes.
Once we had this sorted out this problem and the guest was understandable about the situation we resumed the interview, however we had not stopped the recording as we could edit the mistakes out within the editing process, we then finished off the recording and even though there was a slight mishap within this recording with the interviewer running out of questions the overall production went smoothly and even though the overall interview might be slightly less than 30minutes I think that overall the episode was a success.
Recording 7:
Within this 5th session we recorded MCP’s episode 7 we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Jake Iliffe [Events Manager], Masooma Zahra Shah [Guest Liaison & Presenter/Interviewer], Kristof Poloskei [Production – Lighting] and Me (Freya) [Lead Producer].
Guest: Sally Johnson
Within this episode I was once again the lead producer for the production role of the podcast. As this guest accepted an interview within short notice our interviewer, Masooma, had to come up with a script within the couple hours before the interview. This recording session, despite it being a very last minute we managed to make a professional interview and the overall shooting and recording went very smoothly. We managed to create a long professional podcast with no breaks or major issues. The overall episode was not that stressful to complete and ended up with a lot of content for our team to use when it comes to editing the final result.
Considering how many podcast recordings we did within the day and having some minor issues or mistakes here and there the overall weeks recording went successfully and all the producers did a really good job of making good quality recordings for the podcast.
This was the final week of recording episodes for the podcast, the week of the 10th of March 2022, which this day would consist of three more recordings. These few weeks have been a good outlook to see that being a producer doesn’t just have to require you being in the lead position at all time or producing at all times but making sure that the people around you are involved in how they want the podcast to go and it gives the presenters and even the guests an opportunity to voice their opinions or concerns to the production term before hand.
Recording 8:
This was the first recording of the day and this was for episode 8 of MCPs,we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Masooma Zahra Shah [Guest Liaison], Vera Lucia Agostinho Nascimento Moniz [Lead Interviewer/Presenter], Eirini Skarmoutsou [Co-lead Presenter/Interviewer], Shangyong Yu & Jie Zhou & Kexin Zhang [Online Event Managers], Kristof Poloskei [Production – Lighting and set up (e.g. Cameras)] and me (Freya) [Production – Including Videography through Zoom].
Guest: Dave Lodge
For this recording I took the role of the Lead Producer and I made the decision to try and make the set have two cameras, due to the fact we had two interviewers, so that the guest would be able to see both presenters. In order to do this we had to connect up the two cameras so we could cut between the two cameras. We managed to set this up and I then made sure that everything was running smoothly and i stood just out of frame so I could switch the cameras so the guest could see the different interviewers when they are talking to him.
The main mistakes or improvements that could have been made to this production was that the Zooms recording should have been started earlier and that the lighting on the interviewer, Vera, should have been better as it was very contrasted to that of the lighting in Eirini’s camera.
Recording 9:
The second session ofthe day was the recording for episode 9, we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Charlotte Grauby [Lead Producer], Sergio Galiano Navarro [Co-Lead Producer], Laud Gyasi [Guest Liasion], Hauana Santos Nascimento [Events Manager], Maria Mitul [Presenter/Interviewer].
Guest: Ellen Spencer
My role within this recording: for this particular recording I played a supporting role and I made sure that the lead producers were set up and running smoothly before I left them to produce the finial outcome of their podcast.
What I did: Within this I went to talk to other presenters, I asked for assistance from Eirini to upload the recordings and to organize them whilst I started organizing for the final recording of the day. Once Eirini was done, I thanked her for her work and then I went back to the studio to help set up the final recording and check in with the last presenter.
How the meeting with the lead producers: After they finished recording we went over how they thought the recording went and then they were done for the day.
Recording 10:
This was the third and final recording and also the very last episode of MCP (episode 10), we had specific people within the room or involved in the process of setting up this podcast from different teams, the main people involved were: Andre Uwajeh [Events Manager], Samuel Hopley [Presenter/Interviewer], Laud Gyasi [Guest Liasion], Kristof Poloskei [Production – Videography, Photography and Lighting], Jake Iliffe [Lead Producer] and me (Freya) [Co-Producer].
Guest: Dale Moon
This was the final recording of the overall podcast series and I helped as a co-lead producer, where I greeted the guest and made sure everything and everyone was set up to the best it could be. I think taught the producer/events managers, Jake, how to use the soundboard and gave him instructions of what to do, how to start the recording and I walked him through each step to take to create the production. Once we had done this the recording went smoothly and the producer did a great job at making sure that the guest was recorded to the best quality we could do.
Within this week we worked on on the editing of the episodes. This will be done with by both the producers and some other crew members that have time to help assist with the process of editing.
I was given the responsibility to make sure that each episode had an editor and that each editor knew what they were doing when editing the epsidodes.
Learning how to use Adobe Audition and other Adobe software’s to know how to edit the podcast.
When it came to the editing we had enough editors for the entire podcast and as well as people who were willing to help with the editing process. As I was helping out with a range of different teams, I decided to assist with the editing in any way I could and as I took responsibility for putting people in charge of editing particular podcasts I found that there were more editors than actual podcasts so I divided the podcasts between as many people as possible for those who were willing to edit the podcast and then I offered help to any of the main editors that needed any assistance. I became an assistant editor of sorts due to the fact that I was managing the communications between other teams.
For week 10 we continued on with editing and communicating with the PR team so that they would set up the social media posts and make specific blurbs and descriptions that need to be put one the website. We also discussed during this week how we would present the podcast. This could depend on whether we were planning on presenting it the podcast mainly on one platform that people could watch the videos on or if we were going to have the podcast on multiple platforms such as Spotify or SoundCloud for viewers to listen into the podcast and also have the podcast on YouTube for people to watch the videos that each podcast is connected too.
Within this week we took responsibility of telling the PR team what we needed from them for the website. For example descriptions of each guest.
Along with this we set up a photoshoot to get professional photos of the hosts/presenters for the website (shot by Kristof) and along with this we set up a group photo of everyone involved, including our online crew members (obviously this was only taken of those who were present on that day, unfortunately not everyone was present to be within this photo).
The MCP Website. Some of the professionally shot (by Kristof) photos of the hosts and descriptions of each hosts written by the host themselves.
Throughout the week we had kept in contact with the PR team and the main editors. I took the responsibility of getting in contact with the members of the editing team to make sure that they would complete the edits in time. We had serval instances where files were too large to upload to the OneDrive and one of the editors had struggled downloading one of the videos to edit so we as the production team had to quickly come up with a solution. When it came to this situation I offered to try and attempt to edit the video however I had the same issue as the previous editor where the file for the video would not unload to my computer, so I discussed this issue with a member of the production team, Yujin Lee, and then she attempted to download the file too. once she found out she could do this she went to one of the university computers to try again which ended up being successful so she quickly edited the video (for Daniel Ball) and sent it to the PR team. When then had to figure out another issue on the day of publishing as they had issues publishing the video for Fahima Mohamed (because the wrong video got published so once this got pointed out the PR team took the video down and then reuploaded the right video which was edited) and Sally Johnson’s video (which was the video that could not originally be uploaded to the OneDrive however this video did eventually get uploaded once these issues had been resolved).
Within this week we had a meeting with the entire crew of the MCP (that were present) and we discussed all the elements of the website and that needed adjusting or fixing. Along with this we also discussed how we would see more of the external factor.
MCP’s Website
This is the trailer that Yujin Lee during the week and was published before the publishing date and was made to promote the Podcast.
Along with this the Pr team also made a TikTok and started promoting the podcast on the TikTok. Along with this the Pr team also started to promote the Podcast through the use of the courses Instagram.
After publishing the episodes the PR team also started promoting the podcast for viewers to access through the use of social media. This will also continue to promote the podcast as the Instagram has a highlight reel and videos/posts on the account that would continue to show people the podcast links and access to other social media.
Within this final week we would finish up our assignments and write up reports for our reflection of the 4 of our guests. Along with this we would continue to reflect on the our experiences within making and creating this entire podcast.
Along with this we kept in touch with the other crew members to point out any issues we experience with the website or socials. An example of this I tested out the links on different parts of the website and found out that one of the links does not link to the right episode and I discussed this with Kristof to fix this issue.
Along with this other PR members also pointed out different issues that have taken place within the website for us to fix.
Reflecting on my time during MCP I started of choosing to be a producer as production is a major role within making the podcast and I wanted a role that I’d be passionate about but that would still challenge me and my skills.
So, when it comes my experience in being part of the creation process of the final podcast, I worked closely alongside the production team and learned how the use all the equipment and I ended up taking on multiple roles of being a manager for the production team so that everyone was aware that they knew what they were doing and how to do their roles.
Within the MCP podcast I took charge of around 4 different podcasts as the main producer, and I assisted in another 3 podcasts alongside other producers. During this I made sure the recordings were set up appropriately, made the sure our other producer set up the cameras and made sure that everything went as smoothly as it could within the production roles. Along with this I tried to present ideas of how we could produce the podcast and where the guest could sit/be when filming which ended up being a necessary part for preparing for how the guest will be presented within the podcast. I organised several meetings, both within the production team and with other teams within MCP and wrote notes for the meetings.
This entire experience was a massive learning experience for me as I have never worked in radio production before. It gave me an outlook of how much goes on behind making a successful podcast and the importance of working with other crew members outside of production is.
My skills developed more throughout my time using the equipment as I started to notice the mistakes that I made, especially during the actual sessions and I made sure these mistakes were not repeated by me or other members of my team. This also allowed me to develop more of an understanding of how all of the equipment that we used and helped me develop more leadership and managerial skills that I did not previously have.
I believe as a production member we achieved all of our objectives and more. We produced all ten podcasts professionally and our team edited all of the episodes to give to the PR to produce. The project was successful as we managed to gain experience within this field, get ten successful guests and have the podcast be promoted and viewed by a range of people. The main thing that could have been improved would be that we all should have had constant communication with other crew members and maybe have managers of each team that could have met more to exchange more information with one another so that each team would know what they would want from one another.
I think the entire project could’ve benefited more with communication, time management and organization this is due to the fact that in the week running up to the actual recording and the week before publishing I felt almost rushed and chaotic in trying to get things set up or finished. This could have been avoided if we were more prepared and if we communicated to one another more. The main thing that production could have benefit from would be going through the main aspects of the equipment before the recording so that we were completely prepared. However, reflecting on the entire podcast I believe that despite there being moments that could have been greatly improved upon that ending result was a success and we managed to pull of this massive project that most of us previously had no skills in.
I made this website to explore in-depth all the elements that I took part in when it came to creating the Media Careers Podcast or MCP and this mainly goes into a full detail on how I handled each week. This is also goes into depth everything that I contributed from sometimes leading the production team to meeting with other crew teams such as the PR and Marketing team.
What this website involves:
This website involves a record of all the little things I did for the MCP and is an overall view and work portfolio of my contributions to the final outcome to the podcast.
Due to the Media Careers Podcast being such a big project that I decided to create a completely new website where I could show off all the behind the scenes work and everything that went into making this big project.
This website also has information about some of the behind the scenes of what other crew members (credited within these sections) have done that evolve around the production group or around the MCP final outcome. This includes social media posts, the promotion of the podcast, emails the guest liaisons have sent out to guests, external conversations between groups that were necessary for setting up the recordings and more.
On this website some of the content you will find:
Test recordings;
The filming/creation of the podcast;
Editing process
Meetings and works between me and other crew members;
In-depth week by week progressions;
Contact information of all the MCP crew;
Information about the podcast;
All about our guests, reports, reflections and contact information to do with the guests;
[Hello and Welcome to the Post Digital Nations: Systems and Networks Podcast. Here I discuss and analyse different theories and concepts within the world of media’s post digital era. Where I am your host Freya and today, we will be diving into the fascinating concept of cultural geographies and identities within the highly popularised and beloved animated Disney film: Encanto.]
To introduce Encanto we are shown a Columbian family that are magical and struggling to keep their household together, so this film takes the audience on an experience of how the family cope with change and their flaws to end up coming together. Disney does an unbelievably great job of representing the culture of Columbia in a way that shines a positive light on a country that is often stereotyped as violent and instead shows the country as what it is, which is a beautiful landscape. Disney demonstrates and represents this family in a colourful and bright way that gives the film this classic whimsy Disney aspect to it but within this still shows respectfulness in representing such a gorgeous and extensive culture.
Cultural geography can be a highly important subject when it comes to very human experiences involving identity, culture and interactions that we experience as human beings due to the place that we are in and travel too. Cultural geography is made up of space, place and landscapes. The theory consists of meanings within spaces to create places and therefore creates a range of different cultures which are composed of these everyday interactions and meanings within these specific places. This involves human geography, which is how people have a relationship with places and human interactions with the environment which can be comprised of health, community, identities, meanings and the idea that ‘place can be central to forms of struggle and resistance too’ (Cresswell 2014).
So, when we as people take these concepts into account it can apply heavily to our lives and history. This can be applied to films and media texts as well, due to the fact that there are a range of different identities, cultures and places represented within media and Disney’s Encanto is one of these many media texts that demonstrate the advantage of cultural representation within the media industry.
Encanto shows a representation of Columbian culture and based on how a range people’s identities are built around this vast culture within Columbia. So, if we look at Columbia as the place, and more specifically at the house in which the family live in ‘Casa Madrigal’ as this house that has almost become a member of the family despite it not being a living breathing person and within the film is held as a major part of family and this space is created with deep rooted meaning of family and importance.
Looking at the main theorists behind cultural geography Cresswell defines place as ‘spaces that people have made meaningful or have attached to in some way’ which is one of the major aspects of the film Encanto as the Madrigal family has created deep meanings and traditions using their magical home and shows the idea that within Columbia’s culture, they tend to have a very strong attachment to their childhood home and this therefore has follows the cultural traditions set within a particular place.
Other theorists such as Andrew Jones look at how identities and people can change when put into different and diverse cultures and spaces, Jones theorised that, ‘how things exist in space, how features of the social world change across spaces and the difference that places make to the nature of human existence.’ (Jones, 2012) which can be shown when you compare the family within Encanto with other famous families, especially from other Disney shows such as the film Brave’s family or Rivera family from Coco and both of these different diverse families both have a completely different dynamic and lifestyle to that of the Madrigal family which demonstrates that completely different places can have such a vast difference in identities due to their cultures and how these places and landscapes could affect one’s life experiences and interactions.
Along, with this Andrew Jones when talking about Human Geography gave across the idea that landscapes and culture are concepts that ‘exist in a world outside of human meaning’ (Jones, 2012) which suggests that even through the landscape of this film played a huge role in creating and inspiring the film, this landscape can and does exist without human meaning.
Encanto shows us, as an audience, a positive and beautiful representation of this culture, along with the identities that are within this place. They show how the different family members have different expectations, flaws and interactions with each other that make up what we see as each character’s experience within their environment and their family, and within this film they enhance this by making the place, the Casita, react and have some form of a personality around the family. The house is such a major part of the film and has rooms that represented each family members personality and identity.
The Columbian culture and identities using clothing, food, the village community, decorations, actors/actresses involved within making up this film and demonstrating how these identities play a part into creating this loveable and entertaining film. These aspects link extremely to the concept of identity, culture and how our identity is affected by and made up by the place we are in.
With the fact that Encanto became such a massive film within the past year it has made massive strides in showing a representation of the Columbian culture and creating these adored characters that people can watch and see more characters that look like them or have grown up in similar situations than them, such as: with a big family, generational trauma or even just having one character that personally can connect with a range of different audiences. The film gained high amount of traction with both its fantastic cast and remarkable soundtrack with “We don’t talk about Bruno” over taking Disney’s frozen as No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the fact that the film also got nominated for the Oscars in two categories. Which demonstrates that not only did Disney do a successful job at creating such a meaningful and grand film but they also successfully, in a positive way, a represented of culture as well as a range of identities that are often either highly unrepresented or often represented in a negative light.
When we look at ‘cultural geographies, we argue, also link such ideas and imaginations with our changing material world’ (Atkinson, D, Jackson, P, Sibley, D & Washbourne, N. 2005) which means that a lot of what we do with our identity and with the culture we have been in could affect the place we are in today and how we view particular things within our everyday life interactions, such as: what media we consume, how we interact with those around us and most likely who we end up creating relationships with.
So, does Encanto influence people’s views and ideologies towards the culture of Columbia in a positive way? This honestly is a step into creating more positive representation within media and especially within media that is very often consumed by such a mass audience. Which I believe makes Encanto a great film for both representing culture and for demonstrating the idea of both an audience and a family making so much meaning out of a place. This could also be linked to other themes such as digital geographies and media ecology as well due to the film demonstrating the idea of getting a positive message across to an audience and having mass amount of success due to the use of social media and contributing towards the ‘message is the medium’ (McLuhan, 1962).
[So, to wrap up and conclude this podcast] Encanto has made great represented in the idea of space, landscape and place in unique ways and has enriched their audience with wonderful cultural landscapes and representations of a real Columbian culture experience, that is also rich with a beautiful setting and scenery. The film has captivated its audience through this rich and full storyline and culture. This created a brightly positive amount of representation of a range of identities and demonstrates many of these cultural geography concepts in a range of different ways, so I would recommend this for any audience that has yet to see this film as it is enriched with a fun cast of characters with Columbian voice actors and has an enjoyable plot for a range of different target audiences to appreciate. [Thank you so much for joining this and listening into this podcast.]
Digital Geography is the study of digitalised geography through the media. This theme looks at how media and mobility are used in everyday life and can be made up of three different concepts which are:
Geographies produced through the digital this is the idea that using a digital tools to produce and share a range of geography research. The use of digital technologies in the production and understanding of space in everyday life is examined in geographies produced by the digital. With using geography methods to make sense of the digital and post-digital world would be how geographies produced of the digital would studied.
Digital geography is also involved with the idea of the mobility side of geography as well. This involves how the world has become more highly digitalised and therefore mobilised. Everyone with a technological device can simply travel anywhere, can technically traced where ever they go and can research, and witness cultures from other countries using the their device.
Globalisation is a major part of digital geography as it brings movement of human, goods and cultural conventions. This could be done using technologies, often networks have some form of maps such as Google maps that can allow the user to experience a virtual world and seeing the virtual scenery, this is also enhanced using 3D imagery to create scaling.
Hybridity, which brings shared meanings, takes a role within a lot of different places within the world, within their cultures, identities and even languages.
McDonaldisation doesn’t not really allow a person to experience the culture of another country and gives this idea that you have the ability to not change anything or effect anything, including environments, even if you travel.
The idea of digital geography has many different concepts and one of the main ones is Mediascapes. Mediascapes makes up a large portion of digital geography as it is the representation of space and place in terms of media. This allows consumers to connect with different spaces and places using media such as people can virtually visit other countries and their cities like South Korea’s Seoul or Paris the capital of France.
This can allow people to try and experience places without traveling to these places and having the ability to not change anything. However, it could most likely end up giving them a completely different experience to those who go to a country and place to experience these different cultures or to the people that actually live there and have created deep attached meanings to the location.
A street view, a digital geography, within Japan – https://images.app.goo.gl/R4ik3ptBU8EQ7ECz9
Users of digital technologies are subject to, and participants in creating, innumerable digital changes, while corporations continue to render devices and software obsolete to increase profits, and governments are slowly becoming involved in regulating the digital.
(McLean, J. 2020)
A digitalised version of the Earth – https://images.app.goo.gl/4h8nfRcAf69bwYT39
Mobility combines physical movement, representations that give meaning, and the experience that embodies mobile practices.
There is the idea that within this almost digital world and with a lot of the current world issues, such as the pandemic, we are starting to depend more on aspects of digital geographies to experience some of the cultural geographies that we are missing out on. An example of this would be going to see a movie that had a lot of culture within it or researching and looking into other cultures or places to see what the location is like such as using Google Maps to look at other locations.
Technology has created a range of ways to try and experience a place and space without actually being there and they have done this using a range of different technologies from mapping out the streets to digital satellites taking photos of the Earth. ‘Digital technologies are providing new opportunities for communication and connection, while simultaneously deepening problems associated with isolation, global inequity and environmental harm, contributing to shifting digital geographies’ (McLean, J. 2020), McLean suggests that despite technology advancing and being a positive change it increases the chances of isolation and less communication within peoples everyday interactions and life in general.
Place appears to involve some notion of stability and permanence while mobility appears to necessitate constant change and process.
Cultural geography is the study of place and space and how these particular places hold different cultures that are composed of everyday interactions and meanings. This study demonstrates how parts of locations are peoples lived experiences and is a representation of particular places and spaces. Cultural geography looks at how these places can affect our identities and how our identity effects the people within different cultures.
To study cultural geography you have to look at three concepts and how they contribute in making up the complex system of cultures, identities and meanings. These concepts are: space, place and landscape. Each one of these concepts are the main way to comprehend this study and relate to peoples everyday life experiences and how people live their lives in completely different ways.
Space: this is the idea of things, an area, existing somewhere. This is an area without any form of meaning. This is often a an area that has no connection to a human and is a space that simply just exists completely without any form of meaning.
Place: this involves particular locations within space that are given meaning by people. This often can be depicted by how people interact, create lifestyles and cultures within this location which end up making it a place. This concept of a place is full of human experiences, representations and identities. Places are experiences differently depending on the persons identity and history such as Mexico’s Day of the Dead also known as Día de los Muertos which is a symbolic celebration and represents a day or mourning and a way to show respect for deceased family members, so for people within this culture celebrate along with honour people and is a deep rooted tradition. Whereas this event is simply a celebration of festivities, face paint and is a representation life and death to most of the rest of the world and doesn’t hold much meaning, which shows that different places have different lived experiences and meanings.
The day of the dead- National Geographic. (2017). What is Day of the Dead? | National Geographic. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sSawpU81cI
Landscape: A representation of a place or space. This is often shown as themes such as skylines, countrysides and city-lines. This can be represented through paintings, photos or through an actual location.
This can involve a more virtual version, social media apps has not gone unnoticed (Cresswell,2015), which would then link to digital geographies. However, one of the main theorists Cresswell talks about the difference between the two geography concepts and both the positives and the negatives of mapping out the world in digital, ‘Recognizing the danger in Google mapping the world, others are producing an open source map‘ (Cresswell, 2015).
Struggle over virtual place reflects longstanding struggles over place by protest movements around the world.
T. Cresswell, 2015
Human geography is study of people relationship with places and can often involve peoples relationship with places, health and human interactions with their environments. ‘Human geography is therefore all about understanding why the spatial nature of ‘social things’ matter.‘ (Jones, 2012), which demonstrates that this concept of human geography heavily links to social aspects.
Place names have high levels of importance and are often a necessary when it comes to cultures. Examples of this would be Canada’s history of colonization exertion of nation and power building, with the use of shared meanings such as them decolonizing place names which will shift a shared meaning.
Other ideas of cultural geographies involve around identities within cultures and how this aspect likes to places such as the highly popularised film: Black Panther, which has high representation African landscapes and places. Another example would be Coco which is based on the culture of Mexico and the festival of el Día de los Muertos.
Marvel’s Black Panther – an example of cultural geography identities. – Marvel Entertainment. (2017). Marvel Studios’ Black Panther – Official Trailer. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDjIWPwcPU
Disney’s Coco – Disney UK. (2017). COCO | NEW UK TRAILER | Official Disney UK. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=969WVyvgzx4
Undoubtedly, this reversal in geography’s fortunes reflects a wider recognition that many of the current and ‘big’ challenges that face the world today are well addressed by the subject: globalization, climate change, sustainability, economic development or poverty reduction.
Media ecology looks at media as environments and how digital environments and technology has effected the everyday human experiences. This theory describes the complex interaction between humans and technology as well as media. According to media ecology theories, media are extensions of the human senses, while communication is the primary cause of social change.
Ecology looks at the digitalisation of the media as a means for society as a whole and how it could relate to general change this includes the socio-cultural aspects such as values, lifestyles, economics, politics and more.
The future of ecology looks further into social consequences of the ‘media disruption’ as well as the idea that social consequences of media have been neglected. Ecology demonstrates an idea that technologies also ‘do not determine social change, but are implemented andevolve in certain social, cultural, political and economic contexts‘ (Ruotsalainen & Heinonen, 2015).
One of the major theorist in ecology is Marshall McLuhan who is defined as a visionary that understood the future of communication. McLuhan predicted that ‘due to the speed of communications evolution, the complete human society would start to transform‘ (McLuhan, 1962) and he talked about the phenomenon called the global village (McLuhan, 1996).
Along with this McLuhan had a communication theory, the idea of ‘the medium as the message’ which indicates as important as the message itself is just as important as the medium used to convey it.
All parts of social media are important aspects of media ecology and demonstrate the idea that media, particularly social media has an important role in creating the change or awareness to everyday situations or big/cultural events. Examples of this would be the evaluation of publication of events such as LGBT+ rights and along with that the Trevor Project Campaign, Black Lives Matter and raising awareness on big cultural events such as the updating on the status of Ukraine’s situation and Black Lives Matter Movements with due to social media such as Twitter, TikTok and Instagram has highly increased the awareness on these social situations.
The Trevor Project.
The idea of these cultural events are giving out this intended message through the use as social media being its medium. Despite how different audiences could take this message could vary depending on the consumers life however the result will still end with the message being seen and eventually spread.
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