Week 2
An audience is defined as a group of people who are together as a group in one place to share a common experience, usually by watching or listening to a play, movie or to a presenter. According to this definition I can think of a time when I was once part of an audience. I once organised a night out with my high school friends where we went to the cinema to watch the latest Marvel movie, ‘Spider-Man– Far from Home’.
What was interesting or pleasurable about the experience?
I met my friends met around 5:30pm because it was a Thursday night in Wollongong where there is a weekly night-time food market called ‘Eat street’ in the mall at this time. We had dinner together to the sound of live music and an assortment of different food. At the cinema, we bought some popcorn and drinks, I also brought an ice-cream. We saw another group of friends from school as well and decided to sit together during the film and begun chatting before the movie started. In the movie, we experienced a lot of surprises in the storyline because the character Spider-Man acted stupid as well as there being many comedic lines too. We really enjoyed the movie overall because of the films plot, the quality acting and the shared memories made together.
Were there any negatives?
There were a few negative moments during the experience. When we first entered the cinema, there was a woman with a physical disability using a walker and there was no disabled accessibility into the cinema. She got 4 of her friends and 2 on each side to help her get up the stairs and did the same at the end of the movie. There were also no places to put the popcorn during the movie which I think is a bit annoying because we had to hold the popcorn for the whole movie in our laps. In the past I have dropped popcorn because I ordered a large size which is a bit too hard to hold comfortably.
What kind of unspoken ‘rules’ do you associate with this type of audience?
There are so many unspoken ‘rules’ that are associated with this type of audience in the cinema, for example: switch your mobile phone to silence mode, don’t bring in food from outside the cinema, don’t spoil the movie for others if you have watched it before, clean up after yourself, don’t talk during the movie, don’t go absolutely nuts laughing, don’t groom yourself and also try to consume your food and drinks as quietly as possible. These ‘rules’ are to make sure every audience member can have a good experience in the cinema, enjoy the movie with friends and have a relaxing time after a big day. Therefore, every audience member should have their own behaviour in the cinema.
How does your experience connect to the ideas we introduced in this week’s lecture?
From this week’s lecture, we learnt that as an audience we have to be together in one place, at the same time and share a common experience, which I can relate to with my own involvement as an audience member. We also studied the evolutionary changes of television watching from silent films on small screen in a dark room, to getting distracted whilst watching in a large lit room with multiple screens, and now sitting alone in a room looking at a small screened device on the internet. This is similar to the history of cinema, from watching dramas, then movies and now using streaming services like Netflix online at home. I think watching movies in the cinema has its own unique experiences that cannot be replicated in another setting.
Resource: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/movie-theater-etiquette-unwritten-rules
Week 3
The advertisement I chose is created and distributed by IKEA which is a very-well known multinational flat pack furniture store that appeals to most people because their designs are easy to assemble and aesthetically pleasing due to their modern and stylish appearance. In the advertisement, the designer has positioned the IKEA paper shopping bag in the centre to immediately catch the viewers’ attention and has inserted a cursor to represent a customer’s hand carrying it. They also included a bold ‘IKEA’ logo to create an immediate connection between the images and their brand.
2. What should this image mean?
The advertisement promotes IKEA’S online shopping service. The slogan on the upper right hand of the image is stylised to mimic the text from a webpage’s URL. The use of the cursor symbolising a hand in combination with the slogan’s lines “We give a hand” communicates to the audience the ease and first-hand customer service they will receive by utilising the online shopping website. The website address is prominent in the image in its aim to direct the audience to IKEA’s webpage.
3. Is it possible to read the image more than 1 way?
The design of IKEA’s product are mostly simple and minimalist, they did not use much colour to attract the customers, but the design of their products always give surprise to the customers, for example how the draw come out from the cabinet, how can a bed and a study desk combined together etc. That’s why the design of their advertisement is similar too because they can keep their traditional but also let their customers pay attention to especially this advertisement because the designer put a pure white background so they can stand out the bag. Other than that, the cursor was designed to be upside down because of 3 reason, the first one is because it can represent as a customer carrying the bag, the second one is to match the slogan “we give a hand” and the third one is for online shopping, customers only have to do a few clicking then you can go for purchase, which mean is easy and simple, wont waste customer’s time and will not confused the customers.
Week 4
Part of my daily routine is to check social media applications, such as: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and official news sites like the ABC. From these sources I get the latest information about my friends, the environment and local and global news.
How does it operate?
I check Facebook, Instagram and Twitter the most. Whenever I use these sites, I always see my friends posting what they have been doing as they share happy moments with their family and friends. These social media platforms allow me to keep in contact with my friends, family and broader Hong Kong community when I am studying overseas for the majority of the year which makes me feel like I am still connected with them as I can constantly be updated with new occurrences. Another upside of online communication is that it allows me to see visual documentation of what my family and friends overseas are doing on a daily basis. For example, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, allow you to search your friend’s username and add them as a friend. Once you have added them as your friend on the social media platform, you are able to see their posts and can start a chat room, (in Facebook is a messenger, Instagram is direct messages and Twitter ) you can talk to that person individually or start a chat group and talk to more than one friend at the same time. In a group chat scenario, you can share different news that you have heard about and tell one another. This is the main source of my information.
What are the issues that come up?
In 2020, the biggest concern around the world is the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic. In February and March, thousands of people were dying globally each day and daily used products in supermarkets were sold out, both instore and online. Everyone is scared and have only been leaving their homes for essential travel purposes as recommended by official government sources. This has caused an increase of social media use particularly during the day when people usually have work or school. People have been making frequent use of social media to connect with their loved ones whether they live near or far from them because people are sticking close to home and limiting social contact where possible. We are able to use these platforms to connect with friends and family to check if they are healthy and happy. Most people are increasing their exposure to news sources, through means such as news article, television, newspaper, online new sites to get the most recent information from the government about the Coronavirus.
Who is included (and excluded)?
Most people around the world are included in social media and the internet as part of the public sphere, especially those from core economic countries and the global south. These societies often leave a lot of the responsibility to individuals when it comes to the safety restrictions that must be followed to reduce the amount of cases in their regions, to stay updated by the government and to follow the mandatory actions required of each individual. That’s why everyone should pay attention to their social media to get notification of any update.
What role does the media play in all of this?
In this case, “the media” have played a very important role to keep everyone updated and to help maintain social interaction between individuals. Everyone needs media nowadays, in any form that suits them regardless of the form. Social media can be the bridge to let people talk to each other and spread information between people. The news reporter can be the character who does research and chooses the relevant information that people need to be updated with.
Resource: https://www.business2community.com/social-media/social-medias-role-in-the-coronavirus-pandemic-02296280
Adrian 