How To Be Successful In Media

Looking at the style of this still image we may spring to the conclusion the genre that this film will be action and may have a hint of romance but will most likely be a thriller that may be on the edge of your seats instead of a romantic comedy. The question is why do our minds spring to that conclusion how are we so certain of it? The is an example of ‘preferred reading’ and it’s a powerful tool creators use in many sources of media that involves non-verbal communication. It is commonly used to sway the viewers thought through ideology to control the viewer’s interpretation of the source and get their message across. Therefore, in this post I am going to break the certain layers anchoring this collage together to explain it effective for persuading the reader to watch the film I the hope of giving you a minor insight to the world of media.

As the consumer, the first thing my eyes set sight on is the man with the black suite with the gun in his hand. Upon seeing this the consumer would vaguely assume it is an action film as that is what the gun suggests and is the genre it has connotations of but to be certain the viewer must evaluate him even further. If you look at his facial expressions he carries a stern and serious look, his posture makes him look fearless and confident. Looking at his character in a whole I can come to an assumption that he is a serious agent (which is implied by the way he dresses) who is proud of what he does for a living (which is what his posture suggests) and will take on whoever opposes him (which is the aura he is giving off). Now looking at the picture as whole it is very likely he is the main character because of the way the creator has intentionally put him in front of everything, the act he has appeared on the cover of this advertisement foreshadows we will be seeing the most of him in the movie. That is what we can get from the first layer of this collage and with that note I will move onto the next.

Behind who we believe is the main protagonist appears a woman in in a light blue dress. The way the way they are positioned gives the consumer the impression they have got each other’s back which is ironic. They look like partners and work together because of the same facial expression meaning that we may see them together a lot in the movie and may get the same amount of screen time but the way she is positioned behind him suggests otherwise. They really seem to stand out in this montage because of the colours of their clothes. Furthermore, the colour of the dress has connotations of with depth and stability; symbolises trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence faith and truth. Whilst dark blue is associated with depth, expertise and stability. This is a huge breakthrough and must be the best implicit piece information we might get from this image as a whole because of the fact we can relate it directly with charactristics of people in the image. These colours would have intentionally been chosen by the creator of the collage to implicitly hint details about the type of people they are which is a very important to possess in the world of media. From what I have gathered she may play an important role in the movie and will most likely be a love interest or loyal friend of the male in the photo which seem to be the most reasonable archetypes for her character at this point. This is often the trend in movies that have a male and female on the advertisement poster.

The next and final layer I will be evaluating is the text that is placed at the very back of the collage, despite its location on this image it still an important factor as it gives you missing information such as a title and helps round up the image. In incredibly large bold print we can see what seems to be '007' which some consumers may interpret as random numbers but if you look closely the seven has taken a shape of what looks like a gun. Once again, a gun is brought up again which is not just a mere coincidence, the creator has intentionally placed it there to empathise the importance of this tool in this movie. Upon further evaluation of these numbers you should make out a skull mask in the unit ’7', skulls have connotations of mostly death and a mask is the preferred item of a villain when committing a crime. The creator behind the idea wants to make sure the consumer that is aware the movie will contain a strong mix of violence and death as a skull has an indexical sign of death as it is a weapon and the gun is a signifier of violence; a great use of iconography. Also, the fact that the creator found a way to fuse them makes me certain of this.  Under the '7' is the word Spectre which most likely the title of the movie due to its unusual font in capitals which is eye catching as it stands out due to its contrast with the white background. Under it once again are the numbers '007' in a smaller font reminiscent of a water mark, it being missioned again makes the consumer doubt that they are random numbers but rather a code. Going with the theme of the movie and general knowledge the consumer would conclude they are the agents/assassins name or code number, which explains why it has been adapted into a gun; to show how lethal he is. It is all comes together perfectly! 

In conclusion, the creators in charge of projects like theses take lots of time and effort to leak as much as information from their work to attract and grab the attention of their target audience with their given mode of address and to do this they result to using techniques common in the world of media. An example would be ideology, which are a set of ideas or beliefs held acceptable by the creators of media text that most groups in society believe in. That means if they feel they must put an object or text in their media product to grab the attention of a majority of their target audience they will. That is how the consumer gains interest in the product (because of their beliefs) and why they will consider further action gain more knowledge on the topic (like watching a movie in the cinema because of its poster). It all depends on the consumers 'preferred reading' and to be successful in media you must find a way of hacking it.

The History Of The Television

The Television has taken the world by storm. As one of the most dominant forces of media in this current day and age this machine is regarded by many as a necessity which studies have proven true, which begs the question who started this phenomena and how has its popularity grown exponentially and that's the exact question I will be answering in this post.

How it all began: 

The television has had a very long history, and it has consisted of both its ups and downs but simple perseverance as well as a vision is what has made it the machine it is today. The word television has Latin and Greek origins. The 'tele' means 'far' in ancient Greek whilst 'visio' means 'sight' in Latin which can now be clearly seen in the word Television, really smart if I do say so myself. 

The TV used to be the dream machine of many inventors in the past who felt the machine would revolutionise the world forever, therefore lots of effort was put into the manufacturing of this machine. The TV was not a simple machine that could be produces by one inventor but rather took the   efforts of many people with various ideas to life. During its making inventors had to endure many failed attempts during the 1920's resulting in a series of names to be created for this dream machine. Some were Radiovision, Seeing by Wireless, Distant Electric Vision, Phototelegraphy, The Electric Telescope, Visual Listening, Telectroscopy, Hear-Seeing, Telephonoscope, Audiovision, Radio Movies, The Radio Kinema, Radioscope, Lustreer, Farscope, Optiphone, Microscope; some of these names sound funny as I personally feel 'television' is a perfect name for the device and could not see myself calling it any other.

Inventors that kept the dream alive (Karl Braun, Paul Nipkow and Lee DeForest)

Now for the revolutionary part, it seems that the spark for the initial idea of a television came in 1873  when a telegraph operator discovered that light affected the electrical resistance of selenium. It was this discovery he realised that with a bit of work he could change light into electricity using a selenium photocell. The next key invention was introduced in 1884 when Paul Nipkow invented a single spiral of holes in it as a method of mechanical scanning for the  television. Despite his key findings he was never able to build a working system, which was a shame. However his invention did not go to waste as several other TV pioneers used the Nipkow disc as the basis for their own television systems. The invention of the TV was brought to a halt when there was a problem finding a device to turn an electric current back into light because of the fact a conventional bulb would be unsuitable due to its instability this meant it could not vary its brightness fast enough to produce a TV image. To resolve this problem Georges Claude developed the neon lamp in 1902. Last but certainly not least the final act came in 1906 when Lee De Forest in the USA invented the Amplion; an amplifying triode valve which made it possible to amplify weak video signals created by selenium photocells. A working model of his amplifier took him another six years to develop and nearly ten years would pass before an improved version compatible with the television would be produced, making him a key player in the invention of the TV.

With all the key components invented and improved all that was left at the time was a way for them to amalgamate. Therefore by 1992 inventors all around the world found themselves with the task of building the TV which was a challenge they took on because of the great margin of success they sensed within their reach. Many of these inventors where well equipped with sufficient resources, funds and staff to build the television which is the reason we see many adaptations f the television in this modern day. It is believed the first official inventors of the TV were Philo Farnsworth (an American inventor), John Logie Baird ( a Scottish engineer, who demonstrated the first working television system on 26 January 1926) and Charles Francis Jenkins (an American pioneer of the early cinema and one of the inventors of television).

How The First Mechanical Television Worked

The diagram above gives you a clear visual on how each of the key inventions made by  
Karl Braun, Paul Nipkow and Lee DeForest supported each other and connected to make the first successful mechanical television. Without they great invention and efforts the some may argue the television may not be as advanced as it today but everyone can agree that they played a huge part in the producing the most popular form of media to this date.


Mechanical Television Explained:
My blog so far in a nutshell😄



Since we have seen a great number of changes in the properties of the television over the years from its aesthetics to functions it seems as it we have seen it all but the constant development in technology means different types of televisions are being all the time; giving humans the flexibility to do what ever they want with it.



THEN VS NOW:

To gain more information regarding the developments that lead to changes view the TIMELINE .


Source:1, 2

Me and the Media

Hello, my name is Nathan and I must say my relationship with the media is rather ambivalent. Despite how many sources of media I have at home, some being the television, a phone, a laptop etc, I feel that I am part of the minority in my age group that do not use media excessively because I would rather spend my time going out with friends to participate in various outdoors activities, commonly football.

Two formats of media that I commonly enjoy is music videos and movies which I often access through my mobile phone or the television vision using platforms such as YouTube and the Sky Box. I often turn to media during times at which I feel bored and what to do something with my time or mostly when the weather is bad meaning I cannot go out. To deal with these inconveniences I sometimes find myself  spending hours on YouTube or watching a series of movies. In terms of social media, I have access to some of the most popular ones in this modern day and age for example Snapchat, Reddit, WhatsApp, etc and normally use these for entertainment and to keep in touch with my friends.Other than that I also regularly watch the news in the morning to help with my daily planning as by gaining information on topics like the weather or traffic delays I can plan ahead to resolve those problems which will benefit me later on in the day.

Click Here to get a playlist of popular music videos!

                         The Last Music Video I Watched

The last movie I watched