Propaganda and Ideology

As discussed in the lecture, propaganda is the communication of an ideology or several ideologies.

An ideology refers to a set of ideas or beliefs which are shared by a sigificant number of people, and must be coherent.

Examples of ideology include Socialism, Marxism, Leninism, or Communism.

We touched on propaganda within the media, using the example of the Daily Mail, which is a conservative (right-wing) newspaper, which has a target audience that is middle class, and has feminine ideologies that appeal to it’s core audience.

Using those ideologies, the Daily Mail will appeal to it’s audience in three ways.  Beliefs, Values, and Attitude.  Belief that something is true, Values that are a measure of the worth or importance of something, and Attitude to get their point across.

Propaganda is a powerful thing, be that powerful to lead for good, or powerful to mislead the audience to an alternative way of thinking.

Pre-second world war Germany was given the ideology of the perfect world, where imperfection was not to be tolerated.  The Germans invested large amounts of their wages to have a home, a car, but what Hitler was doing was getting his people to invest in the war effort.

During the war, Britain also pushed it’s own propaganda, as the war was a tough battle that lasted for 6 long years.

Propaganda is a powerful tool, and sometimes is used for good, but a lot of the time it can be perceived to be used negatively.  It depends on which side of the fence you sit as to what opinion you have.

News event – Carmen

 

The cream of celluloid is being showcased by the Hull Independent Cinema Project.

Venues across the city will be screening the best in Art House, World, Independent and Classic Films throughout December and into 2015.

Classic films for Christmas include It’s A Wonderful Life on the 18th December at Fudge, and Home Alone on the 21st December at Fruit.

Film fan and local resident April McCarthy, 26, of 22nd Avenue, is excited to see the range of films being offered.

She said: “Its great to see films in alternative locations, without the huge expense of going to the larger chain cinemas.

“I’ve already booked 3 films, and I really hope that the project continues for the rest of the year.”

The project is using Social Media to spread the message about the events, with dedicated Facebook and Twitter accounts.

For more information, follow Hull Independent Cinema Project on Twitter using @hullcineproject, or on Facebook at Facebook.com/hullindependentcinema.

Video Assignment – Further Reflections

Even though I am relatively inexperienced in using Apple Macs, and have used PC’s for the last 21 years, I found the Macs to be better to work on, and more flexible than the PC versions even though they are the same software.

Throughout the course, I will be producing more video, therefore on reflection, I will be investing in a new laptop and the latest version of Adobe Creatve Cloud.

This will give me the opportunity to learn more about the software and its fullest capability, on a machine that can cope with the hardware demands the software requires.

I will be reading further on Premiere Pro, in terms of Books, Videos and online resources, so that my skill set gained will enable me to transfer my understanding of the software into the wider world of Industry.

Premiere Pro is something that I have enjoyed using, and I am looking forward to utilising it more throughout the next 3 years.

I would like to revisit this video in a couple of months time, once I have more knowledge and understanding of the software, and compare and contrast the two video outputs.

Video Assignment – Reflections

Over the last few weeks during the video and editing of my assignment, I am pleased with the outcome and final video edit.

However, during this time, I have learnt new skills in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audtion, that I will use in further filming and presentation of video.

So, in reflection, if I had to complete this assignment again, I would make the following changes.

1. I would take more raw footage to enable a better cut.
2. Getting a video camera from the College was not difficult, but camera chargers were very hard to come by.  A video camera is not useful if the battery is flat due to filming and running out of charge. With this in mind, I have invested in my own HD video camera, so that I can film more in my own time.
3. I would like to showcase all of my shows, not just the Breakfast Show featured in the video.  By having my own camera, I will be able to do this in the future.
4. Use of a better tripod.  The tripod I have, is a small, inexpensive one, but this caused problems with the outside shots due to the wind strength.
5. Further use of Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition at home.  I have older versions of the products at home, which Adobe released for free.  The age of these products means that some features that are available in CS6 (The College version) are unavailable in CS2.
6. Importing video from HD Cameras to CS2 is more difficult as MTS and MP4 files are not compatible with CS2.  I have had to convert MTS/MP4 to AVI, which has proved problematic in terms of time taken.
7. Taught time, some weeks have been missed due to News Days and unavailability of teaching staff.  At least 4 weeks have been lost, and that studio time would have been vital, but for me having older software on a slower machine.

However, given all this, I am pleased with the outcome, but it will be something that I would want to replicate again in the near future.

Video Assignment – Music Selection

As part of the Video Assignment, I had to select a piece of music that was appropriate to connect the filming together with the overall feel.

As a radio presenter, I have listened to thousands of songs throughout my time at TMCR (Today’s More Choice Radio), and prior to that, SHCR (South Humberside Community Radio).

In my shows, I play music from the 1950’s right through to today’s mix, and therefore I have a good selection to choose from.

My favourite genre of music is the 1980’s and a lot of the music I play on air, is from this decade.  I listened to a lot of music the 80’s, and some tracks worked with the final edit.  Examples of this music are listed at the bottom of this post.

However, after much consideration, I selected a track by the Shapeshifters, called Lola’s Theme.  The Shapeshifters (or Shape UK as their are known in America), are a London based producers of Dance-Pop music, and are best known for this track which was their debut release and reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 2004.

The reasons for the selection of this track are:-

1. It’s upbeat tempo, which reflects the style of radio show I present.
2. One of my favourite dance tracks, which I have enjoyed over the last 10 years.
3. The reflection that when on air, I am a different person to my private persona.  This is a reference to a line of the hook in the song.
4. It was the first song I played on the two radio stations that I have presented on in the last 12 months.

Examples of music that were rejected for the video

Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up

Human League – Don’t You Want Me

Baltimora – Tarzan Boy

Final Selection

The Shapeshifters – Lola’s Theme

Video Assignment – Audition

While doing this assignment, I have been able to use the Adobe Audition software to edit music so that the video length matched that of the selected track.

I have previously used Audacity, which is another sound editor, but Audition is a more rounded product with a host of features which I am learning, and wish to gain a better understanding of.

By using the waveform, I am able to see the peaks and troughs in the music graphically, which matches up with the sound heard.

The music chosen has a good bass and that is shown within the waveform, and I have been able to match some transitions between video clips to the changes in the music.

With more raw footage in future videos, I will be able to match the waveform better to the transitions, which will enable a much more professional output.

Video Assignment – Video Examples

Jason Younger

Sun FM

WAWL

There are lots of examples of radio stations using video to showcase their work on YouTube.  Some are good, some need a little more work.

 

Sun FM have a great example of a “Behind The Scenes” video shoot, which I have used to get ideas to showcase TMCR.

Jason Younger’s video is another “Behind The Scenes” video, but the camera work is very shaky, and left me feeling dizzy watching it.

WAWL’s video is very plain, and is something that I used as an example of the sort of video that I tried to avoid presenting.

Video Assignment – Breon Snowdon

As part of the Video Assignment, I was asked to produce a video with a minimum duration of two minutes.

After much deliberation, I decided to use my role at TMCR, a radio station in Thorne, South Yorkshire for the brief.  There are many reasons for this selection and they are listed below.

1. To complete the assignment as per the brief.
2. To learn and expand on the skills gained within the Video lessons throughout Semester 1.
3. To promote TMCR and it’s new studio base at the Bridge Centre in Thorne.
4. To promote the links between the radio station, and the local community of Thorne, Moorends, Hatfield, Stainforth and Dunscroft.
5. To promote the links between the radio station, and the wider world, who can listen on online via the TMCR website, or other proprietary websites and apps on the Internet.
6. To promote myself as a radio presenter at TMCR, and also to promote my skills to a wider audience.

Using a Panasonic HD Camera, I was able to record around 15 minutes of footage to edit into the final montage.  Where I am on screen, I was able to direct my camera assistant as to what video I required to be filmed.

Once this video was taken, I was able to use Adobe Premiere Pro to take the relevant content and edit it.  This editing, together with a selection of Fades and Wipes to assemble the final cut.

The timeline from Premiere Pro shows how I have used the fades and cuts together with the music file imported.

Below is a list of documentation showing the thought process to get to the final cut, which is now published on Youtube here

Final Edit List

CompletedStoryboard

Proposed Shot List

Model Release Form

RiskAssessment