THE EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN WORLD

There are four different types of world this lecture looked at;

- The world we stand on 

- The world under our skin 

- The invisible world

- The evolving world

Geocentric - Centre of the world

Heliocentric - Sun centre

Cartology - Map study

Geology - Study of the earth

This is the worlds first map; made in Konya, Turkey 6,200 BC; 

REALISM

I love looking a realism, I looked at it for my Media Histories and Culture essay and it was the best :D

There are lots of different types of realism, such as; realism in arts, realism in theatre, realism in literature and philosophy. I have decided to look at realism in cinema.


Realism is really important in cinema as it is a way of attracting audiences and also is a way of developing films and the technology used to produce films. Realism such as 3D films and CGI animation are ways in which realism is used to make films seem more realistic to the audience in ways to make it more relatable. 


Films like; Lovely Bones, Haunting in Connecticut and Catch me if you can are all based on true stories and events. This is also seen as realism as they are real life events that have been used to produce a film for audiences to enjoy. 


This is the trailer for Haunting in Connecticut


Haunting in Connecticut Trailer

MARSHALL MCLUHAN

Marshall McLuhan can sometimes be known as the founder of media studies. He 

McLuhan’s most famous phrase is probably ‘the medium is the message’. This is still frequently used, but rarely understood as he intended it.

McLuhan uses the words ‘medium’ and ‘message’ in very distinct ways. For McLuhan, a medium is an extension of the human mind and/ or body: in this sense, clothing or a car or a light-bulb are just as much media as a television or radio or a newspaper.

Clothes are an extension of our skin (they keep us warm, dry, and – culturally – prevent us from being arrested).

A car extends our feet (we go faster, further…).

A light-bulb extends our eyes (we can watch a soccer match after dark, perform brain surgery at 3 in the morning).

This is a video example of Marshall McLuhan coming up with the Medium is the Message idea;

Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Message

And this is a beautiful picture of Marshall McLuhan.....

STRUCTURALISM AND BINARY OPPOSITES

Structuralism argues that there is no single true way of seeing or understanding the world - there are many different, equally valid ways of seeing or understanding the world. The key is that we are all shaped by our cultural background - therefore our way of seeing and understanding the world is culturally determined.

Binary Opposites;


Binary opposites is a pair of terms or concepts that are theoretical opposites. In structuralism, a binary opposition is seen as a fundamental organizer of human philosophy, culture, and language. In the community of philosophers and scholars, most believe that "unless a distinction can be made rigorous and precise it isn't really a distinction.

INTERTEXTUALITY

Intertextuality is an aspect of semiotics: it is concerned with the ways in which culture weaves meaning into meaning into meaning – or, to put it another way, it is to do with the ways in which media artefacts ‘quote’ each other. 

I found a video on youtube about intertextuality. Although it isn't BRILLIANT. It does in some way explain how intertextuality works. 

Intertextuality

This video could have gone into more detail about why intertextuality was used in particular in this film, the affect it has on the audiences and how it works, but it basically got the jist of what its all about. 

I also found a website talking about how the film Clueless uses intertextuality as it is loosely based on Jane Austins novel 'Emma'

Clueless and Jane Austin's 'Emma'

SEMIOTICS

Semiotics. Not as hard as it actually sounds. Put into simple terms, it means;

The study of signs and the way in which they work to create meaning, and there are three main areas of interest

 ·       the study of signs themselves

 ·       the study of the way signs are organised into codes or systems (languages)

 ·       the study of the culture where those languages are used

For example; when someone says the word 'cat' your brain links this word to a picture of a cat (as shown in the following diagram)

I found this video on youtube, which basically explains semiotics, but I found it quite interesting.

Semiotics: The study of signs

This video was really helpful as it basically explained the theory of semiotics, starting from who thought of the idea, and went into detail about it using text, diagrams and speech.

It simplifies the semiotics theory and explains it in parts.

THE PROCESS MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

Okay, so I'm a tad late starting my blog, but I have all my notes and I'm ready to blog it up!!

So in this lesson we focussed on the Process Model of Communication (transmission)
This was based around Claud Shannon and Warren Weavers theory of communication.

This is a picture of their communication theory. Shannon and Weaver believed that communication could not take place without using some redundancy and entropic information. Now your wondering what redundancy and entropic means. Well, redundancy means predictable. For example; in day to day life, a greeting of 'hello' is redundant. You expect it because that is normal and predictable. Entropy on the other hand isn't predictable. For examle; someone coming up to you and saying 'I just slapped your mum.' Its unconventional information and so you are not expecting it. This theory however can be criticised as it does not support the feedback process and also lacks a sense of social consequence.
We then moved on to talking about cybernetics. The word 'cybernetics' refers to the patterns of communication and control that has been investigating withing nature and machine systems. The idea of cybernetics is basically like a chain of events. One thing happening then causes another thing to happen which then causes another thing to happen; affecting the happening before. Kind of like a game of dominoes, it has a chain of events.