Week 9 : Definition of Documentaries

What are documentaries?

    A documentary is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record. Such films were originally shot on film stock, the only medium available, but now include video and digital productions that can be either direct-to-video, made into a TV show, or released for screening in cinemas. "Documentary" has been described as a "filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries.

    Documentaries can be funny, poignant, disturbing, ironic, absurd, inspirational, amusing, shocking or any combination.  It is a genre of movie making that uses video & film scenes, photographs and/or sound of real people and real events which when edited together creates a particular story, viewpoint, message or experience.  Traditionally, documentaries are 30-minutes to 2 hours in length (to fit within a television schedule or for theatrical release). However, documentaries are often shorter in length, especially in recent years with the advent of the Internet and web video.

    Documentaries bring viewers into new worlds and experiences through the presentation of factual information about real people, places, and events, generally -- but not always -- portrayed through the use of actual images and artifacts. But factuality alone does not define documentary films; it's what the filmmaker does with those factual elements, weaving them into an overall narrative that strives to be as compelling as it is truthful and is often greater than the sum of its parts.

How are documentaries different from films?

    Feature films and documentaries are part of the living history of film making; they grow, mature and change with time. The difference between documentary and feature film can be giant or small.  Both bring forth unique visions of our world, our cultures, our lives and loves. There’s more than one difference between documentary and feature film. They each have distinct differences in style, content and audience, even as the lines between them often blur.  

1. Escape vs. Reality

    The main reason feature films are made is to entertain the audience; to give people an escape. Documentaries are meant to inform; to confront people with reality and sometimes to promote a point of view. Documentary makers certainly want to engage and captivate their audience, and some feature films can be very informative, but a key difference between the documentary and feature film is in the filmmaker’s motivation. 

2. Fact or Fiction 

    Feature films are mostly fiction. Some may be based on real events or people, but the director and screenwriter will be adding drama and impact with their creative license. Genres include comedy and musical, action and western, romance, crime, horror and science fiction, among others.  

    Documentaries, on the other hand, are non-fiction films. Directors and writers help structure the film, rather than creating characters or taking liberties with the facts of the story. Documentaries can take on social, political and economic issues, or profile a person, place or thing.

3. Format

    Feature films take care in introducing complex characters and spinning an intricate story line over a running time up to three hours. There’s a flow to the action, with carefully timed and structured mini-climaxes and dramatic highlights. The scripted story, characters and actions all are pointed in the same direction, leading the viewer through events with a sense of beginning, middle, dramatic climax and end. 

    In documentaries, often the action leads the way. People don’t have scripted words to say or scenes to enact; handheld cameras might be the only way to follow the story. Even the director doesn’t always know what happens next. Documentary makers often say that discovery and surprise is a big part of their job.  

4. Production Costs

    Documentaries are usually less expensive to make than feature films, with less elaborate production frills. Documentaries can cost only a few thousand dollars, with small crews, single camera set-ups and few if any paid talent. The result is often raw, unpolished but effective nevertheless. 

    Feature films could cost millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars, thanks to top stars with top salaries, directors and scriptwriters, music scores, exotic locations and costumes. A top feature film often has its “money on the screen” with lush cinematography, gorgeous actors and actresses, big bang special effects with large and talented production teams in the background. Of course, big-name actors sometimes do participate in documentary-making, often with a reduced fee and a strong belief in the project. And some low budget or “indie” feature films turn out to be huge successes.  

    In fact, documentaries have become big box office, with serious Academy Award weight sitting with them. Often very entertaining, they can be as controversial nowadays as the subjects they cover. Some feature films today take on very serious topics, with some post-911 war-themed movies seeming more real than the stories they relate. The difference between documentary and feature film can be obvious or subtle. 

Examples of documentaries that I enjoy watching

1) Beyond the Brick: A LEGO Brickumentary

2) Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World

Week 7 : Internet

What impact did the internet have on people’s lives in the old days?

    We all recognize mobile technology as the real game-changer in the creation of the world as we experience it today. The hidden truth, though, is that there would be no smartphone without the Internet revolution. We are the result of this revolution.  We can start with one simple question: Can you imagine your life without the Internet? Just close your eyes for a moment and think about what life was before the web. You can barely remember that time if you were born and grew up before the Internet. If you are a digital native, this task is simply impossible.

    Research into packet switching by Paul Baran and Donald Davies emerged in the early to mid-1960s, and packet switched networks such as the NPL network, ARPANET, Tymnet, the Merit Network, Telenet, and CYCLADES, were developed in the late 1960s and 1970s using a variety of protocols. The ARPANET project led to the development of protocols for internetworking, by which multiple separate networks could be joined into a single network of networks.

    ARPANET development began with two network nodes which were interconnected between the Network Measurement Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science directed by Leonard Kleinrock, and the NLS system at SRI International (SRI) by Douglas Engelbart in Menlo Park, California, on 29 October 1969.

    The third site was the Culler-Fried Interactive Mathematics Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by the University of Utah Graphics Department. In an early sign of future growth, fifteen sites were connected to the young ARPANET by the end of 1971. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing.

    Early international collaborations on the ARPANET were rare. European developers were concerned with developing the X.25 networks. Notable exceptions were the Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR) in June 1973, followed in 1973 by Sweden with satellite links to the Tanum Earth Station and Peter T. Kirstein's research group in the United Kingdom, initially at the Institute of Computer Science, University of London and later at University College London.

    In December 1974, RFC 675 (Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program), by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine, used the term internet as a shorthand for internetworking and later RFCs repeated this use. Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Computer Science Network (CSNET). In 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was standardized, which permitted worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks.


The reformation of internet

    The Internet Reformation is just as profound as the thought revolution caused by the Gutenberg press and is having an equally significant impact. Predictably, elites have fought back. They have tried to slow the circulation of information via copyright, just as they have before. Copyright has been vehemently expanded and enforced; wars have been expanded and prosecuted, as well; economic disasters are growing. The idea is to damp down the rate of social change.

    Nonetheless, convulsive changes are occurring around the world and in the US where the Tea Party and the 2016’s political season are in the process of destroying the current two party system.  Europe, too, has seen the rise of forces opposed to both the status quo and the EU. A vote on Britain’s potential Brexit, its possible exit from the EU, may soon be mimicked by other countries.  Recently, we came upon a blurb authored by the controversial economic analyst Martin Armstrong. We don’t have any position on Mr. Armstrong’s financial theories or professional difficulties, but he certainly is known for his economic insights.


Internet in the industrial revolution

    The Internet is bringing a revolution along with it. Access to information combined with global supply and demand is reshaping established conventions and destroying old world definitions. Where once our reach was limited by physical boundaries, today almost everyone and everything is just a digital handshake away.

    Long established workplace conventions - from defined office hours to physical office space - are being tossed out the window. Success was once defined by a suit and the ‘9 to 5’; now it can achieved by working in pajamas and starting at noon after a morning at the gym and leisurely latte. The very definition of ‘success’ is now drastically changing. It once meant a “keeping up with the Joneses” lifestyle your neighbors would be envious of; now it’s about making personal, intimate choices about how to live your life. Of course some still associate it purely with wealth, but for many, success is being measured in other ways –happiness, freedom, health, more time for travel and family.

    Interconnected societies are the global engine that transforms people from employees to micro entrepreneurs. Anyone now has the opportunity to monetize their skills, from the full-time worker looking for additional income to the once hobbyist building their very own business. True change affects both young and old, and while 15-year old hedge fund managers may capture the imagination, we've got 80-year old entrepreneurs grabbing headlines too. It's truly an uncontested market where talent, skills and experience become commodities outside the narrow boundaries of traditional employment (if such a thing as “traditional” even exists anymore).

    As we engage in a century where everyone is not only a global citizen, but a valuable “Brand in Waiting,” we begin to understand that the Internet Revolution IS in fact the Industrial Revolution of our time. It’s a sweeping social disruption that brings with it not only new inventions and scientific advances, but perhaps most importantly revolutionizes both the methods of work and we the workers ourselves.

    It’s the return of personal choice and personal definitions of value, as we increasingly define ourselves by the work we produce rather than being defined only by the work available.

Week 6 : What is the Relationship between Media and Society?

Media and Society

What is Media?

    According to the Oxford dictionary, Media is "The main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet) regarded collectively."  The word 'Media' is used to describe any means of communication. It refers to the platform or form of communication. For instance, using words to share your thoughts to other people is a form of media. 

    Media usually are thought of as sources of news and entertainment. It also has the power to influence people. It inspires, informs, entertains, motivates, propagates and educates. If used for the right purposes, media is beneficial but it can also be a deadly weapon on society as it is a double edged sword. They also carry messages of persuasion. Important, though often overlooked, is how mass messages bind people into communities, even intonations. 

Relationship between Media and Society

Media are pervasive in modern life. Every morning millions of Americans wake up to clock radios. Political candidates spend most of their campaign dollars on television ads to woo voters. The United States economy depends on advertising to create mass markets. American children see unprecedented numbers of commercial messages a year. Through the mass media, we learn almost everything we know beyond our immediate surroundings. What would we know of Baghdad or Tikrit or the Super Bowl if it were not for newspapers, television, and other mass Medias?.  

The media bind communities together by giving messages that become a shared experience. In the United States, a rural newspaper editor scrambling to get an issue but may not be thinking about how his work creates a common identity among readers, but it does. The town newspaper is something everyone in town has in common. A shared knowledge and a shared experience are created by mass media, and thus they create the base for a community. 

The same phenomenon occurs on a national level. News coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon-bound Americans in a nationwide grieving process. Coverage of the death of Princess Diana prompted a global dialogue on celebrity coverage. Stories of misdeeds help us figure out what we as a society regards as inexcusable. The news coverage of the impeachment of President Clinton did this. Mass media is essential for the ongoing process of society identifying its values. The importance of mass media in binding people into nationhood is clear in every revolution and coup-d’etat around the world. The leaders try to take over the national media right away as an essential vehicle to unify the population behind their cause and silence the opposition. When the U.S. invaded Baghdad in 2003, their priority was to get the television back on the air.

Positive Effects of Social Media towards society

    By now, we are all aware that social media has had a tremendous impact on our culture, in business, on the world-at-large.  Social media websites are some of the most popular haunts on the Internet. They have revolutionized the way people communicate and socialize on the Web.

    However, aside from seeing your friends’ new baby on Facebook, or reading about Justin Bieber’s latest brush with the law on Twitter, what are some of the real impacts, both positive and negative, that social media has had on our society? Here is a closer look at the effect of social media on politics, business, socialization as well as some of the negative effects such as cyber bullying and privacy. 

Impact on Politics  

Every politician worth his salt needs to jump on the social media bandwagon. This is because social websites have played an important role in many elections around the world, including in the U.S., Iran, and India. They have also served to rally people for a cause, and have inspired mass movements and political unrests in many countries. 

Impact on Business

Net savvy companies are using social media to advertise their products, build customer loyalty and many other functions. Interactions and feedback from customers help businesses to understand the market, and fine-tune their products and strategies. Many firms organize contests and give away prizes to enthuse consumers to visit their social website page more often. Compared to television advertisements and other expensive forms of marketing, social media presence is a cheap and effective means to enhance brand image and popularity. 

Effect on Socialization

Social networks offer the opportunity for people to re-connect with their old friends and acquaintances, make new friends, trade ideas, share content and pictures, and many other activities. Users can stay abreast of the latest global and local developments, and participate in campaigns and activities of their choice. Professionals use social media sites like LinkedIn to enhance their career and business prospects. Students can collaborate with their peers to improve their academic proficiency and communication skills. You can learn about different cultures and societies by connecting with people in other countries. 

Negative Effects of Social Media towards society

    Unfortunately, there are a few downsides to social networking. Many introverts and socially reclusive users place too much emphasis on virtual interaction, and ignore the real world outside. 

    Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace allow you to find and connect with just about anyone, from a coworker in a neighboring cube to the girl who played Emily in your high school production of "Our Town" thirty years ago. Browsing these sites can make you feel connected to a larger community, but such easy, casual connection in an electronic environment can also have its downs.

Cyber Bullying and Online Harassment

If you are not careful, unscrupulous people can target you for cyber bullying and harassment on social sites. School children, young girls, and women can fall prey to online attacks which can create tension and distress. If you are a victim of cyber bullying, do not take it lying down, but try to take appropriate legal action against the attacker. 

Impact on Privacy

If you are not careful, what you post on the Net can come back to haunt you. Revealing personal information on social sites can make users vulnerable to crimes like identity theft, stalking, etc. Many companies perform a background check on the Internet before hiring an employee. If a prospective employee has posted something embarrassing on social media, it can drastically affect their chances of getting the job. The same holds true for our relationships too, as our loved ones and friends may get to know if we post something undesirable on social networks. 

A False Sense of Connection 

Social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections will weaken and eventually crumble.

Decreased Productivity

While many businesses use social networking sites to find and communicate with clients, the sites can also prove a great distraction to employees who may show more interest in what their friends are posting than in their work tasks. Wired.com posted two studies which demonstrated damage to productivity caused by social networking: Nucleus Research reported that Facebook shaves 1.5% off office productivity while Morse claimed that British companies lost 2.2 billion a year to the social phenomenon. New technology products have become available that allow social networks to be blocked, but their effectiveness remains spotty.

   To be frank, Social media has its advantages and drawbacks as revealed in this article. It is up to each user to use social sites wisely to enhance their professional and social life, and exercise caution to ensure they do not fall victim to online dangers.

Week 5.2 : The average internet consumer

The average internet consumer

    In an exercise about the average internet consumer, our group created a character based on each group member and the internet culture together. Her name is Kayla Horth (Based on my unrelated OC Character "Kayla Nitrous') and is 20 years old. She lives in a MMU hostel and is a senior in Johor Multimedia University. She likes to criticize people of their faults (A reference based on one of the characteristics of my OC Character), incredibly skilled in Photoshop (Based on our Computer Graphics teacher Kamarulzaman bin Russali) and is very rich (Another reference based on my OC Character).

    She spends her time using Photoshop, to make her images more beautiful before posting in social media, mostly on Instagram, with a #nofilter (a joke about any image edited each time and a meme that was once famous. They are created and shared in the internet.)

    We wrote, 'expects to have a million followers', because she has a lot of talent in Photo Editing and expects people to recognize her talents too soon in social media. As for her basic knowledge, Kayla knows all the fashion trends, because she grew up watching models on the internet and on television.

    Her goal is to become a Photo Editor. Kayla is a Fashionholic and a liberal, as she believes in equality.

    We divided the aspects of Kayla's life that are being affected by the Internet into three main sections: Riches, Viral and Social Media.

Some of these main branches split into different sections.

 Riches :-

 1) Ego :

 - Surprisingly, despite her beliefs, she only befriends people who are on the same level as her.

 - She thinks that she is the leader of The Pack (Her Twitter group).

 - She always thinks that she is always correct and cannot take criticism.

 2) Boast :

 - Likes to boast and show off about her riches.

 - Criticizes people who are on a lower level than her.

 - Shares her stuff on Social Media.

 Viral :-

 - Shares irrelevant or fake news on her page in social media, which are then shared by her followers and criticized by her haters.

 - Shares the latest fashion trends in social media, which in return makes her gain more followers.

 Social Media :-

 1) Popularity :

 - Posts personal photos, which are adored by her followers and makes her more popular.

 2) Invading Privacy :

 - Exposes someone's secret and is then labelled as a 'busybody'.

 - Likes to ruin people's image and is definitely hated by her 'targets'.

Week 5.1 : Thoughts on Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World Documentary

Definition of Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World

Initial release: October 27, 2016 (Russia)
Director: Werner Herzog
Screenplay: Werner Herzog
Music composed by: Mark Degli Antoni
Producers: Werner Herzog, Rupert Maconick
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures

In the documentary Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, filmmaker Werner Herzog attempts to explore the nature of the internet, its origins, and the unusual, wonderful, and sometimes upsetting ways in which it's been used. He recalls the first computer-to-computer communication, in which only the first two letters of the word "log" were transmitted before the system crashed. He tells of a program that allows users to manipulate models of cells and molecules, possibly searching for cures to terrible diseases. But he also shares a harrowing story of online harassment after a family tragedy and introduces a community of people who are literally allergic to electromagnetism and must be isolated from all computers and devices.


Thoughts on Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World Documentary

Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World is a tech-centric documentary by celebrated filmmaker Werner Herzog. It's a deeply thoughtful yet still entertaining exploration of the relationships between humans and computers. The film is full of curiosity and compassion; some of the segments are amazing, some are amusing, and some are heartbreaking. One segment deals with online bullying after a teenage girl's the death; in another scene, a hacker tells stories about his crimes and arrests and says "f--k" once. There are a few other iffy images/concepts and a mention of "porn," which is why the movie is most appropriate for older teens and up, but anyone who spends a lot of time online will find plenty here to think about and discuss.

This documentary is one of Herzog's best; it's thoughtful yet entertaining, amusing yet heartbreaking, and sometimes simply beautiful. And it should give web-savvy viewers plenty to think and talk about. At one point, Herzog asks "does the internet dream of itself?" and, through a series of interviews, he spends the rest of the movie exploring that question.

While the film's segments, each with its own chapter title, may not seem connected, they all look at ways in which humans interact with computers -- the ways in which emotions figure into technology. Herzog asks the developer of a soccer-playing AI robot if he loves his creation, and the answer is yes. The people with allergies are in genuine pain, and Herzog's heart goes out to them, as well as to the victims of harassment. True to Herzog's style, the film isn't rigidly structured, but rather organically follows the filmmaker's own curiosity and compassion. Along with the great director's Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World, and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World is a must-see.