session 10

In Brand Digital, Allen Adamson explores how successful brands deal with the changes that have been brought by the digital media. In many ways, the empowerment of consumers by digital media (e.g., blogs, tweets, facebook) has meant companies have to be aware that consumers with digital literacy are no longer voiceless. They can express their opinion about products and services and their opinion can spread in a manner we have never seen before. As Adamson says, when a consumer whispers a rumor, “it has the potential to turn into a verbal tsunami.” As David Kirkpatrick says in the Foreword to the book, there is one good explanation for why the relationship between consumers and businesses has changed. That explanation is about technology. According to this view, as digital media become cheaper and more powerful, consumers gain more communication power. Statements such as, “Consumers can track and monitor corporate behavior with the same speed and fluidity that corporations can track consumer behavior,” reflects a fundamental shift in “market power” made possible by digital media.  

Brand Digital is the kind of book I had never read before. It is written by someone who wants to help marketers understand how they can manage their brands in the digital age using digital media.  Although I am used to reading academic books, this one talks about issues that I have experienced directly. I have seen how a company like amazon.com uses the digital media to communicate with me (and how reviews by consumers are used by the company). I have seen individual use blogs, MySpace and even Facebook wall posts to communicate thoughts and feelings about a brand. Adamson talks about how the ability in “digitally listening” and “digitally watching” consumers has significantly improved the quality of insights the brand organizations employ in coming up with branding and marketing strategies.  One thing I did not expect in this book was a useful list of terms as “a digital language.”     



Book reviews posted by consumers are used by many parties involved.

Session 9

This week’s readings all discuss the extra textual materials that have become available because of the new digital technologies (e.g., DVD). Brookey and Westerfelhaus discuss how DVD format allows a new viewing experience. This experience is new for media theory (classis film theory) that assumes films are consumed in darkened theaters and in the presence of strangers. Brookey and Westerfelhaus  (2002) argue that the extra textual content makes it possible for producers to direct the viewing experience in specific ways. Using Fight Club’s “extra text” present in the film’s DVD as an example, they show how such extra text works: in this case, the text has been constructed to prevent the audiences from interpreting the homoerotic components of the film as representing homosexuality.

In another study, Brookey and Westerfelhaus (2005) show how the termination of a business partnership between two important media companies could have been anticipated by analyzing the content of the extra textual materials in DVDs.  In this case, they demonstrate how Pixar excluded Disney from such textual materials at the same time that they promoted themselves as a unique “corporate auteur” with the talent to produce what Disney would like to have (content popular with families).  They also examine how such materials are commercial factors for these companies.  

Parker and Parker also discuss the extra textual materials accompanying the release of films on DVD. They are interested in how these texts impact the experience of the film by audiences. Additionally, they discuss how these texts allow critical commentary and how audiences might react or appreciate such commentary.

All of these studies in their own ways show various implications of the extra textual materials made available by the new digital technologies. One of the most interesting aspects of these studies in my opinion is the way they reveal the importance of such technologies for scholarly analysis. The notion of authorial intention, for example, is much easier to discern and discuss with such technologies.

Session 8

In Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Convergence, new media technologies such as youtube are discussed in relation to their potential to allow consumers to become producers. This aspect has been discussed as the rise of participatory culture. Websites such as youtube have made media consumers active in they way they contribute to the film culture. The same way blogs have allowed nonprofessionals to contribute to film culture, a video-sharing site such as youtube allows that participation in its own way. These videos, such as fake trailers, posted by users are clearly examples of that participatory culture. Such aspects new media are usually considered as utopian potential of digital media. Although participation is valued as enabling audiences, there are some skeptical views or realities that should also be considered. One of these views sees such participation by audiences as the use of free labor by media companies. That is to say, media companies are taking advantage of audiences as they put time and labor into such participation. This participation may also be viewed as audiences contributing to a fan culture that ultimately serves the interest of these media companies.  In this view youtube becomes a marketing tool for media companies. “Consumer-marketing complex” is one way of characterizing this new context. Another view characterizes this situation as consumers “fueling the entertainment machine.”  The logical conclusion of this view is that the distinction between entertainment and marketing is being erased.  However, as Tryon argues, there are other explanations that offer competing views, or point to other aspects of this new context that are important. For example, the notion of “critical intertextuality” suggests that viewers are not “passive” consumers manipulated by the marketing machine of Hollywood. Tryon shows that fake trailers could be used as a way of criticizing the “canned marketing” of Hollywood. 

 The Original Scary "Mary Poppins" Recut Trailer

session seven

Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Media Convergence is an insightful book that questions many of my previous assumptions about cinema. These assumptions cover various aspects of filmmaking and film viewing. These include assumptions about film production, film distribution, and film viewing experience and writing about film. In many ways the book argues that convergence developments have meant many aspects of film culture have changed or are beginning to change. For film production, for example, DIY (Do it Yourself) filmmaking has become possible. Filmmaking is no longer only for professionals with connection to large studios that have the only means to make films. For film distribution, convergence context and digital media have meant the traditional channels of film distribution are being challenged.  If DIY filmmakers can use digital media to make films, they can also use digital media to distribute them. Youtube has been used by these filmmakers to “generate buzz”, and distribute their films. Those who find pirated copies of films have also used Youtube. In this context the digital media have become a site where those who have the traditional means of filmmaking and distribution struggle against those who do not follow the same rules. Writing about film and commenting on film is perhaps one of the most explicit ways in which film culture is changing because of new media. Blogging and armature commentary have meant that writing about film is no longer the occupation of a few privileged film critics. Film consumption and viewing experience has also changed. While viewing film in a darkened theater with a group of strangers is still popular, it is no longer the only way to experience film. One assumption or argument that keeps getting repeated is that these new experiences in film viewing are not as good because they do not involve big screens. I have to question that argument for at least two reasons. First, I am not certain that watching film on smaller screens is any less pleasurable. Second, larger screens are now available at homes (bigger higher quality television screens and other projecting technologies).

Session 6

Session 6

The readings this week address cyberspace from different perspectives. What is common in all of these readings is that they show that cyberspace, like the real world, is not without race, gender and sexual norms and other social and cultural divisions. In “Sex lives in Second Life”, Brookey and Cannon discuss sexual and gender roles in cyberspace. In “Don’t hate the player, hate the game”, Lisa Nakamura writes about racialization of labor in World of Wacraft. Gunkel and Hetzel Gukel examine the implications of using metaphors such as “new world” and “new frontiers” for describing MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games). The article by Ducheneaut et al is different in that it explains how World of Warcraft functions as a game and the gaming experience for the players. One of the most interesting aspects of this article is that it shows why and how this game is popular.

I now focus on Brookey and Cannon to show the presence of social and real life divisions in cyberspace. What distinguishes Brookey and Cannon’s approach from others, in my opinion, is that they are more cautious about utopian and liberatory perspectives so common amongst the writers of cyberspace. [The liberatory perspective, I should add, is the most dominant view among the scholars in Iran that write about cyberspace.] Gunkel and Hetzel Gunkel make this point as well. Brookey and Cannon make clear there are limits to such utopian perspectives. They draw from the work of Michel Foucault (e.g., the ‘‘docile body’’, or “the active embodiment of disciplinary practices”) to theorize the agency of players in cyberspace who have a traditional, and sometimes violent, approach to gender and sexuality. Here we see why the choices of gender for the avatar in Second Life, male and female, perfectly illustrate the real life gender and sexual norms. Another example of reproducing traditional gender roles is the choice of clothing. As Brookey and Cannon show, stores in Second Life sell clothing that draw on traditional notions of feminine sexual attractiveness. In short, liberatory perspectives are blind to these important insights.

Session five

One of the most interesting discussions in Hollywood Gamers is the discussion of intertextuality.  The notion of intertextuality draws from literary theory and media studies. Audiences have relationships to characters and texts that go beyond what is in the text. This concept covers a range of these relationships. Brookey shows how this notion can explain videogames and industry-wide practices. He shows how these practices are shared among videogame and film industries for the economic and commercial reasons. The word synergy captures these reasons well.

Brookey, drawing on writings by John Fiske, makes a distinction between primary textual materials (actual content of games), secondary texts (materials that are used to promote the games) and tertiary texts (content generated by fans and consumers). Intertextuality, in Fiske’s definition, describes the relationship among primary, secondary and tertiary texts. An additional distinction is made between intertextuality that is produced by fans and interpretative activities and intertextuality that is produced by the media creators themselves. Intertextuality that is created by media producers contributes to the kind of specialized knowledge that invites more consumption of media created around the original text. This is one effective way, as Brookey says, producers create fan cultures “from the top down.”

A factor that leads to further creation of fan cultures and increase in the creation of user-generated content is digital media or new media. Media industries have realized that digital media are important in addressing fans, as Brookey argues. “Digitextuality” is a term that helps us understand this context better: new media have contributed to “new interactive protocols, aesthetic features, transmedia interfaces, and end-user subject positions” (Everett cited in Brookey, p. 73).

Once again, what is unique in Brookey’s presentation is that he shows the commercial features and economics of the industrial practices in film and videogame industries, the aesthetics of the games, and the choices available to audiences are related in specific ways.

Mel Brooks satirizes intertextuality as he comments on “merchandising,” where “the real money” is made from the movie! 

 

Fourth Session

Technology, business, Hollywood and gamers

In Hollywood Gamers Robert Brookey explores convergence in the film and videogame industries. His analysis explains this convergence in terms of technological developments and business practices. The important technological innovation that allowed convergence was the development of DVD. The game industry initially included two markets: the home gaming and arcade games. These two markets diverged eventually because of the initial technological limitations.  Home games were often another version of the successful arcade games. The home versions were not as appealing because they did not use laserdisc technology, which allowed a more dynamic visual presentation. Although laserdisc technology was meant to be an alternative to VCR, which was the vehicle for home viewing of film, its performance as a technology was not without problems. The development of DVD technology allowed the convergence of home videogames market and the film viewing experience at home.

Brookey argues persuasively that business practices and other commercial incentives were equally important to this convergence. Some of the examples of these practices include the following. Both film and video game industries rely on popular genres and conventions in order to reduce financial risks of up-front costs.  Both industries try to develop franchises. A successful film could mean a successful game while sharing some of costs in development of ideas, products and marketing. These franchises, as Brookey shows, become significant points of convergence. Both industries tend to appeal to the same audiences in terms of demographics when they are marketing their products. The similarity in packaging for videogames and DVDs means they can be put on similar shelving spaces. Their proximity in retail stores also helps with marketing. Using a similar or identical image as cover for one can be a great advertising or marketing device for the other. This visual marketing is an element of synergy that has allowed these two industries maximize their profits and minimize their financial risks.

Brookey’s analysis clearly demonstrates how the economics of these industries and the available technological developments determine how and why we as audiences and consumers have the choices that we have.