Kevin Harris A2 Media Studies

 Task 1  Jean Teng speaks to New Zealand film-makers and funding bodies to assess how well we’re doing with “diversity and inclusion” in Aotearoa. A re we failing to support emerging filmmakers from minority communities, and can this summit act as a catalyst for change? The Power of Inclusion summit took place over two days at the Aotea Centre on 3-4 October. It was hosted by the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) and Women and Film in Television International, and supported by the Walt Disney Company and a range of other, smaller players. There were high-profile international guests, including keynote speakers Geena Davis and Yara Shahidi, and many local film-makers and producers. The summit’s stated intention was to “posit future action to create a more inclusive industry and world”. Annabelle Sheehan, the Film Commission’s chief executive, later said that care was taken to ensure the programme didn’t become an echo chamber. The presence of producers and decision-makers in h...

Imagine the first time when young children see a superhero or an astronaut on screen whose image looks like them. For some kids, the moment of seeing  Black Panther  was their first time seeing a superhero of color on screen. Better yet, this groundbreaking film which has netted over $900 million dollars, could have been the first time seeing a predominantly black cast with a black director, black costume designers, black hairstylists, and more, actively producing representation in a positive light. The content our society views on screen is supposed to reflect its people, but all too often the entertainment and media industries tend to marginalize people of color, and women, just to name a few. Stories affect all areas of life in terms of how people view themselves, how they live their lives, and how they see others. Some of the content that these industries distribute to the public remains the only form of representation some individuals see, and these portrayals may be accu...

"Audiences now have just as much power as media institutions." To what extent do you agree with this statement?" Back in the day Big Tech multinational conglomerates like Disney, Facebook, Twitter, etc. They have had more power for many years over the audiences as the producers would create the media for audiences to watch and enjoy in cinemas, as well as over social media itself. But all of this has slightly changed nowadays, thanks to the role of web 2.0 and YouTube, YouTube has received  30,000 hrs of videos uploaded daily, and with 1 billion hrs of videos watched every day, this market is huge and will keep growing as technology grows. as well. Web 2.0 has helped many around the world with gaining power over media as it helps audiences to create their own media instead of relying on big tech conglomerates to create media on time and worth the wait with key points of knowledge and entertainment, with audiences creating their own media it helps others to enjoy it more ...

  Media regulation today is complex and becoming more and more difficult." To what extent do you agree with this question? Media is becoming more and more complex, which makes it difficult to regulate. With technological Advancements growing over the years it has opened the eyes of audiences and allowed them to watch media that can be perceived as harmful and disturbing to either a younger audiences or others watching. Technological convergence has allowed families to be under the same roof with iPhone, iPad, TVs, and laptops to consume media, instead of one form of technology the whole family watches on. Parents of a house hold would be gatekeepers of their family to regulate their child from watching over-rated shows and play games, but as the technology advances this means that parents have no control over what their child watches or when they watch it as, they would no longer need IDs when entering a DVD store to purchase or rent a movie, as they can just stream it on...

Many people have argued that these platforms are bias against their point of view siding how the algorithms are engineered.  Facebook in particular is more likely to give users content matching their world views. Most platforms have an increase in the diversity of the information that you see when you use them. But for some of the platforms, particularly Facebook, they found that regardless of the information is more diverse it also shifts more towards the views that you might of already had.  All these platforms have different ways in which they show users and so Facebook is largely the most opaque of the platforms as it is based on content engagements such as likes, comments, shares. 

"Media regulation today is complex and becoming more and more difficult." To what extent do you agree with this question? The media plays a huge part in how audiences perceive the world as it gives views that help audiences connect with the world. Through this connection, technological advancements have grown over the years, which helps audiences connect with each other. The media controls the stereotypes that are being fed into ideologies for audiences, which relates to hegemony as it perceives to the audiences of  the social, and cultural influence applied by a dominant group. Covid - 4.63 million New Zealanders had access to internet at the time of lockdown. Covid has prevented audiences to go out and watch movies in the cinemas, which has caused theatre attendance to go down, while allowing streaming services to increase. Because of covid the cinemas would show movies that are rated at a certain rating to protect audiences from being harmed and or disturbed, but now that ...

Many Social Media platforms believe that audiences are getting information about the world from twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, instead of from news broadcasting platforms. YouTube have said "To help keep our communities safe, we haven't waited for regulation; we've created new technology, hired expert reviewers, worked with external specialists, and reviewed our policies to ensure they are fit for the evolving challenges online." Facebook have said " we have clear rules about what is and isn't allowed on our platforms and we are investing billions in safety. We look forward to carry on the discussion with government, parliament and the rest of the industry, as the process continues." These two Social Media platforms have said that they do not want any harmful information or posts on their platforms as it can be harming for others, which isn't good. They believe that they have put enough money and resources into preventing this harmful information ...