Nearly a month has passed since a group of people of different ages and different backgrounds first gathered in St Paul’s Cathedral. Since then, the Occupy the London stock exchange movement has become a much-discussed and debated topic — first on social media pages and eventually by mainstream news outlets. It has become a great media spectacle similar to the Egyptian Tahreer Square. 

The movement also has grown with increasing numbers of participants not only in London, but all across the nation and even beyond its borders.

We set out to meet some of the people behind the Occupy the London stock exchange movement.

1. We met a great variety of people at the camp and asked them why they were there

2. We asked the protestors what they thought the problem is?

3. It could be a long way before mainstream politicians start to pay attention to the protest camp. We asked long they are going to camp at St Pauls Cathedra?

Since the 70s the spectacle culture has expanded greatly. In contemporary times, media spectacle organizes and mobilizes economic life, social interactions, political life, culture and daily activities. Media spectacle are everywhere in culture, film, broadcasting, the Internet, elections and even terrorism (Douglas, 2003).

In the past decade we have seen movies become bigger and more spectacular with high-technology special effects (2012 Movie or Avatar). Television is becoming more spectacle focused with its movies, news, sports, and anything that can gain an audience (Dougalas, 2003). The internet helps in creating mega-spectacles of sports champions, political life and media events. Notable spectacle moments are the O.J. Simpson trial, the death of Princess Diana, the Clinton sex scandal, the battle for the White House after the 2000 election, the September 11 attacks and the subsequent war on terror. More recent spectacles are the Obama-Clinton race for the Democrat’s nomination, the Arab revolutions and the Eurozone crisis (Dougalas, 2003).

Image 1. Simpson Trial
image source: celebritypicnic.com

Image 2. Lady Diana
image source: bestcelebwallpapers.com

Image 3. Bill Clinton
image source: al-aminbrothers.com

Image 4. War on Terror
image source: vector.net

Image 5. Obama and the White House.

Image 6. The Eurozone Crisis.
image source: mymoneycalculator.com.au 

Image 7. The Arab Spring
image source: intifada-palestine.com 

Michael J. Wolf (1999) argues that for a commercial enterprise to prosper, it needs to be ‘entertaining and fun’. This is evident where entertainment is becoming a major aspect of business. In the US alone the entertainment business was worth $480 billion (Wolf, 1999). A more recent report predicted that the global entertainment and media industry would be worth $1.8 trillion by 2010 (BBC, 2006).

In today’s society, entertainment and spectacle have entered into the domains of the economy, politics, society and every day life. Contemporary forms of entertainment build on the tradition of spectacle. Television stages are incorporating a spectacle culture into their enterprises, transforming film, television, music, drama and producing spectacular new forms of culture such as cyberspace, multimedia and virtual reality (Douglas, 2003).

Sports has its spectacle moments with events such as the Olympics, football/cricket/rugby World cups which attract massive audiences.  Sport stadiums contain giant advertisements and screens that reproduce the action (Dougalas, 2003).

Sometimes, the behavior of sport stars eclipses the actual game. Examples of this are the huge media spectacle around the scandal surrounding the personal life of Tiger Woods in 2009 (William, 2011). Another example is the England captain John Terry’s personal scandal to the more recent trial and conviction of three Pakistani cricket players for corruption (BBC, 2011).

Image 8. Tiger Woods.
image source: recovering-republican.com 

Image 9. John Terry
image source: guardian.co.uk 

Image 10. Pakistani cricket facing jail sentences for corruption.
image source: guardian.co.uk 

Film is another area of spectacle with ‘Hollywood’. Hollywood films come with hyped up advertising, spectacular openings, glamorous Oscars and super famous celebrities (Douglas, 2003). This was evident in the Harry Potter series and more recently in the Twilight films.

I set out to cover an ongoing media spectacle. I made a list of recent media spectacles and the list included:

• Arab Spring
• Eurozone crisis; a business spectacle
• Libyan war and the spectacle of Gaddafi’s body on display
• Occupy movement spectacle

I choose to cover the Occupy London protest because protests are generally a media spectacle. Major protests are usually covered by all media channels and most look to cover any violent behavior or confrontation.

Recently there have been many high profile protests such as the Dale camping site, student occupying Fortnum and Mason, the summer riots and recent student protest in November 2011. Other protests who had a global audience include the Arab uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.

Public protests have always generated a lot of attention due to their performative nature and of course the media loves a spectacle (Brooks, 2011). Sky-copters usually hover above any protest and The Guardian (or other news papers) usually have a live blog at the site of these protests enabling anyone to follow the progress as it happens on the ground (Brooks, 2011).

I choose to cover the Occupy London protest. They are a group currently camped out at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The group claims to be the ‘99%’. They started their protest on 15^th October and have been since camped there. They intend to remain at the site until New Year 2012. The Occupy London movement has also seen its fair share of ‘drama’ with the conflict with St Paul’s Cathedral and the city of London trying to evict them.

The Occupy London movement started when about a 1000 people turned up in Wall Street in New York. The protestors wanted to express their anger at corporate greed and social inequality (Addley, 2011). This spread across the globe as the Occupy campaign reached 900 other cities. In Madrid, thousands turned up at the Puerta del Sol square, while in Santiago (Chile) thousands protested through the city and outside the presidential palace (Addley, 2011). In Germany, again thousands protested outside the European Central Bank and all across Germany from Berlin to Stuttgart. Others protested in Kuala Lampur, Auckland, Manila and London (Addley, 2011)

Although this movement is a global wave of growing anger at social and economic injustice, the exact targets of protestors differs from city to city and country to country. In Chile it’s the education that is the problem, in Greece it’s the austerity measures which were the problem, in the Filipinos it’s the US imperialism (Addley, 2011). The overall unifying themes seem to be the tents, the use of social media and the ‘human microphone’ as the protestors chant back phrases spoken by a speaker (Addley, 2011).

Even though the protests may have started after the 15^th October but the Occupy movement has acknowledged it was inspired by the Arab Spring (Addley, 2011).

The Arab Spring is a wave of protests that spread across the Arab world. It started when a young man burned himself to death in Tunisia (Anderson, 2011). This event catalyzed a series of demonstrations and uprisings across the region which resulted in the Tunisian president fleeing to Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian president’s resignation, the civil war in Libya and murder of Gaddaffi (Anderson, 2011). Other uprisings are still on-going in Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Protests have also occurred in Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan and Oman. This led to both the Moroccan and Jordanian Monarchs to promise some sort of change (Anderson, 2011).

All protests in the Arab Spring had similar trends in organizing and communicating through social media and also having a sustained campaign of demonstrations, marches, strikes and occupying a central square in the city such in the example of Cairo and San’a (Economist.com, 2011).

In St Paul’s Cathedral it seems the Occupy movement is making for some interesting media headlines. Initially the media headlines were around the health and safety hazard and the closure of St Paul and resignation of the dean of the Cathedral (Ward, 2011). Another issue raised by the media was that there were too few protesters as thermal images apparently showed few people remained at night (Kingsley, 2011). Other headlines include the Mayor of London calling the protestors a bunch of drug-taking layabouts and the more recent threat of eviction before the New Year (Kingsley, 2011).

The actual message and aim of the protestors seems to be a little lost in the media hype around the surrounding issue’s (The Guardian, 2011).

References: 

Addley, E. (2011). Occupy movement: from local action to a global howl of protest.Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/17/occupy-movement-global-protest. Last accessed 23 Nov 2011.

Anderson, L. (2011). Demystifying The Arab Spring. Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67693/lisa-anderson/demystifying-the-arab-spring. Last accessed 25th Nov 2011.

BBC News. (2006). Global media market ‘set to boom’. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5101950.stm. Last accessed 20th November 2011.

BBC News. (2011). Salman Butt and Pakistan bowlers jailed for no-ball plot. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15573463. Last accessed 25th Nov 2011.

Brooks, C,  2011. (2011). ‘Performance protests’ get the most attention but they are neither radical nor innovative. They may even focus attention away from more important campaigns.. Available: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2011/10/19/performance-protests/. Last accessed 24 Nov 2011.

Douglas, K. (2003). Engaging Media Spectacle. Available: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0306/09-mediaspectacle.php. Last accessed 22 Nov 2011.

Douglas, K. (2003). Media Culture and the Triumph of the Spectacle. Available: http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/medculturespectacle.html. Last accessed 20th Nov 2011.

economist.com. (2011). Arab Spring. Available: http://www.economist.com/topics/arab-spring. Last accessed 19 Nov 2011.

Kingsley, P. (2011). Are the Occupy London protesters just a bunch of ‘hippies’. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/28/occupy-london-boris-johnson. Last accessed 18 Nov 2011.

The editors. (2011). Media Focuses on Drama Rather than Ideas at Occupy London. Available: http://www.newsunspun.org/article/media-focuses-on-drama-rather-than-ideas-at-occupy-london. Last accessed 27 Nov 2011.

Ward, V. (2011). Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral resigns over Occupy London protest. Available: telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8860073/Dean-of-St-Pauls-Cathedral-resigns-over-Occupy-London-protest.html. Last accessed 20th Nov 2011.

William, B. (2011). Tiger Woods Scandal Two Years Later: Fan Take. Available: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ycn-10548683. Last accessed 29 Nov 2011.      

Abdiaziz E. Yusuf
Media Production
Level 3

I always like to start my process development with a mind map. A mind map helps me to develop different ideas and then focus and concentrate on specific matters when starting to write up for an essay or project. I included information from seminars, research that I did my self and everything I had in my mind. 

Looking back to my previously artefact, Power, I recognize the areas that I should improve. One example is the lack of interactivity with people on the ground (e.g. interviews). The experience with the previous artefact has helped me to develop further and aim to improve.

To further develop my understanding of the spectacle theme, I watched three videos with different spectacles. The one that impressed me most was the Beijing Olympics in 2008, this was an amazing performance spectacle.

The second clip I watched is Occupy Wall Street protests. Thousands of people have gathered on Wall Street, which is a financial area of New York City. Protesters focused on economic and social inequality, greed, high unemployment as well as corruption. In London, a similar group, Occupy London, has camped at St Paul’s Cathedral.

I was very impressed by the Occupy movement and their chosen location outdoors which must have been very cold in the current weather conditions. I decided to further research the Occupy movement to use in my spectacle artefact and to use R N Clarke museum in my professional experience.  

Abdiaziz E Yusuf
Media Production
Level 3

Dawkins and Wynd (2010) stated that producing an excellent video is achieved through following the right process and consideration of the kit available. All video makers follow one process, what ever the budget, the size of video or the kind of production. In video production there are three main steps: Pre-production, production and post-production.

Pre-production is the stage where all preparation takes place including the planning, research and idea development. Pre-production is everything a producer considers before shooting a video (Dawkins and Wynd, 2010).

Shooting location

According to Robert B. Musburger (2010), the producer should visualize and conceptualize the kind of shooting location required before the production process. After the script of scene’s has been written then a specific location can be chosen, however the producer/recorder must finalize the choice of location before completing the filming script. When looking at the location, the production crew should check if the location has the right appearance or setting and accessibility.  Special points to look out for include the power supply, a cost-free location that is near to a park, and convenient storage space for equipment and sanitary facilities.

Before the start of filming one needs to ensure of having all the information regarding the location including the names, location address, phone numbers and the authorities who control the location and the place. One must also ensure that the individual who has given permission to use the location actually has the authority to do so, and have a written location release [Robert, 2010].

The shooting location for the specatcle artefact was outdoors. It was at the Occupy London camp at St Paul Cathedral in London, where hundreds of people have camped and performed different activities since 15th October 2011. I have never been to the site and could not visit it prior to filming as it would be too time consuming and costly in terms of transport costs. Instead I had to search through the internet for images of the area, St Paul’s Cathedral and the protest camp so that I had a good knowldege of how the place would actually look like.  

I found some great images through the internet and also through St Paul’s website (see image 1). This allowed me to analyse the position of the camp, the surrounding area as well as the platform for the rally speakers. I could therefore approximately judge the angle or position to use for filming.

Image 1: St Pauls Cathedral (image taken from St Paul’s website)

Production equipment

I have pre-booked the video equipment at Loan Shop and below is the list of equipment used in this task:

• A video camera type Sony HVR-Z1E
• A Firewire 4-9 cable
• A Manfrotto tripod
• XLR cable
• A reporter microphone
• A sound recorder - Edirol R-09 HR

Image 2 below shows the booking confirmation. Furthermore, on top of the equipment borrowed from the University, I also had my MacBook Pro with editing softwares like Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5.

Image 2: Equipment booking confirmation.

Producing the storyboards

I already knew what I wanted to produce as a “spectacle artefact”.  Generally, I wanted to film the area where people are camped and demonstrating, the Cathedral, any placards or banners as well as getting an interview with some of the organizers and protesters. I already had prepared and written the number of questions to ask. All these things I already had so that it would be easier to produce the full story board shown below in image 3.

Image 3: The storyboards.

Contacting the organisers

When I decided to cover the Occupy London movement, I researched the movement and check out their website and facebook page. I contacted the organisers by sending an email. I requested to speak to a spokes person for the movement and to also gain permission to film inside the camp. However I never received a reply. I decided to go ahead and travel to London. My back up plan was to just interview the protestors themselves. I also guessed that since so many news agencies were covering the Occupy protest, it must mean that it was OK for crews to film at the camp site.

Image 4: Email to organizers requestion permission to film.

When I arrived at the camp, the protestors were extremely friendly. People volunteered and were enthusiastic to talk about their opinion on camera. While I was in the middle of the crowd, one of the organisers approached us and asked which broadcaster we were representing. We informed him that we were students from Coventry University. He apologized for not responding to the email and was happy to give us an interview where we could ask the questions we had about the movement.

The Weather Forecast

The weather is an important factor when filming outdoors. I checked the weather forecast for the filming day. I was hoping that it would be a sunny day without any rain, which would be best for producing a good artefact. The weather forecast was cloudy with some sunny intervals before 2.30pm after which it predicted light rain. Knowing that with the unpredictable weather in the UK, light rain could easily turn into heavy rain, I decided to avoid all that by filming early in the day and to aim to finish by 2.30pm.

Transport to London

The production crew consisted of two individuals. These were a production assistant, Faiza Hassan and I (as producer). We travelled together from Birmingham at 9:30am to London Euston, and then took a taxi to St Paul’s Cathedral. The journey took approximately two hours.

Image 5: Abdiaziz in the Taxi, on the way to St Paul’s Cathedral.

Back to the train station we took a taxi again to London Euston but when we arrived at the train station we realized that all trains to Birmingham New Street were cancelled so all passengers who had train tickets could use the underground from Euston to Marylebone station then travel to Birmingham Moor Street or Snow Hill station with the same ticket. It was a very long journey back and we finally arrived at Birmingham Moor Street Station around 7pm.

Image 6: London Euston Station

Image 7: London Underground

Image 8: London Underground

Production budget

The production budget mainly consisted of transport cost, some equipment cost and lunch on the day.

Image 9. The budget sheet.

Image 10. The expenses receipts.

Production

Production is the second stage of video production. During this stage, the team will gather material, which will be utilised in the video production process. This material, in most cases, will be captured throughout the video production stage. Other items such as old footages, voice-over and photos must also be captured (Kayrodgers, 2010).

Shooting The Event

At the shooting location, St Paul’s Cathedral I started filming general items, for instance, the banners that were hanging on the walls or from trees. I also started filming the general area of the protests, camping places, the Cathedral building and everything I thought would be useful in the post-production stage. Then I went in the crowds of people with the University camera, tripod, reporter microphone and my production assistant. The production assistant acted as the reporter, finding/contacting people and asking if they are willing to speak on camera.

Image 11. Production assistant asking questions

Image 12. The protest

We found several people who we interviewed and recorded. Most of the people spoke impressively and presented arguments for their view points while some others talked on more general issues that had no link with the demonstrations. In the post-production stage I selected the most appropriate footages to use.

I filmed with a digital camera Sony HVR-Z1. The setting was DVCAM 50i and the microphone setting was both Channel 1 and 2 with 48k. I chose a manuel focus to have more control over it.

Image 13. Camera recording of the protest speakers

Sound Recording

We took great care of the sound when recording the event through using a HVR cable with reporter microphone that goes direct to the camera so we could capture a pure sound. The sound we have captured is good but it is possible to hear the protesters noise in the background. We could improve this next time by filming the interview outside the camp or at some distance to the protesters instead of being right in the middle of the crowd.
We also took several still images.

Post-Production

This is the third stage of video production. This section refers to all thing that happened after recording including editing, on-screen text, graphics, still images, audio, and voice-over (Keyrods, 2010).

Editing

A day after shooting I started to organise the footages which I filmed at the Occupy London camp. The footages were a full 60 minutes cassette. I only needed to choose three minutes. First of all, I captured the content into Final Cut Pro X editing software.

Image 14. Capturing the content into Final Cut Pro X.

Then I watched and analysed the whole content and took note of the best sequence of videos through taking a note of the time. I did an editing list, which I followed. This made the editing work easier. I knew in advance how the clip would look like.

However I could not continue editing in Final Cut Pro X as I got something wrong and the workspace kept closing itself. I did not understand the problem. I had a limited time to complete the artefact so I just changed the software to Premiere Pro CS5.5. I had to recapture the whole footage.

I bought ‘Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro 6: Professional Editing in Final Cut Studio by Diana Weynand’. I intend to go through the book in my free time to work out the problem with Final Cut Pro. This would enable me use this software in the editing of future artefacts.

Image 15. Creating multi-screen footages in Premiere Pro CS5.5.

When I captured my footage, I named each footage a unique name that is associated with the content, for instance, “protest-poster” is a post that had protesters. If you look at the top footage on Timeline, in image 15, you can see three various footages standing as a vertical columns; the first from upside is a montage, a tank and a banner that was held by protesters.

Image 16. creating titles and B-roller on the top layers.

Voice-over

I was planning to use something new, like voice-over, in this artefact. My narrator did not have the time to come to the Coventry University studio and record it. However, I thought that I could use Edirol R-090 HR equipment then I could upload the voice over into the editing software. I did everything as I planned but when I recorded the audio and listened to it, the sound was not clear. I tried to increase the gain/volume but that made no difference. After struggling with it, I decided, to use text instead of voice-over.

The first layer (image 17) from right side with black colour contains the question we asked as a text. The background colour is black and the text is white in colour. I choose the colour type because it is easier to read.

Image 17. This screen shoot is an example of the question.

Transition

The method in which two video footages are joined together is named the transition. It is very important to know which different transitions methods are available and how to use them properly (Media College).

Some of the transitions are Cut, Mix, Dissolve, Crossfade, Fade and Wipe. The Cut transition is most common, in television and film production – a fast change from one footage to another. In my production I used the Cross Dissolve type because it is smoother and the time changing between two shots is 1.20 second.

Image 18. Transition between two footages with using Cross Dissolve.

Narrative

The narratives of the global are countless. First of all narrative is a prodigious variety of genres that is distributed amongst various substances. Narrative can be carried by signs, moving or fixed images, written or spoken, articulated language, and ordered mixture of all these substances. It is present in conversation, news item, comics, cinema, stained glass windows, painting, mime, comedy, drama, tragedy, history, epic, tale, fable, legend, and myth (David, 2009).

So in my artefact production, the Narrative was carefully thought through. The questions I prepared in my outline were following a simple narrative and are what general people would like to know. My questions are; What is the Occupy London Movement? Why are the protestors camped at St Paul Cathedral? What is the solution? How long will the protestors remain camped at St Paul’s? What is the future of the movement? What is the similarity with the Arab Spring?

Sound Editing

When editing the sound I realised that the background sound did not have the same quality of volume compared to the people sound. The people sound which I recorded on the ground and background music that I got from a sound company were very different. The background music was very clear with high gain however the sound recorded from the protesters had a low gain. I tried to increase the gain but the problem was still there.  Lastly I decreased the volume of the music track so the volume of both layers would be the same which helps a bit with the sound.

Image 19. Here you see the yellow line, which is the Gain, is dragged down compared to other layers.

Delivery of the artefact

I delivered the Occupy London artefact in YouTube.

Conclusion

This was the analysis of my artefact produced as part of the spectacle theme. I am happy to be finished with this work and it was a great experience to go down to London and meet different young faces and gain a new experience.

References:

Steve D, & Ian W (2010). Video Production Putting Theory Into Practice. Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan. 41

Robert B., M. (2010). Single-Camera Video Production. USA: Focal Press. p122.

Keyrods. (4 Aug 2010). Key Stages in the Corporate Video Production Process. Available: http://www.skeletonproductions.com/blog/video-production-guides/key-stages-in-the-corporate-video-production-process/. Last accessed 15 Nov 2010.

Media College. Video Transitions. Available: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/editing/transition/. Last accessed 20th Nov 2011

David, H (2009). Basic Elements of Narrative. Singapore: Ho Printing Pte Ltd. p7.

This is a reflection and evaluation for the third artefact that I prepared as part of Module 360MC, on the theme ‘memory’. I filmed the artefact at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The artefact was filmed during the Remembrance Day memorial event.

During the pre-production stage of this artefact, I spent hours researching around the theme and the possible extensions to the topic. I also watched video’s to see how others have treated the theme of memory. This search has helped shape my understanding of the topic. Watching how others have treated the subject has also helped me focus my artefact a lot more.

During the production stage, I filmed at the Arboretum. The mood on the day was sombre and emotional. People looked very sad and focused on the ceremony. One of the challenges was to find someone to interview. It was a struggle as I tried to get eye contact with different people to get someone who was willing to talk to me. I tried to ask people but some declined to be filmed as they felt it was inappropriate. Finally, I managed to interview three people, including a war veteran and a member of staff.

Another challenge was to transport the equipment from Coventry University to the Arboretum. I don’t have a car; therefore I had to catch the train with the equipment. A further challenge was that the ceremony was starting at 10.45am on Sunday morning. The first direct train from Stafford was at 12.18pm. I considered renting a car for the day but that would have been too expensive. Therefore, I had to spend the night in Birmingham and catch the earliest train at 9.06am, arriving into Lichfield Trent Valley at 9.47am. This would have allowed me to arrive at the Arboretum for 10am and gave me about 45 minutes to prepare and set up.

In reflection, I learned a lot from preparing this artefact. Through the research process, I learned a great deal about memory in general, cultural and personal memory and the development of commemorative events and war memorials. This task also helped me improve my research techniques greatly.

I feel I have improved my technical skills greatly as I have used voice over for the first time. In the previous task on ‘spectacle’, I tried to use voice over but I had difficulty. In this task I had some success in using this technique. This has meant that I had to write the script for my voice actor to read out.

 EVALUATION

I feel that the memory artefact has some strengths and weakness. In this section I will discuss both the strengths and weaknesses and decide on improvements.

Strengths

• I feel that the story has a strong content.  The content was well developed and thought out. I did a thorough research to support this content.
• I feel that the artefact has been filmed well and also edited well. 
• In this artefact the interview sound was very clear.
• The artefact was shot using a high definition video camera (HDV 10801 50i PAL). This has helped the artefact have a high quality finish.
• The seminar feedback was that the video was well put together.

 The Weaknesses

• One of the weaknesses of the video is the unclear background music. The background then feels noisy.
• One of the clips contains an interview of a war veteran; this is then immediately followed by another interview with a member of staff. The veteran’s interview was emotional and would have benefitted from having more time and a smoother transition.
• The artefact would have benefitted from having the voice over introducing the theme’s the interviewee’s would be talking about. Currently the voice over introduces the overall theme.
• I also feel that the titles used had some weaknesses.

 Improvements:

• I could have improved the introduction background music. I can do that in the future by using a wireless microphone.
• The voice over narrative can be improved next time by adding an introduction to the various speakers.

This is Peter Woodbrige’s feedback on my artefact.

In conclusion, I feel that I have improved both my research and technical skills greatly. I have used several techniques such as voice over for the first time and now I feel more confident to use those techniques in the future.

Abdiaziz E Yusuf
Media Production
Level 3

Process and Development

This is the Process & Development on the final artefact, memory.  In this section, I will describe the Process & Development that took place before producing the artefact.

My encounter with the theme ‘Memory’ began in March 2010 in Coventry. I was part of a team from Coventry University, which was planning to produce a short film at the War Memorial Park in Coventry. The Park was built in 1921 to praise the soldiers from the city, who lost their lives through the First World War. In the Second World War, anti-aircraft gun and barrage balloons were put in the park, and currently people visit and see the large real blocks at the coat of arms area of the park (Jadu, 2011).

My second exposure to a war memorial was in April 2010 as part of my professional experience at Coventry University. As part of this professional experience we travelled to New York city. I then went to Washington and visited the World War II Memorial Park. It was opened to the public in 2004, and it is located on 17^th Street, between Constitution and Independence Avenues ( WWII Memorial 2005).

My third exposure to ‘memory & war memorials’ was when I moved to Stafford. The city has a small war memorial. I often walk past the Staffordshire County War Memorial in Stafford Park on Station Road, opposite the train station on my way to the University. Around this war memorial, there are few plaques and Regimental emblems. The face of memorial is inscriped with the following words: To the officers and men of Staffordshire units and all other Staffordshire men who gave their lives for their country in The Great War 1914 -1918. Their rest shall be glorious (The Potteries Museum).

On the other hand, in the lecture, we went through various areas of the theme ’memory’  including history and memory, general memories like photo memory, personal memories etc. The lectures developed my thinking broadly around the subject in different areas.

I have watched different films about memories including:

• In the lectures Peter Woodbridge showed us a YouTube clip called Britain in a Day. It is an extraordinary project to produce the definitive self-portrait of Britain today, which was filmed by people, motivated by Life in a Day film (BBC, 2011). I wished to do a clip similar to this but I could not find people who were willing to contribute. So I left this idea.

• The Memory Thief is a drama, American independent DV film, from 2007, which was directed by Gil Kofman. The features are Rachel Miner and Mark Webber in leading roles. The film story is about the experience of a young man who becomes involved in recording the survivor of the Holocaust (Jeanette 2008).

• The second film is the National Memorial Arboretum; it is made up of still footages with background music showing the whole memorial park.

The last film had influenced me and got me thinking about the people who have lost their lives in wars. I had never been the National Memorial Arboretum before. So I was more interested in it and I decided to do more research on it and also to create a video artefact. It was a great coincidence that as I was preparing to do more research, I noticed that the date was 10th November. I realised that there would be a Remembrance day event soon so I set out to develop an artefact about the Remembrance Day on 13^th November 2011.

REFERENCES:

Jadu. (2011). History of War Memorial Park. Available: http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/2000674/war_memorial_park/697/history_of_war_
memorial_park. Last accessed 25th Nov 2011.

WWII Memorial. (2005). Visiting the Memorial . Available: http://www.wwiimemorial.com/. Last accessed 25th Nov 2011.

The Potteries Museum. (). Stafford. Available: http://www.exploringthepotteries.org.uk/nof_website1/local_history_static_exhibitions/war_memorials/pages/stafford.htm. Last accessed 15th Nov 2011.

Jeannette, C. (2008). The Memory Thief (2008). Available: http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/movies/09memo.html. Last accessed 15th Nov 2011.The World War II Memorial

BBC. (2011). The definitive self-portrait of Britain today. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kqz5p. Last accessed 15th Nov 2011.

Abdiaziz E Yusuf
Media Production
Level 3 

Choose a current issue/debate/controversy and analyze how it is informed and determined by power, spectacle and memory within contemporary mediated culture.

This essay will explore the following topic:

The role that Al Jazeera and Social Media sites played a role in (and still plays a role) in the Arab Spring.

The essay will explore the following sub headings: 

• Mediated culture in the Arab world and the case study of Al Jazeera.
• Free flow of information across the Arab world and it’s effect on the uprisings.
• The shift in the political power in the region and the role of Al Jazeera and Qatar.
• The power of social media in helping to ignite the Arab uprisings.
• Twitter and Facebook and the new generation of young Arab activists.
• The spectacle of the Arab uprising in 2011 and how it dominated the news; the spectacle of Bouazizi’s setting himself on fire, Tahreer Square, Yemens Change Square, Libya’s war & Gaddafi’s bloody demise.

Abdiaziz E Yusuf
Media Production
Level 3

In this analysis I will explore the Pre-production, Production and Post-production processes.

Memory Pre-production

When I decided to produce an artefact on Remembrance day at the National Memorial Arboretum, as a starting point, I sent an email to Andrew Baud who is a member of the media team at the Arboretum to ask his permission to film the ceremony and the general activities on the day. He responded after a few hours with the permission and informed me to ask for Kate Habberley. She was very friendly and through her I managed to film the event, interview different people and also a member of the staff/volunteer team.

Weather – Remembrance Day

Thinking about the weather is very important when filming outdoors. I checked the BBC website for the weather forecast and there was no rain forcast for Remembrance day.

Video Equipment

Then I booked the video production equipment at the Loan Shop at Coventry University. I booked the following items:

• A Sony video camera type HVR -Z5U. For the previous themes, Power and Spectacle, I used HVR-Z1U. This time I was interested in using a new recording setting like High Definition with 1080i 50i.
• A Manfrotto HDV501/503 tripod. It is stable to use but the disadvantage is it is too heavy to carry on the shoulder.
• A reporter’s Microphone, this was used to capture a pure sound when asking question to the audience/ceremony attendants.
• XLR Cables 3PIN M-F, used as link cable between camera and reporter’s microphone.

Storyboards

I have never been to the location before so drawing the storyboards was a bit difficult. But I used the National Memorial website and checked the location photos. When I explored enough images I started doing the storyboards, this helped me not leaving significant parts in the area. These are my storyboards:

Budget for production

Transport to the National Memorial Aboretum

On the 13^th November, the day of remembrance the crew consisted of a member (Faiza Hassan) and me. We took a taxi from home, Stechford, to Birmingham New Street station, then caught the train to Lichfield V and when we arrived there again we caught a taxi to the National Memorial Arboretum. The whole travel journey took one hour and half.

Memory Production

The content of production was two types, filming the activities and capturing a good sound.  I shot several different areas of National Memorial including the ceremony, speech, visitors, sculptures, and the beautiful surrounding area. I also recorded sound, for instance, the music, children singing about peace, those who lost family members and war veterans. I had a total one-hour footage, but I edited it to 3:05 minutes.

Memory Post-production

In Post-production stage I will go through Editing Decision List, editing process, voice-over, narrative, and delivery.

The effectively telling of a story is the objective in digital age, which was the goal in the beginning of motion image editing – splicing and cutting film. That constant to be the focussed in the second era – analog tape to tape editing. Currently the third era of digital NLE, the aim is effectively storytelling. To achieve a successful story, in digital postproduction, a series of 11 steps are recommended.

• Log
• EDL
• Capture
• Import
• Trim
• Sequence
• Layer
• Effects
• Mix
• Render
• Distribute

When I was ready I captured the whole footage into the laptop and started watching it and analysing. I noted the best footages that I captured and then created an Editing Decision List, which includes three important information: the footages, sound and time.

Voice-over

I created the last two artefacts, Power and Spectacle, without voice-over. I used text to show the audience instead of voice-over. My seminar lecturer, Peter Woodbridge, suggested I use voice-over this time. In this artefact, Memory, which is the last theme in term I asked Ahmed Hassan a young college student in Birmingham to read a written script I had produced so I could use it as voice over. He was very enthusiastic to help me with recording his voice. I gave him a paper with the voice-over script and he read it out several times then we choose the best one. Unfortunately, he could not come to the Radio Studio at Coventry University to record it, but we used the HVR-Z5U video camera with a reporter microphone as a voice record equipment. Then we captured the footage into the Timeline in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5. In the editing stage, we separated the audio layer from video and removed the video from Timeline. We recorded three paragraphs about the Remembrance Day and fitted in various places. 

These two above images are examples of where I used the voice-over sound. I utilised some B-rollers images to follow the voice-over as much as we had enough footages associated with the narrator.

Narrative

The story of this artefact is to show the Remembrance Day event, the people who attended the ceremony, the war veteran and the members of staffs at National Memorial Arboretum. It is a story that explores how we remember our war dead through Remembrance day.

Delivering the artefact

I have delivered or uploaded this video artefact onto the Social Network Sites e.g. YouTube, where I have my own account. I also tried to upload it onto Vimeo, which was recommended by one of our module lecturers Karen Arrand but I faced a problem. When a media piece exceeds 500MB, it cannot be uploaded for free onto Vimeo unless you buy a Plus account. The only artefact I uploaded into Vimeo was the Power artefact as the other two, Spectacle and Memory, were over 650MB.

In conclusion, I am so happy to be finished with my last artefact. In this term I have developed more than through the second year. I hope that I continue to produce more successful artefacts next term in 2012.

Abdiaziz E. Yusuf
Media Production
Level 3

The term memory has been used in many contexts. Anything can be called memory as long it is connected to affect and as long as it can be used to invoke the past (Sturken, 2008). Kerwin Kelin wrote that memory is sometimes used as a synonym for history to soften our prose, to humanise it and to make it more accessible (Klein, 2000; Sturken, 2008). Other terms associated with memory are national memory, collective memory and cultural memory. These terms have all been used by various scholars to suggest different kinds of memory that are not part of history and are distinct from our personal or individual memories (Sturken, 2008).

The field of memory studies emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s with questions on how memory shaped aspects of narrative on historical thinking and the context of disciplines such as history and anthropology in postmodern theory (Sturken, 2008). Furthermore, Wold War Two and the Holocaust created a renewed interest in memory of and testimony of the Holocaust with the changing theoretical frameworks (Sturken, 2008).

The production and construction of memory through cultural practices has its foundation in the notion that memories are parts of a larger process of cultural negotiation. Memory is then defined as a narrative, as something that is fluid and mediates cultural and personal traces of the past (Sturken, 2008).

The practice of memory has become an activity that engages with, produces, reproduces and invests meaning in personal, cultural or collective memories. Cultural memory is related to memory practices and is often produced through cultural forms (Sturken, 2008).

The technologies of memory include any visual technology of mass and mediated forms such as photographs, films, television shows as well as memorials, souvenirs and other objects. They produce cultural and individual memory and mediate them (Sturken, 2008).

Photographs also play a great role in the concept of memory. They are seen as a real trace and evidence of the past. Everyone has a personal memory that came to them not through their individual experience but through the mediated experience of photographs and popular culture (Sturken, 2008).

Memory & Popular Culture

Memory can be transformed and appropriated through popular culture forms. This has meant that the relationship between mass culture and memory had to addresses concerns about how popular culture and mass media can reconfigure history. An example of this is the Spielberg movies which often present a very simplistic narrative which are supposed to evoke particular empathetic responses in viewers (Sturken, 2008).

Memory studies are thus concerned with the analysis of the relationship between memory and consumerism (Sturken, 2008). This is because of the integral relationship between memory culture and global consumer networks. The emergence of consumerism to memory practice in modern times and the relationships between memory and mass culture are also issue’s memory studies tries to explore (Sturken, 2008).

Memory & War Memorials

War memorials are buildings, statues or monuments that were put in place to celebrate war or victory (Whitmarsh, 2000). This changed after the huge loss of life during the First World War (WW1). After WW1 war memorials were erected to commemorate those who died in war (Whitmarsh, 2000). People started to list the names of those who fell in the war and this practice has continued till today.

War memorials have been constructed all over the world, for instance the Liberty memorial in the USA, the Cenotaph in London and The Scottish National War memorial in Edinburgh. WW1 memorials were extended to show the names of those who died in WW2 and subsequent conflicts (Whitmarsh, 2000).

In the 20^th century commemorative traditions developed further as customs and narratives by which individuals, groups and nations remember and commemorate war and those who have fallen developed (Whitmarsh, 2000).

According to Winter (1999), the social, cultural and political nature and the experiences of the society dictate how memory and commemoration are constructed. An example of this is the interpreting of war time history in museums. The staff generally have a tendency to follow the traditional customs of commemoration which have developed over the course of the 20^th century (Whitmarsh, 2000).

Commemoration, like any aspect of memory, is often subject to a variety of meaning. Memorials have become the focus for commemoration, which can be given different meaning by different people as they try to bring together the varied meaning of ‘death’ to those who are left alive (King, 1998; Whitmarsh, 2000). Therefore, memorials draw together and consolidate the shared memories of society (Young, 1993; Whitmarsh, 2000).

The national Armistice Day, after WW1, was often intended to validate the war. Veterans were generally sidelined. However this changed after the WW2 as the veterans came to hold a dominant influence over how the memory of war is represented in public places (Whitmarsh, 2000).

As Wold War Two veterans decline in number, their place is taken by a new generation of soldiers coming back from the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. However as this new generation has different experiences of war, the way in which we come to commemorate in the future may differ from previous generations.

Memory & Remembrance events

Contemporary remembrance events invole a great range of media and mediateions such as texts, images, objects, artefacts and interactions. In the contemporary media ladscape, representation of the past has become mobilized. New technologies are playing significant role as they accelerate the transormation of personal impressions into public memories (Sturken, 2008) 

Armistice day or Remembrance Day takes place on 11^th November to commemorate the First World War’s end on 11 o’clock on 11 November 1918. Remembrance Day also takes place on the Sunday nearest the 11^th November (The Royal British Legion, 2011).

World War One led to millions of deaths as it marked the beginning of the use of modern technology in warfare. Since then, Armistice Day has been observed and King George V initiated a two minute silence at 11 o’clock to commemorate those who had died for their country (The Royal British Legion, 2011).

In our time, various services and parades mark Remembrance Day. At the Cenotaph in London, each year a Remembrance service is held on the Sunday nearest to 11 November. The Queen, representatives of the government and armed forces lay wreaths and pay their respect to those who have died for their country (The Royal British Legion, 2011; BBC, 2011).

The Cenotaph, literally means Empty Tomb in Greek, was built by the request of the Prime Minister Lloyd George in 1919. It was intended as a small part of the Peace Day events and the inscription simply reads ‘The Glorious Dead’. The extent of the public enthusiasm at the unveiling of the base of the monument led to the decision of it becoming a permanent and lasting memorial. It is now central to hosting Remembrance services every year since the last 9 decades (The Royal British Legion, 2011; BBC, 2011).

The service hasn’t changed much since its introduction in 1921. Prayers are said, hymns are sung and a two minute silence is observed. Wreath are laid down on the steps of the Cenotaph and the ceremony ends with a march past of war veterans. Other services are held across Britain in Churches and at war memorials and across the Commonwealth nations (The Royal British Legion, 2011; BBC, 2011).

Another centre of Remembrance in the UK is the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.  The Arboretum is a charity run by staff and volunteers and is part of the Royal British Legion family. The Arboretum consists of 150 acres of wooded parkland in the National Forest in Staffordshire. It receives about 300,000 visitors each year and over 200 events are held each year (The National Memorial Arboretum, 2011).  The Arboretum is also the home of the striking Armed Forces Memorial, which commemorates those who died on duty or as a result of terrorism from the Second World War onward to those who have fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq (The National Memorial Arboretum, 2011).

The Poppy became a symbol of Remembrance Day. In northern France, poppy seeds, which lay dormant in the battlefields, bloomed after the earth was disturbed. John McCrae observed this and wrote a poem titled ‘In Flanders fields’. This poem then served as the inspiration for people to wear an artificial poppy as a sign of remembrance (The Royal British Legion, 2011; BBC, 2011). The British Legion, which is a charity dedicated to supporting former soldiers and those serving in the armed forces, sells the artificial poppies. White poppies are also worn by some as a sign of respect and a symbol of peace (The Royal British Legion, 2011; BBC, 2011).

Another commemorative day is the 8^th May, which commemorates the end of the Second World War on 8^th May 1945. This day is celebrated as a reminder of those who died in World War Two (The Royal British Legion, 2011; BBC, 2011).

Unveiling of the permanent Cenotaph in Whitehall by His Majesty
King George V, 11 November 1920© Copyright Imperial War Museum

References

Sturken, 2008, http://mss.sagepub.com/content/1/1/73.full.pdf

Whitmarsh, 2000, http://cool.conservation-us.org/jcms/issue7/0111Whitm.pdf

BBC, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/events/remembranceday/

(The National Memorial Arboretum, 2011). http://www.thenma.org.uk/index.aspx

The Royal British Legion, 2011 http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance

Abdiaziz E Yusuf
Media Production
Level 3