Comm2411_Media_artefacts

Social Relations Assessment #3 : Artefect 1, Billboards/Digital screens, Disciplinary/ Professional Classification: Media, by Rodney lawrence The existance of billboards and media advertisments within the city of Melbourne are revealed to the eyes of millions of civilians everyday. The media promotes advertisements, product distribution, news and current events and ultimately creates an atmosphere for the people of Melbourne to decide wether to listen or take action by the way these media outlets advertise.

Driving, walking or riding through the city, a large quantity of media is launched at the general public. So much so that it draws your vision of interest to the media billboards and digitally moving screens. In relevence to this media it explains in (Author-D.G. Altman, C. Schooler and M. D. Basil, title-Alcohol and cigarette advertising on billboards, Health education research, Vol. 6, No. 4, 487490, 1991, Oxford University Press) the relevance to Melbourne and its billboards, which need to attract the multicultural society and the need for specific billboarding and media in the appropriate places were they will be seen by the consumers who will purchase them. Melbournes advertisements can be seen on the buildings on top of streets similiarly to degraves street.

This comunicates fashion and news, while underneath, Degraves st, the social scene happens where the people display the fashion create a mood by living out the billboards messages. A link is also seen in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, where billboards and advertisements promote the events held at the venue which bring people to the venue. In relevance to Melbourne the city, the media outlets in Melbourne are determined by both the socio economical environment to which the media and billboards are situated throughout melbourne.

This can sometimes create a percieved image of Melbourne and determine its media coverage. Billboards are marketed in a strategic way so as to promote the desired message which the design wants to portray.

Similiar to ACMI, which shows the the latest developments in media, digital billbords display the latest digital media. Media in the form of television has advertised the city through its hidden features and the fact that Melbournians can be part of a fictional world. This can be seen as showing Melbourne’s hidden secrets and helping to form a grasp on the cities qualities. Explained in (Author-Rozzi Bazzani, title-TV cops take the running, Australian television history ACH, 2001 PP 113-29) quoted by Hector Crawford about television, “the most powerful medium for the communication of ideas”. Crawford’s crucial message on media was “television had a special image building role to play in Australia; it could ‘make a virtual contribution to the developement of a specifically Australian consciouness and a sense of national identity’. This quote summarises the importance of media in the city of melbourne, helping to shape it, contribute and determine the direction to which it is viewed not only in Melboune but globally. Television has shown the features and characteristics of Melbourne. It has an unspeakable effect on the social interaction of people and the way they interelate.

In the reading from (Author-Alan Saunders, title-School for gangsters, from (The monthly) Nov, 2009) The idea of media through crime shows is explored and the idealisation of criminals being brought down by police was seen as desirable, but not in this day and age. This new age of media craves a good crime story in the paper and the city seems to desire to know the deep and disturbing truth through the television crime show, Underbelly(2009). The new age media aims to show the truth, this shows the real reality of the desires of people in Melbourne. Its citizens relate to these shows and its media is effective in its message.

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(Author-D.G. Altman, C. Schooler and M. D. Basil, title-Alcohol and cigarette advertising on billboards, Health education research, Vol. 6, No. 4, 487490, 1991, Oxford University Press) (Author-Rozzi Bazzani, title-TV cops take the running, Australian television history ACH, 2001 PP 113-29) (Author-Alan Saunders, title-School for gangsters, from (The monthly) Nov, 2009)

Social Relations Assessment #3 : Artefect 2, ACMI, Disciplinary/ Professional Classification: Media, by Quan Zhou People would argue that Australia is a culture desert, as the indigenous Aboriginal culture is dissolving after the influxes of immigrants, especially the great post-World War II influx of both English and non Englishspeaking migrants formed the modern Australian culture. Australian culture was basically the extension and transformation of European culture, but being influenced by the American pop culture in last a few decades, plus the migrants from Middle East and Asia, the modern Australian combines all cultures around the world. It became an earth of multi-culture.

As the Australia’s cultural capital city, Melbourne takes the responsibility to hold and create platforms for multicultural activities. In order to carry the duty, ACMI was founded to support the screen industry. ACMI, The Australian Center For The Moving Image, is located in Melbourne’s heart, the Federation Square and it’s built for the preservation, exhibition and promotion of Australian and International screen content.

In the last decade, since the information technology develops and especially when the Internet was globally used, more and more new media forms were brought, and the new technology is certainly changing how the industry works. Scott McQuire and Natalia Radywyl argue that the upsurge of digital technology in contemporary art practice is requiring artists, art institutions and audiences to engage with time in new ways. AMCI, as one of the major media exhibition facilities in the world and is used as an example for the topic. Now ACMI has two main cinemas that are equipped to play every film, video and digital video format, with the most extensive projection facilities in the southern hemisphere; and the THX certified sound systems allow high quality attention to acoustics. The advanced screening system is leading the tendency of the media industry.

Those two authors’ research has something in common with Mattew Clayfield’s article on “New Media”. The term “New Media” has been popularly mentioned in last 5 to 10 years and it’s taking us to a new stage of urban life, in terms of our way of work, entertainment, sport, education and daily life. “New Media” is eventually about the terminal/platform presenting the content. ACMI is the place where displays the history, contemporary and future of the media industry. Having ACMI in the city, both audience and the industry people know where they are and where to go. Media production is the most impact form to communicate with general people and ACMI is holding the best memories for their past and the vision for what the future is going to be.

ACMI also presents the social tolerance level of the city. It not only screens mainstream content productions but also offers the opportunities to “underground values”. Every year, ACMI is the main theater to hold the Melbourne Queer Film Festival. Since the mid-1990s, we see more and more production related to gay men and lesbians in mainstream media, and the festival still remains a crowd-pleasing event. The newspapers post the festival’s news every year along with ACMI to support the city’s diversity of multi-culture. It’s Melbourne’s broad social cultural pattern that brings those non-mainstreams content productions to general audiences.

References 1.

Scott McQuire & Natalia Radywyl, ‘From Object to Platform: Art, digital technology and time’ in Time

and Society, SAGE Publicans, March 2010, Vol. 19: pp.5-27 2.

Matthew Clayfield, ‘The Shock of the Old: Eyes, Lies and Illusions’ in Metro Magazine: Media &

Education Magazine, No.151 2006: pp.32-34 3.

‘Gay scenes on the screen’ in The Age, March 18, 2010, url: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/

movies/gay-scenes-on-the-screen-20100317-qfmo.html

Social Relations Assessment #3 : Artefect 3, Laneways, Disciplinary/ Professional Classification: Media, by Stefan Salamone The laneways of Melbourne were initially purely functioning as alleyways for trucks to pass through and were used very little for much else. Some of the smaller lanes such as Degraves Street were used as shortcuts or connecting walkways, as it bypassed the main sidewalks. In the 1950’s, the Degraves underpass was built, meaning that the laneway could be further utilized as a way to avoid crossing Flinders Street.

Since then the laneways of Melbourne have exploded in to boutique shops and cafes and have become an integral part to Melbourne’s urban culture. Each of the lanes within the CBD almost have their own little theme or style to them, such as the Paris end of Collins Street, or Chinatown in Little Bourke Street. Places such as Hardware Lane, once full of warehouses is now littered with restaurants. As was the case with Melbourne’s urban sprawl, the CBD and it’s laneways have become to be a place teeming with trends and a whole breed of consumers.

Andrew Brown-May discusses that initially, due to the street planning of Melbourne in which they were set out and constructed rather grid like in an almost monotone and dreary fashion, it became somewhat popular opinion that this was a pure reflection of the city itself, and that the ‘boring’ and lifeless layout in which its streets were developed were a trait shared by their location. Now however, as seen in Melbourne based television, especially crime drama, these intricate laneways have been transformed from what was once viewed as almost detrimental to Melbourne to an underground culture and history hub, filled to the brim with stories and unique locations.

Pamie Fung also discusses this idea of revitalization and a new aesthetic and image in her article ‘The Seduction of the Laneways: Making Melbourne a ‘World City’, where she mentions that Melbourne has been featured on travel shows such as Postcards and praised for its varying aesthetics throughout the different laneways and areas of Melbourne. This variety in the look and feel of locations have also made Melbourne’s CBD a popular target for media productions in film and television in recent years.

Alongside this popularity in Melbourne’s laneway bohemian culture has come its renowned reputation as a bar and gig heavy area with a large focus on nightlife. With the rise of film and television production within the streets of Melbourne, we see that another form of media, music, has also become an integral part of Melbourne as a city and an identity, and as testament to this, a few years ago Corporation Lane was renamed ACDC lane to commemorate the internationally famous band. As mentioned in an article published during the proposition (Donovan, P & Boulton, M 2004, ‘Mayor Thunderstruck with AC/DC’, The Age, July 8), the band has “strong links with Melbourne” and the lane is in the heart of the city’s bar and rock district indicating that it has become popular opinion that music and nightlife has in fact become an extremely important part of Melbourne’s image in the face of the media.

In conclusion, all of these factors combined prove that Melbourne’s identity is one that is media heavy, regardless of what form it may be in and that it has definitely evolved from the times when the city was regarded as monotonous and dull, almost purely for the way that its streets were designed.

References 1.

Brown-May, Andrew 1998 ‘Melbourne Street Life’, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, pp.8-22 2.

Fung, Pamie 2006 ‘The Seduction of the Laneways: Making Melbourne a ‘World City’ ‘, Crossings

volume 11.2 3.

Donovan, P & Boulton, M 2004, ‘Mayor Thunderstruck with AC/DC’, The Age, July 8

Social Relations Assessment #3, Artefact: Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre Disciplinary/ Professional Classification: Media, by Joshua Mamet The Melbourne Convention Exhibition centre is a 2 building complex located near Southbank used to host many large exhibitions such as the Home Ideas expo and the Melbourne International Motor Show. The exhibition centre features 30,000 square metres of floor space. The exhibition space can be changed into smaller sections by way of four moveable walls, which can be positioned in 13 different locations. The exhibition centre also features meeting rooms, offices, hospitality suites and an auditorium with a 493 seat capacity. The Convention centre of the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre features a 5000 seat convention centre, Hilton Hotel, retail spaces as well as residential and office spaces. There are also 32 meeting rooms, a grand banquet room as well as a plenary which can be divided into three acoustically separated, self contained theaters (facts taken from MCEC website).

Being accessible from many modes of transport including car, public transport as well as by foot; the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre proves itself as being a world class facility. The article ‘Melbourne as you’ve never seen it’ (Rolfe, P 2007, ‘Melbourne as you’ve never seen it, The Herald Sun, December 30) , which was written before the convention centre was built, refers to the plans for what is now the current exhibition centre. These plans included a large retail and residential complex as well as a pedestrian walkway. This is a major step forward for Melbourne, making it a viable city for living in. The more ‘liveable’ the city is, the more positive media attention is focused on it.

The people of Melbourne are ever-changing and with that; the city of Melbourne is changing with them as well.

Hubbard (Hubbard, P 2006 ‘The Everyday City’ in ‘City, Oxon’, Routledge pp. 97-99) makes reference to de Certeau who said “The story begins on ground level with footsteps” (p.98) and then continues to say that we ‘write’ the city. We as the citizens of Melbourne are changing the face of Melbourne with every footstep. We are constantly influencing the direction that the city is taking and as such, the Melbourne Exhibition Convention Centre was created for the people, by the people to not only improve the livability of Melbourne but to provide a world-class facility for use by the masses. This facility can be used by the media; providing outlets for exhibitions, presentations, conferences, social events and the like.

According to Donald and Gammack (Donald, S and Gammack, J, G. 2007 ‘Tourism and the branded city: film and identity on the Pacific Rim’, Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate pp. 45-61) “The frequency of its media exposure and the manner of its representation affect the way in which a city is perceived” (p.). The Exhibition and Convention Centre provides a good media outlet for the city and therefore providing greater media exposure and thus improving the way in which Melbourne is perceived.

Use of the Exhibition and Convention Centre for important events and exhibitions and conventions will help make Melbourne a better place in the eyes of it’s people. It’s a modern landmark of Melbourne. The more use of it’s facilities, the more media exposure is put on the centre and the more (positive) media attention focused on Melbourne, the better Melbourne is perceived.

References: 1.

Rolfe, P 2007, ‘Melbourne as you’ve never seen it, The Herald Sun, December 30

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/first-look-at-south-wharf/story-e6frf7kx-1111115212822

(accessed 24/5/2010) 2.

Hubbard, P 2006 ‘The Everyday City’ in ‘City, Oxon’, Routledge pp. 97-99

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Donald, S and Gammack, J, G. 2007 ‘Tourism and the branded city: film and identity on the Pacific Rim’, Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate pp. 45-61

http://www.mcec.com.au/About.html (accessed 24/5/2010)