Individual Task Media – Week 4

1.   A – Upper Middle Class (3.4%) – Higher Managerial,  administrative or professional (doctor, solicitor, barrister, CEO, professor)

B – Middle Class (21.6%) – Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional (teacher, nurse, police officer, probation officer, middle manager)

C1 – Lower Middle Class (29.1%) – supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional (junior manager, student, clerical/office workers, supervisors)

C2 – Skilled Working Class (21%) – skilled manual workers (foreman, agricultural worker, plumber, bricklayer, industrial worker)

D – Working Class (16.2%) – semi and unskilled manual workers (manual workers, shop worker, fisherman, apprentices)

E – Underclass (8.8%) – state pensioners or widows (no other earner), casual or lowest grade workers (casual laborers, state pensioners)

 

Sources:

http://en.allexperts.com/e/n/nr/nrs_social_grade.htm

http://www.webwindows.co.uk/what-does-abc1-mean.html

 

2. – The dirdy birdy cartoon is intended for animation specialists and the interested public so I must put it in the B, C1 and C2.

–  “Californication” from Red Hot Chili Peppers is purely intended for rock fans, the young generation and this kind of funk rock fans, so I must put it in the C1 and C2.

– The “Cop Fail” short video is a funny clip but with some vulgar parts so I put it in the C1, C2, D and E.

–  The advertisement battle I put it in the A, B area.

 

3. – I categorized  “Dirdy Birdy” with B, C1, C2 because it is a modern cartoon enjoyed not only by children but by adults also. It is an award winning short cartoon so it is watched and appreciated by cartoon specialists and also by the modern cartoon fans or just by people that get amused by this kind of entertainment.

– I categorized “Californication” by Red Hot Chili Peppers with C1 and C2 because this kind of music can only enjoyed by the fans of modern rock, funk-rock, which are mostly from the C1 and C2 area. It can also be listened by people from the upper middle class and the middle class as well as by the ones from D and E, but the main target for this kind of music still remains C class.

– I categorized “Cop Fail” with C1, C2, D and E because it is a funny amateur video with parts of vulgarity, that it is intended to amuse the respective audience categories. In general, this kind of amateur media is intended to amuse the lower class.

– The advertisement battle is part of the A and B audience category, although it is just teasing between different car companies, it is just an excellent and smart advertising idea. The car companies (BMW, Audi, Subaru, Bentley) produce expensive and high class limousines and sport cars, that can only be afforded by people from the A and B class, so this are advertisements for that kind of target audience.

Cabinet of Curiosities

This is my cabinet of curiosities that I collected during the last 2 years. Most of the media objects here are video clips, because I find them the most expressive visual media objects.

Dirdy Birdy

“The Dirdy Birdy” is a short cartoon made by John Dilworth, the creator of “Courage, the cowardly dog”. With this cartoon he won 11 animation prizes and made him a respectable cartoonist. One of the best modern cartoon.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication (Official Video)

Red Hot Chili Peppers is a funk rock band formed in 1983, based in Hollywood, California. The video for their hit “Californication” was made in a very unique way, just like a RPG video game, in which every band member have their own adventure through the “jungle” of California and then meet in the centre of the world. I just think that to make a music video just like a computer game is just an amazing idea, that had an immediate success.

Cop Fail

This is a comedy amateur video posted on Youtube and afterwards taken by Failblog as Cop fail. This is a very good example for “Media for Fun”.

Advertising Battle with the best KO!

This is the best advertising battle I’ve ever seen, and the Bentley response to all the car companies is legendary.

Week 2 Task

I looked over my Media Diary and I chose the website Twitter for this week’s research. You can find Twitter at www.twitter.com.

What is the name of the company that produced it?

Twitter was made in 2006 by the podcasting company Odeo of Obvious Corporation, in an attempt to break the creative slump. Jack Dorsey introduced the idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate with a small group, a concept partly inspired by the SMS group messaging service TXTMob.

Is it a major or an independent?

In 2007 Twitter separated from Odeo (which was later sold to SonicMountain), and became an independent company named Twitter, Inc.

Who owns this company?

The Twitter, Inc. company’s Chairman is Jack Dorsey, the inventor of Twitter. Besides being the genius  behind the Twitter idea, Jack has shepherded the project from its beginnings to this day.

What other companies do they own?

Odeo (Obvious Corp.)  owns a lot of sites and small companies such as Blogdigger, Audioblog and Pyra Labs. However, Twitter is now an independent company owning several sites and services. Twitter, Inc. does not own any companies.

What other objects do they make?

Besides being a free social networking and micro-blogging service, Twitter has made over 50 sites/services/applications in just 3 years.

What is the turnover of this company?

In total, Twitter has raised over $57 million. The exact amounts have not been publicly released. Twitter’s first round of funding was for an undisclosed amount that is rumored to have been between $1 million and $5 million. The 2008 funding was for $22 million and the funding in 2009 was for $35 million.

How do they make their money?

Twitter raised their money from venture capitalists such as Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital, Digital Garage, Bezos Expeditions and many others. It is all venture capital.

Why was this object made?

Twitter was created as a free mobile/internet social network and for micro-blogging. At first the Odeo board members were looking for a new project that will bring a substantial amount of money to the corporation, so as all companies it was created for profit. But the main reason for it is that internet and mobile phone users to socialize through short text-based messages and now became one of the most popular websites along with Google, Youtube and Facebook.

Week 1 Task

Day	Time	Medium	What	Where
Monday	16:00	Radio	Listened to BBC1 and BBC5: 2 hours	Home
Monday	16:30	Internet	Checked my e-mails:  40 min	Home
Monday	18:00	Internet	Watched some Youtube clips: 30 min	Home
Tuesday	12:00	Computer	Watched a film: 100 min	Home
Tuesday	15:00	Internet	Checked my e-mails : 30 min	Home
Tuesday	16:00	iPod	Listened to music  (shuffle):3 hours	Home/ park/ supermarket
Tuesday	19:00	Radio	Listened to BBC 1: 1 hour	Home
Wednesday	11:00	Internet	Checked my e-mails: 20min	Library
Wednesday	13:00	Computer	Listened to music,reading Guardian on-line: 1 hour	Home
Wednesday	14:00	Radio	Listened to BBC 5: 2 hours	Home
Wednesday	16:00	TV	Watched the news: 30 min	Home
Wednesday	17:30	Internet	Watched some advertisements on Youtube	Home
Wednesday	19:00	Internet	Checked my facebook, twitter, e-mails	Home