Name: Mayurri Rakshit

Student ID: 20410841

Topic 1.1

In the above text written by Terry Flew, the main argument of the text observed is

what is considered as ‘new media’ in the world of digital transformation. It is argued

that the latest development in media technologies such as a VCR player sitting

below a DVD player and TiVo box above attached to a television or people watching

videos from their laptops or phone, are insufficient evidence to consider them as new

media. It is mentioned that the presently new media were once old as no new media

can emerge without the old. The text mentions that variations on long established

commodities such as new dramas can be referred to as new but the changes that

have occurred in media production and consumption over many years, and how they

affect people's work, lifestyle and other global factors must be considered.

Convergence is the merging of distinct media platforms through modern

technological development and communication. Flew generally agreed that

convergence is a combination of technological, industrial changes and audience

behaviour. Flew also states the rise of user generated content and policy

convergence such as laws for some discrete media platforms as other key elements

for relationship between developing new media and convergence.

Topic 1.2

The central theme of this text focuses on remediation of media and how one medium

is represented in another medium. According to Bolter and Grusin (1996) the

repetitive movement between hypermediacy and transmedia is known as

remediation. The movie Strange Days is used as an example by them to describe

remediation since it explains the contradictory views about how new digital media

develops within our culture. The usage of virtual reality in a contemporary method is
Name: Mayurri Rakshit
Student ID: 20410841

a form of rapid development in digital media and technologies, and how our cultural

and educational views are falling behind. Older electronic and print media forms are

being challenged to work alongside the new media in cultural context. Immediacy is

dependent on hypermediacy. Immediacy is developed from older photographs,

television and film, whereas in hypermediacy, digital multimedia borrows ideas from

modernist paintings and its earlier forms. The idea of immediacy is used for non-

immersive digital graphics to portray two- or three-dimensional visuals on traditional

screens. Virtual reality being used in Strange Days is an example of immediacy

where the viewers are not conscious about the real medium or world, as it is made

absent by the presence of so-called realism and is an unmediated format of

transparency. Hypermediacy is the opposite tendency where many mediums try to

coexist in one space such as the World Wide Web, and the medium stays fixed and

refuses to move out of the way. Remediation is thus a two-way process that has

been supported by digital technology and is stimulated and amplified by the

globalized media networked landscape.

Topic 1.3

According to Collins (2008) copyright enforcement has moved out of control and the

internet, digital media and file sharing networks have pushed copyright laws under

public supervision raising the issue of fairness. Fair use is a safety right assisting

copyrights to prevent unfair content control and is based on public’s developed

understanding. It is characterised as a flexible and open approach.

Topic 2.1

The original media format of the primary text is a clip video on YouTube from the

movie Cinderella which was released in the year 2015. The part of the clip that was
Name: Mayurri Rakshit
Student ID: 20410841

posted on YouTube is called ‘Cinderella gets a new dress from her fairy Godmother’.

The remediated text is a visual meme about that clip which includes a funny tone in it

because the original spell was bibbidi bobbidi boo but in the meme, it is changed to

the death spell Avada Kedavra from the Harry potter movies. The video on YouTube

was published on November 25 in the year 2019 by a creator called Elsa Anna

Arendelle, the movie was produced by Walt Disney Studios and distributed by

YouTube. The video from the film is made to gain interest from kids, teenagers and

young adults who like Disney movies all over the world. It is suitable to those

audience because Disney is a renowned film making industry and their films and

shows are very popular. The remediated text was published on the internet and it

was produced by a website called ‘America’s best pics and videos’ on June 8, 2021.

The meaning of the remediated text is different from the original because in the

remediated text (the meme), the last line of the spell casted by the actress is Avada

Kedavra which is an evil spell originally from Harry Potter. The remediated text is

produced in a way to receive comedic reactions from audiences, and it will interest

all Harry Potter fans. The original spell in Cinderella is a magical spell to transform

the girl’s dress but, in the meme, it is made as an evil spell at the end by mixing in

the Harry potter’s evil character with her spell. So, this changes the meaning of both

texts.

Topic 2.2

Essay topic is number 3- Digital culture has changed the way we produce, distribute

and consume music. Critically discuss, utilizing the concepts you have learned in the

unit and applying critical understandings of media cultures and institutions.

Name: Mayurri Rakshit
Student ID: 20410841

The key words in this essay question are digitalisation, global culture, media,

production, distribution and consumption of music.

Source 1-

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1948391999/fulltext/48BED96CDCCC4F92
PQ/2?accountid=10382
The first source is useful scholarly journal article which is relevant to the above

chosen essay topic. I chose this academic and peer reviewed source to help me

write my essay as it has important and valid supporting statements. It has arguments

which state that music is shared, dispersed and diversified in the age of digital

culture reproduction. It states how digital growth of mass production gets mixed

responses from the music fans. All these points will help me to discuss about

digitalisation and change in distribution and production. However, it is argued that

there is a loss of aura in reproduced music, which might not be always negative but

is democratizing and liberatory (Green, 2017). It is stated in the article as an

important point that mass reproduction in the digital culture helps to develop new

ways of consuming music. It is also argued that the music’s unique value is not

different but how various people have different attitudes in perceiving them. There

are other statements made that music sometimes cannot create or carry with them

the culturally recognized aura, mechanical development of digital ways has helped to

penetrate and allow music to enter the lives of people and to persuade their

emotions. The article will help me to connect to the points such as remediation and

consumption of music, etc.

Name: Mayurri Rakshit
Student ID: 20410841

References

Bolter, J. D., & Grusin, R. A. (1996). Remediation. Configurations, 4, 3-66.

Doi:10.1353/con.1996.0018
Collins, S. (2008). Recovering Fair Use. M/C Journal, 11(6).

https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.105

Flew, T. (2014). Introduction to New Media (ch 1 pp 2-6), 9780195577853

[Elsa Anna Arendelle]. (2019, November 25). Cinderella gets a new dress from her

fairy Godmother [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=8gzyTzPGvLI

https://americasbestpics.com/picture/oops-bibbidi-bobbidi-kedavra-wrong-any-

UslWLgef8

Green, B. (2017). Having the sceptre: Wu-Tang Clan and the aura of music in the

age of digital reproduction. Popular Musin, 36(3), 447-440. https://

www.proquest.com/docview/1948391999/fulltext/48BED96CDCCC4F92

PQ/2?accountid=10382