'A Serbian Film'

I stumbled over this interesting article 'Grotesque film banned day before release date' on the ABC News website. The headline was so attention-grabbing that I just had to find out more about this movie. It turns out that just a day before its screening at the Melbourne Film Festival the film was banned in South Australia. So what could possibly be so horrifying about this movie as to shock its viewers?

According to the Federal Government the film apparently contains sexual violence, scenes of bestiality and highly disturbing pictures that don't seem appropriate to any right-minded audience giving the movie a R18+ rating. Deibert et al. define a R18 level of prohibited content as "material that is likely to be disturbing to those under 18". This doesn't necessarily mean though that the internet wouldn't be able to provide the movie instead. However, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority an age verification system is required. Interestingly enough the other side of the movie critics does not mind showing this film in public as it was produced legally and simply reveals Serbia's last 15 years of brutal struggle.

The story is well-structured in its body. There is a main introduction about the movie and its opponents followed by some deeper insights of the director of the film festival and an ABC movie critic. This adds colour to the article and keeps the reader interested. On the right side of the article underneath the picture is a link to an audio file about the controversial ban. Again multimedia is used to keep the reader entertained and find out more. The one feature that I personally really like about this article is its 'drop-down' menu up on the top where viewers can share their stories on social networking sites. ABC News definitely stands out from other news providers with an offer of an impressive range of different bookmark sites such as Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. The website curators must know how to create an appealing wireframe to attract their target audience that utilises the internet to its fullest variety to promote the story.   

The headline is punchy and succinct. The picture is a bit boring. Instead they could have used a snapshot from the actual film which does not depict a scene with violence. Also there is no trailer of the movie provided. Obviously it is a pretty brutal film but still, a legal version would have done it just to get a glimpse of the story. How else would one be able to decide wheather to watch the movie?

There is no author to this article which seems kind of odd for a well-respected news channel like ABC. For a story about a film one would also expect some sort of review section where people can discuss about it. ABC News doesn't provide this with this story which is a pity because it is so controversial. The interviewees are well-chosen but to give the story more substantiation and less assumptions an interview with an actual actor or even the director of the movie would have been helpful. Further, there are no tags or links to related stories that would give the reader a higher understanding of the actual plot of the film.

Nonetheless, the article serves its purpose by explaining the controversy behind the film. The site is well-organised in sections and no advertisements are interrupting the reader's view. Besides, user interaction and multimedia are provided to make the story lively.

Online news article: 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-18/film-ban/2845452

Deibert, R. et al. (2010). Access controlled: The shaping of the power, rights, and rule in cyberspace. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 391-406.

Spanish clothing giant Zara uses 'slave labour'

The picture above shows the famous clothing store ZARA. I remember when Zara first opened its doors in Sydney in May 2011, there was a huge crowd in front of the doors all of them desperately waiting to get a glimpse of the fashion from Spain. Turns out, all that glitters is not gold.

Just a couple days ago, the world news were filled with one headline that shocked everyone: 'Zara accused of using slave labour'. I read the article on Ninemsn news which was written by the Australian Associated Press a wire service. According to a Brazilian television network Band, Zara's logistic partner AHA had illegally exploited their workers for years by making them work up to 16-hour days beneath the legal minimum wage. People were promised a new start in Brazil and instead they were treated like a piece of dirt. It gets even more contradicting when reading the statements of Inditex, the owner of Zara. Instead of taking responsibility for the irregularities they ignore the crisis and blame it on their logistics partner AHA. 

This sort of cases are a never-ending story. It's like a cat-and-mouse game. No one wants to admit their false behaviour. History shows that developing countries have been accused for slave labour before. It is common practice, especially with clothes and sports equipment. One of the biggest sports manufacturers, Nike had been accused several times for exploiting child labour. But acknowledgement was given and dramatic changes in practice have happened since. Since this news story is based on general human interest, people might automatically start thinking about other related topics like Nike, although it hasn't been mentioned by the journalist. This automatic thinking process outside the box is also referred to as 'extra-diegetic' intertextuality.

Although the article on Ninemsn was well-researched and detailled the level of satisfaction one gets out of the story is not very high. Since the story is of interest to a broad majority, the reporters could have used better substantiation, for instance using actual quotes from the two main characters of the story, Inditex and AHA.

Some interactivity has been used by providing the reader with social network 'like' buttons such as Facebook, Msn Messenger and Twitter. Another really interesting feature is the 'Flock it' button at the bottom of the page. Flock is a social web browser created by Mozilla. The Flock could be described as a big ball created out of small balls with different colours that shows the number of hits for a specific story sometimes including comments. A Flash player has been used to make the Flock move. Using multimedia is a very good tactic to give the reader an incentive to expierence more about the website.

The site itself has a clean structure and the story is placed alongside some advertisement. However, there is no picture to the story. For a story about slave labour a picture is the most important feature of the page. Also there are no links to related coverage provided. A comments section placed underneath the article would have been very helpful for Msn news to get some useful ideas and critics, especially on a controversial story like this. The reader's involvement is only challenged on a low level.

Yahoo!7 comments section on 18 August 2011

This example from the Yahoo!7 website was used for the exact same story on Zara's slave labour. As one can see people do participate and give constructive feedback - a bonus for Yahoo!7. All in all, the story's form and content show more disadvantages than advantages and therefore fails.

Online news article:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8286878

Cranny-Francis, A. (2005). Multimedia: texts and contexts. London: SAGE, pp. 27-54.

Old school photography vs. iPhoneography

          

Not possessing an iPhone these days makes it quite hard to keep up with the World Wide Web and its wonderful apps. The evolution of applications for mobile phones or smartphones has opened up new opportunities for users' creativity and imagination.

This online news article 'App, app and away' published by Sydney Morning Herald and written by Sacha Molitorisz immediately caught my attention. Today's mobile phones are capable of various functionalities, also photography. Always wondering how people would respond to and use their phone as a device for taking pictures, this story definitely gives the reader some helpful insights.

The article begins with the new breed of photographers that have developed over the last couple of years. Knox Bronson is one of them and explains how he takes pictures without a professional camera. A diversity of different apps for photography with mobile phones gives him the ability to play around with the pictures.

As the curator of Pixels, a website for 'The Art of the iPhone' which displays a gallery full of images taken with all sorts of iOS devices, Bronson wants to create a whole new idea of photography.     

In contrast, the second half of the article describes interesting facts, insights and advices by a professional photographer, Jamie Williams and why a mobile device is not always as good as the majority might think.

The article goes on looking into the 'real' important issue: the companies that produce 'real' cameras. What about them? Will the iPhone eventually take over the camera industry? These are reasonable questions and camera companies like Olympus try to fight these new developments with aggressive advertisements.

The article concludes with the observation that the basics of photography will always be the same no matter if it is a professional camera or just a point-and-shoot device - both have their pros and cons.

As the digital age exposes us to various new technologies traditional photography gets a completely new and fresh look. Although the article is solely focussing on photography apps and mobile devices, detailled insights about the basic elements of photography with a DSLR are provided which definitely gives the story more colour. Also interactivity was successfully integrated in the story. Two pictures are shown as an example for photography with a mobile device and also with a regular camera. There is an interesting image placed in the middle of the story that leads the reader to an appy artform website demonstrating even more iPhoneography examples. This is mentioned again at the bottom of the article with a link to 'more related coverage'. Further the reader can join the conversation by using social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter or Email to recommend the story to friends and family. More considered a 'nice-to-have-feature', the sidebar also allows the reader to see how many other people are reading this article at the same time.

The website itself is well-organised and doesn't have any distracting advertisements in between the story that might interrupt the reader's 'flow'. The SMH also placed anything important connecting to the story in a sidebar on the left, like top entertainment articles. Another interesting feature is the box on the right site of the article that links to latest exhibitions and events. Again another initiative to increase usage. The site itself is very user-friendly and definitely encourages the reader to explore more.

However, the headline of the story is confusing. Instead of calling the article 'App, app and away' one could have chosen something more direct and simple for the reader, like 'iPhoneography'. The Pixel website is also not providing any link or interactive button where the reader would be directed automatically to the website. Since this Pixel website plays a main role in the article it should have definitely been implemented. Last but not least, there is also no comments section for user critiques and recommendations.

Overall, the story is well-researched including well-known interviewees that provide story-relevant quotes. As a bonus the reader gets to experience some multimodality throughout the story without feeling uncoordinated.

Online news article:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/app-app-and-away-20110811-1inau.html

Cranny-Francis, A. (2005). Multimedia: texts and contexts. London: SAGE, pp. 27-54.