How Is the use of social media contributing to digital transformations in the fabric of everyday life? (EXAM)

To start off with a little history of social media to see how it has come about and how it slowly started impacting our everyday life.

Social media first started out in 1997 with the website Six degrees between 1997-2001, it wasn’t much of an impact then as social media was starting out, the site had around 3.5 million users it was a simple messaging site which was the first of it’s kind, it was bought in 1999/2000 for around $125 million but later dissolved and shut down. Back then people could only access the internet if they had quite a lot of money due to it being expensive when social media first started out plus not a lot of people had internet back then compared to what it is today. it impacted quite a lot of people for the majority that had internet and used six degrees as it was somewhat similar to what Facebook is today it had a profile and friends list and you could message people and add them through the site.

Social media started developing even more in 2001 with the site Ryze which yet again was the early days for social media. The site had over 500,000 users from 200 countries using this not as many as six degrees, but it had more people connected around the world than six degrees. Friendstar was the next social media platform to pop up in March 2002 this was this first mainstream social media platform and none before it mainstream wise had similar success to what the site had, this is where it stated impacting everyday life and how we used social media and how it became an obsession something that we could not live without. The site was more like a dating site but with Facebook elements added to it for a better experience, apparently the company and the site is credited as giving birth to the modern social media movement and changing our lives for the better or worse. May 2003 the birth of LinkedIn a popular site which is used nowadays to advertise yourself to employers for jobs and to show off your skills, more like a database for your CV and your job experience, this impacted mainly employers as it was a way for employers to easily connect with employees and too see their experience as well as chat with them. There were other sites that came and wait very quick in-between this time that hardly had any impact to our everyday life such as hi5 in 2003 and Orkut which was a major disaster of a site it flopped and didn’t stick around for long.

Myspace was also born in 2003 which had the biggest impact of all around that time by 2006 it was in fact the Number 1 social media platform with a net worth of $12 billion. This is where social media would change our everyday lives for good the milestone or stepping stone just before Facebook arrived on the scene to wipe out everything else. Myspace was an easy to use site which meant people would no longer arrange to meet up in person anymore it would be easily done via the social media platform, it also was the beginning of people not being able to be away from there phones and being zombified to them, you could say that stay connected at all times would have been a good slogan for the site a that’s what it was you could connect with people whenever and whatever time you please, something you could not do without a mobile phone which wasn’t as in demand back then and cost a lot to talk to people via telephone back then.

February 2004 the birth of the biggest social network platform today “Facebook” this site is what impacted our everyday life the most and it has its ups and its downs which will be explained more in the video at the end of this and will argue points on what it has impacted and how its impacted our life’s and the good and bad points of this. A good point about this site was you can easily connect with people around the world a big advantage if you have family in other countries and it is only a tap away at your fingertips to connect with them and get chatting.

The bad things about social media is cyber bullying this is a big thing when it comes to social media as well as cat fishing, it can also affect peoples mental health when it comes down to social media and cyber bullying, quite a few people have taken there life’s because of cyber bullying, this is the main issue with social media as people can bully you easily from around the world and it can have a big impact on people especially people with disabilities or people who don’t understand what is what if they have a certain disability and don’t understand things, this is something which unfortunately can’t be stopped unless you block them straight away but some people have there ways and make more profiles to carry it on once they have been blocked, this is a major problem with social media which in my own opinion makes social media quite toxic at times as it affects many people and affects there mental well being and can cause people’s anxiety or depression or whatever they may have to have suicidal thoughts so when it comes to social media you need to take extra precaution, so in my own opinion I think people under 16 shouldn’t use it cause this is were the cyber bullying problem is coming from 13-16 years olds it comes very toxic to teenagers especially with them being younger, it should be taught to young people how to protect yourself on social media and how to act online as some people are different online to what they are in person it’s like a full circle and young people need educating on it properly to try and get rid of all the cyber bullying which is a big issue and impact on young people even adults everyday life’s, more than 1/3 young people have experienced cyber bullying which agrees with my argument for social media and them needing to be educated properly in it, as well as parents taking precaution and not allowing them to use it at like 5-12 year old which is just ridiculous why does a 5-12 year old need to be on social media? There’s no need for it to be honest, this is what is affecting our everyday life, social media is taking over and not in a good way.

Social media has made a significant impact on society and its day to day activities. the question of whether social media has had a positive or negative impact, that is open to debate. It is of my opinion, that the effects of social media is not based on what is being used, as apposed to how it is being used. As it says in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Facebook) Facebooks original purpose was for a place so that the Harvard students could communicate. Since Facebook as made public, it paved way for other sites such as twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, snapchat and so on.

Social media can be used in such a positive way, for example, on Facebook, there are support groups that I am a part of which are;

‘FIBROSUPPORT UK’, which is a place where people with Fibromyalgia talk, support each other and occasionally saves someone’s life. ‘AUTISTICS WORLDWIDE’ is a safe place that we have where its only autistics and parents of so that there is no bullying, conversations about different subject and sharing our personal interests.

Social media offers a space in which people can communicate with other people who live too far to visit. It helps people to stay connected and allows you to share something that you are interested in or made you laugh. Social media is also useful for educational purposes such as research and keeping in contact for group projects.

So, this just proves the point that if used properly, social media has made a positive impact in our day to day life. However, this could also be used to alert people of issues worldwide through links to news websites such as ‘BBC’, ‘METRO’, ‘ITV’. The first time I had seen this use of social media, was after the Manchester attacks, but Facebook has made use of itself by making it possible to mark yourself as safe.This has brought comfort to family and friends worldwide. And has allowed the authorities to see who is safe and who is still missing. This also allows other people in the area to send messages offering food and shelter because they found out what had happened through social media.

However, social media can also have its negative side.  The effects of social media and how easy it is to access other people can have its setbacks such as developing a social media addiction (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180118-how-much-is-too-much-time-on-social-media).

Given that with a few taps you can access people worldwide, it is a no brainer that bad things begin to happen. In a world where you are judged by the colour of your skin, eyes, hair or your nationality, accent, freckles, disability, religion, whether you like Justin Bieber or not… or even your gender and sexuality, cyber bullying will happen at some point.

With how easy it is to create a false account with not needing proof of who you are, there people who will actively groom underaged children, teens and sometimes adults (https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/grooming/). This then follows into a disturbing form of predator. There was a case regarding Instagram who was suffering of mental health issues and would use this platform as a way of coping and helping others cope, this was sought out and she got targeted. This then led to her being tricked into “playing” the blue whale challenge which is basically away for other people to get you to commit suicide. the victim was told that they had all the information about the victim and their family and threatened the life of her family. This is a cruel use of social media that is targeting vulnerable children and teens globally and just shows how unsafe social media can be and how easy it is for others to access personal information about you (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWZGfaAe27k)

This next negative aspect of social media is aimed at the fashion industry. All over Facebook there is adverts for clothing stores and magazines. The images that have been used would have been air brushed to the point of it not being healthy or realistic. So, more and more women idolize what they think they see which a thin, glowing, sexy woman is who they wish they could look like. This imagery is everywhere leaving most women brainwashed into thinking that this is the norm. However, what they don’t realize is what they are looking as stopped being a photo long ago, and now is essentially a drawing, so this then leads to eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and so on. This would also lead to depression, and the peer pressure into looking a certain way, and being a carbon copy of a certain way then leads to social anxiety and paranoia. And having this, a person like myself, would feel more comfortable online than face to face in conversation with someone (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/social-media-and-its-effect-on-eating-disorders_us_591343bce4b0e3bb894d5caa) (http://www.theweek.co.uk/checked-out/90557/is-social-media-bad-for-your-mental-health) (https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/social-media-mental-health-negative-effects-depression-anxiety-addiction-memory-a8307196.html).

“It is through feelings, which are inwardly directed and private, that emotions, which are outwardly directed and public, begin their impact on the mind” (Antonio Damasio, 1999 – 2000). I believe that in this situation, this means that as people were cyberbullying you, or you face this constant reminder that you don’t look a certain way, you begin to believe what you are being called. You begin to believe that you are fat, ugly, etc that your entire mental state changes causing all these mental disorders and depression which leaves you as a perfect target for suicide challenges, more cyber abuse, psychological torment and online grooming…

Here is a video of myself explaining more into the question “How Is the use of social media contributing to digital transformations in the fabric of everyday life?”

So, in conclusion, it is my strongest opinion that social media is a bad thing given how it is used. There is more negativity coming from these platforms than the positives. If there were more social media monitors and they made it harder to acquire access to these websites by asking for evidence that you are who you say you are, then it wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be a bit safer than how it is now.

REFERENCES 

http://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/assets/documents/research/working-paper-series/EWP27.pdf – by Shenja van der Graaf 2014 – Last assessed 09/05/18

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/sites/default/files/assets/document/SiobhanMcGrath.pdf – By Siobhan McGrath 2012 – Last assessed 09/05/18

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFUSA_DigitalMediaAndSociety_Report2016.pdf – by Willis Towers Watson 2016 – Last assessed 09/05/18

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-importance-of-social-media-in-our-daily-life – By various people it’s opinions of other people on the impact of social media in everyday life. – Last assessed 09/05/18

http://blog.degreed.com/10-ways-social-media-affects-our-mental-health/ – Written by CAITLIN PROBST 2015 – Last assessed 09/05/18

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/then-and-now-a-history-of-social-networking-sites/1/ – by CBBS NEWS – last assessed 09/05/18

http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html – last assessed 09/05/18

 

 

 

 

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So long… partner….. Where we go from here is a choice I leave to you!

So the end is here the group project has come to end after weeks of creating awesome content and experimenting and exploring new ideas the end of the road is here……. but fret not where does this project go from here? well I am going to leave that choice to you… do I continue it in my own time away from university? does it end here what does all this mean? let’s take a walk down memory lane here is a short video looking back at all the projects for #VFL18

Let’s review all this work and evaluate what was good what worked and what didn’t work, and wrap up this project!

So I have done quite a lot of editing for this group project as well as experimenting with 2 cameras the Cannon 7D and the Sony A7R that’s 4K resolution. Now to start with the Cannon 7D was okay at times but the quality would be bad when it came to editing various things and not to mention the audio being really bad on the camera, even with a Rhode microphone attached it was still bad. I tried to adapt with the Cannon 7D and use a Phillips DV8010 Digital Audio Recorder to record the voice then sync it into the video it sounded pretty well but the quality and the overall look just wasn’t as intended, especially when it came to green screen editing on Premiere Pro, it made the green screen all choppy and wound’t blend in properly and you could see on the footage, even using Ultra Key and setting it to Aggressive to try chop out them bit still wound’t work, I think this was the biggest challenge that was overcome during this group project. I then came across the Sony A7R as I was using it for my Image assignment and thought hey this camera takes amazing pictures and the quality is suburb so was thinking wonder what the video quality is like as it say 4K, so tested it out with a few demo green screen shots then edited them together too see what it would be like to use it for this green-screen social media assignment, and turns out it was pretty decent so we continued with the Sony A7R in the end, because it was easy to edit with more compact and had 4K resolution, even the 1080p quality was better than the 1080p quality on the Cannon 7D and the Panasonic X100 that was previously used.

After the right camera was found after extensive search and using different equipment it was then down to try and fix the green screen and make it look as good as possible, without the lines down the screen or it fading in and out of the footage. This was the biggest challenge of the entire group project as we wanted a project that showed the creativity and experimental ideas that goes towards making a project, as well as showcasing work that we took to create and the process along the way.

I think overall through out the months working on this project me and Matthew have developed quite a lot and we built upon what we had, we also improved quite a lot as film makers, even though we did some pretty amazing horror things for the social media group project last year, this project was mainly focused upon green screen something we had hardly done before and hardly had any knowledge on, we did start with audio but we couldn’t be as creative doing that so I came up with the green screen madness project using the green screen. This is something I have wanted to go into more depth with as I have never done this in my years of doing media production from my time at College 2010-2015 and then University as it isn’t something that is done as a module, so it was good to learn something else on top of the modules at university, this is the reason why I thought it was a good idea to do for this project, to learn something new and be creative about it then experiment with it then edit and share it with the world so they can join us on this journey of something new.

I did also have an idea to produce a music track as I know how to produce music on a synthesizer and the computer sequencer FL STUDIO but unfortunately we don’t have access to the recording studios within the university there only for music students. I also had ideas for some more horror relating things but we hasn’t access to stuff we had last year to make these horror things that we had planned. I also planned this project to be a one film project and the process going into the making of it and behind the scenes which was based upon a Joker film I had scripted that is 138 pages long but this idea fell through due to not getting people involved as the project needed 3 main actors and 5 guest actors and a few extras, but due to no one willing to help out with the project this idea completely fell through but it would of been amazing to make and the process that went in to it, so for now this idea will be shelved once again, looking like this might never happen unless a miracle happens or I if Warner Bros pics it up as I sent the script into Warner Bros to take a look at highly doubtful but you never know. I spent 2 years writing that script going through all DC comics material on The Joker and Harley Quinn so then I could write them characters as I wanted and to keep them true to the comics and give them the writing they deserved and not the trash Warner Bros is allowing writers to do at the moment with DC films. You can take a look at the draft version here: Joker Film DRAFT VERSION

Finally to wrap up this project the things that could be improved next time is find a better green screen and maybe use After Effects and make our own rigs and animations to put in the background and test out how that would work. Another thing which could be improved is to go further and add special effects into it and go through the process on how to make these things, that gave me an idea which we could have done for project it could have been a How to project showing you how to make certain things, we still don’t know what the overall product was for the project as it could of been many things if you look at the bigger picture, what we wanted was to show the creativity and the experimental things you can do if you put your mind to it, we also think the project is mainly tell stories within film and use the green screen show and apply these effects.

Well that’s it THE SHIP HAS SAILED! what’s next? who knows it’s your choice if this ship sinks or continues it’s voyage to better and bigger things.

WHEN YOU HIT ROCK BOTTOM #VFL18

So for the final blog for #VFL18 we decided to a mash up of 2 things and experimental on how we could create these things. In the end we decided to use the Call on Me dance that I would try and re-enact the dance but make it as funny as possible and try makes some memes out of it. The other part is Gold digger by Kanye West which then leads into the Call on Me dance. I think overall this turned out pretty well and me and Matthew Letts pulled out quite a few memes from this which will be added into the Presentation for #VFL18. In general we wanted to make this as comedic as possible and we tried out a few things to make this possible obviously some of the footage we didn’t use as we thought it wasn’t how we wanted it to turn out. I came up with this whole initial idea of the comedic re-enactment and in general directed it and said what was what and how it was going to look overall.

I wanted to do something like this for a comedic effect and thought that this group project was a good way to do this. I had a few ideas for this so sat down with Matthew and discussed what would could do in another meeting to generate more ideas, and to yet again reflect on what we did and see how we could take this project further, and if we would carry it on and what this group project actually mean’t as it was a bit jumbled up as it could of been many things.

Originally I wanted the green screen to look like a studio like the Call On Me music video below:

I had to watch the video a few times to try and get all the dance moves into my own version that we where creating, this was a challenge and half as I ain’t a dancer or choreographer I did try my best and got most of it accurate to the video. I then tried out some test dances and moves before we filmed this to get the right tempo and to try and focus on what was going on within the video, due to it being an upbeat music track it was difficult I think overall though it turned out pretty well and looks good, it also looks more comedic to the original version which is the look that I was going for.

THE JOKER STRIKES AGAIN……….#VFL18

April 05th 2018….THE JOKER RISES

So to start off with I came up with an Idea of a person who had his face burn’t off due to a chemical reaction in a chemical vat similar to The Joker, this is why he becomes obsessed with The Joker and wears Joker masks to cover up his face and hide away his scars. So I sat down with Matthew Letts and discussed this idea into more further depth and how we would film it and what voice I should do for this person who I named “Burn’t Faced Man” or as he likes to call himself The Joker as it has become an obsession of his. So after further discussion with Matthew Letts we came up with an overall idea how we were going to approach this and I decided to put a random voice after testing out a few accents, I think this accent sounds Indian I am not too sure it’s something that randomly happened and I went with it so didn’t know what I would sound like until it came to me editing this video. Matthew Letts filmed this and I told him what was what and how I wanted it and how we were going to approach this just like in the meeting we had from the last blog on the ideas and how we can improve upon what we had already done, and to take this green screen thing to the next level.

Here is some screenshots of me editing the video and the process of it :

References (Joker Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLM_TPvp-Q4 – Background last assessed 30/03/18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWAXitUcYHc – Joker laugh end part last assessed 30/03/18

—————————————————————————————————————————————–Next up we have the next video another Idea of mine which I developed upon on the day, it started off with Matthew Letts improvising then I was like you know what your going to be a guy living in a dumpster and we will interview your live and what it’s like to live in a dumpster. I filmed this one as well as edited it along side filming it and Matthew Letts starred as Paul The Dumpster Guy. Unlike the Joker one Matthew didn’t put a voice on for this one and he mainly improvised this character and method acted it from something that he had previously seen to match that and make his own character from scratch. For the editing process I wanted it to look like something like Trailer Park Boys the Canadian Netflix show interview style like so I went off this when it came to the editing process and also filming with the camera angles and the shots. I did want a certain look to it but there was hardly any scrapyard like animated scenes green screen wise that I could of incorporated into it so had to improvise with what I could find that would give it the look that I wanted.

Here are some screenshots of me editing this video

References (Paul The Dumpster)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F9Y-c9m3p4 – Music Last assessed 05/04/18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU7Ive95UQg – Background – Last assessed 05/04/18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceAYBea9mQ8 – Background 2 – Last assessed 05/04/18

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=scrapyard+background&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt3JWc8cHaAhXMC8AKHX0nBCYQ_AUICigB&biw=1517&bih=681#imgrc=bmaAJgeNBdvtFM: – BACKGROUND IMAGE last assessed 05/04/18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_jNjpVxUt0 – Blue Sky – last assessed 05/04/18

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1517&bih=681&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=-T3WWqGGOsOEgAbn5pMw&q=trailer+park&oq=trsiler+pa&gs_l=psy-ab.3.1.0i13k1l10.3954.5598.0.6673.10.10.0.0.0.0.195.1038.7j3.10.0….0…1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.10.1035…0j0i67k1j0i10k1.0.u70JuuGFntc#imgrc=hVc7eGqderqvCM: – Trailer background – last assessed 05/04/18

The Madness Continues…… #VFL18

20th March 2018 – THE MADNESS CONTINUES #VFL18

So we decided to have a little meeting to discuss more ideas and were we can take this project next. We also reviewed our previous work as well as saying what we can do to improve future projects, we decided to do this as a 9 minute production video instead of typing like a 3,000 word+ blog so you can just sit back and listen to our ideas and our reviews on our work for the project. We also go into more depth into the whole idea of filming in the studio warehouse in Leicester.

We decided to do another 2 TV adverts this time more of an original content but taking a product and making an advert for it. For both of the advert I filmed the entire thing and experimented with different shots and camera angles, and Matthew edited them which you can see below: I think personally these 2 adverts work really well and they were better than previous adverts that we decided to do an is a massive improvement on the freaks and geeks advert that we did. I like doing TV adverts and coming up with fresh new ideas and mash old ideas together to create something that is good and unique and to give it that extra pzazz. I think for these TV ads I did some pretty good camera shots and angles compared to the other stuff I have filmed for this project and I feel as time goes on you can see how much more creative I am being with my shots, and the fact that I am experimenting a lot more and wanting to try out things to see how well they work together. For these TV adverts I wanted them too look unique and different so experimented quite a lot and looked up things on how to shoot an advert and how to make it look unique and something different to what has been done before.

For next time in the green screen we have decided to make up our own character with there own back story and then become that character and method act that character who will be interviewed about there own story. Matt will play Paul the Dumpster guy and I will play a guy who has had his face burn’t off and goes around wearing masks to cover up the scars.