Eden Morrissey

Convergence + Impacts
Media convergence is the merging of mass communication outlets print, television, radio,
the Internet along with portable and interactive technologies through various digital media
platforms. It is made up by computing, telecommunication, digital environment and media.
Media convergence is best represented in mobile phones, the World Wide Web, multimedia
computers and communication satellites. Examples of this include the convergence of how
we consume news. The different types of media, including print, radio, television and
Internet, are in direct competition for advertiser market share. However, in certain cases,
convergence and collaboration among these competitors are beneficial for both. For
example, on reality television shows, such as "Dancing with the Stars" or "American Idol,"
producers use the Internet to drive voting and audience interest, posting clips of
performances or extras online in order to promote upcoming episodes. Media convergence
is not a new concept. Early radio stations partnered with newspapers in order to read news
on the air, for instance, and MTV merged radio and television to a certain extent. With the
advent of the Internet, however, possibilities for media convergence have exploded.
Marketers have experimented with simultaneous product placement in broadcast shows
and sales on the show's website. Print newspapers and magazines depend more on their
Internet presence for income and audience reach, while websites produce content for
television, radio and print pages to reach different populations.
Media convergence has had a large impact on how audiences consume media. With
internet, radio, television and print media all working hand in hand and with such a large
market, the audience actually has more of a say in the media they consume because they
have much more choice. Now, with the advent of social media and personal blogging
platforms, consumers have so many options and outlets to stay informed as well as voice
their own opinions. Before the Internet, news was largely a one-way street. Newspapers
printed what they wanted to say with little interaction from their readersmaybe a letter to
the editor or two, but newspapers werent about being a conversation. With social media as
well as online news platforms, consumers can interact with their news in a new way.
Consumers can tweet at the media organizations that deliver their news, offering
commentary, praise, criticismwhatever theyd like to say.
Media convergence has had an equally large amount of impact on the way institutions
produce media. Newspapers, television and radio have evolved and changed over the years
to better suit their readers, viewers and listeners. When the Internet sprang up, they kept
evolving and changing. Nowadays, the power to control media organisation is centred and
concentrated in the hands of private owners and relatively small number of big media
corporations. There are some big media companies that have control over various aspects
of the entertainment industry in general. For example, computer games, books, magazines,
websites, and toys which is all part of the process of media convergence. It is argued that
market-driven media owned and controlled by big media corporation can actually improve
the value of the service and the flexibility of topics and the competence of the contributors
as well as enable technological developments, change the elitism of media professionals and
create new general awareness. Their consumers now have a voice and it is so loud, the
Eden Morrissey

producers have to listen to it therefore leading to immense media coverage and to the
growth and development of our society at large.
Shot Types:

Establishing shot-helps audience establish a setting

Medium shot-casual, shows characters body language so audience can establish
mood
Close up-e.g on face, shows characters emotion
Extreme close up-e.g on eyes that are bloodshot, shows audience minor details
Master shot-keeps everybody in the conversation in frame, establishes where they
stand both literally and metaphorically
Over the shoulder shot-shows a characters emotions when speaking to the other
person whos shoulder we are looking over
High angle shot-shows a character looking small/being looked down upon
Low angle shot-character looks big and powerful, looking up to them
Point of view shot-shows exactly what the character sees, we are put in their
position as an audience
Dutch angle-unusual, makes us feel uneasy
Dolly zoom shows drama/panic
Long take-shot that lasts a while, builds tension
Tilt-strange, creates the illusion of audience tilting their head, makes them uneasy.

Film Transitions/Edits
Continuity- cut together clearly and smoothly, audience doesnt really notice
Straight cut- one shot to another smoothly
Jump cut abrupt, shows time/progress shift
Match on action - action starts in one shot and ends in another so for example the
audience see something being thrown and where it goes.
Parallel editing cross cutting, actions occurring at the same time, gives the
audience an idea of chaos / tension
Shot reverse shot two people looking backwards and forwards at each other, helps
establish their feelings towards each other
Eye line match-based on the premise that an audience will want to see what the
character on-screen is seeing.
Graphic match- cut from one object to another which is a similar shape, to confuse
the audience/to switch to another scene.
Dissolve subtle, audience wont really notice, doesnt draw attention to itself
Wipe obvious, shows a clear transition
Cutaway basic, can be used to show what the character is seeing
Fade used to signal the beginning or end and fades to black or white
Iris- old-fashioned transition hardly employed today, when a circulars masking closes
the picture to a black screen.
Eden Morrissey

Mise en Scne
Conventions-

Setting location
Lighting high or low key
Costume time period
Space compositional balance
Staging/acting - stylistic
Special effects sci-fi/historical/fantasy

Types-

Frame size
Rule of thirds
Negative space
Deep space composition

Genre
Film genres are identifiable types of categories, classifications or groups of films that have
similar techniques or conventions such as;

Content
Themes
Mood
Period
Plot
Settings
Narrative events
Styles
Props
Stars

Different genres of film are released at different times of the year. Big budget movies such as
Spectre, King Kong and Avatar that are expected to break records are released in June/July.
Summertime is best for the distributors who are looking for a blockbuster revenue such as; Jaws,
E.T, The Avengers. November/December are the key months that lead up to award season.
Examples of these include; La La Land, Titanic and Gone with the Wind. There is obviously certain
times of the year where specific genres are popular such as horrors and thrillers during October
because of Halloween, as are Christmas films in December.