Musical Theatre: In the Spotlight

Musical theatre is a booming industry and shows like Glee have brought it even further into the spotlight of public attention. For me, nothing can compare to when you get chills, a totally subconscious and physical reaction to a brilliant performance. The exact ingredients that make that spine-tingling moment will always remain a mystery to me. Could it be that the music from the orchestra seems to swell and fill every inch of the theatre, the performer sings with note-perfect accuracy and gut-wrenching emotion, the visual spectacle, a moving storyline or a culmination of all of the above?

I love watching and performing in musicals as you can see by my stash of musical programs, though unfortunately for me, it is an expensive hobby to have! So luckily there are a number of musicals which have been translated onto the big screen (and vice versa). Musicals like Lion King, Mary Poppins, Hairspray and Mamma Mia enjoy great success both on film and on stage.

 



The first major production musical I remember seeing was The Phantom of the Opera with Anthony Warlow (an Australian musical theatre legend) as the title character. I know some musicologists question the originality of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s (the composer’s) melodies though it doesn’t alter the beauty of the songs and orchestrations, the spectacular set and a storyline that despite being overly dramatic has resonated with so many people. You wouldn’t believe it but The Phantom of the Opera has earned more money than both the hit movies Titanic and Avatar. Phantom has recently celebrated its 25th anniversary with an elaborate concert staged in London with successful up and coming musical theatre performers, Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess as Phantom and the leading lady, Christine.

The Phantom of the Opera now has a sequel called Love Never Dies which is certainly a rare thing for musical theatre.

Another of my favourite musicals was Wicked, which branches off The Wizard of Oz and tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda before Dorothy landed in Oz. Wicked cleverly intertwines with The Wizard of Oz and portrays Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) as a misunderstood heroine as opposed to the evil villain. Since its first performance in 2003, Wicked has been immensely successful all over the world and seems to be a permanent fixture on Broadway and West End. I have been lucky enough to see it in Sydney and then on Broadway. I went into the Gershwin Theatre in New York with very high expectations and left feeling incredibly proud of the Australian performers. The Australian production of Wicked easily measured up and even surpassed the quality of performance on Broadway, the musical theatre capital of the world. Australian musical theatre is on a much smaller scale than in the US however perhaps this leads to increased competition to get into the shows and so creating very high quality performances.

On the wish list...

On the very top of the list of musicals that I would love to see is Les Miserables. I am quite sure the last time a professional production was in Australia was before I was born! So hopefully it will be gracing the Australian stages in the near future. In the meantime though, a movie musical adaptation by director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) is being released in December with a star studded cast including Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe and Anne Hathaway. In addition, Samantha Barks is reprising her role as Eponine, a character she played on the West End stage. I was certainly relieved to see that they casted bona fide musical theatre stars (of which I include Hugh) alongside the Hollywood actors. In a musical like Les Miserables, having incredible acting ability isn’t enough, you have to be an amazing singer as well.

The musical theatre scene in Brisbane...
Brisbane performers are very lucky to have an opportunity to be involved with a range of musical theatre companies such as Harvest Rain, Ignatians and Savoyards. Harvest Rain only recently finished the first Brisbane production of Hairspray, Ignatians performed Sweeney Todd earlier this year at UQ’s Schonell Theatre and Savoyards is in the midst of rehearsing for Anything Goes after a successful season of Miss Saigon. While we do not have the gorgeous old theatres that you can see in Melbourne, there certainly is a wonderful musical theatre culture and appreciation is Brisbane.

If you are interested in watching some of the talented local performers on stage come and check out Savoyards’ production of Anything Goes.

 

You can get tickets at: http://www.savoyards.com.au/#!Anything Goes/c7f9

 

JOUR1111 Lecture 6

Commercial media = media to make money.

Big names in the broadcast and distribution of media like Foxtel, Ten, Seven and Nine are really only a useful tool for the real beneficiaries of commercial media... the advertisers. A popular TV show with high ratings is an advertising playground and advertisers cleverly use these opportunities to bombard viewers with the latest products, styles and the newest addition to the McDonald’s menu. There is little wonder why I always crave McDonald’s after watching television!

And with the new news and semantic web, consumers are being handed to the advertisers on a silver platter and are unwillingly but certainly not unconsciously assailed by ads. Who can ignore the ads that coat a webpage or the commercials that interrupt your favourite show every ten minutes?
Commercial media is first and foremost a business and like almost all businesses their highest priority is to make a profit. Sure, they have a responsibility to be entertaining but it all links back to money; the more they please their consumers, the more dollars they can rake in. The focus now is on ‘Mickey Mouse’ news or profit over quality and has lead to the tabloidization and the ‘dumbing-down’ of news to appeal to the masses.

The great influence of advertisers on commercial media is reflected in the organisation, News Limited. Rupert Murdoch’s big money makers include 20^th Century Fox and Foxtel and on the opposite end of the spectrum are the newspapers like The Australian and The Courier Mail. As said by Dr Bruce, newspapers are only a vanity project for ‘Uncle Rupert’ and once he is gone, what is the likelihood that they will survive without him? With much easier and visible ways to advertise, the advertisers have very little need to use a medium that seems to be on its way out and so there is very little money left in the newspaper game.

Commercial media treads on a fine line between the drive for money and fulfilling its social functions with regards to upholding public trust. It has a role in a democratic society to provide ‘full access to the day’s intelligence’, truthful and comprehensive accounts and project a ‘representative picture of the constituent groups in society’. Commercial media often slips over into the field of propaganda (e.g. the political opinions of Fox News in the US). I feel that powerful figures within media organisations do not have the right to manipulate the opinions of the public simply because they have access to the eyes and ears of many people.

Commercial media organisations have to be wary they do not overstep the ethical wall between their advertising and political agendas else sacrifice their responsibility to the public.

“Its primary office is the gathering of news. At the peril of its soul it must see that the supply is not tainted”

Greater competition will encourage commercial media organisations to lift their game. It is not all bad news for commercial media as many people want quality and so are willing to pay for it.

Tennis juniors not living up to their idols

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been dominant and fierce competitors on the tennis court for many years, jostling with each other (and recently Djokovic as well) for world number one. Nadal’s sheer power and Federer’s finesse make them vastly contrasting as players yet both maintain their composure and cool on and off the court. Both players are widely considered as two of the best players ever, they have achieved enormous financial success, sponsor their own foundations and show integrity and humility. All in all, they are incredible sportsman and are wonderful role models for young tennis players all over the world. They are even able to have a bit of fun occasionally.

 

Despite having such fantastic role models for the sport this doesn’t seem to be reflected in the behaviour of junior tennis players. Having younger brothers who have played on the junior tournament circuit in Queensland, I have seen firsthand the very poor behaviour of some junior players and their parents. I have spent more hours than I care to remember on the tennis sidelines being bemused by the antics of 12 year old tennis players.

It is very common to see some of the children (and parents) strutting around the tennis centre with an air of superiority. At junior tournaments they are expected to umpire their own matches and this causes all sorts of issues with dubious line calls and blatant cheating. And of course there are the not-so-subtle mind games of the little boys, not to mention the parents! The ball may be a metre within the lines but the player will still question the call just to provoke their opponent. Or my personal favourite, when the parents will clap the point even when the ball is out to make their child’s opponent look they made a wrong call. It’s appalling!

It is only a minority that behave in this way but it destroys the experience for the other players. Over the years I have seen children drop out of these tournaments simply because they don’t want to have to deal with the poor attitude and behaviour. Of course, it is understandable that many of these children are under enormous amounts of pressure from their parents and coaches as they attend special tennis schools. However, this is no excuse. The pressures of an under 12 tournament in Brisbane doesn’t even measure up to the pressures of professional sport and yet you never see Federer or Nadal step a foot out of line.

Perhaps it is just kids being kids or perhaps it is an unfortunate culture that has developed in Queensland tennis circles but it is a shame that some young players do not follow the wonderful example set by their tennis idols.

JOUR1111 Lecture 5

Picture stories are everywhere! There are pictures all over the internet, on TV, hanging on your wall at home and even on the back of buses. There is just no escaping them. Pictures have always seemed to be intertwined with human lives, dating all the way back to cave paintings, then stain-glass windows, movies and Instagram. So obviously, pictures mean something to people. In the lecture we were told the features of a good picture include:

·         Framing

·         Focus

·         Angle and point of view

·         Exposure (light)

·         Timing (shutter speed)

·         And most importantly in my opinion is capturing ‘the moment’

Regardless of the technical aspects of photography what really makes a good picture is summed up in the quote, “If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips your heart out, that’s a good picture”.

Rips my heart out! (To be honest, give me any sad photo with a dog in it and I get emotional. Or movie... have you seen Eight Below?)

 



A picture can often hold much more meaning and portray much stronger emotions than words. The same very much goes for film and moving pictures. There is really no other medium that can convey as much depth in emotion.  

Photos and film are wonderful tools for journalists to tell a story. With digital capture and upload it is becoming easier to capture a moment and present it to the world. News and live television even make it possible to witness the moment while it is happening. In addition, while articles in the newspaper may have a couple of images, online news can include a photo gallery for each story as well as related videos which can serve as evidence  or assist in telling the more emotional side of the story.

Digital manipulation is also a highly talked about aspect of visual journalism. Who hasn’t seen the airbrushed and manipulated photos of celebrities on the covers of magazines?

 

Digital manipulation certainly has ethical implications with regards to news as it is not right to falsify an image and then present it to the public. I am sure this will link in with the lecture on ethics in a couple of weeks.

Today's News on Wordle

So I have just discovered Wordle in JOUR1710 where they discussed how to use it as an investigative tool. It really does make it so much easier to find the important points within text.

This Wordle has been made using the information from the ABC news website. It is a much faster way of seeing the major news from today.

Some headlines from today include:

Molloy loses appeal over Cornes defamation

Man jailed for sharing ‘worst’ of child porn
UN to play no part in Nauru, Manus Island Centres

These headlines are among some of the major talking points on the ABC website which can be extrapolated from the picture.

A website as simple and straight forward as Wordle can serve as a useful tool for journalists as it would save a lot of time searching through documents. Of course, there are more technical and accurate means of text analysis however, Wordle is certainly a good place to start!

JOUR1111 Lecture 4

This week’s lecture on sound was a little unconventional as we actually got to hear radio journalists in action. I was very pleased with this setup. Not only did I get to go home earlier that Monday but the next day when I had a break I was able to curl up in the sun in the Great Court and listen to the ‘lecture’ on my phone. However, most importantly I was able to listen to the radio to learn about the radio and catch the guest lecturers in the practice of what they preach.   

Richard Fidler and Steve Austin from 612 ABC discussed the art of presenting on radio, conducting interviews and the knack of receiving talk-back callers. In general, it was an introductory how-to for radio journalism.

Both Richard and Steve pointed out how intimate the medium of radio is because it is basically an extension of human conversation and it seems to be almost inside your head. Yet, you can’t talk like you normally would in conversation when on radio. You need to enunciate the words and it is critical to have a broad vocabulary. There is nothing worse on radio than hearing the presenter fumble around for the right words or simply using the wrong word! There is nothing to distract you from the sound of their voice so Steve Austin emphasised the importance of being genuine. It is not enough to pretend to be interested as listeners can tell if it is fake and don’t look too kindly on phony radio presenters.

Being interested applies even more when interviewing a guest. It is all about making the guest feel comfortable to reveal their story on radio by giving them space and not to make them feel like they are being interrogated. Richard and Steve both state that the best moments in radio interviews is when the guest remembers something that they themselves had forgotten.

Talk back callers on radio seems to me to be fraught with peril! You never really know what they are going to say. Richard and Steve highlighted the importance of bringing them on air by welcoming them into the conversation and how it is the presenter’s responsibility to direct the conversation. Hopefully this removes most of the risk that a caller will say something too scandalous on air.... though then again, it could certainly make for interesting radio.

Technological change and the shift into new media has been a reoccurring theme in each of the lectures. Richard and Steve were asked how this impacts on the popularity and the future of radio. They both believe that radio maintains and even gains more listeners despite technological changes. Of all the old media, it most easily blends into new media with things like digital radio, podcasts and use of social networking. In addition, it lends itself to busy people, as it can be listened to on-the-go and while multitasking.

I really enjoyed just being able to listen to a radio interview to learn about radio but it is back to reality and the Physiology Lecture Theatre next week.

Assessment 1: Personal Media Use and Production Diary

 

N

ews and media are constantly evolving and there is an ever expanding range of media formats and means of accessing news. Actually receiving news makes up less than half of the total time I spend using different forms of media. The majority of my media use is for contacting friends and simply for pleasure. So, when it comes to receiving news, I realise that I want a ‘quick-fix’ and therefore convenience is the key factor as to the type of media as well as when and where I use it. For example, listening to the radio on the commute to university, watching the television over breakfast or while preparing dinner and receiving news whilst socialising on Twitter or Facebook. News and media can be tailored to suit any lifestyle. 

Statuses, tweets and news



While social networking was one of my main forms of media use over the ten day period, it is not reflective of where I most commonly receive my news. In particular, Facebook is a very social forum with a focus on connecting with ‘friends’ as opposed to journalism and communication. This is evident in the JOUR1111 cohort survey with nearly all of the students using Facebook, and only 61.2% having Facebook as a means of receiving news. In terms of the relationship between social networking media and the practices of journalism and communication, sites such as Facebook can serve as an indirect and inexpensive way of disseminating a story. For example, one person may read an interesting article on The Guardian website who shares the link on Facebook and so this link gets bounced around from friend to friend, and potentially to hundreds of thousands of people, without any input on behalf of the online newspaper. This is occasionally my source of news.

Of course, those in the journalism and communication industry also purposefully exploit the social networking phenomenon by creating their own pages and accounts. Despite this new and more technological media it has caused very little change in the practices involved in presenting the story. The information presented on the social networking media has the same role as a newspaper headline and image and that is to grab the attention of the reader and draw them into following the link and reading the rest of the article. So, social networks work hand in hand with online newspapers and I, like many others, use Facebook and Twitter as a pathway towards the online newspaper by following the link on an interesting Tweet or post.

News at a touch of a button

JOUR1111 Cohort Survey (July 2012)

According to the survey, the most common form of news is online newspapers. Unlike television and radio, it empowers the reader as they can view it anywhere and at any time that is convenient and they can choose what news they want to read as opposed to having it fed to them. In this sense it is similar to the paper newspaper however online possesses significantly more stories that are easily accessed and can be carried in your pocket on a smart phone instead of on a tedious foldout paper. In the practice of online journalism and communication there is even more of a focus on relevance and cutting out ‘waffle’. The headlines must be explicitly relevant to the story so that it can be easily found and the story itself must be straight to the point because people are unwilling to read a lengthy story online. So there is almost always an image following the notion that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’.   

If online newspapers are the most common source of news then why is it that it is my least used form of media? My media use to receive news seems to be ‘on-the-go’ and there is a focus on using media so that it doesn’t take further time out of my day. This defines my relationship with journalism and communications and is certainly reflective of a wider pattern present in society. Even though online newspapers are not my personal preference for receiving news, it also lends itself to ‘on-the-go’ media use. With the majority of people, including myself, owning a smart phone, online news is easily portable and can be accessed with a few clicks of a button.

JOUR1111 Cohort Survey

TV: The entertainer?

Television is my most used form of media primarily because I find it to be the most entertaining. In addition, it is my most common source of news which is related again to the notion of convenience. Personally, it is the easiest way in which I can receive news, as news programs are shown during the times of day when I am available and it is possible to have it in the background while performing other tasks. 70.3% of the cohort watches the news on television, only slightly less than those who read the news online. It is evident that the popularity of broadcast news stems from more than just ease and good timing. More than other formats, television has the capability to be entertaining, and possibly more influencing, through the combined stimulus of visual and audio. In addition, it can feel more personal and human as the public can see another person telling the story, which can lead to a trust, or at least a familiarity with the news reader.

This leads to another trend in the relationship between society and journalism in that people want their media use to be entertaining as well as informative. Hence, despite new media, television remains one of the most popular means of receiving news.

What have I missed?

The most significant absentees from my media use are magazines and the old paper newspaper. Once again, with the capability now to have the same information plus more on my compact smart phone, there is little need for me to purchase a newspaper or magazine. This raises the question that is the driving force of society’s media use and production; why buy something that I can get for free? This is certainly another key factor as to why more people lean towards online news than newspapers. And yet there is still 40% of the survey group who read the newspaper, whether from loyalty to old media or they prefer having something tangible in their hands over something floating around in the aether.

JOUR1111 Cohort Survey 

What’s on?

My media use is based largely on my interest in current events. With the Olympics recently on in London I have watched the sports as well as Fox Sport News every day to keep updated on the achievements of the Australian athletes. This also explains why I have watched so much television over the 10 day period. Current events can very much dictate the type of media preferred. For example, it is far better to watch television to find out the winner of the 100 metre sprint where you can see clips of the race than to simply read the result in a print newspaper. In general, if people have an interest in a story or event whether it is local or international, they are more likely to watch, read or listen to the news to gain more information. Therefore, it is essential in the practice of journalism and communication that stories are of interest to society, regardless of the form or type of media.

Relationship status... it’s complicated

There are a number of reasons as to my media use behaviour that is reflected in the wider society. These revolve around the age of the semantic web, the rise of smart phones and tablets as well as an ever increasing pace of life. People, including myself, are very much reliant on journalism and communication to know what is happening in the world however they want to get the news on their own terms by dictating when, where and what news they receive. An expectation that defines my relationship with journalism and communication is that it is tailored to my life. My personal media interaction allows me to get a fix of ‘entertaining’ news such as Sunrise and The Project, radio news ‘on-the-go’ and social networking that leads me to online news for specific stories that interest me. Convenience and relevance is the basis of society’s media use and relationship with journalism and communication.

If You Want A Laugh...

PREPARE YOURSELF!!

With all this talk about new media and web iterations in JOUR1111, it got me thinking about all the truly amazing things you can do with technology!

It’s a bit of a stretch, I know, but I just really wanted to share this video J

Admit it, you’ve done this too!

JOUR1111 Lecture 3

Text is the super power of journalism because it is the fastest, most flexible, most controllable form of media and it is literally everywhere!

The lecture on text opened my eyes to the intricacies of creating text journalism and the adaptability of text to a range of mediums. Most surprising of all was the Poynter eye tracking research that showed that text rules on the screen. I think back to the times when I have picked up a newspaper or magazine and the first thing that catches my eye are all the pretty pictures. So I did a bit of self experimentation, scanning articles all over the web, and of course the research proved to be true as the headline was typically the first thing that drew my attention.

But WHY?

The Poynter eye tracking research revealed that when reading a web page people’s gaze will often hover in the top left corner before moving from left to right and down the page. This makes sense considering that that we always read (and write) from left to right. Of course, headlines are strategically placed in the upper left corner so it is little wonder that it is the first thing we see!

Check out the results of the Poynter eye tracking study. It has some really interesting stuff for budding journalists! http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/24963/eyetrack-iii-what-news-websites-look-like-through-readers-eyes/

There are so many different ways to read news and text journalists need to be able to adapt their article to all forms. For example, there is print, computers, iPads and smart phones just to name a few. There are millions and millions of articles on the web so there is an art to publishing a digital story so that it can be found. As discussed in the lecture, the ability to make an article search-friendly comes down to metadata, tags and excerpts. In other words, a reader can type in a key word relating to the article in the search bar on the website and then a list of options will appear with the headline and a snippet of the story. For a digital story there are stricter limits on the creativity of the headline because it needs to be searchable.

For example, this is a fantastic newspaper headline about a soccer match however it simply would not work in a digital medium.

There is great potential for online text journalism to improve through the use of hypertext and links. It was discussed in the lecture that journalism has not exploited hypertext, multimedia and interactivity which could add so much more depth to online news. Links could be used to direct readers to primary sources and serve as an important part in creating a broader, more encompassing narrative.

The issue with print media is that the only information you can get is right there on the page. But online media can be so much more and by bouncing around from link to link you can get as close as humanly possible to the full story!
And isn’t that what we all want?

Sez! J

JOUR1111 Lecture 2

Something that grabbed my attention from lecture 2 was the correlation between the evolution of the web and the progression of the media. Web 1.0 is a form we are all familiar with, where the content is far outnumbered by the ads. The link between this and old media such as newspapers, magazines and television is obvious then. There is no escaping the ads on television, radio or print. You have no choice but to cop the barrage of latest trends, fast food and upcoming sales.

And then comes along Web 2.0: The Social Web and The Rise of the Prod-user (which sounds like the name of an action movie!). This was the age of social networking, interactivity and user generated content and so the line between the producer and the user became fuzzy. Web 2.0 lent itself to citizen journalists and bloggers as well as breaking news on Twitter and Facebook.

Finally, the dawn of Web 3.0 which is all about creating meaning and making sense of the information. I’m not a paranoid person but these newfound capabilities of the web are a little bit daunting. Through Facebook, the web knows our personal details and appearance. Through our web browsing history, the web can track our interests. And now because of GPS on smart phones, the web can pinpoint our exact location at any time. This sounds too much like Eagle Eye to me and I’m not particularly comfortable being stalked by artificial intelligence, particularly considering that I carry Siri around in my bag every day.

But in all seriousness, this does mean another change in the way we receive news (and advertising). The news we receive can now be highly relevant and specific to the individual, relating to their interests or place of residence. People are able to dictate exactly what news they want to receive and the web is able recommend news that will be of interest to the individual. Like on YouTube where the site recommends videos that you may want to view. While it is all well and good that people can have direct access to the news they want it will surely result in a ‘tunnel vision’ society. Certainly the lack of general knowledge will cause the trivia business to suffer as well as an ignorance of current global events. Effects of Web 3.0 are already creeping into society but we remain to see the long term impacts of this technology.

The discussion of changing technology during the lecture brought us around to the notion of entitlement. Up until now we have been able to access online news basically for free but we realise that this can’t last forever. Journalists, just like everybody else, have bills to pay and mouths to feed so they can’t just be giving their services away for nothing. I (like most other people) feel entitled to free information on the net and if I happen to come across a site that requires me to pay I simply look somewhere else for the same information. Uni students’ barely have a cent to their name anyway!

The question was put to the JOUR1111 cohort, is entitlement the death of journalism?

Well possibly... but unlikely (remember that people will always listen to the radio and watch television and they have to get their news from somewhere!). It is really all about providing enough benefits for the reader that they don’t mind spending a small amount on an online news subscription.

News seems to be a constantly evolving phenomenon so who knows what it will look like in a decade from now.

Citizen Journalists vs Professional Journalists

I briefly touched on citizen journalists being a threat to the journalism profession in my last blog however I feel that the topic is worth discussing a little more. Yes, anyone can publish ‘news’ but that doesn’t guarantee that it will be believed and trusted (or even read) by the public. It is assumed knowledge in such a technological age that everyone with access to the internet can publish something online and it has been drilled into children since they were old enough to go on a computer that you can’t always trust what you see on the web. How do you know if the news blog you are reading hasn’t been written by a teenager like in the cartoon above whose only research was found on Wikipedia?

So, a journalist’s role will never be obsolete. People want to be given reliable and truthful information and need to be able to trust their source or at the very least their source must be liable for releasing any misleading information. It is far easier for the public to hold a large media corporation legally and ethically responsible than a relatively anonymous blogger. So despite citizen journalists and social networking breaking news, the public will always look to professional journalists on TV, radio, newspapers or online to get the real story.

JOUR1111 Lecture 1

There is nothing like being plunged straight into the deep end.

“You are the journalist,” they say, but don’t I still have four years left in my degree? Where do I start?

So green and fresh into university, I dive head first into what it means to be in journalism and communication. In the first lecture, the cohort was hit with the inevitable wall of challenges that face journalists today. Not only are journalists threatened by the forecasted death of newspapers, staff shedding and social media but they must also contend with the negative public perception of the profession. In addition, due to the ease of disseminating information through the Internet anyone has the ability to be a journalist.

Yet it is not all doom and gloom as technology is expanding possibilities for journalists and journalism will always be at the forefront of factual storytelling and revealing current affairs to the people. I whole heartedly agree with the points covered in the lecture about the value of studying and doing journalism. It is intrinsically linked with everyday life and I believe most importantly that it reveals what is valued by society and helps to provide an understanding of the world and people around us.