Critical Investigation: Project proposal

Working title

Include specific texts in the title and either 'how or 'why' or both, e.g.: To what extent and why are video games such as 'Call of Duty' and 'Grand Theft Auto’ becoming more violent?

To what extent is Censorship a good process to have during media production and how does it impact both audiences and institutions?

Angle

E.g.: What impact are these increasingly violent games having on their audience? Is this simply a moral panic of the 21st century or is further regulation required?

Does censorship aid or hinder audiences from receiving information and how does it (or lack of it) influence individuals in their everyday situations?

Hypothesis

E.g.: Video games are psychologically damaging for young people, and audiences have become increasingly desensitised to screen violence.

Censorship hinders free speech and attempts to silence audiences in order to appeal to a hidden agenda by those in power.

Linked production piece

E.g.: Newsnight-style documentary video report looking at the impact of violent videogames on young people.
-Article on censorship
-News broadcast on censorship
-

MIGRAIN

Apply the Key Concepts to your texts/topic by using the questions from the Summer Research Project to help you. (Include at least five bullet point/key concept). Include as many media keywords as you can.

• 
  

SHEP

Apply the Wider Contexts (Social, Historical, Economic, Political) to your text/topic, including at least three bullet points on each one.

Social impacts of the topic/text

• Affects womens' views of themselves - It feels informed and inspired by the aspects of our culture that make women feel unsafe even in their own beds, in their own bodies - Lena Dunham
• Audiences have been misguided and manipulated to believe anything that the Media institutions produce. It is almost as if they are gullible, heavily rely on these sources and don't think for themselves and use their own intellect
• School censorship prevents learning - blocking too much content

Historical

• Elvis Presley's gyrating
• Censorship has decreased over the years and more is available, particularly on the internet but it is still widely practised, currently
• Particularly in music culture, censorship ha decreased over time

Economic

• Institutions with Monopoly power can control smaller business' rules eg YouTubers (Google) monetisation.
• Censorship companies earn more money as a result of providing their services to firms.
• Lack of censorship means that people who appreciate more raw media would be more inclined to purchase the music due to appreciation of freedom of speech, making individuals such as Kanye West more successful.

Political

• The way that information regarding political issues is processed could hinder the audiences from gaining knowledge of the true motives of politicians and media reporters alike. This could affect their views and deceive them into believing something that isn't true due to censorship.
• Campaigns and petitions have been made to stop censorship for example in universities.

Issues/Debates

Select at least five and say how each relates to your study, using theMedia A-Z to help you think about this:

• Representation and stereotyping - All of the people represented within the music video- whether through the tune or the video itself have been controversial topics within the media at some point thus either reinforcing or challenging stereotypes regarding these characters. Particularly is the case for Kanye, himself and his wife, too since this is the primary source of opinion within the song as the video was produced by his own label. 
• Media effects
• Reality TV - Since his wife is a reality TV star, it could affect her reputation or her family's in the process of the promotion of this tune and video.
• News Values
• Moral Panics - Creating a panic about whether or not people, particularly celebrities should be entitled to disclose these types of opinions/information.
• Post 9/11 and the media - The topic of censorship could really relate to 9/11 due to manipulation of footage and stories written about the incident in order to promote a hidden agenda, creating deception.
• Ownership and control - This can create an in-depth analysis of whether ownership and control has an affect on the effectiveness and/or willingness to censor content. This factor can also affect the reception of the content as well as the aftermath of whether it may or may not trigger discussions regarding the censorship (or lack thereof) of the content produced.
• Regulation and censorship - This, of course, links to my topic as it directly addresses the issues at hand which are going to be explored throughout my Critical Investigation.
• Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century
• The effect of globalisation on the media

Theories

Select at least five and say how each relates to your study, using keywords/specific theorists' names from the Media A-Z:

• Semiotics
• Structuralism and post-structuralism
• Postmodernism and its critiques
• Gender and ethnicity- presenting both males and females as sexual objects - connotations by viewers of the text. There's two key ethncities in the video. - Male/female gaze - Mulvey - voyeurism
• Marxism and hegemony
• Liberal Pluralism - freedom of speech - diverse opinions and beliefs presented through various media texts causing an outburst of external views and opinions by onlookers/audiences
• Colonialism and Post-colonialism
• Audience theories - Hypodermic Needle, Two-step flow & Dependency could all apply in the case of this particular text, and in the wider context of the topic itself.
• Genre theories - 
• Contemporary Media Landscape

Explain how your study fits into this.

Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)

Media text
Kanye West -'Famous' music video

Other media texts
                                                                                                                                     
Charlie Hebdo
BBC News
Elvis Presley
Napalm Girl



TV documentaries
Research videos online, e.g.:

Living with Michael Jackson - Martin Bashir (deception due to censorship or hiding certain scenes in order to manipulate the intentions of the main topic - Michael Jackson)




Internet Links
1) Newspapers:

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10854915/BBC-in-censorship-row-after-the-word-girl-is-cut-from-documentary.html.
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3827274/Kanye-West-s-original-version-controversial-track-Famous-leaked-Taylor-Swift-going-like-one-less.html
• https://www.thebalance.com/how-media-censorship-affects-the-news-you-see-2315162
• http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/facebook-is-censoring-our-views-and-this-is-feeding-extremism-a7029251.html
• http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/14/five-times-censorship-the-out-of-for-no-reason-5196830/

2) At least FIVE from university websites/academic papers online. UseGoogle Scholar as a starting point.

• http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/nus-votes-to-help-support-student-newspapers-amid-ongoing-campus-censorship-debate-a6993926.html
• http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/censorship-of-digital-resources-worldwide/112628
• http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/campus-censorship-an-epidemic-at-uk-universities-as-aberystwyth-edinburgh-and-leeds-named-among-most-a6818896.html
• https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/how-censorship-in-china-allows-government-criticism-but-silences-collective-expression/C7EF4A9C9D59425C2D09D83742C1FE00
• https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/censorship-versus-freedom-of-expression
• http://mobblog.cs.ucl.ac.uk/2011/01/05/the-war-of-words/

Ignite Presentation Learner Response

Good, clear opening - defining censorship is a sensible opening and shows thought about audience.

Delivery is quite quick but slides are well put together together and show a good selection of images.

Structure is good - censorship discussed then moves on to primary text. However, not entirely clear from the presentation what the link between censorship and the music video is (this will be vital for critical investigation).

Media concepts are addressed - issues of representation are raised but I'd like more here... Is Kanye West the producer of this text? Did it come from him? Or director/institution etc.

Analysis of the video brings in excellent issues of gender and culture - definite potential for further research and investigation here.

Good to see personal opinion - and this is thoughtful, considered and focused on the media issues/debates.

Final slide on censorship raises a few fascinating issues - I'd have liked to see a bit more on this in the main presentation. You'll need to think about which direction you want to take the investigation in.

Coped with technical issues impressively.

Q&A - first question on freedom of speech + age rating immediately raises interesting issues in terms of censorship. Answer is confident, thoughtful and comprehensive.

Censorship in digital age - is it possible? Good response and idea that censorship is easier with big corporations is fascinating.

Content 4/5

Clarity 4/5

Presentation 4/5

Total 12/15

WWW:  I think it was well presented in terms of the information being concise and I was clear in what I was saying

EBI:

3) The final aspect is a paragraph discussing how your presentation will lead into your critical investigation. Some of this may refer to your feedback (a greater focus on media debates, for example) or in rare cases you may want to change the focus of your investigation entirely.