David Gauntlett and Life in a Day

•In 2008 Gauntlett presented ‘the Make and Connect Agenda’; an attempt to rethink audience studies in the context of media users as producers as well as consumers of media products.

•This argues that there is a shift from the ‘sit-back-and-be-told culture’ to a ‘making-and-doing culture’, and that harnessing creativity in both web 2.0 and in other everyday creative activities will play a role in tracking environmental problems. These ideas are developed further in ‘Making is Connecting’

•Wrote an article about traditional form of media teaching and research fails to recognize the changing media landscape in which the categories of ‘audiences’ and ‘producers’ blur together, and in which new research methods and approaches are needed.

•Interested in work regarding qualitative research on audiences with contemporary critical approaches.

•Also interested in research that tries to get to grips with the ‘power’ of media and the agency of audiences.

•Gauntlett’s theory illustrates how the technological evolution of the post modern era has allowed us to become media producers in our own right. This links with the collective identity of young people  because they use the internet as a “creative outlet” more than any other age group, this relates to my entry, because it presents young people as non stereotypical young adults that come from different backgrounds .

Young people are the main age group, consisting of an observing and producing audience. There are multiple sites used by them to express something or show off a creative way of thinking or a skill.

The Internet has become a place where everyone can show what they can and be sure their product will be viewed by the whole world. There is no need of advertisement or distribution. Viral videos are a great example of products created by consumers going around like a virus and gaining more popularity than an advertised media product constructed by a producer.

The project Life in a Day is a great example of David Gauntlett's theories. The mere fact that it has been created by consumers only would leave people expecting a poor quality in terms of footage. However that is not the case at all. From the footage we gather that the people who've taken part in the project are interested in filming. Their skills are quite developed and they know what they are doing. Many chose to not only document how a typical day in their life goes, but also included a little summary of their life's story, which made the footage an actual film with mini narratives .
From the project we can see, that many close up shots and tracking shots have been used, making the distance between the viewers and the people recording minimal and helping us get in touch with their life. This makes the film seem even more realistic to me and I'm sure has proven consumers to be better producers in terms of the fact that they are both consuming and producing, hence have a better understanding of the product and know what is valued most by consumers.
Life in a Day is a brilliant example of Media in the Online Age. The changes are heavily underlined with the consumer's use of honesty you wouldn't easily find in most films these days. In the film there were no stereotypes, no expectations set by the narrative and most importantly no genre, hence no conventions to be followed.
This project is in contradiction with the Hollywood idea, that audience's like to be told what to see and what to like in terms of critic's opinions and Box office results. Also the fact that piracy has made it almost impossible for cinemas to function properly, hints that audiences aren't happy with all the advertisement tactics going on behind a product. Therefore they rather produce their own media materials and be their own critics on sites like Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB e.t.c.