ASSMT 1: 2.5 Notes on games, ARGs and digital commons

The topic of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) was an interesting one this week that I think fits well with my remediation project and essay. Although I have chosen to remediate and write an essay about the sub plot of a television series - the way in which the characters story intertwines with real life scenarios is similar to the way in which ARGs are operate.

Örnebring states: "Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are a form of internet-based mystery game in which participants are immersed in a fictional world and engage in collective problem-solving" (Örnebring 2007 p. 445).

And they work by:

  "Events and things mentioned in the episodes of the TV series itself will also provide clues. Bit by bit, these clues form a separate narrative set in the fictional world" (Örnebring 2007 p. 446).

In the TV show Gavin and Stacey - Nessa's back story is never fully told and she remains somewhat of a mystery. A series of clues are dropped by Nessa in her stories that reflect upon past conquests involving famous people from the real world. If viewers choose to investigate these clues they will find that these stories not only reference real life people but also real life scenarios that have been reported in the press. Nessa turns out to be someone that has escaped the limelight while being involved in a great deal of scandal.

Therefore the TV show follows a similar line to ARGs in that:

• A mystery is created
• Clues are given
• Clues can be investigated by audiences
• Clues link to real world people and scenarios through press reports

My remediation project sets out to join these clues together through a blog that presents Nessa as if she is a real life person and further the idea that the stories are true. Unlike a game there is no puzzle solving winning at the end, it is merely a site for investigating clues and filling in the back story - a kind of virtual reality blog based on a virtual reality storyline in a TV show.

In this regard my blog could be seen as an example cultural labor  described by Fiske and quoted by  Örnebring as " ‘filling in the syntagmatic gaps in the original narrative’ (Örnebring 2007 p. 451 quoting Fiske, 1992). In other words the blog pieces together a back story that enriches the characters in TV show. Örnebring believes that this type of culture labor supports marketing for television shows (as does other fan created content) - as it stays within the storyline and concept of the show rather than changing it, and disseminates to a wider audience

This same idea was covered in our second reading about Digital Commons - especially in the sections about mods which are fan produced modifications for games. The point was made here too that modders stick to the boundaries of the originating text source as per the following quote:

"most mods are thematically conservative, undertaken by technically accomplished fans who love a particular game and want more of it – more weapons and monstrous opponents for shooters, different campaigns and battles for war games – in variants that don’t stray far from the spirit of the original" (Coleman and Dyer-Witheford 2007).

Both readings link fan culture, virtual reality and media institutions all of which relate to my remediation project. As the blog is aimed at fans and new watchers of the show Gavin and Stacey -  this topic would be good to cover in my essay.

Coleman, S., and N. Dyer-Witheford. 2007. Playing on the digital commons: collectivities, capital and contestation in videogame culture. Media Culture Society 29:  Sage publications. http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/29/6/934 (accessed 26/10/11).

Örnebring, H. 2007. Alternate reality gaming and convergence culture. International Journal of Cultural Studies 10: 445 - 462. Sage Publications. http://ics.sagepub.com/content/10/4/445 (accessed 20/10/11).

Audience research for Remediation Project

As stated in my earlier blog post on the audience for my remediation project, Nessa's little black book will be aimed at those watching or re-watching the TV series Gavin and Stacey either on repeat TV broadcasts or DVD box sets. Given that Gavin and Stacey is no longer in production the idea behind the remediation is create a link between the stories Nessa tells and the now old pop culture references she uses.

It is a given that fans of Gavin and Stacey will own the box sets and re-watch them from time to time, but I also wanted to find out who the new audience would be.

An article on TV tonight (a blog about Australian TV that also contains viewer statistics) states that the BBC have launched an iPad App called iPlayer which will give subscribers access to a back catalogue of BBC programs including Gavin and Stacey. If it goes well in Australia it will also be launched in the USA (Knox 2011). This means that the TV series will be available to US and Australian iPad owners and subscribers to watch whenever they wish, although niche this does bode well for my remediation project.

Gavin and Stacey is currently showing as re-runs in the UK and Ireland on the BBC owned TV Channel UK G.O.L.D which is available on pay television services such as Sky, Virgin TV and Top up TV (Comedy TV shows and video n GOLD TV  2011)

It is currently showing on Netflix (Shelby 2011) which is available in the USA and Canada and is currently expanding into other countries (Company Overview  2011)

Currently showing on TVNZ and TVNZ Ondemand in New Zealand (Gavin And Stacey  2011)

This is a list compiled of legal ways to watch the show that I have found through a Google search in the English language. My search has found that Gavin and Stacey has, in the past been aired in other countries such as Israel on VOD but I am unable to search the respective web-sites in order to backup this claim due to the language barrier. I feel it is also worthy to note that, although I am not condoning it - some of my audience base will be made up of people who watch pirated copies of the show. I am nothing if not a realist!

  Comedy TV shows and video n GOLD TV. 2011. http://uktv.co.uk/gold/homepage/sid/5001 (accessed 20/10/11).

  Company Overview. 2011. https://signup.netflix.com/MediaCenter/Overview (accessed 20/10/11).

  Gavin And Stacey. 2011. http://tvnz.co.nz/gavin-and-stacey/about-1414345 (accessed 20/10/11).

 Knox, D. 2011. BBC iPlayer launches on iPad. http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2011/09/bbc-iplayer-launches-on-ipad.html (accessed 20/10/11).

 Shelby. 2011. Netflix Instant Pick of the Week: Summer TV Part 3. http://uktv.co.uk/gold/homepage/sid/5001 (accessed 20/10/11).

ASSMNT 1 2.3: Audience and Context of Remediation Project

I have been thinking about this weeks readings Pop Cosmopolitanism: Mapping Cultural Flows in an Age of Media Convergence, Fans bloggers and gamers: exploring participatory culture and Indigenous, ethnic and cultural articulations of new media in terms of my remediation project. The TV series Gavin and Stacey was created in the UK for a UK audience so what is it about the show that had drawn me – an Australian, to the show? Who will my remediation project be aimed at? And are my interpretations of the shows themes, when viewed in the Australian context different from the intentions of the original producers?

Why am I drawn to the show?

In the terms of Jenkins – I guess you could say I was originally introduced to the show by a “Grassroots intermediatory” (Jenkins 2006)

 – My husband who was born and raised in Wales (which is where part of the show Gavin and Stacey is set) and now lives in Australia. He not only keeps up to date with the goings of friends and family at home, but also likes to keep up to date with music, TV shows and news. Gavin and Stacey was a hit in Wales and box sets promptly posted over to us upon release in the UK.

One of the themes of the show is based on the idiosyncrasies of different cultures – that being of the English and the Welsh or to be more precise of Barry in South Wales and Essex in England. I can in some ways relate to the humor based on these idiosyncrasies as I compare my own experiences of living in Wales, being married to a Welsh man and becoming part of a Welsh family and as such also recognize the character traits and stereotypes presented. This would then make me part of what Srinivasan describes as an “imagined community” (Srinivasan 2006) made up of not only U.K. viewers who inherently understand the humor, but also of other cultural outsiders who have joined families from these two parts of the world, and so too can relate the humor based on cultural difference.

I initially chose to remediate Nessa’s storyline due to time constraints but after this weeks topic I think it could also be because I understand the character. She is an over exaggerated welsh stereotype that I can recognize more easily than other stereotypes presented in the show such as Smithy from Essex. I have learnt about Smithy’s stereotype through others telling me about it but can see elements of Nessa’s persona in people that I have met or worked with in the past and as such feel I am better equipped to retell her story than other characters in the show. Nessa also in some ways appeals to my sense of “Pop Cosmopolitanism” (Jenkins 2006)

  - My ties to Wales now see me wanting to keep up with the current affairs of the country, and a lot of Nessa’s stories tie into current day events. Nessas stories are littered with UK pop culture references and to piece them together is something like a treasure hunt.

Who will my remediation project be aimed at?

As an understanding of Nessas stores and humor comes from an understanding of UK popular culture and current media events  - my remediation project will be aimed at those who are not up to speed on such things. Using blog to recreate Nessas little black book (a list of all the people Nessa claims to have had a relationship with throughout the show) allows me to link the real life media stories to the stories Nessa tells. In other words when she claims to have slept with John Prescott I can hyperlink his name to real life press articles about John Prescott – linking the story to the pop culture reference.

This media format also works within the current day context of viewing the show. Gavin and Stacey is no longer being produced – so if one was to watch the show today the pop culture references will all be old, and possibly forgotten even by those residing in the UK – they will be old news so to speak. Therefore the little black book will not only inform those who were out of the loop in the first place, but will refresh the memories of those who are watching or re-watching the series again – appealing to my entire “imagined community” (Srinivasan 2006).

Does this change of context change the meaning?

Having never met the writers and producers of the show I cannot say what the original intention of this part of the story line was, but in creating an online hyperlinked little black book I will not be changing it. I will merely be changing the way in which the story is presented. Time itself has changed the context of this storyline, but the recreation of it in an online media form will bring it back closer to its original time, preserving rather than altering the meaning.

 Jenkins, H. 2006. Pop Cosmopolitanism: Mapping Cultural Flows in an Age of Media Convergence, Fans bloggers and gamers: exploring participatory culture: New York University Press.

Srinivasan, R. 2006. Indigenous, ethnic and cultural articulations of new media. International Journal of Cultural Studies 9: 497. http://ics.sagepub.com/content/9/4/497 (accessed 15/10/11).

Images and Referencing the Remediation project

LINK TO NESSA'S LITTLE BLACK BOOK

In an effort to not infringe copyright, I have created some of my own images for Nessa's little black book

I have uploaded them here so I can link to them in the HTML code in Nessa's blog

THE BLOG DESIGN

 The blog design and the sticky tape frame for my images was created by  Templates Block and is Licenced under creative commons as follows:

"Blogger Template by:

Templates Block - Free Custom Blogger templates for Blogger/blogspot blogs.

http://www.templatesblock.com/

**********************************************************************

License:  This free Blogger template is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, which permits both personal and commercial use.

However, to satisfy the 'attribution' clause of the license, you are required to keep the footer links intact which provides due credit to its authors. For more specific details about the license, you may visit the URL below:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" (Evo)

This means that can use and alter the template without worrying about copyright so long as I reference the original creator. The acknowledgment is built into the blog design itself (on the bottom right corner) so this part is all done for me.

THE DRAGON IMAGE on NESSA'S A-Z PAGE

I created the image of the Welsh Dragon myself using Photoshop and my own photograph of the welsh flag. The hearts were created in illustrator and added to Photoshop image. The reason I have chosen the image is because it is the flag of Wales and is tattooed on Nessa's arm.

THE PHOTO OF NESSA on NESSA'S HOME PAGE

The photo of Nessa came from The British Comedy Guide website  and its attributed to "Baby Cow Productions". This image will need to be referenced to ensure it doesn't breach copyright law. I am also using a small part of it for the purposes of education so it should be covered under the US terms fair use , the Australian Fair Dealing exceptions and UK Fair Dealing exceptions.

REFERENCING TEXT

I will also need to cite and reference every entry in the blog. Instructions on how to reference episodes of a TV show APA style can be found on the Coats Library website

 

Baby Cow Productions. gavin_stacey_nessa.jpg. http://www.comedy.co.uk/images/library/people/180x200/g/gavin_stacey_nessa.jpg (accessed 10/10/11). 

 Evo, V. Personal Blog. http://btemplates.com/2010/blogger-template-personal-blog/ (accessed 10/10/11).

 

2.1: Identify a text you consider to be particularly interactive:

Ive been looking for a Gavin and Stacey inspired interactive text and Ive got to say that the best ones are the ones created by fans. The official websites and Apps just don't cut it.

http://www.gavinandstacey.com/ is an independent fan site for the show and is a place of media convergence. Here fans can access news articles regarding the shows actors, access YouTube videos of their favorite clips, access the fan clubs twitter account and have discussions with other fans on the forum and even buy Gavin and Stacey DVDs from a direct link to amazon. They can also read episode synopses and interviews with cast members and watch character spin offs that have been created for charity.

I think one of the things that has kept the popularity of Gavin and Stacey going, even after its ending is that the fans are still being catered for through the appearance of the characters at awards nights and charity comedy galas such as comic relief for red nose day. The characters are continuing to evolve despite the lack of TV episode of which they were first created.

As a website this particular media text is able to be viewed and interacted with anywhere you can log onto the internet so it is is easy for fans to keep up to date with, and prevents them from having to scour varies websites for the latest news. On this site fans can actively contribute or just read / watch or listen to the content provided by others.

  Gavin and Stacey: Independent fansite for BBC One's most romantic comedy. http://www.gavinandstacey.com/page/2/#.TovqFHHhUio (accessed 5/10/11).

 rednoseday. 2011. Smithy saves Red Nose Day 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdg7Tgv5lo0 (accessed 5/10/11).

2.1: Gavin and Stacey - list of individuals, organisations and technolgies involved in the production, delivery and consumption of the show

This is a list comprised of the individuals, organisations and technology that goes into the production, delivery and consumption of the official TV series Gavin and Stacey. It does not include any of the fan based media texts that make up a large part of the way consumers interact with the characters and storyline of the original text.

Individuals:

According to the website IMDb (International Movie Database)  the Gavin & Stacey cast and crew was made up of over 100 people who worked on the series over its lifetime. The cast and crew were made up of:

• directors, writers, cast, producers, cinematographers, film editors, casting, production design, art directors, costume design, makeup, production management, assistant directors, art department, sound department, stunts, camera and electrical department, costume and wardrobe department, editorial department and "other" (Full cast and crew for "Gavin & Stacey").

As full list of names can be found here: Gavin & Stacey full cast and crew

Organisations: 

Produced by:

Baby Cow Productions (Company credits for "Gavin & Stacey") who are part of a group that also consists of Baby Cow Animations, Baby Cow Films and Baby Cow Radio. The group was created by comedians Steve Coogan and Henry Normal and is part owned (25%) by BBC Worldwide Baby Cow Productions). BBC Worlwide owns the following channels: BBC America, BBC Entertainment, BBC HD, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle, BBC World News, CBeebies, UKTV (Australia), has a joint venture with BBC Canada, BBC Kids and 10 Virgin Media Channels ( Channels)

  Distributed by:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (UK)  (Company credits for "Gavin & Stacey") who own BBC Worldwide  (What is the BBC?  2011) and Comedy Central (Netherlands) (Company credits for "Gavin & Stacey")

Accommodation: Access Bookings GB (Company credits for "Gavin & Stacey")

                                                                                           

Aired on:

BBC1, BBC 2 BBC 3 (in the UK), BBC entertainment and BBC America (USA), BBC Canada, Channel 7, 7two, ABC2 and UKTV (Australia),  Acht (Belgium), HOT V.O.D and Yes Stars Comedy (Israel), RTE Two (Ireland), RTL 8 (The Netherlands), Stoo2 (Iceland), TV One (NZ) and RTP2 (Portugal) (Gavin &Stacey)

DVDs and Box sets can be purchased from:

Amazon, BBC Online, ABC bookshops and online, JB HI FI, Sanity. Digital copies can also be purchased form iTunes (Gavin and Stacey, Series 1), and Amazon (Gavin and Stacey Season 2)  

Websites:

There is no one official site for the show, but it does have a sub-site that appears on the parent website of the particular network it is currently being aired on. Some sites include:

BBC ONE

BBC America

Apps:

Gavin and Stacey Apps can be  purchased through the itunes store (Gavin & Stacey Soundboard)  

Technologies:

Consumers can watch the series on TV, computer or mobile devices such as iPads or phones. The websites can also be accessed through this medium. The official apps can only be accessed through iPhones.

   

Baby Cow Productions. http://www.babycow.co.uk/babycowproductions.html (accessed 5/10/11).  

Channels. http://www.bbcworldwide.com/channels.aspx (accessed 5/10/11). 

Company credits for "Gavin & Stacey". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0908454/companycredits (accessed 5/10/11).

Full cast and crew for "Gavin & Stacey". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0908454/fullcredits#cast (accessed 5/10/11).

Gavin & Stacey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavin_%26_Stacey#International_broadcasts (accessed 5/10/11).

  

Gavin and Stacey Season 2. http://www.amazon.com/Episode-1/dp/B003ZHOWT0/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1317786523&sr=1-1 (accessed 5/10/11).

Gavin and Stacey, Series 1. TV Shows > Comedy (5/10/11)

Gavin & Stacey Soundboard. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/gavin-stacey-soundboard/id385944743?mt=8 

What is the BBC? 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/purpose/what.shtml (accessed 5/10/11).

 

 

1.2 Activity 6: Favourite media text

My favourite media text is the TV shows Gavin & Stacey What it is and why you like it: This show is a comedy / drama about a boy from England and a girl from Wales who start a relationship and the plot revolves around their struggle in bringing two sets of family and friends together. It was written by a girl from Wales and a boy from England and picks up, magnifies and pokes fun at the subtle differences between the two cultures. I like that the plot revolves around family relationships of grown up children reflecting the activities of 20 – 30 something’s and that the characters are far from perfect. And it’s just really funny! Who is involved in the production: Gavin and Stacey was produced by Baby Cow productions for the BBC Written by: James Cordon and Ruth Jones Directed by: Christine Gernon Produced by: Ted Dowd Executive Producers: Henry Normal and Lindsay Hughes       (Gavin & Stacey Series One 2007) Starring: Ruth Jones, James Cordon, Mat Horne, Joanna Page, Alison Steadman, Rob Brydon, Larry Lamb and Melanie Walters (Programs: Gavin and Stacey) How it is distributed: 3 series = 20 episodes and 3 Christmas specials were broadcast in the UK on BBC 1 and BB3 between 2007 and 2010 (Gavin & Stacey - Production Details) The show has also been aired on BBC America, BBC Canada – Australia’s channel 7, 7two, ABC2 and Foxtels UK-TV and many more. The series is also available on DVD. The characters from the show also appear in comedy sketches with other celebrities for charity fundraisers that are aired on TV and online. 4. How consumers interact with the text's production and/or consumption Apart from watching episodes consumers have started fan websites, fan Facebook pages and twitter accounts and official clips and fan mashups can be accessed on YouTube. Fans can do Gavin and Stacey tours of the film locations in Wales.  Gavin & Stacey - Production Details. http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/gavin_stacey/details/ (accessed 14/9/11). Gavin & Stacey Series One. 2007. BBC DVD.  Programs: Gavin and Stacey. http://www.babycow.co.uk/babycowproductions.html (accessed 14/9/11).

Subject: RE: Your Favourite Text

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