Communications and Media

Medium is defined as one of the channels or ways of disseminating general information, communication or entertainment in a society represented effectively by television, newspapers, radio and the Internet. It is a means or instrument for the storage or communication of information. The medium or the method has a profound relationship for the transmission of a message. It is because of the fact that people use numerous types of medium of communication to be able to communicate a message. To be specific, the interpretation of various visual signs or phenomena entails a number of techniques including resemblance (photographs), logic or cause and effect, convention (with the use of symbolic value), and signification (like a smile which indicates pleasure) related to the field of study called semiotics.  Marshall McLuhan supported this claim when he coined the phrase The medium is the message which connoted that the characteristics of a medium are a huge influence on how a message is received and understood. According to McLuhan, what is important is the quality of delivering the messages by using various types of medium and on how they are being delivered to the audience (Berger, 1995). He asserted that the media highly affects how people make sense of the world they live in so their existence is more important than the texts that they are creating or producing.

One major example is the influence of print in the effective delivery of message in the society. Print is significant to our senses since messages delivered by this type of medium are interpreted by the eyes with specific focus on standardization, continuity, linearity, rationality, individualism, separation and data classification. It is highly opposite with electronic media which are aural in nature, all at once, simultaneous and recognized the role of patterns. As such, it can be said that the medium has a major effect on the quality of message it carries. The communication of message or information is dependent on the size of the medium. For example, a radio could carry more messages or information than the capacity of a telephone. In the same manner, a movie could provide so much information on a particular film than the capacity of a television but carries a low participation rate due to the cost associated with it. Another example was that when people look at a picture, each individual has a different process of thought or interpretation and reaction to it. Text, with the use of a cellular phone is also a famous example as the message can be easily misunderstood since the facial expressions and voices of the sender and the receiver are not present.

The images that were captured during and after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington have various significant impacts on the culture and society of the American people. In particular, the images of the terrorist attack was able to capture global attention and thus negatively affecting the performance of majority of market indices in the world including the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and the Dow Jones Industrial Average that were temporarily closed due to the event.

Likewise, the city of New York suffered great losses of income worth 2.8 billion after the attacks. Small businesses were also hurt of the ruins of the attacks when they were displaced from the World Trade Center. The images showing media footages of people jumping out of their windows to escape death is deemed unnecessary. It highly affected American culture with the showing of various violent television shows, movies, music videos and video games. The media itself had ruined American culture with the repeat play of those horrible footages of the 911 attacks just for the purpose of gaining high ratings.

However, the footages of the attack were also a great influence for world leaders to strengthen their security efforts against domestic and international terrorists. As a result, most countries supported the stance of the United States of attacking the camps of terrorists in countries where they are hiding like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. In the same way, the report and photos of the casualties captured world attention with regard to the severity and broadness of one-day attack.

Various disciplines like print, graphic arts, writing, architecture poetry and fashion employ design principles to be able to achieve perfection on the final product (Rowe, 1991).  As such, essential factors that determine the goodness of a print design are the following (1) Balance  primarily based on the idea that the whole is the sum of all its parts wherein elements of design are being used to organize and produce whole that is in balance or equilibrium (2) Proportion  A factor that is related to balance, good proportion provides the feature of maintaining an agreeable relation of parts within a whole that refers to the thorough consideration of the parts that comprises the whole aspect of a print design (3) Contrast  This factor is produced when elements are combined offering the necessary variety for a print design. Without this factor, print design can be boring or ineffective. While balance and proportion are concerned with cohesiveness, contrast adds interest to a good print design (4) Economy  Related to the principle that less is more which implies that simplicity emphasize a print designs more impressively than complexity (5) Direction  This factor refers to the arrangement or movement of a good print design. It helps lead the main purpose of the print design in a viewers eye and (6) Emphasis  Also identified as dominance, this factor exists when the elements of design are arranged to produce a hierarchy of visual significance.

Avatar was a major television advertisement and film that I was able to watch in the past year. I consider it as the most visually fantastic film since it was a groundbreaking 3D or third dimensional motion picture. Major criteria for the positive review of the film were its visual effects and the technology put into it. The visual effects were freshly introduced to the audience while the technology was everywhere just like the way the Marines attacked the Navis (aliens) in their place called Pandora. They used sophisticated military weapons but the aliens did not give up with their faith to their god. Due to the performance of the film, it received a number of awards from award giving bodies in Hollywood and was watched by millions of people around the world.