Audience

It has been discussed that the audience our final footage is shown to may not be a huge group of people. As we are looking to avoid mass panic, it could perhaps be a good idea to keep the number down to a certain amount of people to minimise the chances of a large panicked reaction. However, if the number is too small, then we may not provoke enough of a varied reaction. It would be interesting to see people who would dismiss the idea straight away, and the people who would believe it without thinking twice.

Where to show footage?

The aim of the project is to highlight how the public receive and react to media. As a result it is imperative that the footage is believable, in terms of how realistic it is and how the public are shown the footage. It is far less likely to be believed if the the situation seems too premeditated or unlikely, for example, if it is viewed on a computer it would be less likely to be believed than through a television (the standard viewing medium for the rolling news). This obviously limits where and how we can show the footage.

One option that has become available whilst trying to find possible locations is a local pub in Willesden Green, where I (James) work. The pub has two television screens which are capable to be connected directly to a computer, that we could run the footage of, thus making it appear like it is live on TV and consequently believable. The television screens are located in a great position that allows the entire bar to see them, but remain unobtrusive, which will allow some of the audience to either miss the footage or only briefly catch the footage. This will hopefully allow for a variety of reactions, which will enrich the findings.

Due to nature of television screens in pubs, i.e. can be connected to with ease and are likely to be viewed by many, they may be great locations to film the final footage. The test run in The Green will help to determine how successful this option may be.

However, it is important that we consider further possibilities as more rewarding opportunities may present themselves.

Palestine Fakes

Research into public reaction to faked events led us to a number of faked photos from Palestine where extra smoke was photoshopped in to create an illusion an attack was worse than it actually was- to provoke a reaction from the public which would be biased against the Israeli's.



This photo is what experts created to reflect what the photo would actually look like in the sun and heat of the day- with the realistic amount of smoke that was caused.

Shooting Plans

It was decided to film in little bits, preparing each piece of footage as we go along. The filming of a tourist-like amateur video of the Gherkin tower, which goes wobbly and zomms in and out (to accomodate the plane we will paste in on top) would be the first step, followed by footage of some planes, hopefully in the same sort of weather conditions. It is appropriate to take as much footage as possible in order to make the best final video we can.
After the editing of footage, we will then have to shoot the publics reaction to the film.

Ethical Issues

Researching the Ztohoven group and the Creators of 'Czech Dream', Vit Klusak and Filip Remunda, it is possible to see how other people have created hoaxes without thought of ethical issues, especially with the live broadcast hacking of the atomic explosion. There was no way for the group to personally state immediately afterwards that the event was just a stunt, but was left to the broadcasters. This almost disregard of ethical issues allows our project to have some leniency towards the ethics. Although a debrief and consent forms will be in place after the event, there is nothing beforehand to prevent the viewers from believing anything other than what they will be seeing.
The 'Czech Dream' creators did personally address the public after their event, but then again their's was not boardering on terrorism. Of course, our project is in no way endorsing or supporting the act of terrorism in any way whatsoever, but due to the obvious after effects of 9/11, fear of terrorism is higher than ever and our project will be addressing this issue directly.
Again, our aim is to prove (through the reaction of the chosen audience) that people will instantly believe what they see so long as some sort of news banner is flashing accross the screen.

Ztohoven- Chech fake explosion

A group of young Czechs produced footage of an apparent nucleur explosion and broadcast it on live television. The video consists of a shot of the Krkonose Mountains, followed by a bright flash and the emergenc eof a large mushroom top cloud in the distance. The group were acquitted and let go without punishment with a court in Trutnov stating that it was not a criminal offence. According to Czech news station CT24, although Czech television said it was "...inadvisable and could have provoked panic among a wide group of people". Ztohoven, which recently won the NG333 award for young artists from Prague's National Gallery, said it does not have terrorist or political objectives and did not want to "intimidate or manipulate society".

Subtlety

From the start it had been agreed that subtlety was the key to success for the project. With thoughts of Jeremy Beadle in mind, it was exactly the opposite of what we had set out to achieve. The project is supposed to be tackling a genuine issue within the media, and how people will believe whatever the papers and the news says because they do not know any better. Exploitation is too strong to describe what we are setting out to achieve, yet in a way it is the media we are exploiting, not so much the people who read into it. The idea is not a show and laugh affair, we are after genuine reactions with a debrief in order afterwards to dispell any rumours travelling further afield than our chosen space.

War of the Worlds:

War of the Worlds was an episode of an American radio drama series performed as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938 by Orson Welles. The episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' classic novel The War of the Worlds.



The first half of the 60 minute broadcast was presented as a series of news bulletins, and suggested that a Martian invasion was in progress.The bulletins suggested that Martians were invading America when a huge flaming object had landed in a small village called Grovers Mill. The news bulletin then goes on to describe scenes of chaos. The story tells how the aliens have released poison gas and that the country is now under military law.

The reaction of the now most well known radio production was unprecedented. Millions of people had not listened to the broadcast from the beginning and so missed the announcements that the bulletin was a drama production. Furthermore because of the heightened tensions in the lead up to World War II many simply took the bulletins to be war coverage. Later studies showed how panic swept through the public. Some phoned loved ones to say goodbye, others started praying and preparing for death whilst thousands tried to flee in their cars. People who had run outside to see what was happening, either saw lots of people and believed they were all leaving or saw very little people and believed that nearly everyone had already gone. Furthermore some close to the supposed invasion site, Grovers Mill convinced themselves that they could smell gas or see flashes of light in the sky, some roamed the countryside looking for the martians. It was later estimated that 1 million people were frightened or disturbed by the production.

One of the best studies into this public phenomenon was conducted by Cantril’s study into the psychology of panic . His study looks at panic behaviour inadvertently activated by the mass media.

The broadcast had obviously caused fear in over 1 million of the public and this had then manifested itself into panic that lead to heightened reactions.

One reason why the broadcast had been so successful was that the public trusted the radio and consequently suspended their judgement. Did the broadcast spark anxiety or fear in the public?

There is a distinction between Anxiety and Fear:

Fear: is focused on an identifiable frightening person or dangerous object – referring to an immediate, objective threat.

Anxiety: is less specific, though no less real: a dread, a premonition of doom, but with no specific focus.

In 1938, there was a mixture of Fear and Anxiety:

People believed the threat was actual and imminent, yet they were reacting to a brew of uncertainties.

With fear: people are consciously able to take measures to neutralise or flee from the dangerous object.
With anxiety: there is very little that can consciously be done.

Clearly, it is sometimes in someone’s interest to convert anxiety into fear:

Drugs companies and new-age therapists:
An anxiety over unwellness into a fear of the consequences unless a particular medicine is taken.

Political extremists:
Scapegoating enables a group to convert a general anxiety into a an attack on a specific ‘outsider’ group.

Sometimes, it is useful to convert fear into anxiety:

Anxiety tends to make people withdraw from one another.
Fear is likely to draw people in a community together.

Tutorial Five:

This was an important tutorial, as we had been unable to make the last one and also as it is the last before the midterm- review. We talked through our progression with the project and highlighted especially our trial run using the mock up newspaper as the platform.

Preparation for tutorial 5

Our footage featuring the Metro mock-up needs to be run through, perhaps edited down to a key number of moments rather than let it run all the way through because not everyone looked at our paper. Talk about how we can make it seem more interesting to the audience walking past. Discuss location and time of day changes. The paper may benefit us more if we have a evening paper i.e. The london paper or the Lite. Ethical issues are a problem and so we wish to discuss how to deal best with them- what if people who are older have some kind of body failure in response to the shock of the 'news' we are looking to present?