Midterm Project: Essay

Blurring the Line Between Professionalism and Amateurism

Today, a new style in modern media has developed--a style which was inspired by modern society’s Web 2.0 craze. This new style entails the deliberate application of amateur qualities to professional productions, such as professional movies, TV shows and commercial advertisements. This new style and the Web 2.0 relate directly and symbiotically to one another: the Web 2.0 contributes to the innovation and effectiveness of this new style, and this new style contributes to the increase in quality and acceptance of user-generated content submitted on the web.

As Lev Manovich states in The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life, “The explosion of user-created media content on the web (2005-) has unleashed a new media universe (1),” which is the Web 2.0. It revolves around user-generated content, which has allowed the “[move] from media to social media (1).” John Pavlik defines social media as “An umbrella term that defines activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words and pictures. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and ‘building’ of shared meaning, as people share their stories, and understandings (Social Media and Web 2.0 253).” Once a foreign concept, it has quickly and successfully become a nearly inescapable presence in today’s society.

The Web 2.0 allows ordinary people to create and upload their own content. Websites like YouTube, Facebook, Blogger, and DeviantART are only few of the numerous websites which purposes are to invite ordinary people to create and share their own content, such as web blogs, web cam videos, pictures, articles, music, music videos, and all sorts of media. Even websites of professional companies, such as those of news stations, are transforming their sites to encourage contributions from ordinary users through mediums like forums, comment boxes, polls and picture submissions. With their everyday lives now heavily intertwined with the web, ordinary people have gained a personal connection with the web because of their involvement. Hence, a new style in movies, TV shows and commercial advertisements which involves these Web 2.0 aspects of user-generated content is now being used by some professionals.

Professional productions of movies, TV shows and commercial advertisements are sometimes using this new Web 2.0 style in an effort to make their content more relatable to the audience. After all, the audience is the ordinary people who are so greatly connected to the “interaction, and the manner in which information is presented (Paragraph 2)” within the Web 2.0. This manner is very personal. It incorporates ordinary people recording their experiences and expressing their opinions via mediums like webcams. The Web 2.0 has enabled ordinary people to generate their own content in such ways: this manner is the amateur feeling that this new style applies to professional productions. It captures the essence of Web 2.0, which effectively appeals to the viewers because of their strong connection to it.

This concept of an amateur style used for professional productions may be easier to understand through examples. One of the most striking recent examples is the movie Paranormal Activity—a hit suspense film produced in 2009. Paranormal Activity was filmed in an amateur manner. This style makes it feel like the characters of the movie were filming their experiences with hand-held camcorders and other recording devices that ordinary people would typically own and use; it makes it feel like the characters are sharing a real story the same way in which ordinary people would share their real stories on the web. Thus, a more realistic effect is achieved for the audience, and a more relatable connection is made with the audience.

More typical than movies, some TV shows implement this style as well. Most prominently, reality TV shows use it. In TV shows like MTV’s The Real World, the main characters are revealing their lives unscripted. They are not actors: they are ordinary people. More importantly, they are sharing their lives through the manner of filming life as it happens through the “constant capture and broadcasting of one’s everyday life (The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life 9).” This gives off the amateur style of the Web 2.0 that ordinary people relate to. The characters and ordinary people similarly both share their experiences, stories and feelings to the world in the most personal, unscripted way possible. The similarity between these types of reality TV shows and user-generated video blogs is most blatant when the characters speak directly to the camera when telling their stories or sharing their feelings. Speaking directly to the camera is not something that would be incorporated in typical professional productions because it is a way of speaking directly to the world—just like ordinary people speak directly to the world when they talk into a webcam and post it on the web. Many TV shows—especially in the reality genre—utilize this amateur style which makes it feel even more realistic to the audience of Web 2.0 users.

More recently, this new style is also being used for some professional commercials as well. Windows' recent “I’m A PC” commercials not only personalize PCs with the "I am a PC" slogan, but also connect to modern consumers by using the user-generated manner of a home-made video commonly used by them on the web. Similarly, the new E-Trade commercials star a baby sitting at a computer talking to a web camera while clicking away, just as an ordinary person in today’s world of social media would be. Many weight loss commercials, such as Jenny Craig commercials, also appeal to modern consumers by having ordinary people tell their stories by speaking directly to a camera and showing photos, just as ordinary people do on the Web 2.0. This amateur style commercial seems to be becoming more popular as the Web 2.0 becomes more integrated into the everyday life of modern society.

In The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life, Manovich discusses the question of the Web 2.0’s impact on production quality. As demonstrated, the Web 2.0 has inspired a new style used in professional productions—a style of amateurism that imitates the way ordinary people produce content on the web. So, some may wonder if the effect of this decreases the quality of professional productions.

It seems, however, that the Web 2.0 inspiration does not cause professional production qualities to decrease. First of all, it only inspires one of many styles used by professionals, so it’s not like most professional productions are migrating toward an amateur feel of an approach. Secondly, the style itself is carried out rather professionally. Although it mimics the amateur manner reflected of the Web 2.0, the production in still delivered in a high-quality, professional way.

For example, the 2009 professionally produced movie My Suicide blatantly implements manners of the Web 2.0. Its plot revolves around the use of a personal webcam and the whole concept that even an amateur can produce something for a large audience to view. Many parts of it are recorded through the perspective of the main character recording his experiences and feelings on his camcorder and webcam. However, My Suicide does not appear as a low-quality or amateur-level film; it also contains high-quality editing and advanced techniques. Advanced cinematography skills and high-end artistic elements of graphic motions and video effects are weaved throughout the entire film, resulting in a high-quality film. Hence, this movie is an example of how “...art has experienced a growth, which parallels the rise of social media (The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life 15)” and directly relates to it.

While the Web 2.0 contributes to the innovation and effectiveness of this new style, and this new style also contributes to the increase in quality and acceptance of user-generated content submitted on the web. As McLuhan explains in The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life, there is in “unprecedented growth of numbers of people who upload...each other media” online—many of which are high-quality enough to “rival those produced by most well-known commercial companies and most well-known artists (15).” Ordinary people are now given the proper tools and outlets—like software, hosting sites and online communities to share—to produce their own content which can meet or even exceed the quality of professionalism. As McLuhan emphasizes, they can now put their work before a global audience (15), they can use new, high-end software tools, and they do not need a special license on creativity and innovation to do so (16). These doors have been opened up by the Web 2.0, and encouraged to open even more with the role of professional productions using new styles and strategies that revolve around the Web 2.0.

Here is a recent example of this two-way, symbiotic relationship. In August 2009, Hewlett-Packard teamed up with YouTube to host an online video contest called “HP You on You.” It invited anyone and everyone to submit a one-minute video explaining who you are and how HP technology has enhanced your spirit of innovation—all without showing you face. They would mimic the modern HP commercials that don’t reveal a face and embrace the new slogan: “The computer is personal again.” My submission in this contest is an example of the videos that were sent in, judged by a panel, and voted on by YouTube users and the public. Not only were ordinary people invited to submit a real commercial—mimicking real HP commercials—that would be used to market HP, but thousands of ordinary people on the Web 2.0 also were engaged through their voting participation. Hence, the Web 2.0 contributes to the innovation and effectiveness of a new style used by professionals, and professionals utilizing this new style contribute to the increase in quality and acceptance of user-generated content submitted on the web.

This new style in professional productions will continue to be effectively used in some movies, TV shows and commercial advertisements so long as this Web 2.0 craze remains a dominant component of our culture. However, it will only remain one of many professional styles; the overall quality and approach of all movies, TV shows and commercial advertisements will not lower. In fact, they may become even more high-tech, high-quality and professional as more and more high-tech software and technology are developed, and more people are educated on how to use them. This increase in quality and professionalism will most likely carry over to user-generated content on the web as well. As more and more high-tech software and technology are developed, and more people are encouraged to use them, the quality of user-generated content on the web will increase. Perhaps someday, the direct, symbiotic relationship between professional productions and the Web 2.0 will blur the line between professionalism and amateurism, opening an even wider doorway of opportunity.