Robert Frank's Work

Robert Frank

http://americanart.si.edu/images/1974/1974.31.2_1b.jpg

http://www.yale.edu/amstud/r66/fr1.html

http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue2/images/frank_sickofgoodbyes.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue2/sixreflectionsfrank.htm&h=323&w=222&sz=39&tbnid=ILI9x2SdEtRoPM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=81&prev=/images?q=robert+frank&start=2&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=2


http://zingmagazine.com/zing3/reviews/043_frank.html

http://www.yale.edu/amstud/r66/fr4.html

Essay Plan

Question: using examples from film or television or photography, discuss how authenticity is constructed in the media in relation to one or more historical events.
(2000 word essay)

key words: archieve footage, reconstructions, dates and places, selection, multimedia texts, reporters,

• The idea of authenticity is the idea that something is real and true to what someone or something has represented or 're-presented'.
• Many people in a post modern society have learnt to not believe everything they hear within the media and challenge it. However many things can seem very authentic when it has been encorporated in us for a number of years, slowly manipulating us to believe certain ideologies over a period of time that we eventually don't challenge it anymore.
• The construction of television, film and even in photographs all have hidden messages and in a way sabliminal messages that connote meanings.
• Reality television is one major influence in constructing the idea of authenticity because it is supposidly in real time and unscripted. However debates against reality television is vast with ex-Big Brother contestants claiming they had been unfairly misrepresented, the idea of editing in a reality programme, selective highlights chosen when the majority of people tuned in to watch, the 24hr surveillence that that tunes out the audio when something is being said that they wouldn't like them to. All of these debates on reality t.v alone.
• In cinema, films made about real people are constructed to show highlights of their lives that are famous or 'worht' noting. Normally films on people or historical events that had great influences on the world that many people have been affected by. Films such as: Ray (2004), Malcolm X (1992), Ali (2002), JFK (1990), Troy (2004) etc.
• Over a period of time certain programmes are made to make out they were done in real time in order to appeal to the mindset of their audiences who want to believe they are authentic.
• Famous photographs from wars or magazines are probably the most authentic piece of medium the media can use as they are to be viewed in stills where the viewer would have to assume what has happened and by not being told on many occasions what is going on in the photo it seems more authentic because nothing else is clouding their observations but their own trail of thought.

Television and film texts:

• I'm a Celebrity
• Big Brother
• Crimewatch
• A History of Britain (other documentary programmes)

In relation to historical events, film, television and photography are key to the media constructing the idea of authenticity. It is impossible to make anything authentic because we can never see the full picture from every side, every opinion and every medium. However the ways they use what they have to construct the idea is a long thought out process to appeal to a core audience. Films take months to make, telvision programmes gather information that is vital to the cause and regularly come on to show developments like on news channels. And photographs show history in an iconic way; when we hear about the student shootings at Kent State University during the Vietnam War we see the image of the girl screaming by the dead person to suggest a range of opinions about what the feelings about the war were at that time it was going on.

Historical events to focus on:

• Vietnam War
• Iraq War
• 9/11
• World War 2
• Civil Rights Movement
• Minors Strike
  

References:
http://www.sinomania.com/china_image_archive/photo_albums/china_2000-/2004homepage_nextlevel_pix_kent-state.htm