Giving voice to media production

From the mid 1970s on the production of media has seen numerous changes that have been described using many overlapping concepts, such as flexible accumulation, network society, and digital capitalism (Mayer, 2013: 5). All of these are related to policies broadly defined as neoliberalism (Mayer, 2013: 5). As Hesmondhalgh and Baker, drawing on Menger (2006), point out, creative work has become characterised by ‘extreme flexibility, autonomy, tolerance of inequality, innovative forms of teamwork’ (Hesmondhalgh and Baker 2011: 387). Adding to this, Deuze articulates that workstyles in the media are defined by ‘informal networks among generally short-term (and often freelance) employed professionals within a broader industry dominated by project-based work (Deuze, 2007: 61). Although this kind of work brings more autonomy it also poses its challenges. In this blog we will critically analyze freelance creative work by drawing on the works of Hesmondhalgh and Baker, Mayer, and Deuze on media production. In order to do this, we will give voice to someone who personally experienced the transition in the market. Moving along the timeline of Ricardo Hippert’s work experience we will address concepts like autonomy, digitalization, project-based work, convergence, and explore two initiatives that respond to these changes in different ways: Elance and SEBRAE.

Ricardo Hippert, a 44 year old graphic designer from Brazil and exchange student at Radboud University, shared some of his experiences of working in the creative sector in Rio de Janeiro. Over a cup of coffee, he told us about his life before he came to the Netherlands.

“I started working for Design Studio Eg. Design (http://egdesign.com.br/) in Rio de Janeiro as an intern in 1994. After my graduation in 1995, when I obtained my bachelor in Graphic Design at the Federal University in Rio, I became junior designer and later on senior designer.” He shows us his website (www.hipdesign.com.br): “In 2008 I left the studio to start my own company: Hip Design”. His company still thrives today, but to the question whether he misses his job at Eg. Design, he answers full heartedly: “Yes”.  Hippert sketches a nice, warm environment in the studio of Eg. Design, where there was no rigid hierarchy, but a community of professionals collaborating on projects and managing clients. This type of ‘soft-control’ is often seen as essential to creative labour (Hartley et al., 2013:63). Among others he worked for the largest TV channel in Brazil, made book covers for several publishers and he collaborated with journalists. This illustrates what Deuze points out as the networked character of the media production process that encompasses many industries outsourcing various elements in the production process to save costs and redistribute risks (Deuze, 2007: 58). During his years at the studio, Hippert witnessed a series of changes in the creative industries.

With digitalization, the Internet and commodification of creativity came less formal working conditions and a high rate of entrepreneurship (Deuze, 2007: 50). He underlines the digitalization he witnessed in the early 1990s when the personal computer became much more accessible. “Access to Intel 386/486 microprocessor powered PC’s (http://www.cpu-world.com/) and graphic softwares like CorelDRAW (http://community.coreldraw.com/) flooded the market with people that started to consider themselves as designers.” This development is marked by others as the ‘cult of the amateur’ (Hartley et al., 2013: 100), that brought the illusion that performing design was just related to mixing beautiful fonts with vivid colours. “Gradually some clients didn’t recognize the real work behind a logotype, a folder or a CD cover. Much more than fonts and colours, it is related to the understanding of the client’s needs, developing a concept, translating this into graphics and delivering it correctly to production. Also the printing process became more accessible with copy shops businesses opening everywhere, dismissing the designer’s technical knowledge.” And so, a new model of social structure was taking form and created new patterns framing the creative industries (Mayer, 2013: 3). As we see today, this change brought new proportions to human agency and media production that is now embedded in our domestic life. Producing media like books, CDs or magazines is widely achievable with the help of digital platforms and dozens of DIY tutorials on the Internet (Mayer, 2013:13).

In 2008 Hippert started his own company and started working from his home office. In addition to his own clients he collaborated with other companies, including his former employer Eg. Design. As Deuze states ‘these kind of project-based inter- and intracompany strategic alliances are typical for work [in] the creative industries’ (Deuze, 2007: 60). According to Hippert, this corresponds to a shift in employment, “you hire a company instead of an individual and thereby, it becomes a business to business relation and no longer a  boss-employee relationship”. In 2011 Eg. Design followed the same path and operated from the owners’ home office. “The main reasons were the expenses of renting a studio, high taxes and the competition with other graphic designers.” This was made possible through two intertwined processes that have a profound impact on media production: convergence of place and convergence of technology (Deuze, 2007: 70). The computer has become an ‘universal machine’ that integrates work and play. Because of this, the boundary between home and office loses its significance (Deuze, 2007: 70).

Hippert calls attention to a recent development of the platform Elance, an Upwork company. Through this platform clients and freelancers can ‘hire and work with the world’s most talented independent professionals’ (https://www.elance.com). “Elance is a new independent and parallel world with its own dynamics and rules, powered by the Internet and a system that provides a trusted workplace. It brings a concept of a globalised community.” Hippert adds with a smile, “Elance is just becoming a new opponent, unless I decide to work inside its framework and its own competitive market.”

Hippert points to another initiative. “SEBRAE (Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service) (www.sebrae.com.br) is a non-profit private entity that promotes the sustainable and competitive development of small businesses. Its framework provides subsidy in the areas of design, innovation, productivity, intellectual property, quality, sustainability and ICT.” So, SEBRAE holds positive consequences for both clients, providers, and the Brazilian economy as a whole, since small businesses generate 52% of employment in Brazil (www.sebrae.com.br). Hippert’s company is one of the registered providers: “the framework is very fair since regulated services costs are compatible with the marketplace, much more so than the Elance system.”

Although there are many more issues related to media production that are worth discussing, the interview with Hippert draws attention to some of the key changes in creative labour and some of the challenges of freelance creative work. Hippert misses the collaborative atmosphere at the studio during his years at Eg. Design, a business model too expensive in the competitive neoliberal market. Because of ‘the cult of the amateur’ and severe competition with other companies, working as a project-based entrepreneur from an home-based office is almost unavoidable. This provides autonomy and freedom, but presents insecurities and risks as well. Hippert provided us with the examples of Elance and SEBRAE, two platforms that respond differently to the challenges of freelance creative work. But still, even with the help of platforms such as SEBRAE, he sometimes finds himself struggling as a creative worker. However, he remains hopeful for the future. “There is much to come and I hold an optimistic view about the way creative workers are joining in creative clusters to seek new opportunities together”.

B.L., E.K., L.C., N.R., R.H.

Thesis: Keeping ‘the cult of the amateur’ in mind, are initiatives like Elance a threat or an opportunity for creative professionals?

Literature

Deuze, M. (2007), ‘Creative Industries, Convergence Culture and Media Work’, in: Media Work. Cambridge & Malden: polity

Hartley, J., Potts, J., Cunningham, S., Flew, T., Keane, M. & Banks, J. (Red.). (2013) Key concepts in Creative Industries London: Sage Publications

Hesmondhalgh, D. & Baker, S. (2011), ‘Toward a Political Economy of Labor in the Media Industries’, in: Janet Wasko, Gragham Murdock & Helena Sousa (eds.), The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications. Blackwell Publishing

Mayer, V. (2013), ‘Making Media Production Visible’, in: Vicki Mayer (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Volume II: Media Production. Blackwell Publishing, 2013.

Websites:

http://community.coreldraw.com/share/b/gerard/archive/2007/10/26/a-little-history-of-coreldraw-graphics-suite (Oktober 11, 2015)

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/80486/ (Oktober 11, 2015)

http://egdesign.com.br/ (Oktober 10, 2015)

http://www.hipdesign.com.br/  (Oktober 10, 2015)

http://www.sebrae.com.br/sites/PortalSebrae/canais_adicionais/sebrae_english (Oktober 12, 2015)

Welcome to Amélieland Paris !

     "Welcome to the quartier of Amélie Poulain" is the sentence that greets tourists in rue Lepic, one of the common Montmartre places in the famous French film Amélie (2001) directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The film that succeeded to transcend the boundaries of the French cinema market was exported internationally with more than 23 millions entrance tickets sold. Consequently, the Amélie phenomenon has exceeded the status of national success and has become a kind of symbol of French culture and the French film industry in the world. Through the case of Jeunet's film we will explore and question the process of appropriation theorized by Stijn Reijnders in 'Places of the imagination: an ethnography of the TV detective tour' and analyze the city of Paris as a "Global Media Capital" as well as the French cinema industry through the particular policy of cultural exception.

   Amélie tells the story of a thirty-year-old woman living in the romantic district of Montmartre in Paris. As a waitress, Amélie spends her time observing people’s lives and lets her imagination create her own world. Joyful and optimistic as she is, she decides to do good around her, by cunning stratagems she spreads love and happiness in the life of the inhabitants of Montmartre. Obviously, in her quest for altruism Amélie finally meets prince charming and finds her own happy ending. The film as a modern fairy tale conveys a fantasist atmosphere and superimposes the real world of Paris and the historical district of Montmartre with the fairytale world of Amélie. Even today, almost fifteen years after the release of Amélie the fascination for the film and its characters is still present. Thus, for many tourists visiting Paris their image of the city is determined by this film. They go to see the city of Amélie. This phenomenon is called media pilgrimage. For this reason the municipality of Paris created a page on its website to explain the route of Amélie in Montmartre: from Rue Lepic to Café des Deux Moulins, including Sacré-Coeur basilica and Saint-Martin canal, so both fans of the film and neophytes can explore the film’s key places in real life.  

   To better understand this fascination for the Paris of Amélie, let's introduce the concept of Stijn Reijnders elaborating on the theorization of Nora about the need of memorization in our society. According to Pierre Nora, modern society is characterized by its obsession with the past. In this idea he introduces the term of "lieux de mémoire" (places of memory/remembrance) to refer to places that can function as memorials. From this starting point, Reijnders creates the second concept of "lieux d'imagination". What he calls "lieux d'imagination" are references which enable to construct and cross the boundary between an imagined and a real world. Thus, this boundary between what is “inside” and “outside” the media, the unreal and real world created by the media, can be transcended by tourists thanks to the process of media pilgrimage. In Amélie's case, we can see that the locations in the actual Montmartre are used for memorializing and reliving the fictional events of the film. Rue Lepic, the principal street of the movie where Amélie lives or the Café des Deux Moulins where Amélie works consequently become symbolic places. 

    Even some famous French touristic guides of Paris (Michelin, Le Routard) redraw a kind of Amélie Poulain's tour in Montmartre. Amélie creates a diegetic world in which the fans to go further in the core of the narrative. The appropriation by the municipality and touristic guides with the creation of a media pilgrimage, the Amélie’s Tour, creates a new reading of the city.

    The explanation of this unusual success can be found in the particular character of the French film industry and the dynamism of the capital. Indeed, Paris is a cultural and creative centre for the French cultural film production, a favorite place of filming, and it houses more than a hundred theatres which correspond to around three hundred of performances every week. The dynamism of the city, as the core of the French cultural industries, also comes from the proliferation of cultural places: almost two hundred museums, exhibitions and plenty of historical and touristic locations such as the famous district of Montmartre, the backdrop of Amélie. As a creative city, it attracts artists and what Richard Florida calls the "Creative Class": 

"People in science and engineering, architecture and design, education, arts, music and entertainment whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology, and new creative content."

   Consequently, according to Michael Curtin, we can consider Paris a "Global Media Capital" because of its logic of accumulation: merging media and culture. But also as a real reservoir of creativity, creating creative migrations towards the idea of Creative Class who are appealed by the cultural dynamism. However, if Paris is a real cultural capital for the rest of France we can observe that at an international level, the influence of French cultural products is to a lesser extent. Indeed, through globalization, American goods also take a huge place within the French market. American films are more numerous than French ones in corresponding to a half of the distribution. In consequence, the French government tries to play a significant role in protecting French culture and securing the pivotal role of the cultural industries in the market. Financial support is provided thanks to a national institution devoted to the cinema since the end of the Second World War: the CNC (National Center of Cinematography). Moreover, a cultural policy was introduced to preserve French culture including the French cinema industry, this is the principle of "cultural exception". The cultural exception concept was principally launched in order to preserve the cultural goods from the hollywoodian wave and establishes a quota of French films broadcasted on television.

    Returning to the dream like setting of Amélie, this film conveys a stereotypical, nostalgic and idealized view of Paris. It is a dream-like and imaginary Paris, colorful and proper where neighbours know each other. There is no conflict in the world of Amélie apart from personal problems that are happily solved by the protagonist. Consequently, the international success of Amélie can also come from its content and the idealized and stereotypical view of France. This particular view puts it in the general perspective of the manipulation of the masses by the media which can have harmful effects. In this way, tourists who have unrealistic expectations of Paris suffer from a psychological syndrome associated to the cultural shock they experience: the "Paris syndrome". Mostly Japanese, these tourists suffer of a psychiatric breakdown when confronted with the reality of the Western megalopolis.

   The world of Amélie has spread its boundaries over the existence of a simple film. Through a Montmartre tour, fans can confront real and imagined world in the key locations of the film in the actual city of Paris. This media pilgrimage is due to the film’s international success. This success can be ascribed to different aspects. Firstly it succeeded because of the dynamism of the capital as a creative and cultural city as well as the important support provided by the French government and secondly, by contributing to the idealization and disneyfication of Paris. Nevertheless, the gap between the real and imagined world can be too huge and the confrontation does not always proceed as smoothly as desired.

B.L., E.K., L.C., N.R., R.H.

Thesis proposal: The media love fairy tales

Literature

Curtin, Michael. "Global Media Capital and Local Media Policy" In The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications by  Janet Wasko, Gragham Murdock, and Helena Sousa. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2011.

Rejinders, Stijn. "Places of the imagination: an ethnography of the TV detective tour" In Cultural Geographies, 2010.

Websites

http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2008/05/16/le-boom-du-theatre-a-paris_1045902_3246.html

http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/oct/18/amelie-sweet-smell-success

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6197921.stm

http://www.persee.fr/doc/polix_0295-2319_2003_num_16_61_1259