Over the weeks, this was developed further through rough drafts, brainstorming ways to connect my research, incorporate my own voice and opinions, and relate everything back to my project. It was edited and changed naturally during the writing process, but these served as the foundations for my research and writing my literature review.

Initial Thoughts – Theme

I knew I wanted to scrape live data and visualise it in the animation. However, to maintain coherence, I needed a consistent theme — pulling data from too many unrelated sectors (like stocks, football scores, and social media trends) would have made the animation feel directionless. Initially, I experimented with scraping diverse data points, but this approach felt forced, disconnected, and lacked a clear narrative or emotional impact. I then shifted to focusing on media and mass communication, to portray a theme that offered strong, viable live data sources, aligned with the narrative I envisioned, and allowed me to draw meaningfully from personal experience. This is ->

1. Modern media is pervasive, and ever-changing

For media being pervasive, I found the main literature on which I would be basing my literature review on, and wrote down some points from each which would be useful to refer to in my literature review, and how to link them. This of course, would be expanded and written with a better sense of flow and explanation/context in the final literature review.

Webster, J.G., 2014. The Marketplace of Attention: How Audiences Take Shape in a Digital Age. United States: MIT Press.

_{the volume and diversity of ‘media content … [is] proliferating at such a rapid rate…that the supply of media is essentially infinite’}

^{leading onto…}

Jenkins, H., 2006. Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: NYU Press.

_{‘flow of content across multiple media platforms’.}

Media companies are learning how to accelerate the flow of media content across delivery channels to …

_{‘expand revenue opportunities, broaden markets, and reinforce viewer commitments’}

^{leading onto…}

Kopecka-Piech, K., 2015. Dimensions and effects of media saturation in open and closed spaces. Case studies of Sky Tower shopping mall and PIWO Light Show project. Studia Medioznawcze, 63, pp.51-63.

_{technological saturation…where media occupies and fills physical space through infrastructure and devices that support all forms of communication, from one-to-one to many-to-many; thus, all forms of media saturate spaces}

_{not only done by filling the environment with media, but the saturation of objects with media}

^{leading onto…}

Deuze, M., 2012. Media life. Cambridge: Polity Press.

_{‘we live in media’}

^{leading onto…}

Couldry, N. and Hepp, A., 2018. The mediated construction of reality. Cambridge: Polity Press.

_{the construction of reality is itself mediatized}

^{leading onto…}

The Availability Heuristic

_{the tendency to overvalue easily accessible information, regardless of its broader relevance}

^{leading onto…}

Tang, Q., & Gan, F. (2024). Media convergence: The cross-media communication revolution in the post-broadcast era.

 _{media is also no longer tethered to a singular mode of distribution; rather, it is disseminated through a multitude of channels and manifested across diverse formats}

^{leading onto…}

Castells, M. and Cardoso, G. eds., 2006. The Network Society: From knowledge to policy (pp. 3-23). Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins Center for Transatlantic Relations.]

_{as communication systems evolve to become more digitized and interactive, business communication is no longer confined to a singular, one-way structure. Rather, contemporary societies have transitioned from relying solely on centralized mass media to engaging with a decentralized and multifaceted media landscape, characterized by diverse media formats and fragmented audience segments. The flexibility and diversity of this system allow for the inclusion of a wider array of messages, integrating multiple sources of communication into a unified digital space. This technological adaptability enables a more interconnected flow of information, where all forms of communication—both traditional and new—can coexist and interact.}

^{leading onto…}

Buder, F., Pauwels, K. & Daikoku, K., 2021. The illusion of free choice in the age of augmented decisions. NIM Marketing Intelligence Review, 13(1), pp.46–51. doi:10.2478/nimmir-2021-0008.

_{appears tailored to us but is ultimately driven by algorithms, making our freedom of choice in this engagement illusory}

^{leading onto…}

Scheidt, S., 2025. The power of psychology in OOH: The mere exposure effect. Alight Media, 10 February. Available at: https://alightmedia.com/news/the-power-of-psychology-in-ooh-the-mere-exposure-effect

_{media seeping in unwittingly due to prevalence as marketers pander to the mere exposure effect – like public advertisements}

^{leading onto…}

I wanted to make sure this came across in my animation as well, and wrote the following as drafts for my literature review, talking about how the pervasiveness and dynamism of media would be portrayed in my project (inserted after research sections covering literature on the topic). I found some resources and started writing the research section of my literature review based on these ->

Luthar, B., & Pušnik, M. (2020). Intimate media and technological nature of sociality. New Media & Society, 23(5), 1257-1277. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820912387 (Original work published 2021)

_{The animation’s core visual motif is thus defined by the depiction of distinct forms of media and corresponding display interfaces in each scene. These selections are based on research into broad media categories and intentionally varied to reflect the diversity of media encountered in everyday life. The categories include social media, print media, advertising (or out-of-home media), website media, broadcast media, visual media, and streaming media—visualised respectively on a phone, newspaper, billboard, laptop, television, marquee, and radio. While the aforementioned media convergence persists, the intent here is not to emphasise the multiplicity of dissemination routes; rather, the variation is deliberate—to foreground the quiet omnipresence of media forms embedded in daily routines. By isolating each type and interface, showing it distinctly, the work encourages viewers to reflect on the subtle but pervasive role media plays in shaping everyday perception. The looped structure of the animation reinforces this idea, mirroring how routine and media exposure blend into a repetitive, near-automatic cycle—echoing what Luthar and Pušnik (2021) describe as the ‘routine compulsiveness of everyday life that is incredibly saturated with … media.’}

For media being ever-changing, I created another section, and ordered the flow of argument as follows:

Aishwarya Maran & J. Michael Raj, 2024. “Memory Retention and Cultural Resonance: Exploring the Impact of Ephemeral Digital Narratives,” Studies in Media and Communication, Redfame publishing, vol. 12(3), pages 277-291, September.

_{‘ephemerality has become the zeitgeist of the 21st century’}

^{leading onto…}

Chen, K.-J. and Cheung, H.L., 2019. Unlocking the power of ephemeral content: The roles of motivations, gratification, need for closure, and engagement. Computers in Human Behavior, 97, pp.67–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.03.007.

 _{media content is refreshed and uploaded constantly, each update offering something novel and stimulating, so to enhance user engagement by leveraging psychological triggers such as the fear of missing out, instant gratification, and perceived exclusivity}

^{leading onto…}

Jenkins, J. 2014. Recency Effect. In: Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics. , Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 1061 Available at: <https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452244723.n438>

_{the cognitive tendency to better remember and prioritize information encountered most recently}

^{leading onto…}

Sundar, S. S. (2008). The MAIN model: A heuristic approach to understanding technology effects on credibility. Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility, 731, 73–10

_{evident across various media domains; aggregator sites and search engine algorithms and prioritise recent updates and highlight them through routine interface cues like timestamps, which users often interpret as signals of relevance, and news headlines continuously renew, leveraging recency to drive engagement}

^{leading onto…}

Campbell, C., Sands, S., Treen, E.R., and McFerran, B., 2021. Fleeting, but not forgotten: Ephemerality as a means to increase recall of advertising. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 56(1), pp. 1-10. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2021.06.001

_{Advertising media also capitalises on this effect—when users know content is short-lived, they engage with it more attentively, enhancing recall and reinforcing the salience of the message}

Dynamism as reflected in my project ->

_{Hence, the project is characterised by real-time updates, constant renewal and replacement of all the media it displays. By frequently scraping live media sources, it monitors and visualises changes as they occur—highlighting how rapidly and relentlessly new media is presented to us. No media the character encounters is ever repeated, unless the source itself remains unchanged. This dynamic system accurately reflects the speed at which media updates, shifts, and becomes obsolete.} 

2. Thus, it rarely stays in our conscious memory, but embeds itself in the subconscious, subtly shaping us without our awareness.

Here too, I found the main literature off of which I would be basing my literature review on, and wrote down some points from each which would be useful to refer to in my literature review.

^{Vecsei, M.M.C.P., 2024. THE MASS MEDIA AND ITS MANIFOLD SOCIAL ROLES. THE US MEDIA–A CASE STUDY. Scientific Bulletin-Nicolae Balcescu Land Forces Academy, 29(1), pp.11-16.}

^{Taylor, T., 2024. You’ve Already Been Programmed: Here’s How the Media Uses Your Mind Against You. Medium.}

^{Ubani, Udo & Ihesiulor, Chikezie & Franklin, Osuchukwu. (2021). The Influence Of The Media On The Mind.}

^{Carr, N. (2010). The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.}

I wrote this roughly to expand upon later ->

The constant influx and ubiquity of media content deeply influences and shapes our subconscious.

The subconscious, closely tied to instinctive and emotional responses, passively absorbs and internalizes all experiences—even those we aren’t consciously aware of.

Psychologists suggest that images and signals from daily life are continuously stored at various levels of the subconscious and conscious mind (Luskin, 2012). This means that media embeds itself in layers of consciousness, leaving a significant impact by reinforcing beliefs and behaviors that may not be perceptible due to their presence in the more shallow levels of consciousness.

This impact can manifest in various ways, such as promoting disinhibition, imitation, and desensitization.

On a daily basis, our minds are constantly exposed to media programming through newspapers, music, television, the internet, and advertisements, all of which contribute to this ongoing influence.

Media strategies have become increasingly aggressive, while audiences have grown more discerning, prompting the constant innovation of new tactics to fully capture and retain public attention (Ubani, Udo & Ihesiulor, Chikezie & Franklin, Osuchukwu 2021).

For example, in advertising, content uses repeated slogans and imagery to create positive brand associations and subtly influence future purchasing decisions. Similarly, audiovisual media shape public opinion by repeatedly portraying certain characters and behaviors, gradually shaping public views and embedding them in the subconscious, often without conscious awareness (Taylor, 2024).

Thus, a paradox is created, wherein media simultaneously captures attention momentarily and encourages surface-level engagement, but subtly shapes deeper subconscious influences. While our minds passively absorb information from daily life, these experiences are internalized imperceptibly.

3. Precedents and Thematic Influences

Projects such as Listening Post by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin (2001) offer a strong precedent for combining media critique with real-time or near-real-time experiences. This multimedia installation presents a nuanced portrayal of online communication, rendering thousands of simultaneous conversations as fragmented yet continuous data flows. Random words appear on a grid of screens and are vocalised through overlapping text-to-speech, creating haunting, unexpected harmonies.

At its core, Listening Post is an attempt to make sense of the patterns and rhythms that emerge from thousands of independent online conversations. The installation surfaces macro-level patterns in how people communicate, even as content continuously shifts. As Rubin and Hansen explain, “Perhaps our most important goal is to give visitors a sense of what people were talking about,” emphasising the project’s intent to represent not only the form of digital dialogue but also its content (Rubin & Hansen, 2002). Though it is technically impossible to render all data in real time, the work aims to convey the scale and dynamism of digital forums through an approximation of real-time responsiveness. This temporal fluidity is integral to the design, expressing the ephemerality and variability of digital communication. This makes each viewing varied, such that “if [the audience] return in a week’s time, the subjects will be different” (Rubin & Hansen, 2002), reinforcing the fast-paced nature of contemporary media and our connection to it. The result is a deeply affective experience, prompting reflection on the emotional weight of digital life. As Rubin and Hansen note, “People’s reactions have tended to be emotional reactions to the content itself” (Rubin & Hansen, 2003), showing how immediacy and media critique stir intimacy, anxiety, and existential reflection.

This Is Our World by Steve Cutts also provides a strong example of an artistic piece concerning media critique, this time through the lens of narrative animation—using storytelling and visuals to portray media saturation and the psychological impact of today’s media environment. The viewer is introduced to a character who is increasingly ignored, despite his efforts to connect, as those around him remain absorbed in their phones. This framing critiques a media-saturated world through the lens of the main character, highlighting a public that prefers mediated experiences over real-life interaction. Using animation as a medium is particularly effective because of its inherent malleability—the ability to distort and reimagine reality allows it to express abstract ideas with ease. Within narrative film, this flexibility enables creators to externalize psychological states, visualize media overload, and employ metaphor in ways that live-action often cannot. In This Is Our World, for instance, the merging of characters into a monolithic mass becomes a striking symbol for homogenized, surface-level media consumption—something animation can render seamlessly through its fluid, expressive form. The stylistic choices serve to externalize interior states—alienation, invisibility, cognitive fatigue—in ways live-action often struggles to achieve, making animation a uniquely effective form for this kind of critique.

The ubiquity and constant evolution of modern media and its subconscious effects make it an important subject of exploration. As the omnipresence of media becomes an undeniable reality, the discussion about media messages becomes a necessary and vital one to have (Vecsei, M.M.C.P., 2024).  As Kopecka (2015) warns, there is a real danger that such saturation will only be acknowledged when its negative consequences are already uncontrollable or irreversible. Yet, this saturation also presents potential if approached ethically and critically. When guided by clear communicative principles, the pervasive nature of media could be harnessed for positive influence. This positions media saturation as a new transdisciplinary challenge, demanding collaboration across psychology, ethics, communication, and technology .In the context of the 21st century, media study has become central to understanding the complex relationship between media and the mind, revealing both the crises and benefits that emerge from this connection (Ubani, Udo & Ihesiulor, Chikezie & Franklin, Osuchukwu, 2021).

Time Management

Specific	I plan to develop a dynamic animation that changes every time it runs or loops because it incorporates newly scraped data into the visualization.
Measurable	I will evaluate my work by documenting my process with screenshots and detailed blog entries, organised according to the different phases of the project. My goal is to ensure that I follow the project management plan I set for myself, minimizing any deviations. Even if some tasks within a phase are not completed on time, I aim for the overall phase to be finished by the set deadline. Additionally, I want to achieve noticeable variation in the data incorporated into the animation on each run, measurable either by timestamps visualised or noticeable changes in content, so that the difference is discernible to the viewer.
Achievable	I plan to follow the timeline outlined in my Gantt chart while allowing time to experiment with different techniques and approaches before my deadline. To ensure I can deliver a minimum viable product on time, I will prepare fallback options ranked by difficulty, so if one method proves unfeasible, I can quickly pivot to another. This means I aim to explore various animation software, data visualization tools, and data scraping methods early on, enabling me to select the approach that best supports meeting my deadline.
Relevant	I aspire to work in the film and animation sector and am currently a prospective intern at a media company where data analysis plays a key role. Therefore, I want to refine my data scraping and handling skills while staying connected to the industry I’m passionate about. This project will help me identify gaps in my knowledge, expand my creative practice within the field, and better prepare me for my data-related role in film, and in the future, a creative role in film.
Time-Bound	I aim to complete the research and planning phase within the first month of the project. This includes gathering and writing up research materials, investigating precedent projects, and exploring thematic influences, so my thesis writing progresses smoothly. Over the following months until mid-May, I plan to work on multiple aspects simultaneously—animating while scraping and visualizing data—to allow ample time for iterative development, experimentation, and learning from mistakes. Since my project requires a flexible, non-linear workflow with frequent back-and-forth, I intend to work on at least three different phases from my Gantt chart each business day, dedicating balanced time to each to avoid focusing too narrowly on one area while neglecting others. The final week will be reserved exclusively for finishing touches and adjustments.

Features	Must Have	Should Have	Could Have	Won’t Have
Data scraped and visualized in a proximation of real-time, and changing each time the animation is run, reflecting the dynamic nature of the data being collected and displayed.	✓
The animation plays in a loop to reflect the structural similarity of every day life, in contrast to the fleeting nature of media		✓
Data is scraped from at least seven distinct sources, each representing a different media category from prior research (social media, print media, advertising media, website media, broadcast media, audiovisual media and streaming media).	✓
Implement dynamic camera movements in Blender to enhance the visibility of the data visualization and increase how engaging it is.		✓
Simple data movement(e.g., headlines following a character and being replaced instantly)	✓
Complex data animation (e.g., headlines styled in unique fonts, moving professionally with independent behaviors/identities)			✓
Complex and detailed animation style				✓