Norsiah Abdul Hamid

Lady in Red: Framing the Representation of Women through Mise-En-Scène

Films are popular medium that can reflect and contribute to changes in cultural norms and values. The films represent reality by combining film elements with stories, expression of emotions, and creation of the expression. This study focuses on enabling audiences to view women in films through the aspects of mise-en-scene in a frame. In this study, the researchers applied close textual analysis on scenes of the main female characters in four Thai films of Bhandevanov Devakula, a Thai film director. The four selected films, namely, The Eternity, The Outrage, Jan Dara the Beginning, and Jan Dara the Finale, are samples of the study. Findings suggest that the aspects of mise-en-scene in the films constantly use the red colour in the scenes of the main female characters to show the confidence, non-innocence, or high sexual attractiveness of women. Moreover, red colour is also used to reflect the sexual desire of men. This study is significant because it facilitates understanding of the comprehensive use of each aspect of mise-en-scene. This study also provides an understanding of how mise-en-scene can frame the expression of women in films. This study also demonstrates that the textual analysis approach of a film offers a close reading to facilitate a deep understanding of the meaning of a film through the interaction of all elements. This study has implications for research on film studies, analysis of mise-en-scene, women in the media, and the film industry of Southeast Asia. Keywords : Film studies, woman, mise-en-scene, colour, framing.

Empowering citizen media through investigative journalism in Malaysia

Investigative journalism nowadays plays a crucial role in the democratization of a nation. This paper discusses a study conducted to examine the challenges of investigative journalism in Malaysia, the significance of journalism ethics and rules in Malaysia in the investigative journalism practices, and to suggest and recommend the ways and method to handle any future challenges in the investigative journalism world. The study employed a qualitative method in which an in-depth interview was carried out with three investigative journalism experts in Malaysia. The subjects were carefully selected through purposive sampling. In addition, the interview questions were constructed based on data collected from document analysis. It is important to gain an initial data on investigative journalism in Malaysia. Three main themes selected for the studies are communication, empowerment and governance. The incorporation and collaboration between these three themes influenced and moulded the practices of investigative journalism in the country. Results revealed that there are similar and different traits of investigative journalism practices in Malaysia. For the alternative media, passion is a must in coming down as a journalist and try to take a more courageous act in telling and serving truth to the public. Investigative journalism can continue to exist in the world of ubiquitous media and information overloaded.

Defining Malaysian Knowledge Society: Results from the Delphi Technique

This paper outlines the findings of research where the central idea is to define the term Knowledge Society (KS) in Malaysian context. The research focuses on three important dimensions, namely knowledge, ICT and human capital. This study adopts a modified Delphi technique to seek the important dimensions that can contribute to the development of Malaysian’s KS. The Delphi technique involved ten experts in a five-round iterative and controlled feedback procedure to obtain consensus on the important dimensions and to verify the proposed definition of KS. The finding shows that all three dimensions proposed initially scored high and moderate consensus. Round One (R1) proposed an initial definition of KS and required comments and inputs from the panel. These inputs were then used to develop items for a R2 questionnaire. In R2, 56 out of 73 items scored high consensus and in R3, 63 out of 90 items scored high. R4 was conducted to re-rate the new items, in which 8 out of 17 items scored high. Other items scored moderate consensus and no item scored low or no consensus in all rounds. The final round (R5) was employed to verify the final definition of KS. Findings and discovery of this study are significant to the definition of KS and the development of a framework in the Malaysian context.