Blog Post 12: Extra Credit

Before attending RTF 305 I had hardly had a handle on the workings of Facebook.  The blog was definitely a completely new experience.

The blogs helped to force the application of the course material.  They made you think about what it was that you were saying when talking about the RTF concepts and helped to give insight into how those concepts are used.  It was also a great tool to help study for the tests. 

The only thing that was a little frustrating at times was they limited ability to manipulate the actual blog page with inserting pictures; it could be my lack of computer knowledge though.  Finding examples was a bit of a challenge at times.  I was always concerned as to whether or not the example would fit the prompt.  No major issues though.

The ability to check other people’s blogs to see how they answered the prompt or how they may have formatted their post was a great help.  Whenever I happened to get stuck I would just go see how others interpreted the prompt to help get me get started, and if it was a technical problem I would just ask or call some people to help me out.

One of my personal favorite posts was the one about long, medium and close up shots.  I thought it was fun to look through a film and discover those scenes in the movie.  It gave me a new perspective on film techniques and exactly why some shots are the way they are.  It was also cool to look through some films and find where these techniques were used and how effectively they were at that.

I think the use of a blog, as long as it doesn’t become overly cumbersome, is a great way to engage the students in the material they are learning and to apply it in a way that reflects their personal opinions. 

The use of a more obvious grading scale would have made the blogs less stressful.  Often times I found myself spending excessive amounts of time on the blogs making them far too long in the fear of not getting that third point. 

Yes, you can use my blog in a paper or report.

Blog Post 11: Globalization

Globalization can be defined simply as the way by which nations become more interrelated and alleviate dissimilarities in their respective culture and between their people.  This process of unification is enhanced with new technologies, phones and the internet for example, which allows for even easier communication and transference of ideas and media. 

Hybridization, a part of globalization, is the use of an idea or formulaic success that has occurred in one nation and attempts to adjust it to a new nation in the hopes of having a similar success.  The mixing of ideas, that of which were formally separated by the boundaries of each individual nation, allows for nations to evolve their cultures with outside ideas and may eventually yield a completely new culture altogether. 

A perfect example of hybridization is exemplified through the expansion of the Top Model series.  Originally beginning in America with America’s Next Top Model, the show has now branched production to a plethora of new countries creating such subsequent series as Canada’s, Australia’s, Britain’s, Brazil’s and Vietnam’s Next Top Model.  This not only portrays the hybridization of the media format of the show being a success but also the portrayal of a cultural standard that is slowly being established globally by the show.  The competition is for the most part identical in each country and the contestants are for the most part similar in appearance, thus gradually setting a global standard for beauty among women.  The different series, the American and the Brazil for example, have also intermixed themselves on the actual show with guest judges and trips to foreign countries.  This cultural crossover on the show only furthers the globalization effect with the two cultures interacting with each other on the same medium, in regards to the shows formula and the image of the people on it.

Blog Post 10: Advertising Appeals

This advertisement for Axe body spray is powerful and persuasive in such a hyperbolic sense that it is comical.  Not only does it make a claim that by purchasing the body spray will a man, regardless of demeanor, have an army of overzealous lustful women hunting him down like wolves to their prey but it also makes a statement about women as well, presenting the idea that all one needs to sway a woman’s attention is a little body spray.  On the surface level most people will view the advertisement as an obvious exaggeration; however, subconsciously the message of body spray giving a man power over women is still present and taken from the commercial.  Many people know the commercial is obviously unrealistic, yet they still go to the store and buy the axe body spray.  This goes to prove the point that some of the most persuasive commercials are not the ones that force one to buy a product but rather the commercials that present an idea to someone to which they unconsciously accept as fact: hegemonic advertisements.

This commercial clearly demonstrates a use of the advertisement appeal of sex and affiliation to commandeer its audience into a purchase.  This particular form of advertising appeal presents a product and how buying that product is affiliated with “getting the girl” or some kind of ostentatious fantasy.  These commercials usually use sex appeal to get the audience member to buy the product with scantily-clad women and half naked men. 

In this particular commercial, the techniques of sex appealing advertisements are taken to the farthest extreme.  The advertisement does not only promise the user of the axe body spray hundreds of women but rather that these women will be so passionately attracted to the user that they will traverse mountains, forests, and oceans to get a piece of him in their lustful hot women frenzy.  The commercial spares no expenses both in that every woman in the commercial is wearing a bikini and fits perfectly within the ideal dimensions of the standard of beauty which the media has also done so well at creating.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tWZB7OUSU

Blog Post 9: Three Act Structure

The three act structure has three components that define the beginning, middle and end of a film.  The first portion, the beginning, serves as the introduction that sets the precedence for the film and establishes characters, setting and the initial conflict.  Once it reaches the first plot point, at the end of the introduction, the act comes to a close as the stakes escalate and there is an implication of complications to be resolved in the second act.  The first act is usually around thirty minutes long.  The second act, the complications lasting between thirty and sixty minutes, brings forth the main conflict of the film.  The second plot point marks the end of the second act; much like the first plot point propels action into the next act and asks a question that the next act will answer.  The final act, the resolution, resolves the conflicts of the film.  This act structure is usually used for quest stories, triumphant tales and films with happy endings.  The films generally focus on a single protagonist, end with a clear resolution, are goal oriented, and flow in a chronological order.

The film Avatar is a great example of a three act structure.  The introduction, act one, of the film establishes the setting of Pandora and the main characters: Jake Sully, Dr. Grace Augustine, Colonel Miles Quaritch, Trudy Chacon, etc.  As the first act develops, Jake Sully is being slowly immersed into a strange new world.  The stage is set for the plot to unfold when Jake finally enters Pandora’s environment.  The first plot point comes when Jake is left stranded in Pandora’s harsh environment and forced to survive on his own.  This is the point at which the characters and the setting have been well established and now the action transitions toward the main conflict of the story, Jake and his interactions with the natives and Pandora itself.  The defining scene toward this transition to a new complication is personified in Neytiri’s attempt to kill Jake Sully only to recall her arrow at the sight of the strange floating seed from the tree of souls. 

The second act goes deeper into the relationship between Jake Sully and Neytiri and shows him slowly learning their ways to one day be accepted to forewarn them of an impending fate.  Near the end of the act Jake is given an ultimatum to get the Na’vi to leave Home Tree within the hour by Colonel Miles Quaritch and Parker Selfridge.  At this point Jake addresses his reasons for learning the Na’vi’s culture and Neytiri rejects him saying he will “never be one of the people”.  This escalates the stakes for Jake has not only failed to help the people but has also ruined his statues in the community.  The act ends with the destruction of Home Tree that was symbolic of the last form of mediation between the humans and the Na’vi. 

The final act centers on the conflict between the humans and the Na’vi as the film begins the resolve the underlying issue that has always been present.  With their home destroyed and the humans aiming to attack, the Na’vi, and their non-Na’vi assistance, rally together in one final retaliation.  This scene lasts for about forty minutes to an hour and ends with the dramatic battle between Jake Sully and Colonel Miles Quaritch.  The climax of the act is the final resolution between the battle of these two who epitomize the polarities of integration and destruction.  After the death the Quaritch, the climax of the movie is resolved and the rest is merely the falling action. 

Blog Post 8: TV Sitcoms

Many TV sitcoms have a very episodic narrative structure.  Episodic shows allow for all of the focus of the generally only thirty minute show to be allocated to a specific issue that is only a major factor in that episode.  With such a condensed format, sitcoms are able to present a quickly developed conflict with polar ideals, hyperbolic attitudes and in most cases constant humor.  In contrast to dramas, normally an hour long, serious, serial in structure and regularly acted, sitcoms are arguably a cathartic simulation of opinions on specific issues by which an audience can identify with or refute with their obstreperous formula of presenting the conflict at hand. 

With each episode a character of a sitcom reacts to the issue of the episode in different ways, and audience members identify with their favorite characters.  Through each episode the character develops as a result of the conflict and adds to their dimension.  Because of this, audience members can become better attached to their favorite characters and see how they handle certain conflicts in condensed situations. 

With such an episodic format, sitcoms are also able to address many more issues than dramas which generally focus and deeply develop only a few conflicts over a span of many episodes.  At the beginning of every episode, for the most part without regard to two part episodes and season finales, the slate is wiped clean.  The characters are usually the only constant in sitcoms with the issue of the episode being the only driving force at any plot development and conflict. 

One of the greatest examples of a sitcom utilizing an episodic is The Simpsons.  In each episode a new issue is addressed, usually correlating to and/or parodying the current political agenda or other TV show.  The characters of the show and their basic attributes are the only constant throughout the series, and they are affected by the happenings of the particular episode at hand having more depth added based on the issue.  With a thirty-minute airtime and an episodic format, The Simpsons is able to maintain a hyperbolic and comical presentation of focused episodes on specific issues and events.

Blog Post 7: Long, Medium, and Close Up shots

The cinematographic progression of scenes usually follows the order of a long shot to a medium shot and finally a close up.  Using this technique, it is easy to establish the setting in the long shot, define the characters and provide a focus in the medium shot, and finally relay the important details and emotions in the close up.  Though this is normally a steadfast formula for a scene, there can be an even more dramatic effect with the reversal of this progression.  A great example of this reverse progression comes from the classic “flying” scene in James Cameron’s Titanic.

Instead of focusing immediately on the setting, the attention of the first part of the scene establishes the emotions of the characters with the use of close up shots.  Rose has slight feelings of uncertainty initially and through the close up it is well conveyed while simultaneously being juxtaposed to Jack’s confidence.

Following the close up, the progression moves to a medium shot to move the focus away from the emotions of the characters and more toward the setting they are in.  The scene is not focused on the two characters emotions individually but rather on them together in a broader sense.   

The progression then goes to the long shot to finally establish the scope of the scene.  It establishes Jack and Rose at the front of the enormous Titanic and reorients the viewer to the fact of where they are.  This progression, reverse from the standard, goes from an intimate close up to an ostentatious long shot.

Then to add even more dimension to the scene, the camera returns to an extreme close up to establish the emotional response of the scene and the change in Rose’s emotions of uncertainty to sentimentalities of trust.

(screenshots from the movie Titanic)

Blog Post 6: Studio Systems

One of the critical aspects of the studio system was the use of reoccurring genres to which audiences repeatedly flocked to.  A genre discerns a specific type of film with a fingerprint formula to which the audience can form a fixed preconception of the film before ever setting foot in the movie house.  Like the star system with its use of familiar stars to promote movies, a film’s specific genre gave the audience member a drive to see a movie that was similar to a movie they had already seen. 

Through this aspect of the studio system, such genres of comedy, drama, action, horror, science fiction, classics, family, westerns, animation, documentary, and foreign have given rise and developed into the bread and butter of the movie industry.  Because the movie industries had these reproducible templates, mass production of similar movies with similar themes became the norm.  The genres affected the kinds of movies produced by giving a simple way for making movies that were generally widely accepted by the audience and the movie industries did not have to worry about the risk of not having appeal to get the viewer to the theater. 

A prime example of a genre appealing to an audience is the persistence of the John Wayne’s eighty-four westerns.  From the 20s to the 70s, westerns were a staple for the average moviegoer as John Wayne’s massive empire portrays.  The dominance of this genre is an example of how this part of the studio system worked toward capturing the attention of audience members to go to a movie that was familiar yet still a new experience. 

Blog Post 5: Malcolm in the Middle & All in the Family

While All in the Family depicts an older family mainly revolving around Archie Bunker and his introduction to controversial issues, Malcolm in the Middle portrays a family of chaos from the perspective of Malcolm and the affects that his and his brothers’ behavior has on his parents and society.  All in the Family shows depicts the desensitizing of controversial issues from the perspective of Archie who is unwilling to accept change; however, Malcolm in the Middle presents controversial issues from an advocate’s perspective through Malcolm.  The generation gap between the 1970s, the time period All in the Family is, to the 21^st century in which Malcolm in the Middle is a major reason for the differences in perspective and means of conflict, but the issues in which the two shows explore has remained relatively the same.  The 1970s had much less tolerance for rebellion, thus affecting the means by which new ideas and perspectives were presented while the 21^st century began to indulge in as more commonplace for civil disobedience and protest; however, the issues in question remained remotely similar. 

Both shows are set in a comedic genre that is relatively assertive on dealing with issues relevant to their times, and balance the between bringing up sensitive topics in both a comedic tone while at times still being able to shift gears to a declarative demeanor about a certain issue to prove a point or subtly open society’s eyes to something that would otherwise be left unaddressed.  The family setting of the two sitcoms is also somewhat irregular in that they do not necessarily portray a typical family dynamic: All in the Family having an older couple, one far set in his ways and one understanding of the new, along with an adult married daughter, and Malcolm in the Middle is a family of temperamental parents and four unruly brothers.  By both shows having such specific the audience is able to view the ambiguous ideas the families deal from a third party perspective while simultaneously identifying with the character that personifies their respective view on the issue. 

A major difference in the two shows is the scope to which issues are addressed.  All in the Family tackles many issues by addressing them in terms of the whole idea and from a relatively distant stance while Malcolm in the Middle typically has the issues thrust into the mix of their family chaos.  One has a more theoretical approach while the other deals more in a sense of practicality. 

While All in the Family dealt more with issues of generational shifts, Malcolm in the Middle addresses more issues about acceptance and cooperation.  The dramatic issues addressed from All in the Family had a stronger degree of focus on the morality of the respective issue, such as racism and homosexuality, while Malcolm in the Middle addressed more subtle issues, such as common high school problems of acceptance and fairness, in a less universal sense but rather a fast paced direct cause and effect fashion. 

Blog Post 4: Audience Demand

Audience demand, although subtle and relatively overlooked as a major component, was perhaps the strongest driving force in shaping the formation of the radio industry in the 1920s, and it is still a major force of its ever changing influence.  Although radio at the time was on the cutting edge of the media diffusion curve, it is still the preservation of the population’s partaking in the new media that ultimately dictates whether or not its incorporative longevity will sustain. 

The concept of audience demand is simple and obvious; it is what people want to see, hear or know about.  The media take this effect into consideration and base the production upon the response, because if the audience is not interested in the message being presented they will not watch; therefore, the media must internalize the demands of the audience into the message and not portray a message unrelated to those demands.  It is the targeting tool of the media that determines what will be presented to sustain an audience to ultimately make money, the reason the media appeals to an audience in the first place.  The audience decides the course of the media, not the other way around.

Media now provides a perfect example of this form of incorporation during the 1920s and after.  The integration of comic book heroes such as “Superman” and pulp-fiction westerns like “Riders of the Purple Sage” shows how common themes that interested audiences, previously via alternative media, were transmitted to the radio to conversely transfer the audience along with them.  The radio also began to branch away from just producing news and music to playing popular attractions such as “comedies, variety shows, soap operas, detective dramas, sports, suspense, and action adventures”.  With the presentation of a much larger spectrum of allures, the number of target audiences increases.  With this foundational groundwork, radio was able to capture an audience that would ultimately become the future audience of later technological advancements, such as television, that would have otherwise not indulged in such media; thus, the power of audience demand is to be regarded as one of the most influential aspects of the shaping of the radio industry as well as its future.

Blog Post 3: Catharsis

One of the most subtle tools of media is catharsis, an indirect means by which people may act out, indulge in, or fantasize about what underlying desires may be permeating about within their minds.  Whether or not this form of supplementary indulgence is a just practice within society is still a matter of debate; however, the effects are, especially within the youth of society, unquestionable.

Catharsis itself, the release of emotion toward an acceptable outlet, is an act that has been present for years since the time of Aristotle; however, it is the recent induction of violent and questionable media that has subjected the matter to intense deliberation.  With the release of Grand Theft Auto and other violent video games, children and teens, the most affected demographic, are living out simulated environments filled with crime, sex and violence.  There are claims that this kind of over exposer to simulated malicious material serves as a catalyst toward actual violent acts as described by this article on babble.com.

http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2010/09/15/72-percent-of-parents-support-banning-sale-of-violent-video-games-to-minors/?author=31

While some view the overexposure to violent video games as a direct means toward the increase of actual violent behavior, there are some who explain, as defined by this article from techliberation.com, how “exposure to violently-themed media helps to gradually assimilate us into the realities of the world around us”.

http://techliberation.com/2010/05/26/video-games-media-violence-the-cathartic-effect-hypothesis/

It is still a major debate as to whether or not catharsis is justified as a release of emotions or whether it is the first step of an eventual crime to play out similar to the one portrayed by the video games, but as the these two articles show it is something that is dramatically affecting the population one way or the other and is a greatly viable portion of the media not to be overlooked.

Blog Post 2: Hegemony

The concept that the consensus of the population is more powerful than any one individual is the way in which hegemony is able to function with great effect.  The market targeting body image in accordance to what society views as acceptable is an example of hegemony in one of its most effective genres.

The use of hegemony takes on many strategies to influence the public:  advertisements, movies, and even the consumers of a product adding to its standardization within the society.  Advertisements present ideas for the public to accept or deny and the ones that are accepted become standard, thus the market gains control of public opinion through its dedicated consumers.  Movie stars give a dramatic example of hegemony by acting as lightning rods for consumers to flock upon and imitate.  Once an idea has become standard those who have not yet conformed are subjected to mockery, discrimination and exile, although it may not seem as though in all cases the subtle hints are still nevertheless present.  Through these and other tactics, media use hegemony to control the population by subtly controlling the thoughts of the people within it, not merely through forced acceptance. 

Hegemony allows for a concept to be twisted and construed exemplifying the disproportionate positive aspects of a product while simultaneously masking the all so present detriments.  Throughout nearly every mall in America it is almost impossible to go even a single step without being bombarded with a salvo of overly fantasized images of both men and women boasting immaculate figures, most of which are retouched at that.  These figures are allocated to every marketing niche they can effectively be used in, and society eventually falls under the impression that this form of biological perfection is commonplace and that the average person is the minority.  By enforcing this monopoly of public image, the media are able to force the idea that image is the most important thing and by purchasing their product that image can be obtained.  What is not presented to the population is the fabrication of these deities and the detrimental effects such an image can have.  Most of the models used to advertise to the public starve themselves and are over zealously modified to produce such an image which hardly ever has an actual correlation to the product.

Examples of these uses of hegemony are seen in the following advertisement for perfume which couples the idea of a perfect commitment between two attractive individuals with a perfume product.  In this example the producers of this media are presenting the common high standard of a perfect body and relationship as an effect of using the perfume.  This is a classic example of hegemony that constantly affects the thoughts of the consumer.  While many people claim to be unaffected by advertisements, they will still have the standard presented to them and will still be subjugated by the public for not trying to meet that standard. 

http://adland.tv/files/promesselarge.jpg

The media also presents subtle images of the hegemonic standard through film  Movie actors and actresses seldom stray from the common image of perfect bodies and stunning features and constantly urge the public to follow their example.  Even in the newly investigated genre of animated films people, or human-like beings, are presented as having the standard muscular body for men and the slender silhouette for women as the images of the characters from James Cameron's Avatar exude.

http://lisapaitzspindler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/neytiri_jake1.jpg

The first RTF post: why RTF 305? hmm..

Ever since I was a super tiny baby I have been fascinated with the creative magic of the cinematic realm.  My overly zealous appreciation spanned from the overdone fight scenes of mortal combat to the simple nuances of Saturday morning cartoons, or maybe I just watched too much TV.  Needless to say, I did enjoy my TV and have there since had an underlying desire to be a movie or film director, producer, writer or something smoldering in the back of my mind.  I am not an RTF major, but I wish to pursue this dormant passion of mine and not simply let it go to waste.  A switch of majors is most likely breaching upon the horizon for me, and I am using this class as the determining factor as to whether this is truly a serious passion or just a simple hobby.

I don't really do blogs or ream them but I have watched TMZ so I guess their blog at http://www.tmz.com/ is pretty cool.

:)