Post 11: Extra Credit Blog

Other than my RTF 305 blog, the only other blog that I had was on my Myspace site a few years ago. It wasn't based on any focus, but that of random thoughts or if I had written something and wanted to share. I think one even just had photos. This blog was also not an everyday thing, in fact it was not constant at all. The blog was more of whenever I wanted to post something that I didn't want to stay permanently on my profile page. They were more like Facebook posts today, and at the time I did not have a Facebook.

The positive aspects of using blogs in this course was that I found myself relating certain examples that I had used in my blog to a movie shown in class, or a topic covered in lecture. In a sense the blogs were a bridging of understanding what was going on.

The first technical problem I encountered was putting a YouTube video on my blog. I did not want to save the clip to my computer, so I had to go to YouTube and select the share button at the bottom for Blogger, and copy the video to my post on another tab. Some of the blogs were written in a confusing manner and some seemed a bit too general. To fix these difficulties, I generally found another way of doing what I wanted to do, like the copy/paste thing I did with the YouTube video. To help the general prompt, I would go back to my notes to elaborate on an example that I understood very well.

The most interesting blog prompt to me was the one about advertising, because it is my field of interest and I felt like I knew exactly what I was talking about. The less interesting blog prompts were the first ones that dealt with terms. For example, the one where we had to explain a concept such as social learning. To me, it was tedious because that part of the class did not really interest me. I want to say that the most difficult prompt was the last one that was given about globalization because it was extremely vague and general. It was hard to elaborate because the prompt didn't really state what exactly they were looking for.

I think that using a blog is a great concept to introduce people to modern web use and technology, but to those that are a little more creative, I feel like prompts based on examples from lecture and not one's own defeats the purpose of checking for understanding. Personally, I felt that when I thought out of the box, I got lower grades than whenever I provided examples straight from lecture or the textbook. In regards to continuing the blogs, I would recommend having more opportunity for creative feedback as an option.

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

Post 10: Globalization

According to lecture, globalization is defined as “a process of increasing interconnectedness among nations, cultures, and people.” Ideas that circulate audiences around the world, contribute to the concept of hybridity in the sense of glocalization. Good examples of this concept come from television shows.

The United States is a good source of ideas when it comes to entertainment, but other countries from around the globe have influenced a lot of television programs that are watched here in the US. For example, “The Office” was first a British show, and “Ugly Betty” was translated from a Spanish soap opera into an iconic role for “America” Ferrera. The US has also contributed to other countries with shows like “American Idol” and “America’s Got Talent,” where the country replaces America with their own.

The following clips illustrate the show “The Office.” The first one is a clip from the British show, and the second is a clip from the American show. Both have the same concept but the dry humor is different to relate to their certain audiences.  Both talk about sexual relations in the clips, but are different in the way they are presented. For example, in the American show, the humor is a bit more expressed than in the British show.

To me, globalization is an interaction towards a communicative creation of culture and technology. Ideas circulate the globe and find common patterns to please their audiences. Television is a great example of the concept of hybridity because of their practice of glocalization. The more ideas circulate the globe, the more other countries will feed of each other for entertainment of their own.  

videos provided by: YouTube

blog 10: advertise here

ad provided by: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/39550

This following ad is powerful because it draws different audiences and it is persuasive through its humoristic approach. This ad is for the product of Dove Anti-Frizz Cream. Instead of using a regular model, I think that Dove caught the attention of more audiences by choosing to place a pop culture character that is recognizable: Marge Simpson. This ad is powerful because it makes its audience look twice. Most consumers are not used to seeing a television character as a model, yet having that model convince the consumer that the product even works for her. This is persuasive in the sense that an iconic frizz is no match for the Dove product, and it will make any type of hair, real or not, look smooth and appealing.

I think that this ad has a humoristic appeal in general, but when it comes to choosing one from lecture, I would choose the achievement, prominence, attention appeal. I think this has a humoristic appeal because it surprises the consumer with a sitcom character. This ad has an achievement appeal in the sense that the product has done its job. With this acheivement, it diffenetly gets the attention from the consumer. A general characteristic to this approach could be described as the "before and after" approach. Dove uses this approach to sell its Anti-Frizz Cream with Marge Simpson. Her before picture on the left of the ad even protrays her as thinking about using the product, and leads the consumer to the right of the ad to see the result of her decision. If the consumer sees Marge Simpson as a celebrity figure, then this ad is even using the celebrity appeal to sell their product.

This ad exemplifies this appeal by having a television sitcom character sell the product. It also gives the before and after approach a new face. Dove executes this appeal by giving their audience a new type of example, and a new type of model. Consumers are therefore drawn to this product because of a fictional character's attempt and beautiful no-frizz result.

Blog 9: Three Acts

The film Across the Universe has a three-act structure that is represented through the genre of a musical romance. The movie begins with the introduction of each protagonist singing a song be The Beatles that describes their current state in life. As the movie progresses along its Freytag Pyramid, the main characters meet and the story diverts to the love story of the two main characters: Jude and Lucy.

The first plot point in this film is the introduction of characters through their individual song. As the movie progresses past its 30 minute state, most of the characters that were individually introduced at the beginning of the film, have now had their plots intertwined with each other to form a bond towards knowing each other and interacting as escalating stakes occur. For example, one of the main characters, Jude, is introduced to another character, Max, who helps Jude. They then go to pick up Max’s sister who turns out to be the other lead character Lucy. The stakes within these characters escalate through the events of the Vietnam War when Max is drafted and leaves to serve his country.

The second plot point in this movie can be seen when the diverse group of characters begin their journey to the hippie scene in New York. After all the different drug experiences and all the “happy” times, the reality sets in as the climax of the story when Max comes back from the war with a damaged state of mind. The characters now have to face the reality of the hard times. This can be defined as the main complication towards the plot.

As the plot continues, Jude is deployed back to Liverpool and it seems as if all the characters that were united as one, are now split into different forks in the road of the plot dealing with their own problems. The main reason I think that this movie has a three-act structure, is because the resolution is a happy ending. Jude eventually comes back, and all the characters are reunited as he sings the song “All You Need Is Love.” The film ends with the reuniting of Jude and Lucy looking at each other from afar and the audience sees that in the end, they find each other once more.  Below is the trailer for the film.

video provided by: YouTube

Post 8: How I met my sitcom

The television sitcom sprung from a live show. Some sitcoms are filmed in front of a live audience like a theater production, only there is a camera reproducing the image for the other million audiences watching the same show in their homes. According to Colin Tain, the TV sitcom is recognized by the characteristic of humor and the aspect of episodic narrative.

The humor within the sitcom genre, gives the audience an emotional connection through laughter and character appeal. A sitcom would not be a sitcom without humor; in fact humor is one of the characteristics that separates the sitcom from the drama. According to Colin Tain, the episodic sitcom has a modified three-act structure, and has mini-resolutions. The characters within a sitcom tend to only have a problem for that episode. Sitcoms do not tend to carry out the problems over a span of time. I believe that sitcoms are the type of show that one can easily tune into for the first time, and pick up the general plot as they watch. This can be because in many sitcoms there are cycles and repeated patterns that audience members can recognize from other sitcoms they have seen before.

One sitcom that I have recently started watching is How I Met Your Mother. From barely watching a few minutes of it, I naturally laughed without really knowing what the show was about. I think this is a great example of a sitcom not only because I appreciated the humor, but because I could catch on to the plot with the show having common repeated patterns. For example, the group of friends within the show are always at a bar talking. The show uses flashbacks to help the audience understand the conversations of the main characters. This makes it easy for the audience to keep up with what the show is about for that one episode. The show also is a good example for an episodic narrative, because each episode is a new story that the main character is remembering and retelling to his kids on how exactly he met their mother.

A good sitcom needs to make the audience laugh through the characteristic of humor, but it also needs to give the audience an opportunity to stay hooked in an easy way. The episodic narrative of How I Met Your Mother gives their old audience a new laugh, and gives their new audience a reason to not change the channel.

Photo provided by: http://emilcar.tumblr.com/post/194980183/how-i-met-your-mother-season-5-itunes-cover

Post7: Slumdog shots

Director Danny Boyle and Co-Director Loveleen Tandan, created this scene from one of my favorite movies, Slumdog Millionaire. This clip includes various shots described by Prof. Ramirez-Berg in lecture. They used a close up shot to show the relationships and emotions of the main characters: Salim and Jamal. Following with a medium shot to show what was going on and then later on, a long shot for location and setting. Boyle and Tandan use an abundance of these shots throughout this scene and interchange them as Salim and Jamal collect money to help them survive on their own and make a living.


This clip opens up with a low angle shot where Jamal is looking up towards his older brother Salim and waiting to hear instructions on what to do next. All throughout the film, Jamal looks up to his older brother and in this close up shot we see the power Salim has because of the low angle shot. Jamal then follows his brother's lead as the shot becomes a medium shot which helps to give us a clue on what is going to happen next by the character's movements.


The scene continues with a range of medium and long shots to help the audience distinguish that they are traveling on a train and are selling things for money. As the clip continues, the long shots show that the train is moving across a landscape, while the medium shots show the transactions. The close up shots show the merchandise being sold along with the emotions of the main characters when they have money in their hands.


Another great example in this scene are the directors' use of close up shots. Each close up shot not only shows the character's emotion of hunger or of them being tired, but it also gives the audience the opportunity to see how hard their life is. Doyle and Tandan do a great job of combining the character's emotion with the hardship of life as a slumdog.


This scene has a variety of long, medium, and close up shots within it. The reason I think that this is a good example is because it almost seems like each frame is an interchangeable pattern of each different type of shot. Not only does this scene interchange these shots, it also incorporates the camera angles in a way where the audience can tell where the characters are going or doing by giving the right information away through the long, medium, and close up shot.



photo provided by: http://www.flash-screen.com/
video provided by: YouTube

Post 6: Hollywood Studios

I think the most important aspect of how the studio system worked back then was the method of contracting their stars to promote not only the studio’s iconic genre, but gross as much money as possible for their films. In lecture, we learned that the major studios of classic Hollywood were known for the genres that they commonly produced. For example, MGM was known for their musicals, as Warner Brothers was known for their movies centered on the idea of crime. The stars that were contracted by these studios also played the iconic roles that helped to distinguish a face for the studios.

MGM’s Judy Garland for example, promoted other MGM stars within her own movies. This could be seen as MGM using product placement to market their stars. This affected the films in a good way because in the middle of one MGM movie, audiences were reminded to see a movie by the actor portrayed as an icon to Judy Garland’s character in the film. This method of marketing brought revenue to the studio, and without the advertisement of the stars, I don’t think that studios would have had the same success.

The stars contracted by Warner Brothers helped the genre of crime gain its fame. According to Colin Tait, the genre of crime began with the gangster film. Stars like Humphrey Bogart, helped set an icon for the crime genre. In many of his films, Humphrey Bogart wore a trench coat that was carried throughout his movies, which was later on distinguished as an iconic piece of clothing in the detective film, which was an evolution in the crime genre. Even in Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart wore a trench coat. This piece of clothing helped to give the character that Bogart played a crime “scene” identity and helped the promotion of the crime film for Warner Brothers.

Stars helped to promote the genre of studios in classic Hollywood, and they gave a face to an audience of moviegoer’s. I think that celebrities today still play their iconic roles, but definitely not in the way they did in the 1930s. Classic Hollywood would not have been what it was if it wasn’t for the studios contracting their actors, and thanks to the performances of those actors, we have genres that were iconic then and have been evolved even more today.

photo provided by: Deviant Art.com