Evaluation Blog

-I have never written a blog or used a blog website before attending RTF 305.


-I think there are a few positive aspects that come from using a blog. I feel it is more convenient to log on a blogging website and write a weekly assignment rather than writing a formal essay, printing it out and turning it in. I like that writing a blog for a college course feels informal and doesn’t create as much stress as regular homework, possibly leading to better grades for some students.

-I did not encounter many difficulties when writing or posting blogs. When writing the first blog, I had a little trouble adding media, but our TA quickly cleared up any confusion about adding links and html.

-I felt that all blogs were around the same level of difficulty. However, the most interesting blog (in my opinion) was number eight, in which we had to apply different camera angles to our favorite film. I did not take much interest in prompts in which we had to define, explain and then apply a concept or system to an example from the book or lecture.

-I would recommend using blogs in a future RTF 305 or any undergraduate course at UT. I feel that it is more effective than having formal writing assignments and more efficient.

-I do not have any suggestions or changes to add to the blogging experience.

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

Globalization

Globalization connects different cultures, people and others in the world. Technology and the media speeds up the process of globalization. Through it, the world is becoming more integrated and cultures become more alike than before. As discussed in the textbook, as countries become more involved in globalization, they must keep up with the media market and sell to specific audiences.

Cultural Imperialism is evident in globalization. Not all countries are on the same level when it comes to globalization, leaving others to dominate and take over. Although globalization connects cultures, it leads to loss of local to national cultures when traditions and ideals cross over from other countries or continents.

One example of this would be Disney's Princesses. They have become famous all over the world, possibly due to their ethnic features but have traveled from the United States to other places around the world, westernizing and dimishing former ideals and children's cultures.

MAC Viva Glam-Celebrity and Sex Appeal

MAC’s Viva Glam advertisements have lured many to purchase special shades of lipstick and “Lipglass” while contributing to the MAC AIDS Fund. I think this type of advertising is powerful because consumers see the ad and know that when they buy the product they are helping out in some way. I also think the Viva Glam advertisements are appealing because they feature numerous pop icons, which always seem to grab attention. The most recent advertisements showcase Lady GaGa and Cyndi Lauper.



Advertising with celebrities inevitably attracts attention. Some consumers may buy something simply because their idol is in the advertisement, of course this can backfire when people who dislike the celebrity may not buy the product just because they promote it. Consumers may also be drawn to the celebrity appeal because they feel that if Lady GaGa (for example) is using the product, they’ll use it too. In addition to the celebrity appeal, the advertisement uses sex appeal. Let’s face it, sex sells, especially in women’s ads for women. Maybe it’s the idealistic notion that women have to be sexy, but it works.


MAC Viva Glam uses great tactics in raising money for their AIDS fund. Phrases like “let’s talk about keeping your love life, safe…and seductive” add to the sex appeal of the advertisement. And if that isn’t enough, Pamela Anderson in dominatrix style outfits will definitely sell lipstick. Using pop and fashion icons like Cyndi Lauper and Lady GaGa also amp up sales for Viva Glam products. MAC knows women idolize women like these and if we don’t, we will more than likely buy their lipstick.

Three Act Structure in the Nightmare Before Christmas

In Hollywood’s Three Act Structure, plot points are made at certain times in a film and the resolution always plays out within minutes of the film’s ending. This structure is used in Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas



In the first act, we are introduced to Halloweentown and its inhabitants. The main character, Jack, is leader of the town and has grown tired of the Halloween routine. During his lament, he wanders off and is led to Christmastown, a world he has never known before. He is instantly mesmerized by this magical holiday and decides to re-create or take over the Christmas Holiday in Halloweentown. At the 20 minute mark, the act peaks when Jack holds a meeting to tell all about what he has discovered and his plans for their new holiday. This plot point introduces our complication and begins our journey to the climax. It also serves as the ending point for act I.


In act two, Halloweentown spends every waking moment contributing to the fast approaching Christmas. Meanwhile, Jack sends out his nemesis’ secret henchmen to “fetch” Sandy Claws (Santa Claus) from Christmas town and bring him back as Jack decides he will give him a break and take over his holiday. When the henchmen bring him back, Jack sends him off not knowing he will be taken to Oogie Boogie to be devoured. On Christmas Eve Jack sets out to deliver toys to all the children and fails, while his love interest, Sally, tries to save Sandy Claws from Oogie’s lair and also fails. After he and his makeshift reindeer are shot out of the sky and at our second plot point at 59 minutes, Jack realizes he ruined Christmas and his rightful place is in Halloween town.


In our final act, at an hour and four minutes, Jack goes back to Halloweentown to save Sally and Sandy Claws. The climax arises when Jack dodges all of Oogie’s attacks and rescues them both while destroying Oogie Boogie. This leaves us with our resolution at an hour and eight minutes, when Sandy Claws is freed and saves Christmas and Jack and Sally end up falling in love, while appreciating Halloween much more. The Nightmare Before Christmas perfectly resembles Hollywood’s Three Act Structure, in time and within the plot.

Family Guy and aspects of the Sitcom

Comedic sitcoms have different qualities compared to other genres of television shows. First off, comedies almost always have unrealistic or exaggerated dilemmas. The comedic sitcom has its own structure that also differs from other shows. Unlike dramas, comedies are half an hour long and are usually in episode form. These sitcoms also have a condensed three act structure, each episode with a beginning, middle, and end. We always know the outcome of the episode as well the central theme of the plot.

The perfect example of a comedic sitcom would be Family Guy. It lasts half an hour like any comedy and has the three act structure. Of course most of the lessons learned are bizarre but the plots are predictable. The characters in Family Guy remain constant and don’t go through extreme change. For example, Stewie stays a baby for the entire life of the show and Meg forever stays a nerd in high school. There are also redundant patterns in the show, Peter always gets himself in trouble and has to save himself, or someone in the family has to come to his rescue. Every episode also picks up where the last left off; the show never begins in a place other than their home or with an altered storyline.

 An example of Family Guy's strange comedic storylines.

Shots, Progressions &Angles in Donnie Darko

Film shots and progressions add to films by showing how characters are connected to others, their surroundings and their personal moods and feelings towards others. In the film Donnie Darko, the director uses a variety of shots and angles to show how Donnie interacts with other characters and his internal notions.
In the opening scene, the long shot or “orientation shot” pans the scenery and introduces the main character, Donnie, alone on a dirt road looking confused and portrays his isolation from the world. It also uses a “general to specific” approach by going from a long to a medium shot and finally a close up.



In another scene, the director uses a couple of ongoing medium shots to show interactions of Donnie and fellow schoolmates. It informs the audience of surroundings and introduces us to the other characters and relationships they have with one another.



There are many close ups of the main character Donnie, displaying his attitudes and feelings towards the outside world. These close ups show a variety of thoughts and emotions from madness to loneliness and insane curiosity.





Also, this extreme close up explains the key element of the film which helps us to understand the point of the plot. It displays Donnie Darko’s arm marked with the days, hours, seconds and minutes until the destruction of the universe.

Judy Garland and the Star System

The Star system had a major impact on the movie industry. It basically meant that different stars represented their own studios and were famous for a specific genre. Stars were also used for advertising or promoting a specific brand or item and even other stars in their studio, being that they also were paid to advertise the studio they belonged to.
The beauty of the Star System was that every star had a genre; some stars would only appear in gangster films, while others belonged to romances or musicals. Stars often played the same role or characters with the same traits as the previous. If you knew who was starring in an upcoming film, you would be able to tell what the movie was about and if you would enjoy it.

Judy Garland, for example, was a musical genre star. If you knew she was starring in a film, you knew she was going to sing and dance a number or two. From Andy Hardy to the Wizard of Oz, she kept the persona of a hopeful and sweet musical performer for MGM.

All in the Family/The Simpsons

All in the Family is very different from the contemporary family oriented comedy, the Simpsons. To start off, All in the Family is not animated like the Simpsons. Both shows also display different dilemmas, for example, during the screening, All in the Family’s Archie was having trouble dealing people’s sexual identities, while in The Simpsons, you might find Homer having trouble taking care of his kids without strangling his son Bart. There are also major differences in characters. Archie Bunker is obviously more intelligent than Homer Simpson, who is extremely gullible like Archie’s wife, Edith. However, Homer’s wife, Marge, seems to always have get Homer out of trouble. The witty, cunning and sly children of Homer and Marge Simpson also contrast the ditzy daughter of Archie and Edith, Gloria, and her hippie husband, Michael.


The families in All in the Family and The Simpsons are both working and middle class. I think it’s funny how in both shows, one spouse plays the wide-eyed and naïve role and the other plays the sarcastic role. Both shows are definitely comedic and all have characters and issues we can all identify with whether they be political, cultural or social. All in the Family and the Simpsons also feed off of what issues are going on in our world and in pop culture.

I feel as if All in the Family issues revolve around Archie’s views towards other cultures, and politics. Just as discussed in the lecture, the show seems as if it is making a transition to the post-war perspectives, but Archie is stuck in the conservative, pre-war frame of mind. To make the show comedic, they stick him with his hippy son-in-law to stir him up. I noticed that All in the Family also covers more controversial issues and focuses on Archie’s political and social views, whereas The Simpsons has often bizarre and not to realistic plots, considering it is a cartoon, but still ties in with everyday life and it’s hilarious situations. However, The Simpsons deals with more contemporary issues revolving around pop culture or strange situations that don’t seem to deal with any issues similar to All in the Family.

Both are exceptionally hilarious sitcoms with similar aspects but different views and tastes.

Technological Change and Radio

Technology is progressing everyday and determines how we see, view and control the media. Technological change is ultimately the cause of radio and why it keeps evolving. As technology advances, so does the techniques and the ways of the radio industry. This is evident from the evolution of Marconi’s radio to Pandora radio today, there have been many technological changes, big and small, that has helped the radio evolve.


As technology advances and new ways of performing tasks and new equipment are developed, they are applied to other mechanisms to make things easier. Technological change applies to almost everything in our lives. Of course we have made a big leap from riding in horse carriages to riding in cars or from switching tapes in cassette players to downloading applications on our iPod Touch. All these changes make an impact on society. Technological change is the cause of many progressions on the modern world as well as in the media.

In 1896 Marconi developed a radio transmitter that allowed radio waves to carry Morse code to other places. Ten years later, De Forest invented the vacuum tube that amplified and carried voice, sounds and music to be broadcasted. These technological changes ultimately led to major broadcasts and thus started the evolution of radio broadcasting. In the early 1920s broadcasting stations like NBC were created and the rise of radio began. The technology of radio emerged and merchants began advertising on the radio, shows were created for entertainment and news was available to all with a radio. Without technological change, we would still be listening to a radio instead of surfing the internet, or watching broadcasting on TV.

 

Social Learning: Teen Pregnancies

The media has a direct effect on teens, girls especially, in portraying teen pregnancy. Shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom show an almost glamorous side of being jobless, unmarried and with child. Often, these girls have to deal with familly, money, and relationship problems all while having to take care of a child and going to school. Of course these girls always overcome thier problems but let’s face it, reality shows are far from reality. Solutions aren’t so simple with real life teen pregnancies. Many if not all reality shows are scripted in some way or premeditated. Majority of viewers have no idea that these shows are planned and therefore think that a happy ending is guaranteed. Unfortunatley, teens soak in everything that is thrown at them on TV and don't realize that it's fiction. This sets up many girls for a let down when they discover that having a child at a ripe age is definitely a struggle. Teen pregnancy in the media is portrayed as having fairy-tale endings and answers to all of your problems when in real life it is the opposite.

 US weekly features Farrah and Maci from the show Teen Mom along with thier children Bentley and Sophia. Does this show girls that getting pregnant and a young age will bring you to stardom? Or at least get you on the cover of a highly read gossip magazine.

People Magazine Article on Mtv's Teen Mom




Another US Weekly Magazine cover with Maci from Teen Mom, advertising her newest love affair and of course her child, Bentley.

Blog Assignment 1: Hegemony

Hegemony influences our culture by playing a substantial role in the media; it is used in advertisements to create an image that is the ideal yet unattainable. A good example of this would be company ads in fashion magazines “framing” the woman we all should be. The media and hegemony market the image of the perfect body or woman that no one is, but can be if you dress like or buy the products the women are using in the advertisements. Below is an example of the "ideal" woman in our culture in a Ralph Lauren advertisement.

Photoshop skinny!!

My First RTF 305 blog post!

As I was searching in the book of FIGs, I came upon one that had Radio/TV/Film course, and of course I chose it...what else was I going to choose? RTF is the best UT class you can take, I'm sure! To start off, I'm very interested about how the media controls everything around us. I would love to learn how to manipulate it and am very excited to create my own media. I decided I had an interest for the media, film especially, when I became an extra in an independent film called "Benavides Born" I got to see firsthand how films are shot and the process of putting a film together.

My favorite blog > http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/

My SUPER COOL Media & my favorite youtube video>