Blog Evaulation

http://movingimages.files.wordpress.com/2008
/09/media-spoonfeeding-cartoon.jpg

         Before RTF 305 I had never written a blog, I was only a big fan of reading celebrity based blogs like perezhilton.com. Although some people aren’t thrilled to write a few paragraphs over something that is specifically assigned, I found that writing a blog over specific topics, subtly forced me to look over the material taught in class and helped me achieve an in depth understanding of what we learned and at the same time allowed us to connect the material to real world examples. Using the blog was fairly easy, the only time I had any sort of issues was making sure my real world example fit well with the blog prompt. To resolve this and make absolute sure I was going to in the right direction, I reread the class given examples or asked my TA for clarification. Out of all the topics that we covered in our blogs, I found the least interesting topic to be globalization. This is mainly because the topic can’t be connected to media but rather deals with the process of media being dispersed. I would definitely recommend using a blog in the future courses, because it aided my understanding of the topics discussed in class. Writing a couple paragraphs on a particular topic can really increase the grasp knowledge on the subject, and it allows you check your comprehension of the subjects. There is nothing I could really suggest to improve the blogging experience.

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

Globalization

Globalization is the process by which regional nations, cultures, and people have become integrated through technological progression.



http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/murphy7312/Lombardifile/
LombardiSite.2006/StudentPages.2006/Martin/McDonalds



The process of Globalization directly deals with the concept of Glocalization. Glocalization consists of taking a previously successful idea in one place and adapting to another location. It’s a product that’s distributed globally, but may be tailored to conform to local consumer preferences. It’s based on the premise that a product is more likely to prosper when the product or service is fashioned specifically to each locality or culture it is marketed in. Through this process people are becoming integrated through a particular product that they each have in common.

Basically anyone can recognize the bright yellow “M” known as the universal symbol of McDonald fast food chain. The increasing quantity of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide is an example of globalization. The restaurant chain is the same but the menu changes in an attempt to appeal to local culture which illustrates the glocalization of the food chain.

Taylor Swift's Sony TX7 Cyber-shot

           Just selling over a million copies of her newly released album entitled Speak Now, Taylor Swift is one of music’s most successful young artists. Of course it was in Sony’s best interest to affiliate their innovative Sony TX7 Cyber-shot camera with the artist. This ad is very persuasive because it has the support and charm of the world wide adored star. Every consumer wants a product endorsed by the all American home grown country star.

 In the ad she uses the camera to take a panoramic picture of all her screaming fans. And there is also a humor element where one select male fan remains persistent at getting Taylor’s attention. This ad used huge celebrity appeal to get consumers to purchase the camera. There are millions of consumers in the world dying for any product associated with the name of Taylor Swift. She has become an overwhelming success in the past couple of years and buyers admire her humble and innocent persona. She’s a great role model for the young audience and because of that she has the support of the older parental audience. Just the young artist’s appearance in the ad was probably good enough to sell a multitude of these new little cameras.

The Structure of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

             In my younger years, Ace Ventura was my movie obsession. Who would have known that one of my favorite Jim Carrey movies followed Hollywood's 3 act structure? This structure is commonly used in stories involving a triumphant quest that resolves in a happy ending. This is precisely what Ace Venture illustrates.



http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/
main/62/MPW-31220



            The beginning (Act I) of the movie introduces the crime of the missing Miami Dolphin’s dolphin. It runs about 33 minutes until it reaches the mini climax, where Ace finds the first clue setting off the action for the rest of the movie. In this mini climax, Ace finds an orange amber stone from a Miami Dolphins 1984 AFC championship ring. He uses this clue during the majority of the middle of the movie to search for the football player missing that stone from his ring. In the middle (Act II) he has complications of searching for this ring. At about 51 minutes another plot point occurs where Ace learns that the dolphin’s old kicker, Ray Finkle, was still obsessed with a lost Super Bowl. Ace knew he had the perfect motive to kidnap the dolphin so now he just had to track him down. During the end (Act III) the crime is resolved and Ace solves the case. At around 66 minutes Ace realized that the police chief was actually Ray in disguise. Ray is arrested and the dolphin is saved. Then the happy cliché music plays as the Miami Dolphins play in the Super Bowl along side their newly rescued mascot dolphin.

The Episodic Nature

http://www.onlineepisodes.info/wp-content/uploads/
2010/01/scrubs-season-9-image4.jpg

Sitcoms or situational comedies tend to run about 30 minutes in length and are based on reoccurring characters in a common environment in comedic situations. These sitcoms are usually episodic in the sense that one 30 minute block isn’t really relevant to another 30 minute block. You can have full understanding of what’s happening in an episode without having watched the episode previous to it. Usually in each episode occurs a climatic problem followed by the resolution at the end and throughout are humorous lines said by the characters. And the characters learn a lesson and grow and become “better people”.

          One my favorite sitcoms that definitely epitomizes these characteristics is Scrubs. Each episode includes the same doctors and friends dealing with patients in the Sacred Heart hospital. Although it’s in a rather serious environment, the comedic situations and humorous one-liners make it a hilarious comedy. The doctors deal with the everyday struggles of working in a hospital and with each episode the main character J.D. learns a little more about himself and his surroundings.

Angles of Shutter Island.

     Shutter Island to me is the first movie that comes to mind as a brilliantly diverse shot film. At the beginning of the movie Leonardo Dicaprio's character Teddy, gets off a ship and heads to solve the mystery of a disappearing patient at the elusive Shutter Island.

     The scene begins with the security guard escorting them off the ship to the mental hospital. This involved a medium camera shot with a low angle. The guard is in front giving him absolute authority since it’s “his” territory. The low camera angle weakens the power of Teddy and his partner rendering them vulnerable in unfamiliar surroundings and gives the power to the guard.

          Then it progresses to a close-up of Teddy and his partner, Chuck. This illustrates their extreme emotions and distress in the situation. They’re suspicious of the events occuring on Shutter Island and they’re unsure of what they’re getting themselves into.

          And finally the camera angle is an eye level, extreme close-up of Leonardo Dicaprio's. He’s very weary of the mystery of Shutter Island. No one seems to give him legitimate concrete answers to all his questions. The angle allows you to identify with him and be inside of his mind to find his complete distress and conern. The audience feels the strength of the emotions the character is experiencing.

Demanded Star Power

     One of the major elements in the success of the studio system was the star system. Several major film studios discovered that certain actors and actress could attract an audience to a film no matter what the movie was about.



http://images1.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/
Judy-as-Dorothy-judy-garland-890055_352_442.jpg



     “[Stars] became such attractions that their names appeared above the title of the film on theater marquees” (Straubaar 192). Such significance of these stars was associated with the rise of the studio system.

Studios began focusing on producing films that fulfilled the popular demand of single actors and actresses instead of a particular genre. Stars became contracted products and a representation of the films being produced.

     A particular standout example is Judy Garland, famous for her appearance as Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz. Judy was an over worked MGM contracted star. Many viewers flocked the theater no matter what the movie genre, to awe in Ms. Garland’s wondrous singing talents. This became one of her consistent character traits that carried from film to film (Much like most of the popular contracted stars developed). Judy evolved into a huge MGM commodity used to promote other MGM stars in film. A single star powerhouse, sold in the form of film to attract an audience.

Below is a video showcasing her talents as she sings "Over the Rainbow", in The Wizard Of Oz