Extra Credit Blog

- Prior to taking this course, RTF 305, I had never used a blog before
- I did, however, think that it enhanced the learning experience for the course. When going over certain topics in class, I was able to go out and take real world examples that better relate to me, which helped me understand much of the course material a lot better.
- I did not have any difficulties with the blog. I felt it was fairly easy to use and the blog assignments as a whole were very easy to complete.
- The most interesting prompts were those relating to the structures of movies and television sitcoms, which were prompts 4, 7, and 8. I felt that I was able to relate these structures with movies and sitcoms that I am very familiar with, rather than just examples from class, which allowed me to learn the concepts a lot better. The most difficult prompt for me was blog prompt 2, which dealt with the uses and gratifications theory, as well as social learning. Just for me, I felt that there were gray areas when it came to these theories, and it required me to reread some of the course material before writing that blog.
- Yes, I would recommend that blog posts be added as part of the coursework for future classes. I think that the blog posts get the students involved by allowing them to write about what they want to write about, and in a way it is an active learning exercise. I found the blog posts very interesting, because they were very personalized and related to me.
- I don't think that there is much to be improved on or changed. Though, I would prefer earlier notifications on the prompts of the blog posts, as well as sticking to the initial prompt rather than revising it in later e-mails.

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

RTF 305- Blog Post 10

Put simply, globalization is the process of increasing interconnectedness among nations, cultures, and people. One of the subjects we talked about in class was cultural imperialism, which is the effect that one nation's culture has on another. Cultural imperialism fits the definition of globalization because having one nation's culture affect the culture of another nation increases the connection between the nations, and makes them more similar.
Cultural imperialism, however, tends to be mostly driven by the United States because it is such a large media hub. The United States exports unimaginable amounts of movies, music, and many products (although they may not be manufactured in the United States) to other countries, which in effect, brings a bit our culture to those countries.
One example of this is the exporting of the iPod to other countries. In a 2007 quote from Apple COO Tim Cook, he stated the following about Apple's market share for mp3 players, “We’re doing very well outside the U.S. We’re now over 60% in Australia and Canada,” said Cook, citing over 50% share in Japan and now Hong Kong, “in the 40-50 range in the UK, Switzerland, Singapore, and Denmark. We hit a high in Germany of 28% in the most recent numbers. And so, pretty much everywhere you look on a year-over-year basis you would see really good progress.”
 This exportation of the iPod is a perfect example of cultural imperialism and globalization because part of our culture is being exported to other countries, connecting our nations, and is allowing our American culture to be represented in their own cultures.

Ipod ad in Japan- http://www.cultofmac.com/japanese-youths-prefer-ipods-to-cars/1814

RTF 305- Ninth Blog Post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc

We've all seen the commercial. Images of animals with various injuries appear on the television screen while Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" plays in the background. Your heart breaks a little more each time a picture fades and another appears. Although this may not be an advertisement for a product, it is still an advertisement for the End Animal Cruelty Campaign which raises funds for animals that suffer from animal cruelty. But what is it about the advertisement that causes you to give in and dial the number displayed on the screen?

This advertisement relies heavily on the use of emotional, image, and ideological appeals. Usually, these appeals are used to depict a product or image that you really want for yourself. They usually strike a chord in a person and make you want what you see on the screen. However, emotional, image, and ideological appeals are used very differently in this commercial. They show you what you don't want to see or don't want to happen, and tell you that if you donate money to the foundation, you will help these animals from the situations in which they are depicted. Although the appeals may not be used in the traditional positive sense, there are still considered emotional appeals because the advertisement really makes you feel sympathy for the animals shown, and convinces you to donate to the foundation

I believe that this is a very powerful advertisement, and I am certain that many people have donated to the cause just because of the emotional, image, and ideological appeals that it presents.

RTF 305- Eighth Blog Post

The structure that is most prevalent in today's films is the three act structure. The first act is the introduction, the second act is the complication, and the third act is the resolution. The three act structure is mainly defined not only by its three acts, but also by the climax which occurs late within the third act. A film that follows this general structure is Finding Nemo.

Within the first act, or introduction, the setting and main characters are introduced. In Finding Nemo, you are introduced to Nemo, Marlin, and a few other characters that live in their neighborhood. The introduction continues until the point where Nemo is picked up by a diver, which is when the complication is introduced. In all, the introduction only takes about 30 minutes or so to develop. By the end of it, you are well aware of the setting, characters, and the general path that the movie should take.

The second act, or complication, builds on the complication that has been introduced at the end of the introduction. It also takes up the majority of the time of the movie, taking about an hour or so to develop. Within this second act, Marlin, Nemo's father runs into Dori, a fellow fish with short-term memory loss. As the story continues, you follow Marlin and Dori through their multiple obstacles through the ocean as they try to find Nemo. While all of this is occuring, the story also follows Nemo in his journey to an aquarium in an Australian man's dentist office. Within this complication, Marlin, Dori, and Nemo must face multiple small conflicts while facing the main complication of them being separated and trying to find each other.  Marlin and Dori face conflicts with sharks, jellyfish, a school of fish, and are even swallowed by a large whale. Nemo, on the other hand, faces the conflict of being given to the Australian man's niece, who is known for killing fish. The complication builds on these conflicts and heightens tensions.

The final act, or resolution, still builds on these tensions, but then soon follows by resolving the conflicts after the climax. The climax, or turning point of the story, happens in Finding Nemo when Nemo escapes from the dentist's aquarium. After this, he runs into Dori and finally finds his father again. The climax and resolution in the third act only take about 20 minutes to occur.

In whole, the three act structure, as mentioned in Dr. Ramirez-Berg's lecture, is a very common structure that is well suited for stories of triumph and happy endings. Finding Nemo almost perfectly fulfills each aspect of this structure.

http://cynicritics.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/marlin-and-dory-finding-nemo-1003067_1152_864.jpg

RTF 305- Seventh Blog Post

The one thing that sets most sitcoms apart these days are their episodic or serial structure. Many modern shows seem to be taking more of a serial structure, while most older shows seemed to have an episodic structure.

It seems that when looking at older sitcoms like Full House, Family Matters, and The Cosby Show, they seem to follow a more episodic structure. That is, they usually have a lesson that is learned by the end of the episode, there is familiar and predictable plot development, and each episode is likely to raise and answer central question. I believe that this similar structure is attributed to the time period in which family sitcoms were very popular, and much of the plot revolved around the children learning lessons.

 http://www.carseywerner.net/cosbyshow_eng.htm 

However, modern shows seems to be shaking up the norms in sitcoms. Shows like The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Pushing  Daisies, seem to have more of a serial structure. This means that generally they advance long-term plots, plot patterns aren't as predictable, there may or may not be a central question raised, the show isn't as lesson-centered. The shows we see today are very different than those we have seen in earlier decades. They present different situations, and don't always center around the family. Because of the deviation from the focus of family, I believe that modern sitcoms have been allowed to create much more dynamic situations, and have in turn taken more serial structures.

http://www.jellostapler.com/the-office-downloads.html

In whole, modern shows seem to have taken a more serial structure while older sitcoms utilized a more episodic structure.

RTF 305- Sixth Blog Assignment

During Monday's lecture, Professor Ramirez-Berg spoke about many different types of shots, shot progressions, camera angles, and each of their meanings. With these different shots, a director is able to portray feelings of loneliness, sadness, happiness, confusion, and many other emotions within a scene.

One of my favorite films is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The film depicts the internal struggles that Joel Barish must face while undergoing a procedure to erase his memory of his ex-girlfriend, Clementine Kruczynski. By undergoing the procedure, he must relive every memory from the present to the day that he met Clementine.

Just like in any other great film, the director of Eternal Sunshine, Michel Gondry used different shots to portray different emotions in every scene.

In this scene, Joel Barish, played by Jim Carrey, is dreaming of one of the days he spent with Clementine. After realizing that he doesn't want this procedure done, he is pleading with his doctors to stop doing the procedure. The overhead, high-angle shot used in this scene is a powerful indication of the lack of power that Joel has. He is at the mercy of his doctors, and this shot does a great job of portraying it.

Another type of shot mentioned in Monday's lecture was the low-angle shot. The low-angle shot is used to give power to the given individual. Although this doesn't quite depict the traditional low-angle shot, it is still relatively low, and shows how the doctors have complete control in this scene. The shot is in the point of view of Joel, who is sitting in a seat and is being questioned by his doctors. This shot does double the work by not only giving power to the doctors, but by also taking power from Joel and the audience, who are watching this scene in his point of view.

A third type of shot explained in Monday's lecture was the close up, or extreme close up. The close up is generally used to provide information dealing mostly with emotion. In this scene, Joel has awoken in the middle of his procedure, and is panicking because he was just having a dream about drowning. The close up allows us to see his expression and watered eyes, which in turn depict the panic and pain that he is going through while undergoing this procedure.

As you can see, camera angles and different shots are very powerful tools. They have the ability to depict multiple feelings and emotions, and really have control of setting the mood in films.

RTF 305- Fifth Blog Assignment

The aspect of the studio system that seemed most prominent was its use of vertical integration. This meant that they controlled production, distribution, and exhibition; keeping everything in one place. Besides containing a great deal of power through their vertical integration, they also had writers, actors, actresses, and everyone else in between on contract. This meant that they were unable to work for anyone else or have much flexibility in doing anything other than their work for the production company.
Many of the films created under this studio system defined the Classical Hollywood era, a very important period for film that took place between the 1920s and 1940s. As a result of this vertical integration, many of the writers, actors, actresses, and other workers were used continuously and frequently. Because each person was on contract, some workers were forced to produce film after film at a much more frequent rate than that of today.
A perfect example is in the overworking of Judy Garland. The young actress starred in fifteen films between the period of 1941 to 1950, which is much more frequent than that of any actor or actress today. This led to the eventual retiring of Judy Garland and her disappearance from the public eye at a rather early age.
In whole, the studio system of the Classical Hollywood era was very efficient. It spat out movies at an incredible rate, most of which were extremely successful. It's use of vertical integration and contracts gave it an immense amount of power over many of its workers. However, despite being very efficient, it did overwork many of its stars at the time.

http://thompsonian.info/delconn.html

RTF 305- Fourth Blog Assignment

When watching "All in the Family", I was surprised to see how different the show was from most contemporary family-based comedies. The contemporary sitcom I chose to compare and contrast "All in the Family" with is "Everybody Loves Raymond".

First of all, the type of humor that was used in each show was very different. While "All in the Family" used a lot of silly humor, "Everybody Loves Raymond" uses primarily sarcastic humor. In "All in the Family", the wife is the perfect example of this silly humor. She is portrayed as a ditz and frequently says funny and silly things. This brings me to my next difference between the two comedies. In each show, each wife plays a different role, which I believe is attributed to the time period of the show. While the wife in "All in the Family" is a silly, naïve individual, the wife in "Everybody Loves Raymond" reflects a modern wife that pushes her own weight around in the family. The wife in "Everybody Loves Raymond" is smarter, and even does much of the picking on of the husband. Some other differences included the topics of discussion and focus within the shows. In "Everybody Loves Raymond", as well as other modern shows, there is little focus on worldly or controversial issues, as opposed to "All in the Family" which decided to focus on more serious issues such as the issue of homosexuality.

 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/278713/archie_bunker_quotes_all_in_the_family.html?cat=41

There were also many similarities within the two shows as well. In each show, the father seems to be the character that gets into many of the problems and gets picked on frequently. In "All in the Family", Archie was the character that was the most close-minded and everyone in the family seemed to call him out on it. Another similarity that the two shows share is the focus on issues that are between the family. In "All in the Family" there were minor disputes between the family that would sometimes be the focus of the show, and this is very typical of modern shows as well.

All in all, "All in the Family" had many differences and similarities to modern family-based sitcoms. The main differences were in the issues of focus, roles of the wives, and the types of humor. Everything else seemed to compare to modern family-based sitcoms.

http://download-everybody-loves-raymond.edogo.com/

RTF 305- Third Blog Assignment

Of all the forces that influenced the shaping of the radio, technological change, by far, played the largest role. From its earliest days when messages were sent through the use of Morse Code, to its later days with the development of FM and satellite radio, its development has not been driven by anything but technological advancements. Many inventors and innovators began to work with the technology in its early days, and even began to incorporate their own inventions and ideas. Some of these inventors included Marconi, Lee De Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff. Marconi began the first ideas of the radio, De Forest helped with the transition from Morse Code to the transmission of actual voices over radio, Armstrong is held most responsible for the development of FM, and Sarnoff was a businessman that helped each of these inventors get their ideas out to the public.

The quick technological changes that took place over the years were mainly attributed to the battle that took place between the inventors mentioned above. Each was pushing for their own credit for the development of the radio, and each was looking for a new break in the technology in order to gain popularity and wealth. This force led to the quick changes in the 1920s and led to the early advances in the radio. These inventions and innovations also expanded the uses of the radio which began with amateur use, and led to government, commercial, and musical uses that we see today.

http://www.oldradiocrazy.com/RadioPics/Scottphilharmonic/ScottPhilharmonic/RST30tube.00.jpg

RTF 305- Second Blog Assignment

As of December 2008, World of Warcraft was able to boast its record of having 11.8 million monthly subscriptions, securing its spot as the worlds most-subscribed Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). Based on the uses and gratifications theory, along with the social learning theory, it is safe to say that World of Warcraft fulfills the needs of its users. Some of the gratifications that are being sought by users that are playing this game are entertainment, social interaction, and possibly even the alleviation of negative feelings.

World of Warcraft is an online multiplayer game in which a user is allowed to make their own character based on a number of different traits, races, and special skills. With this character that they have created, a users limits are nearly endless. A user is allowed to travel this virtual world, trade, battle, train, join a guild, and much more. People have frequently proven that this game has offered them some sort of gratification not just by the number of monthly subscribers, but by how much they have allowed the game to affect their everyday lives- which has neared borderline obsession. World of Warcraft has become a global icon, offering not only the game itself, but also various types of clothing, boardgames, trading card games, and even a comic book.

It is obvious, based on the information above that people are getting some sort of gratification through the use of the game. Many use it just as a source of entertainment, while others use it for social interaction. While playing the game myself, I have come across many different types of players. Many are interested in leveling up their characters, while others are more interested in just making friends. However, I have also come across many players that are so obsessed with the game that they allow it to affect their health, grades, and everyday lives. This can be explained by the social learning theory which states that one of the reasons that a person seeks a type of media is to relieve negative feelings. Many people are unhappy with their lives and feel the need for an escape. World of Warcraft offers that escape, because you are able to be whoever you choose to be in that world. Not to say that I agree that it is a helpful or good option.

As you can see, no matter what a user's specific needs are, World of Warcraft is succeeding is fulfilling that need or gratification for its users, which upholds both the uses and gratifications theory and the social learning theory.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT COMIC BOOK

 

http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/07/24/world-of-warcraft-comic-book-series-revealed-the-adventure-starts-on-november-14th-2007.htm

THE MAKING OF A WORLD OF WARCRAFT CHARACTER

http://wow.zuggaming.com/2008/09/22/death-knight-faqs/

RTF305- First Blog Assignment

http://sharetv.org/images/george_lopez-show.jpg

When you think of Hispanics and Latinos, what comes to mind? Do you immediately think of well-off, respectable citizens or low-income, uneducated individuals? If you are familiar with media and culture in the United States, you probably only have negative ideas associated with this racial group. This ideology is mainly due to the work of framing. Whenever you see this racial group represented in any type of media, they are usually depicted as being poor, uneducated, and maybe even involved in drugs.

As it states in our textbook, agenda-setting tells us what topics to focus on; while framing decides how we should think about these topics. Framing can often lead to the formation of stereotypes about different types of individuals and racial groups. A perfect example of this is in the sitcom "George Lopez". The sitcom portrays George Lopez and his middle-class family, and the different issues that they have to face in their everyday lives. The family is repeatedly faced with issues that are stereotypically associated with Hispanic families. These issues include teen pregnancy, underage drinking, and the decision to attend college.

Besides being misrepresented in television and movies, they are also underrepresented in politics. Personally, the only politicians that come to mind are those from my local area, which is located just a few miles north of Texas-Mexico border.

Until our media decides to represent Hispanics and Latinos in a better light, there will always be negative connotations associated with the group.

RTF305- First Post

-My name is Miguel, and I am taking RTF 305 in order to learn more about radio, television, and film in hopes of becoming an RTF major. I think the subject is fascinating, and I have always been interested in the subject, so I think that it will be enjoyable. I hope to learn the basics of radio, television, film, and also learn about the histories of each. I think that all of these types of media have had a major impact on the world, and it will be interesting to learn how they work and how they have been able to impact the world.

-One of my favorite blogs: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

-As far as media goes, the following is a video of one of my favorite Youtube comedians. Her name is Natalie Tran, and she is Australian.