To Blog or Not to Blog?

I have only ever used a blog once before, it was on Blogger as well. My brother and sister asked me to do some movie reviews with them. Other than that, I haven't had much experience with blogging or reading blogs. I think the blogs required for RTF 305 have been successful in getting the students to think more about the concepts we learned in class. I honestly think writing blogs about such concepts as hegemony and the studio system was the most effective way in remembering the various meanings and details. I rarely found any conceptual or technical difficulties when writing the blogs. It was sometimes it bit tricky to arrange the text around pictures but that is all. Besides that, I had no difficulties with the blogs, and any problems I may have had I could easily figure out on my own. I found the most interesting blogs to be about film, but that might just be because film is what I'm interested in. I particularly liked the blogs about the types of shots and three acts of film because we got to apply what we learned to some of our favorite films. I think the blogs have been interesting and definitely a unique way of making the students apply the concepts of the subject. My only suggestion would be to somehow require the students to read some of each others blogs or having extra credit awards for the 10 best blogs.. something of that nature, just to get people besides your own TA to read your blog.

Well, uh, I guess this is my last blog. Whatever happens tonight, either way, I'm not going to be coming back to this place. Well, I guess I better go. I don't wanna be late for my last TA session. This is Marshall Copous signing off.

Globalization: Is that the final answer?

Globalization really is a combination of political policies, cultural development, technological advancement, and economic growth. It has many aspects, but in a broad context it means interconnectedness between the nations of the world. With the advancements of technology simultaneously taking place across the world, many cultural aspects of countries have spread to other parts of the globe as well. For instance, many popular television programs that have started and become popular in one country have began to appear in other parts of the world, like The Office or American Idol. This is a type of "glocalization", which is the process of taking something, a concept or idea, that was successful in one area (country) and bringing it to another anticipating the same success. This was obviously the case for the popular television program Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!
Millionaire originated in the United Kingdom in 1998 and brought a new kind of twist to the game show genre. It quickly became very popular and began spreading all across the world, including the United States in 1999 hosted by Regis Philbin. Since it's original broadcast the franchise has spread to over a hundred different countries, which is more than any other television program. The program was also featured in the 2008 feature film Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle. In the film the main character Jamal ends up going on India's version of the program trying to find his long lost love. The film was met with high esteem and success including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is a perfect example of how popular and successful the glocalization formula can be.

Persuasive Advertising

I don't watch a lot of t.v., but the best and most creative ads I have seen recently are the Old Spice commericals. They manage to be both cool and funny while still informing the viewer about the product. It shows the man on the left walking through different locations as the background seemlessly transitions behind him. The ads work because it grabs the audiences' attention with the actor's charismatic and smooth persona. Girls like him and guys want to be him.. perhaps because the girls like him.
In Professor Straubhaar's lecture he described the many common characteristics of ads that make them appealing. There are many tactics that advertisers use in order to make their ads effective, such as repetition, style, ubiquity, etc. Repetition is obviously just putting your ads on often so the target consumer audience becomes more aware that the product exists. Sometimes this is effective, but sometimes consumers can find this annoying. Style makes the ads stand out, often including hyperbolic and fantastic claims that jump out at the viewer. Ubiquity means that the advertisement is made availible everywhere at once. All of these characteristics can be seen in the Old Spice ads. They appear on television and in movie theaters often, but not too often, to keep the product out there and fresh in the consumer audience's minds. They are stylistic by being unique and much more creative than the average commercial. They also appear everywhere at the same time through mediums such as network television that broadcast simultaneously throughout the country. People remember the Old Spice ads, and that is what matters.

Swan Dive into this commercial link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLTIowBF0kE

Three Acts of Film and Jackie Chan

The three acts of film are the introduction, the complication, and the resolution. The first act establishes the central characters and the setting for the audience, perhaps even the problem. The second identifies the plot and deals with how the main character goes about handling it. The final act brings about the climax of the story where the protagonist finally overcomes the conflict (usually). The 2010 remake of 'The Karate Kid' like its predecessor is a perfect example of the three act structure.

Act I: The Introduction

In the first act of the film we are given a lot of information. Dre Parker, played by Will Smith's son Jaden Smith, has moved with his mother from Detroit to Beijing, China to seek a new life. The film establishes that the protagonist, Dre, does not like the culture clash when he gets beat up by a couple of kids from his school. Through this we get a feel for the character and the environment. We also see the problem because he is in fear with no friends, and has no one to turn to.. except Jackie Chan. Chan plays Mr. Han, the new Mr. Miyagi, the mechanic for the apartment complex. This act is approx. 30 minutes of the film.

Act II: The Complication

Dre goes to school and still gets pestered by the other children. Mr. Han sees this after Dre gets trapped in an alley by the boys. They go talk to the leader of the dojo who threatens them to fight. Mr. Han gets him to instead agree to letting the boys fight in the open Kung-Fu tournament and then agrees to teach Dre kung-fu. The majority of the rest of the film is Mr. Han teaching Dre to discipline and respect through strenuous training. Over time Dre finally learns these things as the two characters grow a master/apprentice almost father/son relationship and then begins real Kung-Fu training in preparation for the tournament. This act is approx. 75 minutes of the film.

Act III: The Resolution

In the final act we finally get to the tournament Dre and the film has been working towards. It goes through the rounds of the tournament following Dre as climbs the bracket. He begins to conquer his fear and starts defeating his fellow students who used to pick on him. In the final round he faces Cheng, the boy who started the whole dilemma and is the leader of the gang. After persistence and an injury to the leg, he overcomes all obstacles and defeats him. Now Dre would no longer be fearful of going to school, because more importantly than winning the tournament he has earned the respect of the "Fighting Dragons". This act is approx. 30 minutes of the film and is also a perfect example of the triumphant story arc and the happy ending structure which commonly use three acts.

Lessons Learned

The aspect about television programs and sitcoms in general that intrigued me the most was the idea of episodic vs. serial structure. Both structures are used quite often on television, in fact almost every show is one of the two, and as obvious as it is I'm surprised that I have yet to stop and think about the difference between the
two. Sitcoms are generally known to be episodic programs in which the television show ends where it begins and the main character or characters learns a lesson. You would think that using the same format every week would get repetitive or boring, but most good t.v. sitcoms have such intelligent dialouge or outrageous situations that the lessons learned or "morals" are very subtle. This is very much the case on one of my favorite shows called The Big Bang Theory.

The show is like all other sitcoms in that it is a half hour comedy that for the most part ends where the episode began. The main characters Sheldon and Leonard are often faced with a problem, usually individually, that sometimes involves their scientific profession or their social awkwardness. When they are having social problems there neighbor from across the hall, Penny, is there to assist them and their two other friends from work. Regardless, at the end of the episode one of the five main cast members learns a lesson of some sort. There are some aspects of the show that interconnect the episodes, such as Leonard and Penny's relationship that develops over the course of the seasons, but other than that the plot of each episode is only relevant to said episode. Being one of the highest rated comedies on television now, it is apparent that the writing is very clever and the acting is top notch (Jim Parsons recieved the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Comedy this year) and because that is this case, the episodic platform will continue to be successful.

One of my favorite clips from the first season: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MUY3hLC8JQ

The Language of Film

Many people don't usually realize this, but just about every movie uses the camera angles, or cinematography, as a way of describing a scene, giving details about the setting, or even defining a character's emotions. Three types of shots that are very common in film are the long shot, middle shot, and close-up; when these angles are used correctly they can tell us much about the scene and the mood without a single line of dialouge. For my example I decided to use Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Long Shot

-this angles pans across the fields of the Shire as the protagonist Frodo Baggins is reading a book. It establishes both the new environment in which the scene is taking place and introduces us to the new character. It also establishes that the Shire is a peaceful and beautiful place.

Middle Shot

- the mid-shot shows the wise wizard Gandalf the Grey as he approaches Frodo. Because it is a closer angle it gives more detail to the characters, and it also works much better for scenes with dialouge than long shots. You also get a better feel for the two characters in the scene.

Close-Up

- the close shot allows the audience to see the facial expressions of the characters in the scene. In this particular scene you see that Frodo is pretending upset with Gandalf, until they both cannot hold their straight faces and start laughing. The angle really lets you connect with characters and gives you a better understanding of who they are.

The full scene can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiebk9sIqSo

Bogart and the Star System

During the classical "Golden Age" of Hollywood the big studios controlled the film industry. The Big Five studios of the time period were MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and RKO. In the early years of cinema these studios were known to sign movie stars to contracts under their studios. The "star system" (or studio system) meant that actors were generally restricted to one particular studio that would sometimes lend their big stars to the other studios. These was a significant aspect of the industry at the time becuase it gave the studios exclusive rights to some of the well known actors that many Americans enjoyed seeing. Knowing this, the studios often used their contracted stars in several pictures a year, often playing "type casted" roles.
Studios having the liberty to cast their stars in as many films as they pleased often casted them in many films in genres they became quickly associated with. This impacted many stars in the Golden Era's careers. Errol Flynn became the adventure swashbuckler hero in most of his movies, Basil Rathbone generally played the smart villian type, Olivia de Havilland was the beautiful woman in distress, etc. All three of which can be seen in the genre film, The Adventures of Robin Hood, directed by Michael Curtiz (known for directing Casablanca). This often made it hard for actors to branch out from the type they were known for playing, even after the era of the star system was over.
Humphrey Bogart is a perfect examply of actors under the studio system. Initially signed under 20th Century Fox, eventually became contracted to Warner Bros. Studios. They worked Bogart constantly in "B movies" mostly the crime genre they were famous for. Between 1936 and 1941 Bogart starred in average of one film per two months. He became very much associated with the detective persona who followed his own rules but still had a moral character. Even though Bogart won an Academy Award and became the greatest actor according to the American Film Institute, he never really broke free of his type cast because of the star system.