My top TeN MediA WOW"S!!!!

1. I have come to the realization that what we do, what we decide and what we trust are all affected by the media. The world of advertising and marketing has come to influence what Americans settle on and how they live their daily lives. This is revealed and explained in the movie, "The Persuaders". From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, I am exposed to millions of advertisments. Although it's very sickening, I cannot escape it! I have learned to accept the world of advertising because advertisments builds trust with the customer while making itself successful.

2. On Page 390, Hillard states that ideally, a writer/advertiser should write out of personal experience or knowledge to give the television show or whatever it may be a valid foundation. I totally agree with this idea because writing from personal experience definitely makes the story easier to develop. Once the writer develops the story, he or she can certainly include a life lesson since it is something they haven already gone through. I know that I have always wanted to write a show about my life. If it turned out to be a hit show, I could possibly even make it into a movie!

 

3. On Page 329, Hilliard explains the idea that media must motivate people and usually, it does. To develop an idea for a program, the writer must know the program's purpose as well as determining the purposes of the audience. If a training program is aimed at company employees, the intended audience has to be motivated to watch and pay attention to the program. This is why demographics are important too. This is why the writer must determine the kind of program material that will appeal to the viewers or the listeners.

4. On Page 334 Hilliard talks about corporate scripts and how they use the drama format. This creates suspense that holds the audience and a conflict whose solutions achieves the presentation's objective. In order for a film to have a dramatic impact, there must be a dramatic format. I found this interesting because it's probably easy for the writer to do this since he or she can relate back to a dramatic time in their personal life. Many commercials these days are very drama filled to either make the viewer laugh or understand the concept in it.

5. My first obervation came on Page 327, when first starting the chapter. Hilliard states that according to Writer's Market, corporate and educational films have been abigger business than Hollywood. Honestly, I would have never guessed this. I thought that just because Hollywood is more poular and glam, that it was the biggest of them all...I was wrong. I actually like how educational and informational films and tapes do better than the same old love story. I think it's important for teachers especially to show students educational films rather than pointless ones. This fact shows that media can actually be informational.

6. I noticed that on Page 389, Hilliard talks about censorship and how it often hampers the media. However, the writer can find basic concepts such as loyalty and independence as motivating factors upon which to develop a drama. This makes me wonder, what concepts are restricted from television? I feel that it is hard for the writer to tell what is acceptable and what is not. If I were to be a writer for a television show or a magazine, I would feel like my job would be on the line every time I incorporated something opinionated or violent. 

7. Hilliard states on Page 447 that every one must be ready to face frustration and even unfairness. In the world of media, different companies and agencies are always going to be persuading someone better by their creativeness. As with anyone else entering any phase of the visual or audio fields, one must be willing to break in with a crappy first job that has a low salary. It is through this experience where you learn even more about what it takes to be not good but great at your job and grow from there. 

8. I have learned that writing for the web is probably one of the hardest mediums to write for. Hilliard says that on Page 167, writing for the web is all about the writing. On many websites, there are no visuals to enhance the story. The words have to tell the complete story. This goes along with ad's too. In the world of media, advertisements are short pictures and words, not stories. 

9. On Page 101, Hilliard says that sometimes creativity seems to not be artistic on purpose. Sometimes, a simple format is all you need to get people's attention. At times, people get sick and tired of the same old commercials that are going above and beyond. I remember this one commercial I saw of dove, it was simple yet it got the point across. It focuses on this one girl the entire time but shows how different her face becomes with make-up and photoshop. The media world is all about enhancing what you don't have!! 

10. In "The Persuaders", I remember that in the world of marketing and advertising, there is a lot of group work. I never understood why Champlain was all about group work until now. Once your in the field, you must know how to work well together with your group in order to come up with a good idea. Working efficiently with a partner and a group is key in attaining success. For example, Song used a group to come up with a new logo, design, etc. It proved that working in groups is sometimes better than working by yourself. 

Media Meditation # 6: The Losers?

Recently, I've been seeing many commericals for this new movie comming out called The Losers. At first I thought it looked really stupid but now that I've seen the commericals repeatidly, I'm persuaded to go and see it! When first watching the trailer, I immediately noticed the epistemological shift because of the words C.I.A., N.S.A. and Special Forces. This is where my neo-cortex plays a role too. My limbic brian is also in use because of the music in the background. The fact that I can access this trailer on my phone shows the aesthetic shift as well. One specific principle that stood out was production techniques. There were many close-up shots, different sound effects and font styles, etc. Another principle that I noticed was emotional transfer. I feel that this movie is directed towards "geeks" or "nerds" to make them realize that they can be just as cool as anyone else! When the narrator says the "C.I.A, N.S.A. and Special Forces....we're not them, we're the losers" definitely shows some humor involved in the movie as well as group dynamics. It also shows the technique symbols. Another technique I saw was beautiful people. Once again, there are many good looking actors and actresses in this film. Throughout the preview, there are words such as "Max" and "Kill them" so my neo-cortex is in use again. By the end of the preview, my reptilian is racing because I am anxious to see this film. I love action movies so I am excited to see this when it comes out! I'm a little confused as to what this movie is about though so I found a synopsis of it online.

"A tale of double cross and revenge, centered upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team-Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar -find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they're joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war".

Hopefully this let's you understand a little more what the movie is about!

Media Meditation #5: Brothers

Last weekend, my friend Mike was raving about the new movie Brothers and how he's never seen it but has heard many good things. We decided to kick back and watch it. In the beginning, my neo-cortex went to work because of all of the character's names that were being introduced. Then my limbic brain tied in because music was playing not just in the beginning, but throughout the entire movie. A shift that I noticed was the epistemological shift. At first, Tobey Maguire says how he's going off to Afgahanistan to fight in the war. During a couple of scenes in the movie, you actually see the war taking place which I'm not going to lie, was pretty disturbing. Another shift that I immediately noticed was the technological shift. The special effects they used when they were in Afghanistan, for example, when one of the planes crashed were excellent. I almost felt like I was there...everything looked so real. This movie was really moving. Everyone who was watching it got a taste of what life is like fighting for your country in Afghanistan, a completely different part of the world. This relates to the basic principle individual meaning because someone who watches this might know a person who is actually over in war right now fighting for their country. My friend Vikki has a sister named Nicole and her boyfriend is over in Iraq. I'm sure that if she watched this movie, it would have a lot of meaning to her. Another basic principle that stood out was production techniques. There were many different camera angles, lighting, sound effects like when they plane blew up, and colors. There was some humor in the movie but not a lot since it is a drama. There was also a lot of repitition. Tobey Maguire's wife, Natalie Portman repeated numerous times how she didn't want her husband to go back to war which shows what type of movie it is, a drama with real life situations. Brothers also reveals how people who come back from war will never be the same because of what they've seen...it basically changes them as a person. The producers definitely used beautiful people to get the movie a better reputation...Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhal are all pretty good looking to say the least. When my friend mentioned the movie to me, he definitely used card stacking because he told me how critics were raving that it was "one of the best movies of the year". I liked this movie because it showed me how there are people in our country right now who hard really facing hardships...when I'm in a bad mood because I don't have enough money to go out to eat or I'm having a bad hair day, I'll remember this movie to make me realize that I don't have it that hard. There are plenty of worse things going on in the world these days. There were certainly warm fuzzies inside when Tobey came home from war! I would classify this movie as a chick flick so if you love chick flicks like me, then definitely go and see it ;)

Here's the trailer!

Media Meditation #4: Miami for the 2nd time within 3 months??!!

Yes, my friends and I set out on the road AGAIN for a music festival in the heart of Miami. My parents couldn't believe it and neither could I! I was just there on New Year's for Phish. It's a two day event called Ultra Music Festival and was held at Bicentenial Park. More than 30,000 people were there from all over the states! The way it happened is actually kind of funny. I found out about this festival weeks before and thought about going...I didn't actually plan on it though. I mentioned it to my sister and my 3 friends who also knew about it. We all agreed that the line-up was amazing(my neo-cortex went to work) and that we wanted to go...we just didn't know how we were going to get there. At this point, my reptilian was racing more than ever! Plane tickets were way too expensive and the thought of driving 30 hours made us cringe! However, we knew that there was no other way of getting there. We didn't have a boat, we didn't have a plane and we weren't going to take a train because that would take even longer than driving. That's when we decided to make the drive. There were 5 of us in the car (very uncomfortable) and if we each drove 6 hours it wouldn't be that bad. We set out from VT on thursday morning March 25. Our plan was to catch the festy the 26 and the 27 and leave by Sunday the 28 to get back by Monday night. The ride down was probably the craziest part of the trip. The amount of times I thought we weren't going to make it was ridiculous. We took my friend Geoff's car so he drove most of the way. He's one of those drivers who looks at everything BUT the road. I noticed the technological shift because of the GPS in the car which was directing us towards miami. There were also 4 i-pods...all different models and 3 blackberrys which all had a GPS as well. Now tell me the age we are living in isn't crazy.! I also noticed a personal shift because my friends couldn't last the whole ride without going on facebook 100 times on their blackberrys. To me, this trip was a value message. I basically looked at is as something I cannot do when I'm older. I'm not going to be able to just leave my job and drive to Miami. I am only young once so this trip was really a big deal to me. It meant a lot to my friends and I. We almost crashed along the way so I thought my life was at stake. However, my friend's use of humor got me to forget about it and persuaded me to stick it out. Every state we passed through we saw symbols. For example, I saw many different bumper stickers such as The Grateful Dead and other popular bands. This also persuaded me to stick out the ride! Looking at these stickers got me pumped for the music I was about to see! When we hit Georgia, we all remembered that we didn't have a place to stay. I told my friends that I didn't have enough money so they said give a little more for gas and they got me covered...I think they bribed me? It worked though! When passing through Jacksonville and Orlando we saw many many palm trees which gave me warm fuzzies inside...I knew I was about to be on the beach! We finally got there...alive. We saw 2 days of unbelievable music and had the time of our lives. The light show and the sound was outstanding which also reveals the technological shift. The trip back was the worst because we didn't have anything good to look forward to except a long week of school. This trip is definitely an experience I am never going to forget. I also set up Google alerts for Ultra Music Festival 2011 so I can stay updated on the line-up, the location and other exciting news!

Here's a video I found on youtube that shows you the true experience!