Top Ten Media Revelations

1. The changes in writing brought on by the internet.

The internet has had a huge effect on media writing. One example of this is how journalism has been changed. Before the internet, journalists would be criticized next issue in editorials if anywhere, now they have to deal with comments on their posts instantly and 24/7 (11). Also, new things popularized by the internet such as ARGs have changed fiction writing, because you now have to account for and reference things explained and discovered in ones such as this Lost ARG. These are just some of the examples of how the internet and its associated culture have greatly changed writing over the last few years.

2. The trend away from the individual and towards corporate ownership.

These days, nearly every outlet is corporate owned in some way. The consolidation started in the 90s and now six companies own an overwhelming majority of media outlets in the country. This is one of the defining characteristics of the US media landscape.
In the book, Hilliard talks about how in radio, the decisions on what gets played in a market has reversed it's trend, and now is almost uniformly decided by an external corporate planner (305). In my opinion, this is a bad thing. Local content should be decided locally, not by some suit in an office in Manhattan or LA.

3. The fact that companies aim at the LCD or lowest common denominator

I have always somewhat been aware of this. In fact, my parents always talk about this when we see something stupid come on TV. I guess it makes sense from a production point of view, as you are spending money, and you naturally want to get the most return from your money. This is the reason according to Hilliard, who says that in TV, people generally write and produce for the LCD because it gives them the broadest audience (3). I think this kind of programming really brings us down as a nation though. I mean, I enjoy watching some lowbrow TV every once and a while, but some people watch it all the time. Shows like "Jersey Shore" also make us look stupid internationally.


4. The variety of scripting formats for the variety of formats.

It makes sense, but nearly every type of programming, regardless of medium, has its own specific scripting format. This way, the script can be carefully tailored to the needs of the format.Different mediums have different needs, for instance, a radioscript has no need for any sort of camera directions. Putting them in there would only take up space, but a TV or movie script requires them. Hilliard mentions how there are several common types of script, ranging from the single column format that is generally used in radio, to the two column TV script, and the consecutively numbered film and screenplay format (50).

5. The need to understand your audience.

Writers get nowhere if they don't understand the people the are aiming their writing at. Knowing your demos is just as important as knowing what you are writing about.
If you don't understand the audience then you risk offending them or just not getting to them. In the book, it talks about how differently the same message can be taken by people in different situations and demographics, and how you need to stress certain parts of the message in order to appeal to different demos.(4-5)

6. How scripted so called "Reality" TV is.

I had always thought that reality tv was more or less unscripted. I knew that some of the content was more or less created though editing, but I didn't know how much, and how it was edited to create a story, rather than edited to show a story that developed on its own. According to the book however, the writers and editors and producers all sit down together and create the content by selective editing to create the story we see. They do all this after the fact, but still, the reality we see is the reality they construct for us (253).

8. The amount of background work in interviews.

Interviews always seemed spontaneous to me. I figured that the interviewer had come up with a list of questions to ask based on the current stuff dealing with the person they were interviewing, and that the first time that the interviewee heard the questions was when they were actually being interviewed. This is not so, according to the book, which claims that interviewees are often treated to a "preinterview" which briefs them on the questions they are to be asked in varying degrees (269). It seems like this somehow cheapens interviews to me. If the person is prepared for the questions, how do we know they are honest answers, and not prepared ones?

9. The difficulty of adapting something for television or film

One of the hardest things to do successfully is to take something like a book and bring it to the big or small screen. When you do this, you are already getting judged against something, and it is generally something already popular or critically acclaimed, unpopular books are generally not adapted. You have to contend with a legion of fans who are going to get you for the smallest canonical mistakes. Your work will not be judged on it's own merits. Hilliard talks about other pitfalls such as following too closely, and the difficulties of having to show everything and explain nothing inherent to screen media (433). Its often interesting to see our favorite books and plays on the big screen, but I wouldn't want to be the person in charge of bringing it there.

10. My final and maybe most important revelation: The importance of sound.

When we watch something, our mind probably focuses on the visual. It is moving around, its there in front of us, and it draws our attention and mind. However, the video is really almost secondary to the sound. Without sound working the way it should, our suspension and focus is ruined. Good sound can make or break a video. Sound sells a scene, and can cover up other problems. In addition to this, sound is huge in terms of ambiance. Hilliard talks about how music can add to the mood and content, but must be used subtlety, or it can distract (42). In the Transformers trailer I post along with this, you can see how the presence of absences of background music can really change the mood.

After video questions and thoughts

1. I think that the most difficult part of making this was deciding how to film it. We could go many ways, serious, funny, a story, and deciding what way to go was difficult for me.



2. Doing the editing. Seeing it all come together is always the best part for me. You don't get to see how great (or bad) your work is until you put it all together.

3. I learned to be flexible, to double check, and to always make sure your set is set up exactly as needed. We had some trouble with filming due to things we were talking about not behaving as they were supposed to, and all three of these were important things for me to keep in mind.

4. I didn't realize that we had such high efficiency washer/dryers. I also had forgotten all about the green roof until we had started doing this. In addition to those two, I didn't really realize to true campus coverage of sustain Champlain until I looked at it all together like this.

Media Meditation 6

My experiences as a Radio DJ

For the last several weeks, I have been DJing on the Champlain Wave web radio station. It has been an interesting experience to say the least. For one, it has kindled a desire to be a part of radio in some way. It is really enjoyable. Secondly, it has been quite a challenge to figure out a format for my show. I remember in the text that it said that only amateurs go out on to a radio show with no script whatsoever. I suppose I am an amateur. On some shows, I have even gone on with no idea of what I am going to play. I don't know if I like the idea of having a script or not having a script better. When you have a script, you have a base to work off. However, you are tied to it. When you don't have a script, you can come up with whatever you want, and just do it as you go along, but things don't sound as polished unless you have a lot of experience.

I plan to do the show again all next year, and when I do there are going to be some format changes. For one, I want to have a bit of a script. There isn't a huge me talking portion of the show, but I would like to have little bits to say about the different bands that I play on the show after I play them. I do that now, but it is limited to what I know off the top of my head. If I came up with stuff before hand, it would probably be better and definitely more indepth.

Media Meditation 5

I am a pretty big Stargate fan. I own the entirety of SG-1 on DVD, and have been following the new show, Universe. I have noticed a big change in the way the show works and is shot. In the original show, the camera work was very stable.
There were generally slow pans that would keep up with the action, and let you see everything that was going on. You were an observer, not really a part of the action. The new show, Stargate Universe, is filmed in what I call, Battlestar style.

Notice the differences here. Where SG-1 has stable, midrange shots, SGU's style is jumpy, with cuts rather than panning shots to follow the action. This makes sense I guess, as as far as I can tell, the show is supposed to be seen through the eyes of "Kinos", floating camera bots that one of the characters found on the ship. I however, dislike it. It really feels to me like they are just aping Battlestar Galactica. They are already doing it in the hopeless atmosphere, but I hardly think they need to copy the camera style too. I guess it works, it does do a good job of engaging the reptilian brain, but sometimes I think that isn't really the right way of going about it. I like this style somewhat in action scenes, but it doesn't seem appropriate when it is in every mundane conversation. Infact, it rather lessens the impact where it would otherwise be a big change.

It's a cool effect, but I think that when you are scripting the camera work, you have to not only look at the big picture but how bits work on their own. Its great to have a unified camera theme, but does that theme necessarily work for the entire script? I have found that I have trouble remembering names of characters and sometimes plot details with this type of camera work. I wonder if it is because my reptilian brain is becoming active at the expense of my neo-cortex. Thus I am able to see and react to all the cool stuff that is going on screen but all the details of the plot go in one ear and out the other.

Media Meditation the Fourth

RSS

What a wonderful set of three letters.

RSS lets me, or anyone else for that matter, easily keep up with whatever is going on in my section of the blogosphere. It's great. Using it I can train media to find me wherever I am. It is especially great that I have my RSS reader integrated into my desktop through Rainmeter. This is a very easy way to for me to keep up with whatever I am interested in. I mostly keep mine tied to Lifehacker, because I have always found DIY to be interesting. It is all part of the new convergent shift of media. Instead of having to go out there into the internet and either A. manage a big set of bookmarks, checking every one of them every day, or B, simply remembering the names of blogs or sites that I like, I can have them come to me with new content as it is delivered.
As someone writing in the new media world, RSS makes it very easy to keep up with what is going on in other blogs, so that you can comment on them and be part of the fun on yours. If there is a blog that you find to be particularly influential, then RSS readers make it easy to keep up with that, so that you can either talk about it on your platforms, but also be part of the comments on the page as they happen, rather than arriving late.

Media Meditation 3 Tosh.0

I really can't think of a better example of the new path of TV than the comedy central show tosh.0. Basically, the show format is thus: Comedian Daniel Tosh goes through various viral videos of the week in a humorous fashion. It plays to the very edge of cable content, every week some of the stuff that he says in jokes and such surprise me for his

ability to just go up to the edge and barely go over, but not so far that taste is completely gone.

Its a very interesting format. It depends completely on viral and web 2.0 content. He encourages fans to tweet to him over the show, and he responds over the breaks. Its a total integration format that I have never seen before. Often, he will respond to the tweets live on the show as well, (at least if you're east coast) so the show never really gets boring. As someone who has grown up more or less with this content it is a show that feels really comfortable. Everyone in my floor gathers in my room to watch tosh.0, and its a whole community feeling because many of us have seen the videos before.

I think this is the future of tv to a point. I expect that shows set up this way will only increase in number, especially with the huge success that tosh.0 has been. It is very relevant to our generation, and very entertaining as well. The quick changes in content are well timed to the shorter attention spans that our generation has. It's a very interesting and entertaining show.

Midterm Evaluation!

1. After studying media for eight weeks in this class, what have you learned?
I've learned alot about scripting. In the past I had never realized how many formats there were. I thought there was just one type used. It makes sense now that various media formats have various requirements in a script. I think some of the other basic principals would be new to me if I had not taken your course last sem.

2. What is the most important think you have learned about yourself as a: 1. Critical reader; 2. a writer, and 3. a critical thinker in this class so far?
1.Sometimes I read too fast and don't go in depth critically as I should.
2. I don't feel I have really learned anything about myself as a writer. We haven't really done any original writing so far.
3. As a critical thinker sometimes I need to stretch a bit more.

3.What's one thing YOU would do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take it again.
Give a bit more attention to the text. I feel I have neglected it a bit compared to MM&S and am consequently getting less out of the course.

4. Whats one thing you would like ME to do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?
Maybe do a bit more with the toolsets. They were introduced, and then we didn't use them again for a while, and if then the midterm was on it. It wasn't so much a problem for me because of my experience with them last semester, but if the midterm is to solely be on the tool sets we should use them a bit more.

5. Please comment on the usefulness of the course blog, your personal blog, our films, and our book(s) as learning tools.
All the blogs have been very useful. They are one of my favorite parts about your classes. Being able to see what everybody says about the reading is interesting and helps me understand. The films have been good exercises and the book is all wheat and no chaff; that is, it's all useful info in my opinion.