Sitcoms

Many sitcoms tend to be episodic which means that they tend to have things happen only once during that episode and usually they are not brought up again in other episodes. Sitcoms also tend to be based on TV’s. The set is usually set up stage like and the living is usually focused around the TV. Most of the time you don’t see the TV in the set but it’s always implied that it is there by the way the furniture is set-up.

In the Cosby Show one episode Vanessa has a Halloween party and while daydreaming about one of her crushes she drops a tray of food and gets really embarrassed this shows how the Cosby show is an episodic show because this only happens in one episode and is never brought up in future episodes. The Cosby show also shows the TV set up very well. In their living room you usually don’t see the TV, but they usually gather in there and sit on the couch while they are looking at the TV. Their living room is set up so it implies that the TV is there and sometimes when they are in the living room you can hear the TV on but you can’t see it. These are some of the ways that the Cosby Show shows some of the characteristics of a sitcom that Mr. Tain talked about in Wednesdays lecture.

http://www.mycollects.com/products/The-Cosby-Show-Seasons-1-8-DVD-Box-Set-DVDS-2053.html

A Cinderella Story- Film shots

In the move A Cinderella Story the main shots they use are the long shot, the medium shot, and the close up shot. These shots are all shot at different camera angles and they really show the emotions and how the director wants you to view the film

This shot is the long shot which they also call the Orientation Shot. I think in this shot they are showing isolation. They are showing how Sam and Austin are isolated from everyone else at the dance. They are doing this to show that no one else at the dance seems to matter but the two of them. This shot is important because it shows that they don’t care what others think.

This is the medium shot also known as the information shot. In this shot they are really showing the two characters and how they are interacting with each other. You can begin to see the chemistry between the two of them and it really informs you that there is a connection between the two that could lead to something in the show. It really starts to introduce the character as this is the first time Austin has really noticed Sam.

This shot is the close up shot which is also known as the important detail shot. This is really where you dig into the emotions of the character. You can see the look in Sam’s eyes as Austin is going to take her mask off. You can tell that she is scared because she doesn’t want Austin to know he has been dancing with her. She thinks that he won’t like her because she is not popular and he is the star of the football team. The close up shots really allows the viewer to see how much the mask makes a difference to Sam, with the mask on she feels like a different person and now she is scared to reveal her true self and you can see it in her eyes.

http://www.teenidols4you.com/picture.html?g=Actors&pe=hillary_duff&foto=554&act=239&mv=719&pic=164431 

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1224513792/tt0356470

http://www.teenidols4you.com/picture.html?g=Actors&pe=hillary_duff&foto=554&act=239&mv=719&pic=237912

Star System

I believe the star system was an important part of the Hollywood’s studios because it helped establish the studio by which stars they had.

The star system was a way that the studios took stars and created a certain “image” for them. They became associated with genres and their own talents that they had. This helped out the studios in a huge way because they would take these young actors and create an image for them.  The stars would help out in not only the production part of the movies but in the distribution part also. If the star had a well known reputation people would more likely go see that movie because of the stars popularity. This really helped created the studio system for films. Stars images became the main focus of their careers and they never shifted away from them. Their image would appear in any movies that they were in. Another thing about the star system was that studios had the actors under contract, but they could rent them to other studios if the other studio wanted to make a film in the genre their star was ideal for.

I think the image I know best is of Judy Garland. She was a discovered as a young girl with a big voice. MGM took this into account and she became the image of musicals with the big hit musical The Wizard of Oz. Most people know Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz, but she has done several other movies also. All of her movies include her having a singing bit in them somewhere because that is the image she is known for. I think this is an example of how the star system is an important part of the Hollywood studio system.  It creates stars based off an image and this is how the studios base their films.

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/judy-garland/images/890055/title/judy-dorothy-photo

"All in the Family" Blog

I think that the show “All in the Family” and the show “Glee” have similarities in the sense of how some of the characters view gay people. They are different in how some of the issues are shown and the environment of the shows.

In the show “All in the Family” the father of the family Archie has a problem with gay people. He thinks that one of his son’s friends is gay and he is just very rude to the boy. He judges the boy without even getting to know him. He makes rude remarks to the boy and this reminded me of the show “Glee”. In an episode of “Glee” a boy named Finn is moving into his mom’s boyfriend’s house and has to share a room with his son Kurt who is gay. Finn is very rude to Kurt at first and calls him all kinds of names. Finn reminded me off Archie in the sense that he didn’t get to know the boy he just judged him.

The shows are different in the sense that “All in the Family” deals more with family and home life while “Glee” deals more with high school life. The settings in the shows are completely different. “All in the Family” is shot mainly in the home of the Bunker family, while “Glee” is shot mainly in the high school of the kids in the show. In “Glee” they are mainly dealing with the everyday struggles in high school with trying to fit in. “All in the Family” doesn’t really deal with the whole trying to fit in like they do in “Glee”.

I believe that these shows are similar and different in these ways. “All in the Family” deals more with older issues from back in the 1970’s and “Glee” deals with present day issues that we can relate too.

http://nocureforthat.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/all-in-the-family-%E2%99%A6-this-day-in-the-usa-%E2%99%A6-january-12/

http://www.elisemoreau.com/favourite-youtube-videos/glee-piano-sheet-music-new/

Technological Changes

I believe that technological changes from men like Marconi and Sarnoff are what helped shaped the radio industry in the 1920’s.

                The technological changes started back when Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless radio telegraph that carried messages in Morse code. “This was the first practical use of the radio” (Media Now).  Another major technological change came about in 1916 when David Sarnoff “proposed a plan of development which would make radio a ‘household utility’ in the same senses as the piano or phonograph” (Media Now).

These two developments shaped the radio industry significantly. Marconi’s invention of the radio telegraph played a key role in the Titanic disaster. When the Titanic struck the iceberg it had to send calls for help over the wireless system. “Not only was radio crucial to saving many passengers, but it became central to reporting news about the disaster, which riveted people on both sides of the Atlantic” (Media Now). Sarnoff’s proposal changed the way radio was used in the 1920’s. It brought the radio into people’s homes in the sense of keeping them connected with the outside world whether it was with news, music, or entertainment.

Without the technological changes brought about by these two men the radio industry would have been very different in the 1920’s and I believe these men were also the foundation of the radio and how it has developed today. You have to start somewhere with inventions and I believe that this is where the radio industry started.

Cites: Media Now Joseph Straubhaar / Robert LaRose / Lucinda Davenport: Updated 2010

http://www.starway.org/Titanic/

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=264&ai=75187&arch=y&ssd=10/1/2008%2012:01:00%20PM

Cultivation Theory

I believe that the movie Tough Guise has helped me see how the Cultivation Theory plays out in our society today with men.  It has helped me see how games such as Grand Theft Auto show us that if you’re a guy you should be “tough.”

Cultivation theory is a way the media over time creates an image of what is “reality” in our society today. Cultivation theory suggests that overtime media can change the way we look at things because of how they are shown through advertisement or on television. The media is trying to make us believe that to be a man in our world today you have to portray the image of a so called “tough guy.” They make it seem like to be a man you have to be masculine and violent. Men today have begun to accept this theory because it is shown in all types of advertisement. Most men feel like they have to be buff and work out in order to be considered a man. They don’t want their friends to think that they are less of a man because they aren’t as ripped as they should be.

                In the video game Grand Theft Auto the men in that game are shown as these tough guys who steal cars and beat up people just because they can. They treat women badly and they use them for things they need. In this game the guys can steal cars or kill people simply because they want to. I believe the game supports the cultivation theory in the fact that boys who play this game get the idea that men should be tough guys and then they begin to adopt these beliefs and think it’s normal because it is shown in a game that they love to play.

 I believe that media can change the norm of society by simple over advertising a certain way as they have done with the males in our society today. I think that this type of media can lead to some of the problems we have today with domestic violence against women because men have seen it and they think it’s okay to show women that they are the boss.

http://favoniangamers.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/grand-theft-auto-iv-best-video-game-ever-made/ 

Framing in Advertising

    I believe this class has helped me see how the Calvin Klein ads have been framing the image of women today. They show us through their advertisements that all women have to be unnaturally thin in order to be beautiful.
    In our society the Media and Advertisement companies use their resources to portray an image of a person or an object; in a way that they think we should view it. Media framing is a way for advertisers to get people to think a certain way by how they depict images on television commercials or in magazine advertisements. Framing is a way to manipulate individuals into thinking they aren’t good enough simply because they don’t look like the ideal image that is being shown.
    In class when we watched “Killing Us Softly” it really made me think about how advertising companies have this set image for the way women should look. The Calvin Klein Ads are all very thin, super fit, and gorgeous women. Most of their ads usually involve women in swim suits or in a sexy pair of lingerie. They show women with barely any clothes on so they can show off their sexy figures. All their ads show us these women and make us think that we should look like them. They make women think if they aren’t a size zero then they aren’t beautiful, which is entirely untrue.
    I believe that some types of media framing like this one for example can lead to bigger problems such as girls developing eating disorders or getting plastic surgery. The media today doesn’t think about these things all they care about is selling products even if it means degrading the way women see themselves.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/06/23/2009-06-23_calvin_klein_tones_it_down_sort_of_in_soho.html

http://www.hilary-swank.org/updates/?page_id=454