Extra Credit Blog

What difficulties did you encounter in using the blogs? (both technical and conceptual)


At first there were a few difficulties when starting up the blog. I guess the reason why there were a few difficulties was because of a mixture of the whole "blog" idea being very new to me and the website used to blog, Blogger, is not very user friendly itself. The first difficulty was I had no idea how to do a blog and the instructions during the startup of the blog page was a tad confusing and not in as in depth as it needed to be. Maybe a video tutorial would have worked out really nice, allowing us to visually see how to do one, making it easier to accomplish.


One other thing that was confusing was placing pictures within the blog. I guess this is more of a website difficulty more than anything. I have heard of better blog websites other than blogger than people I have talked to have said that it is easier to use other than blogger. 


Overall I felt blogger was not user friendly at all and a bit difficult to use. As far as conceptual problems goes, I don't have many just that maybe there should have been more blog prompts related to the screenings and how they are related to the lectures and readings alike.

Globalization

Globalization in Hybridization

Globalization is the process of making connections between nations, cultures, and people in general stronger.

For instance hybridization, the interaction between two distant cultures in different times, brings together two cultures or two types of people in some way or fashion. It binds together cultures that find a significant holding place in each other. One example is with television shows throughout the world today, specifically The Office. 

Originally starting in the UK, the “British” verision of The Office was a huge hit in England. Mainly anchored by headlining funny man Ricky Gervais, the show maintained a steady dose of funny that producers thought would transcend in America. Sure enough, they were right, the American “Office” proved to be even funnier to American audiences than the British version. Although the American version was slightly different to make it more relatable, this situation proves that there was a connection between tow different cultures based on the basis of what each culture thought was funny.

Pics from:

http://images.dvdsetshop.com/upload/uploadfiles/the-office-cast-full-photo-smaller.jpg

http://davidwalsh.name/dw-content/phptvdb-office.jpg

Old Spice Commercial

There are a lot of great, funny commercials out there that are very affective towards their audience. But, lately the Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" commercials have been a bit hit with people of all ages all across the country, and the world. As of Friday November the 5th it already has nearly 23 million views on YouTube. Basically all it is is a man who describes himself as a very good smelling man, the tall, dark, handsome type that all women seem to love, and saying to women that their men could smell like him and be as awesome as him if they used Old Spice body soap.

It is a continuous shot and follows the man from the bathroom to a boat and suddenly on a horse. It's actually ridiculous but also quite funny. I think this commercial is very persuasive mainly because it is very funny. Its ridiculousness grabs the attention of the viewer and draws the viewer to the conclusion that "Hey, maybe I should get some old spice body wash, its the "cool" body wash."Usually ads gain the attention of the viewer by giving the viewer something to see that it hasn't seen before, or displays it in a different way, which is actually what this commercial does. It uses style, by claiming that old spice soap is the soap that can guarantee the smell of the guy in the commercial. This is a claim used by many ads to give the viewer a reason to go out and buy something. It also uses ubiquity by catching the readers attention by placing the man in odd and random circumstances.

Pics from: http://www.zootpatrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/oldspice.jpg
http://cdn.indyposted.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Isaiah-Mustafa-Old-Spice-Commercial.jpg
http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/old-spice-commercial-ad.jpg

3 Act Structure in Star Wars

Hollywood's 3 act structure is the most used structure in the developing process of a film. In Star Wars, the three act structure is prevalent throughout the whole film. Star Wars is a feel good movie, with the hero winning in the end. George Lucas uses the 90 degree pyramid in the film in which every scene leads into the rest of the acts. 


Act one:
     Lucas ends act one at around the 35-40 minutes mark with the decision that Luke, the protagonist, makes. He had been contemplating leaving Tattoine for a more exciting life with the rebellion, but helping his aunt and uncle forced him to stay behind. When his aunt and uncle get killed by the empire it leaves Luke with no other choice than to help Obi-Wan Kenobi and fight for the rebellion like he had wanted, using his skills to help rescue Princess Leia and the rebellion. By doing this Lucas ends the act by escalating the stakes for Luke and implying the tough road ahead for Luke and the rebellion.

Act two:
     In act two,with an end time arounf 1:15-1:25, most of the action takes place. Luke ends up finding Princess Leia in the Death Star and manages to escape the Death Star but Obi-Wan Kenobi ends up getting killed by Darth Vader. The story is not over however, with the empire planning to blow up another planet in their way, Luke and the rebellion need to act quickly and destroy the empire's plans. This elevates even more action, transitioning from act two to act three. 

Act three:
     Act three is the shortest act, and consists of primarily a big space battle that last 20 minutes long. This is my favorite movie because the climax is so EPICLY EPIC!!! The action is great but I like it more becasue this is the act that answers almost all of the questions, the main one being that The Death Star is blown up and the empire is defeated, for now. 

pics from:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s9A3LU9MpQkX6I4b3V5I1EozHtRpHhO-c7myDrRJmY-clhNdV_Yi6-_ESQ6_N47FL8JNRP3sXjcxMt8eAdRam03KyHyHiOM3P8sI4TiIR0gJBpuEMTJ48pQKS5paH-9aLRNTzUsT0LQ/s1600/Star-Wars-A-New-Hope-star-wars-3810769-720-304.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/05/17/article-0-0075AB9D00000258-840_634x405.jpg

The TV Sitcom

One of the characteristics of a tv sitcom very noticeable in almost all tv sitcoms is the lesson characteristic. Almost every episode of every sitcom ever created has a lesson associated along each episode. 

For example, in Everybody  Loves Raymond there is an episode entitled "The Wallpaper" where Ray's parents drive a car through his front door. They end up paying for the damages, yet Ray isn't happy cause the wallpaper on the new wall doesn't match the original one. He gets pissed and his dad, Frank, declines to pay a cent more than he has too. After a while they reconcile and leave it be. 

The whole moral of the story was about many things most noticeably greed and being too picky. TV sitcoms are usually based on the family life. And with family life sometimes comes family situations and family troubles. It is interesting to see these problems played out on tv. It kinda makes people go back and say "I remember when that happened in my life, I didn't see how it was funny then, but I do now". Sitcoms take a light look on the situation, highlight the funny, and solve the problem in the end. It's a classic formula and doesn't show signs of stopping anytime soon, and I couldn't see it better any other way.   

Pics from: http://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TBS/Images/Dynamic/i23/elr_episode100_337x233_032720061525.jpg
http://sharetv.org/images/guide/198603.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPknGHnRp2cLaba2AQH2A7XnVA5xjSIiT6MsVYk9WgdromhGNi35OcWBTPIljSjFI8pfmXc-t2RraFsBCxPO4EA7qQwdH4MF3w3uoo5fL8RxEhJ7KF5fZ_WU6hQ-YvM3DpGPqRhsqD_7Y/s1600/ray.jpg

Star Wars "Binary Sunset" shots

In Star Wars "A New Hope" there is one scene in particular that I really love because it tells a story all it's own in about 35 seconds with no dialogue, only emotion played out through the kind of shots George Lucas used. This scene comes almost halfway through the movie and really let's the viewer know what Luke is feeling.

The shot I am going to explain is the Binary Sunset scene in Star Wars. Basically Luke gets out of the house and looks at the two suns setting in the sky. It doesn't seem like a big deal but when you watch it it feels like something much more is happening on a deeper level.

Long Shot: George Lucas opens up the scene with an isolated house in the Tattoine Desert and with two suns setting, Luke simply walks out of the house. The descriptive meaning of this scene is simply telling us where the scene is taking place, which is in Tattoine. But on a deeper level as Luke is standing by just watching the sunset he is alone. There is a sense of loneliness with the backdrop of the two suns and Luke just standing there, watching his dreams set along with the suns.

Medium Shot: The medium shot in this case is with the two suns. As it goes from Luke back to the two suns, the suns represent the dreams and aspirations of a young farm boy, who wants more from life and knows deep in his heart that he is called to be a part of something bigger than himself.

Close-Up Shot: The close up is of Luke looking into the sky. Obviously, it clarifies that it is Luke that is in the scene. As Luke looks away, you can easily tell he is sad, lonely, upset, and disappointed with the way his life looks to be going.  The immense sky paints a picture that represents how big the universe is and how small Luke is in this vast world. Yet, those two suns are there to represent that something is out there for him, yet until that day comes it is back to life as he knows it.

Pics from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/72/SW_binary_sunset.png/290px-SW_binary_sunset.png

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/37402266_d23edfe6c8.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tZlMiaIR5V5YG2XOR5rUcuF3bVbftJ7GIcOo7TlrRnodN19Z_BMRdesGsCcPtvxx-pZgVg1e8_28NLQ3YUv5qEVzVyc4eOH0kjpFJjSfoatoKhTMeg01gj1CC1rC2NfuaJAksLnhV6w/s1600/Luke__skywalker.jpg

The Studio System

The Studio System of Classic Hollywood was a very unique and all-in-one process. The most interesting aspect of how they made movies back then at least to me was how everyone in the movie business was on a contract with the movie studios. 

Being on contract meant that the people who were signed on to a particular studio like MGM, meant that they could only work on the MGM movies assigned to them for a certain number of years or movies.

This was a very important piece to the puzzle that is the movie industry. This meant that the studios would have certain actors that the general public liked very much. Usually these stars came associated with specific genres of film like a musical, gangster, or crime film. So the studios would cater to whatever was working at the time, with whoever was the hottest actor or actors of the day. And because they were on a contract they had to do it. 

This was the case with Frank Capra and many others. In Frank Capra's case, from 1934-1946 he directed four films including It's a Wonderful Life, all under contract for Columbia Pictures. Without the contract to make the films he was supposed to make, there would not be many of the classic movies of the Golden Era of Hollywood.

Pic from: http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_02_img0600.jpg