10 revalations

1. My first revelation would be the knowledge I have gained about new forms of media such as the internet. To quote"Writing for Television, Radio and New Media" pg 11, the Internet audience is very different from other forms of media. This medium consists of single individuals exchanging information on a one on one environment, even though millions of individuals can be logged on to any particular same site at the same time.

Image curiosity of techland.com

As many others, I am an avid user of a computer. Whether I'm mindlessly googling things or checking the core group of websites in my mental catalogue, I seem to find myself enthralled within hours of mindless activity in front of a monitor. It's not hard to figure out why big corporations are reaching out to audiences through the internet. With promotion and interactive games that these companies create, they are able to promote whatever product they're trying to sell in a manner that's almost subliminal.

During commercial breaks in Comedy Central's new TV show "Ugly Americans", there are commercials for an interactive online game in which player navigate through New York city as the shows main protagonist. Through this game the viewer can learn more about the characters within the show while playing a fun and interactive game.

2. My second revelation was the fact that our brain can be divided into three different sections; the neocortex, limbic and reptilian when we come into contact with an advertisement. All these parts of the brain are stimulated when individuals such as ourselves come into contact with anything.

In the neocortex is part of the outermost part of the brain. The neocortex conceives its most rational thoughts such as decision making. This part takes the product being sold into one's own consideration.

Image curiosity of pictures.funnyjunksite.com/.../ brain-drain/

The limbic brain is where feelings of emotion take place. Also, music and images are taken in through this part of the brain. When a whimsical catchy tune comes on and a shiny product is displayed before our eyes are limbic brain seems to go crazy!

Now the reptilian section of the brain is the oldest part. This is where "basic instincts" come from; eating, mating, sex and fighting. If you have ever heard the term, "sex sells" then one must know that their reptilian brain is being stimulated in the whole advertising scheme.

3. This semester I was able to see the advantages of social networking beyond the book. I use facebook and I find myself going on this site more than I really need to, but there is more to facebook then keeping in touch with old friends.

The past Summer I played in a local Connecticut band known as Freddy & The Yetis and we want to take it seriously for the upcoming months! After taking this class I realized that my band can use these forms of social networking to promote ourselves in a professional and artistic manner. While creating a myspace page, facebook fan page, twitter account and youtube account we can give fans and on-lookers a look and insight to our band. It worked for Dane Cook, why shouldn't it work for me? Check it out at http://www.myspace.com/freddytheyetis

4. After watching "The Persuaders", I felt like I have been violated. These major companies are so concerned with advertising a product, that I feel as though whenever I look anywhere I can't escape the clutches of some cleverly placed add. With changes in trends of society and technology big companies need to find a new way to reach the consumers. I don't know if anyone has seen the promotion for "Iron Man 2", but their are several big companies working with the studio to promote the movie and their product.

5. In chapter 7, "Interview and Talk Programs", there is a great deal of information regarding preparation for interviews. Television and radio are typically constructed with an outline, questions and answers are prepared but the exact words are usually improvised. Now, throughout my home life I've always sat down with my dad on Sundays and watched "60 Minnutes". The journalists always seem to completly fluent, knowing a way to tap into the interviewee's inner most thouughts. I guess I always thought that everything was completly improv but in reality the questions are carefully selected and gone over by both parties prior to the engagement. And while some interviewee's have their priorities sorted out before the interview others don't. I found that very apparent in this video:

6. People always tell me to write about what I know, and what I know is music. I like to account the time when I've been on the road with friends traveling to far away venues to see bands and other music festivities. So I've always been in the process of gaining these stories about the sort of shenanigans that occur and whatever misadventures we might have. The plan is to write a screen play about it when all the thoughts are pooled together. With the thoughts outlined I plan on making a script. Chapter 3 of "Writing for Television, Radio & New Media" talks about developing a detailed sheet or a rundown, then the script would be drafted. And to personalize my script in order to reach out to the audience of the sub-group of people who surround the music scene.

Image of curiosity marqueemag.com/2009/05/

7. When it comes to censorship within television and other media programs there seems to be this overwhelming acknowledgement of the presence of the FCC. In "Writing for Television, Radio & New Media" chapter 5, it states that the Communications Act of 1934 prohibits the FCC from censoring programs but another statement within the act gives the FCC authority to take action against anything they deem as indecent. This is something that I have to keep into consideration when I am on the radio at "Big Heavy World". One time when I was present at the office a song came into their routine where the artist dropped a few F-bombs and one of my co-workers quickly got on the air issuing a statement saying that the artists words were not consistent with the views of our station..etc. Due to the fact that we are an independent radio station we don't get a lot of pressure from the FCC but we must keep public deacencey into consideration to avoid any confronation.

8. Now my family has always watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade every Thanksgiving. It lasts around three hours then we all go out run whatever tasks are left before we go to attend dinner. I truly did take for granted the amount of effort put into the production of the parade as well as other major events, it wasn't until I read chapter six when they showed the rundown did I really know how it was produced. The book gives a timing rundown of the event which lasts from 9 am to 11:59 then lists they layout of a series of shots, graphics, commercials and a chronological series of the floats. Everything must be completly fluent allowing commercials to come at ease with the consistency of the floats. I have a greater appreciation for this holiday event and others more than ever now because an event of such magnitude requires great planning on many peoples behalf.

Image curiosity of www.wittywriter7.com/ blog/index.blog?start=12...

9. "Writing for Television, Radio & New Media" describes documentaries was one of the most highly regarded forms of television and radio art. Chapter 6 states that the documentary is able to contribute to public understanding be dissecting the events of the past, look at the present in an analytical manner, or anticipate the future. Being asked to do a documentary about anything would be an honor for me. I'd love to put the time and effort into making something that would inform people about an event or individual. Documentaries are able to stimulate the mind by giving factual information with pristine visuals. I've always wanted to make a documentary and this Summer I plan on bringing my camera with me to document my time on the road.

Image courtesy of imageprocessing.wordpress.com

10. As I sit here at my laptop wondering what to post as my last media revelation I can't help but look at all the things in my room that are side tracking me at the moment. Empty soda cans, chapstick, medicine and other mundane things. All of them are a product of some big corporation and I wonder why I chose these specific brands over others. I don't know if it was a matter of connivence or a matter of brand loyalty. I'd like to think that I'm not another one of the sheep that are swayed and pushed around by marketing ploys but then again I did use AXE body spray in middle school because I thought it would make women physically fight over me...... The fact of the matter is companies are finding new ways in our changing society to reach audiences with a product. The film, "The Persuaders" goes in depth about all the media trends in our current generation, with new forms of media there are new levels of reaching an audience. We have new forms of social networks like facebook where we can see adds on the side of our profiles. On informational site such as IMDB we get pop up promotions. There's no escape from it! Even in the movie "Castaway" we see Fedex and the sports brand Wilson. Wilson!!! What I'm trying to address as my revealation is the effort that companies put into presenting a product. I feel like major companies like Coca-Cola and Mcdonald's don't even have to do any advertising anymore, yet they continue to do so.

Image courtesy of imageprocessing.wordpress.com

"Writing for Television, Radio, and New Media" 9th edition, by Robert L. Hillard

Thomson Higher Education

25, Thomson Place

Boston, MA 02210-1202

USA

Media Meditations2, #3: Acting for the first Time

Now I've always been a person who lacks co-ordination and direction, how I ended up as the main character in Geoff Klane’s student film I have no idea. I don’t know if it was a sort of process of elimination situation or the drawing of a straw but it still, he choose me. I would have been perfectly satisfied if I was holding a boom mic or a light the whole time but I guess it was time for me to step in front of a camera.

Knowing my lines wasn’t even the hardest part. Knowing how to become this character “Pat” was easily the most difficult; I had to move like this slacker film student, I had to be as unbearable and lethargic as possible like this slacker film student I was playing. All in all I had to be a complete slob with no regard for anyone but myself. Having spent time around people like this it didn’t take long to settle in and really become this character.

As I’m writing this meditation I can’t help but find myself in a mental daze from all the work I’ve put into this film all weekend. On top of all the acting, I’ve been running around with my head chopped off trying to complete the stack of work I have due in the upcoming weeks. It’s been hard trying to do all my stuff while trying to give Geoff the effort of exact performance of this character. I give a lot of these filmmakers credit for their work because in no way is any of it easy. A simple five-minute scene took us over an hour to shoot. All the production had to be perfect; lighting and sound were crucial to any dialogue that was muttered between the characters. Some scenes we had to do over with different camera angles in order to show the emotion and mannerisms that the actors were given. It’s not a good feeling to see the director with his hand in his face to your own poor performance.

Now Geoff is a friend of mine who I met playing guitar at the grind and being at the weekly digital film making screenings but when it came to working on this film, he was the boss. I want to give him exactly what he sees this movie to be in his head…. And that’s hard to do. Given the fact that this is my first time acting it’s hard to find this emotional transfer to put into the character. I try to be a studious person who has a good sense of morals but I’m playing my evil twin. Geoff told me to try and stay in character this whole week until we’re done with all my scenes and I can’t be a prick for a week!

By next weekend the whole film should be finished and then it will go into post-production. This will require hours in front of monitors on Geoff’s behalf while he edits this film on Final Cut Pro. We filmed the whole movie on a Panasonic HVX using a three point lighting system with a different set of colored filters. Now the interesting thing about the three point light filters is that the color filters act as a means of expression within the mood of the set scene. We only used the colors blue, red and orange but what I could gather from the scene that we shot using these colors was that they really helped set any kind of mood or feelings that the specific scene explored. I haven’t seen a whole lot of the scene because Geoff believes that if I see myself on camera it will make me change my performance. I completely understand that due to the fact that I’ve never acted before and I would want to change any kind of attitude I’ve been portraying throughout the film. We’ll see how I do and I’d be happy to post the video on my blog upon its completion!

I look forward to the completion of this movie because I’m eager to see what my performance was like. Acting is something that I defiantly want to try again in the future if this goes well, and who knows what will happen next year. I might want to take an acting class to truly understand these actual characters we try to mask.

Media Meditations3, #2: Big and Heavy

It's been about two weeks since I started my internship at a local independent music station called "Big Heavy World". BHW was started in 1996 with an online encyclopedia of regional artists, live internet webcasts from Club Toast. The idea was to promote local artists and give coverage to local Vermont events. Working here has been a dream, not only are the people who work there extremely cool but I've gained a lot of experience working in a real media environment and developed a new set of skills. Since they started they have released fifteen CD titles, constructed a radio station, added an online music shop and public music library. The staff is completely run by volunteers dedicated to supporting Vermont's original musicians. Check them out at http://bigheavyworld.com/ and tune into 105.9 FM

In the weeks ahead they are going to train me on using the on air radio equipment. I have to come up with a clever radio name and then I'm going to be on air playing my favorite local music. If anyone has any clever names for me let me know because I'm completely stumped. I've sat in the radio room many times watching the disc jockey's talk intellectually about current events and upcoming shows.

At every Wednesday at 8 pm there is a program called "Rocket Shop" this program brings in local artists to the studio where they are interviewed and possibly preform live over the radio or they play tracks from a new or upcoming album. The girl Kelsey who runs the program uses a different array of analytical tools to reach out to her audience in the process. Mainly she reaches out to the "plain folks". Her audience mainly consists of Vermont locals and College kids and given that the music scene in Burlington is very communal, people hear something that they like they will often come back to hear it again. She knows that in order to appeal to these people she must present herself as a music goer herself and address the facts in a manner that resembles the thought to the common man. Another tool that she uses would be the "bandwagon" technique. She goes to all these shows that she helps promote and has a wide group of friends that follow the music scene in Burlington. Kelsey says things like, "You'll see me there", and "everyone is going to x tonight so be sure to be there". This girl is well composed on the radio and tries really hard to expose the artists she promotes in a sufficient manner.

Given the technological shift over the years the most up to date radio stations have a wide variety of up to date equipment that sets out a stream of music in a digital format. Since Big Heavy World is a non-profit run organization all their equipment has been donated and is not quite up to par. They still have many cassettes and sound boards that are archaic. But they do have a website, facebook, and myspace page that keeps the viewer up to date daily. This form of personal shift gives the audience news and any kind of information regard the events and artists they help to promote.

I love working at Big Heavy World, I only wish I started working there earlier instead of later because of all the experience I have gained and all the connections they provide within the community. Tune into 105.9 FM to listen in and hopefully you'll here my voice over the radio!

Media Meditations2, #1: Getting Summer Started

As I turned on my computer the other day I checked the usual websites before I tried to accomplish any sort of work. I checked the facebook, Email, then I logged onto Jambase. Now this website is something of a favorite because it gives up to date tour information on every band as well as providing up to date articles on recent shows(http://www.jambase.com/). So you can imagine my excitement when I found the article entitled "Phish Summer Tour 2010". Now I have been waiting for this news for months and now it was finally upon me. I started the video that came with the announcement and I was immediately captivated.

My limbic brain picked up the beautiful coordination of music in the song, “Taste” from the “Billy Breathes” album. I began to tap my foot and shake my head whimsically as the bright colors and coordination of the synchronized swimmers in the video continued to entice my limbic brain. I felt like a child clapping my hand to the news of the tour dates close to my home in Connecticut. All the emotions that I had felt when they announced the reunion tour in 09 came back to me. That feeling of loving something so much and getting this pleasure of finally being able to see that was this great overwhelming sense of completion. My Limbic brain was literally going to leap out of my skull!!!

I watched the video several time due to the fact that I was overwhelmed with happiness. It’s great how Phish uses a few persuasive tools such as humor in all there performances and their announcements. In the video we see the drummer Jon Fishman do a cannonball into the pool and smile into the camera underwater. Though he is a very talented drummer he is a mascot of the sort for the band. What’s more funny then a 5’5 middle aged bald guy wearing a dress. The band was named Phish is association with his last name during a night of tom foolery and shenanigans. Then at the end of the whole video we see the infamous Phish logo for the band. This symbol is a perfect embodiment of the band in its entirety. If you look closely at the symbol there are several bits of information and double entendres to it. I would not think it would be appropriate to name what they are but see if you can find them you self…

I look forward for the months ahead when I get to see my favorite band again. I’m getting a taste of that on April 20th when I get to see the movie about their music festival “8” in 3-D. So it looks like I have a lot to look forward to. You will get a media meditation on the movie but we’ll have to wait.