Online Video Streaming...

One thing that I have been noticing more and more lately is the use of internet video streaming for just about any purpose. I mean, everything from news stories and advertisements to school presentations and such seem to be utilizing YouTube clips or hulu links. I even noticed this week that when I logged onto facebook, there were a couple of people who posted that they were catching up on their favorite television shows through online streaming. I have done this myself from time to time too, it just seems like video streaming is becoming more and more integrated into different aspects of day to day tasks.

Is this something that other people have noticed as well? Do you guys watch television/news videos online just as often, if not more than on television? Do you use online videos in school projects and things of that nature? I'm just curious about how common this is and how it is likely to evolve even further in the future...

The Oprah Effect...

I had seen a show a while back called The Oprah Effect, that was all about the talk show legend and the power she has when it comes to attracting the public to certain products, public figures, etc. and then I watched an episode of Chronicle that I had in the DVR that was all about the entertainment industry in New England and this show had an entire segment dedicated to the Oprah Effect as well. I knew Oprah was a very influential person, but I never realized just how much of an impact her stamp of approval could have on such a broad range of things. For example, one of the things mentioned was a pie company in Centerville who had sent Oprah two pies while she was on the Cape for Eunice Shriver’s funeral. Apparently Oprah and her entourage loved the pies and Oprah’s friend Gayle King who has her own radio show was talking about how great they were on the air. Just this brief mention caused the companies daily orders to triple. That is amazing! Another example that was discussed on the show was a writer from up north somewhere (Vermont maybe?) who had published a few books that had been moderately successful, but were not breakout hits with the public. However, after Oprah chose one of this particular author’s books as a selection for her book club, that specific title sold over a million copies! Basically, the point of the shows seemed to be that Oprah Winfrey has the Midas touch! Is it just me, or is anyone else fascinated by the fact that one person has such a strong influence over millions of people?

Distorted Views of Reality?

For my senior seminar project this semester, I chose to research reality television and I figured that since this is a media studies class, this might be an interesting topic to discuss on my blog as well. For the project, I wanted to find out whether or not watching reality television caused viewers to form false perceptions of the world in which they live. I used a survey to gather new data for the project and asked basic questions on things like the amounts of time spent watching television (and reality television specifically), as well as more specific questions about the portrayals of different kinds of relationships, social activities, etc. I also asked questions about whether audiences changed their own behaviors or altered their priorities based on what they saw on screen. The survey results showed that most of those who responded were light television viewers and for the most part, identified each element of reality television as unrealistic. The majority of participants also agreed that reality television downplayed things like working hard for success and caused some viewers to change the ways in which they prioritized things in their own lives. Obviously, the results only represented one distinct group of television viewers, so there is still a lot of room for future research, but I just thought I would share this and see what everyone else thought about the subject. Do you think reality television has significant effects on people who watch it regularly?

Paranormal Phenomenon...

Paranormal Activity cost just $15,000 to make and was filmed in one week at the director, Oren Peli’s home. Each of the unknown actors in the film was paid $500 to do the project. You probably already knew all of this, right? Well, I came across an article last night that said the film has already taken in more than $100 million at the box office in the past five weeks and had officially become the highest grossing R rated film in the horror/thriller genre of the past decade! I thought that with this week’s discussion on production organization and everything that goes into the making of a project, it was interesting that a film done on such a small budget, in a short amount of time, and with actors who are very new to the business, has become a bit of a phenomenon lately. I haven’t had a chance to see this film myself yet, so I can’t really offer an opinion about what has made it so successful, but it is amazing to see a “little film that could” dominate at the box office.

Has anyone seen the film? Any opinions?

American Movie...

Hmmm… what can I say about American Movie? Well, it was a lot better than I had thought it would be. At the beginning, I wasn't all that intrigued by it, but it became increasingly interesting as it went on. It definitely demonstrates how important it is, especially when trying to create a career in entertainment, to have dedication and a genuine interest in the entire process of filmmaking/production and not be blinded by the glamorous side of the industry, because it can be very difficult to get to where you want to be. With that said, Mark Borchardt, the man featured in the film was quite the character. You have to give him credit for never giving up on his dream, but at the same time, it was a little bit difficult to take him seriously because he just didn’t seem to have his priorities completely straight, man (sorry, I couldn’t resist). However, I was a little curious about whether or not he was still making movies, so I looked him up on IMDb, and he is actually credited on quite a few films as an actor, director, producer, editor and cinematographer, with one of his films, Scare Me, currently shooting and scheduled to be released in 2010, so it seems like he is still going after his dreams and you can’t fault him for that. What did everyone else think about this film?

Shattered Glass & The Importance of Research...

Shattered Glass, which told the story of the downfall of reporter Stephen Glass was a really fascinating film, in my opinion. Not only did Glass build his journalistic career on phony stories and nonexistent sources, but he went so far as to create fake business cards for his “sources”, set up websites for imaginary corporations, get family members to leave voicemail messages as his so-called sources, etc. It seemed especially surprising that something like this could occur at any professional publication, but especially at New Republic which was said to be one of the most respected publications around. In the film, one of the points mentioned was that each article circulates to multiple people for checking before it is cleared for publishing. With so many people responsible for making sure Glass’s work was accurate, how did he manage to get away with such ridiculous reporting practices for so long?

The film definitely reiterates the importance of proper research. The issues presented kind of raise questions about how credible the information we receive from the media actually is. If Stephen Glass was able to publish dozens of stories using fake notes and sources that did not exist, how do we know that everything we read in magazines, journals and newspapers is 100% factual? Any thoughts?

Reality Overload?

So, I was in line at the grocery store last week and happened to glance over at the tabloids that are always up by the register and I saw something that I thought was kind of funny. There was an issue of Life & Style prominently displayed on the rack and across the top of the magazine in large print, it said “Special Gosselin Free Issue”. I thought this was interesting because it is the tabloids that have made the Gosselins out to be such a big deal in the media and now even they are sick of them? It kind of reminded me of the Speidi ban that was implemented on E! a while back because so many viewers were tired of hearing about Heidi and Spencer Pratt from The Hills. Anyway… my point is, how much exposure is too much? Also, why is that reality stars seem to be the most overexposed? I mean, I know other celebrities have been the focus of too much media attention (The whole Brangelina or TomKat crazes, for example), but reality stars seem to be taking over a significant chunk of entertainment news these days. Why is this the case? Any thoughts?

Colorado Balloon Scare = Publicity Stunt?

I know a couple people wrote blogs about the situation that took place yesterday, in which a six year old Colorado boy was believed to have been inside a homemade flotation device that was accidentally released from its tether. However, I was watching the news late last night and saw that after the boy was found to have been hiding in the attic, the family appeared on Larry King Live via satellite and when the boy was asked why he didn’t come out of hiding when he heard his parents calling his name, his parents repeated the question, and he replied “you had said that we did this for a show”. This understandably left people wondering, was there really cause for concern, or was the whole thing a publicity stunt? I guess the family has been on the reality show Wife Swap in the past showing off their storm chasing skills, and the children have some kind of rap video on YouTube, so was the family looking for attention or were they genuinely worried, thinking their son was floating away in a flying saucer type contraption? Hmmm...

Here is a link to an article about the whole situation:
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20091015/US.Boy.in.Balloon/

This is a link to video from Larry King Live, with the family's response:
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b149261_was_balloon_boys_whirlwind_day_all_show.html

Any thoughts?

Jon & Kate + Law & Order?

So I just heard something about an upcoming episode of Law & Order that is supposed to be inspired by Jon and Kate Gosselin, about a young mother who has multiple children and a reality show about her family. In the episode, the mother is murdered and the prime suspect becomes the father of the children. Now, I can understand that Jon and Kate have been in the headlines constantly, and there have been countless spoofs done on their situation, but does this particular situation seem a little inappropriate? I know that its just a work of fiction, but with all of the negative things being said about the Gosselins in the media, and the fact that there are young children involved, who have most likely already been exposed to some of the unpleasant things being said about the family, does this kind of portrayal seem to be a little bit insensitive? What do you guys think?

This Film is Not Yet Rated...

This weeks’ screening of This Film is Not Yet Rated was really eye-opening, to say the least. I knew what the MPAA was and what the purpose of movie ratings was, but I did not realize how secretive the whole process of establishing film ratings was, or how inconsistent movie rating seemed to be. I can understand that the MPAA wants to keep their raters from being put under pressure from outside influences, but at the same time, it only seems fair that filmmakers should have the right to know what types of people are determining the audiences that will be allowed to see their films. I don’t understand why something like movie rating needs to be kept under such close watch, to the point where it takes a private investigator to simply to know the name of a rater or even if the people responsible for designating movie ratings are the least bit qualified to do so. It was also interesting to see how biased some of the decisions made by the MPAA ratings board seemed to be and how uncooperative the appeals board was when filmmakers dared to challenge the ratings boards’ decisions.

I have never really been the type that pays much attention to MPAA ratings when trying to decide which movies to watch. Needless to say, this film has not made me any more likely to take ratings into consideration when forming opinions about films or making decisions about what to watch. I don’t necessarily think that being the “average American parent” is really enough to qualify someone as capable of determining what audiences can see certain films. Shouldn’t something like this be left to those who understand the motion picture industry best and can make the most well informed, unbiased decisions? Anyway… what did everyone else think of the film?