All's Well That Ends Well. :)

It is hard to believe that the year is coming to a close. There has been so much that we have done in Comm 203 this year, and I have to say that I am not only very proud of what I have accomplished, but also very blessed to have learned so much in such a short amount of time. From becoming media literate to graphic novels and music videos, Comm has been a wild ride, but a good one.  

 It is peculiar to think about this being my last blog, I often like to take this reflection time, if not to think only about time, but also as a way to help clear some things in my head after a long day. Blogging has definitely become a good experience, and one that I will always try and utilize in the future. We've talked about many things, the development of the Internet and how we all might just be cyborgs... we've laughed at the jokes that Dr. Williams makes in class and sat through those 50 minutes, even if 8 AM is way too early to get out of bed, (especially on Fridays). Though if it's one thing that Comm 203 has shown me, it is that there are much bigger things in store, so many grandiose and interesting activities that make me so glad to be a Comm Major. 

One of my favorite blogs was being able to explain how much media literacy impacts daily life and how that it is so important to be able to analyze and explain how media influences people. Though, I might just be beginning my stay and education here at Shepherd, I know that at least for right now that I am on the path I was meant to be on, and that means not only learning and being successful, but also growing up and letting go, moving on from old things and pressing on. Wherever I go from here is anyone's best guess, but I go knowing that I have so much more to look forward to.

Vals Type and Comm 203

In Comm 203 we have been discussing public relations and marketing. In a new strategic way, a system called VALS allows producers to better analyze and market to groups of people. From the VALS online survey, we were told what our VALS types were and mine was Experiencer/Innovator. This is something I totally agree with for the most part.

VALS online says that Experiencers are motivated by self-expression. Young, enthusiastic, and impulsive consumers, Experiencers quickly become enthusiastic about new possibilities but are equally quick to cool. They seek variety and excitement, savoring the new, the offbeat, and the risky. Their energy finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor recreation, and social activities. Which is true about me. I love new things and meeting new people, I like discovery and are at time very impulsive.

 I love to be outdoors, swimming or going for walks or just exploring. Social outlets are hugh activities for me as well, I definitely spend more time on Facebook than I should. If VALS sought to market something to me using the Experiencer approach then they would be close to accurate. However, even though new things excite me and self-expression is very important. Sometimes, I feel the need to just relax and are comfortable with the norm and mundane. Depending on the mood I'm in, I guess depends on what I feel like buying or maybe not..

Secondly, I also got Innovator

According to VALS, Innovators are successful, sophisticated, take-charge people with high self-esteem. Because they have such abundant resources, they exhibit all three primary motivations in varying degrees. They are change leaders and are the most receptive to new ideas and technologies. Innovators are very active consumers, and their purchases reflect cultivated tastes for upscale, niche products and services.

 

Image is important to Innovators, not as evidence of status or power but as an expression of their taste, independence, and personality. Innovators are among the established and emerging leaders in business and government, yet they continue to seek challenges. Their lives are characterized by variety. Their possessions and recreation reflect a cultivated taste for the finer things in life.

Innovator I feel very strongly connected to, and it also kind of includes Experiencer in it. I like to have cool things, but I want them to characterize who I am, because I take time to have nice things, 'cultivated' things that reflect not only my good taste, but myself as a person. Because I am comfortable with myself, I know what I like. But I am also part experiencer and I enjoy new things, and ideas that suit me.

VALS got me down perfect. :)

The Web at 20!

An article we had to read online for Comm entitled, "The Web at 20" described and showed how the world wide web had changed and grown since its genesis in 1990. One of the most prominent arguments I found in the article was that the author Tim Berners- Lee pointed out just how central the Internet is in our lives.

The Internet, as he says, is OURS. At first, I thought that was a weird thing to say and an even harder concept to grasp.  However, he is right. Since its creation, the Internet has become one of the most 'free' and most accessible mediums in the world. It is open to just about anyone and everyone, and it is shaped by what we want it to be. I feel like that is such power.  We are able to communicate like no one had ever imagined before. He expressed the need to keep the web free of restrictions and undesirable influence, he even says that the web has become an ideal democracy. The possibilities of the web are endless, just like the ideal for societies were at one time.  And yet we take it for granted, as Berners -Lee put it, we treat it like electricity, and we expect it to be there and bend to our will when we want it to. 

But the web is in danger...

And that might be the scariest thing that any of us, all over the world will experience. Control, filters, censors he says threaten the way the Internet is and applies to us all, and I agree.

For once in our history, our whole history of the world, we have finally found something that enhances our cooperation, and formulates a foundation of peace. People from all over the world can disagree about beliefs or culture, but we can all use the Internet and through it, we have sense of being 'one' and actually live together in some sort of harmony. We not speak the same languages or have much in common, but the web brings us together in a hodge podge. 

We must remember that the web will always be what we make it, all of us. Not just politicians, not just business owners, or officials, but common people as well.


picture url: http://www.computersandwebdesign.com/themes/site_themes/inspire/images/uploads/revised_000003759439XSmall1.png

Takin' it to The Maxx!

Most of us at some point or another have seen comic adaptations on television or movies. Whether it's trusty Batman or the Transformers, or some other patron we know what to expect. It really isn't much like the comics; directors usually focus mostly on strong character development (live action) and action/theatrical effects to entertain the audience. However, in Comm 203, we explored other methods of framing to bring comics to life on the screen. Strategically adapted for television, Sam Kieth's comic The Maxx, instead of using live action uses another, I feel very effective method to bring The Maxx to viewers. 

Adopted by MTV and produced by Claudia Katz, The Maxx for television uses specific framing and voice overs to display The Maxx. Though viewers may not be used to such a complex plot shown in such a way, I believe that since watching this in class, it not only effective but also very innovative. 

Framing in the translation from comics to television, The Maxx uses the comic framing, but often translates horizontal frames and vertical frames into their correlating camera angles using panning. 

I like this actually better than live action at times, because there is already a little bit more left to the imagination and the comic-esque feel isn't lost. Also, in between the two worlds and two main characters, I get more of a sense of transition with the comic-style of framing. Though the Maxx also has small elements of animation, which not only help relay time but also provide a visually interesting element to the still frames and frames within frames. 

The whole thing is pretty intense when shot this way, providing a deep sense of intrigue and suspense for an already intense scenario of violence, abuse, and mental instabilities.

The Maxx is definitely a treat for anyone who wants an smooth, digital feel without giving up authenticity.  Check out a promo clip from MTV's The Maxx!

3-D = Dud

Now call me old-fashioned or whatever, but I am not a fan of 3-D.  Now, don't get me wrong because I think that to the right person and if done correctly, 3-D can be a very interesting experience. As in I like the idea of 3-D, but in practice I can't really enjoy it. I have had experience with actually pretty good 3-D and I still do not like it. Two years previous, I remember going to King's Dominion with my family. At King's Dominion, they have many good 3-D attractions, and even some on IMAX. This is not the 3-D most people are familiar with, most times people get a bad, rough imitation with red and blue glasses, and some even with the new polarized lens of movies in a theater or at home with a 3DTV. However, these attraction are specially made for 3-D meaning that everything works, the graphics are great and you can get the experience you paid for. But, from 3-D Spongebob to 3-D Dracula, I've pretty much seen it all, and I have to say that even done right I have to agreed with Alva Noe and say that it is still pretty gimmicky. I mean you can throw weapons or food, or people at me in 3-D and yes I might get a thrill from it, but after I do, I want nothing more than to rip the glasses from my eyes. Entertainment like movies, from my perspective are more of a 'spectator' kind of adventure, I like being able to just sit and watch something without it jumping out in my face.  I like watching danger and peril and like cool camera shots, and special effects, but leave them where they belong, on the screen. 3-D, I find instead of enhancing the movie, often is just distracting. I remember though Dr. Williams talking abouti n class his IMAX 3-D experience with The Polar Express and the snow. I believe something like that would not be bad, though I guess I am just easily freaked out. And also because I am a firm believer in the differences between entertainment and reality. Lines between the two are already blurred enough, and with 3-D encouraging it even further, it scares me in a way. I mean in fifty years we might have virtual reality where we might not have to live in this world if we don't want and programs can let us live underwater or whatever we want. Not that the idea isn't cool, but I'm just afraid people will forget what it is like to actually live.

http://www.parkinfo2go.com/graphics/p82r1573.jpg

 

In Retrospect..

One of the most interesting things that I have learned about or that we have talked about in our Comm 203 class is becoming media literate. I feel that not only as a Comm student but as a citizen that everyone should have the opportunity to become media literate. I see my family, some of my friends being swayed by misleading or misrepresented ideas or advertisements. I've also seen the way people feed off of propaganda and it is unreal. I really believe that it is important for people to become informed about what they are seeing and know how that is specifically targeted towards them and what message the creator wants to give them as a receiver. So many times, people want to believe that what they see on television, the Internet, or hear on radio is verbatim truth, and that is seldom the case any more.  

It frustrates me to see the way people take false information that was given to them by the media and worship it as true, even if they cannot prove it, or do not know the origin of the information. Media can say anything and people will believe it is true, it was not until this class that I learned how much of an influence the media truly has over the public. And to me, it is unbelievably scary! If my grandmother can sit at home and honestly believe that our President is not of American birth because she saw it in a forwarded email or skittered across the web in some body's blog or something, then that is frightening. My grandmother is one of the smartest people I know, and if she can be swayed to the point that even the strongest logic cannot defeat the media's impact, then I am frightened. 

 But I am also challenged, challenged and inspired. It doesn't take very much to become important in the media field. Any one can publish an article or make a movie, any one can have a say about anything they want. So I challenge my self to not be like my grandmother and not be literate, I want to be informed. I want to be different and promote things to inspire people, that if they must believe that what the media says is true, then to give them the truth.  

Graphic Novels!

If you have not read Watchmen, I suggest you should. After watching the movie first, which is sometimes a huge mistake, I decided to read the graphic novel.  Usually, the book is always better than the movie.. and this time I wasn't disappointed. The graphic novel was fabulous, and actually I borrowed this novel from my boyfriend almost a year ago and have not since returned it..and I am not really one for a superhero story.. I mean no offense to anyone, but superheroes are really overrated nowadays, I mean they have like 50,000 movies and remakes and basically the same plotline over and over again. Personal trauma leads to vigilantism with or without superpowers, and I expected Watchmen to be exactly the same. But unlike The Justice League or the Fantastic Four or whatever your preference is, and side note: Those were Marvel comics, unlike DC, which is what this novel is from.. and personally I believe DC to be a bit edgier than Marvel. But Watchmen is set in an actual place, in an actual time frame that people have lived through ( The Cold War). The 'superheroes' are really just average, a businessman, a soldier, a scientist, etc. They are people we can relate to. However, what I was surprised to learn is that, I fell in love with the characters and the story just as much in a graphic novel that I do in a book. Whereas with a movie, you sometimes feel like you are on the outside looking in but we get everything like it would feel 'real', books sometimes we feel more actively participated in because we have to imagine what the settings and characters are, and at least in a book, you have to turn the pages. However graphic novels are like this brilliant marriage of the two. The words and pages from a book meets the pictures and timing of a movie.

A unique experience, if you ever get a chance, try looking over the graphic novel while you watch the movie, it's pretty neat. 

As far as graphic novels go, different from movies, we are only given three method by which the story is communicated to us, words, pictures, and frames. We all know words and pictures are a given... Words in a graphic novel literally "tell" you what is going on in the story. They can also illustrate dialogue, 'sounds', and thoughts of characters and objects. The words in Watchmen, while not only telling the story, but also can give insight into a character, and help us understand them better, from one character in the novel, Rorschach, we see his true personality through his diary that he keeps throughout the novel. The diary sets the mood and at times the setting for the next scenes.

Pictures in the graphic novel literally "show" us what is happening to the main characters. Pictures, unlike regular novels are essential to graphic novels because, they can sometimes give us a better understanding and grasp on the story more than words can. With pictures, we can see the expression on someone's face. the clothes they wear, posture, and physical mannerisms. The graphics, I think help us make the character more real, if we have a picture of them, then we have something tangible, an icon.

The pictures in Watchmen not only show you visually what is happening, but they are used in Watchmen to get a reaction from the reader. For example, the transition Dr. Manhattan faces as he is transformed from his human body into a superhuman is not as effective if you just describe what he now looks like,  you get a sense of just how alien and different he is if you actually see him. Alternatively pictures also show us the other characters' reactions to Dr. Manhattan as well, and it just isn't good enough to say that Dr. Manhattan felt isolated from everyone else. We must see people yelling and being frightened, see the looks on their faces, their menacing and disgusted, awed expressions.

Frames in graphic novels,  not only show how time passes, but also a  kind of grouping of events, a provide a sense of movement for the reader, so not only  are they reading but also following the flow of the frames, which makes for a smoothly constructed story.

Frames in Watchmen actually helped  me keep interested in it, they story was told very nicely and though at times, not easy to follow.. but the timing helped keep things in line and told in a specific way, building and then explaining. 

Without words, we wouldn't be able to have an in depth story, and be fully aware of the sequences of events. Without pictures, there would no undercurrent, we like pictures, colors and illustrations and the like, and in graphic novels they enhance what the words already tell us, but even still we can look into the graphics and lose ourselves within the story.

Without frames, though, the transitions would be chaotic, frames balance and support the text and pictures and make us understand that each frame is a different "scene". In many ways, and in slight contrast to what I said before, graphic novels are like movies themselves, without actual 'sounds' or 'movement' but combined with words and frames, we can create the illusion of motion picture without a camera.

<--The original Watchmen clockwise from top : Dr. Manhattan, Night Owl,  Rorschach, The Comedian, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias

                                                                       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Watchmencharacters.jpg

Dabbling in Media Literacy!!!!

In Comm 203, we are now in week six, which means Media Literacy Week.

In a nutshell, media literacy is a determination. It describes how us, people who use and are involved with media, are able to interpret and make decisions the information provided for us.

First, in order to understand media literacy, we must understand how one obtains media information. In the old speech and communication learning, it is taught that interpersonal communication is based on the SMR method, which is to say...

Sender ----> Message ----> Receiver

However, we find one huge problem with the middle term, message.

The word message, comes with a sort of baggage attached, a personal connotation that someone places with the message. Even so, this confusion and sometimes even strenuous decoding of emphasis or ulterior motives of what we thought someone meant. See? even that was confusing..

To eliminate this pesky message; a new term was deemed for collecting media data.

 TEXT!

Yes, the new fancy media term we use is text.

So, what is a text?

Well,

<-------- This is a text

                                  

         ---------------->

        And so is this

But texts can also be books, news, movies, video games,  or body language, or a simple sentence or phrase; basically anything that can be read or interpreted.

By referring to these media objects as texts, we see to eliminate the confusion and unwanted connotation interference.

This brings me to another point, "intertextuality"... now at first glance, it sounds like some nuance of impropriety (haha), but in truth it is a broadly philosophical theory of how we relate one text to the other. In my textbook for my Comm class (not to be confused with the 'texts' we are talking about now) intertextuality is the way that people understand and apply meaning to texts by basing them off of other texts, and other knowledge.

By using intertextuality, it is possible to become media literate by being able to interpret the texts presented to us.

Pictures from

http://media02.hongkiat.com/advertisement_artwork_02/nike-meteors.jpg

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_Photo/2006/11/22/1164197151_7719.jpg

So You Wanna Be a MEDIA RELATIONS MANAGER?

 If you are like me and you love communications, but you like to be organized and be the leader. As tasks go, you manage well. You enjoy the responsibility of people and ideas.  In a media company or other media-oriented group, there will be media personnel, writers, artists, designers, etc. However, to be successful, it not only matters what kind of communication a company has, but rather the quality and literacy of its communicators.
Enter Media Relations Manager.Not only do they have to have the most understanding of the company or business, but also work to regulate and summaries all media activities within the group. Like a jack of all trades, Media Relations Managers, in addition to formulating relationship between their company and the media, also are in charge of any media-communication that occurs. Whether it be editing writers' material, approving designs, or implementing a communications structure, it's a field of all tastes. And for eighty-five grand a year, the pay is not too shabby either.
Related to a Media Relations Manager, but more centralized to a specific field, a Managing Editor. With a position managing a small group of people with a more interconnected goal, all writers, or all freelancers, Managing Editors must make sure all publication information is accurate. Not such a difficult career, but one more driven towards print communication rather than all types. Slightly lower salary however than a Media Relations Manager, about three grand less. However for specialization in one field, that is not so much to give up, and it is probably an easier field to get into.
Not only can these careers be applied in the print section of communications, but also in television, radio, public relations, journalism, and design. Don't expect to get the job right away though, most organizations require years of experience before you make it to one of these higher up positions.
For more information about these two career options: Media Relations Manager Managing Editor  

Please enjoy the sound of the day, ambition- themed career researching music! ^_^

Apple Attack!!!!!!

{I-Phone 4} -Scheduled to debut in February 2011

SCOOP OF THE DAY 

  {Application for Life}

Computer corporation giant Apple, master of all our familiar technical life and jargon of the day has done it again. 

 Words and objects such as the I-Pod, Mac, Apple Software, and many others are commonplace in our lives. With the introduction of the I-Pad, Apple's tablet, and the Application (shortened App) Store for Mac computers (a feature once only available on the I-Pod, I-Pad, I-Phone devices), a media phenomenon has been born .
Just this past week, the applications at the Apple App Store  are  now at ten billion downloads, TEN BILLION! (Can we even imagine how much ten billion is?) Its 10,000,000,000 (just to show you in number form). 
Or here in perspective: There are more downloaded Apps then kilometers from Pluto to the sun! 
Or how about, every person on the planet is about 1.4 apps. 
  With even more Apple tech becoming so main stream in our lives ( IPhone 4 debuts next month) This really shows how much digital media has become an infectious, essential part of the world. Whatever happened to the days when the word application meant taking what you learned and putting to use in society, not playing Angry Birds on your I-Pod Touch?

CHECK THIS OUT -------> Apple's Ten Billion Downloads

Sounds of the Day: Land of Confusion - Genesis, We Didn't Start the Fire -Billy Joel