The mind of the target

So we all are aware of the apps that we use today to update. Our peers on our life, but many don’t think about the evolution to get to where we are. Even now we use these apps knowing they’ll be known as old technology in the coming decades and centuries today I am diving into the evolution of technology that shaped the world to be how it is today. We think Facebook is for old people and my space is just a meme to refer to the classic modern era (Early 2000’s).  However, what was it like when these apps were regular dominant forces in the teenage world.

In class we watched a video highlighting the most popular apps throughout the 2000s all the way up to 2020. This video showed me that even apps I never even heard of dominated the social media aspect of the world when I was young. The constant change and rapid growth in these companies showed how competitive the market was and still is. It showed me that the social media industry had undergone much more failures and short-lived success than I’d thought. The main commonality of these times and now was that social medias that allowed peers to like and dislike other posts became more popular. This is because teenagers thrive off the feeling of being liked. Studies showed that the more like they get the more satisfaction they’re brain received which gave them almost an addictive reasoning behind why they post for others to see. The reasoning behind this is because it seems to warrant more popularity which gives them more validation in the teenage society. This allows them to be moved up in an invisible social status that they trap themselves in. I as a teenager myself fail to fall victim to this trend because I never understood the concept of placing your life out into the world only for peer-to-peer validation. However, I can say that I have fallen victim to the new social media’s apps for their entertainment and how it allows me to waste time. I spend hours on apps like snapchat, Instagram and especially TikTok watching funny and entertainments from strangers or people I know. This has shown me that to just rid yourself of these apps, for any reason is far more difficult than the older generation tries to portray.  It’s crazy to know that such a powerful app can come with such negative and addictive effects. 

I would’ve been a hypocrite if I didn’t include myself in the social media statistics. The extent of my social media consumption is different from others though and I realized from this week there are many different categories and reasons for why we love our social media so much. Some find the plain enjoyment of content creators make entertaining content. Others use it for validation and theirs plenty of other reasons in between. There are so many different reasons which is why my question is why do you use social media?

The Blessed Curse

This week we focused on the obvious yet unspoken problem that not only plagues America but all the technologically advanced world. This problem is none other than the blessed curse of technology. We sometimes forget the basic goal of this once new advancement. All around the world people have indulged into the new technology that comes out, whether it’s apps, games, shows, music, the list goes on. The obsession of the interne has plagued all generations in current society, some people more than others. For decades we have used this technology for essential needs such as communication and news that can’t be accessed through the local newspaper. However, there has been a dramatic increase of the internet being used for less of essential needs and more for unhealthy habits for entertainment. This has become so unhealthy it has become a dominated dose in the daily diet to some people, so much so that they have developed two separate lives. One consists of life in the real world and another life is lived behind a screen. Even though this sounds terrible I referred to this as a blessed curse for a reason.

In the class we watched a documentary that highlighted this epidemic that no one is willing to pay attention to. Through multiple studies it was shown that the internet intake across America has become increasingly unhealthy. The shocking part of this stat is that this was recorded in the earlier part of the 21^st century not even recently. This spike was when blackberries were popular, and email was the prominent source of communication through friends. To even consider the current society’s technology to be replaced with that technology is beyond crazy. During the time of the studies, a big focus was on the college students, who were seen having conversation with their peers while texting on their phone and emailing somebody else on their computer. This sparked another debate actually and led to more studies. The question remained how effective these students’ brain with such heavy multitasking and what that does for all the divided activities.  A study showed that the brain can’t handle multiple things at one time so instead we truly only focus on one thing and do the next activity almost simultaneously. Lastly, we were showed the dynamic between the virtual life and its affect on people. People from across the globe have met through the game and consider people they’ve never met in person their longtime friends just from the bond that they received while conversating on the game. Sometimes they would meet their “friends” through in real life events where they conversate face to face with their online friends. This situation would be foreign and shunned upon in earlier generations, but some meaningful relationships have sparked from the evolution of technology. This is the blessed part of the plague that has covered the world.I personally have fell victim to the internet crave.

I personally use my phone to enjoy music and social media more than I use it for its focus. The love we’ve all gained for the internet is wonderful but must be moderated and controlled. We don’t need a traditional lifestyle we just need a healthier modern lifestyle.

Behind The Camera

This week we were gifted with a treat with the show, “The Newsroom” to watch and analyze. This show dove into the other side of the news station that we don’t have the luxury to see as we watch the news in our beds on the tv. This also added character behind the news hosts and recognized the team that supports and provides the information to the host to display it to the public. I was truly intrigued by the film and was disappointed when I came down with the flu which hindered the last day of of class for the week. However, in the first two I was given a great Insight on the concept of this show and the behind the scenes of the news station.

I watched the first and 4^th episode and it showed me a lot. Firstly the character, Will McAvoy, who is the host and one of the big main characters in the show starts the series by breaking his calm and collected portrayal to the public after a live interview and becoming a person that many disliked and targeted. However, this side of Will McAvoy was always present yet the public never saw that side of him, his staff at the news station was already well informed on his angry and disrespectful behavior, later we find out this has all stem from  heartbreak he endured from 2 years prior and he has carried that pain ever since and brought it onto his cast which the show displays the life of the staff as well which adds to Mr. McAvoy’s cruelty. Anyways, despite his demeanor we really get to see what goes inside a news story with a scene in the first episode when there is an oil rig explosion and the crew scrambles to find unique and creditable sources that would cooperate and push out entertaining and impactful facts that would intrigue curious civilians around America. This is done because the faster the information is pushed out the more people tune into your specific channel to receive the latest news, which increases the rating of the channel. This caused a bid uproar and a lot of tension in the news room because the employees were skeptical of the new interns on the job that were coming up with such valid sources but eventually they work things out and they beautifully execute the story on tv. This one scene alone perfectly summarized the urgency and chaos that happens in the newsroom upon a high level news story and we sometimes over look how stressful it may be to push out news for us for when we wake up or get home from work or school.

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) – The Walking Dead – Season 4 _ Gallery – Photo Credit: Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC

The newsroom is a great show not because of its informative background but also its entertainment and interesting plot that travels away from just business. Each character has a big role on and off the job in the show and their dynamic really goes past their profession. What was your favorite scene in the show.

Stunt Double

Violence has been a pivotal growth for films and tv shows to attract viewers and fans. The excitement and satisfaction that it brings to viewers is interesting and has grown to spark controversy. This is due to the violent uprise in the real world that is believed to derive from influence from these violent films. This debate has led to a ton of arguments over what films should be shown and what not to. The question remains though; how much influence a movie can be provided to drive an actual human to kill or even harm another person. 

The films spoken are mostly filled with violence mixed with comedy to even out the horrific natures of the scenes and allow the violence to be overshadowed and not emphasized. This was unsuccessful apparently because many people idolized the vicious natures of death and harmful scenes.  The news has captured horrific displays of this influence, from random vicious attacks, violent GTA styles robberies, even soulless mass murderers and school shooters.  This action is commonly traced to video games and films that these people idolized before their actions. Though I believe that no ordinary mature mind would associate these films made for entertainment to actually taking innocent lives to remake the actions made by civilized actors in a studio. It is truly disturbing to think about ways for people to blame entertainment for murders. The concept of these films are from unreal scenarios that don’t usually serve any relation to the background of the real life criminals that mimic these characters. Though I believe the only problem that would be fixed is the excuse that it is because of the ideas these films but I have a few ideas to limit innocent lives being lost.  First we can limit the creativeness of these deaths, secondly not allowing mentally ill people to watch certain rated films, and lastly reinforce the age restriction to limit the easily influenced minds to watch these gory scenes.

The fact that we most improvise on movies from influencing murderers is beyond sad and embarrassing and we as a country have to do better to recognize the mentally ill and take action before they do. I personally back directors with. Their films because these scenes should not provoke death. This issue has not been brough up enough and I. believe it’s a problem that need answers and not just the answer an action too.

Soul’s Addiction

We acknowledge unfortunate addiction that consume the minds, sometimes the bodies of people across America or even throughout the world. We point out medicines that people overuse to ease their minds to achieve their euphoria. The chase usually will be unsuccessful, increasing the desire for the drug and inevitably, the dosage. This trend continues until either they quit, or the drug overcomes their body. We see a plethora of different addictions to different drugs and habits that are shunned and advertised against. From commercials to posters to examples heard on the news, the media do their part in spreading awareness abot the undiagnosed disease named addiction. However, there are positive addictions that we don’t think about. Music is a prime example of this, the array of different songs, styles, artists and eras in music allow for anybody to enjoy some type of music to soothe their soul. Though we don’t label it as such, many fall victim to addiction to music. Music can be used to pass through time, study, meditate, work out, sleep, etc. The accessibility is the most accessible drug in the world, and we fail to acknowledge that. My question is what makes us so drawn to music and how it affects us as we indulge in the irresistible drug.

Before we venture into the question of “how” we must understand what music is and its history. Music has believed to derive from the paleolithic period, roughly between the middle and upper paleolithic. This new sound emerged to help people coordinate movements during their activities and pass time. It also served as a great bonding tool not only in the early times but also in today’s society. This invention began to evolve into the more creations like musical instruments, such as the first instrument found in the Mesopotamian era in 2000 BC. Due to these advancements new genres of music arose and with that became different trends and eras of music; beginning with early music era, to the renaissance era, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20^th Century music, and finally the modern era that we are currently in now. These eras highlighted the popular trends of genre that people listen to at that time. Music was also big for communicating. For example, slaves in America hummed hymns to communicate to their peers without the slave master noticing. This evolved to actual music and hymns are hummed today. This creation has helped to shape a whole industry that has created billions of dollars and billions of fans around the world. Since we learned the history now let’s learn what attracts so many people each year.

On a film covered on Tubi called score which highlights the art of music in a documentary. In the film they discovered a interesting fact on music and it’s correlation with the brain. In the film they show an experiment where they allow people to react to music while monitoring their brain and what they found is amazing. They explained that music’s multidimensional aspect allows for music to be processed in the brain through different parts of the brain, such as melody and tempo being processed in different parts of the brain. Also, the brain processes music ventral striatum and nucleus accumbens, more specifically a part of the brain that reacts to pleasureful things such as chocolate and sex, to release dopamine and fill your body with pleasure which we will recognize as goosebumps. This may be the reason so many people can attract themselves to the music they intake. Pleasurable things such as chocolate and sex are also things that come with variety and satisfaction for different people. Only difference is that music can be spread through many different genres and songs that is easier to find a style that fits your preference. This allows for more people to enjoy the satisfaction and is why the music industry will continue to grow. Many people use music as an escape from their reality which is understandable considering it allows for the same reaction as sex does to your brain. The “music high” attracts the consume which inevitably make them want to hear more on their Air pods while they study, or walk to work, or drive in your car. The impact of music allows for endless uses to such a powerful drug.

Music has been an impact on many aspects of society; it’s now a heavy part of the film industry, added in commercials to spark attention in their ads, and more without even mentioning its personal uses. Music has become a vital part of life and its addiction will grow as more people will venture into the new songs that people create daily. This will be considered the best addiction to have however because not only is it satisfying to your brain, it also can provide productive effects to the task in the moment. Music is different for everybody, and its purpose vary between people, my question is what does music mean to you?

The show must go on

Another blog of film? I know it must be crazy to believe but that really emphasizes not only the long history that film has made but also its importance and impact on daily life of generations from the 1800s up until now and beyond. The common entertainment that everyone enjoys is the relatability and adventure that they find in these films. The focus this week was on a particular movie “this film is not yet rated”. This was a show in 2006 that highlighted the rating system of Hollywood and what the process entailed. This sow was to expose the anonymous elite board that rated films. This was a great show to educate us on the lesson of the week.

 I didn’t have the privilege to watch the show in class but I was intrigued even on my free time to enjoy the documentary which consisted of plenty of interesting people in the film, mostly directors who were curious to wonder on the side of who made the rating for their films and how the process was done. They did this by going undercover tracking and chasing down the anonymous Hollywood elite. These muckrakers search and were able to discover interesting things about the process and what they saw may surprise you. One of the big things i saw uncovered was the difference between heterosexual sex scenes versus homosexual sex scenes which despite the common stigma at the time homosexual movies had more restrictions on them opposed to heterosexual films. Though they should be equal the bias oin the board especially since homosexuality was shunned at the time was interesting. The directors would find and interview many different people, especially former and current MPAA raters. These interviews gave great insight to the the thought and processbehind these explicit films. This was a great documentary for class because not only did it show the effects of different systems of film but it also all around showed Hollywood as a whole and what the film industry looks like whether undercover or corporate. The idea I had of Hollywood has been shaped through the viewing of this film. This is because the show expressed to me how hungry everybody in the industry is especially the minor groups trying to make films and try to get into the mainstream part of the film industry. That is what I learned through the film “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”.

The film was a success and gave better understanding to a lot of unanswered questions in the filmmaking industry, though it also showed ias and unjustices within the film world. However, these rating take a a lot of pressure because these boards can really hurt these companies with bad rating and lack of care towards films. Also editing out the inappropriate parts fall in responsibility of the anonymous so their job is not as easy as we may assume. That is one big take away of this documentary is to not assume the function of the industry especially from the outside looking in. What was your favorite part of the film.

Hollywood Hero

This week we ventured into the history of cinema. These films date back to the late 1800s and heading into the early 1900s with films that’s unfamiliar with the current generation. These films consisted of standstill cameras with no editing of a very short play with no sound in black and white film. This week mainly focused on its role on what made this current generation of filmmaking. The trial and errors, the laws that we know of now, etc. The process to come up with new movies and even the classics. With they’re evolution they found and experimented different tactics such as adding violence, sprinkling sex appeal, drama and more into their shows. This is what makes our movies today.

The stereotypical movie we see today consists of a multitude of editing and location changes in the scene with a multitude of different types of cameras and angle with dialogue and an array of different sound effects. This era loved their film however, well only for so long. The attraction to movies that lasted from 10 minutes to 60 seconds died down very fast. These movies were facing the future of destruction of their industry. That’s when the transitioned from New York City to Hollywood made its appearance. This transitioned was ideal because of 3 very important reasons. First the weather was ideal for filmmaking because it was always hot and not humid, perfect for models and actors to show their glow without the downfall of humid weather. Secondly, the land was unsettled yet and it was a cheap location to build and brand a studio. With the new land they can make palaces for their studios and generally to intrigue consumers to the film industry. Lastly, and maybe most importantly the companies wanted to be set free from their parent companies that had massive control over them and with this move it would be harder to keep tabs on their work being across the country. With these reasons Hollywood became the new home for the film industry. With the new home they got to work; specifically, the major companies in the film industry: MGM, Warner Bros, FOX, RKO, etc. These companies produced classics consisting with unique structures and concepts to attract all audiences. Most films consisted of violence, drama and sex. This statistically appealed to majority of their viewers. With very limited restrictions the possibilities of the films were outlandish compared to the censored film that we see now. Because of the craziness provided by these films’ laws were enforced to combat the inappropriate scenes shown in theaters. Now we are able to enjoy the development and success of the film industry in high quality and great sound effects.

This week tied a knot into what we have covered over the past month with different technology and shows being made to satisfy tv consumers all over America in the past generations. It’s spectacular to think of the creation of Hollywood coming from all the way into the early 1900’s and being able to thrive so well even now. The success that film industry has received produces billions upon billions of dollars every year. Whats your favorite classic.

The Ultimate Show

Countdown of the Superbowl is all over the fox channel station. Me and my dad are excited at the grocery store choosing our favorite foods to make for Superbowl Sunday and making non-monetary bets on the winners of the game. I get back home to fire up the grill and play music as extended family comes in waves to all celebrate and witness this annual spectacle of two great teams colliding to form the biggest game in America. As all the people gather around the living room bringing their different foods, snacks and candy they bought or made, my dad is setting up the surround speakers to give this event a more impactful. Then we finally get to best part, the commercial.

Yes, you heard it right the commercials are also what I look forward to in the Superbowl Sunday event. I love the elevation of creativeness and work ethic companies put into their commercials, especially Doritos. I was never aware of the fashion of better commercials during the Superbowl until my 10^th grade year in my sports management business class, the class that led me to my major now. Since then, I’ve paid more attention and I have fell in love with the style and humor that Doritos cooperates into their advertisements. Their unique scenarios allowed them to engage my attention and make me enjoy looking for their content during the Superbowl. Honorable mention would be Aflac but their ads are very repetitive though they are funny. The different styles that Superbowl commercials use to appeal different consumers and bring in more customers is nothing short of exemplified creativity. As being a marketing major, I understand the difficulties of being able to use your creative mind in a world where many have thought of the same ideas before you. Doritos pregnancy commercial has so many views because of its humor and is also sparks media because of its bizarre and peculiar scene. They used irony with the baby jumping out of the womb to get the Dorito’s. the irony explains itself but the media attention heavily promotes the company for more customers and awareness to the product.

As I sit on the couch and reminisce on the game and the funny commercials begin to turn into the same corny ads with high information and low humor, I begin to appreciate the effort put into Superbowl commercials. This is what marketing majors should look to quantify and understand to spark their creative minds which will be much needed for their careers. I will definitely use these commercials as teachers for my creative mind and hope to evolve from those commercial to attract even more customers and inspire more creative minds fpr the next generations.

The Mythic Backstory

Though we covered plenty during this week from covering the evolution of the television device to the evolution of tv shows in the 80s through another beautiful documentary of CNN’s documentary, my most intriguing part of this week was the two episodes we watched on the backstory to Mr. backstory himself. We watched two mythic quest episodes on the backstory an upcoming of the writer of the game that the show bases itself on, Carl Longbottom. The first episode that was displayed showed beautiful broadcasting and multiple purposes to relay back to the show as a whole.

This show begins when the show flashes back to California in the 70’s where he has his first day at a new job as a writing assistant in pursuit to becoming a major writer. This takes a sad turn as he is overshadowed by his peers and goes through his reaction to these events with drinking and isolation while trying to revise his work that just was failing. In an ordinary television show the adversity would usually be overcame by extreme work ethic and determination, however carl doesn’t achieve his future accomplishments through nothing other than luck and stolen ideas. This happens when carl works up the courage to ask one of his idols to revise his novel he wrote and was gifted with a revision; however, this “revision” was essentially the revisor rewriting the whole novel. With this carl had fallen deeper into his depression and this continued until he was overcome with passion over the new emergence of television and when no one listened to his ideas he gave them his attention grabber. He published the novel with all the words from the revised work of his work. With this he was able to receive a Nevin’s award for the best first novel. This became his biggest blessing and advancement in the literature world and gained the attention of his peers but also his biggest curse, because he now had to live with a lie that essentially created his name in the attention of others. This episode was very intriguing to me not only was the show taking an extensive and detailed background of the character, but they also allowed the viewers to understand why he acts the way he acts in the present day of the show with his obsessive drinking and love for backstory because that was what his original draft that everyone hated in the 70’s was about. This was why I was so invested into the episodes.

At first, I was looking forward to what I can accomplish in talking about on the blog this week because of the variety of content that was displayed. The information all revolved around television but was showcased through different sources and I struggled to find the most entertaining topic to showcase what I observed from the past few days. It was when I sat and truly thought on it when I realized I had watched a perfect summary of the week with the evolution of television how it was overlooked and hated upon writers in past decades to its ironic nature of a former writer writing a script for a video game. What was your favorite moment of the featured episode that was displayed in the “backstory” episode

”Lets CBS And Chill”

The seemingly over aged family activities has experienced its fair share of history between successful and unsuccessful tv shows, documentaries, news channels, podcasts, etc. We overlook the enjoyment that our favorite tv shows had on our childhood or even our adulthood. This enjoyment was satisfied equally or maybe even more by the people in the seventies. With media’s rapid evolution and technological advancements during this time people were introduced to live tv and furthermore tv shows. These shows mainly based on real life situations and gave a satirical spinoff on the issues. The appeal to relatable viewers combined with the humor and drama filled in the show allowed for extreme interest and provided an escape for viewers across America. The Saturday night that we think of now has 2 expectations: overly partying with way too many people at an event you barely know anyone at or having a few friends to watch movies on Netflix over a few beers to complain about the previous week at work. In the seventies on the other hand the living room on a Saturday, where the only tv in the house was located, hosted a family celebration for making it to the end of the week. Tv shows lined up perfectly to keep your eyes glued to the screen all day. Let’s take a trip back to 70’s television.

We introduce class with videos on the origin of television especially the introduction of live tv. The concept of a virtual play that required no mistakes on set or else that mistake would be displayed to millions of people across America. Obviously, this came with many mistakes but as mistakes are made lessons are taught. The media industry’s big advance to this became tv shows.  Shows that were rehearsed and prerecorded began its rise in fame. CNN’s “seventies “show highlighted the major success out of this era of shows. The common reason of their success was its realism and humor. Though they captured different situations resulting in their difference of audience, they were all successful because a great deal of people could understand them. Even in a time where racial injustice was still prevalent, they were able to make a show on a black family. Controversy did ensue on that show however because it showcased successful and wealthy African Americans instead of highlighting the majority of black people’s issues that they face daily. To combat this, they made another show that did just that. Another example was the use of a show to highlight and empower women in the workforce which was becoming more and more common during that time.  These different yet common storylines attracted the love of America. This paved the road for news channels and other broadcasting networks. The of Saturday night football was displayed during this era and so was our well-known ESPN. This decade allowed for successful powerhouses in the world today.

I was never an avid television watcher but to see and blog about this highlights my undervalue for modern technology that we have today. I am intrigued and curious to think about the future advancements that the world and others of the next generation will be abe to enjoy and underappreciate.