Nike's "Write The Future" Advertisement

Prior to this past summer's World Cup, Nike began showing a commercial featuring many very prominent soccer players wearing Nike gear, telling viewers to "Write The Future" by wearing Nike cleats. The players are all playing soccer in huge games, presumably the World Cup, and they are all making huge plays for their countries. Some come up big and help their teams on to victory, while other fall short and their teams are defeated. Those players that fail are humiliated and their lives are ruined, while those players that succeed become hugely successful and gain wealth and adoration from their fans. One advertising characteristic that this ad embodies is the use of celebrities to sell products. From the beginning of advertising, companies have used celebrities to endorse their products. The idea is that people will want to emulate these celebrities and buy the products that they are endorsing. I found this particular advertisement powerful because it uses some of the biggest and most famous soccer players in the world, including Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho, and Cristiano Ronaldo. The ad also features cameos by Kobe Bryant and Roger Federer, two of the most famous athletes in the world. Celebrity is a great seller, and there is no shortage of celebrity in this ad, especially to fans of soccer, to which the ad is targeted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE

The Three Act Structure in "Good Will Hunting"

Good Will Hunting is a movie about a man named Will Hunting who is a mathematical genius, possibly greater than anyone the world had ever seen. The movie employs the traditional Hollywood 3 Act Structure. This first act begins with Will living in South Boston and working as a janitor at MIT. At MIT, there is a Math professor who writes very challenging problems on a chalkboard in the hallway. Will is able to solve the problems with incredible ease, and writes the solutions on the chalkboard. He is discovered by the professor, and after being arrested for assault, the professor bails him out under the conditions that he works on advanced mathematics with him and sees a therapist. This is plot point 1 and occurs at 27 minutes. It also serves as the end of Act 1, which is the introduction of the movie, and acts as a transition into Act 2, which is the complication of the movie. In Act 2, Will begins working with the professor and seeing therapist after therapist, all of which quit after one session with him. The professor, desperate to find a psychiatrist that can handle Will, asks his college roommate to work with him. He agrees, and begins meeting with him. Though he struggles getting through to Will at first, the psychiatrist begins to befriend Will and actually starts to help him. Also, Will gets pretty serious with a girl, but breaks up with her. Act 2 ends with plot point number 2, which is a conversation between Will and his best friend at 106 minutes. In that conversation, Will's friend tells him that he has to do something with his life and get out of the life he's currently in. Will, who had been getting pressure from the professor to take a prestigious job, had been resenting that pressure, and had planned on staying in South Boston and being in the working class. Now, for the first time, the idea that Will needs to get out is coming from someone Will really loves and respects. Act  3 is the resolution of the movie, and plot point 2 acts as a transition into it. In Act 3, Will breaks down in a session with his therapist, he finally takes one of the jobs, and his life begins to fall into place. The climax of the movie is when Will's best friend goes to pick him up and Will's gone. He has left to drive across the country to go see the girl that he broke up with. This shows that Will has truly moved on from his old life and is starting his new life. This occurs at 121 minutes, which is just 5 minutes before the movie ends.

Sitcoms

Sitcoms have been on television for many decades, and most of them follow a very similar pattern with very similar characteristics. They typically have an episodic format, which basically means that each episode could stand alone. This is in contrast to a serial format, in which things carry over between episodes and there is a long term plot. Along with being episodic, sitcom characters often do not age, there is usually little character arc, and there is almost always a central question in each episode. These questions are usually introduced toward the beginning of each episode and not answered until the very end.
My favorite sitcom, and often considered the greatest of all time, is M*A*S*H, which ran 1972-1983. M*A*S*H followed a group of doctors and nurses stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in South Korea during the Korean War, and like most sitcoms, it followed the episodic format. The show extended the three year Korean War to an eleven season show. The characters do not really age, nor do they develop and grow. Each character stayed essentially the same throughout their time on the show. Also, each episode contained a central theme or lesson, most of which had to do with the horrors of war and stupidity of the army.
For instance, "5 O'Clock Charlie", which was the 2nd episode of the 2nd season, is about a North Korean bomber pilot attempting to bomb an ammo depot near the MASH unit. The bomber, cleverly dubbed 5 O'Clock Charlie, throws a bomb at the depot from his plane everday at 5:00 pm, and misses everytime. The doctors and nurses find this very amusing, and even begin betting on how badly Charlie will miss the depot. Frank Burns, the show's antagonist, finds Charlie to be a serious threat, and request an anti-aircraft gun. Hawkeye, the show's protagonist, argues that the gun will just attract more attacks on the MASH unit. Despite Hawkeye's concerns, the anti-aircraft gun is installed. On Charlie's next attack, the gun is prepared to shoot him down, but Hawkeye confuses the gunners and has them aim and destroy the ammo depot. This ends Charlie's attacks and removes the gun from the hospital. The episode is a comment on the stupidity of the army. The reason the attacks happened in the first place was the army's "brilliant" idea of putting an ammo depot at a hospital, and then they decided to arm the hospital, provoking more attacks.

Shots Used in The Boondock Saints

One of my favorite movies is The Boondock Saints, which is the story of two brothers who believe that they have been given authority by God to kill the evil people of the world. The opening scene of the movie is the brothers, Connor and Murphy MacManus, attending church as the priest is speaking about evil and people doing nothing to stop evil. The opening shot of the scene is a long shot of the inside of the church, which is used as an orientation shot. The shot shows the many people that are in the church standing as they say The Lord's Prayer. It gives us limited details, but it is clear that this is a Catholic mass by the architecture of the building, the way the priest is dressed, and the huge crucifix that is hanging at the front of the church. A few shots later is a medium shot of the brothers praying as they kneel on a pew kneeler. This shot is an information shot. It shows us the main characters for the first time, and shows us that they are deeply religious. This shot also provides us with a sharp contrast between the brothers, who are kneeling in prayer and dressed in black trench coats, and the family next to them, who are sitting and dressed in their Sunday best. This shows us that there is something very different about the MacManus brothers compared to the rest of the congregation. The next shot is a close up of the brothers as they pray. This shot is a detail shot. It shows that the brothers have tattoos, as well as rosary necklaces. The shot also gives us a better view of what the brothers look like. Now the audience is absolutely sure that these are the main characters, and are beginning to learn about them.

The Boondock Saints poster

Studio System

In the studio system of Classical Hollywood, stars' traits and trademarks would move from film to film. Actors like Humphrey Bogart would maintain certain characteristics throughout every movie that they were in. Bogart, for example, was rarely found in a movie without his trademark raincoat and fedora. In addition to the recurring clothes, Bogart's characters were basically all the same. He was always tough and cynical, but he would often show his honorable side by the end of the film. Now, Bogart was a Warner Bros. star, which allowed the studio to make just about any film starring that kind of character and put Bogart as the leading man, and, due to his popularity, they were able to profit immensely from it. Warner Bros. was able to place Bogart in gangster movies, including High Sierra. The studio then changed to detective movies, where Bogart played the same basic character, though no longer on the wrong side of the law. Notable Bogart detective films include The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. He also starred in Casablanca and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, in both of which he played his trademark character. Basically, Warner Bros. was able to make any movie that starred a tough and cynical character, because they had Bogart on contract and just about everyone wanted to see him play that character, no matter what the movie was about.

Bogart in his fedora and trenchcoat.

All in the Family vs. Modern Family

The 1970s family sitcom "All in the Family" and the current comedy series "Modern Family" raise simliar controversial issues. "All in the Family" attempts to show the absurdity of numerous prejudices through the ignorance of the main character, Archie Bunker. Archie is an expicit racist and sexist, and seems to be prejudiced against anyone different from himself. He constantly is losing arguments because of his ignorance and outright prejudices, but being too stubborn to admit it, Archie often resorts to the blowing of a raspberry to show that he's still right no matter what anyone says. This portayal of prejudices through a buffoon like Archie atttempted to show the stupidity of these prejudices. On the other hand, "Modern Family" takes a very different approach, showing, "one big (straight, gay, multi-cultural, traditional) happy family." (IMDb: Modern Family) This portrayal, in contrast to that of "All in the Family," shows how far American society has come in ending prejudices, while also showing that there is still farther to go. This series is a mockumentary, meaning it is shown as if this were a real family that a camera crew follows around, portraying the family in documentary style. The family is shown as they deal with family problems and challenges, and while things may get a little heated at times, the whole family is loving and accepting of each other despite their many stark differences. The shows are similar because they deal with some of the same controversial issues, such as racism, sexism, and homosexuality.

How Government Intervention Shaped Radio

Starting with the Radio Act of 1912, the US government has intervened in the development and uses of radio. Government intervention in radio directly led to the formation of RCA, which developed the radio business in the United States. Typically, the force that is government intervention occurs after a significant event makes the government feel the need to interfere, or if there is a public outcry for action. The government will usually then set up some form of an investigative committee to look into whatever it is that they are intervening in. After the committee has investigated, they will compile a report and the governmental body, i.e. congress, will create a policy or law in order to regulate that interest. That policy will typically have some sort of expiration date, around which congress will evaluate that policy and vote whether to extend it or not. As for how it happened with radio, the significant event that caused governmental action was the sinking if the Titanic, which was equipped with radio transmitters, and was able to send out distress calls by Morse code, which were received in New York. This event showed both the government and the public the power of radio, causing the government to take control of it until after World War I, when Gugliemo Marconi attempted to buy US patents. Fearing foreign control of radio, the US government forced Marconi to sell his assests to GE, who, along with AT&T and Westinghouse, then proceeded to form RCA. RCA then proceeded to shape the radio industry in America, all because of government intervention.

Priming in Media

The priming theory is supported by Albert Bandura's 1961 Bobo Doll experiment. Priming is the theory that media images motivate similar ideas in the brains of the audience. For example, when children watch one cartoon character act violently toward another cartoon character, that child is more likely to act violently toward another child. Or, when someone uses a baseball bat to kill someone and steal their car while playing the video game Grand Theft Auto, that person is more likely to attack someone with a baseball, steal a car, or both. Some believe that people, especially children, may store media images about how to react in certain circumstances with violent behavior, and then call on those images and recreate them in real-life situations.

Albert Bandura performed an experiment, commonly known as the Bobo Doll experiment, in 1961 to determine the effect of viewing violent behavior. Bandura showed some children a video of someone acting violently toward an inflatable doll. He then placed the children in a room with an inflatable doll, and observed the way the children treated the doll. Bandura also placed children that had not seen the video in a room with the inflatable doll and compared the way those children treated the doll with the way the children who saw the video treated the doll. Bandura found that the children exposed to the violent movie played much more aggressively and violently with the doll than those that did not see the movie. Also, he found that those exposed developed an attraction to guns and displayed hostile language toward the doll as well as physical abuse, while the control group did not.

The results of this experiment support the theory that media images create related thoughts and behavior in the audience. When violence is portrayed in the media, it causes and increase in violent thoughts and behaviors in the media. Now, while not supported by this experiment, it is reasonable to conclude that this effect is not limited to violence. Other thoughts and behaviors could theoretically be increased by related media images, such as kindness or promiscuity.

Framing in Media

The media practice of framing is perfectly demonstrated by the graphs of MSNBC's and FOX News' coverage of the 2008 presidential election. Framing is done to not only tell the audience about an issue, but to tell the audience how to think about that issue. It not only presents the facts, it also interprets them, leaving the audience with no role other than to sit back and enjoy the show. The practice of framing deals with which facts to include and what tone to set when reporting an story. News reporters will likely only include facts that will support the interpretation of the story that they are trying to instill in the audience. These graphs of MSNBC's and Fox News' coverage of the 2008 presidential election show how they framed their stories about presidential candidates by establishing a positive or negative tone. Over 70% of MSNBC's coverage of John McCain had a negative tone with only about 10% having a positive tone. Their coverage of Barack Obama, however, was only about 15% negative, with the rest of the coverage split between positive and neutral. Fox News, on the other hand, kept the tone of their coverage of these two candidates very similar. Both candidates were covered negatively about 40% of the time, with Obama receiving a little more positive coverage, which really surprises me. I definitely would have thought that FOX News would have covered the election in the same way as MSNBC, with the candidates switched. The graphs, however, show that MSNBC's coverage of the election was specifically framed toward supporting Obama, while Fox News' coverage does not seem like it was framed in support of either candidate.

The image of the graphs was found at http://www.verumserum.com/?p=16357

Why RTF 305?

I am in RTF 305 because it is a part of the FIG I signed up for, Reel America. I decided to join a FIG because I felt it would make it easier to make friends and study groups, and because it basically made my schedule for me, which means I had one less thing to worry about. I chose this FIG in particular, because it includes film and American studies classes, two things in which I am extremely interested. In this class, I hope to learn about the gowth, impact, and innovations of media as well as watch some excellent films.

Favorite Blog: http://www.upreacher.blogspot.com/