Journalism, television, and movies have provided a serious impact on society. It is even considered to be the fourth estate in terms of the governmental powers (the executive. the legislative, and the judicial branches). The media possess the power to influence the way we live our lives and in some instances even control us. However, the media, through the use of journalism, reliable information, and creative pieces have also the power to enrich our lives.
By providing reliable information to the public, journalism media provides a bridge between to the government and the people, detouring a government from being a dictatorship. Obvisouly, journalism must be seperate from the government in order to be object and be an untainted source for the public. This is one of the ways media is a valuable entity to society.
Creating a movie or involving oneself in a journalism environment, I am more and more understand the purpose of media, and it is to project in image. That image doesn't always have to be good or bad, but because of journalism and television we tend to chorograph a certain to image which makes this form of media not always objective. However, when misused, the media can provide a seriously danger in causing the public to neglect to small, but very important things in our government, in our cities, in our lives.
Society today is exposed to the media on a daily basis through magazines, T.V, newspapers, advertisements etc. Media has become a very big influential part of our lives, even if we don’t realize it. Through this New Media class I came to understand that the Media that surrounds us affects and manipulates our ideas, perspectives thereby in a way dictating to its consumers what to believe or not to believe. I understand the power the Media has on society.
New Media class has taught me to be more aware of the Media’s manipulations. It has taught me not to blindly believe everything shown or said through the Media. I have learned the editing techniques that producers and directors use to draw us into believing what we see, or rather what they want us to see. Now after taking New Media for a semester I find myself able to understand how every little shot in a movie is influential how it has so much thinking behind it, and most of all how every shot in a way reflects what is trying to be portrayed.
As of today, while watching the news or a movie I find myself to be very skeptical. New media class has opened up my eyes and made me more critical to the media that surrounds me. I analyze the camera angles and the shots and by that sometimes have a deeper understanding of what the director is trying to reveal.
Basically, I learned that the media is around the world everywhere. It is not just the United States. Ms. Reed taught us about the life in Britain and how the media is over there. It is a lot different, but have a lot of the same characteristics as the United States. Media is always going to be media. Whether it is the turmoil and controversy. There is a highlight each month on a specific topic. During the nineties, media had its climax point on the President Clinton controversy during his impeachment, which was a major media topic. A lot of people had different views and standpoints about it, but it basically came down to it, that it was not a good enough reason to impeach him. Also another major media issue was the trial of O.J. Simpson which was on the television of many households around 94. There were a lot of mixed feelings, but people had to realize to distinguish facts from evidence to determine the verdict.
The power of the media is like no other. The media has the ability to change peoples views, and change people's lifestyles. I noticed that people pick up things that they see on television's and movies. People pick up trends that are used in videos and start doing or wearing it on a normal basis. People pick up trends and do not think about it logically, because some people do not see how certain things are culturally established to certain people. Some people wear things and do not know the meaning of the clothes or do not know where it comes from. The media shows it as one thing, and in real life it could be another thing.
I tend to be more critical about the specific topic I analyze because if I judge by just first looking at a text it would not be right because it would not be a fair thing to read the cover of a book and not the pages. It would not be fair, if texts would just be read by the cover because the real issue of the text would not be acknowledged and the two sides of a story would not be recognized. Every media topic has two sides, so both of the two sides should be read before judging it. It is similar to a court issue. Every court case has two sides, so the plaintiff and the defendant could both state the issue. That is the proper way in which media should be taken.
To wrap it up, media is a term to describe the industry of entertainment. Media is a subject in which people want to gain information about, because new things happen every day. Media has the power to affect and change people's views. Thank you Ms. Reed for teaching this excellent class, and giving a creative course in school in which we could talk about the media around us and how it affects us.
At the begining of the year when I started New Media i had no idea how to make films on the computer. The first class made me think that i was not sure if i was gling to like New media, but after the first two weeks i became really interested in it. Learning how to make films and edit them on the computer has been really fun. I have learned a lot about filiming things such as conversations and the rules that apply to fliming them. Knowing how to edit my own flim and making sure you got a good shot has made me more aware of how movies are filmed.
I find myself now more aware of the editing when i am watching movies now. All the little things that i probably would not have noticed before i took New Media i novitce now. I have found that in some of the movies i have seen the chracters are wearing one thing in one scence and then that chracters clothing has changed color. At times noticing things like that can be annoying since you want to watch the movie instead of criticing every little thing. Knowing that there are minor editing mistakes in some films is okay and noticing them is fun sometimes because then you can learn form there mistakes when filming your own movie.
I have had a lot of fun in New Media during this past semester and have learned so much. I am really glad i took this class because now i have the experioence to go and make my own movie whenever i want. I also know enough now on how to use the computer programs to edit and put finsihing touchs on the movie. Thank you Ms. Reed for teaching a really fun class and teaching me a lot about filming.
People, especially youth, in America are constantly bombarded with the media. The constant contact with magazines, movies, commercials, advertisments, amoung other ways to inhale the media, lead us to beleive and follow through with most of the things that we hear. This year in New media class, i've learned to defy these dreadful media, these reality shows, and these unwanted advertisments, in order to focus on my own media, and my own thoughts. When you are so influenced by the media, you are being beleiving everything you are told, when everything is not necessarily true.
I have not only learned that the media's job is to influence you, wheather telling truth of not, but i have also learned to be more perceptive while watching movies and television. i've learned what's interestig to watch, what poeple are looking for, and what directors are looking for to intreuge people to watch the movie.
I've leanred almost everything i have to know about final cut pro, filming movies, directing actors, making credits, and other aspects of movie making. i have fully enjoyed all i have put into this process of movie making, and have leanred from Reed, and my peers. I want to be able to make movies as i please, for it's newly found liking of mine and hope i culd continue to make short films, and help criticize the media.
What I learned from the media since taking this course was that it can take over you. It can tell you what to do and what to think. I am more aware of its power to manipulate people because whenever a new pair of Jordans comes out, everyone has to get it because they want to be like everyone else. Once one person gets it, everyone else wants to get it. Or when rappers do something in one of there videos, people who watch it wants to be just like them.
The media doesn't really matter to me, because for someone who wants to do something with the media, they will have to have money. I rather just watch it then try to make the media take over me. It has before but when I was younger. I make better decisions now because I only buy cool things when I have the money. It is hard to make money now.
Up until the beginning of this semester, I used to just watch television. Now I understand what I am watching and am bale to tell what the camera is dong without even thinking about it. I am even able to point out errors some times. For example I remember a couple of days ago my brother was watching sponge bob square pants and one of the guys had a hook as his right hand, in the next, the hook was all of a sudden on his left hand. Now I wasn't looking to see which hand the hook was on while I was watching the show, however, when the switch happened, I noticed it. Then I just stayed paying attention to the hand and I realized that the hand with the hook continued to change from right to left and then back.
Forget the errors, I notice a lot of good things to. As a matter of fact, I believe having taken this class has helped me be able to pay closer and better attention to all the movies that I have recently watched. Now don't get me wrong I don't just look at errors and camera activities while I’m watching the movie. It just naturally happens. For instance every time there is a scene where the camera is zooming in on something, I realize that this is something important and it gets me thinking about what the significance of that could be. Then later on, when something related to that close up is about to happen, I already know what it I and understand why it is happening.
I don't feel confused sometimes like I used to anymore. You know how sometimes when you are watching a movie, and all of a sudden something happens that just totally confuses you because you don't quite understand why it happens? Well, because of the fact that I catch hints throughout the movie, I don’t have to wonder why something happened anymore. I realize it on my on. Therefore, I believe that this media class has been helpful for me and has allowed me to gain an interest in the media world.
Up until the beginning of this semester, I used to just watch television. Now I understand what I am watching and am bale to tell what the camera is dong without even thinking about it. I am even able to point out errors some times. For example I remember a couple of days ago my brother was watching sponge bob square pants and one of the guys had a hook as his right hand, in the next, the hook was all of a sudden on his left hand. Now I wasn't looking to see which hand the hook was on while I was watching the show, however, when the switch happened, I noticed it. Then I just stayed paying attention to the hand and I realized that the hand with the hook continued to change from right to left and then back.
Forget the errors, I notice a lot of good things to. As a matter of fact, I believe having taken this class has helped me be able to pay closer and better attention to all the movies that I have recently watched. Now don't get me wrong I don't just look at errors and camera activities while I’m watching the movie. It just naturally happens. For instance every time there is a scene where the camera is zooming in on something, I realize that this is something important and it gets me thinking about what the significance of that could be. Then later on, when something related to that close up is about to happen, I already know what it I and understand why it is happening.
I don't feel confused sometimes like I used to anymore. You know how sometimes when you are watching a movie, and all of a sudden something happens that just totally confuses you because you don't quite understand why it happens? Well, because of the fact that I catch hints throughout the movie, I don’t have to wonder why something happened anymore. I realize it on my on. Therefore, I believe that this media class has been helpful for me and has allowed me to gain an interest in the media world.
Up until the beginning of this semester, I used to just watch television. Now I understand what I am watching and am ble to tell what the camara is dong without even thinking about it. I am even able to point out errors some times. For example i remember a couple of days ago my brother was watching sponge bob square pants and one of the guys had a hook as his right hand. in the next, the hook was all of a sudden on his left hand. Now i wasn't looking to see which hand the hook was ne while i was watching the show, however, when the switch happened, i noticed it. Thn i just stayed paying attention to the hand and i realized that the hand with the hook continued to change from right to left and then back.
Forget the errors, i notice a lot of good things to. As a matter of fact, i believe having taken this class has helped me be able to pay closer and better attention to all the movies that i have recently watched. Now don't get me wrng i don't just look at errors and camera activities while i'm watching the movie. It just naturally happens. For instance every time there is a scene where the camera is zooming in on something, i realize that this is something important and it gets me thinking about what the significance of that could be. Then later on, when something related to that close up is about to happen, i already know what it i and understand why it is happening.
I don't feel confused sometimes like i used to anymore. You know how sometimes when you are watching a movie, and all of a sudden something happens that just totally confuses you becuase you don't quite understand why it happens? Well, because of the fact that i catch hints throughout the movie, i do't have to wonder why something happened anymore. I realize it on my on. Therefore, i believe that this media class has been helpful for me and has allowed me to gain an interest in the media world.
I have learned a lot this year in media since it is the first time i have taken this class. I learned how to make a movie: Zoom in, zoom out, how to hold the camera, I learned how to shoot two people on the same screen with two cameras and how to shoot a 3 minute movie. Also not only that I learned how to edit the movie and add in the song. It was sort of annoying in the beginning but then i got use to it.
Well, about media text I thought all of it was a lie. The gossips about the actors and reality shows I thought they were really stupid but actually the gossips are not a lie sometimes and the reality shows are not stupid sometimes either! Media text is intresting at times and crapy other times.
I also learned that the way they show how good a product is, in real it is actually not good and that they just show it so people buy it. I definetely started making better decisions about that. It's funny how they try to make you stupid and some people buy it too. Once I saw one of those lawn pipes and bought it. It looked like it was the best thing on t.v but in real it was not at all. Infact it was so bad that my mom had to throw it away. Since then I knew I really should not get something by looking at the t.v. and buying it because it really does not work that way.
This semester we didn't look at how the media functions very much, but in the time that we did, I learned more about how it influences us and manipulates us every day. First coming in to high school we learn about the power the media has over the public, but this year we took a step further in to it. After this class, I look at the media with a more skeptical eye, and try to keep it from influencing me.
Every day when we turn on the television or the radio or just go outside and walk the city streets, we are bombarded with media. Advertisements for various products and ideas spriral around us from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. People hum the tune to jingles as much as they do to regular songs. It is this kind of common acceptance of media interference that allows us to all be affected by it. This new media class helped to open my eyes to this and therefore formed a sort of protective barrier around me.
Now I see things differently. Although sometimes I may hum a jingle or want an unnecessary product just because, I will still say that I have a more critical eye when it comes to advertisements and the general media. Before I read something or take any sort of media related piece in to account, I think about what the producers are actually saying or trying to sell. Thanks to New Media I am not a media based robot.
"It’s still the worst thing ever, worse than the Nazi holocaust and worse than the falling of the Tower of Babylon, to lose a script you spent 10 (censored)ing hours on, because of a faulty (censored)ing piece of (censored) computer."
J.M.Francia
New Media
Final Blog
Another six months in New Media passed, and I’ve learned little I wasn’t already aware of; It’s still hard as all hell to complete a video project when the person to camera to computer ratio averages out about 5:1:3. It’s still the worst thing ever, worse than the Nazi holocaust and worse than the falling of the Tower of Babylon, to lose a script you spent 10 (censored)ing hours on, because of a faulty (censored)ing piece of (censored) computer. (Censored).
But generalities aside, I guess I did learn SOMETHING. Reality shows for instance: I admit, I blew them off. Not that I enjoy them anymore than I did, but instead of seeing them as a cheesy gimmick like I used to, and believe you me I used to, I see it as the evolution of the conflict between romanticism and realism. This clashing of artistic expressions you see, occurred back in the late 19th century when paintings and writing were a thing of imagination, and not presentations of what they actually were. This was romanticism. Then Realism came around (Thank you Dostoyevsky and Ibsen), a new form of art which presented objects and ideas in their natural, unchanged form. Of course, this was somewhat controversial at the time, just like, (What a coincidence!), many reality shows of today. And just like the late 19th century, the late 20th century was comprised of romantic sitcoms and soap operas, (read as: 90210, Dawson’s Creek, Boston Public, 7th Heaven, Family Matters, and did I mention Boston Public? I mean, something happens to that school like every freakin’ week! Crimany! Even Bronx schools only have a shooting or rape once every THREE weeks!), but was introduced to Realism (Read as, once again: Joe Millionaire, Survivor, Real World, American Idol, Joe Blow, etc, etc, and so on and so forth.). This was at first a tad controversial due to it’s exposure of real-world brutalities (just like romanticism in the late 19th-century), or worse, real-world boringness (hey, just like romanticism in the late 19th century! I think we’re on to something here).
So that’s my big revelation. A historical connection, proving for the uptillionth time that history repeats itself. And god knows, in 100 years ,the virtual reality software programs which let people experience a fantasy will be brought to live side-by-side with a new generation of said programs which let people live out everyday life in different or odd situations, bringing upon an age of “Reality Virtual Reality”. Can’t (censored)ing wait.
-Jojo, Signing off
At the beginning of the year I came into New Media class and expected to learn mostly about how film is displayed on the computer and start filming right then and there but I was wrong. New Media class turned out the have many more topics within it. More than film there's commercial consumption, the power of reality television, camera angles, and especially mass media. At the same time I was taking Literature and Media Theory (English course) with Mr. Letiecq, which allowed me to go into the critical thinking with more depth and understanding.
When we discussed camera angles I went home and just watched some TV shows to see how the director used the actors and the lighting yet what really blew my mind was how many times the angles blocked people and how sometimes the camera moved with the person holding it. When I got to movies I didn't see it as much but in some horror movies there were shots that I truly loved, all the strange positions and views that some would never dream of were used. This class helped to see another view in the filming world.
Editing is something that helps the director show his/her audience a certain opinion different then the real one. For example, in Survivor there always has to be someone that everyone hates so when in editing that persons 'good moments' are cut out so you only see them when they're yelling at everyone or trying to always get their way. When it comes down to it the audience never sees every minute of what would've been shown.
When I looked at commercials I noticed a trend in how they manipulate you into thinking that their product is better then all the other 'copies' yet you'll never know which is better till you use them. It all boils down to the fact that the world revolves around money; more people shop now a days then ever before. So now more of these items are being bought which results in more and more commercials; its a chain effect.
In the end I will never forget the sources provided to me and I will always look for those critical moments in TV/movies. It's sad to know that the class is coming to an end so I hope that you will enjoy the film created by Kristen and myself. Have a good rest of the year.
I think that after this class I can truly say that I understand the power of the media in America. Media comes in many forms, news papers, magazines etc...but the most powerful and influential for of media is television, simply because it gets through to so many people everyday. I dont think that anyone can say that a day goes by where they dont watch a television show.
The media controls this country, try and imagine what America would be like if television did not exist? It could benefit the country, and it could also make millions and millions of people go crazy. People need media to go on with their daily lives, whether they watch television for pleasure or business, it has become a very big part of Americans lives.
It is hard to say whether media has made a positive or a negative, but whether we like it or not its here to stay...for good. So many peopel tune in everyday to watch their favorite televisionb show that the television industry has become one of the most well paying business. NBC, CBS, FOX, UPN, TNT, TBS are just some of the many different television stations you can find all over teh country, and now, all over the world.
When I signed up for New Media, I had no idea what it was or what we would be doing. But I knew I liked the media, and preferably the new stuff. Although after this course, I've realized how much I have learned; everything from camera angles to the real stories behind promotion for movies and TV shows. I never knew information like that could be interesting, but it was finally great to learn about this culture I care so much about, the media.
Only about three or four classes of New Media I observed something I learned from the class. I went to see the movie "The School of Rock," and all I could concentrate on was the camera angles. There were too many shots where the top of a characters head would be cut off, and it annoyed me enough where I had to concentrate on not noticing it. The funny thing however, is that before I took this class, I never would have noticed something like that, ever!
Another thing I learned from New Media, was obviously how to film a movie. When my brother was in high school he was in a film class where he made lots of movies, many times I would star in them. Not only did I love seeing myself on screen, but I was so impressed with my brother because of these short films he made, I was fascinated. I always wanted to film a little segment and get practice to one day film my own. Not a major motion picture, just a short movie that I knew came from me. Looking at the movie my group produced, I am still impressed with my brother just not as much, because now I know everything he was doing and I can do it do. I know what angles look good and where to place the people so I can get the best shot. If I ever do decide to make a movie, I will already have a head start.
Next time I go to buy a product I will honestly not take a second to think about how I was manipulated into buying it, all the phony and fake advertising. And I won't stop buying the products I have because now I know the story behind all the advertisement. But in the back of my mind I will always know the persuasion behind the advertisement, that it's all about the money and power. Maybe I will always follow the trend of what these product sellers say is "cool," but only a few other people and me will know that it is all a joke.
Only about three or four classes of New Media I observed something I learned from the class. I went to see the movie "The School of Rock," and all I could concentrate on was the camera angles. There were too many shots where the top of a characters head would be cut off, and it annoyed me enough where I had to concentrate on not noticing it. The funny thing however, is that before I took this class, I never would have noticed something like that, ever!
For my almost last Blog I asked Ms.Reid, my new media teacher, what I should write for my actual last blog. I decided to wait to hear the idea and just use an extra blog for my own reflection on the media in my life. The idea I presented to myself was that is Media no longer a thing in the American life, but a staple around the world. The fact that American actors and actresses get more respect than a teacher. I wonder where are the morals that Americans used to hold so highly. While watching the movie Pleasantville I see the transition.
Is this the America that are forefathers once saw. I can say that I know more about Paris Hilton's sex life than I know about whats happening to people in Afghanistan. The line between entertainment that Media provides is becoming hazy with the fog that is creating. Before my own brother could recite his alphabet correct and add he was signing R. Kelly songs and trying to pronouce "sat- tua- atory rap" thinking that it was a name of a song. Not realizing that his own studies were more important than the fact that R. Kelly had sex with underage girls.
Media has gone from being in America to being an American staple. The haze that the Media has created makes me believe that they are directly corralated with the government and that as soon as problems arise in the government that is also when secret paternity test come to light. The Media however wayward it maybe there are somethings that Americans have come to expect when they turn on their computers or television.