SakuraKitchen

In terms of the main ideas and concepts that I have taken from this course, I would say that they are the better understanding and appreciation for the work done by advertising agencies and PR individuals I gained. I had some idea of what these agencies did for larger and smaller companies from other classes, but getting to look at the practices of the individual media types was interesting and informative. I particularly liked the class discussion around our differing opinions on the movie “Thank You for Smoking”. It was interesting to see the different ways that we saw not only the practices within the film, but also the overall idea of this type of marketing. It gave me a new perspective on how others may try to advertise to me in the future and the ways that I can expect others to react to particular types of adverts. Before, it didn’t quite click with me how different some people’s overall perception of deceitful advertising. How much some are ok with it, how others may fall for it, those kinds of things. 

Another thing that I have taken from this course is a better understanding of media outlets that I had never really given much thought to, for example, the radio industry. I had never given much thought to how the radio industry worked internally or how some stations were given their specific genre of music or talk show. It was interesting to learn the sort of “life cycle” of a radio station. How it got put on the air after having a concept made in hopes of gaining a core audience, the success or lack thereof, and the eventual “death” or change in concept. I had never thought about any of these things before the class and I am more interested in the radio than I have been in a while. It has made me more aware of the stations that I listen to and who the target audience for the radio stations I don’t listen to might be. It was also interesting to learn about some of the more niche genres of radio media from my classmates that I may have never found on my own.

As for my habits possibly changing, I do feel that they will stay somewhat unchanged. I was already somewhat well aware of my own biases and also how advertising may be targeted toward me. I tend to lean toward more colorful, yet logos based advertisements, I am generally a moderate in my political standing, and I am more childish in my online purchases. My media literacy was also decently honed to begin with, but now I do know that it has a name. I didn’t know what it was called before, but I still understood that there were biases in the media, advertising, news, everywhere. I already looked out for false information and double checked any news I heard with other news sources when I did look at the news. I took caution in my purchases based on advertising and generally checked reviews on products and services before purchase. My habits won’t change that much because of this, but I can now better understand why they are targeting me and how that data is used by the companies to better advertise to me and others like me. 

Thank you for this Trimester you made the class fun and enjoyable.

In my personal opinion, I feel that video games are not an instigator of violence as long as they are introduced into the proper demographics. The way that I see things is that if a person is going to be impacted by the violence in a video game then it is more than likely that they would find a different violent form of media to latch to. If video games didn’t have violent content then the few that have this predisposition to violence would seek violence through movies, literature, music, or any other type of content that has violence involved. 

For example, there have been times where movies were seen as too violent and that they should be removed like Deadpool or the recent Joker movie. Music has had the same treatment in the past and is currently having the same accusations placed against it, with Drill Music(1). It doesn’t get as much press because most people dismiss the thought that music can cause violence. The only reason that video games are treated different than these other types of media is because it happens to fall into the current demographic for those who happen to have the most un-diagnosed depression, un-diagnosed mental problems, and tendency to commit suicide, young white males(2).

The demographics for most violent first person shooters is young males and due to this overlap in demographics there seems to be a cause and effect to violent video games making violent people. Instead, the blame for this higher rate of violence should be seen as a lack of mental health support for these young men and better profiling of those who would find a reason to be violent even without video games. Even before video games people like this existed, blaming violent video games as a whole for violent behavior in individuals is just not logically sound.

Cites 

(1) Drill Music

If I were to be a reality show producer, I would make a show about a group of popular youtubers living in the same house for a week with the task of pranking with each other and competing in challenges to earn points. Who ever has the most points at the end of the week gets $500,000 to donate to their favorite charity. The youtubers would be able to profit off of the content they could make from the set up of hijinks and be able to have viewers crossover from each others fanbases. Instantly, the show would have a baseline viewership through the following of the youtubers and free advertising from their channels. There are plenty of youtubers who dedicate a large portion of their earnings to charity and they will get to meet fellow creators along the way. Many youtubers already do something similar to this, but I don’t believe there has been a TV show. Mr.Beast is the biggest example of this type of content and the success that it can have (1). 

Reality TV is good for product placement because food and clothes are just parts of life, so placing them in the background of a shot in a house or on a character feels natural. This makes for better product placement because the viewer will still see the product, but not feel like they are having the product pushed in their face. It also means that there will be more opportunities for placement, since there are plenty of things and objects in a house that can be replaced with product spots that can be filled.

Cites

For my analysis I chose the article “Some Inescapable Facts about Hollywood’s Diversity Crisis”. First off, I would like to say that I see where the article is coming from, and that I am glad to see more diversity in Hollywood, but the article seems to be treating the imbalance in the racial and LGBTQA as more than it is. What I mean by this is that, when looking at the population of America(which I am using since the article is specifically talking about Hollywood), the statistics of the article mostly make sense. 

Starting down the list of the article’s grievances, the imbalance between the amount of  female and male directors and actors is something that does need to be improved upon. I feel that this statistic is a fair one, that the number of men to woman is still a problem, but one that is getting better. 

The second statistic, of how many of the characters are LGBTQA is actually not as far off of the population for America as seems. The 2% seems like a drop in the bucket, or like a grave injustice, but when put against the population of America, which is only at 4.5% LGBTQA, it’s not that far off from reality (1). True it still needs to be improved upon, but its as much of a great deficit as the article makes it out to be.

As for the issues of there not being enough diversity of race in Hollywood, I agree to a point. I would love to see more diverse casts in more diverse rolls, but there is a point were the balance will be met. The demographics of the U.S. are changing at a lightning fast pace, but are still a majority white.

Even in 25 years, with the decrease of white population due to immigration,the population will still be 50% (2) . It will be interesting to see what Hollywood will look like at this time and all of the new demographics will be advertised to. Overall, I feel that this article, while having good intentions, make the difference of Hollywood’s profiles out to be a massive injustice, done out of malice, rather than the slower integration of these demographics. It is correct that there are changes that need to be made in Hollywood, but considering where it was only a few years ago, the progress made is amazing.

Cites

(1)

https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/visualization/lgbt-stats/?topic=LGBT#density

(2)

Traditional radio broadcasts and streaming (that’s what you meant right?) are similar in many ways, but have a different way of targeting audiences. Radio is broader in its demographics, trying to please the most people it can in its limited stations while streamed content is often able to target more niche audiences. Radio is trying to get as many people to stay on the station as they can so they play a wider range of music that is mostly from the mainstream music scene with the occasional speciality radio station. This means that there will be times where people may not like all of the music that is playing, but stay because they know that the next song might be something they like. 

This isn’t how it is for streaming though, they are able to focus in on their chosen audience far easier. For example, as written in the book, there are specific internet stations for each genre and style of music. Instead of mixed rock songs, a person can go to their streaming site and ask for a station just for hard rock, classic rock, or any other sub genre. These streaming sites also sometimes have the benefit of no commercials for payment or subscriptions. 

The advantages for both of these fit together almost like a puzzle piece. Radio is typically what is used when you are too busy to pick your own music, like when you are driving or working within a group of diverse individuals. Streaming is for when you have time to pick your music genre you want and is used more for personal enjoyment or in a group of like minded individuals who will enjoy the same music.

The distribution in the music industry right now is somewhat in flux. There still are CDs, records, and other physical distribution methods, but they are growing less popular as the digital market for music grows. People no longer have to own a CD to listen to a song or find it on a radio station. They can choose what they want to listen to, when they want to listen to it with streaming platforms. There are fewer and fewer people who listen to mainstream music because of it.

I feel that the way that music is distributed is somewhat counter productive in its concentrated distribution tactics. There are many times where I, or many of my friends, will become tired of a song, and grow to hate it, because it is overplayed on the radio. It has made me stop listening to the radio, personally, because all of the music that is played no longer entices me. This is similar for many other people. 

So for this project I honestly don’t have a magazine to talk about. I have never followed any magazine or been interested in any and it just seems like a waste of money. The closest I ever came to a magazine subscription was when I had the lego catalog mailed to me every month. 

As for the advantages and disadvantages of physical and online magazines I feel that the physical magazines have a very niche, but exclusive, buying market. The physical magazines are specifically bought for particular areas like doctors offices and salons. Sometimes people will pick up a magazine subscription form such places so the magazine companies get almost free advertising. They can also hold actual items, like makeup or perfume samples.

Online magazines are also starting to gain traction though, because we are in our current digital age. People want to read the content they pay for, when they want to, where they want to. They don’t have to worry about keeping dozen of physical magazines in order to keep information from months gone by. Customers can simply look at the digital backlog of magazines. It is also preferable for companies who don’t have to pay printing fees. The companies can also change the magazine after it has been published if there is a typo or something. Physical copies are permanently left with those mistakes once purchased by a customer.

For my own new feed I’d say that youtube and word of mouth are my main ways of finding out about news. This is mostly because, while I do like to know about the larger topics, I get media burnout very easily. I tried to be more involved in the past, but this just lead to me having worries about global problems I could do nothing about. At this moment in time I listen to a lot of Philip Defranco, his videos are short and concise, but still informative. He is, in my eyes, a general moderate with more liberal leanings. That makes me feel like his content, while still needing to be fact checked, is generally non weighted. I feel like I can trust him and his team to report to the best of their abilities.

I also choose word of mouth as a source of news because of what I said before about media burnout. In most cases I will hear about some story through a friend, coworker, or a family member. For the most part, I trust my families news sources, some even watching Defranco too, so I feel that I can trust their words. 

Both of these sources also come with a bit of an extra step though. I don’t go looking further into news often, but when I do I tend to chose two apposing news providers, such as Washington Post and Fox News, then cross reference their information to come to my own conclusions. I suppose that this means that I prefer the accuracy of information over the speed by which I get it. That is one of the things I appreciate about Defranco is that if his team gets information wrong then he will make a video addressing it or will address it in his next video. It makes his content feel more accurate when he willingly acknowledges his mistakes and corrects them.

Question: 250 words describing the differences between the roles of the literary agent and the book editor and their relationships with the book author.

The acquisition editor and a literary agent have similar end goals of having a clients work published to get a percentage of the money from sales. They are both tools that can be used to increase the number of quality genre focused works. The difference is that the literary agents are working for the client to get their works published by taking their manuscripts and showing them to potential editors, publishers, and buyers. They focus on marketing the works to a groups that would be interested in the specific work of the client to boost the likelihood of getting picked. Once a client’s work is picked up and there is a profit on the sales, the literary agent will take a commission, typically 10 percent of the book profit. This gives the author who works with these people a better chance of being found and publishes with success. 

The majority of the argument in this article is that there will never truly be a ‘free market’ on the internet. During its creation, the internet was meant to be a free marketplace for its users. It was meant to be a level playing field where a solitary person and a corporation could reach their audience with the same ease and speed, but it didn’t stay this way. This is because the Internet is maintained and funded by corporations who will want more money. In maintaining the internet and needing money to fund the growth of the internet these ISP companies must engage in some level of capitalism sustain themselves even if they are helped by the government. In this way, there will always be some company trying to make money off of the internet. 

Net neutrality, through the fact that there  are companies that are trying to make a profit off of anything they can, will be at stake as long as there is an incentive to make more money off of internet speed. If net neutrality were to be lost, the internet would likely become a set of monopolistic markets owned by a few corporations that would hold full power over what is posted where, when, and how. 

The Media conglomerate that I chose for this blog post is Alphabet.

Alphabet is one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, owning Google, and Youtube, Android, and other assets through Google. Youtube is one of the fastest growing media outlets in the world. Days worth of content is uploaded every hour. There are thousands of people watching this content and making money for Alphabet through the advertisements placed around and throughout those videos. This will impact the viewer of this platform because Google, and thus Alphabet, have stakes held in several different tech industries and so they will advertise their tech over others. This will impact the type, and possibly the quality of the technology used by the viewers. And this is just one industry that Alphabet has a stake in. The advertising that they could do with the amount of viewership on Youtube is almost unimaginable. The company as a whole was bringing in approximately $59.62 billion in media revenue back in 2016, and has only continued to grow.

It is kind of hard to pinpoint a solid top media conglomerate because there are so many and many of them specialize in different types of media where they are the most impactful. For example, children’s media and has stakes in several media outlets. AT&T has its media stake in Direct TV along with many TV properties such as Cartoon Network, TNT, CNN, and others. Each company has its own territory that it sticks to for the most part.

The movie that I chose to talk about is The Secret of NIHM. The film was one of my favorites as a child.

I originally had a screen shot from my phone of the advertisement to place here, but unfortunately the picture got lost in translation between my phone and my laptop. I found the advertisement video on youtube and took a picture of that.

The advertisement that I chose for the blog post is The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. This ad is a soft sell style ad. It mostly sells its product through music and imagery that will sell its consumer on past games or brand recognition. The music is from old classic zelda games, the animation in the beginning is reminiscent of old box art for the old games, and the game itself is a remake of an older title. Nintendo themselves may be a part of this soft sell style as well because they are recognizable, reliable, and nostalgic. These things will create a feeling of familiarity and comfort-ability with those targeted by the ad. All of these factors would play into the attraction of  a customer. 

For this post I chose the show Steven Universe.

 I do understand that the series is generally advertised for children, but it has garnered a following with adults in the LGBT community as well. This series was built from the ground up as a show made by LGBT people, for LGBT people. It is still a children's show on the Cartoon Network, but there are still themes, morals, and characters that appeal to an adult audience. Steven Universe has an interesting line that it balances of for being an adult show and a children's show. The creator of the show is Rebecca Sugar, a bisexual woman, who has openly said that she has woven her own experience with the LGBT community into the show. There are characters in the show that are in same sex marriages, lesbians, and references to other LGBT topics. In the most recent season there was a lesbian marriage that was a main plot point for an episode. There are female characters who have clear romantic feelings for other female characters. The show also makes illusions to characters who have they/them pronouns or are non-binary. 

Agenda setting theory.

The “agenda setting” theory is, in my opinion a very real. It can be seen in the media everyday. The random daily happenings of the Kardashians, that have little importance to the world around us, when posted by the media and people talk about it. Their fame comes from people taking about them and what they do. It could be the ridiculousness of their life styles to one of the youngest Kardashians becoming the youngest millionaire. People become invested in their lives due to the mere coverage of their lives. Another example of this is in the trial of O.J. Simpson. Before his name became a thing of infamy, O.J. was just another football player, but after his name was known in almost every household in America. This could’ve been a normal trial, opening and closing with only minor coverage, but instead, the media picked up the story and ran with it. Constant updates, reviews of the story so far, these things kept the trial in the front of peoples minds and kept them talking. The popularity of the topic became so big that the trial was broadcast on TV to thousands of people. People didn’t have to watch the trial, they didn’t have to follow the news, but they chose to. They wanted to talk to their friends and coworkers about the trial and speculate. Did he do it? Did he not? Will he be convicted? The entire event eventually engraved the name O.J. Simpson into the collective minds of society, at least for a few years.

In the first chapter of Media Today: Mass Communication in a Converging World, there are many statements made to question the legitimacy of the mass media. Media needs to be questioned, fact checked and criticized. The book explains six ways that mass media impacts its viewers and the ways it may purposely or accidentally and what to be wary of. To me, the most impactful of these are how media impacts the personal reality and the reality of our society. 

In the personal reality section, the biggest argument that is put forward is, “seeing and hearing is not reality.” This is poignant because there are groups of people who believe that their favorite TV stars are who they are on screen. These people lose track of reality and start to think that the way life works on TV is the same in reality. If this continues it can cause issues in their lives and the way that they interact with others.