Blogging Tips

Weaver's Guide to Weblogging
When students blog, potential employers could be watching.
KEEP YOUR WEBLOG PROFESSIONAL & POLISHED.

You must always think about your audience, no matter how niche it may be. You should also keep ethical and legal issues in mind as well as what makes a good blog worth visiting and credible. Images, graphics and video dress it up, but it will always come back to good, solid writing. That's exactly why you should never post a first draft entry. Edit what you write. Spelling errors and typos tarnish you and your blog. I suggest writing & editing entries with a word processor, then copy and paste into the blog.

Here are more tips I offer my BC Capstone students when it comes to blogging:

Showcase Good Communication Skills

1. Invest time and research into your content.

• Write enough to communicate meaning with the reader, but avoid overkill. Have a point and get to it.
• Write what you know about-- concentrate on what you're passionate about and make that the focus of your blog.
• Showcase your work. Promote your talent, skills and experience.
• Demonstrate your knowledge and experience by correctly using the terminology of your profession.
• Connect your entries to topical events and issues in your field.
• Offer your own style and voice and be consistent with it.

2. Always attribute!

• Plagiarizing, fabricating or other BS is not tolerated. Such misdeeds will often be challenged publicly and will haunt you in your professional efforts.

3. Offer Links!

• The more links you offer the better the chances your blog could turn up in a web search.
• Link back to your sources (this offers transparency, attribution and validity to the points you want to make).

ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU'RE PUTTING IT OUT THERE FOR THE WORLD TO SEE!

What you post is public so be ready to stand by it.

1. Never reveal personal, private information.

• Never blog about your personal life. Limit contact information to comment areas or postings that your blog can forward to you. Also turn on the blog features that will let you screen out e-mail scrapers, SPAMMERS, etc.

2. Never blog proprietary or privileged information. Never disclose company secrets or information shared with you in confidence. Off the record means off the record. Don't even hint about something proprietary or priviledged as it will flag the attention of corporate lawyers who are now in the business of patrolling blogs for such violations.

• If you're blogging about internship or job-related experiences, inform your employer about your weblog.
• Promote transparency. Invite the employer to read your blog and offer feedback.

3. Ask about restrictions or limits on what you can and cannot blog.

• Many companies now have strict rules about employee blogs.
• Some media savvy companies encourage blogging but have specific guidelines.

• If the employer prohibits blogging about work experiences, then comply.

4. Be Positive- Showcase your ability to think critically and creatively.

• Offer solutions instead of only pointing out problems.

5. Be clear when expressing opinion or comments.

• When engaged in criticism, remain constructive.
• Recognize opposing positions.
• Support your points with evidence and attribution (include links).
• Never engage in personal attacks.

6. Update entries on a regular basis.

• Develop a routine so regular visitors can expect timely updates and will want to interact with your blog.

7. Entertain and inform your readers

• INCLUDE PICTURES: Offer interesting and appropriate images and context.
• Write engaging headlines.

Be Prepared- Avoid Legal Entanglements

1. Be truthful & ethical.

• Read and understand the Blogger User Agreement.
• Understand the impact of what you write.

2. Remember libel applies to weblogs.

• Remember false light applies to weblogs.
• Remember invasion of privacy applies to weblogs.

Other Tips- Read & Comment

1. Read other weblogs.

• Routinely search for weblogs discussing topics of interest to you.
• Bookmark weblogs you think are written well or speak to you.

2. Offer constructive feedback and comments on blogs you visit.

Some places to get started with weblogging:

Blogger

WordPress

Westminster Student-Produced Documentary Featured at Film Festival

CONGATULATIONS FORMER MASS COMM/SOC 109 CLUSTER STUDENTS!

The 2007 Iris Film Festival will showcase a short documentary produced and directed by Westminster College students.

"Who Knows What Caitlyn May Do..." was produced for the communications/sociology cluster course during the spring 2007 semester. The 13-minute film introduces the audience to three-year-old Caitlyn May Hickman, a child with Down syndrome, and her family: Lisa, Jason, and Leah Hickman. The family shares insights to remind the viewer that while life may seem rough at times, viewing from a different perspective makes one aware of all life's gifts.

Executive producers are Dr. Virginia Tomlinson, associate professor of sociology and director of the Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and Bradley Weaver, instructor of broadcast communications. Dr. Mandy Medvin, professor of psychology, was also featured in the documentary. Weaver will represent the College at the festival, Sept. 21-23, at the historic Clifton Theater in Huntingdon.

Students involved in the writing, direction and production of the documentary are:

Julie Kepins, a senior psychology major, is a daughter of James and Cindy Kepins of Murrysville and a graduate of Franklin Regional High School.

Ashley Pierson, a senior financial economics major, is a daughter of James and Kara Pierson of Wellsville, Ohio, and a graduate of Wellsville Local High School.

Andrew Polack, a senior computer science and mathematics major, is a son of Samuel and Barbara Polack of Abingdon, Md., and a graduate of Edgewood High School.

Michael Wolenski, a 2007 Westminster graduate with a degree in broadcast communications, is a son of Thomas and Maureen Wolenski of Butler and a graduate of Peters Township High School.

Visit www.irisfilmfestival.org for additional information.

Student Documentary Project ONLINE

Watch Beta Production's "The Voice of Abuse." Produced by Westminster College students using consumer available equipment. This project tells the powerful story of a domestic violence survivor.

Titan Radio Welcomes The Class of 2011

www.titanradio.net

Mock Convention Flashback!!!

With the 2008 Westminster College Mock Convention jumping from spring to fall semester, The County Line crew at WCN and Titan Radio News will need to hustle. I've started posting clips from the 2004 Mock Convention Coverage on YouTube to help students get a feel for how the convention works. It's also a nice way to reach out to those grads who lead the way four years ago.

2008 Presidential Mock Convention Slides Back Into 2007

from Titan Radio- August 16, 2007
The presidential campaign comes early in New Wilmington as the 2008 Westminster College Mock Convention will take place this November. That's three months earlier than originally planned. Convention faculty advisor James Rhoads, associate professor of political science, says a combination of early campaigns and primaries forced the College to move up the Westminster event. The Convention changes to a Wednesday-Thursday night schedule on November 7 and 8. The location will also change to the Witherspoon Rooms in the McKelvey Campus Center. The Mock Convention has taken place traditionally on a Thursday-Friday schedule in early February in Memorial Field House.

"The last several Conventions have had to move earlier and earlier due to the political parties moving up their primary schedules," Rhoads said. "This year, we have moved into the fall semester. In addition to the change in dates, we are instituting a year-long series of events to coincide with the presidential selection process."

When California moved its primary election date to February 5, 2008, it turned up the heat on presidential campaigns forcing them to begin nearly a year earlier. In Pennsylvania, Governor Rendell supported a move to change the Keystone State's primary to February. However, the initiative has failed to take root in the General Assembly. Nearly 40 other states will hold primaries before Pennsylvania's May primary election in 2008.

This year the Mock Convention will mirror the Democratic National Convention. Campus tradition dictates the event focus on the party not in control of the White House. Westminster's Mock Convention is recognized as the second oldest in the country as it began in 1936 founded by political science professor Thomas Mansell. The Convention started as an effort to educate students and cultivate participation in the political process of a presidential election.

USA's "BURN NOTICE" Burning Up My TiVo

Get out the SPF 30 as my TiVo helped me discover a stylish, new character-driven guilty pleasure for my summer viewing pleasure. It's USA's "Burn Notice." Well-written dialogue, good acting and some stylish directing make this Miami-set twist on the "spy" comedy/drama fun to watch. It promises to tell the story of what happens when spies get fired. That's exactly what the main character does with a McGyveresque approach as he improvises to make spy gadgets on a dollar store budget. The show's hero is glib, out of work tough guy/secret agent Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan). He often reveals details of his life as a spy during voice-overs vignettes while he's working episode-length freelance gigs he picks up to make an extra buck.

His mother (Sharon Gless) and a sexy ex-girlfriend, former IRA operative Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), trade one-liners as they're forced to come together in this light-hearted look at unemployed spies. The second episode even pokes fun at cop shows while paying homage to Gless with a reference to "Cagney and Lacy" (if memory serves me, Gless played Christine Cagney...geez I would have been in high school back then). Westen's trying to figure out who burned him-- each episode he gets a little closer-- he really wants his job back. In the meantime, he'll champion the underdog for a price and ends up turning the tables on Miami baddies like drug smugglers and corrupt real estate tycoons.


He can do what the cops can't do and he does it with style while also being tailed by the FBI as the people who burned him are still keeping tabs. While he wants to be a loner, he'll need to learn to be the ex-spy who loves his mother and old girlfriend to get ahead. The show's topical sarcasm and likeable cast of misfit characters have a cool rhythm.


"Burn Notice" is fresh and much more entertaining than the worn "4400" which has morphed away from its original concepts and lost my interest. I never got into "Monk" as it came off too much like any other spin on the old "NBC Sunday Night Mystery Movie" formulas. While I once enjoyed "The Dead Zone" it seemed to go on forever...but now USA has put some heat back into summer television with "Burn Notice." The show sizzles against the few new things to watch including those tired, predictable summer reality shows.

Downloading Movies to TiVo Just Became Easier

Amazon is now hooking up with TiVo for direct movie & TV show downloads. The two companies were working together through the user's PC's-- but now you can order that movie direct from your TiVo. Looks like I just found a reason to scrap Netflix where I'm always told there's a long wait for the latest movie by mail.

Several Cluster Students Now College Graduates- Congratulations!

Several members of our Mass Comm/Soc 109 class graduated on Saturday, May 19, 2007. They were among the group of 325 graduates departing Westminster College with degrees in everything from sociology to elementary education to physics to broadcast communications and public relations. You can spot some of them in the commencement highlights from Titan Radio.



Westminster's commencement speaker, Dr. Dianne D. Aronian, encouraged each graduate to do as Joseph Campbell wrote and "follow your bliss." Aronian, a 1962 Westminster graduate and former College trustee and accomplished ophthalmologist, created a program to bring eye care to southern Belize in Central America. The program responded to a health crisis where there was no eye care available to the poor in the region. Aronian noted her work in that program was one of the more recent occasions where she discovered her newest "bliss." She described her life after her college graduation as a journey of finding her bliss a number of times from medical school and throughout her professional life. She urged the class of 2007 to open themselves up to discover the bliss that will lead them as they leave Westminster.

Follow your bliss.
If you do follow your bliss,
you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while waiting for you,
and the life you ought to be living
is the one you are living.
When you can see that,
you begin to meet people
who are in the field of your bliss,
and they open the doors to you.
I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,
and doors will open
where you didn't know they were going to be.
If you follow your bliss,
doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.
--Joseph Campbell

Outsourcing Journalism: The Shape of News to Come?

Many American manufacturing jobs disappeared as they went overseas to cheaper markets without unions. Much of the animation for The Simpsons is done abroad. Then telemarketing jobs went to India, Central America, Mexico...as did other middle management jobs for all sorts of companies.

Now look for outsourcing to come to a newsroom near you as American journalism is exported. Is this the shape of things to come? Consider what a Pasadena paper is trying to do as it looks to outsource “local” coverage for city hall to a reporter based in India. NPR provides an interesting examination of what could happen with news jobs in this country. Imagine the implication for American Democracy, public opinion, schools of journalism, etc.

Watch Our Student Documentary "Confidence" Online

One of the Mass Comm/Soc 109 student documentaries produced by the TECK Productions group is now available online.
Confidence: The Man Behind the Bench.
This documentary produced by Westminster College students introduces the viewer to the story of Judge George "Tookie" James (Westminster Alum & Beaver County's First African American Judge). The project was produced with consumer available camcorders and editing software.

My Future Role- What I Do Now After The Cluster

"Of all affairs, communication is the most wonderful..." John Dewey


Dr. Tomlinson asked students to consider where we go from here as we close out the Soc 109/Mass Comm cluster. We took a few moments to write out what role we see ourselves playing as we move beyond the class. Here's what I wrote out in those final moments in the classroom:

I chose to live by example when it comes to treating people as I want to be treated. I will respect the dignity of the individual and appreciate the experiences and perspectives offered. By living the example I become a better teacher, parent and citizen thanks to the ongoing discovery born out of the interactions I have with others. This discovery also brings a diversity and richeness that fosters a range of relationships and communities. This discovery allows me to reinvent, update and broaden who I am as well as the pictures in my head. I recognize this is an ongoing human process requiring us to come together as we make the construction of meaning which is constant and fluid.

Student Documentary Showcase- Part 2

Addressing Stereotypes, Media & Marginalized Audiences
Presented by The Mass Comm/Soc 109 Cluster Students
You're Invited! Tuesday, May 8
12:45-2:00 p.m. in the Mueller Theater
McKelvey Campus Center/Westminster College
Free & Open to the Public
“We are all captives of the picture in our head -- our belief that the world we have experienced is the world that really exists.”- Walter Lippman

Billy Jackson: Independent Documentary Director/Producer

Billy Jackson stresses integrity, ethics and independence in his approach to making documentaries.


Documentary filmmaker Billy Jackson visited our cluster students on April 26 discussing his recent project, "Enough is Enough." The film explores the death of Johnny Gammage and issues of police misconduct in Pittsburgh and framed it within the larger issue of the problem nationwide of unarmed, innocent black citizens dying while in the custody of police.

Jackson expressed that he sees himself as first as a professional, a filmmaker. He stressed the importance of integrity, ethics and independence as a storyteller. He also underscored the issue of practicality and passion as a creator of media content. We discussed his film, his role as a storyteller and a gatekeeper, his process and his passion.

We thank you, Billy Jackson, for helping us expand the pictures in our heads of the role of documentary producers and directors in the grand scheme of gatekeepers and the process of making documentaries. I only wish we could have you back to sit in the audience as our students begin presenting their documentary projects to the public this week.



Student Documentary Showcase
Addressing Stereotypes, Media & Marginalized Audiences
Presented by The Mass Comm/Soc 109 Cluster Students
Thursday, May 3 Screenings
12:45-2:00 p.m. in the Mueller Theater
McKelvey Campus Center/Westminster College
Free & Open to the Public
“We are all captives of the picture in our head -- our belief that the world we have experienced is the world that really exists.”- Walter Lippman

Students in the Mass Comm/Soc 109 Cluster will present public premieres of their documentary projects. Three documentaries will debut on May 3. Four others will premiere on May 8.

May 3 Schedule
Confidence: The Man Behind the Bench
Teck Productions-- Elisa C., Kirsten D., Catharine H. & Thomas M.

Poetic Justice
Fighting Tulips Productions-- Steve K., Julie M., Aidan Mewha & Charlie N.

Believing Without Seeing
LEJJ Communications-- Jess C., Elizabeth F., Jess H. & Emily S.

Director Billy Jackson & "Enough Is Enough"

This week Mass Comm/Soc 109 students screen Billy Jackson's "Enough Is Enough" (click here to view the trailer) . It's a documentary about the Johnny Gammage case in Pittsburgh and the issue of police brutality, the criminal justice system and African Americans. Tuesday's screening of the documentary will set up a visit from director Jackson (the man behind Nommo Productions) on Thursday. Students will have a chance to hear from him on issues of authenticity and voice in producing such projects. They will also have an opportunity to discuss his film and how it may relate to topics, theories, practices and discussions from both the mass communications course and the Sociology class.

One way for students to begin reflecting on Jackson's film is to consider how some of the people we've studied in class would see the film. What might Toni Morrison say about it? Or Native American filmmaker Chris Eyre? Or how might scholars and theorists react? Consider folks like Gerbner, McCluhan, Meyrowitz, Baudrillard and others discussed in either class.

Watching Smoke Signals

This week students screen Chris Eyre's 1998 Miramax film "Smoke Signals." This is an interesting film to view in the wake fo the Don Imus media mess. The media buzz is now focused on the discussion about how pop culture and media seem to normalize negative stereotypes. The public is asked to consider the impact of degrading imagery and speech on marginalized audiences. While this discussion centers around how stereotypes are perpetuated by language and media, consider how Native Americans continue to suffer thanks to popular culture and media via the mascots for sports teams.

Another consideration to weigh while viewing Smoke Signals is the issue of cultural identity and authenticity in media. Chris Eyre is an up and coming Native American filmmaker. He writes compelling screenplays about his own struggles and he uses Native American actors to bring the stories to life. Watching "Smoke Signals" is another way of challenging the stereotypes perpetuated by old TV shows and Westerns. One line in the movie presented by the charcter of Victor resonates with a bitter truth.

"There's nothing more pathetic than Indians on TV than Indians watching Indians on TV." Thomas Builds-A-Fire (Evan Adams), Smoke Signals (1998- Miramax).

If we make a media-savvy effort to engage in selective exposure of media and attend to stories created by and representing marginalized audience, imagine the richness of our experiences in understanding the world outside and broadening the "pictures in our heads."

Click here for the Smoke Signals trailer on CNN.
Click here for the review of Smoke Signals on CNN.

Al Gore & Inventing the Internet

This week the class has finished reading Chapter 10 in the Hanson text. However, Hanson did not address the myth that Al Gore claimed to invented the Internet. We'll definitely address that in class.




It would appear Gore never claimed to have invented it-- but he puffed himself up during the campaign in 1999 as having the vision to serve as a founding father for it. The myth that he claimed to invent the Internet seems to come out of a CNN interview he did in with Wolf Blitzer when he was asked how he was different from another candidate.

While political ads and commentaries perpetuated the claim he made such a statement, Gore went along with many of the jokes about it. He often parodied himself on Futurama (his daughter was a writer on the show). Here's a YouTube clip of an episode where he was introduced as the inventor of the environment and the First Emperor of the Moon.

Documentary Showcase Scheduled

Student Documentary Showcase
Addressing Stereotypes, Media & Marginalized Audiences
Presented by The Mass Comm/Soc 109 Cluster Students
Thursday, May 3 & Tuesday, May 8
12:45-2:00 p.m. in the Mueller Theater
McKelvey Campus Center/Westminster College
Free & Open to the Public
“We are all captives of the picture in our head -- our belief that the world we have experienced is the world that really exists.”- Walter Lippman

Students in the Mass Comm/Soc 109 Cluster will present public premieres of their documentary projects. Three documentaries will debut on May 3. Four others will premiere on May 8.

May 3 Schedule
Confidence: The Man Behind the Bench
Teck Productions-- Elisa C., Kirsten D., Catharine H. & Thomas M.

Poetic Justice
Fighting Tulips Productions-- Steve K., Julie M., Aidan Mewha & Charlie N.

Believing Without Seeing
LEJJ Communications-- Jess C., Elizabeth F., Jess H. & Emily S.

Does TV Bring You Pictures of the World Outside or Does it Create a Hyperreality in Your Head

Mass Comm Assignments
FOR THIS WEEK'S BLOGGING EFFORT:
For the weblog entry due for this week, look up the Nielsen ratings on one of your favorite prime time network television shows. If you don’t like any network shows chose something that one of your friends watches. How many television households watched that program in the recent week and how’s it compare to other shows in its timeslot. How does your show do when it comes to ratings versus share? What do you think would happen to the ratings if you move the show to a different time night and time period? What kind of competition would it face? How do you think the ratings would change and why?

Links you can use to find out prime time ratings:

• Zap2It- Offers you a selection of weekly network and cable choices. You can even get the ratings for syndicated programming like Jeopardy and Wheel of Forutne or for sports programs.
• TV Insider
• Neilsen Media Research (THIS IS THE OFFICIAL SITE OF NEILSEN, but the company only posts the top 10 network shows).
• USA Today

Global Village or the Illusion of a Global Village?
For your weblog entry/essay due April 10, consider what we have discussed when it comes to mass communication and media effects theories. Revisit what Hanson wrote about television serving as a window on the world when he referenced Joshua Meyrowitz’s book, No Sense of Place.

Does television expose use to a diversity of people from all sorts of places with different lifestyles from your own? Or has TV replaced reality with “simulacra” as Baudrillard wrote? Revisit Chapter 9 from Hanson, particularly the section on “Bringing the World into our Homes,” then watch a complete evening of prime time television from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Note any situations you are exposed to that you would not have normally experienced without television. Write a 500-700 essay/blog entry summarizing your findings and frame what you experienced under Meyrowitz or in context of Baudrillard—and even all the way back to Lippman.

Again, here's what is requred of this assignment:

• 500-700 Word Essay
• Summarize a night of watching a night of prime time television (8-11 p.m.)
• Note situations you are exposed to that you would not normally experience.
• Frame your essay of where you situate your opinion between Meyrowitz and Baudrillard (read Baudrillard’s obituary from the L.A. Times—note the connection with the Matrix films) and connect to other theories we’ve discussed or take it back to Lippman.

Mass Comm- The Group Defines Documentary

The Mass Comm class now has a working definition of "documentary" based on the seven group definitions generated.

A documentary is a non-fiction narrative on film or video designed to persuade, inform or entertain a target audience about a theme or subject. The narrative explores the subject matter through an examination of facts presented through documents, interviews and artifacts. Documentaries are sometimes balanced by exploring a wide range of viewpoints, but they are also subjective promoting the world view of the producers or participants. A documentary can confront, support or counter the perspective of the audience with documentation suited to communicate via the medium it is presented.

Grading Criteria for Documentary Projects

•

• •Pre-production documents

• •Proposal/Timeline/Releases

• •Production values

• •Quality of audio, video, storytelling. Effective use of video, photographs, artifacts, demonstration, editing, graphics, etc.

• •Marketing/Promotions

• •Posters/Web/Radio/News/Posting Project Online

• •Overall Impact With Audience (Instructor)

• •Does it tell a story?
• •Does it flow & make sense?
• •Do characters move from the simple to the complex?
• •Does the project meet the definition?

• •Peer Reviews 20%

Pirates 3: CAN HYPE STILL BRING GLORY AT THE BOX OFFICE

What will bring people back to the movie theaters?
Franchise films? Hype? Event marketing of pop culture? Cross promotions? Larger than life movies? Could Pirates 3 be the last BIG movie that brings out the mass? Consider what Slate Magazine's Hollywood Economist/Columnist Edward Jay Epstein discussed in his take on the theory of the broken box office window in a piece called the "Hollywood Death Spiral".

Comedy & Racism

Can you laugh and address racism at the same time? Acceptable TV attempts to do that in a reality show parody called "My Black Friend." Comedians from Richard Pryor, Chris Rock to Dave Chappelle have milked racism for laughs and money.

NPR posted a series of reports about Comedy and Race in America in 2002.


Comedy & Race in America
Dec. 9-11, 2002 -- Race is a subject that Americans often approach with trepidation, because of the potential minefield of misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Nearly two generations after the end of legally sanctioned segregation in America, talking about race remains a thorny issue. In this three-part series, NPR's Michele Norris speaks with three comedians who have generated some controversy because of their brutally honest takes on race relations in America.

Continuing Your Online Movie Critic Role

Weblog Assignment for the week of March 18-24
Chose a movie you like—or better yet one of your favorite. Make sure your target audience has not seen it. Blog a review for the film. Make the case of why your audience should see it while following the established protocol for crafting a review. Some of the films you can consider, but you’re not limited to include:

• 8 ½ (1963)
• American History X (1998)
• The Bicycle Thief (1948)
• Casino Royale (2006)
• Children of Men (2006)
• Dark City (1998)
• Dreams (1990)
• Happy Gilmore (1996)
• The Host (2006)
• Nashville (1975)
• The Passion of the Christ (2004)
• Pi (1998)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• The Rapture (1991)
• Saw (2004)
• The Shawshank Remdemption (1994)
• The Third Man (1939)

Again, one of the new goals of this review is to convince your target audience the film you’re recommending is worth seeing.









Finally-- We have discussed how movies are changing (or at least going to the movies). Now consider how the web is changing the role of the movie and the movie critic. How can the viewer become empowered-- beyond text? Consider what some folks are doing with audio & video.

Reviewing "Crash"

Here's the Mass Comm blog assignment for the Week of March 11-17, 2007.

You’re now an online movie critic. Your assignment this week is to blog a movie review (500-700 words) for Crash. Here’s a list of things to consider when writing a movie review:

• Who’s your audience and write for them.
  
• Where could you post this review in addition to your blog?
  
• Take notes during a screening of the movie—
• Note what you like or hate—what works and doesn’t work.

• Do some research (and cite sources when appropriate) about the film or filmmakers.
• What you know can enhance your credibility when criticizing or praising.
• Quote characters when appropriate.
• Tell me if the movie is worth my time?
• Why or why not?
  
• THIS IS YOUR OPINION. It's okay to have an opinion.
  
• Be genuine and giving with it, but counter obvious objections.
  
• If you take a particular hard line with filmmakers, actors, etc., what would you say to them?
• Summarize the plot, themes (messages), setting and major characters.
  
• For Crash the major theme is cleary RACISM.
  
• But don’t give everything away—unless the movie’s so bad you want to spoil it—and if you’re writing a spoiler alert the reader in advance so they can quit reading.
• Identify and discuss key elements of the movie that are outstanding or miserable and touch on the why and how.
  
• These elements can be in the form of acting performances, casting, special effects, writing, directing, etc. Just take on the elements that are significant—you don’t have a lot of space to write.
• Rate the movie at the conclusion of the review—try to be original with your grade.
• If you can’t come up with something that’s not corny go with a letter grade or a one to ten scale.

Other things to include:

• Add links to trailers, clips, etc.
• Embed a clip if you like the film.
• Write a catchy headline. The review should deliver on the headline.
• Reference, quote or integrate concepts from Walter Lippman.
• I've included a link here to Roger Ebert's review in case you want to see what the big boys do when they write a review. Don't mimic-- make it your review-- plan, organize and make the case around your take on the movie and make a recommendation and stand behind it.
  

Newspapers Now Winning Television Awards

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has posted its list of “Best Television Photojournalism 2007” awards and this year they include categories for one-man bands (NPPA calls it solo video journalists- the SVJ) and video produced by the web. This is another signal of convergence and new media as the “Television” awards were once the domain of camera and editing teams from television.

Now newspapers are winning in the “Web” category with video stories on the web—as is the case for The Washington Post with an award for “48 Hour Web Editing.” More evidence old media’s world is changing. This would also signal an opportunity to rename the awards. Perhaps it's time to change "television" in the award title to "video."

The NPPA 2007 Best TV Photojournalism Awards posted on the Poynter Institute’s web site also includes student awards. One category recognizes work done in a seven day deadline period called "weekly assignment." Perhaps we should look at this as an assignment in our classes engaging video production? You can check out all the winners online. Poynter even include the judge’s comments. I am annoyed by the “Neighborhood America” spot that runs before you can see the stories. That’s one way to underwrite the cost of posting the winners and reaching chief photographers and news directors.

FARN-O-VISION

"The damned thing works!" - Telegram to one of his backers on September 7, 1927, the day Farnsworth transmitted the image of a horizontal line to a receiver in the adjacent room of his San Francisco lab.

Check out FARNoVision or the Farnsworth Family Archives as great resources for studying Philo T. Farnsworth. You can't get any more authentic than Farnovision.

Some of the Farnsworth gang discovered our our Mass Comm blogs and suggested we check out the Farnsworth family sites.

I personally enjoyed the Farnovision feature called "What Would Philo Be Watching?" I feel my television choices are reaffirmed as I TiVo five of the shows mentioned as Philo-worthy. Two of the shows make strong commentary on the state of television in this country- Studio 60 & 30 Rock.

Here's a trivia question for members of the class (or anyone out there reading). Identify the animated television character named after Philo Farnsworth?

Who's Philo T. Farnsworth?

Why isn’t Philo T. Farnsworth among the iconic pictures of modern history in your head?

He's the father of electronic television. He had the idea for how to make television work in his head at the age of 14 and created a working prototype at the age of 21. This American genius should be burned into our collective memory. But Farnsworth's place in history has been skewed by corporate America. He should be easily cited by any high school student with such icons as Benjamin F. Franklin, Alexander G. Bell, Guglielmo M. Marconi or Thomas A. Edison.

Farnsworth's story is tragic. The truth about the birth of television challenges the myth of the American Dream. It's a David and Goliath tale where Goliath wins. I offer some links here for those of you wanting to know more about Farnsworth as a companion to the documentary we watched in class-- Big Dream, Small Screen.


New Line Cinema (A Time Warner Company) has acquired the rights to The Farnsworth Invention-- a script drafted by The West Wing's Emmy-winning producer Aaron Sorkin. Word in Hollywood is The West Wing's Tommy Schlamme was to direct it.

The irony here is Sorkin and Schlamme's history is with NBC-- the broadcast network created by Farnsworth's nemisis, David Sarnoff. While there's speculation about the film production, the script has been adapted for the stage.


One final note here...Pem Farnsworth died last year at the age of 98. Her and Philo's narrative clearly includes a love story worth considering as well.

Time's 100: The Most Important People of the 20th Century
Farnovision
The Farnsworth Archives
The Farnsworth Chronicles
Farnsworth's Story
The American Experience: Big Dream, Small Screen
Big Dream, Small Screen Transcript
The Boy Who Invented Television
Wired's Televisionary
Pem Farnsworth's Obituary
MIT's Inventor Profile

After Spring Break: "CRASH"

When we return we will explore the motion picture industry. We'll begin by screening the Best Picture Oscar Winner for 2005, "CRASH." We'll watch the director's cut.

In addition to standing out as an impressive movie, the film's subject matter works well with your Soc 109-Majority/Minority class.

Strangers in L.A. cross paths because of a random car accident and the story bounces around the lives of these people in the day leading up to the CRASH. The film tackles the racial divides in our modern culture from multiple perspectives. A great story with twists that matter.

Mass Comm Students Praise "The Bluest Eye"

The class reviews are in...and this is what some of you are saying about Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Consider this promotion spot based on your reviews? Who shapes the pictures in our heads? What's the role of the gatekeeper?

Is it Acceptable to Combine Web & TV?

Get a celebrity pitchman like Jack Black and efforts to market consumer created sketch comedy with some created by a "professionals" and you put it online and on cable. They call it Acceptable.TV. Worth a look-- maybe a bookmark? But will you tune in to VH-1 to watch it? The promos released on TMZ make it fun to consider the role of technological determinism in this age of converging media. The theme here again is consumer created content-- the mission carried over from YouTube, CurrentTV, etc. Here the effort is focused on sketch comedy. All those budding SNL writers will likely submit.

The Departed: Oscar WInner & It Translates on Video

There have certainly been other films directed by Martin Scorsese deserving the Academy of Motion Picture's Best Director and the Best Picture Awards, but this year it finally happened. The Departed winning BEST PICTURE has convinced me to look closely at the clips online and I've added the movie to my Netflix queue. The clips I've watched seem to have that intimacy with closeups and storytelling that I'm convinced is key to translating a film to home video where most voting Academy members view nominated pictures. I'll blog more once I see it later this week. But here are some other clips showcasing the film. It even appears to translate well for online viewing.

TV Intimacy Shapes My Oscar Picks

I did not see a single marquee this past year featuring the title of any of the films nominated for Best Picture. Add to my ignorance the fact I have now use Netflix instead of my local video store. When I browse my Netflix account online I gravitate to the HOT current releases-- but I bypassed The Departed. I ordered Man of the Year instead. It's not that Man of the Year is Oscar-worthy...it just sounds more fun to watch when you're tired of shoveling snow. That said, I'll put money on Little Miss Sunshine or The Queen as the winner. I sense both translate better to DVD and home viewing over the others.

As for The Queen, it may translate to home viewing best, since it's based heavily around the death of Princess Diana-- a live news event that played out on television. My thesis for picking the Best Picture is based around what translates well for the home viewer. It's tied to stories dependent on close-ups and relationships. Stories built around grand, sweeping wideshots such as epics don't shift to television sets well-- perhaps HDTV will help with that. Think about this-- most of the voting members of the Academy don't go to the theater to screen films-- and since they get freebie DVDs from the studios to screen in the privacy of their own homes (and most probably watch in their bedrooms or kitchens now), the quieter, interpersonal stories dependent on close-ups win in this day and age. These are the movies that are visually ready for television-- and become more memorable. Don't agree? Consider which movie was more important and clearly a BETTER film: Saving Private Ryan or Shakespeare in Love? Shakespeare in Love received the Best Picture Oscar.




Let's consider last year. I predicted the win for Crash over Brokeback Mountain.






While Brokeback was really Romeo and Juliet with a gay twist, it was embedded in the grand, sweeping vistas of Ang Lee's vision of a theatrical film release targeting the big screen viewers. Crash is perfect for television viewing. The movie was even shot and edited like a television drama. The director's career spanned heavily across the television landcape and included associations with a number of popular shows from sitcoms and L.A. Law. It also helped that Crash was set in L.A. and with nearly every voting member in the Academy living in the Los Angeles area, it had the hometown crowd. Babel and Letters From Iwo Jima look like movies made for the "big screen" from the trailers. So I'll bet on The Queen or Little Miss Sunshine as the stories as well as the visual storytelling techniques are cloesly connected to the intimacy that connects with viewers at home via the television screen.

Radio Active Satellites

What will they call it?l
X-Sirus Satellite Radio or Sirius-X Satellite Radio?
From fierce competitors to partners in the sky...XM and Sirius Satellite Radio announced a merger.

"We believe this is the next logical step in the evolution of satellite radio," Sirius chief executive officer Mel Karmazin said. "With our enhanced programming lineup, we expect to offer the best content from both companies."

The $13 billion deal would be an all-stock merger of equals, with current XM and Sirius shareholders each owning 50 percent of the new combined company. XM chairman Gary Parsons would be chairman of the new company and Karmazin would be CEO. If it is approved, the merger could take effect by the end of the year.

Next step...figuring out how to make those satellite radio receivers compatible. Also look for cutbacks. While satellite radio is already heavily automated, why bother with mutliple 80s channels, etc.

TIME To Go To The Video, Please

TIME Inc., the publishing arm of Time Warner, is adding video studios to the operations for 130 magazines as the brass there sees the future in online video. Sounds like we'll have all these micro-niche channels catering to psychographics online.

This announcement comes a few days after the New York Times publisher publicly wondered if he'd even be publishing the newspaper in five years. That came just a few days after the NY Times announced it was starting up it's own attempt to mirror the YouTube craze of capitalizing on user created video. The Times will add it's own version of embedded video files users post and send.

On top of that an Advertising.com study claims two-thirds of all web users are using streaming video at least once a week. I'm telling you the future of media is connected with user created content and that content includes video. That includes documentaries, guys! Ironic that you're reading about old media like newspaper, magazines and books right now in class and this stuff makes it into the news this week.