Friday, December 18, 2009
Avatar
After watching Avatar I found my self once again looking back on the semester and considering the constant changes that occur in media presentation along with the how the 3-D technology works as a way to immerse the audience into the film itself as a supporting character.
This use of technology helps make the movie what McLuhan would consider "cool." With the audience completely emerged into the film visually, the story takes hold and finishes off the viewer. Its use of warm colors and majestic creatures paired with the cool blue color of the skin of the aliens captures the audience and allows them to truly feel the journey unfold.
With the way Cameron wrote the film, the thematic issues did not seemed forced, as they are quite poignant. Issues such as imperialism, exploitation, race issues and economic struggles that come to head with the nature verses technology conflict. The constant evolution of technology has been wreaking havoc on the print culture and it seems to be branching out into the film industry.
However this seems to lead into another problem, a problem that exists with the lack of technology that appears at home. For a movie that was so expensive, to create and film, $300 million ,the money to have payoff needs to happen in the theater. Home theaters do not have the 3-D technology to be able to support the 3-D special effects, and this will be the undoing of the film. Without the unbelievable experience the theater experience creates with he 3-D effects the dvd and blu-ray sales will not be as elevated as possible.
Cameron has a vision of the future technologies which include curved computer screens that the user sits inside the curve and can have panoramic views as well as peripheral views. This works as a way to bring the user inside the work, most likely creating a more functional and diligent worker. When some fills their surroundings with work the more they will feel the need to work hard to remove all their work from the screens. Some other technologies that were predicted for our possible future include, the now clinched, 3-d hologram. These possibilities are interesting because they create another way to pass on information. with multiple view points, and advantages, one can process more information quicker. Now this posses another question, what new forms of media will be in place when these new displays are created? Where will social medias be? Will Google be the first to create 3-D searches and data reproduction? Will things like Google world have topographic depictions of land? Will this take the place of land surveyors?
Just some last thoughts i had after seeing a new film, using new technologies that have changed the face of the film industry.
This use of technology helps make the movie what McLuhan would consider "cool." With the audience completely emerged into the film visually, the story takes hold and finishes off the viewer. Its use of warm colors and majestic creatures paired with the cool blue color of the skin of the aliens captures the audience and allows them to truly feel the journey unfold.
With the way Cameron wrote the film, the thematic issues did not seemed forced, as they are quite poignant. Issues such as imperialism, exploitation, race issues and economic struggles that come to head with the nature verses technology conflict. The constant evolution of technology has been wreaking havoc on the print culture and it seems to be branching out into the film industry.
However this seems to lead into another problem, a problem that exists with the lack of technology that appears at home. For a movie that was so expensive, to create and film, $300 million ,the money to have payoff needs to happen in the theater. Home theaters do not have the 3-D technology to be able to support the 3-D special effects, and this will be the undoing of the film. Without the unbelievable experience the theater experience creates with he 3-D effects the dvd and blu-ray sales will not be as elevated as possible.
Cameron has a vision of the future technologies which include curved computer screens that the user sits inside the curve and can have panoramic views as well as peripheral views. This works as a way to bring the user inside the work, most likely creating a more functional and diligent worker. When some fills their surroundings with work the more they will feel the need to work hard to remove all their work from the screens. Some other technologies that were predicted for our possible future include, the now clinched, 3-d hologram. These possibilities are interesting because they create another way to pass on information. with multiple view points, and advantages, one can process more information quicker. Now this posses another question, what new forms of media will be in place when these new displays are created? Where will social medias be? Will Google be the first to create 3-D searches and data reproduction? Will things like Google world have topographic depictions of land? Will this take the place of land surveyors?
Just some last thoughts i had after seeing a new film, using new technologies that have changed the face of the film industry.
Monday, December 14, 2009
This is the End, my only Friend the end...
I am a little burnt by this semester and I felt like I would leave my last post, to the very last minute. This is my take on the whole semester; I hope you are ready.
The media has gone through many changes. It began with oral tradition and it moved into the written form, against the better judgment of Plato. Then came the industrial age where the printing press made literature and media, in all forms, readily available to the mass public. The radio changed the face of verbal transmission of ideas and concepts which lead into the age of television. All of a sudden that voice has a face, yet you still can not engage in dialogue with it. The television added color as a way to further distract us from the actual facts and subject being discussed, thus leading us to forget that the messages are being spoken at us instead of to us. More people were able to write with the invention of the type writer and then the creation of the word processor. The ability to control the ideas, and how those ideas are delivered became easier and more people had the way to communicate ideas that have been edited and rearranged as a way to get the most persuasive message arranged for massive perversion of facts.
Today, we live in the digital age, an age where information is passed along electronically at speeds close to the blink of an eye. Information can cross the continent in sheer seconds that used to take days. Facebook, Twitter and Myspace have blown onto the scene and places us, the user, at the center of attention for all to see. We place photographs, and witty remarks about “stuff.” We collect items such as “friends” and farm animals, as a way to consume ourselves in meaningless and trivial pursuits. Social networks are a good for some and just plain bad for others. The letter that was sent with personal greetings and photographs with loving remarks tied to them, have been replaced by a computer screen with mass salutations to all whom care enough to seek you out. It just does not seem keep in the same holiday spirit. Do you think Norman Rockwell would paint pictures of the modern day family huddling around the warm glow of a computer screen laughing at the last post from Aunt Edna? I would like to think not.
The more I thought about this, more it dawn on me, how lazy we are getting as a society. It occurred to me that kids and adults do not need to even leave their video games to update their statuses or respond to another gamer. They only need to pause their games and change their dashboard. Game system of today, are internet ready with almost all the faculties a CPU has to offer. The accessibility of these media devices, are in fact changing the face of our society.
Google and its ease of use allow us to take for granted the information gathering that we once did. Days and days in the stacks at a wide variety of different libraries in order to research a term paper has been reduced to a few clicks of a mouse and “viola” we have answers.
If McLuhan is right and the technologies are extensions of us how do we learn to wield this new power? Will this power, in the end, rule us? We have discussed in depth the amount of information collected from us could be as rich as what we collect from it.
The media has gone through many changes. It began with oral tradition and it moved into the written form, against the better judgment of Plato. Then came the industrial age where the printing press made literature and media, in all forms, readily available to the mass public. The radio changed the face of verbal transmission of ideas and concepts which lead into the age of television. All of a sudden that voice has a face, yet you still can not engage in dialogue with it. The television added color as a way to further distract us from the actual facts and subject being discussed, thus leading us to forget that the messages are being spoken at us instead of to us. More people were able to write with the invention of the type writer and then the creation of the word processor. The ability to control the ideas, and how those ideas are delivered became easier and more people had the way to communicate ideas that have been edited and rearranged as a way to get the most persuasive message arranged for massive perversion of facts.
Today, we live in the digital age, an age where information is passed along electronically at speeds close to the blink of an eye. Information can cross the continent in sheer seconds that used to take days. Facebook, Twitter and Myspace have blown onto the scene and places us, the user, at the center of attention for all to see. We place photographs, and witty remarks about “stuff.” We collect items such as “friends” and farm animals, as a way to consume ourselves in meaningless and trivial pursuits. Social networks are a good for some and just plain bad for others. The letter that was sent with personal greetings and photographs with loving remarks tied to them, have been replaced by a computer screen with mass salutations to all whom care enough to seek you out. It just does not seem keep in the same holiday spirit. Do you think Norman Rockwell would paint pictures of the modern day family huddling around the warm glow of a computer screen laughing at the last post from Aunt Edna? I would like to think not.
The more I thought about this, more it dawn on me, how lazy we are getting as a society. It occurred to me that kids and adults do not need to even leave their video games to update their statuses or respond to another gamer. They only need to pause their games and change their dashboard. Game system of today, are internet ready with almost all the faculties a CPU has to offer. The accessibility of these media devices, are in fact changing the face of our society.
Google and its ease of use allow us to take for granted the information gathering that we once did. Days and days in the stacks at a wide variety of different libraries in order to research a term paper has been reduced to a few clicks of a mouse and “viola” we have answers.
If McLuhan is right and the technologies are extensions of us how do we learn to wield this new power? Will this power, in the end, rule us? We have discussed in depth the amount of information collected from us could be as rich as what we collect from it.
Monday, December 7, 2009
CHANGE OF MEDIA PRESENTATION CHANGE IN MEANING
McLuhan suggests that the change in the medium is to change the meaning. For example, the medium the experience of a novel coming alive on screen is different from the deep interest one gains from reading it. In addition, the director’s interpretation of the novel as a whole can be far from the one the reader has. That is why people aggressively agree that a movie is better than the film in almost every case. Taking a book and putting it on the “big screen” changes the way the viewer gains the information that is being passed along. Whether it is Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness modernized to Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now or his interpretation of The Godfather. The messages are clearly changed. The audience is forced to become a spectator rather than one that interacts with the characters as they set upon their journeys. One can do nothing but watch. When one reads a book, one makes predictions and inferences and can slow the rate of action down or they can slow the plot pacing down to a craw to prepare themselves for what is inevitable. When we view a film, we become victim to the pacing of the director. We have no choice but to go along for the ride. This medium of film grants the power to the film makers rather than the audience.
When reading our imagination melds with the author’s descriptions and we design the landscapes and environments, and when we are subjected to the director’s vision, the mis-en-sign creates the world without any input from the audience. Everything visible on screen has been placed on purpose and is used to craft ideal interpretations controlled by the director. Nothing seems out of place or out of the ordinary. When the reader of novel is forced to construct the ambiance of a scene one begins to take ownership of those surroundings continuing the deep interest. That deep interest is lost when the incorporation of the visual is made. The meaning is constructed by the director in film by carefully planned out manipulation of camera angles, lighting, sound, character movements, etc. The audience becomes a witness to the unfolding of the film rather than an intricate part of it. When doing this the message is transformed by the presentation of the content.
When reading our imagination melds with the author’s descriptions and we design the landscapes and environments, and when we are subjected to the director’s vision, the mis-en-sign creates the world without any input from the audience. Everything visible on screen has been placed on purpose and is used to craft ideal interpretations controlled by the director. Nothing seems out of place or out of the ordinary. When the reader of novel is forced to construct the ambiance of a scene one begins to take ownership of those surroundings continuing the deep interest. That deep interest is lost when the incorporation of the visual is made. The meaning is constructed by the director in film by carefully planned out manipulation of camera angles, lighting, sound, character movements, etc. The audience becomes a witness to the unfolding of the film rather than an intricate part of it. When doing this the message is transformed by the presentation of the content.
Perverse Persuasion
As English majors, we are constantly debating worth of content over form. This argument has been raging since the dawn of the of Plato’s academy. Plato had always warned people of the power of the written word. That power can be manipulated and wielded in ways to promote perverse persuasion. Where Plato began this argument, it seems McLuhan caps it off with an explanation mark. McLuhan feels that the medium itself embeds a message creating a symbiotic relationship between the two. One cannot study a single piece of content within the media without studying the whole of that media. The medium holds the power of that content hostage, for the control of the message belongs to the medium.
The more effort the medium has the less the person interacting with it has to put into it. The contrast between comics and film examines this phenomenon. Where comic purposely place a gutter between panels of images and texts a film plays out the scene in its entirety. The gutter of the comic, lends the power to the reader, as a way for them to fill in the blanks. Interpretation and inference forces the reader of the comic to become interactive with the form, as they mull over the content of the read. The power never leaves the visual representation. The film medium controls the visual, audio, and content it its presentation of information. This gives rise to the ability to control more of the information making easier to manipulate to persuade the audience. Where a simple piece of the puzzle cannot be extracted and studied the form that holds that information comes under discussion.
When that conversation gets stale people become focused upon the content. The message that is present in the content is blurred via the layers of media representation of facts. A news story has facts that are interpreted by a writer, which is then edited by an editor, which is then given visuals that portray the facts in a way to sensationalize the story. Once that is done graphic visuals are added along with sound that has the ability to take the facts and control them and make them something that they are not.
This is not a new thing; in fact it is an old thing. During the beginning of the American Revolution, the media misrepresented facts, in the retelling of the story of the “Boston Massacre.” With Revere’s engraving, of his perspective, of what happened that wintery day in Boston, helped the Sons of Liberty to elicit mass popularity for their “revolution” on British tyranny. The media has always used rhetoric as a way to twist facts and construct new meanings via the presentation of the facts.
The more effort the medium has the less the person interacting with it has to put into it. The contrast between comics and film examines this phenomenon. Where comic purposely place a gutter between panels of images and texts a film plays out the scene in its entirety. The gutter of the comic, lends the power to the reader, as a way for them to fill in the blanks. Interpretation and inference forces the reader of the comic to become interactive with the form, as they mull over the content of the read. The power never leaves the visual representation. The film medium controls the visual, audio, and content it its presentation of information. This gives rise to the ability to control more of the information making easier to manipulate to persuade the audience. Where a simple piece of the puzzle cannot be extracted and studied the form that holds that information comes under discussion.
When that conversation gets stale people become focused upon the content. The message that is present in the content is blurred via the layers of media representation of facts. A news story has facts that are interpreted by a writer, which is then edited by an editor, which is then given visuals that portray the facts in a way to sensationalize the story. Once that is done graphic visuals are added along with sound that has the ability to take the facts and control them and make them something that they are not.
This is not a new thing; in fact it is an old thing. During the beginning of the American Revolution, the media misrepresented facts, in the retelling of the story of the “Boston Massacre.” With Revere’s engraving, of his perspective, of what happened that wintery day in Boston, helped the Sons of Liberty to elicit mass popularity for their “revolution” on British tyranny. The media has always used rhetoric as a way to twist facts and construct new meanings via the presentation of the facts.
Grand Finale
It is interesting that we complete our term with the reading of McLuhan. As McLuhan describes the new media as a tool he explains that the tools become extensions of ourselves. “Extensions involve mediation. Accordingly, it is not the extension, medium, ‘or machine’ but what one does with the machine that is ‘its meaning or message’” (McLuhan 7). We have spent a semester studying the tools that are forging or future of media. Whether it is Google, Wikipedia, Facebook or Twitter , our future of information gathering is changing: as it always does. Evolution is inevitable. It began when we went from oral traditions to written ones. The use of the type writer to the word processor has changed the way be perceive the way we create new information. The tools or extensions of ourselves are changing and they are changing us with them. The newspapers are dying out and the internet and all of its multimedia facets are soaring. The internet is where more and more people are going in order to find information. Many people, that were born and raised in times where they never have even needed to navigate the stacks , are learning to ask simple questions and receive simple answers.
The sheer accessibility of the tool has created the notion that “Google is making us stupid.” We as a society are more and more dependent upon our tools every day. The more and more that we rely on our tools, the more we do not rely on our selves, or memory or intellect thus leaving us as dependent upon the tools, whether it is a computer or a calculator society is being transformed. Marshall McLuhan knew this and explores it throughout his book. It seems that his book is a call to arms, so to speak. I feel that his intent to use interdisciplinary research to explore the power and the danger of the new media. He also understands that it is not going to go away; therefore we need to educate ourselves in order to combat the influence of these new and constant mediums.
His use of the light bulb idea is interesting because it works well as a metaphor for his book. He is, in effect, trying to illuminate his audience into understanding the need to educate ourselves on how to properly manipulate the tools that we use rather than letting them manipulate us.
All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the message. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without knowledge of the way media work as environments (McLuhan 26).
The sheer accessibility of the tool has created the notion that “Google is making us stupid.” We as a society are more and more dependent upon our tools every day. The more and more that we rely on our tools, the more we do not rely on our selves, or memory or intellect thus leaving us as dependent upon the tools, whether it is a computer or a calculator society is being transformed. Marshall McLuhan knew this and explores it throughout his book. It seems that his book is a call to arms, so to speak. I feel that his intent to use interdisciplinary research to explore the power and the danger of the new media. He also understands that it is not going to go away; therefore we need to educate ourselves in order to combat the influence of these new and constant mediums.
His use of the light bulb idea is interesting because it works well as a metaphor for his book. He is, in effect, trying to illuminate his audience into understanding the need to educate ourselves on how to properly manipulate the tools that we use rather than letting them manipulate us.
All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the message. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without knowledge of the way media work as environments (McLuhan 26).
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