Sunday 27 October 2013

Mobile Phones



Mobile phones were introduced in Japan in 1979 but became a mass media only in 1998 when the first downloadable ringing tones were introduced in Finland. Soon most forms of media content were introduced on mobile phones, tablets and other portable devices, and today the total value of media consumed on mobile vastly exceeds that of internet content, and was worth over 31 billion dollars in 2007 (source Informa). The mobile media content includes over 8 billion dollars worth of mobile music (ringing tones, ringback tones, truetones, MP3 files, karaoke, music videos, music streaming services etc.); over 5 billion dollars worth of mobile gaming; and various news, entertainment and advertising services. In Japan mobile phone books are so popular that five of the ten best-selling printed books were originally released as mobile phone books.


Similar to the internet, mobile is also an interactive media, but has far wider reach, with 3.3 billion mobile phone users at the end of 2007 to 1.3 billion internet users (source ITU). Like email on the internet, the top application on mobile is also a personal messaging service, but SMS text messaging is used by over 2.4 billion people. Practically all internet services and applications exist or have similar cousins on mobile, from search to multiplayer games to virtual worlds to blogs. Mobile has several unique benefits which many mobile media pundits claim make mobile a more powerful media than either TV or the internet, starting with mobile being permanently carried and always connected. Mobile has the best audience accuracy and is the only mass media with a built-in payment channel available to every user without any credit cards or PayPal accounts or even an age limit. Mobile is often called the 7th Mass Medium and either the fourth screen (if counting cinema, TV and PC screens) or the third screen (counting only TV and PC).

Mobile phones are a source of mass media for all companies and firms to advertise and sell their good s and services. In todays world mobile phones are owned by almost everyone and used more than regularly to get in touch, entertainment and also work. Most of todays generation uses smart phones like Iphones and Samsung Galaxy, this benefits companies and firms to advertise and sell goods and services and increase their sales. Many large companies advertise their products on phones via text messages, phone calls, alerts, emails (received on mobiles) and now days via applications. Some companies like Dominoes has its own mobile application through which you can make your own pizza with your own toppings and get it delivered to your house in less than an hour. Some car companies like Chevrolet has its own application in which it shows details of the owners car, mileage and when the cars next servicing is.



Differing from the internet, mobile as the 7th mass media channel is similar to the five legacy mass media, economically viable with a stable business model from day one. Yet, differing from the legacy mass media, all of which are witnessing a decline in their audiences and revenues, mobile like the internet, is an interactive media enabling it to fully capitalize on social networking and digital communities.
But more importantly from a media audience point-of-view, there already are over twice as many mobile phones worldwide as there are personal computers, nearly twice as many mobiles as TV sets. The only mass media that is carried upon the owner at all times, mobile is also the first mass media where near 100% accuracy is feasible on measuring the audience.
In todays world most of the companies use phones as a large medium of advertising because it has a large target audience and its connectivity is also good. Firms use this form of mass media as it is cheaper than billboards or advertising on the television, the reach of mobile phones is larger as the users are very high in numbers.




Friday 18 October 2013

Transition In TV Shows

A television program (television programme in the United Kingdom), also called television show, is a segment of content intended for broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series.

A television series that is intended to comprise a limited number of episodes is usually called a miniseries or serial. Series without a fixed length are usually divided into seasons orseries, yearly or semiannual installments of new episodes. While there is no defined length, US industry practice tends to favor longer seasons than those of some other countries

The 2 TV shows that I am going to compare in this blog are "That 70's Show" and "The Big Bang Theory"

This show was a comedy show with a good story line and seasons which starred 6 different individuals who studied together, just like in the TV show "The big bang theory." These 2 shows have a similar story line but they are completely different in context with values, technology and culture. In the 70's show the shoots were mainly in the classroom where the focus was mostly related to work and how they studied and learnt, there was no corrupt talks, like drugs or alcohol. But coming to the later show, they would have more jokes in the dialogues and would also talk about work, relationships and also sex at times. This is only because of the audience that watches these shows and the transformation of these viewers over the years. The Indian from the older show would be conservative and clean, but Raj for Big Bang would be more modern and frank. The party culture is not shown in the olden show but in Big Bang there are episodes and scenes of parties.



In the last few years, the things that have changed the most are technology. The equipment is more professional for sound, video and also editing. The olden shows could be seen only on cable television with a decent resolution, but todays shows can be seen on your phone, iPad, internet and also your television in HD. In the previous shows there would be only 1 or 2 sets and backgrounds as it would be difficult to shoot in public areas and also expensive, but in the Big Bang there would be shots in various locations, even if not in reality they would use technology to actually create a real background. Technology plays an important role in movies and television shows for editing, advertisements and also shooting. With the modern technology we have in todays world, TV shows like Big Bang use it for animation, color effects and sometimes also the 3D effect. But with the older TV shows you wouldn't find these great effects and features. The older shows back in the 90's had about 3-4 seasons but the modern shows go up to 10-12 seasons with a great storyline and also a good cast. Todays shows have a better introduction and a catchy tune to go with it along with famous dialogues. There has been a change in the TV Shows in the sense of production, development and exhibition. The methods of promotions and the channels used to get the media to its audience.


The Big Bang Song

Monday 14 October 2013

Avatar

Plot
Avatar is a 2009 American epic science fiction action film written and directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington,Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, and Sigourney Weaver. The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are mining a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in theAlpha Centauri star system. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi – ahumanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film's title refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body with the mind of a remotely located human, and is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.



Cast
Sam Worthington
Stephen Lang
Sigourney Weaver
Michelle Rodriguez
Dileep Rao
Joel David Moore


Contribution To The Film Industry
Avatar was officially budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for promotion.The film made extensive use of cutting edge motion capture filming techniques, and was released for traditional viewing, 3D viewing (using the RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats), and for "4D" experiences in select South Korean theaters. The stereoscopic filmmaking was touted as a breakthrough in cinematic technology. Avatar has contributed to the film industry in many ways from the production of the movie to how they marketed in and the income it generated. Avatar made great progress in the film industry in the field of visual effects, Innovations include a new system for lighting massive areas like Pandora's jungle, a motion-capture stage or "volume" six times larger than any previously used, and an improved method of capturing facial expressions, enabling full performance capture. To achieve the face capturing, actors wore individually made skull caps fitted with a tiny camera positioned in front of the actors' faces; the information collected about their facial expressions and eyes is then transmitted to computers.During filming, Cameron made use of his virtual camera system, a new way of directing motion-capture filmmaking. The system shows the actors' virtual counterparts in their digital
surroundings in real time, allowing the director to adjust and direct scenes just as if shooting live action. He also promoted the Avatar in as many ways as possible like collaborating with Coco Cola, the books, video games, action figures, postage stamps and also theme parks and attractions. It also set a record in many fields and used 4D in the best way possible. Avatar also broke one of hollywoods greatest movies record, The Titanic, by making more money in the box office. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 83% of 291 professional critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.4 out of 10. The site's consensus is that "It might be more impressive on a technical level than as a piece of storytelling, but Avatar reaffirms James Cameron's singular gift for imaginative, absorbing filmmaking. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has a "universal acclaim" rating score of 83 based on 35 reviews. CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave Avatar was A on an A+ to F scale.

Avatar, the film will be considered one of the greatest movies after 15-20 years because of all the contributions and new methods it has brought to the film industry. This movie will be recieved and considered as one of those movies which has revolutionized animated movies and how they were made. It will be considered as a classic after 20 or more years. It will be the first kind of movie with such a theme and such a big movie budget. It will be very hard to beat the records set by this movie.

Saturday 5 October 2013

Billboards

A billboard (sometimes also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor structure (a billing board), typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers. Typically showing large, ostensibly witty slogans, and distinctive visuals, billboards are highly visible in the top designated market areas. Bulletins are the largest standard-size billboards. Located primarily on major highways, expressways or principal arterials, they command high-density consumer exposure (mostly to vehicular traffic). Bulletins afford greatest visibility due not only to their size, but because they allow creative "customizing" through extensions and embellishments.

Billboard advertisements are designed to catch a person's attention and create a memorable impression very quickly, leaving the reader thinking about the advertisement after they have driven past it. They have to be readable in a very short time because they are usually read while being passed at high speeds. Thus there are usually only a few words, in large print, and a humorous or arresting image in brilliant color.



Outdoor media is a form of mass media which comprises billboards, signs, placards placed inside and outside of commercial buildings/objects like shops/buses, flying billboards (signs in tow of airplanes), blimps, and skywriting. Many commercial advertisers use this form of mass media when advertising in sports stadiums. Tobacco and alcohol manufacturers used billboards and other outdoor media extensively. However, in 1998, the Master Settlement Agreement between the US and the tobacco industries prohibited the billboard advertising of cigarettes. In a 1994 Chicago-based study, Diana Hackbarth and her colleagues revealed how tobacco- and alcohol-based billboards were concentrated in poor neighborhoods In other urban centers, alcohol and tobacco billboards were much more concentrated in African-American neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods.


A billboard is usually rented out a company for a month or two to advertise a particular good or service. It is also a form of mass media and mass communication as the product is advertised visually to a large heterogeneous audience who may or may-not have a feedback. Billboards have been used as a source of mass communication by many companies all over the world to increase their sales and target market and customers.


Developers have now introduced Digital Billboards.