Understanding Media - Exam 3

Thomas Edison

• CREATED THE KINETOSCOPE (1893)

• used rolled film

• films were viewed individually through a machine rather than projected for groups

• famous example": Fred ott’s sneeze

Lumiere brothers

• DEVELOPED THE CINEMATOGRAPHE

• camera and projector combined

• hand-cranked

• created one of the first movie theater experiences

• filmed everyday life

Why was Birth of a Nation Important

• released in 1915

• one of the first feature length films

• demonstrated advanced storytelling techniques

• showed movies could have long and complex narratives

Why was Birth of a Nation Controversial

• portrayed the Ku Klux Klan positively

• contains racist depictions of African Americans

• Considered both a filmmaking milestone and a major example of harmful media representation

Why Hollywood developed and was moved to California (1910)

• escaped Thomas Edison’s patent enforcement

• constant sunlight for filming

• variety of landscapes

• cheap land

• favorable weather

Studio System

a system where a few major studios controlled:

• production

• distribution

• theaters

• movie stars under contract

Major studios in the Studio system

• MGM

• Paramount

• 20th Century Fox

Persistence of Vision

The phenomenon in which the brain perceives a rapid sequence of still images as continuous movement

Why persistence of vision matters

• Foundation of motion pictures

• Creates the illusion of moving images

• Makes film and animation possible

The Jazz Singer (1927)

• first successful talking picture

• marked the transition from the silent films to sound films

Technicolor

Process used to bring vivid color to films. Ex: The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.

Hays Code

Industry rules regulating movie content. Restricted sexual content, profanity, crime portrayals, and violence.

MPAA Ratings

• G = general audiences

• PG = parental guidance

• PG-13 = parents strongly cautioned

• R = restricted

• NC-17 = adults only

Classical Hollywood

1920s - 1960s

Studio dominance and predictable narratives

New Hollywood

1960 - 1980s

Greater creative freedom and more realistic stories

Modern Hollywood

1980’s - present

blockbusters

franchises

global distribution

Philo T. Farnsworth

• INVENTED THE FIRST FULLY EKECTRONIC TELEVISON SYSTEM

• major television pioneer

Early TV

• mechanical TV experiments

• electronic TV breakthroughs

• commercial broadcasting

After World War 2

• TV ownership grows rapidly

• becomes the dominant mass medium

TV Networks

Provide programming to local affiliate stations

• ABC

• CBS

• NBC

Broadcast TV

• free over public airwaves

• supported primarily by advertising

• large audiences

Cable TV

• more channels

• better reception

• specialized programming

ex: ESPN, CNN, MTV

TV economics

Revenue sources

• advertising

• subscriptions

• syndication

Nielsen ratings

System for measuring TV viewership

• evaluates popularity

• determines ad rates

• influences program survival

Positive social impact of TV

• education

• entertainment

• news dissemination

Negative social impact of TV

• stereotypes

• excessive viewing

• influence on behavior

Origins of the internet

• ARPANET

• government and military networking

Evolution of the internet

• academic use

• public adoption

• commercial expansion

Tim Berners - Lee

INVENTED THE WORLD WIDE WEB

• HTML

• URL system

• hyperlinks

• made the internet accessible to ordinary users

World Wide Web

A system of linked information accessed through browsers

Search Engines

• organize online information

• help users find content efficiently

• drive digital advertising markets

Digital advertising

• Targeted advertising

• date collection

• personalized marketing

Mobile media

• smartphones transformed media consumption

• access to content anywhere and anytime

• major shift away from traditional media schedules

Net Neutrality

Smartphones transformed media consumption

Social Networking

• connects users worldwide

• enables content sharing

• creates digital communities

User-Generated content

Content produced by users rather than media organizations

Influencers

• build audiences through social platforms

• affect consumer choices

• play a major role in digital marketing

Digital communities

• form around shared interests

• can influence social movements

• shape online culture

Video game industry

• major revenue source in entertainment

• interactive media format

• competitive gaming and Esports growth

Social benefits of gaming

• problem solving skills

• teamwork

• strategic thinking

Social concerns of gaming

• addiction

• violence debates

• social isolation

DW Griffith

Kentucky filmmakers who directed Birth of a Nation (1915), one of the first feature-length films.

Production Code (Hays Code)

A self-imposed movie industry censorship code used from 1934 - 1968 to avoid government regulation.

Propaganda

Media designed to influence people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions by presenting information in a particular way. “How a message is presented can change opinions about that message.”

Triumph of the Will

A famous 1935 propaganda film directed by Leni Reifenstahl. It is often studied as one of histoy’s most influential examples of film propaganda.

Standards and practices

Rules developed by television networks to regulate program content. Networks monitored material they feared might offend viewers or advertisers.

FCC Control of Tv

the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates broadcast television. It prohibits obscene, indecent, and profane content and enforces ownership limits to prevent a single company from controlling too much of the TV market.

How TV judges success

Through Nielsen Ratings, which track…

• audience size

• audience demographics

• sweeps week performance

Internet

The global network of connected computers

Packet Switching

A method of transmitting data by breaking information into small packets.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

The address of a webpage used to locate information online

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

The communication protocol that allows web browsers and webservers to exchange information

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

The coding language used to structure webpages

Hypertext

Text containing clickable links that connect users to other pages or documents

GUI (Graphic User Interface)

A visual system using icons, menus, and windows that make computers easier for users to operate

Mosaic

One of the first popular web browsers. It made the Web easier to use and helped expand public internet adoption

Netscape

A highly successful early browser that helped popularize the commercial internet during the 1990s.

Cookie

A small file stored on a users computer by a website. Cookies remember information about users and help websites track preferences and activity.

Deep Web

Online content not indexed by search engines, such as private databases, medical records, subscriptions, and password-protected information

Dark Web

A hidden part of the internet that requires special software, such as Tor. It provides anonymity and contains both legal and illegal activities.

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder of Facebook and a key figure in the rise of social media. Facebook became one of the most influential social networking platforms in history

Social media Filter Bubble

A situation in which algorithms show users content that matches their existing views, reducing exposure to opposing opinions and reinforcing existing beliefs.

Tennis for two

made in 1958 and it considered one of the earliest video games ever created

Pong

• made by Atari in 1972

• one of the first commercially successful video games

• -helped launch the video game industry

Turing test

A test proposed by Alan Turing to determine wheher a machine can demonstrate intelligence that is indistinguishable from a human during conversation

Atari

One of the earliest and most influential video game companies. Popularized arcade gaming and home video game systems, especially through Pong

Video Arcade

A location containing coin-operated video game machines. Arcades were central to gaming culture during the 1970s and 1980s and helped establish video games as mainstream entertainment

Augmented Reality (AR)

Technology that overlays digital objects, information, or images onto the real world. Unlike virtual reality, users still see and interact with their physical surroundings. Ex: Pokemon GO