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Alwitt, Linda F. "Suspense and Advertising Responses." Journal of Consumer Psychology. Vol. 12, no. 1. 2002. pp. 35-49.
In her article on suspense and consumer psychology, Linda Alwitt explores what suspense is, how it is created, and its effects on audiences. She argues that the presence of suspense in an advertisement, in this case a television commercial, evokes at once both positive and negative emotional responses in the viewer, with the ultimate result being a more positive attitude towards suspenseful ads than non-suspenseful ads. She also argues that while viewers have a respond better to suspenseful ads, there are trade-offs in regards to effectiveness.
Suspense is a fundamental element of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, as it is for most of his films, and is one of the keys to understanding the movie's success. For both filmmakers and advertisers, suspense is used to maintain the audience's interest, so for both groups the creation of suspense is similar, though filmmakers must hold the audience's attention for much longer than advertisers. As outlined by Alwitt, the critical elements that set the stage for suspense in both mediums are characters, a plot, conflict, perceived time (the passing of which must be somehow related to the conflict), multiple possible outcomes to the situation, and often the omniscient knowledge of the audience. All of these elements are present in Notorious. Since he is working within the movie format, which is much more extended than that of the commercial, Hitchcock is able to more fully utilize the camera, editing, music, and his characters to heighten the suspense.
One of the films' clearest examples of mounting tension is just before the climax in the wine cellar, as the camera cuts back and forth between large party scenes and close-ups of the dwindling numbers of champagne bottles. The result is the audience's increased emotional involvement in the film and it's main characters, Alicia and Devlin. When the conflict is resolved, viewers walk away with a more gratifying emotional experience, having experienced both excitement and fear with the films characters and having lived to tell the tale.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1992.6 .B86 2007
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1992.6 .B86 2007
Ch. 1 Television's ebb and flow in the postnetwork era 3
Ch. 2 Narrative structure : television stories 21
Ch. 3 Building narrative : character, actor, star 51
Ch. 4 Beyond and beside narrative structure 83
Ch. 5 Style and setting : mise-en-scene 131
Ch. 6 Style and the camera : videography and cinematography 159
Ch. 7 Style and editing 195
Ch. 8 Style and sound 227
Ch. 9 A history of television style / Gary A. Copeland 253
Ch. 10 Music television / Blaine Allan 287
Ch. 11 Animated television : the narrative cartoon / Daniel Goldmark 325
Ch. 12 The television commercial 363
Ch. 13 Television studies : alternatives to empirical approaches 417
New Yorker; 10/22/2007, Vol. 83 Issue 32, p150-163, 13p
The article profiles author and television producer David Simon. Simon, a former reporter for the newspaper "The Baltimore Sun," created the television program "The Wire" about drug crimes in Baltimore. Convicted drug dealer Melvin Williams plays a role on the program. Simon comments how the program depicts the devaluation of people and how much of the program's content is inspired by real events. He describes his struggle to get the program aired on the cable network Home Box Office (HBO).
Call#: Van Pelt Library P94.6 .M673 2007
Morley then turns to examining newer media technologies, with the purpose of refuting the concept that with new media comes new social and cultural uses for that media. He argues that while technologies like cell phones and computers do bring with them new ways of consumption, their arrival does not signal the death of traditional social rituals. Living traditions tend to incorporate new technologies rather than become obsolete in the face of media development. This fits with Michele White’s ideas on spectatorship, thus providing a non-traditional viewpoint to help me balance my paper.
That this book focuses very little on a viewer’s actual engagement with the screen prevents this source from becoming a major on for my paper. However, I do think that some of the ideas present here and Morley’s background on the evolution of these technologies can give me some good basic background information, as a foundation for my arguments.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN2193.E86 I58 2006
One thing that seems to be missing from this exploration is a thorough discussion on the implications of intermediacy. The author describes it to us, and it’s not a difficult concept to understand; but, fundamentally, what does it mean for the interaction between old and new media? What’s at stake here? Nelson admittedly backs away from a discussion of what will happen to TV in the future, aside from meekly stammering that TV will probably still thrive after the boom of the Internet/computers had died down; yet why not debate what intermediacy could do to/for television, in relation to new media? The discussion was definitely lacking in this area, and I would have liked to see Nelson do more than just describe a difference between television and new media.
Ultimately, I think this source can prove useful, but it won’t be a major source for my investigation. The concept of hypermediacy holds some interest for me, and I believe is worth exploring in different contexts. I also plan to utilize the brief discussion on small screen manipulation (the idea that we can take our iPods, iPhones, etc., and watch a movie in the palm of our hand, thereby greatly altering how we consume that screen and interact with it) that Nelson employs.
Disney has their hands in a large variety of markets, from their parks and resorts to movies to cable TV channels, international markets, and consumer products, and their newest endeavor with the Walt Disney Internet Group. Each of these components contributes to their overall financial success. Featured on the title page of the the section on “Media Networks: Cable Networks” is a two-page spread picture of the cast of “High School Musical,” claiming that nearly 90 million viewers have seen the movie since its debut on the Disney Channel.
Overall, the company boasts revenues at $34,385 million for the year, a seven percent increase since 2005. For perspective, 2005’s revenues were a four percent increase from those of 2004. Their net income weighed in at $3,374 million, which is thirty three percent higher than last year’s income. The percent difference between 2005 and 2004 was only eight percent (p.57). Obviously they’re heading in the right direction, up. But when I was looking at the numbers for their Media Networks section, nothing seemed unusual or different from the previous year. The eleven percent increase to revenue of $14,638 million is close to the twelve percent increase last year (p.59). The increase specifically from cable networks (as opposed to broadcast television) was ten percent, whereas last year’s revenues increased by thirteen percent (p.60). At least when looking at the numbers, it doesn’t look like the cable networks experienced any sort of huge jump from previous years.
The note about Disney’s purchase of Pixar, however, shared some relevant insight into the company’s philosophy of the nature of feature animated films: “Disney believes that the creation of high quality feature animation is a key driver of success across many of its businesses and provides content useful across a variety of traditional and new platforms throughout the world.” (p.83) Not only do they consider feature animation important in its own right, but they see the multitude of possibilities that it creates in their other markets. Disney is already used to the idea of cross marketing, because they’ve existed across so many different forms of media for a long time already. I’m glad to see that they’re sticking to tradition in putting feature animation at the top of their priorities, because it has been proven to be their most successful endeavor as well as a valuable fuel for the rest of their departments.
Note: Page numbers are based on the print version of the Annual Report. To download a PDF copy, click on the tab labeled “Financials.”
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1992.77.S43 L4
The fifth chapter of Lesser’s book, titled “Production” discusses the nuts and bolts of how to get and sustain children’s attention using television that is both entertaining and educational. Many different techniques were researched and used in creating “Sesame Street,” including repetition, action, humor, anticipation, and variety in style. In particular, I would like to focus on his discussions on animation and music. Animation, he says, is useful because it can show things that are not naturally occurring or easy to film live. It can give life to abstract shapes, letters, or ideas, and it can strengthen the elements of suspense or surprise in a scene. It feels obvious that animation appeals to children, but Lesser was able to use documented research on children and television to prove it and explain why.
This same process applies to his discussion of music. Children drift in and out of full attention and focus when watching television, and auditory clues are signals to them of a change in scene or the entrance of a familiar character. These clues redirect their attention to what’s going on in the program. Children respond very differently to audio than adults, who just expect music to exist in the background of what they’re watching. Music is also an aid to memory when teaching a sequence of ideas like the alphabet, the days in the week, or the order of the months. Children will have a much easier time singing the alphabet than reciting it, because the song helps them remember the order. Producers often underestimate the number of sounds that children can differentiate. Lesser provides a list nearly a page long of sounds, showing that children can differentiate the sounds of all different kinds of emotions, or things as specific as “being-hot-in-the-sun music” and “being-cold-in-the-snow music.” (p. 105)
Sound itself can be used as a teaching device in place of words. Lesser provides an example of a Sesame Street character telling a story almost entirely in sound effects, but the message is communicated equally as well if not better than it would have been with dialogue. Music can also encourage children’s participation, from singing along with the words to getting up to dance to the music. It is important to remember when creating programs for children, though, that music must be integrated with visual movement on screen to be successful. Still visuals completely counteract any effect that music would have. This explains why Fantasia was so successful. Because of the visual motion paired with the symphony’s performance, viewers were much more likely to be attentive and interested for longer than if there had just been music without active visuals.
With all of this information, it is easy to see why musicals would be much more successful children’s entertainment than dialogue-driven stories without songs. Children are able to concentrate better, learn the words to songs, understand the emotion of a scene, and feel compelled to sing along when music is part of the experience. Kids watch movies over and over again, and knowing the songs is another reason to enjoy each viewing.
This show is appearing on WFIL, a Philadelphia TV station. By E. Fuld
The author of this article uses supply and demand econometrics to quantitatively describe the life cycle of new product introductions and their diffusion into the consumer marketplace. He establishes that there is interdependence between related products, and this is the basis by which one should study how new products are developed and introduced. Thus, color televisions and VCRs are used as the case study example.
In general, there are three steps that take place in consumer goods markets that induce new product introductions. First, once the existing product, in this case television, saturates the market to a certain level, the marginal cost to achieve sales growth exceeds marginal revenue. Second, due to disappointing growth prospects, manufacturers are induced to develop new and innovative products. In fact, with the VCR, Sony had the technology available, but only released the Betamax in 1977 when demand for television started to slow. Finally, once the new product is released, the demand functions for the two interrelated products (the VCR and TV) become intimately correlated. The overarching argument is that new products are more likely to be introduced when the demand for existing products declines due to market saturation.
Importance for thesis:
This paper helps make the conceptual argument, based on both marketing research and econometrics, that the evolution of new technologies is a market force. Thus, when media companies try to fight this inevitable evolution, they are inherently fighting a lost cause. This research empowers my thesis that media companies should have seen the VCR as an opportunity to grow profits, not as the end to their existence. Also, it supports my stance that adapting to new technologies is vital, considering the evidence that new technologies are born from emerging market demands. Thus, meeting these demands should lead to higher growth and profits than trying to stifle it.
This is a class action suit brought against the NFL for violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 (SBA) exempted professional sports leagues from the Sherman Act and allowed them to collectively sell their broadcasting rights. The NFL agreed to sell broadcasting rights to DirectTV so they could sell NFL Sunday Ticket packages to the public. This package is considered "all or nothing" for you either purchase the ability to view all games, or you are limited to only the 2 games in your region. Shaw argues that this limits options for the public while creating artificially high and non-competitive prices. The Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's decision that the NFL's actions did not fall within the bounds of the SBA. The NFL already received an exemption to the Sherman Act and that exemption must be narrowly construed according to the Court; after already being granted an exemption it would be wrong for the NFL to be allowed so much latitude.
After reading the Fenwick article, I had sympathy for the NFL, actually believing they were being deprived of their due "piece of the pie". However, I find it improbable that the NFL believed that their contract with DirectTV was fair to the consumer population. If Direct TV is the only provider and offers only one option, they essentially hold a monopoly on the market. If a compromise is to be made between the NFL and their fans, each group needs to be conscious of each other's well being. The consumer can not be held responsible for a ratings system that does not properly reflect viewership; the NFL should, and was held responsible for taking advantage of their fans. Is the NFL acting as a typical capitalist profit seeking firm? To a point yes, but Shaw reveals some greed on their part. The Nielsen ratings already limit consumers' options on the Super Bowl, now the NFL Sunday Ticket limits their options every Sunday. The latter action leads to me to stop giving the NFL the benefit of the doubt.
The Star Wars empire that George Lucas created has millions of fans anxiously awaiting Lucas' next move. What lies in store for the shaky future of Star Wars? An article published in Variety in April 2005, attempts to answer this question.
George Lucas currently has plans for two television series. The first is a three dimensional, animated half hour that would make use of the new CGI animation facility in Singapore. The second is a spin-off live action series. It will center around some of the supporting characters from each of the original Star Wars films. While both of these are interesting concepts, don't expect to see them on television next year. Neither idea is close to production nor does either have a network on which to broadcast. Some networks, such as Sci Fi, USA and the Cartoon Network have expressed interest in Lucas's ideas; however, nothing is close to being finalized.
This article is extremely significant when considering the next move of the successful Star Wars franchise whose fans are constantly demanding new material. George Lucas is one of the most influential filmmakers of our time. Every decision he makes impacts a wide array of people throughout the entire industry. As such, his ideas will likely be imitated and repeated for many years to come. Furthermore, Star Wars is a money making machine. Over the past thirty years, Lucas has built an empire from his six films, making a huge profit not only from the films themselves, but also through product tie-ins, endorsements and copyrights. George Lucas has created a billion dollar industry out of Star Wars. If Lucas' plan to continue the saga on television is successful it will be revolutionary, generating even more money in the transition from big screen to small. This business move will serve as a blueprint for future filmmakers.
In recent years, the sequel genre has become one of - if not the - only successful type of film. Interesting original story lines have become increasingly unique in an environment where risk-taking can mean financial suicide. Thus, the safe and profitable route is to capitalize on already established films. George Lucas has done this arguably better than anyone else. With the move to television, Lucas will attempt to make another valuable addition to the Star Wars empire. Successful or not, the Star Wars tradition will live on forever in the phenomenally successful films.