Nov 30, 2010 - Mr. Lobb is not here this period! Help!

EMS30 Stuff to do today! (CCLab is booked for first half)

1. Finish your quiz questions for Mr. the Lobb and email, post to blog or set on the desk.
2. Prepare for that quiz, which will be tomorrow (Wednesday)
3. If you had short answers only on your quiz questions, add a few longer answer questions and answers to upgrade your mark from 3-
4. If you are one of those people who OWES ME WORK, DO IT NOW AND GET IT DONE! You know who you are. I will start pulling people from class to do work in the office starting tomorrow. Then, I start calling home, etc. DON'T MAKE ME DO THAT.
5. If you are finished your test material, and don’t owe me anything, then you should move on to the following:
a) Spend some time coming up with 3 pitches for a new TV show.
They can be reality shows, sitcoms, one-hour dramas or whatever, but I am looking for three concepts that you think would work and be original, interesting shows. Briefly describe the concept for each, and any other important info about each – main character, setting, etc
b) Come up with a good LOGLINE for each.
The following are examples of could-be loglines for current television shows:

"Aspiring singers will compete in a nationwide talent search on live television where they will face the often unfair scrutiny and sarcasm of a panel of judges before one is finally branded the "American Idol", receiving a recording contract." - American Idol



"A likeable husband's tolerance and marriage is tested by the constant intrusion of his overbearing parents and dim-witted brother" - Everybody Loves Raymond

b) For each, briefly describe the target audience you would be hitting.
c) At least ONE of the shows you come up with should be a fictional show (a sitcom or one-hour drama) and for those, you should consider:
• Location: Work? Home? School? Jail? Some combination?
• Social structure: One star (e.g., Chuck, The Mentalist, ), more stars (e.g., The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Gossip Girl )?
• Personalities: A rich, snotty society girl? A struggling smartass student? You need to create a fine balance of having people that are realistic enough for the audience to identify with, yet are different enough from each other to allow for interesting dramatic encounters.
• Situations: What kind of things do the characters go through? Seinfeld dealt with the stupid little things in daily life, The Walking Dead is about fighting the zombie apocalypse and The Simpsons goes for pure laughs.

How Do I get a Level Four?

- be original – come up with something that isn’t exactly like everything else – combine two or more show ideas that are already happening into something new and crazy, for example
- be thorough – give details that show that you’ve really thought this through – I don’t NEED to see a lot on settings, possible episode storylines, character relationships or comparisons with existing TV shows, but these kinds of details take your work further
- presentation – putting this on your blog instead of handing it in written on paper in pencil would make it look much more pro – ESPECIALLY if you included some pics of possible cast members and other kinds of multimedia examples

This is a good opportunity to come up with the dream show that you’ve always wanted to see. Go nuts and be rewarded. I can’t promise that I will make that show, but I will say “good job!” and how awesome is that?

Nov 25, 2010 -More on TV

4. Game Shows – one of the oldest types of TV shows- the game show is a very cheap and very simple kind of show, you involve the audience, which is always exciting
- the thrill of winning and competing even if YOU aren’t – humans like to root/cheer for someone and game shows play on that
- even if they are the same, they are different in the way it plays out
Funny enough, sports on TV fits all these same things
5. Sporting Events (again, some of the first shows) – same as game shows
- these aren’t cheap – first shows to use a large number of cameras
6. Variety show (or a talk show)
- these are also cheap to make, also the same only different – the structure is the same, but the elements of that structure change – ie guests, conversation, “acts”, etc
- modern talk shows and “one name” shows – eg Oprah, Tyra, Ellen, Conan, etc fill this kind of gap now
- even American Idol and SYTYCD are kind of like this – we watch old school entertainment, music, dancing, etc
- CLASSIC TV
7. For years, one type of show was the dominant, most lucrative (makes the most money) and highest rated kind of TV show –
- SITCOMS
- nowadays they are in decline
- a sitcom gets its own note:
SITCOMS
- the sitcom means situation comedy and is a 22 minute/ half hour time slot show
- eg – the highest rated one right now is Two and a Half Men (which sucks, everyone agrees, but some population must watch it – we call that population Middle America – “normal people”
- a sitcom is a show based upon a simple concept, usually a place that is like a family center – office, bar, apartment, diner, etc
- there is a core group that “stars” and uses that center place
- they have problems that get solved in 22 minutes, and are usually exaggerations of normal human problems
- the first sitcoms were live on a stage, and many are still shot live on a stage with a live studio audience (Two and a Half Men is done this way
- in the old days, these began with The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy, for example
- these shows started the family side of sitcoms – a goofy center character who gets into problems with a sidekick and then a family crisis each episode
- Lucy was the original goofy character – the physical comedy she did and the crazy situations were the pattern being set for sitcoms for years – we still see the kinds of things she did
- However, in the early 60s, sitcoms started to change – people were getting tired of the same family pattern, and producers started going into a new pattern
- HIGH CONCEPT
- These are sitcoms based on one crazy concept that makes the whole show work – every story, ever character, every set all fits into the concept
- Examples – Bewitched (a normal guy marries a witch), Gilligan’s Island (different people forced into companionship, stuck on an island), My Mother, The Car (a guy’s mother is reincarnated as his car), Mr. Ed (a guy has a talking horse), My Favourite Martian (a guy finds a Martian/alien), The Beverly Hillbillies
- These kinds of shows lasted for EVER
- 80s – Alf, AirWolf, Knight Rider, etc
- deal in the most ridiculous concepts and are essentially completely stupid
- over the years new patterns keep emerging that try to reinvigorate sitcoms and keep audiences coming back, but sitcoms are kind of dead now, thanks to cheap, easy to produce, ridiculous and stupid reality shows
Sitcom Structure
- 22 mins
- 8 mins of ads
- 3 ACTS – First Act is called setup – second act is called Complications and third act is called Resolution
- you have a problem, then it gets worse, then it gets sloved
- you have a problem that comes from the main character’s stupidity
- in sitcoms, you have a number of other patterns”
- - goofy neighbour or friend
- mistaken identities
- lies that get out of control
- the seven deadly sins out of control (gluttony – greedy. Eat too much, drink too much, wrath – anger, rage, lust – sex. Love hunger, avarice – want something you shouldn’t have, pride = , envy, sloth

Nov 24, 2010

History of TV

-     long and terrifying and disturbing record of the events that have led to you being so easily distracted

Where did TV come from?

-     a fifteen year old boy named Phil T. Farnsworth is the inventor of the most common type of TV

-     he was working on the idea that radio could be done with images

-     radio was already invented in the early part of the 20^th Century by a guy named Marconi

-     signals go through the air and take a “message” that could be a voice

-     these signals get encoded and decoded at the source and at the end point

-     the interesting idea behind radio that we will carry on (aside from the science which led to TV) was the idea of PROGRAMMING

-     David Sarnoff – came up with the idea of using a radio as entertainment, with “shows” that come on at specific times and people would tune in and listen

-     He worked for a company that made and sold millions of radios and also made and gave out broadcasting (shows) – they paid for these shows with advertising

-     He thought if they could do the same thing with images, there would be a whole new business, a whole new thing to sell and a whole new place for selling ads

-     He had a team working on making TV as well (the company was RCA)

-     The boy genius came up with a few ideas at a one room school and his teacher sent the ideas to a university and Philo was off

-     He came up with some cool ideas, Sarnoff heard about him, he tried to buy him out, and Philo said no – Sarnoff’s head scientist (Vladimir Zworkin) visited Philo, saw his stuff and guess what? – he took the info and went ahead and invented his own TV

-     By the time WWII starts, TV is already invented, but there’s nothing on yet

-     The Depression and the war stop all forward progress

-     However, after the war, things go crazy

-     PAUSE FOR BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE CHECK

-     The Great Depression (1930s) – people had no jobs, no money, no food, tough times, difficult living NO LEISURE THAT COST MONEY – no new development of tech and entertainment

-     World War II (1939 – 1945)

-     Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan) VS Allies (France, UK, Canada) and then later, the US

-     The US got attacked by the Japanese in 1941 and went ballistic – they turned their whole country into a war factory, pounding out tanks, guns, planes, everything – they made more stuff that every other country put together – giant war factories full of women, black men and others who wouldn’t have been able to get such good jobs before the war

-     The factories started hiring like crazy, started making big money and the Depression was all gone and suddenly, technology was back in the picture

-     After the way is over in 1945, those factories and those companies don’t want to stop working at that high level – they want to keep making the big money – so the 1950s had a HUGE tech and economic boom

-     After the war, people start getting pulled into shopping like crazy and one of the KEY items everybody buys is a TV

-     And TV becomes a HUGE important part of American culture

The TV of the 1950s

-     the patterns and structures we have in TV now were started then

-     types of shows

-     1. Soap Operas –

-     called this because they were shows about high emotion, aimed at women, aired in the day and sponsored by soap companies

-     are these gone? No – still happening

2. News

- news was one of the first and most obvious kinds of shows

- had been on radio and even at the movies – they just combined newsreels with radio style super serious tone of voice and a very serious looking man sitting at a desk to impress us – very serious in every way – pure information

- nowadays – TOTALLY different – eg Fox News – all opinion, big emotion, very little info and fact – it’s all about entertainment and feeling and passion and inspiring ratings and rage in equal measure

3. Cartoons

- cartoons actually have been around since film was invented

- TV was a good place for cartoons – because of the Baby Boomers – the number of kids was at an all time high – a certain few companies JUMPED on this

- Warner Bros (Bugs Bunny), and mostly Disney –

- tons of cheap cartoons came out to sell junk to these kids

- a weird trend – cartoons aimed at adults – especially into the 60s

Nov 25, 2010

Things We Owe:

1. Ad Campaign (NOW)

2. 3 Rock Performer Profiles - blog them plz

3. Music Quiz Made By YOU. On Thursday you will come up with 10 questions and Friday we will enquizzify you with my choices from your questions. I will mark your questions and then we will mark the quizzes together

TV

1. List three shows that you like.

2. Explain one reason each why you like each show.

3. List three shows you do not like or watch.

4. Explain one reason each why you do not like or watch each show.

5. Estimate how much you watch TV in a regular weekday and then a weekend day.

6. Quickly do the same for your parents. (1 each)

7. WHY do you like the shows you chose? Be very specific and try to think about what attracts you to the shows you like.

BLOG THIS PLEASE

Nov 19, 2010 - 90s to now

What are our music assignments thus far?

1. 50s Music Artist Profile

- Little Richard, etc

2. 60s – 70s Music Artist Profile

- Jimi and Robin Hendrix/Hendriks, etc

3. 80s Music Artist Profile

- rap artists from the 80s

We need one more little assignment to get this action complete –

4. 90s – today

The Music Industry AFTER the 1980s

-     what was one of the most importance developments in music in the 80s?

-     MTV – is it

-     Music video changed the whole industry forever

-     Once people started watching videos of their fave bands and music, the industry started pushing looks, style and image as more important

-     A whole new kind of artist came up that focused on the look and the style, with less importance on the music

-     This wasn;t a good thing for music – more industry involvement in crafting a look and focusing on the less musical elements – selling an image – just like advertising

-     Music videos were commercials for bands and performers

-     Videos made it important for bands to have a really solid look and a band with the right look didn’t have to have much else

-     bands like this were – Boy George, Wham, Madonna, Ratt, Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, and on and on

-     the wimpiness of these bands and the focus on looks led to something that totally reshaped the music industry

-     one band came out and broke the whole thing about looks, style and image

-     Nirvana came out and looked like normal people, appealed to normal people, played aggressive, punky pop rock and made a whole new statement that the industry picked up and called GRUNGE (also called the Seattle Scene)

-     It was a reaction against the look and image of MTV bands and style

-     The big companies were not that easy to ignore and they took control once again and that’s when everything went straight to Hell

-     Hell – corporate pop – big companies made piles of money on highly controlled artists who were all about looks and style and easy, structured, planned music –

-     Eg Spice Girls, New Kids on the Block, etc

-     This is now the dominant kind of music in the industry – artists who are good looking, marketable, highly managed and structured to sell and appeal – we’ve lost a certain kind of music and performer in the pop world – those artists are still out there – but they are now called – INDIE or ALTERNATIVE

-     Modern artists don’t get signed to a label unless they are already getting audience or unless they have some really obvious hook – looks, style, etc

-     There are some bands that sneak through with great music – Kings of Leon transitioned from indie to pop

-     The hooks and the looks

-     We have a sad little music industry these days – but you’re used to it, so it’s okay

Nov 18, 2010 - Late 70s into 80s

What Are We Doing Right Now?

1. Ad Campaign MUST BE IN

2. 50s music profile

3. 60s-70s Hard Rock Music Profile

Disco’s Dead

-     towards the end of the decade (70s) people were reacting AGAINST disco because it was so popular with mainstream audiences

-     HOWEVER – there were some other strange 70s musical styles that made cool audiences equally frustrated

Adult Oriented Rock – “yacht rock”

-     Boring, soft, “nice” maybe sophisticated and maybe a little too gentle for young people

-     A number of bands in the late 70s were hitting this market – this market was the older folks who had been rockers in the 60s (Baby Boomers)

-     They were tired of disco dancing and they just wanted nice music –

-     Radio started hitting this music pretty hard

-     “mellow gold”

-     this is NOT for young rebellious teens

-     eg – Eagles, Toto, Steve Miller Band, Billy Joel, etc

Progressive Rock

-     a bizarre, very showy and very ornate kind of complex music that was guaranteed to freak some people out and it attracted a more interesting audience

-     music is not necessarily enjoyable, but it is complicated and weird and that appeals to some.

-     some of these bands did get popular even though they were weird and their music was freaky – Queen

-     some of the weird bands were – Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Yes and even Rush

-     keyboards, too many parts to each song, songs too long, stage show is lasers and smoke and weirdness and costumes and trippy everything

-     kind of acid drenched

-     is NOT going to appeal to everybody

-     many react against the weird, ornate music and they want something simple and powerful – ESPECIALLY young people, especially young men

The Response to all this soft, mellow, ornate, overdone, corporate money rock was PUNK.

-     mid 70s to late 70s a bunch of bands came out that were truly dangerous, nasty, rebellious, stupid, aggressive, dumb, ugly, fun, ridiculous, and full of style and power for young people

-     Sex Pistols, The Ramones. The Clash, etc

-     This music caught on with some in a hurry because it was different and it was cheap and the opposite – it offended parents, which is a bonus

-     Anybody could play it

-     Problem – punk got turned into a style too

-     Business jumped in and made it a trend – sold leathers, safety pins, chains, hairdoes, everything

A True Alternative Begins in the late 70s, early 80s (actually, TWO of them)

1. Post Punk (which becomes New Wave, which later becomes crappy 80s pop)

- bands like Joy Division, The Cure, Souixsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Duran Duran, U2 – another British Invasion (like the Beatles)

- weird, dark, gloomy sad and interesting music with a lot of style

2. Rap – suddenly, black music gets very new styles and vibes and starts to go into a very odd area

- one of the first rap tunes – The Message by Grandmaster Flash (from Happy Feet)

- and how about Sugar Hill Gang? Rapper’s Delight

- this kind of music was very groundbreaking – shocked people and attracted a new audience to black music – not white people at first

- one of the early bands to cross over into white audiences was Run DMC – why did they appeal to white kids?

- LL Cool J took a while to get to white audiences

HERE is why white kids came to rap – some artists were combining rap and rock and this was the magic key to making white kids like it

After that, they liked it because it was really powerful

Note: at these early days, MTV NEVER played black music or videos – the Billie Jean blew up and they had to play it

-     a few hard core rap bands started gaining black audiences and then in the late 8os, they crossed over and started a new trend called Gangsta rap – that leads directly to modern hip hop

-     NWA, Iced Tea, Public Enemy, Dr. Dre, Erik B. and Rakim 

Nov 17, 2010

70s Music

There were a few key kinds of music that we will examine from the 70s

General 70s Info?

Disco

Black power and the music of that movement

Vietnam War was still on (US vs Vietnam)

Protests and angry people vs the war

Women were protesting for Equal Rights

Bell bottoms, polyester suits, brown and orange fashion, brutal hair

Gay culture becomes more open (see the movie Milk)

Music becomes HUGE business

Image and Style become more important than the music in some ways

Disco

-     it’s about fashion and dancing

-     the music was repetitive and literally used the same beat over and over

-     the style of music actually comes from one place – Philadelphia

-     it literally came from one place – one pair of guys – Gamble and Hough – they started The Philly Sound

-     many bands came to copy it

-     that became disco

-     a key band that came to Philly and picked it up – The Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive? This was a huge hit, this was the classic Gamble and Hough sound 

the Disco sound –

-     strings in a big sweeping orchestra sound

-     That One Beat – boom tsss

-     Focus on the simple melodies – the songs are repetitive, stick in your head, not interesting or complex in any way – easy to dance to, even for older, white folks

-     Disco goes from underground to mainstream very quickly

-     Catches on and becomes pop

-     As soon as it huge, cool people hate it – it becomes the example of big business jumping in and taking a trend to the sickening point to make money