The Reality of Greys Anatomy

     Although popular TV series Greys Anatomy is intriguing, it is hard to find as a realistic interpretation of life in a hospital. The work load and hierarchy of doctors works, I find realistic. It is the constant fraternizing, scandal and drama that is always occurring that I do not.
      In real life there is nowhere near the degree of fraternization among residents, nurses and doctors shown on TV. Hospital staff do not all hang out at the local bar or coffee shop every night after work. As well as not having sex in the janitor's closet, either. In reality, they would be to tired after a long day of work.
     Another aspect that are some of the situations. For example, is the large amount of organ donors that are needed. This is a pretty specific aspect, but a lot of the realities, along with organ donors, of medicine are portrayed incorrectly. This is skewing the publics view of what healthcare, as well as giving the image that more kidneys are needed.

American society and war films

     War films create a very difficult and almost impossible image to obtain. Throughout war films, we are constantly presented with masculine men with no fear. These men are also extremely confident.
     War films also reflect idealogical messages that the united states holds. For example, the "being patriotic no matter what"

All Film is construction - what goes into a blockbuster

1. Choose story
2. Get the rights for it, paying the author 
3. Find a screenwriter to write a script that represents the book
4. Have the script approved by backers
5. Hire:
     -director
     -casting director
     -musical director
     -editor 
     -cinematographer
     -assistant producers
6. Individually they will hire their own assistants and crew, filmmakers as well as pay for them
7. The Casting director makes a list of actors that would be good for the film
8. Hold auditions
9. Determines top choice for actors
10. Contracts are signed
11. If the film is to be shot in a studio Craftsmen have to be hired to make set
12. If stunts or certain skills are required Actors need to be trained for those
13. Ensure Insurance for stunts
14. Arranging for food and housing for actors 
15. If the film is to be shot on location cast and crew transportation and housing has to be arranged
16. Pay town for blocking roads or closing their shops for filming
17. When finished filming the director works with editors, making cuts, etc
18. Score is created
19. Rights to songs or getting an orchestra is arranged
20. The special effects, sound effects, voice-overs are added
21. Producers arrange necessary promotion
22. Actors can make appearances at press conferences and television talk shows
23. Posters and trailers are made 

Psycho - Music constructs reality

The track that accompanies this scene of psycho, goes along perfectly with the events of the scene, along with enhancing the tone.  As the main character screams there is shrill fast paced music in the background. This enhances the this moment in the scene, because it adds more sense of terror for the viewers. As well as accenting it as the climax.  As the scene is ending, and the stabbed main character sinks down, the music becomes slower and serious. This is accenting the tragedy of what has just happened, making it seem more gruesome.

Product Placement - Modern Family

     Apple products are continuously found throughout the series but the one product that is found the most is the iPad. Modern Family is a good series for Apple to advertise their iPad's in because they are both targeting the same audiences. Modern Family is targeting the diverse and "trendy" and has gotten a lot of attention from these groups. Judging from other advertising and their general brand identification,  Apple is also trying to target this age group.
     Product Placing is an effective way of advertising, because when someone sees something it gets them thinking about it. This then leads to them thinking about that product and hopefully buying it. It also helps because, especially young people look up to celebrities or their favourite characters. Having them use a particular product can entice viewers to purchase it in order imitate them.
   

Tough Guise - The Hurt Locker

The "tough guise" can be found in most war films, the one example I found this in was The Hurt Locker. Throughout this movie, the main character is being presented as being fearless in times of extreme danger. This portrays the image that men should be fearless and confident all the time. It also presents a sense of humor and nonchalant towards all things dangerous. It is very rare that any of the men throughout these movie show a sense of them being scared at all. Not only does this film presented a "tough guise" of males in general, but the "tough guise" you should have as a soldier.

Films that present an inaccurate reality

I think that in generals musicals present an inaccurate reality. Although there really isn't one that is actually presenting an accurate reality, one that stuck out to me the most was the high school musical movies. These portray a completely inaccurate reality of what high school is like. For example that the worst problem they have to deal with is there singing competitions. Even though this could be somewhat possible for some people, the spontaneous singing is not.  Along with the spontaneous singing, is the open display of emotions. In real life, no one would get away with singing through the hallway's and most people are not so open with their emotions. Overall, musicals are very inaccurate.

10 minutes

     The meaning that I negotiated from this clip was that there is more to life than what we see. The tourist who was waiting for his photos to develop, had no idea of the people dying suffering at the exact same time. The tourist had other insignificant things on his mind, while this little boy was dealing with life and death. It shows that some people just have no idea how much others are suffering, they just continue on in their own little worlds. They do this without thinking past their trivial problems for long enough to realize that there are people far worse of then them.
     Overall, I think this media is trying to make the point that, if people would just take the time to realize what was going on in the world, their problems would seem insignificant in comparison. An example from this clip is the man wanting to get a picture of his family developed and he didn't want to wait a long time. On the other hand, a young family, almost similar to the tourist's was being torn a part by war.
      I think I can apply this message to my every day life. Like when I think that I am stressed out because of school or something, I can think about how lucky I am to have the right to even go to school.

Footloose - Rating

     The plot of Footloose is fairly straightforward. After a tragic accident killing some of Beaumont's young people, dancing, playing music is banished in the town. When Ren McCormack comes to town he is shocked to hear this and works to have this unnecessary law demolished.

     The rating given to footloose, is PG. Although there are some aspects of the movie that are not suitable for young children, I do agree with this rating. For example, there are references to sex and drugs/alcohol but I think that the way it was presented was pretty innocently. A young child would probably not pick up on these references. Even though the plot line does revolve around a serious death and could be considered as content detrimental to younger children. I do not think that it is enough to have its ratings raised, since it is only talked about in slight detail and never shown at all.

"Music just isn't as good anymore"

Music just isnt as good anymore because its main purpose is to make money and become famous. It doesnt mater if you are even making a good track or not. For example, lets take Rebbecca Black's "It's Friday". Her song is over-produced and still sounds awful. The worst part about it was that she became so popular. Anyone could see and hear her song is awful and I doubt that Rebbecca and her producers didnt think the same. Although it has not been proved it has been speculated that is was all just a publicity stunt to make Rebbecca famous, even if it was in a negative way. With all the social media people have access to today, it makes it so much easier for people's fame to spread. This also makes it harder to be discovered because of all the content that is out there, a lot of that content that is good and worthy of fame. So that being said, with all the worthy content out there producing something ridiculously bad is a shortcut to fame. The music industry has been turned into artists doing anything just to get noticed.

The Source

1. Choose a source of information that you use regularly.  If this is a source that you use and trust, you must be having a preferred reading to either its content or the company itself. What about this source is appealing to you?

To get information about what is going on in the world, I like to watch the CTV news. This source is appealing to me because it is an easy and convenient way for me to obtain this information. It is easy and convenient since they are straight forward and I can get updated on current events within an hour

2. Research your source. Try to answer as many of the following questions as possible (this may take some time and effort)

a. Who owns your source? Is it owned by a larger company? Is it privately owned or traded on the stock market? Who owns the most stock? Try to find the overall parent company.


The Woodbridge Company owns 40% 
Ontario teachers pension plan owns 25%
Torstar owns 20% 
BCE owns 15%

b. Who is the head of your source? This could be a CEO or head editor. Ultimately, who is the boss? Provide some detail about this person.

Ivan Fecan is president of CTV, and Kevin Crull is the co-president.

c. What are the commercial implications of your source? How do they make money?

The commercial implications of my source is that since they are supported by certain companies, those companies have a say in what is published. An example is that since the ontario teachers pension plan owns 25% of CTV, they could have social implications regarding the public's opinion on teachers.

CTVglobemedia, CTVtelevision, CTV specialty channels
Owned by: Ontario teachers pension plan, Woodbridge Company, Bell Canada enterprises, Torstar

Perry Sound Beacon, Whats Up, Burlington Post, Beginnings Bridal, etc.
Owned by: Metroland Magazines

Rogers Publishing, Rogers Radio Station, Rogers Television, CityTV, OMNI television
Owned by: Rogers Media

Construction in the media

Even Though Jessica looked good before, I was surprised at the amount of changes that had been made. From the lighting, skin tone, hair length background  etc. Almost everything from the original picture had been modified or changed. Considering she is typically portrayed as one of the most sexiest woman alive  The modified aspect that shocked me the most, where the changes made to her body.The modifications made to her body changed her overall body type. Even the position to her head was changed, along with her facial structure.  I would have never guessed from the finished picture the extent of the changes made.

Although this image has also been modified I did not feel that how McDonalds advertised this burger was unethical or wrong. I feel that the company was only showing the burger in its best light. Unlike some other modified images, this doesn't change the message or have any negative consequences, such as feeling self conscious about yourself. Likewise, the company was using all the same ingredients found in your burgers, unlike other companies who aren't even using the product they are advertising (for example mascara ads).

What goes into film

•    finding a good story
•    getting rights to the story
•    possibly commission a screenwriter to put the story into a script
•    hire director, casting director, cinematographer, assistant producers, editor and musical director.
•    they will then hire their own crew and assistants
•    create of list off possible actors (based on auditions or negotiations with actors agent)
•    choose locations for shooting the film
•    hire needed craftsman to perfect the set
•    provide food, housing and transportation for required actors
•    arrange use of location(ex. Blocking traffic if needed)
•    shoot footage
•    editors piece together and edit footage
•    musical directors must create a score to accompany the film
•    actors may have to be recalled to repeat needed lines/do voicovers
•    enhance/add extra noises
•    after film is done actors/director/producer go to interviews
•    screening of the film

My Media Literacy

Overall, my understanding of Media is pretty average. I would not say that I have a high media literacy but am not media illiterate. I can understand the basics, usually being able to find the meaning, who it is directed to, etc. Sometimes I am also able to point out something that may go unnoticed typically. Such as the sneaky way advertisements are played into popular television shows and how certain visual aspects can make an advertisement more attractive. Although, I can occasionally find little extras in the media, there are also times that I may miss things as well. Typically, I find it hard to point out the ways in which the media is targeting their audience.