Amy Yang

This is Amy's homework from the BU Summer Challenge program's Communications course.

[amycommunications-blog]

PR Vote: Sony Pictures

I think the company that countered their crisis in the best way is Sony Pictures. Not only did they give a good explanation of what happened, they also turned the crisis into an opportunity to brand themselves. In the modern world, information safety is an issue often overlooked by individuals using digital technology. Instead of focusing on the flaws of their employees, Sony’s PR made information safety an issue of everyone. I’m not sure “selling firewalls” works in real life, but I value their goal of turning the situation around. 

[amycommunications-blog]

Tracking an aggregated story

The aggregated story I chose is a Huffington Post article about Amazon using artificial intelligence to weigh user reviews. The story does not cite any sources, but it does mention that CNET is the first to report this story. 

The original story on CNET features quotes from an interview with Amazon spokeswoman Julia Law. The Huffington Post article only mentions Julia once, as an “Amazon spokewoman.” It only quoted one word from her. 

Most of the Huffington Post article focusses on explaining how the new technology works. The CNET article talks about why Amazon implemented this and its significance. 

[alicexz]

[amycommunications-blog]

This is a piece of fan art named “All of Time and Space” made by Alice X. Zhang in 2012. It depicts a Tardis from the TV show Doctor Who, which is a device that can travel to anywhere in time and space. The piece features the distinct silhouette of the original Tardis, but added shimmering lights and colours to it. It expands upon the design of the Tardis, which looks commonplace in the show. Alice’s depicts the Tardis as a supernatural, magical, powerful traveling device instead. Her work expresses the exciting and exotic destinations that the Tardis can take people to. Her work creatively adds upon the special effects of the movie. 

Unlike makers of fan art, Alice is a professional artist. Some of her works were licensed by BBC and published on covers of comics. She sells some of her work as T-shirts on Threadless for other fans to wear. I think her work is still considered fanfiction, because it is paying tribute to the original show. 

[amycommunications-blog]

“Connection Lost” Review

In the “Connection Lost” episode of Modern Family, the entire episode was an extended screen recording. Although the screen recording is of a single computer’s screen, a successful element of this episode is that it humorously shows how different age groups interact with technology. The first example the viewer sees is how Claire Dunphy views news headlines while her husband stammers about Luke’s location. This accurately describes how people are often multitasking when with their laptops, even when they are engaged in conversation with others. Another example is how Claire’s father answers the Facetime call by placing his phone to his ear. It shows old people making mistakes with technology, which is quite common. In addition, the episode comments on teens’ Facebook habits. Haley uses this social media to post statuses and play games. She tries to hide her page from her mother, but Claire made a new account and befriended her. This interaction between the mother and daughter is quite amusing because Haley was deceived. These scenes makes the episode very entertaining in a way that many people can relate to. Similar events had undoubtedly happened in real life. The viewers are also familiar with technology that the characters interact with.

[amycommunications-blog]

Response to John Green’s Advertisement Pitch

In John Green’s speech, he encouraged advertising agencies to sponsor YouTube channels because the channels create meaningful engagements within communities. I think this may create more effective advertisement. The content creators on YouTube are people that whole communities embrace. John Green mentions that the viewers are “engaged,” meaning that they participate and interact in communities. If the advertisers ask the content creators to advertise products, they could possibly more effectively influence the audience because the people the audience loves is introducing the products. This contrasts the current model of Internet advertisement, which emphasizes views, durations, and clicks. The advertisers do no know how much the viewer is paying attention to the webpage they are on.

In addition, sponsoring on YouTube gives means for people from around the world to create and submit meaningful content. Making high-quality videos on YouTube requires equipment, time, and energy, which makes it hard for normal people who have jobs to create them. However, with the possibility of sponsors, more individuals that are good at explaining things or making videos may be willing to use their talent and generate content for the public.

[busummerchallengecomm]

Zac Efron in High School Musical 2

[amycommunications-blog]

In this GIF, a teenager in a t-shirt and jeans prances and twirls beside a lake with the caption “Brb singing about my feelings.” It is taken from a clip in High School Musical 2, but the movie character (Zac Efron) is hard to recognize because of the teenager is backlit. The short looping GIF has a very low frame rate, making it hard to see when the GIF starts and ends. The viewer can use the rocks in the background as a point of reference to see how Zac moves. Because the GIF is short, dramatic movement happens every frame. Zac twirling again and again connotes with elation. The backlighting makes the movement clear by making Zac a silhouette against a bright-lit lake. Part of Zac’s elongated shadow is also included in the Gif. It is another element of movement is the Gif. The unsteady camera follows Zac and his shadow.

The line of caption, which is the anchorage of the GIF, is very characteristic of modern Internet slangs. Like a line of text or Instant Messaging, it isn’t a complete sentence and uses an acronym (Brb). The “Brb” emphasizes the author of the GIF’s immediate need to go sing about his or her feelings. However, people rarely sing about their feelings in real life, so this GIF is probably used as a hyperbole, like the acronym “LOL.”

Overall, the GIF represents delight. It creates a sense of humour by exaggerating how the user of the GIF is expressing his or her delight. Despite the small dimensions, short frame rate, and duration, the GIF encompasses the emotion very well.

[amycommunications-blog]

Why I took this course

For a long time, I was interested in graphic design, and I wanted to become a graphic designer quite badly. However, in recent years, I realized that I didn’t really want to go to an art school. Much as I love the visual arts, it’s not something I want to do as a profession. I still design posters for events at school, but I started looking at other fields pertinent to promotion.

So I thought, if I don’t want to make posters all day, maybe I can figure out the words to put on posters and work with graphic designers in the future? I started looking at jobs in the media industry, and they seem pretty interesting. When I saw the seminar on the BU summer challenge website, I decided that it would be a good fit for me.

My main goal of this course is to gain a basic understanding the media industry and the careers in it to help me choose a major when I go to college. I would like to find answers to some questions, such as: What are the major jobs in the media industry? What is it like to work in the media industry? Is there a lot of stress? Who would I work with? Who would I work for?

In addition, I would like to gain a better understanding of different mediums used in media throughout the course. Although I have experimented with graphic design and digital filmmaking, I have not studied the principles behind making the designs and films. It would be useful to know what content I should cover in the designs and videos instead of only thinking about the visual elements, which is what I do right now. I hope I will be able to use these mediums more effectively in the future.