Reflection #4

This class was different than the others we have had because we began with a discussion of current events, such as the Pope's visit to America and immigrations problems.  Doctor Chris explained how he enjoys how truthful the Pope is about everything happening in the world and expressed his concern for the Pope, by recognizing how these radical ideas could put him in danger.  In addition, we discussed issues that are taking place with immigration and how unbelievable it is that people put their lives in such grave danger in order to cross the boarder.  Following this Doc discussed how bad the drug war is in Central America in order to help us further understand how the media effects the views of these events within politics, technology, different cultures, and other subjects.  Below is the full speech the Pope gave in DC:  

After we discussed the Pope and current global issues, we continued to discussed various companies that act as monopolies.  There are six corporations that own 90% of the media are General Electric, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS.  I thought the consolidation from 50 companies owning 90% to 6 companies controlling the same percentage depicts how much media has advanced over time and how competitive the field has become. 

This competitiveness has lead to companies expanding their enterprises to cover numerous technologies, such as hardware, mapping, software, telecom applications, lifestyles, and many other technological tools.  After this conversation, we review some topics that would be applied to the midterm exam and these topics included 3 types of lighting, shot composition, and three parts of the production process.  

Three Types of Lighting:                                           Three Parts of Production Process:

     1. Key Light: straight on the face                              1. Pre-production: planning, writing,

     2. Fill Light: horizontal light                                     and designating positions

     3. Back Light: lighting the back of the subject           2. Production: shooting the film

                                                                                       3. Post-production: editing, marketing

Various Types of Shot Composition:

     1. Extreme Close-up: only the face

     2. Close-up: top of chest and up

     3. Mid Shot: waist and up

     4. Long Shot: full body

After reviewing all these concepts, I felt that I understood them extremely well, especially because of all the applications we have been doing over the past three classes.  Considering this class was more of a lecture, there was not much group work throughout, but Paul and Hemon had some creative answers to Doctor Chris' questions.  I thought Doc did a great job stimulating the intellectual conversation and he discussed some topics I had no knowledge about, which made class even more interesting.  Finally, I think I really enjoy the direction of the class and cannot wait to begin actually shooting for our projects.