Hollywood Works FAST and FURIOUSLY

We have probably all seen the Fast and Furious movies.  This series is not only one of the most popular in the world, but Furious 7 made $384 million just on opening weekend! This puts them at about fourth place behind Harry Potter and The Avengers. 

Myself, along with millions of other were saddened from the news of Paul Walker's death. Occurring right in the middle of filming, everyone was asking the question, how can they finish filming Furious 7? 

The whole time in the theater I was on edge and trying to figure out the parts where Paul Walker wasn't actually Paul Walker.  It really shows how truly brilliant technology is these days. They did Walker's role justice by completing his work using the latest technology to make a digital body double. 

This same kind of technology was used in other movies such as The Gladiator and The Hunger Games: Mockingly. In these movies I couldn't tell the difference with Oliver Reed and Philip Seymour Hoffman's faces being used on a body double.  And this isn't a cheap fix up either.  It costed Gladiator an additional $3 million!

For those of you who don't know the process of continuing Paul Walker's character, here is a quick explanation. Paul Walker has a brother Caleb Walker.  Caleb was used to film the final scenes for the movie. Now they're not identical twins, so this is where technology and digital editing.  Paul Walker's face was edited on to his brother's body and his voice was taken from past scenes he's shot and put together to form words to fit his script. Amazing right?! It blows my mind what we can do these days.

This proves how much these multibillion-dollar franchises are willing to pay for the work they create and to please the audiences that are willing to spend the money and the time.  This is just one part of new media today. I continue to be surprised at what new technology comes out next and I look forward to see what the future hold for the media. 

The Google Takeover

Our lives today is very much taken over by technology.  We use technology for so many things and have become dependent on it for many of our daily activities.  Google especially plays a huge part in our lives.

I personally use Google anytime I am looking for an answer to a question that I have or just simply looking for more information about something.  I do believe that Google is very powerful because people depend on it for answers.  It is the easy way out that people turn to whenever they need help or more specifically, information, pictures, videos, etc.

People may say that we are addicted.  But, I don't think using Google is an addiction, I see it more as a tool.  I would say people are addicted to Pinterest or video game, but not Google.  We may use this search engine a lot, but it is not that we are addicted, it is the fact that this has been an online success created for the purpose of people using it in whichever way they find it beneficial.

There has been the controversial talks about Google endangering our privacy, but is it really? I don't think so.  Google may use images of us, but they are not images we haven't already posted online.  People should expect that once they upload an image online, it is out there for people to see.  As for the issue of Google using our history of searches to choose the results that we see after we hit search, well I see that as more beneficial than an invasion of privacy.  It is definitely up for debate thought since people are not comfortable with their history being shared with third parties. I guess at the same time this can be a concern depending on the content of the searches. Google is only trying to help get you the best results so what if they use your history, it is not like they are telling everyone what you have searched for in the past.

Another issue is whether the Googlization of our lives is endangering our independence.  This is where I'm on the fence for this issue.  In one way I would say no because it is not like Google can do everything for us, we are still independent.  But, on the other hand, I see how Google has definitely made us rely on it for a lot of things.  One thing would be academics.  With Google it is easier to search for  answers quickly instead of taking the time to read or even do research.  It saves people a lot of time and energy, which can be seen as a  good and a bad thing.  Overall though, Google does more good then bad.  Google teaches us a lot and with all that we can learn I believe it can make us smarter.

A good book to check out about Google is, The Googlization of Everything, by Siva Vaidhyanathan.

What is Convergence?

Henry Jenkins defines convergence as the flow of content across multiple media platforms. With convergence has come both social and technological changes. The media today is dependent on participation.  I understand this because without people contributing there would be no media flow and no one sharing stories and being active in the media world.

Take our phones for example. In that one small device we not only have a phone, we have a computer, camera, and so much more! This explains why our phones are our lives, because everything is on that single device. Also, look at iPads, tablets and kindles.  On these devices you can store hundreds of books, newspapers and magazines. No more days of carrying stacks of heavy books.

Unfortunately, the days of print journalism is dwindling and now everything is online. It is rare to come across someone reading the paper or relying on the paper for a news article.  People are checking Twitter and Facebook to get news as soon as it happens. Convergence has empowered consumers to get on social media in order to communicate with others and make online connections. I actually find most of my news on my social media from posts by friends and tweets on my home page.

We really have come so far with media convergence and there are so many changes that are still going on.

A Look Into Trine-Maria's Blog

I read an online interview with Trine-Maria Kristensen and her blog Hovedetpaaboggen. Most of you probably don't know Danish or what her blog is about for that matter.  It translates to "Head on the Block", which also means "to dare".

She is the head of marketing and the founder of a market research group.  I'm a marketing major so I was interested to see what her blog was all about.  It also shows that you don't need to have a background in writing to have a blog.

Not only did her outlook on blogging appeal to me in her interview, but also her love for Italian food and traveling Italy. That is definitely a hobby I would love to have!

Trine-Maria is very open in her interview about how blogs worked when she first started and how she wanted to figure out why blogging was worth talking about.  Her personality comes off as quite humorous and friendly.

She writes about what she wants and doesn't hold anything back, for instance, if something is irritating her on the Web, she will post about it.  In majority of her blogs, she likes to leave them open ended to strike up a response from her readers.

I can tell that she's a good business woman because she says that blogs don't just have to be private diaries, but can be about products and knowledge.  I love her whole perspective on blogging because she is professional, yet she is all about connecting with people and she says she gets smarter because her readers know more than she does.

Trine-Maria's blog is one that I would be interested in checking out. Now all I need is a Danish translator!

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello!

My name is Samantha and I am a student at North Central College. This is my blog for my Introduction to New Media class.  Check out my blog for posts about the online world and technology today!

Thanks for reading!