Modern-Day Journalism

                                         Miley Cyrus

By now, even those who didn’t watch the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday (like myself) have at least heard about a spectacularly controversial performance done by Miley Cyrus.  One has to imagine, the performance was an attempt from the former child-star to be intentionally controversial and prove she was no longer “Hannah Montana.”  Although, I personally would not have chosen to grind with giant teddy bears as a way to prove I was no longer a child. 

Besides the giant teddy bear grinding, Miley was half-naked, “twerking,” and continuously stuck her tongue out while making strange faces I assume were meant to be edgy. 

Movie Product Lines

        

                                   Fashionista

          I’ve spoken before about companies employing viral marketing and creating advertising campaigns that tie-in to upcoming blockbuster movies.  Audi created a commercial for the new Star Trek movie with Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto.  Gillette had YouTube videos of different celebrities talking about Man of Steel before it’s release.  We’ve seen these campaigns work for both the company and the soon-to-be-released movie. 

It’s become common practice to take advantage of the media blitz surrounding a big-budget film.  But it’s normally only a matter of advertising, like slapping a movie name on to a product (as in the case of many soda companies putting new movie names on their cans).  However, I recently noticed a company actually creating a whole new product line inspired

How to Make it in the Film Industry- Part 2: Business Plans

                                                           Word Press                                           

            In my last post, I wrote about two Hollywood producers, and some of the advice they give to aspiring filmmakers.  Kathleen Kennedy and Kevin Geiger have spoken at length about the film industry, and the need for a strong business sense while navigating the Hollywood waters.  While I work on a business plan of my own, I have to consider the advice of these experts in the film industry during my writing.                                  

           First, and foremost, I have understood the need for a distinctive point of view in a business plan.  Kathleen spoke about strong values, while Kevin talked about brevity and summarizing a plan quickly.  Both ideas speak of the need to quickly create a definitive voice that clearly conveys values and intentions.  Investors are looking for entrepreneurs who clearly know what their business stands for, as well as what direction their business will take. 

First Look: The Official Veronica Mars SDCC Sneak Peek

How to Make it in the Film Industry

                                                    Popcorn Monster

         This month, I’m going to talk about two film industry professionals that have worked on large science fiction and fantasy movies, and what they look for in potential films or employees.  Success in Hollywood, for producers like these, depends on understanding the business side of movies, as much as the creative side.  Kathleen Kennedy is well known as a producer and the new President of LucasFilm since the sale from George Lucas to Disney last year.  Kevin Geiger, though also a producer, has focused much of his career on visual effects for films like Reign of Fire (2002), and Species (1995).  Both producers have spent decades in the industry, and are experts in investing in the film business.

         Kathleen Kennedy started her career in San Diego at a television station.  Her first producing credit was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, at the age of 29.  Over the next three decades, she has worked with director Steven Spielberg and her husband, Frank Marshall, on more than 60 feature films. 

Men Arrested for Creating Death Ray

                                                    Exile in Portales

My last post covered some of the extraordinary advancements in science that we are already starting to see come from science fiction stories.  I thought I would continue that this week with a news story about two men trying to create a science fiction weapon at home.  It seems to be a staple of science fiction to explore the idea of scientific advancements being exploited and weaponized (frequently by the military) despite the noble intentions of the creator.  However, sometimes a creation is only ever meant to be destructive.  This was the case with a mechanic from General Electric named Glendon Scott Crawford, and another man named Eric J. Feight.  These men tried to build a real-life death ray.

            

        The death ray was intended to aim a, “high-energy lethal beam of radioactivity at human targets,” ensuring that those affected by the weapon would slowly die from radiation poisoning over the next few days.

The Future is Now

                                                  Star Trek Gallery

       Science Fiction can contain fantastic storylines of idyllic peaceful governments, horrific post-apocalyptic landscapes, and futuristic gadgets and spaceships.  One of the most important elements of these stories is the possible, and sometimes eventual, version of the future.  If there were one genre that really highlights and influences the future of our society, it would obviously be science fiction.  A common example of this is the communicators in Star Trek that eventually influenced modern cellphones, a case of science fiction becoming science fact.  There are so many incredible innovations happening everyday, that were originally thought only to be fiction.  So I wanted to highlight a few examples of these scientific advancements.

       A company called ASAP Science has devised a way of accurately measuring the way the human brain dreams.  Subjects were shown images, and their brain waves were measured to find a baseline for those images.