Okay, staying within the journalism world, my dream job as a journalist would be a successful entertainment reporter. Given the fact that I love everything about “the biz,” I wouldn’t want to be tied down to one area. Idealistically, I would be able to write about all aspects of the business including, but not limited to, film, television and music. I would love to be able to write all sorts of articles like reviews, profiles, and features.
I am open to the idea of going into both the magazine and online side of the business, but given that I’m still pretty new to the whole online thing I haven’t really given that much thought to possible entertainment websites I would like to report for that aren’t already associated with an established publication. But in terms of magazine possibilities, I would love to write for Vanity Fair or Entertainment Weekly. I read them both and am always interested in what they have to say. They both currently have pretty interactive websites (especially EW) as well.
Another side of my dream job is to be a freelance entertainment reporter. More specifically, I would really love to have a syndicated weekly column about the entertainment business and pop culture in general.
Basically, I’m just really hoping to find a job where I can do something different everyday and learn about things that interest me. I’ve always been a film junkie (or nerd) so it’s always been the obvious career path for me. I love learning new things and obsessing over films and tv shows I love, so getting to work with people who feel the same way and getting the opportunity to communicate with the entire world would be a dream come true.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Viva Las Vegas
Last week I got no sleep in the 24-hour hotspot known as Vegas. I not only got the opportunity to take part in the casino floor now that I am the big 2-1, but I was able to attend the motion picture industry convention ShoWest. The conference is the largest gathering of motion picture professionals and theatre owners in the world so obviously the experience was a bit overwhelming, but still extremely fun.
While I got to preview some impressive films set for release in the following months, hear filmmakers discuss thoughts behind their creative ideas, and sample future items and gimmicks for movie theaters across the country, if there is one thing to take away from this convention it is how much free stuff one can generate from film publicity.
Shirts, key chains, dvds, backpacks, pens, paper, toys, books. If you can imagine it, someone in the world is probably manufacturing it with a movie logo pressed on.
The crazy part is how sucked into the whole advertising scheme you can become. Everyone wants that next goodie bag even if it is full of a bunch of crap you don’t want or need. I saw 40-year-old men grabbing at bags for the upcoming musical “Hairspray!”
Now to an extent a free t-shirt or new backpack can be beneficial. As a poor college student, anywhere I can get some free stuff is great. But soon you begin to realize how much useless stuff you can accumulate. Did I really need this “Ocean’s 13” keychain?
Now a lot of the merchandise was shared between my family and some of the things were justifiably kept as mementos of the experience, but I just can’t imagine how professionals in the industry who regularly attend film conventions and junkets handle the massive amounts of free stuff.
Where can they possibly put it all?
Anyways, the whole experience was really exciting and lots of fun. A highlight was getting to see the Christopher Walken in person.
And personally I had a great time running around Vegas attempting to gamble. But since I know nothing about all of the different games I mostly stuck to the slots. And while I didn’t win a lot of money, I was simply entertained to be able to pull that addictive lever.
I also saw the Cirque Du Soliel show “Love” inspired by all Beatles music. The show was amazing! Anyone who likes the Beatles should go see it.
While I got to preview some impressive films set for release in the following months, hear filmmakers discuss thoughts behind their creative ideas, and sample future items and gimmicks for movie theaters across the country, if there is one thing to take away from this convention it is how much free stuff one can generate from film publicity.
Shirts, key chains, dvds, backpacks, pens, paper, toys, books. If you can imagine it, someone in the world is probably manufacturing it with a movie logo pressed on.
The crazy part is how sucked into the whole advertising scheme you can become. Everyone wants that next goodie bag even if it is full of a bunch of crap you don’t want or need. I saw 40-year-old men grabbing at bags for the upcoming musical “Hairspray!”
Now to an extent a free t-shirt or new backpack can be beneficial. As a poor college student, anywhere I can get some free stuff is great. But soon you begin to realize how much useless stuff you can accumulate. Did I really need this “Ocean’s 13” keychain?
Now a lot of the merchandise was shared between my family and some of the things were justifiably kept as mementos of the experience, but I just can’t imagine how professionals in the industry who regularly attend film conventions and junkets handle the massive amounts of free stuff.
Where can they possibly put it all?
Anyways, the whole experience was really exciting and lots of fun. A highlight was getting to see the Christopher Walken in person.
And personally I had a great time running around Vegas attempting to gamble. But since I know nothing about all of the different games I mostly stuck to the slots. And while I didn’t win a lot of money, I was simply entertained to be able to pull that addictive lever.
I also saw the Cirque Du Soliel show “Love” inspired by all Beatles music. The show was amazing! Anyone who likes the Beatles should go see it.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Final Project
Quite frankly, I don't have a firm idea of what I want to do for my final project. I know I want to do something entertainment based because that is my concentration and the area I am most interested in. But beyond that I don't really know. Most likely I would like to do something related to film or television.
Some elements I would like to produce on my project website to support my reporting are pictures, video and a really great web design. Basically anything that you would typically find on an entertainment focused website.
In terms of other skills, we've been learning a lot of things in this class that I had no idea we would cover and it has been really helpful. I don't really know what all the different types of online production skills are, but I basically just want to learn a little bit of everything that would allow me to comfortably put together a website. It seems like we are going to do most of that with the final project though. Maybe we could learn a little about uploading music on to sites. Right now I only know how to do that through myspace.
Some elements I would like to produce on my project website to support my reporting are pictures, video and a really great web design. Basically anything that you would typically find on an entertainment focused website.
In terms of other skills, we've been learning a lot of things in this class that I had no idea we would cover and it has been really helpful. I don't really know what all the different types of online production skills are, but I basically just want to learn a little bit of everything that would allow me to comfortably put together a website. It seems like we are going to do most of that with the final project though. Maybe we could learn a little about uploading music on to sites. Right now I only know how to do that through myspace.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
One thing newspapers could do is try to localize their papers by covering smaller communities within each city. We touched on this in class one week, but it could be handled by allowing readers to contribute coverage of their own neighborhoods so that everyone could have their own little personal news source. Readers would be more inclined to check the website more often to keep up to date with what's going on in their area instead of just occasionally coming to look at the day's top headlines. It could be almost like a 24-hour news site because readers could post any time of the day. I know I would visit the sites more often if I had the opportunity, especially to be able to keep up with what's going on in my hometown.
Newspapers could also try to connect with local or national news stations to have attached video to their stories so readers can navigate around the site and look into extra information if they are interested. While sites usually already have some sort of video content it doesn't feel that substantial and if there is something a reader is really interested in, they want to know everything about it. And sometimes pictures just aren't enough for people. So papers could either form relationships with broadcast news sites or simply improve their own video access. They could get readers involved through this avenue as well, allowing the public to contribute videos but this might take longer to screen before posting.
Third, newspaper websites could really benefit by improving their template and overall website design. Many of the sites are really plain and boring and on top of that are somewhat confusing to navigate through. They are usually so busy that sometimes you can get lost in the jumbled text and miss out on really great stories. As well, sites like the LA Times have a completely different site for their calendar section but most probably assume those articles would be in the entertainment portion of the website. Little things like this could be easily fixed and it would make readers more inclined to visit the website because they know they are going to be able to find everything they are interested in reading.
Newspapers could also try to connect with local or national news stations to have attached video to their stories so readers can navigate around the site and look into extra information if they are interested. While sites usually already have some sort of video content it doesn't feel that substantial and if there is something a reader is really interested in, they want to know everything about it. And sometimes pictures just aren't enough for people. So papers could either form relationships with broadcast news sites or simply improve their own video access. They could get readers involved through this avenue as well, allowing the public to contribute videos but this might take longer to screen before posting.
Third, newspaper websites could really benefit by improving their template and overall website design. Many of the sites are really plain and boring and on top of that are somewhat confusing to navigate through. They are usually so busy that sometimes you can get lost in the jumbled text and miss out on really great stories. As well, sites like the LA Times have a completely different site for their calendar section but most probably assume those articles would be in the entertainment portion of the website. Little things like this could be easily fixed and it would make readers more inclined to visit the website because they know they are going to be able to find everything they are interested in reading.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Gomez Groupie
Okay, at first I was completely overwhelmed with trying to decide what topic I might possibly know more about than the average internet fanatic who posts tons of information on a regular basis. But then I calmed down once I realized that everyone doesn’t obsess over the same things. I began to think about some of my favorite things: movies, books, music…MUSIC! Aha!
My favorite band is a group called Gomez. Heard of them? If you haven’t that’s alright because pretty much every single person that I’ve talked to about music has no idea what I’m talking about. (Just in case you’re wondering, they’re a British rock/alternative band) So naturally I figured I could refresh the information posted on their Wikipedia page. And I felt a duty to spread the Gomez love to other music lovers out there. So if you haven’t checked them out, you should.
Once I decided what I was going to add to the page, the editing process was pretty easy. The template is very user friendly and you simply type in the new text. Then by following the example of the rest of the text, you learn the symbols needed to make certain words italics or links. And the fact that you don’t have to type in any html language or web addresses as long as the entry already exists within the system is great.
I can see why the wiki format is becoming so popular. It’s extremely easy to participate and is very useful. Here is the previous article, my edited version and the live page.
My favorite band is a group called Gomez. Heard of them? If you haven’t that’s alright because pretty much every single person that I’ve talked to about music has no idea what I’m talking about. (Just in case you’re wondering, they’re a British rock/alternative band) So naturally I figured I could refresh the information posted on their Wikipedia page. And I felt a duty to spread the Gomez love to other music lovers out there. So if you haven’t checked them out, you should.
Once I decided what I was going to add to the page, the editing process was pretty easy. The template is very user friendly and you simply type in the new text. Then by following the example of the rest of the text, you learn the symbols needed to make certain words italics or links. And the fact that you don’t have to type in any html language or web addresses as long as the entry already exists within the system is great.
I can see why the wiki format is becoming so popular. It’s extremely easy to participate and is very useful. Here is the previous article, my edited version and the live page.
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