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Tuesday, May 30, 2023

MAINSTREAM REPORT-- Disruptive Innovation and --THE CRASH OF SOCIAL MEDIA

. Can Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all of the cars on the train survive the crash?

Disruptive Innovation and Social Media, a Signature Presentation

          Paradigms are meant to be replaced. The phenomenon known as "social media" may or may not be considered a paradigm in the strict sense of the word but it has made a major mark not just on the internet but on culture itself.

     Within the confines of the social media universe, trends rise, and fall depending on the demands made by consumers and demands developed by industry. Pressure from both of those demands creates an atmosphere where progress, often times radical, replaces inertia. That pressure in radical form is defined by Clayton Christensen of Harvard University as "disruptive innovation."

          “Disruptive innovation” was outlined in the Jill Lepore 2014 article in The New Yorker titled “The Disruption Machine.”  Citing one of her associates at Harvard, Clayton Christensen, she defined disruptive innovation as;

          “The selling of a cheaper, poorer quality product that initially reaches less profitable customers but eventually takes over and devours an entire industry.” (Lepore, New Yorker)

Curiously, Lepore goes on to report that a company using the disruptive innovation paradigm will have to fail in order to succeed. She cites Morrison-Knudsen's effort for mass transit which resulted in total failure of the company.

By his own account, the founder of Friendster, Jonathan Abrams,  blames venture capital for its failure. Another entrepreneur, Joel Spolsky, has it right when he says;

          "The basic venture capital system is structured so that there are built-in conflicts of interest between the VC and the entrepreneur,"  (Max Chafkin, inc.com)

The market for upstart social media networks in the days of Friendster survived in a narrow range and investors hedged their bets by spreading cash out across the board. Naturally, when a better platform surfaced, the money went there, and Friendster was relegated to the dustbin of history; the first disruptive innovation in social media had failed. That, in fact, is the paradigm we are looking for in whether a social media endeavor, or social media itself, will survive in cyberspace, where survival of the fittest is the bottom line, and money is what fuels it.

     Fast forward to the current status quo of the primary social-media platform, Facebook (NYSE:FB). The company went public in May of 2012. It's current stock value is just under $200 a share. Its primary source of revenue is, not being liked by everyone posting pictures of their pets or trip to Paris, but advertising.  By the 4th quarter of 2018, the revenue topped just over $16 billion, most of which were publishers from the United States. Facebook depends on its US advertising to survive, there is no diversification, a basic component to stay in business in America. (Statista)

     According to Statista, the United States does not lead the world in Facebook users, but it is India, a predominant market in what Dr. Pain of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, refers to as "The Global South." (Statista)  Facebook is still a one-trick pony depending chiefly on running ads to generate revenue basing its success on the number of users on the platform, but that's changing;

"...despite Facebook’s advertising growth, its user growth rate slowed during the quarter. The social network only added 38 million new monthly active users during the quarter. " (Digital Commerce 360)

     Now that we have set the stage for the crash, let's examine the mechanics. The above might be considered the hard scientific data on the current state of social media. We might call it a synthetic, or an inductive, interpretation. What about the analytical, or deductive interpretation? That's where we can see the weakness in the system, and it goes back to what happened to Friendster. The evolution from that site through the rise of Myspace to the eventual social media pinnacle established by Facebook is no matter of personal privacy, everybody knows about it. The difference was that Myspace never went public and was bought out by NewsCorp in 2005 (NAS:NWS);

     "News had been looking for $100m but settled for $35m offer from advertising targeting firm Specific Media. The sale is believed to be mainly in stock and News Corp will retain a small holding." (The Guardian)

Of course, what else would the site be good for but to run ads, just like the rest of the social media platforms that have no diversified material products to sell. This brings us back to deducting just what the flow chart looks like to the eventual decline of Facebook itself. Consider two things, where the revenue is coming from to float its income and who are the venture capitalists behind the wall propping it up.

     First, the graph shows half its income is in the US-Canada market, which makes sense because that's where the money is. That's who can afford to promote their favorite pet or trip to Paris video on mobile phones. The problem isn't how much Facebook rakes in on the successful market, but its limited returns in The Global South. The largest prospect for growth is there, as seen in the explosion of users from India; even though the prospect to find ad publishers is very limited. No matter many people Facebook has coming into the site, if the money isn't there to support them, the stress will fall on the infrastructure. (Graph, Merch Today)

      Footing the bill for the stock is Vanguard Group out of Pennsylvania, one of the largest funds in the world. Its portfolio is spread across a myriad of sectors but its top holdings fall into a limited category, with ten out of top twenty stocks on the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 stocks. Even though there is a strong tech presence in the top twenty, it all about drugs, and it always is. Three of those are on the Dow30, Proctor & Gamble (NYSE:PG), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Merck (NYSE:MRK).  (Nasdaq) Keeping with the theory that venture capital spreads cash across the sector, betting big in hopes another Google (NAS:GOOG) will surface from the faces in the crowd, Vanguard is also the principal investor in Omnicom (NYSE:OMC). (Nasdaq)  OMC is one of the largest ad agencies in the world and even though its venues are different, it stands in direct competition with Facebook for consolidating the worldwide advertising publishing market. They are on a collision course, in effect, a head-on train wreck.

     When the crews clear the debris, it will be clear OMC survived due to a given number of basics, depending on global reach across a wide variety of venues, diversification in content, the ability to undercut the cost, and add to that the variability of clients it can attract for advertising. As FB revenues decline, Vanguard will opt to keep its particular portfolio in the sector balanced and the money will go not just to OMC but others who, as disruptive innovation requires, will emerge from the rubble. The timeline, as in any good deductive inquiry, is always up for speculation.

    It depends on the market as a whole, global pressure on the survival of social media as a bona-fide cultural necessity, emergence of it in regions such as the poorer Global South and the ability of those in the sector to support the infrastructure required to keep it online. There are the other usual restrictions, such as political, as seen every time some general decides he wants to topple a Third World country in a coup and an internet blackout is ordered with surveillance and shutting down of social media to contain organizing and dissent. Can Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all of the cars on the train survive the crash?

Credits:

Disruptive Innovation, Lepore, Jill, The Disruption Machine, 2014, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/23/the-disruption-machine

Chafkin, M., Friendster, How to Kill a Great Idea, https://www.inc.com/magazine/20070601/features-how-to-kill-a-great-idea.html

FB Revenue, https://www.statista.com/statistics/218701/largest-source-of-revenue-of-leading-tech-companies/

FB Growth, https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2018/07/25/facebooks-ad-revenue-jumps-42-in-q2/

MySpace, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/jun/30/myspace-sold-35-million-news

FB Revenue Graph, https://martechtoday.com/despite-ongoing-criticism-facebook-generates-16-6-billion-in-ad-revenue-during-q4-up-30-yoy-230261

Vanguard Top, https://www.nasdaq.com/quotes/institutional-portfolio/vanguard-group-inc-61322?sortname=sharesheld&sorttype=1

OMC Investors, https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/omc/institutional-holdings

Disruptive Innovation and the Crash of Social Media: first published in 2019.

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MAINSTREAM REPORT--Mutual Assured Destruction--ON THE BEACH (1957)

MAINSTREAM--"On the Beach," Nevil Shute, 1957

On the Beach, a novel by Nevil Shute, Wm Morrow & Co., New York, 1957


The Author


     Born on 17 January 1899 in Ealing, London. After attending the Dragon School and Shrewsbury School, he studied Engineering Science at Balliol College, Oxford. He worked as an aeronautical engineer and published his first novel, Marazan, in 1926. In 1931 he married Frances Mary Heaton and they went on to have two daughters. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve where he worked on developing secret weapons. After the war he continued to write and settled in Australia where he lived until his death on 12 January 1960. His most celebrated novels include Pied Piper (1942), No Highway (1948), A Town Like Alice (1950) and On the Beach (1957).


The Era


     In the late 1950s, when the novel was published, the Cold War was being waged on many fronts; in space with the launch of the first orbiting satellite, “Sputnik,” by the USSR; in Berlin with the infamous Wall, in the United Nations as the Soviet Union’s Nikita Khrushchev, pounded a shoe on the podium and shouted, “We will bury you!” and at Yucca Flats, Nevada, with above ground atomic bomb testing. These routine atmospheric blasts, and the fallout clouds that accompanied them, set the stage for “On the Beach,” for it is in the mushroom clouds the end of the human race is spelled out in no uncertain terms from the beginning of the novel to its conclusion.


The Characters


Dwight Towers - Captain of the American nuclear submarine. Dwight is a practical, rational man, he continues to believe that his family is still alive. 
Moira Davidson - Single socialite young woman, dances and drinks as approaching radiation means she won’t fulfill her dreams. 
Peter Holmes - A lieutenant commander in the Royal Australian Navy. He fears a mission at sea would mean his wife and young baby may not be alive when the ship returns to Australia. 
Mary Holmes - Peter's wife. she refuses to accept that her world is coming to an end. 
 John Osborne - Scientist with CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, faces the reality of his impending death. He is assigned to the mission the submarine makes and later participates in a road race in his Ferrari. There are others, most of whom play some important part of the story, but the main plot is centered around this ensemble cast with no real main character(s) assuming lead roles.

The Story


     Dwight Towers is the last US Navy commander and arrives in Melbourne because the Northern Hemisphere has been contaminated with radiation and everybody north of the equator has perished in several thousand atomic detonations. The fallout cloud slowly descends south toward Australia and those who remain alive count the days until their assured deaths. 
      Day to day existence goes on as normal people consider planting flowers, going on their vacations and shopping as if nothing was going to happen. In the meantime, unexpected developments create a set of circumstances that affect all of the characters in the ensemble. Towers is ordered to sail to Seattle where a mysterious Morse code signal has been retransmitted continuously but with no intelligible meaning. It didn’t make sense. 
     The submarine, the USS Scorpion, nuclear powered, had the capability to stay underwater long enough to make the journey up the Australian coast to check on the progress of the deadly cloud closing in on Melbourne, enroute to Washington state where the signal was being transmitted. Peter Holmes and John Osborne were both tasked to go along on the mission to gather data for the Australian navy. 

Moira


     The socialite Moira Davidson refuses to accept her fate as Dwight attempts to explain to her in detail the problem. 
      “There never was a bomb dropped in the Southern Hemisphere,” she said angrily. “Why must it come to us? Can’t anything be done to stop it?” He shook his head. 
     “Not a thing. It’s the winds. It’s mighty difficult to dodge what’s carried on the wind.” “It’s not so difficult to understand, really,” he said. 
     “In each hemisphere the winds go around in great whorls, thousands of miles across, between the pole and the equator. There’s a circulatory system of winds in the Northern Hemisphere and another in the Southern Hemisphere. But what divides them isn’t the equator that you see on a globe. It’s a thing called the Pressure Equator, and that shifts north and south with the season. 
     In January the whole of Borneo and Indonesia is in the northern system, but in July the division has shifted away up north, so that all of India and Siam, and everything that’s to the south of that, is in the southern system. So, in January the northern winds carry the radioactive dust from the fall-out down into Malaya, say. Then in July that’s in the southern system, and our own winds pick it up and carry it down here. That’s the reason why it’s coming to us slowly.”
 
     She turned to him in the starlight. “I’m never going to get outside Australia. All my life I’ve wanted to see the Rue de Rivoli. I suppose it’s the romantic name. It’s silly, because I suppose it’s just a street like any other street. But that’s what I’ve wanted, and I’m never going to see it. Because there isn’t any Paris now, or London, or New York.” 
       He smiled at her gently. “The Rue de Rivoli may still be there, with things in the shop windows and everything. I wouldn’t know if Paris got a bomb or not. Maybe it’s all there still, just as it was, with the sun shining down the street the way you’d want to see it.” She got restlessly to her feet. 
      “That’s not the way I wanted to see it. A city of dead people.”


Seattle


Dwight went forward and found Lieutenant Sunderstrom sitting in the radiation suit complete but for the helmet and the pack of oxygen bottles, smoking a cigarette. 

     “Okay, fella,” he said. “Off you go.” He went upstairs and found the main transmitting room. There were two transmitting desks, each with a towering metal frame of grey radio equipment in front of it. One of these sets was dead and silent, the instruments all at zero. The other set stood by the window, and here the casement had been blown from its hinges and lay across the desk. 
     One end of the window frame projected outside the building and teetered gently in the light breeze. One of the upper corners rested on an overturned Coke bottle on the desk. The transmitting key lay underneath the frame that rested unstably above it, teetering a little in the wind. He reached out and touched it with his gloved hand. The frame rocked on the transmitting key, and the needle of a milli-ammeter upon the set flipped upwards. He released the frame, and the needle fell back.

The End        


     Following a rather exciting road race in which Osborne is the victor, the novel comes to a close with all of the characters given a choice in how they want to face the end. The first option is to wait it out and suffer the effects of a terminal dose of radiation, which the author shares in a detailed description. The second option is far more acceptable in the form of cyanide pills neatly packaged to soothe the nerves. 
     As the cloud descends, the lines get longer at the locations where the pills are being distributed. The Holmes are forced to decide how to take the life of their newborn child before taking their own. Moira also accepts her fate stoically and Commander Towers has made the decision to take the USS Scorpion out to sea and with the crew on board, sink it. His crew agrees to go down with the ship. Moira watches from her car on a cliff as the submarine sails away, then takes the pill.

Analysis


     IMAGE: The novelist creates striking scenes throughout, with detailed descriptions of not just ordinary life as the cloud slowly descends on southern Australia, but the complexity of the surviving military staff to understand its implications. 
     The mission to Seattle is a stark and intriguing center point of the novel that illustrates fate at its finest hour, the Morse code key with the ghost radioman in the form of a dangling windowsill. Note here that the feature-length film directed by Stanley Kramer and released in 1959 by United Artists failed to capture the essence of this most striking imagery of the entire novel, opting for the coke bottle variation instead. It was impossible to recreate visually, only in fictionalized writing.         

     VOICE: The characters clearly show mixed emotions throughout the novel, as seen in the brief scene featuring Dwight Towers and Moira Davidson. The sub commander trying to calm the socialite who is hysterical because she has never been to Paris and now can never go. It stands as a chilling reminder just how quickly fate can turn against even the most self-assured person. 
     CHARACTER: Although many of the ensemble principals appear a little too predictable and stock, they all have moments of expressing their emotions, self-doubts, shortcomings with facing an unfulfilled life. They blame everyone but themselves for the impending doom, especially those who lived in the Northern Hemisphere, where the war began. Others, such as the higher echelon military characters, remain cool headed, still searching for solutions until the very end, knowing all too well there isn’t one. 
      SETTING: Faraway places devastated by thousands of atomic detonations are brought to life and reflected diametrically opposite to the serenity of Australia, the last bastion for humanity. The ominous cloud hangs over not just most of the world but also in the minds of those few remaining who are doomed by its semi-invisible presence, read on a Geiger counter. 
     RESOLUTION: The novel ends predictably with the last of the ensemble one by one signing off. 


Credits

Bio & Photo, http://www.nevilshute.org/ 
Sputnik, https://www.razorrobotics.com/russians-launch-sputnik-satellite-into-space/ 
Berlin Wall, https://news.usc.edu/71860/remembering-the-night-the-berlin-wall-went-up-and-when-it-came-down/ 
Khrushchev, https://writingqueen.wordpress.com/2018/04/30/global-communication-today/ 
A-bomb photo, https://www.mun.ca/biology/scarr/A-bomb_testing_1957.html 
Character Review Notes (edited), https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/onthebeach/characters/ Story Summary (edited), https://www.enotes.com/topics/beach 
On The Beach, e-Pub, https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20131214 
Coke Bottle, http://mark-markmywords.blogspot.com/2014/09/movie-review-stanley-kramers-on-beach.html 
Film Poster, http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/v22vodart/3072/p3072_v_v8_aa.jpg


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MAINSTREAM REPORT--The Dedicated and the Dilettante--SLIDE PRESENTATION

MAINSTREAM REPORT--











When Journalism Worldviews Collide--

     (RED BEACH)--Diametrically opposed by their ethnic and professional backgrounds, Andrew Mercier and Barkha Dutt share at least one thing in common. The first reported in Muck Rack that the second is one of the most followed journalists on Twitter.
     "The platform has been credited with giving a voice to people in closed societies, inciting revolution, opening dialogues on tough issues and being used by world leaders to get their unfiltered messages out to supporters and critics alike...This top 10 has some notable changes from 2013, mostly the inclusion of some journalists in India." (Muck Rack)
Ms. Dutt is rated at number four, behind only Anderson Cooper of CNN, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC and her fellow countryman Rajdeep Sardesai. The 2017 list shows Barkha at over 6 million followers, currently the Twitter page for her shows nearly 7 million followers. (Twitter)
     Barkha Dutt (@BDUTT) on Twitter indicates she signed up in February 2009 and her bio reads;
     "Barkha Rani Jamke Barasti Hai. Emmy Nominated Reporter. Wannabe Lawyer. Columnist @WashingtonPost Contributing Editor @TheWeekLive. Argumentative! Aaron Ka Yaar." (Twitter)
Barkha also has a Facebook home page that indicates 600 thousand likes and roughly the same number of followers. Clearly, the "money" appears to be in her Twitter base. (Facebook)
     Twitter recently locked Ms. Dutt out of her account over an online sexual harassment complaint she filed against the social media leviathan.
     "On Feb. 18, Dutt tweeted a screenshot of a complaint she emailed to Twitter, saying the website had temporarily locked her out of her account. It had done so, she said, because she had tweeted some identifying details of men who had allegedly sent her abuse, including obscene photographs and rape threats." (Aria Thaker, Quartz India)
According to the article, Twitter has made it a practice to ignore complaints from women of India who have filed similar complaints against the website, described as a place for "microblogging."  The article continues to point out the immediate response given to a similar incident involving an American journalist, also pointing out the extent to which one of India's most prominent journalists was attacked through abusive posts. A month later, India Today reported that the police had taken action.
     "Four people have been arrested by the Delhi Police cybercrime cell for allegedly harassing senior journalist Barkha Dutt online. Dutt took to Twitter to confirm reports of the arrest." (India Today)
The article indicates not just the names of the suspects but the degree to which they conspired in the alleged cybercrime activities. 
     For her part, Ms. Dutt's presence on Twitter includes posts relating to many diverse topics of concern for India. For the month of July she has already posted at least sixty tweets ranging from a flashback to the days when she gained fame reporting on the #Kargil conflict: to recent issues such as the resignation of prominent political leader Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress, following its recent defeat in Parliamentary elections. (Schultz, Kumar, NY Times). Clearly, Barkha Dutt 's multifaceted, well-informed approach and style on Twitter is a credit to her profession which explains her high rating in the higly competitive realm of social media journalism.
     For his part, Andrew Mercier (@Andrew_MuckRack) boosts a paltry 833 followers, by no means a Twitter rock-star. His bio reads.
     " Information addict, news junkie, @HarlemYuppie, and @muckrack Editorial Director. Views expressed here are my own. andrew.mercier[at]http://muckrack.com." (Twitter)
What separates Mercier from his colleagues is his position at the web rating site Muck Rack; finding information about the who's who in social media journalism is difficult and he is the go to person to provide it. Opposite in many ways to Ms. Dutt in gender, ethnicity, background and age, Mercier's Twitter page in no way reflects that he is out of the loop when it comes to being in the know.  His LinkedIn bio is far more descriptive of his talent.
     "I have spent nearly half my life in some kind of customer service capacity and have no desire to stop any time soon. In that time, I've learned a myriad of skills and have had the honor of managing some great teams." (LinkedIn)
Here, he shows 500 plus connections which indicates a strong background in his field and lists Education as New York U. with a BS in Media, Culture and Communications.  One of his more recent posts on Twitter gives a link to the necessity of why journalists need to develop their online portfolio. Keeping with a recent JOUR304 lecture by Dr. Paromita Pain at UNR, the article emphasizes the shrinking role of newspapers as the primary source of news for the public.
     "And although some savvy newspapers were able to strongarm their way through the digital shift by migrating to online-native publications, all outlets have had to face one ugly truth: there just aren’t as many jobs in the traditional journalism field as there used to be." (Muck Rack)
It is no wonder that Mercier is the editorial director at Muck Rack, which is exactly where the article suggests going to establish the online profile and portfolio necessary for success in social media journalism.
     Forget the old days where reporters relied on the standards required to get the news published, times have changed. Even though some of the requirements remain in place such as verification, social media now allows journalists to follow live reports being posted by those on location, who many times prove to be citizens directly involved in the story. Adapting to the trends of journalism on social media will assure Barkha Dutt of her stellar standings on Twitter and Mercier's continued accuracy in his reliable information on performance of journalists on social media in general. 

Works Cited
Mercier, A., Muck Rack, https://muckrack.com/blog/2017/07/31/the-2017-state-of-journalism-on-twitter
Barkha-Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/BarkhaDutt/
@BDUTT, https://twitter.com/BDUTT
Thaker, A., Twitter Lockout, https://qz.com/india/1555678/twitter-treated-nyts-maggie-haberman-different-than-barkha-dutt/
Cybercrime Arrests, https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/barkha-dutt-online-harassment-arrest-1482345-2019-03-20
Schultz, K., Kumar, H., Resignation, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/world/asia/rahul-gandhi-resigns.html
@Andrew_MuckRack, https://twitter.com/Andrew_MuckRack
Mercier, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/amercier88?trk=people-guest_profile-result-card_result-card_full-click
Online Portfolio, https://muckrack.com/blog/2019/04/18/online-portfolios-for-journalists-with-muck-rack
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DEBT CEILING 2023--- Manufactured Crisis, Suspension, Default--DON'T IT MAKE YOU WANNA GO HOME--

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Friday, May 26, 2023

SCMD201 MIDTERM --Social Media, the Pandemic & the Film Industry: --NYU, SPRING 2021

 

 Social Media 201

James L’Angelle

NYU, Spring 2021

Dr. F. Nordtveit, Professor

26 February 2021


Midterm Paper: Social Media, the Pandemic & the Film Industry.


     At war with the Axis Powers in the middle of the last century, the United States called on Hollywood, the film industry, to promote the cause of freedom. The studios responded with some of the most memorable war films ever produced; even while the fighting raged in North Africa, in Europe and the Far East. Today, America--and the rest of the world-- is faced with another deadly enemy, this time an invisible one. 



Back in early March, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom called for a state of emergency effectively shutting down California; along with the lockdown came orders to close theaters and limit film production by the studios, bringing about a near standstill in new film releases and distribution. Much of that order is still in place today. By mid-summer, when the virus surged for the second time in the state, a relaxed lockdown was reinforced but with a different set of rules for Hollywood, as reported by Ethan Sacks for NBC News;

     “California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a second lockdown on July 13. This time around, people in the industry are considered essential workers. California can't afford the alternative: ...the industry supports more than 700,000 jobs that account for $16 billion in wages in the state.” (NBC)

     Excluding the streaming service Netflix, the five major studios in SoCal--Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount and Disney--all had different reactions to the industry crippling pandemic measures. Most turned to whatever means they had at their disposal to get the word out to their audience; they turned to social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and others. A breakdown of the footprint of each studio on social media reveals some striking differences. (Figure One) By far, Facebook is the platform of choice for the studios, Disney the leader with over 50 million followers. 



However, presence on the other sites lags far behind Facebook; except for Disney once again on Instagram, with a follower booking of nearly 30 million. It doesn’t take a great deal of analysis to understand Disney’s strong lead on Instagram; the demographics would probably show most are below the age of 30, where Disney targets its films. Not included here are the many and various non-theatrical platforms--such as disk sales and online streaming-- at the disposal of each studio for product distribution since it doesn’t reflect what each has done in light of the pandemic. Where, in fact, do the studios stand, like their World War Two counterparts, in getting the message out to “stay safe,” “wear a mask,” “social distance,” and “shelter-in-place”? What platforms are being used to convey the message? 

     Amid the grumbling of studio executives, someone had the foresight to engage the audience with various bulletins using hashtags and tweets; beginning about the time Governor Newsom ordered the first lockdown order in March, 2020. Warner Bros. issued a tweet at the end of the month including the hashtag #ControlTheContagion that reintroduced the cast of its 2011 film; that, sadly enough, had a rather racial undertone to it when the virus in the film came from Hong Kong. The fact that it had connections to China was conveniently overlooked when the cast reunited for its “infomercial PSA.” (ABC)


Warner Bros. most recent COVID-19 related tweet on 10 February 2021, contained the caption;

     

     “Heroes wear masks. Even villains wear masks! You should, too. #MaskUpAmerica @CDCGov @AdCouncil” 


     The studio had actually only tweeted less than a handful of times regarding the pandemic between its initial tweet back in March, 2020 and the most recent one in 2021. That pattern in fact, was prevalent in the other studios’ online pandemic presence as well. Much of the focus was on getting the audience to find where the Marvel comic heroes were saving the world as opposed to the real life ones in the Intensive Care Units from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Universal Pictures issued a bulletin on Instagram regarding a 12-month rollback of its October, 2020  release date for the film “Halloween Kills,” feeling it was inappropriate due to the number of deaths in Los Angeles county alone. The bulletin went out to its 3 million plus followers in July, 2020.

     Paramount issued several messages across its platforms leading up to Thanksgiving, 2020 using the hashtag #AloneTogether and four “tips”;

  1. Wear a mask

  2. Rethink traveling

  3. Keep gatherings small

  4. Celebrate virtually if you can.




The studio also rolled back the release of its film “A Quiet Place; Part II.”  As with other studios, the tweets and hashtags were very limited in release as the industry struggled with staying alive financially, at the expense of immersing itself in becoming part of the solution; that is, all except Sony.

     No stranger to catastrophic events such as the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (Wikipedia) that caused 16,000 deaths, Sony was the first, and possibly only, film corporation to establish a fund for COVID-19 relief;


What’s significant about the unilateral move on the part of Sony wasn’t just its stepping up, but the fact that it established the fund in April, 2020, in the early stages of the pandemic and just a few short weeks after Governor Newsom ordered the statewide lockdown.  Unlike Disney and the others, Sony wasn’t interested in make-believe Marvel comic superheroes, more concerned with “providing assistance to medical first responders, children and educators working remotely, and members of the creative community in the entertainment industry.” (Global Relief Fund)

In its first announcement on 02 April, the studio received 2300 likes @Sony on Twitter. 

     By no means does this brief look at the film industry and its response to the pandemic reflect on its dedication to its employees, its audience, the state of California and to the world as a whole. Certainly the studios place staying solvent as their first priority.


As well, limited social media presence through posts, bulletins and hashtags doesn’t mean they are not seriously concerned with the existential threat posed by the virus. Deaths related to the coronavirus stand just below 50,000 for Los Angeles and the immediate counties in that region. (NY Times) 
Compared to that “other” Hollywood of 1940-45, the Internet Movie Database lists 30 movies related to World War Two; many were left out. (IMDB) Today, with the reach of the studios through an all pervasive network of social media platforms, there doesn’t appear to be an explanation as to why Hollywood isn’t exerting more leadership in getting the message out to stay safe, mask up, social distance, and...stay home.

Cited:

Timeline, Timeline: California reacts to coronavirus | CalMatters

Essential, Hollywood's COVID pandemic disruption storyline desperately needs a rewrite (nbcnews.com)

Infomercial PSA, Cast of 'Contagion' issues PSA on coronavirus pandemic - ABC News (go.com)

Tōhoku, 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami - Wikipedia

Global Relief Fund, Sony Global - Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19

Covid, California, California Coronavirus Map and Case Count - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

WWII movies, Classic Hollywood World War II films made during World War II - IMDb

Studios on Twitter: @warnerbros, @UniversalPics, @SonyPictures, @ParamountPics, @Disney.

Studio lights image, Retro Studio Lights (gallerywallrus.com)



 Social Media 201

James L’Angelle

New York University

Dr. F. Nordtveit, Professor

13 February 2021


Midterm Outline: Coronavirus, Social Media and the Film Industry



Southern California is home of the stars, the weltzentrum of the film industry. Tragically, SoCal has also become the center of the universe for the COVID-19 pandemic, with Los Angeles itself ground zero. Hit particularly hard is the film industry, with the five major studios unable to keep up its production pace and unable to distribute films due to nationwide restrictions on theater screenings. The studios have ramped up their efforts to stay alive through their social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. Exactly how the studios use their social media channels during the pandemic is stressed in this research report.


  1.  A review of the five major studios--Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony and Disney-- shows different strategies in marketing, distribution, advertising and COVID-19 awareness campaigns as found at their official social media venues.


  1. A case by case breakdown of each of the methods employed by the individual studios reveals what is working and what isn’t, pointing to evidence found in social media posting.


  1. Some studios show progress in adjusting to the restrictions placed on the industry by the pandemic and the administration in Sacramento. Social media reveals just how these restrictions play out as opposed to standard press release strategy at the film studio websites.


     Far from being a revealing process, it is necessary to sift through hundreds upon hundreds of posts, tweets and retweets to get an idea of just how effective the various strategies and campaigns are in keeping not just the studio from total collapse, but the industry itself. 


     The objective of the study is to find where the studios succeed, where they get it right. Most importantly is to reveal where they are getting it wrong and how it affects not just their social media posture but their credibility in being part of the solution to the pandemic, instead of part of the problem.


..
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DANCE101.1001 --Video Essay #2--WEST SIDE STORY (1961)


03 April 2018

DAN101-1001
Prof E Allen
University of Nevada, Reno
Spring 2018  04A18
James Langelle


Once an Immigrant, Always an Immigrant


 

     On the streets at night in major US cities such as Los Angeles, New Orleans or New York City, one can easily relate to why West Side Story (1961)  was filmed in the latter. Whether the upper East Side, Off Broadway, the Garment District, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, the Bowery or Wall Street, the film captures the essence of the city. In particular, it emphasizes the cultural conflict in the poor side of town and the conflict that ensues. It would have been too easy to simply make another juvenile delinquent film such as Blackboard Jungle (1955) or King Creole (1958), where the principal characters are portrayed as hoodlums, not so in the case of West Side Story. It’s a musical, it’s a love story, a cultural statement and a step, a dance step, backwards in time, to an era where complications of young adulthood were translated  into style. Beginning with the choreography and ending with Leonard Bernstein’s musical score, the film is a celluloid masterpiece, never to be an anachronism, a throwback, as many from the era are. Daylight opens the film, but that doesn’t last long, the rest of the film takes place in the dark on the streets of midtown  Manhattan where, as we learn when the “rumble” is agreed upon in the soda shop, there are familiar places such as “the park,” “the river,” and “under the highway.”
     Dancing and singing their way toward a tragic ending, the youth of the Caucasian Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks find themselves in a conflict with no resolution, with only one objective, to maintain control over their turf. From the beginning, in dance scene after dance sequence, the two opposing forces seek to establish hegemony on the basketball court, in the gymnasium at the dance, the soda shop, the alleyways and on the rooftops.  Superbly executed, all of the dance performances are intertwined into the plot, which actually seems to settle the film down and make it credible. Opening with initial contact in broad daylight on the basketball court, the Jets and the Sharks square off in choreographic precision  followed by some open street confrontations that exemplify  Russ Tamblyn’s (Riff)  gymnastic skills. A signature dance gesture incorporated by both of the gangs is finger snapping, both for rhythm in step, but also as a signal to move or in some cases to inform a persona non grata to get lost, or “beat it.” The Jets hatch a plot to goad the Sharks into a “rumble” even as the plot unfolds that will match the Jets’ Tony with Maria, the sister of the Sharks gang leader, at the dance. The gymnasium dance sequence begins with a rather unorthodox roundabout with the ladies in an inner circle and the men on the outside. The idea was to allow intermingling of the rivals, but it didn’t work out that way. Following an awkward moment, the Sharks family breaks out into the mambo and it is countered by a Jets performance, reduced ultimately to the gang leaders and their dance partners. Although playing second fiddle to Maria (Natalie Wood), the captivating Anita (Rita Moreno) steals the show, not just once, but many times over as the film progresses. Following the kiss between Maria and Tony on the dance floor, the plot unhatches forcing  the two rival gangs into a showdown.
     Tony introduces the number “Maria” on the street, meets up with Maria on the fire escape and f the two lovers feature the memorable song “Tonight.” In the meantime, on the Puerto Rican rooftop, Tony is called a “pollock” and the Sharks find themselves in  lyrical gender battle with  (I Like to Be in) “America.” Once again, Rita Moreno gives a stellar performance dropping one-liners like, “Once an immigrant, always an immigrant,” to her lover Bernardo (George Chakiris). The choreography here ranged from tap and shuffle from the 6 male counterparts, to can can Latina style from the 5 ladies.  Waiting for the war council at  Doc’s Candy Shop, the Jets are confronted by police Lt Schrank (Simon Oakland)  and his patrolman sidekick, who becomes the object of the satirical “Officer Krupke” performance. The lyrics are without a doubt the best in the film, with a portrayal of the juvenile delinquents,  JD’s, as victims of their upbringing and the culture.
Ultimately, the war council is set and here the decision is made to fight “under the highway.” It will become Tony’s responsibility to stop the rumble.
     Following the Intermission, the dress shop number features Maria, in love, dancing and singing “I Feel Pretty” along with her Latina seamstresses after which she is visited by Tony and they decide he has to stop the rumble. But by then it is too late, the ethnic turmoil boils over under the highway and both gang leaders are killed in a knife fight, Bernardo by Tony himself. Following the loss of Riff, the new leader has to ease the panic of the others, who by now are completely ragged and grimy, and this is achieved in the garage sequence “Cool.”  The next time Maria and Tony hook up, it’s in her apartment where they make love and are discovered by Anita.  Their plan to run away together soon turns sour as Chino (Jose de Vega), Bernardo’s lieutenant in the gang, is out for revenge and looking to kill Tony. Once again, Rita Moreno is called into action and attempts to locate him at the candy shop, only to be almost sexually assaulted by the Jets before Doc breaks up the party. Her dazzling put-down of the Jets was too real. The lie that Maria had been killed by Chino is outed and when she reunites with Tony on the basketball court outside, Chino gets his revenge. Broken hearted Maria, filled with hate, makes an effort to vent her own anger at the gang members only to break down as the police arrive.
     What can be said for a film that has withstood the test of time other than any attempt to imitate it has failed miserably throughout the years. Whether in screenwriting, set and costume design, musical composition or dance sequences, there is no, and never will be, substitute for authentic. It’s not necessarily about the musical at all, the dancing, singing and stage performances. It is about people, caught up in a hopeless situation where somebody had enough wisdom to create a lasting, memorable impression of a time many years ago that at the time, was relevant. There will never be another opportunity to present  the struggle of youth in its formative years like that portrayed in West Side Story.

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GAGA--The Dognapping Caper--INVESTIGATION

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     Hollywood Redline Crime Lab (Incline Village, NV)--- Initial evidence points to a poorly executed, botched robbery that left in its wake a victim with a single gunshot wound; and a shell casing discovered during the crime scene sweep. Forensic evidence available may be able to match the weapon to other crimes committed. In any case, the victim will be able to provide descriptions of the assailants and other important details, such as other passengers, if any. The enhanced image from the police audio (see below) dispatch video clearly shows the spent shell casing lying next to the crime scene marker.

Dogs Recovered:

Lady Gaga's dogs recovered safely (apnews.com)

     Hopefully, the pets will be thoroughly examined for any clues that might lead to their abductors.

Lady Gaga's Dogs Tied to Pole in Alley, Finder Gets $500k Reward (tmz.com)

Note: When the lady who discovered the dogs tied to a pole contacted the listed email, she was informed to "take them to the nearest police station." That police station, the Olympic Community Police Station, is located southeast of Hollywood, at 1130 Vermont Avenue, below Koreatown.

     At least one report alluded to tracing cellphones and vehicle GPs, but that may only be related to rental vehicles.

(The Lab, Incline Village, NV)-- Brazen attack on dogwalker results in shot being fired and two dogs abducted by assailants in white four-door sedan. The pets are property of world famous pop singer, now offering a half-million dollar reward for the return safely of her pets.

     Following sketch of the crime available below along with detailed timestamp of surveillance video captured by neighbor and published on TMZ network.

In one frame sequence,  one of the dogs appeared to get into the vehicle unassisted, hinting of a possible inside job; in other words, a botched dognapping that should have gone smoothly.

TBA--information complied from a number of online sources-- all information updated and corrected as new evidence is made available.

WHO--Pop singer, girl, famous, 

WHAT--Two dogs abducted, Gustave, Koji, a third animal, Miss Asia,  escaped.

WHEN--a few days ago. Wednesday, 24 February 2021, 2140 PST

WHERE--somewhere in America, Hollywood, North Sierra Bonita Avenue, 1500 block, near Sunset Blvd.

WHY--ransom

REWARD-- $500K offered for return of pets.

VICTIM-- Fischer, Ryan, 30; dog-walker, shot once, semi-automatic handgun. No information if a spent cartridge was recovered at the scene of the crime.

     SUSPECTS-- Black, one with dreadlocks, 20-25 yrs old; one with black hoodie, from back seat of vehicle, driver information unavailable, possible fourth suspect passenger, front. 

VEHICLE-- sedan, four-door, white, Nissan, Altima, " driving northbound" (Appeal Democrat)

Lady Gaga's Dog Walker Recovering After Shooting, Theft (spectrumnews1.com)

After Lady Gaga’s dog walker shot, she offers $500,000 for dogs’ return | Regional News | appeal-democrat.com (appeal-democrat.com)

Relevant Information: The "Knowns" vs. the "Unknowns":--

Knowns: Vehicle Type, Location, Purpose..

Unknowns: Number of suspects involved (2 confirmed), Motive, Random vs. Targeted,... Relationship of Victim to Suspects...Other surveillance cameras on the street; there are several signs in front of residences indicating there might be. Note in photo, the camera located on the east side of N. Sierra Bonita, facing Sunset Blvd. Note that f the vehicle pulled onto the street heading north toward Hollywood Blvd, a clear image was taken if this camera was operational.

Unknowns: From which direction the vehicle approached the victim. Reportedly heading north toward Hollywood Blvd. following the attack; what about prior to it? East or west on Sunset Blvd.? Was the victim walking east or west on Sunset before turning the corner and heading toward Hollywood Blvd.? 

Yet another unknown is the source of  the descriptions of the suspects; the surveillance video is extremely grainy and the descriptions may have come from the witness in the residence where it was filmed.

     Notes: The bizarre and sudden return of the pets unharmed through an anonymous source indicates motive to be nothing more than short-term financial gain (ransom) as opposed to the theory that it was revenge for the pop star's performance at the recent inauguration. Note from timestamp below that both suspects are out of the car when the brake lights come on at 00:17-00:19, indicating a driver in the vehicle.

Lady Gaga Dognappers May NOT Have Targeted Her (tmz.com)

****************

02/27/2021//2030PST: The Next Level:  The story behind the discovery of the pets becomes a story in itself.  They were found by Ms. Good Samaritan two days after the heist tied up in an alleyway south of Koreatown. Obviously, the dogs didn't make a break for it, trot over, tie themselves up and wait to be found, adding yet another unclear dimension to the caper. Was there dissent among the thieves as to the next course of action? Did one break away and take the dogs to where they could be discovered by a passerby? Did all agree in a democratic vote the best way to throw the law off the trail was to get rid of the evidence? The most criminally culpable is the triggerman and (he/she) stands the most to lose; in other words, who's the gang leader calling the shots? The triggerman, the stooge, the getaway driver?

     And what about the victim, praised as a "hero," willing to take a slug from a high-caliber semi-automatic pistol in the hands of a gangbanger shooting to kill? 

What did Josh Howard, played by Sammy Davis Jr, say in Oceans 11? 

" It's simple enough - in my book "brave" rhymes with "stupid" and it still does."

Video timestamp: 

The two minute plus video (02:21) of the caper has been timestamped for clarity of the crime:

00:04: Victim appears moving from left to right with animals on leashes; appears to be illuminated by headlights.

00:06: Vehicle approaches from left, rear passenger door opens up.

00:08: Victim takes seven steps when suspect vehicle pulls to stop next to him, victim stops.

00:10: Both suspects emerge from passenger rear side of vehicle, first one stages in position behind victim; second suspect confronts victim. Car door appears to remain open.

00:12: struggle ensues between assailants and victim.

00:17-00:19: Driver appears to put vehicle into reverse, as backup lights come on. 

00:31: Victim appears to be restrained by one suspect while other directs weapon at victim.

00:33: weapon appears to have been discharged at victim (see entry below)

00:36: audio of gunshot, a loud "bang" not necessarily indicative of small caliber. 

00:37: possible fourth suspect in front passenger seat directing one dog to get into vehicle. 

00:38: segment appears to be missing showing the victim lying behind the fence to the left. First suspect directly by rear taillight disappears from sequence. 

     00:39-00:44: one dog jumps into the open door of the vehicle. segment still appears to be interrupted. Suspect, standing up,  appears on the sidewalk  to the right of the vehicle headlights. Suspect takes another dog, returns to back seat, closes car door.

00:45-00:50: Victim rolls on sidewalk suffering from bullet wound as escaped dog goes over to join him. The vehicle pauses for those five seconds before departing scene to the right. Appeal Democrat (see above) reported vehicle escaped northbound.

00:46: Vehicle appears to be taken out of park as brake lights come on before it speeds off.

00:51+ -- Vehicle hesitates, then speeds off as metallic sign reflection indicates oncoming vehicle.

00:53-00:57: Metallic sign in center of scene shows reflection of another set of headlights; uncertain if it is the escape vehicle or another one to the left of the camera.

01:21: Victim, escaped dog nearby, lays motionless for half-minute when outside light comes on across the street.

01:25: Shadow appears in light across the street.

01:43: Unidentified person, wearing mask, appears from right of screen, walks up to victim.

02:12: Second person appears from left of screen, carrying towel, possibly from house across the street, assists victim

02:21: End of video.

-------------------

Analysis: Questions arise surrounding the video and the crime scene itself:

1.) The missing segment in the video might just be due to technology issue.

2.) No indication in reports of spent cartridge at the crime scene.

3.) The mystery headlights on the metallic sign.

4.) Dog getting into vehicle unassisted.

5.) Possible fourth suspect in passenger seat.  

The TMZ Video--

The ABC Video, also cropped--

Lady Gaga: Disturbing surveillance video shows shooting of singer's dog walker, two French bulldogs stolen in Hollywood - ABC7 Los Angeles
Police dispatch audio: "1521 N. Bonita.."---The dispatch audio @ 02:13 total length, reports @01:53, initial suspect vehicle "four-door Mercedes with tinted windows and no license plate..."
(02:00) "a 211, two small dogs taken..."

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