Infotainment

In simple terms, infotainment is simply information and gossip stories about showbiz in all aspects. It could be a story about a certain celebrity, movie, show, etc.

Infotainment can be traced back to the introduction of entertainment news in the 1980s and back to the beginning of the TV show Entertainment Tonight in ’81. This show offered entertainment news and information as if it was “real”/ “traditional” news and presented it in that way.

Infotainment as a marketing tool can be believed to be the result of the media delivery systems and the conglomerate ownership structure.

During the ‘80s and ‘90s, conglomerates put their focus tightly on media and as they did so the line was a little blurred between “traditional” news and entertainment/ entertainment news. Infotainment and the creation of media events fit perfect with goals of the media conglomerate structure.

During the ‘90s the movie Titanic really was tested by the consumers influence from infotainment. There were negative and positive stories that were released and during this time, it really showed how much power infotainment had/ has. 

The Impact of Technology on Entertainment Media

By 1979, Columbia Pictures had adapted to the introduction of the VCR and VHS and came out with 20 films for at home viewing.

In 1985, three major video rental chains opened their doors and the video rental market took off between 1983 and 1986, reaching $3.37 billion by 1986.

In the 1976 case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, the Supreme Court ruled that Sony and other VCR manufacturers couldn’t be held liable for copyright infringement.

This case opened up a new market in the entertainment sector, enabling video rental and home movie sales and the case set a standard for determining whether a device with copying or recording capability violated copyright law.

DVDs came about for sale in 1997, and impressed consumers with all of the advantages it had over the VHS tape. It was the most quickly adopted consumer electronics product ever.

It was in 1999, when Netflix changed the movie rental market completely by offering an online service where customers could have movies delivered to their mailbox.

In 2006, DVDs were surpassed by Blu-Ray Discs, that have the same look as a DVD but are of much higher quality.

DVD rentals and sales make up a huge source of revenue for the movie industry, by accounting for almost half of returns on feature films. Sometimes the industry will release a movie straight to DVD, or at the same time as their theater release. In 2008, direct-to-DVD movies brought in around $1 billion in sales.

With the economic downturn beginning in 2007, the release of Blu-Ray discs, and online downloads, DVD sales have declined among U.S. consumers.

In 2007, Netflix broadened its appeal by offering subscribers live-streaming movies and TV shows.

By late 2007, Redbox, a DVD rental vending machine, came about. The movie industry struggled with their low price of $1 per rental, which has brought on a decline in rental revenue for the industry.

Legal, commercial supported sites, like Hulu.com, offer a way for consumers to watch movies and TV shows for free.

The movie industry has slowly been moving to digitally filmed movies. It can save producers and studios time and money, but the switch costs movie theaters a large amount with little short-term incentives.

Today, 3-D movies have made their reappearance. With technology advances over the years though, they have been greatly improved. The movie industry is able to offer these movies at theaters and attract viewers because they are unable to get this experience at home.

Mid Term

1. Explain the psychology of entertainment. (Assignment No.2) Please define the similarities between painting, sculpture, sporting events and cinematography.

People didn’t even start thinking about entertainment until they could think about leisure and trying to find something to consume their excess time. When man finally figured out how to do things efficiently this was possible, and thus entertainment was “created”. Painting, sculpting, sporting events, and cinematography were all happened upon because of leisure time and people were bored. People wanted something to give them pleasure and to entertain them, so they did these types of things for that purpose in their leisure time.

2. After watching about 20 minutes of The Dock of New York, a silent drama, explain what are the elements that substitute the sound?

There is text that describes what is going on currently in the film. There is music playing the whole time, so there is some sound. The visuals are much more telling, detailed, and drawn out. The actors really over exaggerate body language and facial expressions so you can feel what’s going on.

 3. What has changed in the movie industry with the coming of sound? Why did producers fear the coming of sound?

Many people thought of film as simply a visual art form, but it wasn’t until they were able to put sound properly with the visual film that people started seeing it as being possible for it to be seen and heard.

Producers were fearful of having sound with the film because they weren’t sure of how to work with it and make their films just as good and correctly, since they had never worked with sound before.

4. What were the changes that took place in entertainment media with the coming of color?

5. Innumerate the innovations that took place in entertainment media in 1960s.

In the 1960s the film industry dramatically shifted and started focusing on the growing youth market, and to this day the average moviegoer is a teenage boy. Media companies started to combine and grow and do everything from movies to books, and etc.

6. Name people (at least 7) that can be credited with the development of cinematographic tools that revolutionized the movie business. (Sound, color, special effects) Please explain why their innovations were significant.

·      Christiaen Huygens, Dutch scientist, invented the magic lantern, the forerunner of the modern slide projector, in 1659 to project medical drawings to an audience.

·      Eadweard Muybridge, photographer, was hired to help settle a bet on how a horse runs. He lined up 24 cameras along the edge of a racetrack, with strings attached to the shutters. When the horse ran by, it tripped the shutters, producing 24 closely spaced pictures that when flipped through made it seem like a moving picture.

·      In 1876, a French physiologist, Etienne-Jules Marey, was the first person to take moving pictures with a single camera. He built his camera in the shape of a rifle with a circular photographic place that rotated after he snapped the shutter and he was able to take 12 pictures a second.

·      In 1923, Lee De Forest, an American inventor, demonstrated the practicality of placing a soundtrack directly on a filmstrip. He invented the Phonofilm, where he combined his amplifier and picture to record sound on film.

·      The DeMilles brothers came to California from New York in 1913. They brought the Laskey Feature Play Co with them and they recorded the first feature film from California, The Squawman.

·      Thomas Edison invented the Kinetoscope, which was the movie viewing system.

·      Louis Lumiere invented the Cinematograph, which was a self-contained camera and projector. It was the first apparatus for making and showing films.