· Find a post (or post a link to) a concept of Communication in Film (photo, short video, brief piece of writing, song, etc. — that no one else in the class has posted to the blog yet) related to dealing with coronavirus. You may write about films, songs, etc. dealing with isolation, exile, and illness.

· Analyze the object according to the requirements for the week.

· Make a connection to the readings, videos, or recordings for the week

Two paragraphs, around 300 words in total.

Example 1:

The video above is a documentary about the pandemic. It features students and business owners and how they have been affected by the pandemic. The interviewees talk about how the pandemic was unexpected and how much it has affected their lively hoods. In addition, they go on to explain how they overcome the challenges, that they faced throughout the pandemic.

 

In order to capture the interviewee's stories well, the filmmakers used a combination of medium and close-up shots, to get the interviewees at the moment. “By varying the camera to subject distance, the filmmaker can manipulate the viewer’s emotional involvement” (Prince 2014, page 11). The filmmakers were able to get the audience closer to the subjects and have the chance to connect to them on a real level. Additionally, the mise en scene plays a big role in this documentary, as each subject had a specific set-up for them. The backgrounds added to who the interviewees were as individuals. One interviewee had a background surrounded by art, signifying that they were artists, while others had cameras and film-related equipment, showing that they were a filmmaker.

Example 2:

For this discussion, I found an article online that talks about the rising sales of video streaming that occurred during the pandemic, and how the “box offices” are being affected by it. The book defines video streaming/streaming video as something that “can be viewed on YouTube, or other internet sites or can be sent directly from companies such as Netflix to one’s laptop computer, iPad or cell phone.” (Prince, 2014) During the pandemic, people had to stay at home in order to prevent the spread of the virus, and since they weren’t able to go to movie theaters/the box office in-person, they decided to opt for video streaming services in order to watch movies from home. The article above states that “In 2021, the number of online video subscriptions, or streaming, in the U.S. increased to 353.2 million, up 14% from 2020.” (Johnson, 2022) This means that more than ever, people are preferring to use streaming services as opposed to going to movie theaters in-person.

However, sales from box offices/theaters are still lower than before the pandemic began, even after means to help reduce the spread of the virus such as vaccines and testing became available for everyone to use. From the article, it states that “The MPA said that the global box office reached $21.3 billion last year, which was up 81% from 2020 but still below the previous year.” (Johnson, 2022) A possible reason for this could be due to many of these streaming services are also available as apps to use for smartphones or tablets, making them more portable and accessible, but at a possible lower video quality than what’s normally viewed on bigger screens. The book talks about this type of issue, stating that “As cinema becomes more portable and instantly accessible, overall image and sound quality declines.” (Prince, 2014) However, this does not seem to affect people that much, as the article also states that “Overall, subscriptions to streaming services reached 1.3 billion worldwide. That’s up 14% from 2020, similar to the boost in the U.S.” (Johnson, 2014) This all means that regardless of video or sound quality, streaming services are becoming the new norm for when people want to view movies without having to step foot inside a movie theater.