INTRODUCTION:

This week we’re on double duty.  We’ll focus on the film side of the business and convergence and reshaping—products of the Internet’s tremendous impact on all the forms of mass media.  These issues are very real to us at the Haveman Chronicle as we struggle with how news and newspapers function in a post-Internet world.  Read the chapters and take the quizzes to show you know your stuff.  Then join the discussion on the tough choices we have to make regarding our film studio.

Finally, your assignment this week is to write a story on how biometric readings could change the way we engage with the mass media and television in particular.

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

• Define “convergence’
• Media struggle to converge successfully and the fallout
• A future world fully converged
• Product placement in films
• The impact of films on the mass media
• Common stories we hear in films

READING:  Chapter 2 “Convergence and the Reshaping of Mass Communication’ & Chapter 6 “Film”

QUIZ:  Chapter 2 Quiz & 6 Quiz

ASSIGNMENT 4:  Honeycrisp, Inc. just announced a breakthrough new product that can read your body language and vital signs to determine what your favorite TV programming is and automatically change channels to programs you’ll like the best.  Submit a 700 word report on what this might mean for television programs in the future?  What might they look like?  Is this a good or bad thing for audiences/TV producers/society?

DISCUSSION:  Our film studio is struggling to make a profit.  Should we continue to make thought-provoking films or should we shift to more banal fare?  Pick a side and argue your point.  Respond to the post with your thoughts in the conference room.