The Long Tail Theory

The Long Tail theory proposed that instead of present day, where 20% of artists are responsible for 80% of sales, the future would see a drastic change, to the other 80% of artists contributing over half of music sales.

An example of the major record labels artists popularity is pictured below:

Superbad

Superbad is one of the films we based our opening sequence around - the idea of people trying to be something they are not, in our case attempting elaborate stunts and parkour moves to little effect.

Superbad is one of the funniest films I have watched, and the two shots shown above are a good representation of the type of humour the film uses. The first picture shows the unpopular character attempting to dance with the girl he likes, and dancing in a strange way. The second picture is part of a clip that is in slow-mo, which in other films would make the characters seem tough and heroic, whereas due to their situation and clothing it makes these two characters seem funny and uncool.

I Am Playr

I Am Playr is an interactive game located on the social networking site FaceBook, and was created by Nike. Nike frequently use their sponsored players in the game, such as Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott, who are both international footballers.
http://iamplayr.com/

The game is designed to be an interactive representation of the life of a professional footballer, and gives frequent decision making opportunities such as the choice pictured above.

The British Board of Film Classification

The British Board of Film Classification is responsible for giving every new film in Britain a rating, for example a U/PG or a 18.

U stands for universal - suitable for anyone to watch.
PG stands for Parental Guidance - suitable for most people, but younger children may need to watch the film with parents because, for example, of mild comedy violence.
12 is literally the minimum recommended age for a person to watch the film. Although people under the age of 12 will be allowed to watch this film in the cinema, they must be accompanied by an adult.
15 is also the minimum recommended age for a person to watch the film, as it may contain mild nudity, violence and swearing.
18 is the highest rating a film can be given, and will probably contain frequent and graphic violence, nudity and frequent swearing.
Some films are too explicit to be given a rating and are therefore banned by the board to be shown in Britain.

Vevo

Vevo is a new music website, and is similar to YouTube. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009, and at present day contains around 27,000 videos.

It is a joint venture with: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media, with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake.

VEVO offers music videos from three of the 'big four' major record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and EMI.

The VEVO service in the UK was launched on April 26, 2011, and this also saw the VEVO app for the first time on the UK app store on iTunes, which has massive potential to increase VEVO's popularity.

Gran Turismo 5

I chose to write about Gran Turismo 5 as it is one of the biggest games ever - and also had an amazing production. It took several years to complete, and comes with over 1000 cars, 26 locations and 71 tracks. It can also be played online - however due to the recent disruption with the Playstation network service, this is unavailable. It was reviewed positively by every source I found, one even being 10/10 (found at http://www.destructoid.com/review-gran-turismo-5-188383.phtml)

Official PS3 Magazine	Gold
GamePro	Editor's Choice
PlayGamer	Editor's Choice
PSX Extreme	Best Sound Effects of the Year
Gamescom 2010	Best Console Game
Tokyo Game Show	Future Game Award
Play (UK magazine)	Technical Merit, Editor's Choice
GameTrailers	Best Racing Game
GameSpot	Best Driving Game, Readers' Choice
GameRevolution	Best Racing Game
PlayStation LifeStyle	Best Racing Game of 2010
PlayStation Universe	Best Driving Game

Any Given Sunday

This scene is from a half-time speech in an American Football game, from the film Any Given Sunday. The coach, played by Al Pacino, gives an inspirational speech that has a great effect on the team, which turns their game around.

One way in which the speech is intensified is through the use of the soundtrack. At the start when the player's morale is low, the music is slow and quiet, but as the coach starts to inspire the players the music gets slightly louder and more promising.

The use of camera shots and angles also added to the effect of the scene. One effect in particular was the gradual zoom on the coaches face. At the start the camera is not zoomed in, instead showing a medium shot of the coach with some of the team shown, as pictured at the top. As the speech goes on and the mood changes, the camera angle that is shown above is shown again, but this time more zoomed in, this effect being used several times, until finally there is a close-up of the coach.