FOCUS MEDIA JOURNAL VOLUME XXXII 2011-2012 Focus 1 FOCUS STAFF Editors-in-Chief Colleen Klinefelter Darrell Hall Copy Editor Derek Boeckelmann Image Scout Jessica Stevenson Cover Design Eric Stafford Staff Advisor Joe Palladino Focus 3 A LETTER FROM THE EDITORS WOW !!! What a journey this has been... First, we would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the project. Each contribution, whether academic or financial, has been a real help, and we couldn’t have done it without them. We are very proud of this year’s undergraduate journal, as it represents the variety of approaches that inspire our students. Ranging from film to new media, from tween television to viral videos, every essay addresses a topic that is relevant to today’s film and media field. This edition of Focus, visually influenced by the Pop Art movement, aims to survey today’s film and media trends by addressing topics related to gender, sexuality, and politics. Some essays also investigate the relationship between traditional mediums (film, TV) and the ever changing new medias, such as social networks. Designed in three sections, the journal progresses from film, to TV, to new media, reflecting the shifts that are occurring in today’s society. We would like to thank the Film & Media Department staff and faculty for all their support and help. A special thanks to Dana Welch for his time and help with layout. Finally, a huge thank you to Eric Stafford for all his work creating such a “kick-ass” cover. It really does reflect our vision of this year’s edition. With no further ado , we are very proud and excited to present to you Vol.XXXII of the Focus Media Journal. Yours truly, Colleen Klinefelter Darrell Hall Editors-in-Chief 2011-2012 Focus 5 CONTENTS “Living in a Movie Scene” FLYING BACK IN TIME: The American Film Manufacturing Company by Brenna Osborn 11 FLYING A: An Interview with Dana Driskel by Brenna Osborn 16 NEW DECADE, NEW RULES, NEW READINGS: Female Characters and Homosexual Undertones in Scream 4 by Corie Anderson 21 NOTIONS OF SURVEILLANCE: An Ideological Perpetuation in The Hunger Games and Cabin in the Woods by Ian Barling 29 WRITTEN IN INK: A Look into The Social Network‘s Adaptation of Real Life Documents by Celeste Wong 40 6 Focus “The Sun Always Shines on TV” TELEVISION FOR TWEENS: An Emphasis on Fame in Youth Programming by Ariel Campos 47 THE THRONES EFFECT: Paving the Way for Third-Wave Feminism in Television by Colleen Klinefelter 54 THE WEAK & THE STRONG: An Interview with Jane Espenson by Colleen Klinefelter 61 THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON ADS: Hidden Corporate Ideologies in Anti-Drug PSAs by Eric Stark 63 DIAL M FOR MURDER: Lady Gaga’s Telephone Leaves a Message About Feminism by Darrell Hall 69 “Internet Killed the Video Star?” TWITTER MEETS TELEVISION: The Future of TV or an Imminent Fail Whale? by Derek Boeckelmann 81 ENGAGING THE EPHEMERAL: Towards an Archive of the Present in the Digital Age of Social Media by Nick Alford 90 THE WORLD REMIXED: How New Media is Changing Our World by Sharon Reeh 98 Focus 7 LIVING IN A MOVIE SCENE LIVING IN A MOVIE SCENE FLYING BACK IN TIME: THE AMERICAN FILM MANUFACTURING COMPANY by Brenna Osborn If you ever wander around were a one-director shop at the La Mesa downtown Santa Barbara and make your location, led by director Alan Dwan. Dwan way down Mission Street, you would see and his company would produce two films parking lots and storefronts – the same old a week at this location. This only lasted for fare downtown has to offer. However, if you about eight or nine months, however. The happened to step through a time warp and studio decided its needs would be better ended up in the year 1913, you would come filled in beautiful Santa Barbara. upon a major film studio named the American A number of suggestions have Film Manufacturing Company located on been offered for why Flying A moved from the block between State and Chapala. Many La Mesa to Santa Barbara. The ease of access people, including native Santa Barbara- to beach and mountains was definitely a ians, don’t know about The American plus, however both were available in the Film Manufacturing Company (nicknamed La Mesa location. Dana Driskel, who Flying A and later renamed “The American teaches production at UCSB, believes that Film Company”) and its significance in social life in Santa Barbara may explain early motion picture history. The Flying the move. Many Midwestern socialites A was a major force in the film industry owned mansions in the city. The wife of from 1910 to 1920, competing against Sam Hutchinson, the president of Flying A, licensed manufacturers such as Biograph was “somewhat of a social climber” who and Edison as well as new “independent would have probably “much preferred to studios like Metro and Universal.1 The be in a town that had some significance to rise and fall of Flying A reflects the many it which La Mesa didn’t really have”4. So, challenges independent film studios at the the studio packed its things and headed time faced in trying to maintain a profitable north. While many individuals took the workplace while the early motion picture train, the equipment and livestock had to industry was gaining speed. be cattle driven up, which took around two The American Film weeks. During these two weeks, production Manufacturing Company was founded continued in Chicago – otherwise the by Samuel Hutchinson, John Freuler, studio would have lost too much time in Charles Hite and Harry Aitken in Chicago2. production and would have been idle. After Production started in 1910 using a system the carefully planned move, production was of three companies – “two working on the ready to take off in Santa Barbara on July 6, studio or surrounding locales while the third 1912. was sent out to concentrate on westerns”3. During the next eight years, the While production continued in Chicago, studio would take over production entirely the western unit would move more than from Chicago and rise to success. By 1915, five times to locations such as San Antonio, Santa Barbara was producing films at a rate Texas and Lakeside, California until they of nearly one per day5. The core of their found La Mesa, California. La Mesa, production, especially in the beginning, located near San Diego, had preferable was short films that would play much like weather conditions and access to scenery a television show would today. A cast of that would be perfect for westerns. They recurring actors would either act the same Focus 11 1913 Mission Street Studio Illustration. or different roles in various short films that a result of a number of things, including would be shown every Tuesday or every World War I, the great influenza epidemic second Wednesday, for instance. These of 1918-1919 and the depression of 19218. shorts were a hit and Flying A focused on Though the life of the American them until a shift began to occur throughout Film Company was a bit short-lived, the the motion picture industry. studio was also an important training In 1915, some leaders in the ground for many technical staff who industry would start to question whether moved on to Los Angeles after a career films were merely entertaining “widgets” in Santa Barbara. Many directors and or a form of “art” that deserved the right to cinematographers advanced to create free speech and a higher standing in culture. great things in the industry. Reaves Eason, This change is reflected in the decision to whose name is relatively unknown today, drop of the word “Manufacturing” from began his career at Flying A and then The American Film Company’s title. Many afterward became a second unit director film studios made this change as well – on major films in Hollywood. In this role indicating that the view of films was shifting he was in charge of staging action scenes from a commercial to an artistic endeavor6. and dramatic spectacles in many films, This is also about the time when feature including the famous chariot race in Ben films started to appear more frequently. In Hur and the burning of Atlanta in Gone 1916, Flying A switched from producing with the Wind. One of the most well-known shorts to primarily creating feature films. directors associated with Flying A is Victor This resulted in a large loss of jobs and Fleming, who later directed Gone with the many people working out of Flying A were Wind and The Wizard of Oz9. forced either to find a new career or move to By exploring Flying A’s history, Los Angeles7. The decline of the American we can see that it played a major part of Film Company around 1920 happened as the film industry during the teens – both 12 Focus by producing and distributing films in of The American Film Company is also Chicago, Santa Barbara and London as coming up. well as by training technical talent who On July 7, 2012 – a day after The went on to highly successful film careers. American Film Company’s official founding Today, not many people have delved into – Driskel will be showing a number of films the studio’s rich history. Timothy Lyons from the studio accompanied by live music was one of the first to write an academic in the Pollock Theater. In order to help plan study of the studio and was the one who this event, he will also be teaching a class inspired Dana Driskel to begin research over the summer that allows students to on the topic.