Beauty and The Beast vs. Beauty and The Beast

With the world buzzing about the release of the new Beauty and The Beast movie trailer, it seems only right to take it back to the original. The trailer was released on November 14th and has been splattered over all social media. Fans of the first film are revealing their utmost excitement about the new film. However, before the trailer’s release, many were also concerned that this movie would not follow the traditional story of the first film. Boy, were they wrong.

An article written by Andrew Liszewski brought attention to a video recently posted to the Moviepilot website that compares the similarities, side by side, of both the original movie and the new trailer. Some scenes are nearly identical and have caused fans to become even more excited. The real-life version of this movie is bringing out the inner-child in all of us. I know I will be in the movie theater in January to view this wonderful film!

http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-side-by-side-shot-comparison-of-beauty-and-the-beast-1789037691

 

This Animated Short is Quite UNSATISFYING.

Recently, a French motion picture company, Parallel Studio, created an animated short video that has the social media world cringing. The video is titled, “UNSATISFYING” and displays numerous different moments when things do not go as planned. My attention was first drawn to this video when I saw it on my Twitter feed. The video features numerous clips such as a vending machine with a soda can getting stuck, a spoon falling all the way into a bowl of soup, a basketball nearly falling into the hoop but then bouncing out, and even a piece of bread with jelly on it that fell face down on the floor. All of these moments are relatable in some way which is why the social media world is so infatuated with this video, I even retweeted the video myself.

Juan Buis, a journalist for The Next Web website, wrote an article acknowledging the animated short’s success. He wrote about how the video content is very unsatisfying but the creators made the entire look of the video very appealing by using gradients and soft pastel colors. I believe this video is a wonderful way to increase the studios publicity. The video may not be enjoyable, but the ability to so easily relate to this video is an aspect everyone appreciates.

Link: http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2016/11/03/unsatisfying-animation/

**I highly recommend watching the video yourself!

 

Snapchat is Taking the Multimedia World by Storm.

Snapchat has been growing in popularity ever since its release in 2011. Whether I am walking through the halls of St. John Fisher, walking through the mall, or just casually strolling the streets, I can always spot a “snapchatter”. It starts with a silly face and is then followed by the quick sound of a camera snap, the person then continues on with their day. But what really makes Snapchat so amusing to us? How has Snapchat really changed us? Bethany Swain wrote an article on the MediaShift website which analyzes these questions.

Swain was first introduced to Snapchat by her students. She was also very skeptical and confused by the app’s popularity. But Swain soon found herself engulfed in Snapchat and began using it for her broadcast journalism. She also found herself noticing how Snapchat has really changed the way we can communicate.

Snapchat provides users with a sense of control. They can choose to view certain stories and can choose to ignore certain stories as well. People also enjoy the power of creating their own content and editing it to their amusement. And Snapchat only keeps improving their app and, in turn, their users satisfaction. Recently, Snapchat has introduced the Discover tab. This is where different companies can place news stories, fashion tips, fun facts, and more. But following along with Snapchat’s time limit aspect, these stories disappear after 24 hours.

Although Swain touches on a few more points, I believe the most important point she makes is “Snapchat is true multimedia”. Snapchat combines together multiple different multimedia aspects with ease, such as video, audio, pictures, text, face graphics, and emojis. All of these components correspond perfectly in Snapchat and allows for endless creative possibilities.

I personally cannot believe how Snapchat has taken off. When it first came about, I did not even download the app thinking that it would be a dud. But soon, everyone was snap chatting. It is an easy way to communicate with friends and allows for a fun twist that you can’t communicate through simple a text or a phone call or even a video message.

How Snapchat is Changing the Way We Communicate

 

Could Facebook Be the New Craigslist?

Facebook is known for always keeping up to date on social media trends. By adding their own Messenger App and “Live video”, Facebook remains a tough competitor for many social media sites. Now, according to an article written by Josh Constine, today Facebook will launch their own version of Craigslist called Marketplace.

Facebook has attempted this before. In 2007 Facebook launched a Marketplace which solely focussed on promoting sales for local housing, job openings, etc. But they never gained a large following so eventually it was shut down in 2014. Facebook tried this idea again by adding a “For Sale” option in Facebook groups. This did catch on and has had a growing following ever since. This is what really led Facebook to expand on their Marketplace idea. Seeing that a potential large following was possible, they made the Marketplace easier to use, trustworthy and accessible.

In the article, Constine describes the new features and why these features are better than those on Craigslist. With the Marketplace, there are three main features: Browse to Buy, Sell Your Stuff and Search Your Surroundings; all of these are used in different ways to ensure the user finds desired results. Craigslist offers the option to search for what you would like buy and then includes some filters to help narrow down the search. Although, both online selling and buying options are mostly alike in this area, Marketplace still holds some advantages. Being able to view the profile of the person selling products provides a sense of trust and comfort when making purchases; a sense of comfort that Craigslist does not offer. The convenience factor of being able to make purchases or sell goods right on the Facebook’s main page rather than going to a separate web page is a huge advantage over Craigslist. Along with being able to message and set up meeting places right on the site itself.

I believe Facebook could really benefit from the Marketplace. I already see numerous people selling products on Facebook and the addition of the Marketplace will make it easier to arrange and make the transactions. Although I do believe there will need to be a lot of promotion done by Facebook in order for this to take off, this is something I could see even myself using one day.

(Hyperlink to the website is in the first paragraph)

Can Google’s New Messaging App Compete?

Google has recently released a new messaging app and some are hesitant on whether or not it will catch on. With all of the other apps used for messaging that are already so popular, it may seem almost foolish of Google to try and compete.

The app is called Allo and a journalist by the name of Pui-Wing Tam wrote an article about it. She is just as hesitant as I am when it comes to downloading this new app. In her article she lists the current, most popular messaging apps such as Apple’s iMessage or WhatsApp. Tam also explains what Google did to make Allo stand out from the rest. Google created a messaging app that includes an “artificially intelligent assistant” that is suppose to help people with their conversations and is also able to search for information.

I looked up the homepage for this new app to see how Google promoted it. Google offered some small examples of how the messaging app works. From what I saw, it appears that all Google has done is add some more stickers, allow you to change the size of the font, and you can also edit pictures through the app. The “assistant” is something I would compare to Siri. It can suggest nearby restaurants, provide directions and also answer questions.

Pui-Wing Tam had a coworker, Brian X-Chen, use the app for 5 days to see if made any impression. Chen ended up describing it as an “office intern” not even a “full blown assistant.”

Link to the article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/technology/daily-report-will-googles-allo-make-it-in-the-messaging-app-field.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fbits&action=click&contentCollection=technology&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0

Link to Google’s Allo page: https://allo.google.com