Project Title: Pop Culture: Is the Media Influencing You?
BASIS Advisor: Ms. Pozzi
Internship Location: Reel Works
Onsite Mentor: Abby Verbosky
People watch television and films primarily for entertainment. However, representations on television can manipulate the audience and change how society thinks for better or worse. This project aims to evaluate crime television shows such as “Bones” and “CSI,” as well as documentaries such as “Thin Blue Line” and “Central Park Five,” which all depict forensic science in different ways. I hope to experience and understand the complexities of pop culture and analyze how it affects the public, specifically with perception of forensic sciences. This project will then research how forensics are depicted for the purpose of entertainment. By doing so, I can critique films and television shows that have stretched the truth. I will work with Reel Works to experience the techniques and approaches to creating visual media while interviewing other filmmakers as they create their own movies. Reel Works has all the possible equipment with a number of experts on hand to help me throughout my project. In addition, I will consult forensic experts to understand the exact science within the television shows and documentaries. I hope to discover the extent to which pop culture affects the public. This project aims to investigate how bending the truth for entertainment could miseducate the public on criminal investigations, adding to the conversation on media representation and the influence it has on audiences and their beliefs.
My Posts
Conclusion
Jun 19, 2019
I have completely finished my senior project at Reel Works. After two and a half months, I have learned a great deal about internships and researching in general. I was finally able to confidently answer my research question, and confidently say that although entertainment does matter and is an important part of the film and […]
Week 10: End
Jun 10, 2019
This week is a my last week working at Reel Works. It has been a crazy few months, with a lot of ups and downs. To make sure I was ready for my presentation, I re watched Thin Blue Line and Central Park Five. Both films are products for history that have changed the landscape of […]
Week 9: Forensic Science and Surveys
May 28, 2019
This week I focused on getting back in touch with the forensic biologists at The Office of Chief Medical Examiner. I wrote a survey using google form and sent it to the two contacts with a number of questions revolving around forensic science representation. After weeks of research on the matter, I learned a lot […]
Week 8: Science and Film
May 21, 2019
This week I watched a few more episodes of CSI and Bones to compare and contrast the episodes side by side. I noticed that although the tones of both shows were completely different, I was right about the fundamental ways each episode is shot. The lights and futuristic atmosphere is very consistent. This technique impacts how the audience […]
Week 7: More Research on Bones
May 14, 2019
This week I sat down and watched the first seven episodes of season one and the first three episodes from the last season from the Bones series. I was sick on Tuesday, so I was not able to research, but I am planning to continue my research next week. After last week’s research, I have become […]
Week 6: Back to Forensic Science and Documentaries
May 06, 2019
This week I got back on track. I learned that I will make up the hours from last week during a rescheduled date in the next few weeks. I can’t wait to experience a film set for the first time! However for my senior project, I researched the reality of CSI, or criminal science investigation. […]
Week 5: Cancellations and Unfortunate Circumstances
Apr 30, 2019
This week has been a bit confusing for me. I was supposed to be on set of a Reel Works Student for ten hours one day and finish my hours on the next. However, the weather took a turn for the worst in New York. It was rainy on the Friday we were supposed to […]
Week 4: CSI
Apr 23, 2019
During this week, I went back to researching CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-2015). I watched the first seven episodes of the first season and six episodes of the last season, in hopes to compare and contrast the two. CSI is about a team of criminalists in a forensic lab, solving a number of different crimes through scientific […]
Week 3: Television
Apr 15, 2019
This week, I researched the history of television in the United States to gain a better understanding on television today. I watched the first episodes from the CNN original series, Seventies, Eighties, Nineties, and 2000s. Each series investigated the decades as a whole, and the first two episodes are centered around television. I learned that […]
Week 2: Exploration of Documentaries
Apr 08, 2019
This week, I investigated documentaries as a genre. I watched a number of films that each made their mark on society through different techniques. On Monday, I researched the different styles of documentaries but focused specifically on cinema vérité and direct cinema. Jean Rouch coined the term after filming the infamous French documentary Chronicle of […]
Week 1: Research and Narrative class
Mar 22, 2019
The first week was predominately research. I watched and took notes on a few episodes of Bones and The Thin Blue Line. I was surprised by how much information television episodes contain. Bones follows Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan and FBI agent Seeley Booth as they solve crimes and fall in love in the process. I chose to focus on […]
Introduction
Mar 15, 2019
My name is Mina S. and I am excited to begin my senior project! I have always loved watching television and films, but it became my passion after I took an NYU class on the subject. As my interest evolved, and became a part of my daily life, I realized that it dictates how I […]