A wide range of activities has qualified as entertainment through history. And we mean wide. Among those we still enjoy, meta-analyses help explain just what works in this sphere today, and why. Pioneers using technology for innovations that challenge long-held biases, and literally change the way we consume entertainment.

© 2020 Tanay and Sach

- - - - -

TV quote, presumed under Fair Use: Voices of Julie Kavner and  Nancy Cartwright from The Simpsons. Marge supports Bart's new foray into showbiz. 

Oscar statuette icon from Freepik.

- - - - -

Links:

- - - - -

The Hungarian predecessor of the modern rockstar: Franz Liszt

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/lisztomania-19th-century-pop-phenomenon-made-beatlemania-look/

Primer on the Kuleshov Effect, with clips

https://nofilmschool.com/Kuleshov-effect-definition

1991, the year when pop music changed, and the Shazam effect

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2015/05/1991-the-most-important-year-in-music/392642/

Netflix algorithms that customize catalogues

https://netflixtechblog.com/ava-the-art-and-science-of-image-discovery-at-netflix-a442f163af6

John Plant’s Primitive Technology channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA/featured

Why Pokemon Go is so addictive

https://www.wired.com/2016/07/psychology-pokemon-go-gets-inside-brain/

Father surprised disabled son had forged close bonds in online game worlds

https://www.bbc.com/news/disability-47064773

The Makings of a Successful Film

https://phys.org/news/2017-11-explores-movie-successful.html

The Evolutionary family tree of Stories

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0078871

Examples from crowdsourced lexicons to help analyze film scripts (or fictional plots)

https://www.standoutbooks.com/lampshade/

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlotArmor

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Redshirt

“Bisexual lighting”

https://www.vulture.com/2018/02/janelle-mone-steps-into-her-bisexual-lighting.html

Is there a colour palette common to successful films?

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/aug/26/colour-grading-orange-teal-hollywood

Never mind The Voice, music criticism is not as objective as you hoped

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/08/16/1221454110?sid=b8b25559-54b1-481c-9c2d-e6226ae1a4e7

Daniel Radcliffe’s nifty trick to get the paparazzi off his back

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/501844/daniel-radcliffes-clever-trick-evading-paparazzi

Ava Berkofsky, DP correcting decades-long bias in camera and lighting technology

https://www.mic.com/articles/184244/keeping-insecure-lit-hbo-cinematographer-ava-berkofsky-on-properly-lighting-black-faces#.shzAu6F49

AI-authored Harry Potter fan fiction (animated version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-uDnlGJRdk

Shimon, the marimba-playing robot who can improvise

https://qz.com/689827/moogfest-shimon-music-robot/