#dan and taylor i think are both used to relying on the other person to make things not weird

[stereotypical-jew]

i sometimes forget about this but i feel it's relevant again

[jng-animation]

MEDIA ROLES RESEARCH DOCUMENT

Job role: Storyboard Artist

-        A role which leads the script into its initial visualisation, usually placing the person between the director and the animation team. Bringing in elements of cinematography to capture how the script would be interpreted in its first levels of pre-production.

 Animation Practice: 2D, 3D CGI, Stop Motion…

 Productions/

Animation

Studios: Walt Disney + Pixar

-        Walt Disney Studios and Pixar both use storyboards on every movie project they work on, from the Lion King to Inside Out. They let the director’s script become visually interpreted for analysis. This allows for a deeper look into the story and whether sections of the movie should be cut down for run-time, or scenes should be deleted as they do not fit with the overall film. It also allows for the over-view of stylisation, and how the tone of the movie should be represented visually.

-        It was Walt Disney Studios who initially developed the first process of storyboarding in the 1930s, as Walt Disney himself believed story development was one of the most impartant aspects to an animated film. The process proved its worth as a tool to create creative and engaging stories.

 Usage/process:

-        Animation studios largely rely on the use of storyboarding as a transition from script to animation. It allows the directors the first look into how the film may look as an end product or in a cinema, breaking it into its basics and composing it like key frames. The usage of storyboarding assists in the advancement of planning, thinking about types of camera shots or angles, character interactions, dialogue, etc.

-        The process of storyboarding can also be used within other areas, for example: Film, Games production and Animation.

-        The method of storyboarding also allows for the rearrangement of order within a story, creating flashbacks or other events out of chronological order.

-        Allows for the showing of how a camera should move within the shot, whether its panning, zooming, rotating, etc.

-        Any sounds or musical soundtracks can also be fitted to storyboards for timing.

-        Shows potential problems within elements of the movie, which can ultimately save money and time fixing before finalized.

 Difficulties within the Job:

-        Find yourself completing various other tasks, like directing, writing all the dialogue, drawing all the images, also creating backgrounds, etc.

-        Only having a small amount of time to produce a storyboard sequence dependant on the media you are creating it for.

-        Sometimes you must have an eye for cinematography, needing to produce appealing shot composition.

-         

What I would have done to further my research:

-        I would have aimed to contact a practitioner within the industry to get first-hand information on what the job role and the industry surrounding the processes in general involves both in terms of practice, process and career. Ask them about their general inspirations and how they find a good work ethic inside the job, as well as any useful aids or tips.

-        I would have aimed to look further into the development of storyboarding and how/whether it will evolve further with new coming technological advancements and trends within the medium.

 My Sources:

-        https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/animation/pre-production/storyboard-artist/ (careers info website)

-        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mlneY-E6ac (found on screen skills storyboard page, an interview with Sony Pictures Animation Storyboard Artist: Patrick Harpin)

-        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQsvhq28sOI (found on screen skills storyboard page, a Youtube analysis video)

- https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137027603_3

      Job role: Character Designer

-        A role which is needed to create various different character designs for the story, whether it be to create their own character designs, or they are given specific parameters to meet.

 Animation Practice: 2D (3D will usually be the role of a Modeller)

 Productions/

Animation

Studios: Cartoon Network/Adult Swim

-        Cartoon Network/Adult Swim are based within animation and each of the shows they produce show a plethora of character design, showing solid form and even using different mediums and styles. Some examples are: The Amazing World of Gumball, Adventure Time, Rick and Morty, etc.

 Usage/process:

-        Character design is extremely important within animation, as appealing characters can be exactly what pulls in people to watch the film or TV show.

-        The process of designing characters can either be up to the character designer themselves, or they will be set parameters to meet by the showrunner or director.

-        Character designers will also produce 3-point turns, or complete turnarounds for the animation team, so they can easily visualise how the character will take 3D form within a 2D media.

-        Research is usually taken out on anatomy of humans and other animals relevant to the animation.

-        Characters can be sketched either on paper or digitally.

-        High levels of variation are needed to create multiple iterations of a single character, or even multiple beings from the same group or species.

  Difficulties within the Job:

-        Need an eye for 3-dimensional and solid form, as the ability is needed to make objects and characters look believable.

-        Variation and varying ideas of how to get around designing different iterations of the same character.

 What I would have done to further my research:

-        I would have aimed to contact a practitioner within the industry to get first-hand information on what the job role and the industry surrounding the processes in general involves both in terms of practice, process and career. Ask them about their general inspirations and how they find a good work ethic inside the job, as well as any useful aids or tips.

-        Where they get their ideas and inspiration from, their thought process behind the variation in designs they must come up with for clients and even their personal projects.

-        How easy/difficult is it to get into the industry and employability over freelancing.

 My Sources:

-        https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/animation/pre-production/character-designer/

-        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_O8Vr0D1z4

-        https://conference.pictoplasma.com/pictotalks/ (An animation lecture by Andy Ristaino, a character designer on the TV show Adventure Time)

-        https://lectureinprogress.com/journal/dan-kelby

  Job role: Animation Director

-        The key creative vision holder for the animated TV show or film. Someone who works out the style and mood of the animation, how it will look and sound, and get everyone working towards that vision.

 Animation Practice: 2D, 3D CGI, Stop Motion…

 Productions/

Animation

Studios: Arcane Studios – James Taylor

-        Became an animation director/director as soon as he left graduating university, starting up a studio with a small group of animators. Overlooks all of his teams projects, works out client work and gives feedback to everyone.

 Usage/process:

-        Directors work with almost every team within the animation studio to get the kind of outcome they want for the final product. Interpreting work and communicating with the animation team.

-        Directors mostly come up through different job roles within the industry before landing the role of director initially – also having years of experience.

-        Dependant on the production, the Animation director might be known as just “the Director” if there isn’t a higher role filled by an overall Director.

 Difficulties within the Job:

-        Need a high level of leadership and responsibility to hold together the entire project.

 What I would have done to further my research:

-        I would have aimed to contact a practitioner within the industry and find out the contrast between freelancing and working within the industry.

-        Find out whether some directors might prefer to have hands-on within the other fields and roles of their team as well as direct.

 My Sources:

-        https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/animation/production-management/director/

[junker-town]

Every first-round pick in the NFL Draft, graded with a pass or fail

Photo by NFL via Getty Images

Geoff Schwartz has a different kind of grading system, based on which player was drafted and who was still available.

For all the pre-draft talk about trades, surprise picks, and overall wildness, the top of the 2020 NFL Draft went as chalk as it can go. No one traded up in the top 10, and there wasn’t an unexpected pick until the middle of the first round.

Things got a little more unpredictable after that.

Instead of assigning every first-round pick a specific grade — which Dan Kadar already did — I went with a different approach. I gave them all a pass or fail grade, depending on who was drafted and what other options there were.

1. Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow, QB, LSU — Pass

Duh. This was the clear choice for the Bengals. Burrow had one of the best college seasons of all time. The intangibles, the leadership, showing up in big games, and his ability to find the hole in the defense and attack it — all elite. This was always the pick, and the Bengals didn’t bungle it.

2. Washington: Chase Young, DE, Ohio State — Pass

Double duh. Young was the highest-graded player in the draft for most people. It’s hard to find pass rushers out of college with multiple refined moves. He’s also able to counter well, including a spin move. Pair him with Ryan Kerrigan, and Washington has a formidable pass rush.

3. Detroit Lions: Jeff Okudah, CB, Ohio State — Pass

The Lions didn’t screw this up. Can you find me an elite defense without an elite corner? Nope. And with Darius Slay gone, Okudah can be that guy. He loves to tackle as well, which can be uncommon with that position. The Lions had to make this pick to get their defense back on track.

4. New York Giants: Andrew Thomas, OT, Georgia – Fail

Look, this grading scale is harsh. I don’t think it’s that bad of a “fail” for the Giants, but there were better tackles on the board. Drafting Thomas means they’re moving Nate Solder to right tackle, which isn’t a position he’s played much in the NFL. Thomas needs to work on his hand usage, which is doable because he’s got awesome footwork and ability to recover. If Giants were looking for a left tackle, Mekhi Becton was available — and is better.

5. Miami Dolphins: Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama — Pass

I’m the biggest Justin Herbert fan there is. But this pick was a coup for the Dolphins. They entered the 2019 season attempting to Tank for Tua. It didn’t go as planned, and they ended up with the fifth pick. Despite reports the Dolphins were looking to move up, they never did. They stayed at No. 5 and drafted a dynamic talent in Tagovailoa. Injuries are a concern, but I think they had to pick him over Herbert.

6. Los Angeles Chargers: Justin Herbert, QB, Oregon — Pass

If you had to choose a spot for Herbert, this would be it. First off, there’s no pressure right now for the Chargers. They are the 11th team in Los Angeles. Herbert needs time to fix some of his issues, and he can do it sitting behind Tyrod Taylor. His weapons were nonexistent at Oregon, and now he gets Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Hunter Henry, and Austin Ekeler. This is a great situation for him.

7. Carolina Panthers: Derrick Brown, DL, Auburn — Pass 8. Arizona Cardinals: Isaiah Simmons, LB, Clemson — Pass

There were both best player available picks. It’s hard to argue with the Panthers grading Brown higher than Simmons, who played multiple positions in college. I will say the explanation from the Panthers about why they chose Brown over Simmons is rather odd, though:

The Panthers liked Clemson LB Isaiah Simmons a lot at No. 7 and he was the best pure athlete on the board, but they felt he was a better fit for a veteran team because of his ability to play so many positions. So they went with Auburn DT Derrick Brown,... https://t.co/Wfu6yhMSgv

— David Newton (@DNewtonespn) April 24, 2020

9. Jacksonville Jaguars: CJ Henderson, CB, Florida — Pass

At this point in the draft, Henderson might not have been the highest player on the board, but he was high enough at a position of extreme need. I think the Jaguars did the right thing. They could have overdrafted a wide receiver or an offensive lineman, but this was the best call.

10. Cleveland Browns: Jedrick Wills, OT, Alabama — Fail

The Browns need a left tackle. Wills has never played left tackle. He played right tackle in high school and in college. I understand people will say it’s because of Tagovailoa, who is left-handed, but Wills also played right tackle with the right-handed Jalen Hurts.

I’m fortunate to be well connected in the offensive line community, and I can’t find one person who thinks he would be a slam dunk at left tackle. I don’t know why you wouldn’t draft a pure left tackle. You have to hope Wills follows the path of Tyron Smith, who played right tackle in college and made the switch in the NFL.

11. New York Jets: Mekhi Becton, OT, Louisville — Pass

The Jets must have been thrilled when Becton dropped to them. Becton has the highest upside of any offensive tackle in the draft. He can be special, and the Jets need someone like Becton to help protect Sam Darnold.

12. Las Vegas Raiders: Henry Ruggs III, WR, Alabama — Fail

The Raiders had their choice of wide receivers and took the one who’s the least polished and most likely not a No. 1 guy. Of course they did. They took the speed guy with great run-after-catch skills, instead of a better receiver like Jerry Jeudy or CeeDee Lamb.

13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tristan Wirfs, OT, Iowa — Pass

Tampa Bay ended up with a fantastic offensive lineman, and it only took trading up one spot to get him. While Wirfs won’t start at guard, he might end up there. He can be a terrific OT, but he could be an All-Pro OG eventually. Wirfs has excellent balance, power, and core strength.

14. San Francisco 49ers: Javon Kinlaw, DL, South Carolina — Fail

I don’t get this one honestly. In my opinion, it doesn’t help the team get better. The 49ers already have an outstanding defensive line. They could have used a wide receiver, a future left tackle when Joe Staley retires, or a defensive back. You can say this is a best player available pick, and I can’t argue that. But again, I’m not sure how this helps them get back to the Super Bowl.

15. Denver Broncos: Jerry Jeudy, WR, Alabama — Pass

This is a home run for the Broncos. A guy they coveted the entire process, and the Broncos didn’t even have to move back for him. Jeudy is another weapon for Drew Lock and another upgrade this offseason for Denver’s roster.

16. Atlanta Falcons: A.J. Terrell, CB, Clemson — Pass

Given where the Falcons were picking and what they needed, Terrell makes sense. He plays the type of press corner that works in the Falcons’ scheme. You could debate the Falcons could have waited to draft a DB, but they weren’t getting a top-flight talent in the second round.

17. Dallas Cowboys: CeeDee Lamb, WR, Oklahoma — Pass

The Cowboys can’t have enough weapons for Dak Prescott. There’s not much more to say. Lamb was the best player still on the board at that position.

18. Miami Dolphins: Austin Jackson, OT, USC — Fail

Jackson needs some work. He’s young and has potential, but he has to improve his technique and get his play strength up. The problem I have with this pick is Jackson will most likely play right away, and he’s not ready fo that. There’s too much recent history of drafting “high upside, raw technique” guys early and expecting them to play, and then it not working out.

19. Las Vegas Raiders: Damon Arnette, CB, Ohio State — Fail

It’s hard to find many people who had a first-round grade on Arnette. It just feels like such a Raiders pick when everyone is trying to figure out why a player was drafted so high. The draft is about finding value and the Raiders failed to do that twice.

20. Jacksonville Jaguars: K’Lavon Chaisson, Edge, LSU — Pass

The Jaguars need pass rush help, and Chaisson was the best player left on the board who can rush the passer. With Yannick Ngakoue probably out the door, this makes complete sense.

21. Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Reagor, WR, TCU — Pass

This is a great pick for the Eagles’ offense. Reagor is on the smaller side, but he’s super quick and fast. He’s an excellent fit in the West Coast offense, which relies on shorter passes with longer runs.

22. Minnesota Vikings: Justin Jefferson, WR, LSU — Pass

I think this is a huge steal for the Vikings, getting a weapon like Jefferson. Jefferson might be the third-best wide receiver — fourth at worst — in this draft class.

23. Los Angeles Chargers: Kenneth Murray, LB, Oklahoma — Pass

The Chargers traded back into the first round for Murray, who’s a great fit for their team. The Chargers have improved their roster this offseason and if they hit on Herbert, they could challenge the Chiefs in a few seasons.

24. New Orleans Saints: Cesar Ruiz, C, Michigan — Fail

I don’t dislike this pick that much, but it just feels unnecessary. The Saints didn’t have many holes to fill, and Patrick Queen was still on the board. I had assumed Ruiz would move to OG because current center Erik McCoy played well as a rookie, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. It just feels like a luxury pick.

25. San Francisco 49ers: Brandon Aiyuk, WR, Arizona State — Pass

Aiyuk can fly and is a great route runner. He’s going to be a perfect receiver for the 49ers’ offense.

26. Green Bay Packers: Jordan Love, QB, Utah State — Fail

WTF, Packers? You just went to the NFC Championship Game and then use your first pick on a QB who won’t play for years. You needed to get Aaron Rodgers help at wide receiver, and he’s on the hook for at least two more seasons. This feels like such a waste of a pick, especially on a QB like Love, who has to grow so much to be an elite QB.

27. Seattle Seahawks: Jordyn Brooks, LB, Texas Tech — Fail

On the list of team needs, a box linebacker is like 15th on that list. I have no idea what the Seahawks are doing. They could have taken an offensive tackle or a pass rusher. It just makes no sense.

28. Baltimore Ravens: Patrick Queen, LB, LSU — Pass

The Ravens get the guy they wanted the most. Queen is exactly what the team needed at linebacker. Queen can move so well laterally, and he’s going to fit well in this scheme.

29. Tennessee Titans: Isaiah Wilson, OT, Georgia — Pass

Wilson is a giant human and should slide right into the Titans’ run-based offense. He is a better run blocker than a pass protector at the moment, and he can be hidden in pass protection for now. Good pick.

30. Miami Dolphins: Noah Igbinoghene, CB Auburn — Pass

Honestly, I don’t have much here. I don’t pretend to be a guy who dives deep into the cornerback position. Twitter seems to like the pick, so I’ll roll with it.

31. Minnesota Vikings: Jeff Gladney, CB, TCU — Pass

Ditto what I said above. He was graded as a first-rounder. He went in the first round. Good for me, especially because it fills a big need for the Vikings.

32. Kansas City Chiefs: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, LSU — Fail

WHY WHY WHY? Don’t draft a running back in the first round!

It’s so counter to everything the Chiefs and Andy Reid have done. I don’t get it.

[bgb16999]

Repeated viewings and horror

     I was listening to a discussion recently about sequels to horror movies.  Several of the participants in the discussion asserted that a sequel featuring the same villain couldn’t be as scary as the original, because “once you’ve seen the villain, they stop being scary.”  The same people also claimed that any work of horror fiction would not be as good the second time you read/watch it, for the same reason.

     Upon hearing this assertion, I thought about my favorite works of horror, and I don’t believe that assertion is true.  In fact, I think the best horror gets better upon repeated viewings, not worse.  Of course, since I barely every watch movies, my favorites are all plays and musicals.    

     Let’s start with one of my favorites: Sondheim, Bond, and Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd.  We get to see the villainous title character in the very first song, and he remains on stage for much of the show.  Yet, the aura of terror he projects is not in any way “diminished by overexposure.”  Instead, we get to see the inner workings of Benjamin Barker’s mind.  We see as he progresses from a refugee just trying to find his family, to someone who will kill to silence blackmail, and then to being driven to kill by revenge.  Seeing everything unfold only adds to the dramatic power when we witness Todd’s ultimate change in heart, as he concludes “they all deserve to die.”

     Jumping to a slightly more recent example, from the first moment we see Thomas Parker in Laurence O’Keefe’s Bat Boy, there is no question as to what kind of a person Parker is.  The very first thing we see Thomas do is threaten to kill his wife’s son in front of her unless she has sex with him right away.  There really is no doubt in the audience’s mind that he is the villain of the story.  And when he concocts his Grand Plan, he doesn’t hide it from the audience; he sings his plan to us as he is thinking of it.  The people he does keep it a secret from are the rest of the cast.

     That means that when Parker kills his first victim, we know why he’s doing it, and we know how he intends to frame his step-son for the killing.  Had we just seen him start randomly killing people, or had we seen minor characters start dropping dead without knowing who the killer was, the show wouldn’t have had the same effect.  Ruthie Taylor, Parker’s first victim, is not a particularly important character.  We don’t really know much about her.  The reason we care about her death isn’t that we’ve lost a major character (since we haven’t), it’s because we care about the killer’s motivations and objective.  Knowing who the killer is from the beginning makes Parker a better horror villain.

     And since we know what Thomas Parker’s plan is all along, he is no less powerful the 10th time you’ve watched the show as the first time.  Between the first time I saw Bat Boy and the second, I listened to the music more times than I’d like to admit, and my appreciation for Parker as an antagonist only increased on subsequent viewings.

     Stepping back in time a few centuries, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth both contain elements of what would later become the horror genre.  Both of these plays have been analyzed extensively by people who write much better than me, so no analysis I give of them would offer new insights.  Yet, these proto-horror plays have remained popular centuries after their original production.  That fact indicates that repeated readings/viewings of Hamlet and Macbeth do not diminish their appeal.  

     Jumping forwards in time again, let’s consider Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s Pulitzer Prize winning Next to Normal.  Even though he is in some ways a symptom of a real mental illness, Gabe has many characteristics of the classic horror villain. He cannot be destroyed, and always comes back to haunt the protagonist. Even when Diana loses her memory of everything else, Gabe finds a way back to remind her of him. And, as he says himself, Gabe "feed[s] on the fear that's behind your eyes." Nevertheless, Gabe is present on stage for the entire show. The fact that Gabe is always visible is what gives him his power as a psychological horror villain. The reason he is scarey such a strong antagonist is because you can't get rid of him. Like Di herself, the audience sees that Gabe is always there, always present, always talking. He cannot be forgotten, and there is no escape. By making sure the audience sees Gabe all the time, the writers give the audience a sense of what life is like for Diana. By seeing, and not merely being told, what Di is experiencing, the audience can understand why having to see Gabe all the time is such a debilitating mental illness. Even when Di herself leaves, Dan still sees Gabe, "the one who's always been there." Had the writers decided to keep him off-stage for most of the show, we wouldn't get to see inside Diana's mind, and the impact of the story would be nullified. Being a constant visible presence doesn't weaken him from "overexposure," it makes him into a worthy antagonist. 

     I’d be remiss not to mention the two modern musicals which have “horror” in their titles, even though I am not sure that either are actually horror. The first is Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s Little Shop of Horrors.  As in the previous examples, the villain in this play is on stage the entire time.

In Litte Shop, we get to see Seymour's progression from an ordinary person, to someone who is willing to kill if the person he is killing is really bad, to someone who is willing to kill his surrogate father to cover his own tracks. Then we get to seem his decision to continue killing at all costs, to keep his romantic relationship, before ultimately feeling remorse and trying in vain to redeem himself. Through everything that happens, the Audrey II is onstage, either in Seymour's hand or in the background. Even for scenes not set in the shop, many productions keepy the larger Audrey II puppets on set for the later parts of Act I and all of Act II. Seymour is onstage most of the time because the story is told from his perspective. Like Sweeney Todd before him, the fact that we get to see Seymour's motivations is what makes him a powerful character. And like with Gabriel Goodman, the Audrey II's precense continuous precense onstage allows the audience to feel the protagonist's inescapable horror. Even when Seymour is nowhere near the plant, he still has thoughts about the Audrey II in the back of his mind. In the show, by keeping the Audrey II onstage the entire time, we are getting a window into Seymour's mind, in which the evil alien plant is always present. Once again, prolonged exposure makes the antagonist a more powerful villain, not less.

The other famous musical with "horror" in the title is The Rocky Horror Show. There isn't really a "villain" in Rocky Horror. However, this show does present a nice counterexample to those who claim that horror loses its power upon repeated viewings. Whilst the original Rocky Horror Show has only moderate popularity, the film adaptions has a cult following, with people rewatching it year after year. The fact that rewatching the Picture Show continues to be popular speaks for itself.

     There may be some works of horror which rely on a shock value that is diminished if the audience has seen it before.  I contend, however, that that is a weakness of those particular works of fiction, not of horror as a whole.

[unifiedsocialblog]

11 Movies + TV Series Every Social Media Marketer Should Watch

The greatest education is often wrapped in entertainment, which is why Bill Nye the Science Guy made a deeper impression on me than any real-life science teacher ever did.

And when it comes to social media marketing, you’re in luck: there are a ton of valuable lessons to be gleaned from pop culture.

Here are nine movies and two TV series that every social media marketer should watch.

Bonus: Want to know how a viral social video creator makes millions of dollars in sales? Download the free guide now.

11 movies and TV series for social media managers

1. Eighth Grade (2018)

Simultaneously heartwarming and excruciating to watch (especially if you were ever a teenage girl), this movie follows quiet, sensitive 13-year-old Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) over her last week of eighth grade.

Social media is a constant presence in Kayla’s life, as she takes Snapchat selfies, uploads videos to her YouTube channel, or scrolls mindlessly through Instagram. For Kayla, social media is a source of anxiety, but it’s also an escape.

Eighth Grade really captures what life is like for the Gen Z teens who have never known a world before social media, and how hard it is for adults (like Kayla’s father) to understand their relationship to it. And while plenty of films capture the dark side of social media, Eighth Grade also shows that it’s a place where shy, awkward teens feel like they can express themselves and explore their identities.

If you want to understand how the average teenager is using social media, this movie is your field guide.

2. The American Meme (2018)

This Netflix documentary explores the seedy underbelly of internet fame and influencer culture.

It focuses on four social media celebrities—Paris Hilton , former Vine star Brittany Furlan, Josh Ostrovsky (a.k.a. The Fat Jewish), and Kirill Bichutsky— who talk candidly about the ways that fame has messed with their personal relationships and mental health.

The American Meme reveals the real people behind their carefully-constructed online personas, and the disconnect is striking. Even though these stars have tremendous influence and massive followings, they all experience feeling isolated, trapped and alone.

Considering that many Millennials would choose fame over a career or a college education, this movie should be required viewing for anyone who idolizes internet fame.

3. A Simple Favor (2018)

In this twisted, funny thriller, Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie, a “mommy vlogger” who befriends Emily (Blake Lively), a glamorous, successful PR executive, after their sons meet at school. After a few weeks of arranging playdates for their kids and drinking martinis in the afternoon, Emily suddenly disappears and Stephanie launches her own amateur investigation into what happened to her.

The two women are contrasts in how social media can be used to hide.

Emily is completely offline: she has no internet presence, and she refuses to even let Stephanie take her photo. In the words of her husband (played by Henry Golding, fulfilling his moral obligation to take his shirt off in every role), she is “a beautiful ghost.” In comparison, Stephanie uses her cheerful vlog full of crafts and baked goods to mask her own dark secrets.

You could take a few lessons from this movie (and its marketing) on how to stoke excitement and anticipation with a social media campaign. Blake Lively set off a flurry of interest when she deleted all of her Instagram photos and began only following accounts that shared her character’s name.

But you can also just turn off your brain and enjoy it for Emily’s wardrobe of incredible three-piece suits. Your call!

4. The Joneses (2009)

While this movie came out before Instagram even existed, it’s shockingly relevant to our era of social media influencers and #sponcon. It follows the Jones “family”, who are actually an unrelated group of stealth marketers. Their job is to use their social influence in order to convince friends and neighbors to buy things, from frozen food to golf clubs.

If you’ve ever bought a top because it looked great on your most stylish friend (or your favorite Instagrammer), you’ll understand the premise of this movie. Influencer marketing is a powerful tool because people make purchasing decisions based on the opinions of real people who they trust and admire.

The Jones family begins to fracture when they start realizing that they don’t believe in the integrity of what they’re selling. Similarly, when working with an influencer, it’s important to make sure your values are aligned.

Compromising what you believe in may help you make a quick sale, but it will ultimately erode your followers’ trust in you, and damage your reputation.

5. Moneyball (2011)

A sports movie that’s secretly a movie about analytics! That’s a spicy bait-and-switch.

Moneyball is based on the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the Oakland Athletics coach who had to build a strong baseball team without the money to hire top-ranked players. To do it, he hired Peter Brand (baby-faced Jonah Hill), a young analyst who proposed a new strategy: recruiting players using data about their in-game activity, rather than relying on the recommendations of baseball scouts.

While there’s no actual social media in this movie (Brad Pitt, sadly, never takes a single selfie for the ‘gram), it’s a perfect analogy for the value of data in crafting your perfect strategy. The Oakland A’s were failing by trying to use methods that worked for other teams, rather than measuring and understanding what could work for them. When they started recruiting strategically, they started winning.

Many companies try to find success by copying what’s worked for a competitor, rather than looking at what works best for them. There are many ways to refine your marketing strategy with data, like running A/B tests and researching your target audiences.

Another tip from Moneyball? Assess your marketing strategy as a whole (your baseball team) rather than focusing on stand-alone pieces (your individual players), so you can understand how the pieces fit together.

6. Ingrid Goes West (2017)

In this very dark comedy, the mentally unstable Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza) becomes infatuated with Taylor (Elizabeth Olsen), an influencer from LA who chronicles her glamorous beachy life on Instagram.

Ingrid packs up her bags and follows her new obsession to California, where she studies Taylor’s social media for clues to where she lives, shops, and eats, eventually manipulating her way into a real-life friendship.

Despite the time that Ingrid and Taylor spend together and the Coachella Valley photos they tag each other in, they never actually get to know each other. Ingrid is fixated on Taylor’s lifestyle and image, but doesn’t notice or care that the real Taylor is vapid and flaky.

“Why are you acting like this?” Ingrid’s quasi-boyfriend Dan asks. “You don’t even like these people!”

Both of them are so busy curating their own images that they never look deeper. It’s a reminder that you can’t build real relationships (with customers or with Instagram stalkers) if you’re 100 percent focused on your own content. You also need to engage meaningfully and show real personality. As Ingrid finds out (spoiler alert!), being fake only works for so long.

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7. You (2018)

Continuing the stalker theme, You is a series best summarized as “Pretty Little Liars + Gossip Girl + murder.” If that phrase is meaningless to you, trust me when I say it’s an immensely entertaining combination.

Told from the point of view of Joe (played by Penn Badgley), a bookstore manager with an inexplicably spacious New York apartment, You is about his all-consuming obsession with a pretty blonde customer who wanders into his shop. He promptly Googles her name (Guinevere Beck, played by Elizabeth Lail) and finds her Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and home address—a stalking starter kit.

This is all in the first ten minutes; the rest of You chronicles Joe’s deranged efforts to attain a romantic relationship with Beck by any means necessary, including extreme measures like voluntarily assembling IKEA furniture and murdering her ex-boyfriend.

You is trashy fun, but it will also make you think twice about privacy and security settings.

When Joe steals Beck’s phone so he can read her email and monitor her text conversations, you’ll be screaming, “Why don’t you have a passcode?” at the TV. Soothe your resulting paranoia with these social media security tips.

8. The Circle (2017)

In this thriller adapted from the Dave Eggers’ novel, Emma Watson plays Mae, a young employee of a tech company called The Circle, which is helmed by CEO Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks).

The Circle is a Facebook-esque company that encourages both employees and users to embrace absolute transparency and share everything about their lives. Mae embraces the company’s values, and chooses to broadcast her life 24/7 through a wearable camera, despite the fact that it makes her friends and family uncomfortable.

The movie is a cautionary tale about what happens when users lose faith in tech companies, and underlines the difference between choosing to share your personal data with the world and having it shared without your consent. It’s a reminder to brands that building trust and championing integrity should be an essential part of your strategy.

9. Up in the Air (2009)

In this comedy, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a travelling consultant for a job he loves: flying around the country firing employees for other companies.

It sounds bleak, and the employees he meets are understandably distraught, but Ryan really believes in what he’s doing. He wants to convince them that losing their job is a good thing in the long run, because it’s freeing them to do something that actually makes them happy.

It’s surprising this works—ask yourself if you’d really believe someone who told you, as they were firing you, that it was a gift—and part of the magic is definitely George Clooney’s charm. But the other reason it works is that Ryan is helping people through a tough moment by offering them comfort, honesty and encouragement. There’s a lot to learn about navigating difficult conversations.

Every company will eventually face an uncomfortable situation, whether that’s unhappy customers or PR disasters. But if you treat your customers with empathy and compassion, you can have a positive impact. When Ryan’s new colleague introduces a digital system of performing the layoffs remotely, it fails because it’s impersonal and scripted.

10. Black Mirror (2011-2019)

The episodes in this sci-fi anthology range from funny to touching to (mostly) very disturbing.

Each one takes place in the present, or a very near future, and explores the possible consequences of technologies like social media, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. Every episode stands alone, so you can start anywhere in the series, and all of them will give you a lot to think about.

Nosedive is one of the lighter episodes, and one of my favorites. It imagines a world where every single personal interaction can be rated on an app (like Instagram combined with the Uber’s five-star rating system).

High ratings give users privileges, like express lines at the airport; low ratings come with penalties.

Because of the system, everyone is incentivized to be polite, friendly and totally shallow. Everyone is nice, but they’re also being painfully inauthentic, and the result is a world you definitely wouldn’t want to live in.

11. FYRE (2019)

The subtitle for this Netflix documentary says it all: Fyre Festival was “the greatest party that never happened.”

A destination music festival in the Bahamas dreamed up by entrepreneur (and scammer) Billy McFarland and Ja Rule sold thousands of pricey tickets with the promise of a luxury festival filled with swimsuit models and beach-front cabanas.

Fyre was promoted almost entirely through an Instagram influencer campaign, with an early boost by a promotional video that featured celebrities like Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner frolicking on the beach. The chance to party with Instagram celebrities on a white-sand beach was irresistible, and the festival quickly sold 5,000 tickets.

But behind the scenes, the FyreFestival team was scrambling with logistics and insufficient funds, unable to deliver on the extravagant promises they had made to attendees. Even as it became obvious that Fyre Festival would fail, they continued posting luxurious and misleading photos on Instagram, promising a world-class experience.

When festival-goers arrived, they found wet mattresses, hurricane relief tents, and not a single bikini-clad Victoria’s Secret Model. All the bands had pulled out abruptly and the influencers had stayed home. Instead of the “Bahama-style sushi” they were promised, they were fed infamously sad sandwiches.

Here's the dinner they fed us tonight. Literally slices of bread, cheese, and salad with no dressing. #fyrefraud #fyrefestival #dumpsterfyre pic.twitter.com/NmNXakSFlq

— Trevor DeHaas (@trev4president) April 28, 2017

As stranded attendees began posting panicked tweets, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Messages, the entire world saw the Fyre Festival implode in real-time on social media.

The Fyre fyasco is the most obvious reminder in recent history that faking it on social media will always come back to bite you. Unless you’re the Oceans 8 crew, all scams are eventually discovered (hello, free bikini offers on Instagram). Even if you don’t end up going to prison like Billy McFarland, you’ll erode your customer’s trust and ruin your reputation.

If one documentary isn’t enough to sate your curiosity, Hulu also released a documentary just weeks before Netflix, called Fyre Fraud.

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