History of Mass Media: Radio & Sound Recording, Film, Television &

Cable TV, and Video Games

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Bachelor of Arts in Communication

Submitted to:
Ms. Shirley Nardo

A.Y. 2022 - 2023, Second Semester

Introduction to Communication Media

Anna Rose Marielene B. Silaya

Louis Gabriel M. Bernardo
Mickylla Sharee M. Pajares
Joyce Gabrielle J. Ramos
Ysabela M. Tamani
Madie D. Retiro

April 2023
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History of Radio & Sound Recording

RADIO
● In simple terms, we define radio as a sound transmission that uses radio waves to
broadcast information, but did you know that radio did not become a full-fledged mass
medium until the 1920s?
● Radio is a form of sound transmission using radio waves that often involves the
broadcasting of music, news, and other sorts of programming from a single station to a
large audience of listeners with radio receivers. It is a medium that encourages the
listener’s mind to add further details to the broadcast sounds.

History of Radio
● German physicist and experimentalist Heinrich Hertz confirmed that the electromagnetic
waves James Clerk Maxwell predicted truly exist. Then came in the picture a young
Italian named Gugliemo Marconi, who then invented what he dubbed the “wireless
telegraph” in 1895. He transmitted Morse code using radio waves, and the device he
employed became known as the radio.

Guglielmo Marconi (25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937)

● At the age of 20, Marconi had developed a strong interest in the studies of Heinrich
Hertz, who had discovered and first produced radio waves in 1888. Marconi believed
that communication among people was possible via wireless radio signals. In 1895, he
began experimenting at his father’s home in Pontecchio, where he was soon able to
broadcast signals across one as a half mile. He kept working on his invention, and in
1897 he got the official British patent for the radio, which was first a wireless telegraph
system. (Wireless telegraph - a form of voiceless point-to-point communication.)

Radio in Titanic
● Issues with radio played a significant role in the Titanic catastrophe, which occurred in
April 1912, when the British passenger liner sank after colliding with an iceberg in the
mid-Atlantic. Bringing death to 1,514 passengers and crew members.
● The problem on radio and other factors slowed and complicated the rescue, resulting in
the deaths of 1,514 passengers and crew members and virtually sealing the fates of
those who did survive. Although the Titanic’s owners boasted that it was the most
contemporary ship of its time, the Marconi radio equipment installed in the weeks before
the disaster was already antiquated. It was not, contrary to popular belief, the greatest
radio technology available. (Pittsburgh, 2012). Yet, Marconi used his patent, research,
and monopoly strength to keep alternative systems at bay.
● Following the Titanic investigation, which discovered that radio interference led to delays
in rescue operations, Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912 and revisions to the
Wireless Ship Act of 1910 to regulate transmissions. The Radio Act of 1912 mandated

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that all radio operators be federally licensed, and that all ships keep a constant radio
alert for distress signals.
● The New York Times said May 2: “Over 1,500 lives were lost that might have been saved
if the wireless communication had been what it should have been.”
● The Titanic tragedy highlights broadcasting concerns and monopoly restrictions early in
technological adaptation cycles. The Titanic, in effect, exploited wireless technology that
was soon becoming obsolete. Yet, American Marconi and its British company were
infamous for technological conservatism, particularly in their use of a fast obsolescent
approach to radio communications – the spark transmitter. Continuous wave, high
frequency transmissions had been possible and significantly more efficient from at least
1906.

Wireless Telephony: De Forest and Fessenden

Lee De Forest (26 August 1873 - 30 June 1961)

● In 1902, De Forest founded the Wireless Telephone Company to contend with American
Marconi, the leader in wireless communication at the time. The latter’s focus on wireless
voice and music broadcasts, subsequently known as wireless telephony and, eventually,
radio, marked a significant distinction between Marconi and De Forest.
● Before the transistor was invented in 1947, De Forest invented the Audion vacuum tube,
which enabled live radio broadcasting and became a fundamental component of all
radio, telephone, radar, television, and computer systems (A transistor is a small
electrical device that conducts and insulates electric current or voltage).
● The Audion, or triode, vacuum tube, which detected radio signals and then amplified
them, greatly increased listeners’ ability to hear dots and dashes and, later, speech and
music on a receiver set. His innovations aided the development of voice transmission,
long-distance radio, and television. Indeed, many historians regard the Audion vacuum
tube, which powered radios until the emergence of transistors and solid-state circuits in
the 1950s, to represent the origin of contemporary electronics.

Reginald Fessenden (6 October 1866 – 22 July1932)

● The first voice broadcast was made by Canadian engineer Reginald Fessenden, who
was previously a chief chemist for Thomas Edison. Fessenden went to work for the
United States. Military, and later for General Electric (GE), where he was responsible for
improving wireless transmissions. The navy and GE were both intrigued by the
possibility of voice broadcasts.
● He gave his first public demonstration on Christmas Eve of 1906 by transmitting a voice
from his station in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. An expert on radio history explains what
happened:
“That night, ship operators and amateurs around Brant Rock heard the results:
“someone speaking!... a woman’s voice rose in song... Next someone was heard
reading a poem.” Fessenden himself played “O Holy Night” on his violin. Though
the fidelity was not all that it might be, listeners were captivated by the voices and

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notes they heard. No more would sounds be restricted to mere dots and dashes
of the Morse code.”
● Ship operators were astonished to hear voices rather than the familiar Morse code.
(Some operators thought they were having a supernatural encounter.) This event
showed that the wireless medium was moving from a point-to-point communication tool
(wireless operator to wireless operator) toward a one-to-many communication tool.
● Broadcasting, once an agricultural term that referred to the process of casting seeds
over a large area, would come to mean the transmission of radio waves (and, later, TV
signals) to a broad public audience.

Timeline of Radio

● In 1914, World War I broke out in Europe and America. By then, Marconi's business was
the largest and most effective out of wireless communication businesses, having
developed a reputation for effectiveness and integrity. The U.S. Navy questioned the
appropriateness of giving a firm with foreign ownership influence. The xenophobic
attitude of the navy was used by American businesses, particularly GE and AT&T, who
were successful in reducing Marconi's influence.
● In 1917, the Navy also shutdown all amateur radio operators to ensure military security
as the United States entered the chaos.
● Marconi's assets were sold to General Electric in 1919, Radio Corporation of America
(RCA), which gave rise to NBC Radio and was run by former Marconi employee David
Sarnoff, was established. As people came to rely on radio for news and entertainment,
the radio boom started.
● During the 1920s economic boom, radios were in high demand, and social and business
structures changed to accommodate the new technology. Universities started to provide
radio-based courses, churches started to broadcast their services, and newspapers
started to tie radio broadcasts into their publications.
● When Radio Broadcast was first published in 1922, there were already 576 licensed
radio broadcasters. The cover story exalted that “government will be a living thing to its
citizens instead of an abstract and unseen force.” in the radio age.
● 1923 - A year after the radio was popularized in the public, the American Society of
Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) started collect license fees from radio
stations.
● 1933 - The Frequency Modulation Radio was patented by Edwin Armstrong. This FM
radio reduced the static and interference of radio via electrical equipment, resulting in
clearer sound.
● 1954 - Texas Instruments and the Regency Division of Industrial Development
Engineering Associates collaborated to create the first transistor radio. TI was aware that
it required a humorous product to grab the public's interest. They believed that a radio
would make a big splash. The transistors were made by TI, and the radio by Regency.
The Regency TR1 went on sale on October 18, 1954. About five inches tall, it had four
germanium transistors.

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Advantages of Transistors:

1. Often cheaper and more compact than tubes, especially in small-signal circuits.
2. Integrated circuits can be created using millions of transistors combined on a
single inexpensive die, as opposed to tubes, which can only contain three
functional units per glass bulb.
3. Require small-signal circuits, higher efficiency, lower power consumption, and
less waste heat than traditional tubes.
4. Can run on lower voltage supplies for tighter clearances, reduced costs, and
increased safety.
5. Typically, physical toughness is greater than tubes (depends upon construction).

Disadvantages of Transistors:

1. For low distortion, complicated circuitry and a lot of negative feedback are
needed.
2. Sharp clipping in a way that is often seen as being unmusical is a result of the
frequently applied significant negative feedback. Does not elegantly roll off or
compress; instead, it abruptly and forcefully cuts off with a very harsh edge.
3. With applied voltages, device capacitances frequently change dramatically (Miller
effect).
4. High manufacturing tolerances between units and unpredictable changes in vital
variables like gain and threshold voltage.
5. Temperature-dependent device factors complicate biasing and raise the risk of
thermal runaway, hotspots, and unpredictable behavior.
6. Compared to tubes, cooling is less effective since reliability demands a lower
operating temperature.

● Music and information suddenly became portable with the invention of the transistor
radio. Regardless of where you are, you could still listen to music and news.
● 1993 - Cari Malamud created Internet Talk Radio, the first radio program. This station
featured interviews of public figures in the field of Science and Technology.
● 1995 – Present - The radio sector has experienced significant changes because of
technology, including the entry of new rivals as well as opportunities for expansion. While
the internet was once held responsible for a decline in radio listeners, it has actually
assisted in introducing radio to a new audience.

In the Philippine Context

● Radio in the Philippines began in 1924, when Henry Herman Sr., proprietor of the
Electrical Supply Company in Manila, established KZKZ (AM) in Manila. Henry Herman

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was a former soldier from the United States who came to the Philippines to fight in the
Philippine-American War.
● Surprisingly, this was not the first test. According to the archives, an American woman
named Mrs. Redgrave used a five-watt transmitter to broadcast a test broadcast from
Nichols Field (now Villamor Airbase). This test may be Asia's first radio broadcast.
● Henry Herman's station began broadcasting with a 5-watt transmitter. Its power was
increased to 100 watts in 1924. Henry Herman transferred ownership of KZKZ to the
Radio Corporation of the Philippines (RCP), which he founded, on October 4, 1924. In
1926, the business began construction on two of Asia's largest radio stations with the
goal of sustaining direct Manila-San Francisco transmission. Its call sign was DWKZ
after Philippine independence, but it was changed to DZCA in 1960.
● RCP launched KZRC in Cebu with a 100-watt transmitter in 1929, but it was later sold to
store owner Isaac Beck. The Manila Broadcasting Company presently owns DYRC.
● Initially, all radio programming were in English. In the Philippines, this was the American
Colonial Era. The majority of the presentations mimicked American shows, even down to
the sponsorship.
● Radio was unregulated until 1931, when the Insular Government established the Radio
Control Board.
● DZRH is the current oldest radio station.

Call Letters from K to D

● KZ was chosen because the Philippines was a colony of America at the time. In the
United States, all radio station call letters begin with either K or W.
● Francisco Koko Trinidad, dubbed the "Father of Filipino Broadcasting," attended the
1947 International Telecommunications Union (ITU) meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
● Trinidad suggested using RP instead of KZ. The ITU, however, refuted this and replaced
KZ with the letter D.
● "D" was formerly reserved for German stations.
● During her investigation, UP Manila Professor Elizabeth Enriquez explained why
Philippine radio station call letters begin with "D" and why it actually meant
Deutscheland, or the German term for Germany.

AUDIO RECORDING

● Audio recording is one produced with a sound-recording electronic device. This includes,
but is not restricted to, recordings created by digital audio files and kept in any other
format on a computer.

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History of Audio Recording

Acoustic Era (1877 – 1925)

● In the year of 1920s, Thomas Edison gave an opening remark for the celebration, the
first sound ever recorded on earth. But little did he know, a French inventor was way
ahead of his invention by almost 20 years.

Édouard-Léon Scott De Martinville (25 APRIL 1817 – 26 APRIL 1879)

● A French printer and bookseller in Paris who sought to make Daguerreotypes of sound
designed a sound recording device. He patented it on March 25, 1857, and gave it the
name Phonautograph. It accomplished what it claimed to do: it recorded sound by
drawing a line on glass or paper that had been blackened by smoke, showing the shape
of sound waves as undulations or other deviations. It couldn't play sound back, which
may be why history hasn't spoken much about the Phonautograph (the self-writing of
sound).
● Until the year 2008, the phonautograph recordings which were submitted by Scott in the
Academy of Sciences in 1861 were scanned and reproduced by the Livermore
Laboratory in CA. The world was surprised as Scott was able to record a human voice
even before World War 1. The first break-through of his invention was in the year 1859.
A year later, on the 9th of April 1860, the first recorded human voice was official.
● The oldest audible recording of a human voice and the earliest audio recording of music
are both found on de Martinville's April 9, 1860, phonautograph recording of Au Clair de
la Lune. At first, everybody was wondering who the mystery woman could be singing in
the record, but the record was later corrected, and the voice changed into a man; who’s
probably Scott himself.
● Au Claire De La Lune (by the moonlight).
● The inspiration behind the invention of this device originates from the job industry of
Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville himself. He had an incredible new idea while reading
a book on human physiology one day in 1853 or 1854. He referred to it as “the
imprudent idea of photographing the word.”
● What’s sad about the invention of the late Scott de Martinville was that he died without
recognition in 1879.

As Edison conducted the tests that resulted in the phonograph, he was unaware of Scott's
achievement. He was also unaware of the idea made by a different Parisian, which makes one
wonder:

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Who Invented Sound Reproduction?

Charles Cros (1 October 1842 – 9 August 1888)

● Like audio recording, sound reproduction, also referred to as "playback," was

independently developed in France and the US. Just a few weeks before Thomas
Edison initially conceived of the phonograph, Parisian Charles Cros wrote down an idea
to replay the sounds contained in Scott's recordings.
● Weeks before Thomas Edison independently came to the same conclusion that he could
build devices to "store up and reproduce automatically at any future time the human
voice," Cros jotted down this idea on a sheet of paper, sealed it into an envelope, and
deposited it with the French Academy of Sciences in April 1877. Cros' method required a
series of photographic and chemical engraving processes; Edison's purely mechanical
approach required none of that. Edison had the means to prototype Cros' invention while
he lacked them.
● As word of Edison's phonograph reached Paris, Cros requested that the Academy open
his sealed envelope to establish the originality of his idea. Cros, however, did not
actually build what he imagined, unlike Scott and Edison. In fact, his patent application,
which was submitted in Paris a few months later, did not contain even a single sketch or
diagram to show how his concept might appear or function in actual use. Cros' concept
lacked a name for the majority of 1877, in fact. He eventually gave it the name
"paléophone" (from the Greek words "palaios" for "ancient") (voice).

Thomas Alva Edison (11 February 1847 – 18 October 1931)

● Thomas Edison, the inventor of the phonograph, launched the history of audio/sound
recording and reproduction in 1877. His device was just a sheet of tinfoil wrapped
around a cylindrical drum that could move laterally and spin when a handle was turned.
● The phonograph invented by Edison is regarded by historians as the pinnacle of 19th
century innovation. But Scott's phonautograph was all but forgotten until lately. Scott's
place in the history of sound recording is solidly established by the recent unearthing of
his recordings in French archives and the listening to those recordings by American
researchers.
● The first and most recognizable audio ever recorded on Edison’s phonograph is the
nursery rhyme “Mary had a little lamb”.

Alexander Graham Bell (3 March 1847 – 2 August 1922)

● Ten years after the discovery of the phonograph, Alexander Graham Bell and his
associates realized the tinfoil material was frail and was not usable and improved the
invention, leading to the wax cylinder phonograph. The soft tinfoil-covered fixed drum
gave way to a removable hard wax cylinder. The recorded sound became recognizable
as recording and reproducing heads advanced. Bell's invention turned out to be a lot
more resilient and received well by the public. The capability of automatic playback and

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recording was another crucial element that facilitated the increase in its popularity. The
cylinder had to be manually spun in Edison's design, whereas Bell's design had a
wind-up clockwork driving mechanism that allowed for automated spinning.
● Graphophone records and playback sound.

Emile Berliner (20 May 1851 - 3 August 1929)

● The biggest invention, however, was created in 1887 by American inventor Emile
Berliner. He came up with a method for producing discs with flat surfaces, and he called
his graphophone design that made use of this disc as a gramophone.

Advantages of Gramophone:

1. Both the competition between Edison and Bell involved the usage of a wax
cylinder that would be vertically carved to match the sound waves.
2. Discs did not require storage boxes and could be placed vertically in a compact
space.
3. Discs featured a blank center region where the title, performer, and disc number
could be etched or, on later discs, a permanent paper label could be applied.

Gramophone continued in dominating the industry until the 1980s after its
introduction in the 1950s with vinyl.

Electrical Era (1925 – 1945)

● The acoustic methods of sound recording mentioned above started to give way to more
electrically oriented techniques.
● The introduction of electrical recording enabled all the big labels to start employing
microphones in studio sessions. Acoustic recordings could no longer compete with their
electrically recorded counterparts due to the clearer tone compared to acoustic
recordings, hence all the major labels switched to electrical recordings.
● Edward Wente's Condenser Microphone was used by Bell Telephone Laboratories,
under the direction of Western Electric engineers, Henry Harrison and Joseph Maxfield,
to create an electrical phonograph recording device.
● Instead of recording audio, Western Electric offered the technology to record labels.
● The Western Electric technology significantly increased the replicable frequency range to
a considerably wider band (between 60 Hz and 6000 Hz), boosting the fidelity of sound
recording, and enabling a new class of professionals—the audio engineer—to better
capture a sound on record.
● The Victor Talking Machine Corporation made the first electrical recording of a symphony
orchestra in April 1925 using this technology.
● Acoustic instruments like guitars and string basses may now compete with louder
instruments in recordings thanks to amplifiers.
● Loudspeakers were also invented in 1925 and remained unchanged for 90 years.

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Magnetic Era (1925 – 1945)

● Magnetic tape recording was discovered in German territory at the close of World War II
and was made known to the rest of the world. Another notable improvement in audio
fidelity came from magnetic tape.
● The development of multitrack tape recording for music, the first hi-fi stereo recordings
for the domestic market, and the end of the disc as the main mastering medium for
sound were all influenced by the widespread use of magnetic tape as the standard
medium for audio master recording in the radio and music industries.
● Also, it allowed for recordings with higher fidelity and longer endurance than ever before.
It was now simple to modify, edit, and combine recorded sounds in ways that were
simply not conceivable with disc recordings. Composers, producers, engineers, and
performers were able to achieve previously unachievable levels of intricacy thanks to
magnetic tape, which fueled a rapid and radical development in the sophistication of
popular music and other genres.

The Digital Era (1975 – Present)

● The history of audio recording has undergone the fastest, most dramatic, and most
extensive set of changes throughout the "digital" era. Digital recording, in contrast to all
prior technologies, which caught a continuous analog of the sounds being recorded,
captures sound through an extremely quick and dense series of discrete samples of the
sound. These audio samples are merged to create a continuous stream of sound when
they are played back through a digital-to-analog converter.

Historical Audio Recordings in the Philippines

1. President Manuel Roxas’ last speech (1948).

➔ Clark Airfield was visited by President Manuel Roxas on April 15, 1948. He gave
out a speech to mark the friendship between Americans and Filipinos which
turned out to be his last.
➔ The 56-year-old president unexpectedly became unwell shortly after giving his
speech and passed away a few hours later. His last words were printed on the
main page of the Manila Times after his final statement.
2. President Manuel Quezon’s “Message to My People” (circa 1920s).
➔ President Quezon gave this address when he was first diagnosed with
tuberculosis and believed he didn't have much longer to live. It is regarded as
one of his final recorded speeches and one of the most inspirational.

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➔ The speech served as a reminder of the length of time and bloodshed it took for
us to gain our own independence.
3. “Arimunding-Munding” by Jovita Fuentes (circa 1925).
➔ A well-known Filipino folk song about love and romance during the American era
was "Arimunding-Munding." The renowned Jovita Fuentes, referred to in history
as the "First Lady of Philippine Music" and the first Filipino opera star, was one of
many who sang it.
➔ Jovita won several awards in recognition of her accomplishments and
contributions to music, including the "Embahadora de Filipinas a su Madre
Patria" from Spain and a Presidential Medal of Merit in Music in 1958. In 1976,
she was named a National Artist for music.

History of Television & Cable TV

Television - A system of broadcasting and receiving moving visual images and sound over a
distance through electromagnetic waves.

Cable TV - It is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via a network of

coaxial cables.

Difference of Television and Cable TV - Television and cable TV are related concepts, but
there are some key differences between the two:

1. Broadcasting method: Television broadcasts programming over the airwaves using

radio frequencies, while cable TV delivers programming through a wired connection via a
network of coaxial cables.
2. Availability: Television broadcasts are available to anyone with an antenna, while cable
TV requires a subscription to a cable company or telecommunications provider.
3. Programming options: Television broadcasts typically offer a limited number of
channels, while cable TV provides access to a wide range of programming options,
including local and national broadcast channels, premium channels, and specialty
channels.
4. Picture and sound quality: Cable TV typically offers higher picture and sound quality
than television broadcasts, which can be subject to interference or signal loss.
5. Cost: Television broadcasts are free, while cable TV requires a subscription fee.

Importance of Television and Cable TV

Television and cable TV are important forms of media that have a significant impact on
our daily lives. They provide a platform for news, entertainment, education, and cultural
exchange. Through television, people can stay informed about local and global events, and

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cable TV offers a wide range of channels and programming options to suit different interests and
preferences. Cable TV also supports local and national economies by creating jobs and
generating revenue. Overall, television and cable TV are crucial components of modern
communication and play a vital role in shaping our society.

History of Television

The Etymology of “Television”

The term "television" was coined in 1907 to describe a theoretical device that would
transmit images across telegraph or telephone wires. However, early experiments into television
actually used radio waves. Although other terms were used to describe specific components of
electronic television systems, "television" was the term that stuck. Today, the meaning of
"television" has expanded to include serialized entertainment that can be watched on a variety
of devices, including phones, computers, and projectors. In recent years, the majority of
Americans have watched television directly from the internet.

The Mechanical Television System

John Logie Baird created the first mechanical television system in 1925, which used a
spinning disk to capture images and transmit them through radio waves. By 1928, the world's
first television station was established, broadcasting 24 vertical lines at 20 frames per second.
The use of Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) marked the evolution of the modern electronic television,
which was pioneered by Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworykin.

Who Invented the first TV?

Traditionally, a self-taught boy from Idaho named Philo Farnsworth is credited for having
invented the first TV.

How the first Electronic Television Camera came to be

Philo Farnsworth claimed to have designed the first electronic television receiver at the
age of 14, but he is officially credited with creating a functioning "image dissector" at the age of
21. This device captured images similar to modern digital cameras and converted them to
electrical waves without the need for a mechanical device. Farnsworth's invention led to the
creation of the first all-electronic television system.

Zworykin’s Role in the Developing Television

Vladimir Zworykin, who fled to America during the Russian Civil War, was quickly
employed by Westinghouse's electrical engineering firm. He began patenting his work on

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displaying television images via Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), although he had not yet been able
to capture images as well as he could display them. In 1929, Zworykin joined the Radio
Corporation of America, where he developed a simple color television system. Although he
believed the best camera would also use CRTs, he was never able to make it work.

When was TV invented?

In 1927, the first TV was invented. For decades after, these electronic televisions
changed very little.

When was the First Television Broadcast?

Georges Rignoux and A. Fournier's broadcast of a single line in Paris in 1909 was
technically the first television broadcast, but it wasn't until John Logie Baird's demonstration of
his mechanical television on March 25, 1925, that audiences were truly amazed. Early television
broadcasts were infrequent and often centered around high-profile events, such as King George
VI's coronation in 1937. The first outdoor television broadcast was the opening of the 1939 New
York World's Fair, which included a speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a cameo by
Albert Einstein. NBC had a regular two-hour broadcast every afternoon by that time and was
watched by about 19,000 people in New York City.

The First Television Networks

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was the first television network in the US,
starting as a series of radio stations in 1926. After regularly broadcasting television in 1939, the
network continued to do so every day. However, it faced competition from the Columbia
Broadcasting System (CBS), which started broadcasting all-electronic television systems in
1939, and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which had to break off from NBC to
form its own network in 1943 due to concerns of a monopoly in television. The three networks
dominated television broadcasting for forty years. In contrast, the publicly-owned British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was the only television station in England, starting in 1929 with
John Logie Baird's experiments but officially forming the Television Service in 1936 and
remaining the only network until 1955.

TV Becomes Mainstream: The Post-War Boom

After the Second World War, a newly invigorated middle class caused a boom in sales of
television sets, and television stations began to broadcast around the clock worldwide.

When did Color TV come out?

Television systems were able to broadcast and receive color earlier than expected, with
patents dating back to the 19th century and John Baird broadcasting from a color television

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system in the 1930s. A standardized system for television broadcasts was developed by the
National Television System Committee (NTSC) in 1941, but it wasn't until 12 years later that
they agreed upon a standard for color television. However, the problem faced by television
networks was that color broadcasting required extra radio bandwidth, which the FCC decided
needed to be separate from black and white television. The NTSC standard was first used for
the "Tournament of Roses Parade" in 1954, but only a few systems were able to receive the
color broadcast because a specific receiver was required.

The First TV Remote Control

While the first remote controls were intended for military use, controlling boats and
artillery from a distance, entertainment providers soon considered how radio and television
systems might use the technology.

Digital Television System

Television broadcasts have historically been analog, meaning that the radio wave
transmitted contains the information needed to create a picture and sound. Digital broadcasts,
however, alternate between two forms that can be interpreted as zeros and ones, requiring
encoding and decoding of information. Digital broadcast was experimented with by engineers
due to the rise of low-cost, high-power computing, but was limited by the higher bandwidth and
computing power required. Compression algorithms improved the efficiency of data
transmission, leading to the widespread adoption of digital broadcast through cable television in
the mid-1990s. As of July 2021, no television station in the United States broadcasts in analog.

First Satellite TV

Satellite television began on July 12, 1962, when the Telstar 1 satellite sent images from
Maine to France. Three years later, the first commercial satellite was launched for broadcasting.
Satellite television allowed networks to broadcast worldwide and offer subscription services.
Cable channels like Home Box Office pioneered direct payment from consumers instead of
external advertising. In June 1967, the BBC broadcasted "Our World," the first live satellite
event watchable worldwide that featured the Beatles' "All You Need is Love."

The Constant Rise and Fall of 3D Television

This passage discusses the history of 3D television, a technology that conveys depth
perception using specialized screens or glasses. The idea of 3D television has been around for
a long time, with the first example coming from John Baird's labs in 1928. In the early 2010s,
there was a surge of excitement for 3D television, with the introduction of the DVB-3D standard
and electronics companies rushing to get their products into homes. However, the popularity of
3D television quickly faded, and by 2017, major companies such as Sony and LG announced
they would no longer support 3D. Despite this, the author suggests that someone may take

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COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MEDIA

another shot at 3D television in the future, but by then, television may be something entirely
different.

LCD/LED Systems

The limitations of Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) led television manufacturers to look for
new technologies, and the invention of low-cost microchips and small components brought
about Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology, which uses a backlight and individually
controllable crystals to present images. LCDs are thinner, lighter, and cheaper to run than CRTs,
and do not suffer from burn-in. In contrast, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) use small diodes that
emit light when electricity passes through them and do not require a backlight. Although LCDs
are currently more popular and cheaper to produce, the advantages of LED technology may
lead to it taking over the market in the future.

Netflix, Amazon and the New Television Networks

In the late 1990s, a new subscription video rental service called Netflix emerged, which
operated without any physical stores and relied on people returning their DVDs by mail. In 2007,
they started offering online streaming of movies, which quickly became popular and attracted
7.5 million subscribers by the end of the year. However, this led to tensions with television
networks who saw Netflix as a threat to their business. To address this, Netflix began producing
its own content such as "Daredevil" and "House of Cards," which became very successful and
cemented Netflix as a competitor in the television network industry. In 2021, Netflix spent $17
billion on original content, and other companies such as Amazon have followed in producing
their own original content.

The Future of Television

The rise of streaming as a form of entertainment has been significant, with over a quarter
of the audience’s viewing habits now being dedicated to streaming. However, this is more about
the technology used to access television than the medium itself. Traditional television
programming, such as dramas and cooking shows, is still popular and not going anywhere.
Despite the initial slow reaction of the major networks to the internet, they have now established
their own streaming services. Additionally, advancements in technology, such as virtual reality,
will ensure that television continues to evolve in the future.

Key figures in the development of TV:

1. John Logie Baird — Pioneered early mechanical TV;

2. Philo Farnsworth — Developed electronic television system;
3. Vladimir Zworykin — Developed the cathode ray tube;
4. David Sarnoff — Established commercial TV in the US; and
5. Ruper Murdoch — Built a media empire that includes satellite and cable TV networks.

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COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MEDIA

History of Cable TV

● Founder of Cable TV
○ John Walson Sr.—One of the first cable operators in the United States.
■ Born in Forrest City, Pennsylvania
■ A physician but later on rekindled his interest with electricity, then became
one of the first cable operators.
■ His cable television company is called Service Electric Cable TV, and was
one of the first pioneering companies to establish Cable TV.
○ In 1940s
■ Cable TV that was before known as “Community Antennas” and
originated in the United States, was designed to improve the reception of
commercial broadcast in areas that cannot easily access these TV
signals. The said CATV (Community Antenna Television) was specifically
made in Arkansas, Oregon, and Pennsylvania in 1948, these areas are
considered as mountainous and geographically remote areas that is why
these CATVs were made.
■ “Community antennas” were on mountain tops or other high points areas,
then homes were connected to the antenna towers to receive broadcast
signals.
○ In 1950s
■ Cable operators started taking advantage of their capacity to pick up
broadcast signals from hundreds of miles away, serving 14,000
subscribers across 70 cable systems.
■ These "Distant signals" started to shift cable's focus away from delivering
local broadcast signals and toward offering new programming options.
○ In 1960s
■ The Community Antenna Television were introduced to metropolitan
areas where the television signal reception is degraded caused by the tall
buildings surrounding the area
■ Because of these interruptions, for the betterment of TV signals, the
Community Antennas were retransmitted through cables to subscriber’s
homes and establishments.
■ In this year also, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) placed
restrictions on the ability of these Cable TV systems to import distant
television signals. As a result of these, the development on the cable
systems got slower and lasted till the 70s.
○ In 1970s
■ The FCC continued its restrictive policies by enacting regulations that
limited the ability of cable operators to offer movies, sporting events, and
syndicated programming.
■ Over the course of the decade, regulations on cable continued to be
loosened as a consequence of coordinated industry initiatives at the

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federal, state, and local levels. Along with these modifications and cable's
invention of satellite communications technology
■ It also led Charles Dolan and Gerald Levin of Sterling Manhattan Cable to
introduce the first pay-TV network in the US, Home Box Office, in 1972.
(HBO).
■ A countrywide satellite distribution network using a recently authorized
domestic satellite broadcast was developed as a result of this endeavor.
The business was drastically altered by satellites, which opened the door
for the rapid expansion of program networks.
■ By the end of the decade, the growth had resumed and nearly 16 million
households were cable subscribers.
○ In 1980s
■ From 1984 through 1992, the industry spent more than $15 billion on the
wiring of America, and billions more on program development. This was
also because of the 1984 Cable Act, which had established a favorable
frame of work for the industry.
■ The combination of satellite distribution and the federal government's
easing of cable's strict regulations framework allowed the cable business
to grow into a significant player in the provision of consumers with
high-quality video information and entertainment.
○ In 1990s
■ Congress passed legislation in 1992 in response to rising cable prices
and other market factors, which once more hindered cable growth and
made previously "exclusive" cable programming available to other
competing distribution technologies like "wireless cable" and the rapid
growth of direct satellite broadcast (DBS) industry.
■ But this did not stop the growth of Cable TV, by the end of 1995 there
were about 139 cable programming services that’s available nationwide.
■ Also, in the second half of the decade, cable operating firms started a
significant upgrade of their distribution networks by constructing hybrid
fiber-coaxial networks with increased capacity. With a single line into the
home, these "broadband" networks can deliver multichannel television,
two-way voice, high-speed Internet access, high definition and advanced
digital video services.
■ The upgrade to broadband networks enabled cable companies to
introduce high-speed Internet access to customers in the mid-90s, and
competitive local telephone and digital cable services later in the decade.
■ The Telecommunications Act of 1996's passage once again
fundamentally transformed the regulatory and governmental framework
for telecommunications services, resulting in increased customer choice
and new competition.
■ The cable industry was able to accelerate the deployment of broadband
services thanks to a generally liberal economic environment for cable

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operating and programming companies. This gave consumers in urban,

suburban, and rural areas more options for information, communications,
and entertainment services.
■ In the middle of the 1990s, cheaper digital set-top boxes started to spread
in consumers' homes, and they were successful in facilitating the
introduction of numerous new video services.
○ In 2000s and beyond
■ Cable companies started experimenting with video services that could
alter how people watch television as the new millennium got underway.
They include interactive TV, video on demand, and video on demand with
a subscription.
■ Due to the high expense of upgrading customer-premise technology to be
compatible with these services and the need for new, elaborate, and
expensive business models, the industry was gradually shifting in these
areas.
■ But, in general, more expensive technology would still be needed for
cable to start delivering new developments like high definition television
services, which are being gradually adopted by cable networks like HBO,
Showtime, Discovery, and ESPN as well as by off-air broadcast stations.
■ A "plug-and-play" agreement between the consumer electronics and
cable industries was achieved at the end of 2002, enabling "one-way"
digital television sets to be connected to cable systems directly without
the use of a set-top box. Digital Cable Ready television sets are the name
given to these new sets in advertising (DCRs).
■ The digital TV transition leapt forward in 2003, as substantial gains were
made in the deployment of High-Definition Television (HDTV),
Video-On-Demand (VOD), digital cable, and other advanced services
■ Results from the third quarter of 2005 offer convincing proof of the
potential for development in cable's new role as a broadband provider.
○ Today
■ Millions of users now have access to digital telephone service, Internet
connectivity, and video entertainment through cable. About 800
programming networks are the result of a few visionary pioneers' efforts
more than 50 years ago.

Philippine History of TV and Cable TV

● Starting sparks of the Philippine Television

○ The first official telecast in the Philippines was on Oct 23, 1953, but there were
other earlier documented experiments before that. Jose O. Nicolas was an
engineering student of the University of Santo Tomas in 1950, he was the first to
do a telecast experiment; later then followed by FEATI institute of Technology.

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○ In the Philippines, before the first official telecast, the first Television station that
was established was founded by an American Engineer, James Lindenberg—it
was known before as Bolinao Electronics Corporation.
● First TV station
○ It was the first television station that was able to apply for a license in the
congress and later on, on June 14, 1950 got granted. But, because of the
scarcity of raw material and strict import controls Lindenberg branched into radio
broadcasting instead.
○ Later on, the BEC was bought by the Judge Antonio Quirino because he also
wanted to get a license but was not approved by the congress because of
political reasons. The congress thought that he would use the station to
campaign his brother.
○ Because of the change of owners, Bolinao Electronics Corporation changed its
name to Alto Broadcasting System or ABS.
○ Because of the scarcity in materials issues, even if Judge Quirino had closed the
deal, the difficulty of launching or introducing the first Filipino TV station was still
really hard; but, because of him being friend with Marvin Gray that has
connections with the president of Radio Corporation of America—General
Sarnoff, he was able to get assistance from them.
○ With the help of RCA, they introduced the first television, DZAQ-TV Channel 3,
that started telecasting in October 23 1953; it also led Filipinos being trained in
the United States on the technicalities in television.
● The First Days, Months, and Years of DZAQ-TV3
○ At the start, the first telecasts were rooted from political purposes, it became an
information equipment for updates on the reelection bid of President Quirino.
○ The places where DZAQ-TV aired was not only in the city of Manila, but it also
reached the nearby provinces.
○ DZAQ-TV3 started out in telecasting through a 4 hours a day schedule, from
6pm-10pm.
○ At the start programs that were being telecasted were borrowed films from
foreign countries, coverage of events, and other movies that later on ran out.
Because of this, theater plays got transported to TV.
○ Because of the theater being televised, Father James Reuter, a Jesuit, an active
drama coach, produced the first play on television in 1953— “Cyrano de
Bergerac”. He was one of the people who produced, and co-produced different
popular televised plays and soap operas.
○ The success on televised plays has led them to the idea on making known radio
shows like “Tawag ng Tanghalan”, “Kuwentong Kutsero”, and “Student Canteen”
got telecasted in TV that attracted audiences because of the prominent amounts
of listeners to these radio shows.
● Filipinos and their new addiction on Television
○ Televisions became the most profitable appliance in the Philippines in 1962,
because Filipinos were driven by their obsession on televisions making it blamed

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for a lot of problems—from the electrical bills issues, loss of sleep, deterioration
of family conversations, seizures and other health problems.
○ Filipinos’ treated the ownership of television sets as a symbol of their financial
status. Because of the prohibitive cost of TV sets, neighbors sometimes shared
one television set and they would watch together.
○ The obsession on television also had such an impact on Filipino families that
even the churches and schools were competing for the influence it had on
people.
● New TV Stations
○ Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN), a radio medium, owned by Eugenio
Sr., and Fernando Lopez, that will also be going to be televised in April of 1958,
that was also bought by Judge Quirino—showed that despite the many problems
that faced Television can still survive.
○ The DZXL-TV CHANNEL 9, the second television channel that was established
on April 19, 1958. The DZXL-TV9 is also under ABS because of the merger of
the two companies, CBN AND ABS.
○ Because of the rise of television in the Philippines, by the early 60s, quickly, other
television stations also started to birth.
■ DZBB-TV Channel 7, established on October 29, 1961 by the Republic
Broadcasting System (RBS), owned by Robert “Uncle Bob” Stewart;
■ DZTM-TV Channel 5, established in 1962 by the Associated Broadcasting
Corporation (ABC), owned by the Roces family, the publisher of The
Manila Times;
■ DZTV Channel 13 in 1977, run by Inter-Island Broadcasting Corporation
(IBC), owned by Andres Soriano; and
■ DZRH-TV Channel 11 of Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC), owned by
Manuel Elizalde.
■ Even the government-owned Philippine Broadcast Service launched its
television station, Channel 10 in 1961. It was financed by government
subsidy but had a short life because of channel frequency allocation.
○ Competition grew fierce once the other channels were launched. The early
broadcasters had a monopoly on the American television movie business.
National Broadcasting Company was acquired by DZAQ-TV Channel 3,
American Broadcasting Company by DZBB-TV Channel 7, and Columbia
Broadcasting System by DZTV Channel 13.
○ These channels fell prey to the American networks in their fight to obtain the top
shows from outside. Filipino networks were permitted to air one episode of each
half-hour US show for a fee ranging from $125 to $150. (P-Lent, 97)
● Changes and growth in Philippine TV
○ From Bolinao Electronics Corporation, to Alto Broadcasting system, it was now
renewed in February 1, 1967 to ABS-CBN BROADCASTING CORPORATION;
the official merging of the two companies, ABS and CBN

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○ Television, because of Radiowealth spearheading the production of new color TV

models, became more favorable to audiences, and advertisers because their
reach will be a lot bigger.
○ The first live television coverage also occurred in the 1960s. It was the coverage
of the Apollo 11 historic landing that happened in 1969.
○ In 1969, also marked the day when Radio Philippines Network branched out into
television, channel 9. It was the one who introduced the longest running and
consistent rating sitcom, John en Marsha. Created by Ading Fernando, and
starred by a lot of prominent stars known until today, Dolphy, Nida Blanca,
Maricel Soriano and more
○ While in the field of news broadcasting, the pioneers were ABC-5 and ABS
CBN-2, with their programs The Big News and The World Tonight. The
well-known Jose Mari Velez, from The Big News airs in ABC-5, brought news
broadcasting into new heights
○ Jose Mari Velez is one of the biggest opposition to the 1971 constitutional
convention. He was the biggest defender of constitutional democracy. He was
also one of the first people that was first to be arrested by Ferdinand Marcos SR.
during the declaration of Martial Law in September 1972
● Philippine Television in Martial Law years
○ The Marcos Administration, as it was always attacked in news programs because
of its dictatorship, had made the Philippine television go through its darkest and
scariest moments. Government saw the media as the main enemy they have so
they targeted the taking over of media and red-tagged them as “communist”.
○ Most of the news media was wiped out, taken over, or shut down except for those
who were pro-Marcos administration that time. Out of the seven Manila-based
stations that existed in 1972 all had closed but three that were either controlled
by an Ambassador or given a limited permit.
○ Meanwhile, ABS-CBN was seized from the Lopez family then the President of
ABS-CBN, Eugenio Lopez Jr, was imprisoned.
○ In 1973, Channel 7 was forced to be sold to a group of investors who changed
the company’s name from RBS to Greater Manila Area (GMA) Radio Television
Arts. This is the birth of GMA-7. The channels that were aired in televisions like
channels 2, 9, 13, run by ambassador Benedicto; GMA-7 and channel 4, which
belonged to the Ministry of Information—were all still run by the government.
○ In the later years Benedicto bought Channel 9, named it KBS, and took over
ABS-CBN studios because a fire destroyed KBS studios. Because of this, the
general manager of KBS had an idea to re-open Channel 2, and named it BBC or
Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation. Both of these Benedicto stations only aired
government propaganda.
○ The Philippines' broadcasting industry was likely the world's least regulated
before martial law. But because of martial law everything that was aired either on
radio or TV had to be reviewed and checked by the government.

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○ Marcos permitted his buddies and family to have monopolies. Since the
government had to issue the broadcast media with Certificates of Public
Convenience in order for them to operate, they were extremely susceptible to
government dictation and control.
○ Because of these red-tagging people doubted broadcast companies, therefore
their equipment were unable to upgrade and update; most especially if they did
not have an easy access to power.
○ In 1983, when Benigno Aquino was assassinated, it received scant coverage on
television news. GMA Channel 7 devoted ten seconds of television to his historic
burial procession. With this, the Marcos administration's firm hold on television
started to loosen with the assassination of Aquino.
● Reclamation of freedom of Television
○ On February 24, 1986, after incorrect information circulated that Ferdinand
Marcos and co. had left the country, Fidel Ramos sent 25 rebel troops to seize
the NMPC Broadcast Center. But, they attacked too early, shots were exchanged
in the station, while the live news conference in Malacanang was happening. It
was during an exchange between Marcos and then Chief of Staff General Fabian
Ver, and also announcing that the Marcoses are still in the Philippines.
○ In MBS Channel 4, The rebel troops’ leader, Col. Mariano Santiago, stood in front
of the entrance of the broadcast center, shouting at the NMPC employees and
defenders of the station that later on left the building.
○ The live conference later went off the air because of the taking over of rebel
forces and started broadcasting for the Filipino People."Channel 4 is on the air
again to serve the people." It was the start of it all; it will now be over, and
freedom is back
○ The twenty-year dictatorship was overthrown by the military uprising supported
by the people. It resulted in the return of the nation's democratic institutions,
including the television stations that had been taken over when Martial Law was
proclaimed.
○ Following a fourteen-year forced hiatus, ABS-CBN Channel 2 began
programming on September 14, 1986, despite issues with the Presidential
Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which at first refused to return the
channel's franchise to its original owners, and issues with mortgaged equipment.
○ Following the reopening of ABS-CBN, in 1988, Maharlika Broadcasting System
and the National Media Production Center would become the New People's
Media Center, later New TV 4, and eventually People's Television Network or
PTV.
● Television in the Philippines has suffered, grown, and has really gone through it. and
today it is still considered as one of the most influential Mass Communication
instruments in the Philippines.

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Societal Issues faced by Television and Cable TV

● Commercialism — Television is often driven by profit and commercial interests, leading

to excessive advertising, product placement, and the commodification of entertainment.
● Lack of diversity and Representation — Television often lacks diversity in terms of the
people and stories represented, leading to a narrow and limited view of the world.
Despite progress in recent years, there is still a lack of diversity and representation on
television in terms of race, gender, and sexual orientation.
● Objectification of Women — Women are often portrayed as objects of desire and
sexualization on television, reinforcing harmful gender norms and contributing to a
culture of misogyny.
● Inaccuracy and Bias — Television news and reporting can be inaccurate and biased,
leading to a lack of trust in media and contributing to the spread of misinformation.
● Exploitation — Reality television shows are often criticized for exploiting participants for
the sake of entertainment, with little regard for their well-being.
● Cancel Culture — Television shows and personalities are often subject to cancel
culture, with people calling for their cancellation or removal due to offensive or
controversial content.
● Political Polarization — Television news channels often have political biases that cater
to their viewership, contributing to political polarization and a lack of civil discourse.
● Misinformation and Disinformation — The rise of social media and alternative news
sources has contributed to a proliferation of misinformation and disinformation on
television, making it difficult for viewers to distinguish fact from fiction
● Violence — Many people argue that television is too violent and that exposure to violent
content can lead to aggression and violent behavior in children and adults.

History of Film

History of Film in Western/International Scene

What is Film?

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still images which, when
shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This
optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects
viewed rapidly in succession.

Etymology of the word “Film”

Came from an Old English word ‘filmen’ which means membrane.

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Early establishment of Film (1872-1879)

Sallie Gardner at a Gallop

In 1872, Leland Stanford was a wealthy robber baron, former Governor of California, and
horse racing enthusiast with way too much time on his hands. Spending much of that time at the
track, he became convinced that a horse at full gallop lifted all four hooves off the ground. His
friends scoffed at the idea. Unfortunately, a horse’s legs moved so fast that it was impossible to
tell with the human eye. So he did what really wealthy people do when they want to settle a bet,
he turned to a nature photographer, Eadweard Muybridge, and offered him $25,000 to
photograph a horse mid gallop.

Six years later (1878), after narrowly avoiding a murder conviction, Muybridge perfected
a technique of photographing a horse in motion with a series of 12 cameras triggered in
sequence. One of the photos clearly showed that all four of the horse’s hooves left the ground at
full gallop. Stanford won the bet and went on to found Stanford University. Muybridge pocketed
the $25,000 and became famous for the invention of series photography, a critical first step
toward motion pictures.

Muybridge later on invented his projection device, the Zoopraxiscope, in summer 1879.
This device built on a long global history of interest in image projection dating back to Plato, the
Han dynasty and the Ancient Egyptians. However it also extended a strong 19th century interest
in the phenomenon of vision itself, which had already resulted in the production of many new
projection and moving image devices.

What were early films like?

At first, films were very short, sometimes only a few minutes or less. They were shown at
fairgrounds, music halls, or anywhere a screen could be set up and a room darkened. Subjects
included local scenes and activities, views of foreign lands, short comedies and newsworthy
events.

Silent Film Era (1890’s-1920’s)

● The silent film era spanned over three decades from the 1890s to the 1920s. Over that
time period, movies evolved from a novelty to an art form. In addition, silent film also
became a big business in this era. Silent movies provided cheap entertainment that
overcame the language barrier for the millions of immigrants coming to America in the
early 20th century.
● The Silent Film era was characterized by significant power struggles, as individuals and
corporations fought to capitalize on the burgeoning industry.. Additionally, the era was
shaped by innovative actors and directors, including D.W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks,
Mary Pickford, and others.

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● Most famous of all was Charlie Chaplin. An accomplished vaudeville performer, Chaplin
made his first film in 1914 and later that year created his signature character, The
Tramp. While usually remembered for his work in front of the camera, Charlie Chaplin’s
contributions to film go beyond his performances as a comedic actor.
● Silent movies were just that – movies that did not have any talking or music in them. To
provide drama and excitement to movies, live music was played in sync with the action
on the screen, by pianos, organs, and other instruments. The silent movie producers
brought famous films such as Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Circus and many
others.

FIrst Film Movements: Dadaism, German Expressionism, Soviet Montage Theory

(1910’s-1920’s)

➢ Dadaism
○ Dada was a provocative and irreverent art movement that originated in
Switzerland around the turn of the 20th century and had an impact on a variety of
media, including painting, sculpture, theater, literature, and film. The movement’s
name is a willfully nonsensical word, intended to punctuate the meaninglessness
artists saw in their contemporaneous worldview.
○ Although Dadaism is primarily famous for its art, it also had political and social
concerns. In 1916, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Man Ray,
and many others started the movement in Zürich, Switzerland. They aimed to
produce works that were anti-intellectual, anti-literary, and anti-artistic.
○ Moreover, Trsitan Tzara's Dadaism manifesto stated that the goal of art should
be to shock viewers into thinking beyond their own personal limitations. Dadaists
believed they could achieve this through their art by producing visually absurd
images that would make people reevaluate how they perceive reality.
○ Dadaist cinema did not aim to entice spectators into the cinematic illusion like
surrealism cinema did. Dadaists, on the other hand, used unusual techniques to
alienate the audience and give them the space to consider the meta-artistic (and
anti-artistic) nature of their performances. Through this, dadaists were able to
alter reality, motion, and perspective with the help of film, which showed familiar
objects in completely novel but compelling new shapes.
○ Anemic Cinema, Entr’acte, Ghost Before Breakfast, and Ballet Mecanique
are some of the films that feature the art movement.

➢ German Expressionism
○ German Expressionism is a particular artistic style that first appeared in poetry
and theatre around 1910. It became popular in film 10 years later after WWI.
○ Heavily influenced by artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and El
Greco, Expressionists were more interested in evoking strong reactions to their
art through the use of vibrant, clashing colors, flat shapes, and jagged
brushstrokes than they were in creating aesthetically beautiful compositions. The

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movement, which included a wide range of disciplines like architecture, painting,

and film, was by its very nature interested in the interaction between art and
society.
○ Expressionist films were initially born out of Germany’s relative isolation during
the 1910s, and quickly generated high demand due to the government’s ban on
foreign films. The films’ appeal soon spread to an international audience, and by
the early 1920s, many European filmmakers had begun experimenting with the
absurd and wild aesthetics of German cinema.
○ Lotte Eisner, a German film critic, labeled it “helldunkel,” which she defined as “a
sort of twilight of the German soul, expressing itself in shadowy, enigmatic
interiors, or in misty, insubstantial landscapes.”
○ German Expressionism in film is associated with high contrasts of darks and
lights to convey nightmarish sets, often using the chiaroscuro lighting technique.

➢ Soviet Montage Theory

○ Soviet Montage Theory is a film movement that took place in Soviet Russia
during the 1910’s, 20’s and into the early 30’s. It was founded by Lev Kuleshov
while he was teaching at the Moscow Film School, but was mostly associated
with Sergei Eisenstein who developed the said movement.
○ According to prominent Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein, there are five different
types within Soviet Montage Theory: Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
Intellectual.
○ Montage derives from the French verb monter, which translates as ‘‘to
assemble.’’ With the advent of film technology, montage became the term in
French to denote the process of film editing. In aesthetics, montage has a more
conceptual meaning.
○ How Did the Movement Start? The Moscow Film School or VGIK was founded in
1919 during the midst of the Russian Revolution. One of the foremost professors
at the School was Lev Kuleshov, who had begun experimenting with new ways of
editing film by 1920. In 1923, Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks usurped control
of the Russian government. What followed was a period of radical change, both
socially and economically. Consequently, at this time it was incredibly difficult to
find film stock in Russia, so instead, the people were left to study film rather than
create it.

Golden Age of Hollywood (1920’s-1960’s)

● The golden age of Hollywood was a period in American filmmaking in which the five
major studios, MGM, Paramount, Fox, Warner Bros., and RKO, dominated the
production of major motion pictures, controlling every aspect of a film's production, from
casting to shooting to distribution. The golden age relied on “stars” such as Humphrey
Bogart, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, and Rita Hayworth, to carry its films to success at the
box office.

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● The 1930s produced some of the most iconic films in cinema history. Think The Wizard
of Oz, Gone With the Wind, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for example. These
movies seemed more magical than their predecessors for two groundbreaking reasons.
● The first was the introduction of sound in cinema. The first film to coin the term “talkie”
was The Jazz Singer, and it was released in 1927. But even though The Jazz Singer
was considered a big success, it took a few years to get sound in film to work as
intended.
● The second development was Technicolor; a filmmaking process that allowed films to be
shot in color. Not every film was shot in color though. Some of the best golden age
movies were shot in black and white, like Casablanca, A Streetcar Named Desire, and
Citizen Kane.

Film Industry During World War II

● During the U.S. involvement in World War II, the Hollywood film industry cooperated
closely with the government to support its war-aims information campaign. Following the
declaration of war on Japan, the government created a Bureau of Motion Picture Affairs
to coordinate the production of entertainment features with patriotic, morale-boosting
themes and messages about the “American way of life,” the nature of the enemy and the
allies, civilian responsibility on the home front, and the fighting forces themselves.
● In 1937, Benito Mussolini founded Cinecittà, a massive studio that operated under the
slogan “Il cinema è l'arma più forte,” which translates to “the cinema is the strongest
weapon.” During this time, countries all around the world used cinema as a weapon to
influence the minds and hearts of their citizens.
● Propaganda films are often regarded with a negative connotation because they show a
one-sided perspective. Films of this era – such as those commissioned for the US
Department of War’s Why We Fight series – were one-sided because they were made to
counter the enemy’s rhetoric. It’s important to note that “one-sided” doesn’t mean
“wrong” – in the case of the Why We Fight series, I think most people would agree that
the one-sidedness was appropriate.

Rise of Indie Films

● A simple definition for indie, or independent, film would be a film produced and
distributed by smaller, independent entertainment companies with a considerably lower
budget and characterized by the artistic signature of the writers and directors.
● An ‘indie film’ is a movie that is mainly produced by people outside the mainstream film
industry, usually without any involvement from major movie studios or television
networks.
● Indie movies have been around as long as filmmaking has been around, that includes
everything from the first rebellions of Charlie Chaplin against the studio system all the
way to the blaxploitation movies of the beginning of the Seventies.

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The ‘First’ in Cinema

● 1888 - The world's earliest surviving motion-picture film, showing actual consecutive
action, is called Roundhay Garden Scene. It's a short film directed by French inventor
Louis Le Prince. While it's just 2.11 seconds long, it is technically a movie.
● 1895 - The first to present projected moving pictures to a paying audience were the
Lumière brothers in December 1895 in Paris, France. They used a device of their own
making, the Cinématographe, which was a camera, a projector and a film printer all in
one.
● 1896 - Alice Guy-Blaché was a film pioneer and the first female director.
● 1908 - "Fantasmagorie" is a 1908 French animated film by Émile Cohl. The film consists
of a stick man moving about and encountering all manner of morphing objects, such as a
wine bottle that transforms into a flower and is considered as the first animated cartoon.
● 1919 - The first film produced by a Filipino is José Nepomuceno's Dalagang Bukid
(Country Maiden) in 1919 based on a highly acclaimed musical play by Hermogenes
Ilagan and León Ignacio.
● 1927 - An iconic moment for LGBTQ filmmaking as William A. Wellman's 'Wings' depicts
cinema's first gay kiss.
● 1937 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated musical fantasy
film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Based on the German fairy tale by the
Brothers Grimm, it is the first full-length cel animated feature film and the earliest Disney
animated feature film.
● 1954 - "Godzilla" is a 1954 Japanese film featuring Godzilla. It is the first film in the
Godzilla franchise. The film was directed by Ishirō Honda.
● 1977 - The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars (later subtitled
Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981), which became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.
● 1995 - "Toy Story" is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy adventure film
produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Toy Story
was the first feature-length computer-animated film and the first theatrical film produced
by Pixar.
● 2002 - "Russian Ark" (Russian: "Русский ковчег") is a 2002 historical drama film. It was
filmed entirely in the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum using a
single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot.
● 2009 - "Avatar" is a 2009 American science fiction film. The film made extensive use of
new motion capture filming techniques and was released for traditional viewing, as well
as 3D viewing. During its theatrical run, the film broke several box office records and
became the highest-grossing film of all time. It also became the first film to gross more
than $2 billion.

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The History and Birth of Philippine Cinema

Spanish Occupation (1897-1890)

● Before films, Zarzuela and moro-moro were the main forms of theater.
● Cinema was introduced by the Spaniards using the last two years of their regime.
● Film was introduced in the country by Francisco Pertierra, a Spanish businessman. He
screened the first films in the country in his salon in the walled city of Intramuros at
Escolta, Manila using the 60mm Gaumont Chrono Photograph Projector.
● The first films screened in the country were: Un Homee Au Chapeu (Man with a Hat),
Une scene de danse Japonaise (Scene from a Japanese Dance), Les Boxers (The
Boxers), and La Place de L'Opera (The Place L'Opera).
● The revolution eventually reached Manila making the delivery of films difficult and
resulting in the replaying of films. This diminished the novelty of the medium and the
ensuing decrease in viewership led to the closing down of many movie houses.

American Empire Building (1898-1945)

● The first two decades of the American period were a period of transition. This transition
saw a tension between Spanish and American influences battling over the control of
cinema.
● During the 1900s there was a resurgence of movie houses not only in Manila but in
provinces that already had electricity. (Cinematografo Rizal— the first Filipino-owned
movie theater, and Cervantes Cinematografo)
● Films became a novelty entertainment confined among the elite class in Manila but also
with reported showings in the southern cities of Ilong-Ilong (now Ilo-Ilo) and Subgu
(Cebu). This resulted in the collapse of zarzuela.
● The films were given Spanish intertitles, dubbed, and promoted in Spanish. It was only
when American operators gained control of the film business in the second decade that
the situation changed.
● Philippine cinema had stock mestizo-looking characters to depict the skin color of
leading stars. Whiteness was connotated to the virtues of goodness and greatness.
● American films drove European films out of the market which was in harmony with the
new educational system and the mandatory use of English in schools and in the practice
of business and government. The first silent movies became an effective agent of
Western culture and colonial thinking.
● Filipino business people did not go into film production and instead concentrated on
owning movie houses, appearing in American-produced movies, and their patronage of
film screenings. Only the Americans were privileged with the knowledge of filmmaking
techniques, capital, technology, and control in the film business.
● Because of the great number of American films imported into the country, local film
production ceased.

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● The rise of Hollywood and its imitation became a primary hindrance to the emergence of
an indigenous Filipino film.

The First Filipino Film (1912-1930s)

● 1912 — Vida de Rizal (Life of Rizal) was the first film produced locally; second, it used
Philippine life as subject matter; and third, it used local theater performers and local
costumes and sets. However, it was made by an American, Edward Meyer Gross.
● 1919 — Jose Nepomuceno’s silent film Dalagang Bukid / Country Maiden became the
first Filipino film that was produced locally and by a Filipino filmmaker. He became
“Father of Philippine Movies".
○ Adapted from Hermogenes Ilagan's zarzuela of the same name.
○ He incorporated Tagalog (widely spoken regional language) in his film’s subtitles.
○ Dalagang Bukid is the story of a young flower vendor, Angelita, and her childhood
sweetheart, Cipriano. She is also the object of affection of Don Silvestre, a
widower and a loan shark who uses his riches to try to win her by taking
advantage of her parents’ financial dilemma.
● 1929 — The “talkies” or talking pictures came to the country with the film Syncopation.
○ The first talking picture produced in the Philippines (though crudely made) was
“Ang Aswang” / The Vampire by American, George Musser
○ A film with better quality was made by Nepomuceno in 1933: Punyal na Ginto
(Golden Dagger) and was immediately followed by the filmmaker’s Makata at
Paraluman (The Poet and the Beauty), and Ang Kuba (The Hunchback).
● 1932 — The coming of sound film elevated filmmaking to a lucrative endeavor with the
help of the establishment of other film companies such as Filippine Films (1934),
Parlatone Hispano-Filipino Corporation (1935), Excelsior and Sampaguito Pictures
(1937), LVN Pictures (1938).

Japanese Occupation (1942-1945)

● Film production equipment was confiscated by Japanese military forces for their own use
in producing propaganda materials.
● The Japanese established a central film exchange called Eiga Haikusa which enforced
rigid censorship rules and prohibited the big studios from producing films (they were
forced to close down). The Eiga Haikusa was the only entity allowed to make films, and it
"engaged" local film directors to make films under its supervision.
● Throughout the four-year Japanese occupation of the country, Filipinos saw two kinds of
films: old movies that passed strict Japanese censorship and those produced by the
Eiga Haikusa.
● This was the Japanese method of erasing the American influence on the Filipinos and
strengthened their "greater Asia co-prosperity sphere" scheme.

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Hollywood vs the Filipino and the Rise of Star System (1950s)

● To recover from World War II, Filipino producers imitated Hollywood methods in terms of
management, film production, and built up stars as the principal attractions in its movies.
This did not help the Filipino in terms of the development of a national identity.
● The competition with Hollywood films was so fierce that local producers contracted stars
who had caucasian features and honed them into "good" screen performers. They also
marketed them in accordance with personas that would be accepted by the audience.
● Prominent stars during the rise of star system:
○ Rogelio de la Rosa, Carmen Rosales, Leopoldo Salcedo, Nida Blanca, Ely
Ramos

The Golden Age of Filipino Film (1934-1950s)

● Some refer to the years 1934 to 1941 because it was a period of innovations in
cinematic techniques and it marked the establishment of filmmaking as an industry.
Others point to the 1950s as the golden age on account of the achievement of a "higher
level of technological expertise and artistry in filmmaking.
● Award-giving bodies such as Maria Clara Awards, the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts
and Sciences (FAMAS), and the Asian Film Festival set up by the Southeast Asian
Federation of Film Producers in 1954 helped with the maturation of film. New directors
like Eddie Romero, Cesar Gallardo, Efren Reyes, and Cirio Santiago who make films
with increased awareness of artistry and technically-polished emerged.
● The mid-to-late 1950s saw the production of more films with socially-relevant themes,
such as Avellana's Anak Dalita (Child of Sorrow, 1956); Manuel Silos' Biyaya ng Lupa
(The Good Earth, 1958); Eddie Romero's Buhay Alamang (Life of the Poor, 1952) and
Hanggang sa Dulo ng Daigdig (To the Ends of the Earth, 1958), and Manuel Conde's
satirical series on Juan Tamad (Lazy Juan).
● 1953 — Television came to the country. This posed a threat to the movie industry.

The Decline of Philippine Cinema (1960s)

● The film industry competed against the rise of Television and Hollywood films. The
golden decade of the 1950s then lost its shine and was taken over by manic
commercialism in the 1960s.
● Philippine cinema entered its era of artistic decline brought about by the obsessive
pursuit of commercial gain.
● During this time in history, there was massive graft corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency, a
general discontent in society, an increased crime rate brought about by an economic
crisis resulting in domination of multinational corporations, labor unrest, and student
activism.
● This social milieu was capitalized on by film producers through escapist films that gave
moviegoers a tranquilizing experience away from the realities of the time.

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● Bakya Crowd- a phrase coined by Avellana in angry retorts at an audience who failed or
refused to appreciate his award-winning movies. It literally means the wooden slippers
worn in lieu of shoes by the poor. The meaning of the word has expanded that "bakya" is
now also a description of a style and sensibility- the style of popular culture... "bakya"
now means anything that is cheap, gauche, naive, provincial and terribly popular."
● Independent film companies resorted to the production of Hollywood imitations,
rehashed any film that succeeded at the box-office, and made softcore sex films known
as “bomba films”.
● The bomba emerged because Hollywood films with sexual content became popular and
difficult for censors to regulate. This caused a relaxation of the rules, allowing
moviegoers to see nudity.
○ Saging ni Pacing (Pacing's Banana), Gutom (Hunger), Havok (Lustful), and
Laman sa Laman (Flesh to Flesh).
● Martial Law was repressive but pornography was a part of life even if the regime wants
to present itself as squeaky clean (Hagehorn, 1994).

The Cinema and Marcos (1965-1986)

● The Philippine movie industry had its first brush with politics during Marcos's presidential
campaign. His desire for myth-building led to a film called Marked by Destiny/ Iginuhit ng
Tadhana (1965), produced by an independent company called "777", owned by the
family of Ernesto Maceda, one of Marcos's chief political operators.
● 1969- Marcos used film again as a propaganda tool during his reelection bid.
○ The film Maharlika (Royalty), had a scandal ensued between the American
actress Dovie Beams and first lady Imelda Marcos that resulted in the banning of
the film.
○ Joined by the Heavens/ Pinagbuklod ng Langit (1969) immediately followed.
Which dealt with the “simple” family life of the Marcoses, starring Luis Gonzales
and Gloria Romero.

Martial Law and the New Cinema (1969)

● Towards the end of 1969, the Philippines experienced the worst economic, political, and
social deterioration. Marcos attempted to cover this up through molding a “beautiful and
efficient” Manila through film.
● Marcos declared Martial Law in the country on September 21, 1972. The mass media
was the first to experience the wrath of Martial Law. This led to the enforcement of strict
censorship rules.
● All mass media were carriers of messages promoting Marcos’ New Society. Filmmaking
was used for propaganda purposes.
○ TV — New Society slogans were aired such as “sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina
ang kailangan”.

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○ Films — They were supposed to depict the goals of the New Society. For
instance, the green revolution campaign (a movement for self-sufficiency through
urban gardening).
● 1976- Marcos’ autocratic rule provided a fertile ground for innovation and artistic
creativity of filmmakers by 1976. This gave rise to the second golden age of the
Philippine Film industry: the New Cinema.
● New Cinema- used films as a vehicle for social commentary. This era in film drew much
upon the direct observation of real-life situations and research into the contexts of
historical events.
● The Marcos censorship apparatus
○ Known as “Board of Review for Motion Pictures and Television (BRMPT) later
renamed Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
○ Screened, reviewed, and examined all local and foreign television programs and
films. It was also empowered to delete objectionable portions from any film and
television program which the Board deemed immoral, and the capability to close
down movie houses and other establishments engaged in the public exhibition of
films and television programs which violated censorship rules.
● The works of New Cinema filmmakers also suffered severe censorship, which MTCRB
acknowledged were more for political reasons than moral.
● Notable directors during New Cinema:
○ Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, and Brillante Mendoza

Philippine Cinema After Marcos (1986-2000s)

● Aquino dismantled the centralized Marcos media structure. Maharlika Broadcasting

System (Marcos’ government broadcast network) was restructured as the People’s
Television (PTV 4), which resulted in an apparent “witch-hunting” of Marcos loyalists.
● The first few months of the Aquino government focused on addressing economic
rehabilitation, restructuring government procedures, and insurgency problems. The arts
were not among the priorities.
● 1992- Aquino’s term ended and Fidel Ramos succeeded her. He was the only
presidential candidate that time to cite the importance of film. He appointed a new
censor’s chief.
● The New Cinema filmmakers once again started making films (Ishmael Bernal, Marilou
Diaz-Abaya, and Laurice Guillen).
● The films of Maryo J. de los Reyes, Chito Rono, and Carlitos Siguion-Reyna also
became prominent in the industry.

Now Showing (Present)

● Star Cinema — Also known as ABS-CBN Films, is a leading film production and
distribution company in the Philippines. They control 85% of the market.
○ Viva Films, Octo Arts, and Regal Films share the remaining 15%.

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● New Industry Players and “Maindie” Films:

○ Maindie — Emerging independent cinema movement in the Philippines, which
combines elements of mainstream and independent filmmaking. Independent
filmmakers are now casting mainstream actors in low-budget productions with
unconventional storytelling, and a focus on social issues and realism.
■ Vilma Santos in Ekstra (2013), Eugene Domingo in Barber’s Tales (2013)
and Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (2011), Alessandra de Rossi and Empoy
Marquez in Kita Kita (2017)
○ Spring Films (2009)- Kimmy Dora (2009, 2012, 2013), Kita-Kita (2017), Meet Me
in St. Gallen (2018)
○ Origin 8 Media- Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington
○ TBA Studios- Heneral Luna (2015), Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral (2018)
○ Project 8 Projects- Fan Girl (2020), Hintayan ng Langit (2018), Never Not Love
You (2018)
● Filipino filmmakers were forced to adapt to “remote filmmaking”. This involves using
video conferencing platforms to hold virtual meetings, rehearsals, auditions, and filming.
○ Until It’s Safe (2020) dir Samantha Lee

History of Video Games

Key Concepts/Brief Overview

A. Games
a. Entertainment has been present even in the prehistoric days in the form of
games—whether it would be playing with a few bones or with developed board
games.
b. Over the course of civilization, games have evolved based on the needs and
current technology that was present—either solely for entertainment, social
events, teaching tools, or as indicators of one’s social status.
B. Computer Technology TO Video Games?
a. Depending on how researchers or people would view the definition of computers,
the “first” mechanical computer was created by Charles Babbage in 1822. This
does not account for other early inventions that led to the idea of creating the
computer.
b. The birth of computers led to the rise of the possibilities it could
create—researchers always aimed to answer the question, “what else could we
do with such a device?” This, in turn, led to the birth of the idea of video games.
c. When classifying what game is considered to be a video game, there should be
an interaction between the user and the designed interface device.
d. Essentially, another definition for video games as stated by Esposito (2005) is
that video games are games played through audiovisual apparatus—can be

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personal computers or dedicated gaming devices—are story-based, and are

heavily for entertainment purposes.

History of Video Games in the Global Context

A. Timeline

Considering the complex nature of video games, it is no secret that the advancement of
traditional games to the digital world is fairly recent.

● 1951 — The first gaming computer was designed by John Makepeace Bennett
and built by Raymond Stuart-Williams, named Nimrod and was exhibited at the
Festival of Britain. It is a mathematical exercise where two players take turns to
remove objects from a specific pile to prove the capabilities of a computer and
help people understand that computers can carry out other uses, not just for
entertainment.
● 1952 — British Professor Alexander Sandy Douglas created OXO, an electronic
version of Tic-Tac-Toe, and the first graphics-based video game presented to the
staff and students at the University of Cambridge as part of Douglas’ PhD
dissertation played on Cambridge’s Electronic Delay Storage Automatic
Calculator (EDSAC) computer.
○ This was also tagged as the first application of artificial intelligence
because the user interacting with the supposed game is technically
“playing” solely with a computer with no predetermined or random
choices—the moves done by the computer are at its own discretion.
● 1958 — The creation of Tennis for TWO by William Higinbotham on a large
analog computer and connected oscilloscope screen for the Brookhaven National
Laboratory in New York. This allowed two players to play tennis on a screen. It
was quickly salvaged for parts after two years for its components to be put to
other uses.
● 1962 — The debut of Space Wars! by Steve Russell, which is a space combat
video game for the Programmed Data Processor-1. It is one of the first video
games that could be played on several computer installations, and was made
because the Massachusetts Institute of Technology received a DEC- PDP-1
computer, and believed that this game would better present the capabilities of the
said model.
○ Years later, the first coin-operated arcade game was modeled after
this—it was called Computer Space.
● 1966 — Ralph Baer experimented with the idea of playing games alongside the
television, creating the Brown Box. This was a prototype multiplayer,
multi-program video game both with graphics—given that it was displayed
through the television—and the essence of a game.

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○ This device allowed several games to be played without the use of a

computer, microprocessor, or software.
○ Ralph Baer was now referred to as the Father of Video Games.
● 1972
○ Several other companies tried to further computer graphics. Ralph Baer
licensed Brown Box to Magnavox, which sold it as the Odyssey, which is
the first video game home console. However, just after a few years, this
eventually died out.
○ Nolan Bushnell along with Al Alcorn designed a Ping Pong game, which
served as the blueprint for the arcade industry and the modern video
game era. However, they were sued by Magnavox and Sanders’
Associates due to copyright infringement on this game. They then
became an Odyssey licensee.
■ Copyright lawsuits were filed over the next 20 years and
Magnavox has won almost $100 million in relation to Odyssey and
its video game patents.
○ The Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University hosted the first
ESports tournament: “The Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics”, which
consists of 24 players who fought against each other to win a year-long
subscription to Rolling Stones magazine. Tournaments were limited to
those who can afford and support the technical innovations needed,
which were mostly universities and similar institutions.
● 1973 — The release of Empire for the Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching
Operation (PLATO) allowed multiplayer games on separate screens. This was
not available to the masses. Another game that was played on PLATO was
Spasim, which is a 32-player space shooter, 3D multiplayer game. PLATO
became the blueprint of how multiplayer games are seen and made today.
● 1976 — One of the first machines to feature the option for permanent high score
lists to strengthen ESports and the competitive nature of games was Sea Wolf.
● 1977 — Atari, founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney and one of the
pioneers of video game development, released Atari 2600 (Video Computer
System), a home console. This is a breakthrough, considering that this device
featured joysticks and interchangeable game cartridges that played multi-colored
games. This established the second generation of video game consoles.

In the late 70s and early 80s, there were a number of milestones in the video game
industry.

● 1978 — Space Invaders arcade game release.

● 1979 — Activision, which is a third-party game developer who develops software
without consoles or arcade cabinets, was launched and allowed players to
permanently add themselves to a high-score list with a personal name code.

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● 1980 — The Japanese introduced the Pac Man video game to the United States.
Moreover, Atari allowed the world’s first major ESports tournament.
● 1981 — Nintendo, a Japanese company, created Donkey Kong and introduced
Mario to the world.
● 1982 — Microsoft released their first Flight Simulator game.
○ Arcade Operator Walter Day founded the first referee service for Twin
Galaxies National Scoreboard.
○ STARCADE!, a TV game show which featured contestants facing off in
arcade games to get the highest cumulative score and included video
game-related trivia, started. The interest in ESports was not limited to the
US since the UK had a similarly popular show called First Class (Gregory,
2020).
○ Atari VCS Bundeliga, a community project in Germany by Amrin Sturmer
which allowed various clubs to compete with each other in different
games with 4 rounds with a fixed set of rules, was launched. However, it
was soon discontinued.

While these are notable milestones, this is not the complete list of what was created
during this decade, considering that there was a period of rapid growth and technological
development in all aspects of technology.

● 1983 — Factors such as the start of the oversaturation of games on the market,
competition, and low-quality games led to the crash of the North American video
game industry.
○ One of the “worst games” that was created was an Atari game entitled
E.T. which was based on the movie.
○ This crash had several companies—both home computer and video game
console companies—go bankrupt.
○ Walter Day also founded the US National Video Team, the first
professional gaming team in the world on July 25, 1983.
■ He organized the North American Video Game Challenge or the
first video game masters tournament in the US. He became one of
the pioneers of ESports.
● 1985 — The recovery. The Japanese company Nintendo Entertainment System
(NES) came to the United States and offered 8-bit graphics, colors, sound, and
gameplay compared to other consoles.
○ This company changed the game and imposed certain regulations on
third-party games developed for their system to combat low-quality and
rushed software (History, 2022).
● 1988 — The first multiplayer computer game that allowed up to 16 players who
can play against each other over the internet was released: Netrek. Set in the
Star Trek universe, this is a real-time strategy game and was only played by
scientists and institutions who had access.

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● 1989
○ Nintendo popularized handheld gaming by releasing an 8-bit Game Boy, a
video game device, with the game Tetris.
○ Sega, a software and hardware company, released their 16-bit Genesis
console, but it failed to compete against the Nintendo Entertainment
System.
● 1990 — Nintendo organized the Nintendo World Championships in the US which
allowed winners to receive Nintendo gaming modules.
● 1991 — Nintendo released their 16-bit Super NES Console in North America.
○ This started “the console war”.
○ Games started to take on more violence in their gameplay, hence, gaming
during this time moved toward a more adult audience.
● 1992 — Sony and Nintendo parted ways since Sony decided to create their own
console.
● 1993
○ Games franchises such as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat were the
cause of the creation of the Videogame Rating System of Sega, requiring
all games sold on a Sega home console to provide descriptive labeling.
○ The growing industry had a big leap due to the Super Mario Bros.
live-action movie being released. This started the “video games to
live-action movies”, which was soon followed by Street Fighter and Mortal
Kombat in the following years.
● 1994
○ Since there was an increase in violence present in gaming, the
Entertainment Software Rating Board was established. This helped in
rating video games for age appropriateness and content.
○ Blockbuster Video organized a world championship for video gamers this
year in the US in cooperation with the American GamePro magazine, and
was held on the Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive.
● 1995
○ The leap in computer technology allowed the video game industry to enter
the three-dimensional era of gaming.
○ Sega released its Saturn system, a 32-bit console that played games on
CDs compared to previous cartridges.
○ PlayStation was released in the United States, originally released in
Japan in 1994. It started as a collaboration between Sony and Nintendo
based on their Super Nintendo gaming system. Sony settled on a system
that supported games and audio CD playback and is considered to be
one of the biggest successes in the video game industry, making Sony a
dominant player in the home gaming market.
○ The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), one of the most important events
in the gaming industry, was established. It is a video game convention
that invites game companies who are part of the Entertainment Software

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COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MEDIA

Association from around the globe to come together to present new

games that are in development.

In the mid-1990s, people saw that competitive gaming, or ESports, was going to be
found on PCs and networks rather than consoles. This was because PCs became much
more accessible, cheaper, and powerful.

● 1996 — Nintendo released their cartridge-based 64-bit system, the Nintendo 64.
● 1997 — Created by David Jones and Mike Dailly, the first Grand Theft Auto was
released. It is a free-form game, which allows players to do anything in the
setting of the game. Its content—immense amounts of sex, drugs, and
violence—led to people calling it to be banned. However, this game was a huge
success and was ported to different game systems.
● 1998 – The video game industry also has their own critic's awards to determine
the best games of the year established in this year—the Game Critics Awards
and is made up of independent groups of worldwide media outlets.
○ The first ESports leagues were launched. This includes the German Clan
League or the Clan Base.
● 1999 — Sega released Dreamcast, which was considered to be ahead of its time
due to its capability for online gaming. However, this was a commercial flop that
ended Sega’s console efforts.
○ The Gamers’ Gathering in Duisburg, Germany happened. More than 1600
players from Europe competed in various games.
○ The release of Counter-Strike in this year made its mark in ESports
history as it was one of the most successful games and became a
multiplayer hit.
● 2000
○ Sony released Playstation 2 in this year and became the best-selling
game console of all time.
○ Designed by a team at Maxis led by Wil Wright, the Sims was released
this year. Previous games during this time only allowed players to work
towards an end-game scenario, but this game allowed players to do
anything in a free-form world.
○ South Korea professionalized ESports through the Korean e-Sports
Association (KeSPA) which allowed the marketing of the phenomenon on
TV.
○ The World Cyber Games (WCG) was founded, and was sort of like the
Olympics but for gaming and ESports.
● 2001
○ Nintendo released the Nintendo GameCube.
○ Microsoft released the Xbox based on Microsoft’s Direct X graphics
technology, which uses standard PC parts with a built-in hard drive.

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COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES, ARTS, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MEDIA

Microsoft launched Xbox Live in 2002, which allowed competitive

gameplay and chat and was known for their high-quality graphics.
○ WCG 2001 Games, the first main event featuring 430 participants from 37
different countries, was held in South Korea.
● 2003
○ This was the start of the boom of Massive Multi-player Online
Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) due to faster computers with better
graphics.
○ Steam was introduced and was launched for PC gamers which
modernized gaming outside of gaming consoles (Stash, 2018).
○ In Poitiers, France, the first Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) was
held. Its grand finals were played in Paris during the summer and
gradually allowed console titles into the competition.

The Modern Age of Gaming boomed due to the capabilities that were developed from
the computer—the use of great graphics, tech, and the use of the internet in gaming.
With this, the competition was stronger.

● 2004 — The release of the Nintendo DS console, and introduced a new way of
gaming as it featured two LCD screens, one of which is a touch screen, as well
as interactivity features such as a built-in microphone and ability for wireless
connectivity. This console was the blueprint in making touchscreen and multiple
screen technology be known mainstream.
● 2005 — The release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360. This was applauded for its online
gaming ecosystem, which led them to win numerous awards in the Game Critics
Awards in 2007. It featured Microsoft Kinect, a motion capture system that offers
a new way to play video games.
○ The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) World Tour was held, and it
was the first ESports event to be given a budget of 1 million dollars. It was
held in 10 different cities worldwide, and its finals in New York were
broadcasted by MTV.
○ Playstation Portable (PSP) was released in the United States. It was
Sony’s handheld gaming console and the first handheld console
installment of Sony.
● 2006
○ Nintendo Wii was released and introduced new ways of interacting with
users with game systems. Players used a remote and advanced gesture
recognition for interaction. It came with several specialized
controllers—including Wii Fit, Wii Tennis, and Wii Boxing—and also
allowed access to online services.
○ Playstation 3 was also released this year. This was the only system at
that time to play Blu-rays.

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INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MEDIA

○ The Nintendo DS Lite was released, which is an upgrade to the original

DS from 2004. It was highly demanded and was released one month
early.
● 2007
○ The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) was held this year and offered
a prize of over 1 million dollars, and is one of the most expensive ESports
tournaments of all time.
○ The Playstation Portable-2000 was released, which was lighter and
slimmer than the original one. It was compatible with Skype, and could be
connected to a progressive scan television. The internet browser on this
was also faster.
● 2009
○ There are two notable games that were released during this year, both of
which were hits:
■ Minecraft by Swedish game designer, Markus “Notch” Persson.
■ Plants vs. Zombies, by George Fan for PopCap Games.
○ The Nintendo DSi was released, which featured a camera and content
storage through SD cards and external slots.
○ The Playstation Portable Go was also released, and its games were
accessible only through the Playstation store.
● 2010 — As the industry started making its way to several devices outside of
console gaming, and smartphones and tablets were touchscreen-enabled, the
masses were introduced to Angry Birds, which became the top-selling mobile
game.
○ Apple’s iPhone has shifted gaming to go mobile. App developers were
pushed to create free, paid, and pay-per-feature games for the masses
through the App Store, a limited feature for iPhone users. Google and
Amazon soon followed with theirs (Elumalai, 2022).

As technology progressed, games became much more accessible. From home

consoles, games were also now being spread to social media platforms, and, most
importantly, to mobile devices. Games started to become much more immersive.

● 2011 — Video games were brought into the physical world through Skylanders:
Spyro’s Adventure which required players to place plastic toy figures onto an
accessory to bring characters inside the game. This was the start of the toy-video
game hybrids.
○ The Nintendo 3DS was released, and was the only handheld console by
Nintendo that did not allow backwards compatibility with GameBoy
Advance games.
○ The PSP Street was released.
● 2012 — The release of Nintendo’s Wii U.
● 2013

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INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MEDIA

○ The release of PlayStation 4 which focused on interactivity, and

introduced a cloud-based gaming service that could stream videos from
the internet, and have interactions from one gamer to another.
○ The Xbox One was introduced and allowed streaming entertainment
options—music and video for instance. Games were offered on Blu-ray
discs or through download on Microsoft’s Xbox Live.
● 2017
○ The release of Nintendo Switch, the only system to allow both
television-based and handheld gaming (History, 2022).
○ Microsoft released the Xbox One X, a 4K-ready console.
● 2020
○ Microsoft released the Xbox Series X and Series S.
○ Sony released the PlayStation 5.

B. Digging Deeper: Video Games and The Spread of the Media

In essence, the evolution of video games in terms of the device and storytelling has
changed drastically. Not only was it able to go from devices only used in universities and by
several research companies to handheld devices or to mobile phones, but it has also started to
create and share stories in different ways that were once unimaginable. Game genres were
once set out with only one specific objective—to win—but now, there are almost more than ten
relevant categories that may or may not overlap each other from time to time:

● Sandbox — Associated with players having to choose freely with open environments
and non-linear gameplay (ex: Minecraft & The Sims)
● Real-time Strategy (RTS) — Players and AI control and compete with each other
simultaneously as a community or with multiple command units (ex: Warcraft)
● Shooters (FPS and TPS) — There are two sub-genres under this—First-person
Shooters and Third-person Shooters—both of which, based on the name itself, are
shooting games. (ex: Halo)
● Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) — Similar to Real-time Strategy games, but
in this, players are together with other people who control only one character. (ex:
League of Legends & Dota 2)
● Role-playing (RPG, ARPG, etc.) — A player takes control of a character that you can
level up through points. There are tons of sub-genres under this:
○ Turn-based Role-playing Game
○ Action Role-playing Game
○ Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game
○ Tactical Role-playing Game
○ Roguelike
○ Roguelite
● Simulation and Sports — Based on the name itself, it’s focused on sports and
simulation. (ex: NBA2K)

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● Puzzlers and Party Games — Party games can often include multiplayer elements,
while puzzlers are, as the name suggests, make do with puzzles with specific gameplay.
(ex: Portal 2 & Jackbox Party Pack)
● Action-adventure — Another type of hybrid genre, this focuses on story involvement
and specific gameplay mechanics. (ex: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order)
● Survival and Horror — Core mechanics include resource management with an
apocalyptic or horror storyline—from the nature of a survival game and horror game
respectively. (ex: Resident Evil)
● Platformer — This includes players exploring challenging levels through different
settings. (ex: Cuphead)

As established, there are tons of genres of video games today, making it exploratory and
not only even limited to sharing stories. In addition to this, video games portray stories with a
more profound lens, and even open other doors or opportunities for it to grow, such as
competitive sports—which would be referred to as E-Sports. Most would often even claim that
they immerse themselves in the world of gaming as it helps them escape the pressures of
reality—as some media would do. It gives people a purposeful and meaningful activity, and can
even aid in critical thinking in terms of problem-solving or in being part of discussions on social
issues happening in real life—as some games would usually touch on such. Overall, the video
game industry is huge, and is at the forefront of computer technology, making an estimated
$100 billion a year.

As most businesses would do, the need to outdo or make the masses more enticed with
their work is strengthened. Hence, the industry today, specifically big companies in the video
game industry namely Sony and Microsoft, has their eyes set on virtual reality gaming, an
entirely different experience from the current setup of gaming (History, 2022). Furthermore, not
only is virtual reality gaming at the top of the future of video games, others are also garnering
potential in furthering the industry. This includes augmented reality, cloud gaming, the
metaverse, and artificial intelligence.

Aligned with the emergence of video games, gamers, and businesses have also opted to
capitalize on video games in several ways—one notable way is through ESports. Today, it has
exploded in popularity and is continuing to do so. In essence, ESports is slowly becoming
future-proof, as more businesses and government institutions are starting to recognize it as a
real sport in need of financial and institutional support. Another way for businesses to use this
media to their advantage is through adaptations, and further exploration of sharing stories and
how video games are played through other forms of media. Several games today such as
Uncharted, God of War, The Witcher franchise, and The Last of Us show immensely astounding
stories with scripts that last for about 15 to 20 hours (Stash, 2018). These can easily be adopted
through other forms of media. With this in mind, people cannot deny that the future of video
games is not only limited to games and gaming in general—it has slowly made its stories to be
known to the masses through other forms of media.

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History of Video Games in the Philippine Context

As much as the video game industry is dominating in other countries, its influence and
accessibility in several developing countries is also as prevalent in the Philippines. As of 2021,
there are over 43 million active gamers who spent over a total of $572 million on games in 2019
(Peligro, 2022).
● A staple in Filipino online gaming culture includes MMORPGs, FPS, and RTS, such as
Call of Duty, League of Legends, Dota, Valorant, etc.
● In terms of console gaming, most people consider acquiring consoles as a luxury,
considering their price point.
○ For instance, while there was a high demand for the PlayStation 5 in the
Philippines, the price point that Filipinos had to pay reached a 51% markup from
the recommended retail prices (RRP).
○ A gaming console costs the average Filipino about 16% of their annual salary
(Lacsamana, 2022).
● Over the course of history, video games in the Philippines were outsourced. During the
early days of the country’s independence, video games were found in ‘fun centers’ near
schools and shopping centers.
● In this context, it is certain that video games are somewhat accessible in the Philippines,
as a portion of the population has access to free online or video games.

Much like other media such as film, TV, and radio, video games also have quite a history
in the country.

● 1981 — Dictator and Former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. banned video games
through Presidential Decree 519 and Letter of Instruction No. 1176 s. 81.
○ Rationale for the ban — Parents and educators claimed that video games were
destructive to the youth and public interest.
○ This set the record that the Philippines was the first nation to ban video games.
○ This ban included pinball machines, slot machines, and other gaming devices.
○ The ban was lifted when Marcos was ousted in 1986.
● 2001 — Anino Games, the Philippines’ pioneer game development studio was
established.
○ However, they soon transitioned to become a third-party developer to make
games for huge companies such as EA, Disney, etc., and were the first in
Southeast Asia to create applications for Nintendo Wii.
● 2003
○ The Philippines released the first Filipino RPG computer game entitled, Anito:
Defend a Land Enraged in November of 2003 which was the turning point for
the game development industry in the Philippines.
■ This game won two international awards:
● Innovation in Audio at the Independent Games Festival 2003
● 2003 Gametunnel Role-Playing Game of the Year

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○ The first computer-based video game in the Philippines is entitled Drac, a

solitaire card game released 2 months prior and developed by Rico Zuñiga.
○ Another game that Zuñiga released in November of 2003 was another card game
based on Filipino Tong-its.
● 2005 — Anito Mobile by Anito Entertainment was released and were the ones who
developed games for mobile phones.
● 2007 — The Game Developers Association of the Philippines, a trade association to
promote the country’s involvement in game development, is established.
● 2008 — A case was filed by Autodesk Inc., which had led to Anino Games being raided
by the National Bureau of Investigation for allegedly using pirated design software.
● 2015 — DOTA was banned in internet shops in Dasmariñas, Cavite. This was because
there were two people who fought and died because of the said game. This
strengthened the idea that video games are a “bad influence” among the youth and it
hinders personal development.
● 2016 — Ubisoft opened its subsidiary in partnership with De La Salle University in Santa
Rosa Laguna.
○ Ubisoft is a French video game publisher with development studios across the
world.
● 2017 — The Philippine government has recognized ESports as a legitimate sport under
the Philippine Games and Amusement Board and Office of the President (Bria, 2022).
○ ESports is considered to be a branch of competitive video gaming.
○ The national governing body for ESports in the Philippines was established and
was referred to as the Philippine ESports Organization (PeSO).
○ The rise in ESports also paved the way for it to be integrated into the country’s
education system—Lyceum of the Philippines has partnered with Blacklist
International-owner Tier One Entertainment to provide a four-year degree which
is Bachelor of Science in ESports.
● 2019 — ESports is considered a medal event in the SEA Games.

A few of the gaming companies in the Philippines are the following:

● Digital Art Chefs — Based in Marikina, and is run by artists and gaming software
developers who have worked on comic books, concept design teams, character
design, storyboards, and more.
● FunGuy Studio — Established in 2007 in Makati, it is involved in developing
video games and mobile apps. Currently, they are now based in Phoenix,
Arizona.
● Komikasi Games and Entertainment — A game company that focuses on
creating games for Facebook, gaming websites, and applications for mobile
phones.
● TOSE Philippines, Inc. — This company is a gaming company from Japan, and it
branched out to the Philippines in 2013, making the country the first Southeast
Asian country they invest in.
● Top Peg Animation;

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INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MEDIA

● Cutting Edge Production;

● Ladyluck Digital Media;
● Synergy 88 Studios;
● Tuldok Animation;
● Toei Animation Phils., Inc.;
● Snipple Animation Studios,;
● Toon City Animation;
● Stream Engine Studios;
● And more.

This is a rough and brief timeline of how the video game industry in the Philippines has
evolved. With this in mind, there are a few prominent observations:

● While there is a sort of game development in the country, Filipinos are still more fond of
international games as seen in trends in the past.
● There is little to no investment from the government or from big local agencies toward
game development in the country.
● Filipinos are creative, and while there have been cases and controversies regarding how
certain game developers have been in the country, there is no denying that Filipinos
have the capacity to think of innovative forms of media that are globally competitive, and
worth investing in locally.

Social Issues on Video Games

● Philippine Video Game Development: Outsourcing > Development — In the

Philippines, game development is not valued. Instead, outsourcing is done from other
countries. Filipino game developers would often opt to work as third-party developers
abroad rather than be the leads in development in the country.
● Accessibility — There are instances that available games present extensive barriers
that prevent players with disabilities from enjoying content. As video games are part of
mass media, it should always take into account accessibility not only for those who are
able, but most especially for those who are disabled as well. In today’s time, accessibility
has become the consumer’s responsibility, when it should have been on the shoulders of
the developers.
● Costs → Piracy — Considering that outsourcing games are the most acceptable form of
how video games come to the Philippines, it becomes an exclusive thing for most
Filipinos setting a wide gap between the masses and this type of media, which then
leads to piracy, or simply, the masses looking for ways to appreciate and be part of the
media that was made for them in the first place. Moreover, it is also seen in how video
game developers develop and create games. Since developers have little to no support
and funding from institutions, they often resort to pirating certain software—which can be
seen in the case with Anino Games in 2007.

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● Lack of Inclusivity — The media has always been dominated by white people—and in
the video game industry, by white men. Stories have been limited and it lacks inclusivity.
Minorities are not represented in game development, and opportunities that would give
such representation to people of color, women, the disabled, and all other minorities are
simply not as widespread.
● Oversexualization of Women’s Portrayals — How women are portrayed in the media
over the course of history shows that characters were, and still are, oversexualized.
From character designs to how women are written, the hypersexualization of female
characters in this industry is not new. Female characters in an industry that are
male-dominated only entail one thing—design and the thought behind the characters
being shown will somewhat be for the male gaze.

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INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MEDIA

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