media appreciation #5: Questions for Be Kind Rewind

Media Appreciation #5

Questions for Be Kind Rewind

1.     Casting; Do the actors suit the roles that they were cast in?  Are they believable as part of the reality they are in? 

a.      Jack Black as Jerry Gerber

b.     Mos Def as Mike

c.     Danny Glover as Elroy Fletcher

2.     How does technology impact the community at the beginning of the film?  At the end of this film? 

Homework- Media Appreciation #3: media of the future

Here you are looking for something out there that will possibly be the "wave of the future"!  For an example do a google search of the X-box 360 project Natal.

1. Find “something” new that we’ll see in the future
2. What is the immediate use for the maker’s product?
3. What impact will this product have on us, the users,and/or the world?

All these appreciation excercises should be about a page typed on your Blog.  You have until June 4th.  If however, your assignment is posted 2 weeks after the posting of these quesions, you will get penalized.  There is no set answer, so let your thoughts ponder the questions and go in whatever direction it takes you (as long as you don't go too far from the overall topic).

Homework: Appreciation #1

This is your first media appreciation response for term 4.  It is looking at Videogame culture and videogaming by responding to David Perry's presentation.  (link to the Talk here)

1)  Where do you place yourself or your peers in video game culture?  Why?
2)  What do you think of video games and video game culture?  Why?
3)  What do you see in the future for our culture and the impact video games will have on that future?
4)  Discuss one thing (quote, statistic, etc.) from David Perry's talk that you found interesting.

Respond to 3 of the 4 topics.  A decent response is about a loose-leaf page in length; but I will only accept blog posts.

Last Week Review (week end Nov 27th)

It seems like a long time since I've posted- wait a minute, it has been a long time!  Well the LES is behind us, we took a look at New media/social media, this included viral marketing and flashmobs.  New ways that marketers and advertisers have been looking to find ways to reach audiences in hip, cool ways.  Some of these really are cool, others are a bit creepy when you really think about it... Furthermore, we have been working further with the LES to review Photoshop, transferring the work done on paper to the computer and playing with it digitally.  What I have seen has been very good and very encouraging.  As you're working with this, you guys should be seeing if and how this program could apply to your own integrated projects!- especially those of you who are doing a POSTER CAMPAIGN!


Coming Up:  We will be looking at film/video and Flash- making a quick movie and a little Flash game.  Again those people that are working on projects that might need either of these two programs/techniques should look to apply these to their projects.

Last Week Review (end Oct 30th)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO YOU ALL!

We've been working through the LES and will be finishing it up (spending half a class on getting it done).  The marking of the Integrated project is going well.

Coming up: We are going to looking further at Design/advertising techniques and start working through some excersises that will give us a hands-on look at different expressions of mediums.

Review Last Week (end Oct 22nd)

Last week we were working to get the first phase of your integrated project handed in.  Every regular student had to go through this process and we had a great success among a number of classes- ours being one of them!

We also finished the analysis of the advertisement and looking at the first of the advertising techniques. 

Coming up:  Your LES, which is a two day testing period, starts on Tuesday and ends Wednesday.  This LES will test how competent you are in the various materials that we have learned this term- especially the vocabulary, Branding, Spin, and Advertising techniques, as well as looking how the brain makes decisions and designs solutions- this is where marketers and advertisers want to be- knowing how you think is the first step to successfully creating a need and providing a solution/product.

Homework

1. Having seen the video documentary, Sexy Inc., you need to respond on your blog to the following questions:   

• Was there a point where you felt you were overwhelmed and felt like your "image" wasn't enough.   
• Is the line blurred between what is "Sexy" and the image that you have (or are building) of yourself.   
• Whose role is it to set "limits"?   
• What advise would you give to a 4 year old about start her "social life", by going to school next year?          

          Please title this blog entry "Video Doc response"
         

Last Week Review (end Oct 16)

It seems that I hardly saw you last week...!  We did however continue to look at advertising techniques and apply them to your own ads that you brought in.  This is getting you ready for your LES that will be coming up soon- I will be pushing it back a week so that all classes will be sure to be at the same point and also be sure that you all have your Power Point Presentations in.

Coming up:  This week we will devote to getting the power points and integrated project forms in (due on the 22nd of October).  We will also look a little further into advertising techniques and their effect on the public.

Your LES will now start the week of October 26th-30th (I lose you on the 29th because of Career Fair)

Homework

Redoing the Logo Tag 2 more times... and bringing to class a printed copy of your original Logo.

Also finish as best you can filling out the Integrated Project form- this way you can ask questions about those parts that you are having problems with... (no question is too silly!)

Last Week Review (end Oct 9)

This week we finished up the movie "Thank You for Smoking" and so wrapped up our look at the world of SPIN and LOBBYISTs.  This was to illustrate that there are forces (people and organizations) that work very hard to get their message with their Point Of View into our everyday life, our homes and minds.  They do this by going beyond the obvious advertisements; they do it using government policy, the entertainment industry, and spin the facts how they see fit.

Then we turned our attention back to traditional 2D print ads.  These are the simpilist examples of design and media techniques.  We looked at only one technique at this point and that is the Rule of Thirds.

Coming up:  We will continue looking at the advertising and design techniques.  Also we will be turning our attention specifically to the Integrated Project Form that needs to be handed in with your Power Point presentation.

Last Week Review (end Oct 2)

Looking at my agenda it's blank.  That can mean one of two things- eithr we did nothing or we did so much that I didn't have time to record it...  (we won't even think of the third option- my procastative nature...) but looking back at the week this is what we did:

1. Looked at old cigarette commercials which make great examples of branding.  If you want the "fun" to continue just do a Youtube search for cigarette commercials. 
2. By looking at these commercials we saw the use of "distances" used by advertisers to make a product "friendlier"- these distances are: 1) Social, 2) Personal, and 3) Intimate.
3. We also looked at the definitions of Lobbyist and Spin- techniques used by advertisers, companies/corporations and politicians to convince people of their point of view.  To support this we watched the satirical movie "Thank You for Smoking"

Coming up:  We'll be looking a bit more closely at the integrated project and Power Point presentations- getting you ready for your Oct 22 project due date.  We will also continue to look at branding/logos and advertising- consentrating on the Visual image in the advertisement.  Later to look at Companies and their presence on the internet and how they advertise.

logo tag

this is where you go to get to the Jobs with Justice

Distances in Advertising Design

Whether it is a television ad, one in a magazine or a billboard on the side of a bus, marketers and advetisers try to get their product to you.  One of the basic concepts is how close the product is to you.  The closer the product the "friendlier" it is.  There are three types of distances:

1. Social distance:  This is the distance that is most comfortable in a public space (distance btw people/objects being 4ft or more; you can see a the whole person).
2. Personal distance:  This is the distance often referred to as personal space.  This can change depending on what culture you are from, but for the most part it is btw 4ft and 18 inches;  you can see a person from the waist up (1/2 of the person) and should be able to comfrotably hear them if talking.
3. Intimate distance:  Less then 18 inches.  This distance is considered private space- the distance reserved for friends and family; those things that are very familiar (i.e. food/eating, kissing, examining something very small, etc.)

Advertisers play with these distances to get you comfortable with the product.  Movies, incidentally, use it also to get you to like characters (the close-up).

Last Week Review (end Sept 25)

This week there were a lot of NOTES!  Specifically they were about BRANDING and TARGET AUDIENCE.  These are techniques used by marketing departments, advertisers, companies, and governments to gain public opinion and convince people to consent to something (i.e. buy a product, support a cause- like a war, allow a law to be passed).

It is important that they use the decision making process (Identify, Analyze, Design, Implement, and Evaluate) as the base to sway their target audience.  Also important is to realize that everyone has an agenda and an opinion- even no opinion is considered when making the statistics that marketers need.

On the mini-day we went over the requirements for your Integrated Project Presentation- due Oct 22.  We look more closely at power point presentations.  Until then you should have answers to the following: 1) what you will create, 2) what organization you will represent, and 3) which subjects (and teachers) you will connect with.

Coming Up: we will be looking at a particular case study of Branding: Cigarettes (for fun do a search of YOUtube- CIGARETTE COMMERCIALS) and then watch the movie Thank You for Smoking.

Homework: There is no official homework- but you should take this time to review, get up to date, and think about your integrated project.

Last Week Review (end Sept 17th)

This last week we looked further into the process of how we make decisions. This process (Identify, Analysis, Design, Implement, and Evaluate)is something that we do sometimes in split seconds and other times it takes us weeks and months to do.  This is the outline you will follow for your Integrated Project.  We looked at how advertisers attach themselves to this process and create either a NEED (Got Milk?) or a SOLUTION (Sham-Wow) by using HOOK STATEMENTS. 

Designing a good hook statement is not the easiest thing to do; the hook statement should hint at the product while targeting the audience (TARGET AUDIENCE).

We also looked at what makes a good Power Point Presentation- the amount of information, the pictures and their arrangement on the slide is key.  Be sure when you are arranging those things that you take into account their size, color and form (these are basic elements of design).

Coming up: we are going to look at the concept of target audience, logos and branding

Homework:

1. Response to Class Questions/Ideas #1 with a picture to illustrate your thoughts
2. Integrated project idea (sadly very few people have done this... not so good...)