Sunday, December 7, 2014

PSA

No Kid Hungry with Jeff Bridges


This image is from nokidhungry.org

This 2010 television Public Service announcement was made by the No Kid Hungry organization in conjunction with the Food Network. It aired between shows on the Food Network spreading the word about children who go hungry within the United States.

Actor Jeff Bridges is the spokesperson for the cause, as celebrities are often used to deliver messages because of people's familiarity with them. They are seen as more relatable than the average person.

The PSA features close up images of sad children followed by long shots of the children holding up makeshift signs reading things like "I'm hungry" and "I got my dinner from a gas station". The sad, slow music in the background sets the mood. Other images include Jeff Bridges standing in fields holding up similar signs that provide information about the organization and that encourage people to "take the pledge" to end childhood hunger.

The PSA might have been effective had it been more clear on what taking the pledge meant. Taking a pledge doesn't necessarily entail making a donation, however, donations are exactly what the organization is looking for.

Also, comments on the YouTube video version of this PSA reveal that people think the children in the PSA look too healthy and not hungry at all. They are also well dressed and not particularly moving in their expressions. Many of them look apathetic. It's not as powerful as it could be. I feel that No Kid Hungry relied too much on Jeff Bridges' star power and not enough on the message.

The issue of childhood hunger is still relevant, however, I think a better PSA should be used to communicate that message.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Motion: Raising Arizona

Raising Arizona Trailer

Raising Arizona is a film written, directed, and produced by the Coen Brothers. The 1987 comedy stars Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman among others. In the film a criminal named Hi and a policewoman named Ed get married and move into a mobile home in the desert. When they discover that Ed is infertile they decide to kidnap one of five quintuplets from a local furniture store owner. The rest of the movie is basically a struggle for the baby between Ed and Hi and Hi's criminal friends. A bounty hunter named Smalls goes after the child with the intention to sell it on the black market. In the "motorcyclist scene", Hi and Smalls fight with Smalls getting close to killing Hi, However, Hi reveals he has pulled the pin from one of the grenades on Smalls' vest and Smalls is blown to pieces.

The movie is full of symbolism, biblical references, unusual camerawork, and quirky dialogue.

Comm 3483 Final Research Paper




Thursday, November 13, 2014

Contemporary Photography

Mann, Sally. Candy Cigarette. 1989. Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago.

Photographer Sally Mann shot a series of photographs of her children acting out social constructs, as in the picture above. For this photo taken by her rural Virginia home she used her 8 x 10 view camera to produce a gelatin silver print. Mann carefully planned her daughter's outfit, hair, and posture to look like the innocent miniature of a twenty-something bombshell smoking a casual cigarette. Her attitude is intense and defiant. 

Time Magazine named Sally Mann "America's Best Photographer" in 2001.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Ray Harryhausen Creature

BUBO Clash of the Titans (1981)

        Thumb Bubo


Clash of the Titans. Dir. Desmond Davis. Perf. Laurence Olivier and Harry Hamlin. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1981. Videocassette.


Bubo was sent to Perseus, the protagonist in Clash of the Titans, by Athena to help him in his quest to rescue the princess Andromeda. This Bubo is a mechanical version of Athena's beloved magical owl of the same name. He was forged by Hephaestus (the god of metal-working, volcanoes, and sculptors, son of Zeus and Hera). Bubo was a replacement gift for Perseus after he loses his helmet of invisibility in Calibos' swamp. Steve Archer animated the character using stop motion animation. Many observed that Bubo has similarities to the droid R2-D2 in Star Wars (1977), however, Harryhausen claimed that Bubo was created before Star Wars was released.



Thursday, October 30, 2014

Cartoons (Before 1950)

Mickey Mouse Piano Solo - The Opry House (1929)


citation
The Opry House. Prod. Disney. Perf. Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney Production Studios, 1929. Youtube.com.

This was Disney's fifth Mickey Mouse film. It is notable that this is the first film in which Mickey is wearing gloves. Disney chose to add the gloves so that his hands would be more visible against darker backgrounds or when they crossed across his body. In this short film, both animals and inanimate objects take on human characteristics. The curtain has the word "asbestos" on it which indicates that it is made of that material. Asbestos is fireproof and would prevent the spreading of a fire if one of the lights in a theater happened to cause one.




Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Research Paper Outline

Assigned topic: DDB's Volkswagen Advertising Campaign of the 1960s

Paper title: Think Small: DDB's Volkswagen and the Evolution of Advertising

Abstract: Doyle Dane Bernbach agency's advertising campaign for Volkswagen automobiles can be described as one of the most innovative of its time. It connected to consumers on an emotional level, conveyed the product's benefits while explicitly identifying (read: poking fun at) its shortcomings, and most importantly relied on refreshing simplicity. The intention of this piece is to compare and contrast other automobile advertisements of the mid-20th century with DDB's Volkswagon campaign, consider the social climate at the time, and examine advertisements thereafter in order to analyze the campaign's influence on the nature of advertising.

Outline:

  1. Introduction (Thesis)
  2. Body 1: Social Climate: A car designed in Nazi Germany
  3. Body 2: The Challenge: Growing families and tiny, ugly cars (Lemon)
  4. Body 3: Radical Advertisement: Volkswagen vs Chevrolet, Ford, Chrysler
  5. Body 4: A deeper look at DDB strategy
  6. Body 5: Ugly is only skin-deep: laughing at yourself
  7. Body 6: Volkswagen Station wagon: bigger than the biggest, smaller than the smallest (family as target market)
  8. Body 7: The Aftermath: Development of advertising thanks to thinking small
  9. Conclusion