Visual Literacy Group Photography Project Memo

For the photography project we worked well as a group we quickly and decisively decided on the theme of desire that we all agreed upon. The toughest part was trying to show the theme as it’s not an easy task to present. We all threw out different ideas of how we can show the theme either through food or through lust for another person because depending on what the subject is, the reaction could look different but still work under the same scope of the theme. What we would try differently next time would to brainstorm together as a group. We would choose a specific kind of desire, like desire for food, so by the time we left we would all be in agreement. In the end, it worked out great with the project a success. Nevertheless, it would have made it easier on the group if we had brainstormed beforehand. All around though the project turned out great. The photos were interesting and precise, but vague enough to be open to interpretation and thought provoking.

            Responsibility. In any group some one always has to take the leadership role for the group to succeed. As the old saying goes, with power comes responsibility. As the leader you do have power and say over the general direction of the project but as a result you have to assume more of a role in the project than others. What I learned is that the leader has to bring out the group members full potential but keep order. The leader has to walk that fine line and know when to lead and when not to, it’s a learning process.

The first photo of the project is one of my favorites. This photo is a very intimate photo that was taken in such a way that it shows the theme of desire even without their facial expressions. In the picture the viewer can notice that there is a shallow depth of field. We can tell by the unfocused background and part of the girl’s right shoulder is beginning to become unfocused. This is important to note because it allows the audience just to focus on the bullet necklace making the photo have a private, intimate feel. The over saturation also helps point out the bullet necklace which is the main subject in the photo. The white colored shirt on the girl is brighter and even hard to notice at parts, which makes the bullet and the man’s arm standout more and demands the viewers attention. You could also argue that this is from the man’s point of view which the audience would have to infer that they are closer together than they would be if they were just friendlily with one another. We can tell that the bullet is the main focus because it is center of the frame and his fingers frame the bullet making the audience focus first on the bullet. The direction of the girl’s body only adds to this theory as it is facing towards the bullet, which would mean that if we could see her face she would be looking in the bullets direction too. The rule of thirds is at work here, as the bullet is in the middle third with the girl on the right third and the man on the left third and as a result equally distributing the photo creating symmetry.

Art to Life

All around we did a good job with the film. We divided up the work equally between us and we didn't run into any problems. The only issue was choosing the picture as we could have gone in any direction with the pictures we had at are dispose. We eventually decided on the girl smoking the cigarette because we had talked it through and in turn created a good storyline that was concise. The filming was quick because we had a clear idea of what we were creating and it didn't have to be complicated because of time constrains. It was a great learning experience as Eric and I did the editing of the film, which was something I had only done once before on Final Cut Pro. It did take me awhile to get the hang of capturing, editing, and putting in the effects but in the end I understood the fundamentals.
My next project would be a short film something along the lines of 3 to 5 minutes because that allows me to do something in more depth and spend more time on each shot to make sure it is exactly what I want. The idea of the film would be basic as I would just focus on getting the point across in a creative manner.
Yes, in a lot of ways the basics of photography can be applied over to film. For example, the rule of thirds and use of different lenses and camera angles. In the short film for this project we used a lot of different camera angles and camera heights to show that the girl was not your typical kind of person which was evident when she picked up the cigarette that was laying on the ground-still lit.
In this project my primary role was to edit the film but also to help out with choosing the pictures as well as cementing the storyline of the short film. All in all, we met every aspect of the film from pre-production to the final version and there is nothing that any of us didn't have a role in.

Film Assignment: Helvetica

One of the concepts they brought up in the movie was the idea that what makes font is not the actual font but the negative space around it. That negative space or the background, as one of the typographers stated when he was being interviewed was what kept and rooted the font in place. The negative space provides context just like the background of photo or an establishing shot. The background is what creates the setting and without that background you lose the context and importance of the subject.

The main question they addressed in the film was, where did Helvetica come from? What was fascinating about this question is that it's a question no one ever asks or wonders and as we find out in the film is that the procedure for making a font is complex. In many ways, creating a font to fit all these different aspects like; if its clear, legible, straightforward, along with other factors, is just as complex as creating a film or making a sculpture just on a much smaller scale. There is no real way of what the font should look like just like there is no limit to what could be considered a font. The same can be said for every kind of art like film and photography.

Although the range is limitless the creative process of actually making the font is unique. How they explained it in the film is that they would start with the letter “h” because the structure of that letter can than be transferred to other letters like “r” and “n”. From there they would try with the letter “o” and see if that curve of the “o” compliments the horseshoe curve on the “h” than include the “p” and look at it as the word, “hop”. The process of starting small and working big is unique and this process is not used in other forms of media like film or photography as you usually start with a big idea than narrow it down from there.

Ch.6 Propaganda or Presuasion

A clothing company that uses highly controversial photos to create news seems is nothing out of the ordinary now a days but the company Benetton crosses the line from being provocative, like the Calvin Klein commercial with Brooke Shields, to morally wrong. The way the photos are perceived by the viewer can be seen as mocking the people and what they stand for. They explain it best in the text. “They cite the use of the picture as another example of a large corporation exploiting a personal tragedy to sell a product” (71).  I agree with this point of view. Although they bring awareness of the cause and in many ways endorse it, they are using politically charged images, like a nun kissing a priest for the sole purpose to create controversy. It is just as morally wrong to exploit Chinese kids to work in sweatshops and pay them just enough to stay alive so our clothes can be cheap. This is a textbook example, of capitalism at it’s finest. It not only says a lot of the company but also of the consumer. The consumer is to naïve to see the full repercussions of these advertisements but instead deems them “cool” and “hip”. By them buying their clothes they are saying it is alright to mock the minorities in society and acceptable for society to function in this manner.

            For the company to achieve this it takes a lot of persuasion and tactful advertisement to create buzz that states how awful the company is but in the process create a counter-culture that finds it interesting. I wouldn’t say its propaganda because it’s main goal isn’t to hurt a person or a group’s reputation but the campaign does result in this or walks that fine line between controversial and acceptable but morally wrong. In other words they leave room for interpretation resulting in someone going either way on the subject.