A beginning, a middle, and an end.

Step one: push play on the video below

Step two: read blog post while song is playing

I loved podcasting. It was like monologuing without having to perform live or in person…it allowed me to write a script and yet speak as if I were in a conversation. But the best part about podcasting was that I was able to put music to a story.

For me, music always enhances life. Whether it is melancholy or cheerful, it has the ability to make life feel like a movie. And the thing with movies is, they aren’t real.When I walk down the  street with my headphones  in and “Daylight” by Matt  and Kim (the song you are  currently listening to) is  playing, the world just  seems to work. Everything  works in harmony with the  music.

Step three: press pause on the video.

Listen to your surroundings void of the music.

It’s as if reality suddenly hits you, and nothing is as worked out as it may seem. In a song, in a story, and in a podcast, everything is written. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end. But when the music stops, and you realize life’s not a movie, it’s not already worked out, and it’s not written, it’s scary.

So I love podcasting. Because podcasting is a fake reality. You pretend you are having a conversation, and yet there is music, and there is a storyline, a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Step four: push play.

Groove Is In The Heart

Over the past two weeks I have had the pleasure of playing with the apple application, Garageband. Exploring this application has been extremely fun, and for someone who has grown up in a very technological world, it was very simple to figure out.

I had worked with Garageband in the past to create songs for fun, but using it to create a podcast was slightly different. It’s strange to hear your own voice talking back to you, and it’s slightly uncomfortable at first.

The thing that distracted me from this discomfort was the ability to add other sound effects. I have always loved adding music to films and talk shows so this was one homework assignment I didn’t mind doing. I love being able to rack my brain for the perfect song that would fit in, adding a sarcastic or emotional tone to the piece. If you find the right song, the listener doesn’t even realizing that the music is effecting their reaction, it just does. I look forward to working with Garageband over the next two weeks and building up to higher technical equipment that makes it sound even better.

Anyone can attempt to make music on Garageband. You don’t have to play an instrument or be able to read music. Garageband makes music accessible to all, and everyone should have the opportunity to try making music. After all, groove is in the heart…

Groove is in the Heart by Deee-Lite

Podcast: The Tivo-Time-shifting-Radio-Ipod

Everytime I open my itunes, I notice that little purple microphone icon emitting radio waves . Podcasts, it reads.

What on earth is a podcast?!? I truthfully didn’t know the definition of this little purple icon that always sat innocently in between Tv Shows and Audiobooks until tonight. A podcast is like the radio version of tivo. “A podcaster records something–anything from music to philosophical ramblings, professional news or snorting noises–into a computer with the air of a microphone, then posts this audio file onto the internet” (The Economist). And from the internet, people across the globe “subscribe” to this persons “show” and it is automatically downloaded to their ipod. What appeals listeners to such a media? “Heard on the Street”, an article from The Economist says the appeal is composed of three aspects:

1. Listeners can mix the music and talk feeds that they want.

2. Podcasts are free of the endless advertising on radio stations that keep listeners switching from station to station in frustration.

3. Podcasts have a “time-shifting” component (this is where the Tivo aspect comes in), since they can listen to the podcast whenever and where ever they chose.

Will Apple’s Podcasts change society the way the Ipod has? The Ipod changed the music business in “not only the means of distribution but even the strategies people would use to buy songs. No one envisioned subway cars and airplane cabins and street corners and school lounges and fitness centers where cast swathes of humanity would separate themselves from the bonds of reality via the White Earbud Express” (Levy 359). In writer Steven Levy’s article “The Perfect Thing”, he says that the podcast may become the radio of the twenty-first century.

I downloaded  the audio comedy  podcast by John Hodgman called “Today In the Past”. (Image of Hodgman on left.) The short posts range from 20 seconds to a few minutes and there is a post for each day containing a fake fact about that date in the past. The specific podcasting experience was a lot like listening to a comedic audiobook. This one podcast had only one speaker, John Hodgman, which can differ from the radio when there are anywhere from two to four people talking. It was not conversational like the radio might be and included no type of commercials but was intimate knowing that Hodgman was simply speaking into a microphone. It constitutes new media in that it is an evolved version of previously existing medias, combining the Tivo time-shifting option, the radio, and the Ipod all into one.

Media Distorts Memory

How do you see yourself in your memories? Has Media effected this?

In our memories, we as individuals imagine how things took place in different ways. How different types of media, most importantly film and photography capture and portray these are interesting to observe. In my mind, there are three different types of remembering…

1. The Invisible Observer

Some people remember a scene as though they are an outsider looking in, an invisible person in the memory. They can view themselves in the time period the memory takes place. This is exemplified in Harry Potter when Harry goes back in time and lives through the memory as an invisible observer. Nobody can hear or see him but he experiences the memory firsthand, watching himself from that time period.

2. Memory of God

Others will remember certain memories as if they are watching the scene from above. They can see themselves the same way as they do as an “Invisible Observer”, but instead of being in the scene they are watching from a bird’s eye view. An example of this is a music video by Oren Lavie, in which the entire video is shot from the ceiling.

3. Traveling Back In Time

The last type of remembrance is when a person remembers a memory as if they were their present self experiencing the memory again. For instance if the memory is of yourself when you are 3 and you went exploring in a forest outside your grandparents house, you picture the memory in your mind as your 18 year old self re-experiencing the scene.

I find myself in a group that is different than all three of these. I seem to remember things from the point of view of a different person, someone who is not completely me but not completely unfamiliar. I can never envision what I look like in my mind. In my memories, I am this other girl, but I remember in the same way I watch a film- as if through somebody else. I believe that media such as film and photography has influenced the way I remember.

Abnormal Destructo! No Ice Cream For You

Interactivity involves creating a story…be it choosing to take the elevator in  The Secret Location interactive advertisement (IA), or selecting which hairdo to put on an M&M character in the Become an M&M IA. We are the creators, and although most of the time this is an illusion, that is the genius of advertising.

I suppose I agree with Lev Manovich in that we constantly “mistake the structure of somebody else’s mind for our own” in interactive ads. We may be pressing the buttons and pushing the links but there is a limit to the pathways we may take and the designers knew that limit. We are never really in control when it comes to this type of advertisement, but it is the ads that make us believe we are that are the most successful.

I spent about two hours on Samsung Anyflims.net. This IA is an interactive film where there are “10 characters. 1 event. A mysterious suitcase. A fascination with underwear. 10 possible endings. 11,000 ways for the story to play out.”

You pick four icons and drags them onto the grid. They will dictate plot, style, mood, and content. The icon options are a Gun, a Cell Phone, a Martini glass, a pair of Underwear, a Flower, and a Toilet.  You then watch the scenes according to which icons you placed where and attempt to solve the mystery.

I tried 8 different films to try and figure out the mystery… each film had a title at the beginning, for example:

“The Highest Hate vs. The Nave Cherry”; ”The Covert Hegemony vs. The Decadent Frustration”; ”Abnormal Destructo! The Most Mysterious and Confident Train”.

First of all, Abnormal Destructo! sounds like it should be in Harry Potter. Second of all, none of the eight films led me to any  sort of conclusion. I knew more and  more about the characters, who shot  who, what suitcase got placed where,  etc.. However, there wasn’t any  storyline to follow, because I was the  storyteller. I loved this, and I hated  this. I was finally acting out my  childhood favorite, Nancy Drew (the  girl detective), but I couldn’t solve the  mystery and go to the ice cream shop at  the end!

There was no mystery, I was simply fooled to continue on and create grid  after grid. At the end of each film it  would egg me on with “Nice work. But there’s more mystery to unravel. And the only way to figure this thing out is to make more films. What are you waiting for?” And back to the grid I’d go.

This ad aimed to get a Samsung phone that could play these IA films on your cell phone. Did it make me want a Samsung? No. Did it frustrate me? Yes. Did it entertain me? Yes. It was well made, interesting, and made me feel like a detective and a film maker all at once. Perhaps the ad didn’t make me want the phone, but it held my attention for so long, I at least have to give it props in saying it was indeed, interactive.

Steve- Authentic Boyfriend Jean

“The Diesel consumer likes the idea of being a Diesel consumer. It’s the image that is worth buying”, wrote Calvin Callaway, a senior at the University of Southern California in his analysis of Diesel ad campaigns.

Diesel makes their buyers feel rebellious, intellectual, liberal, and like someone who defies the norm. They do so, by creating advertisements that mock advertisements. It is an “anti-corporate commentary” that runs through their campaigns, making Diesel consumers “feel good about themselves by recognizing the corporate duplicity of companies like McDonalds”.

So perhaps it isn’t always the clothing that draws in the fashion consumer…but rather the idea behind it.

My favorite fashion ad campaign is J Brand jeans. Why I was so attracted to this type of advertisement, I never understood until now.

J Brand creates advertisements with minimal text. They  portray woman who are beautiful in a unique, high fashion  way. However, instead of placing them in a studio, they use  a setting that provokes emotions of serenity, relaxation, and  beauty. These girls are laid-back, comfortable in their own  skin, and confident with little makeup and a pair of jeans.

The ads involve a lot of natural hues with only the pants as  the brightest color, everything else slightly faded and of the  same tones.

These images appeal to me because of who I am: a young,  caucastian, upper middle-class girl who wants to be thin,  confident, and naturally beautiful in a pair of jeans.

 

This image uses many of the techniques I just explained. The colors are dull except for the jeans. The girl is relaxed on a rocking chair, slouching in a comfortable position.

The image of the dog in her lap makes her relatable and her hand on his head gives her character- she is caring and animal-friendly. The man’s feet that come out of the left hand corner are overlooked at first and then realized.

Both the dog and the girl are looking at the pants, which draws the viewers attention to the main component of the advertisement. The man’s feet also lead the viewers eye towards the pants.

And finally- there is the text. “Steve- Authentic Boyfriend Jean”. The man’s feet finally have a purpose! This little addition of text adds a story- Steve the boyfriend and the girl live with their dog in some nature-like setting where they can relax in the afternoon on their porch.

“It’s the image that is worth buying”… I don’t necessarily want to have short hair and a dog and a life of relaxation on the porch, but it’s the emotion the ad gives me that makes me want to have the essence that is possesses. And how can I do so? By buying J Brands, of course! It’s the idea of being a J Brand consumer that makes me feel like I can be that relaxed, naturally beautiful girl in the image wearing her boyfriends jeans barefoot on the deck. I am buying that feeling.

When Pigs Fly

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Multiple components make up this advertisement. Together they work to pull the consumer in, inspire subconscious thoughts or opinions, and spark desire.

The book “Picturing Texts” breaks down the different methods of creating a successful advertisement or image. The text describes balance as the first element of an image. People are in a constant subconscious search for symmetry. They want equilibrium, be it putting the fork on one side of the plate and the knife on the other, or balance in imagery.  If an image is unbalanced, it creates tension that can be both disturbing and engaging for the viewer (Faigley 26).

In this advertisement, the two pigs in the front create a balanced  base for the image. There is a horizon line where it is lighter  towards the top of the image and the viewer’s eye is drawn slightly  to the right to see the couple standing together. This makes the  image more interesting by not being perfectly symmetrical. The  four girls in the image are placed parallel to one another creating  another sense of balance but allowing the one in the light to stand  out.

The visual imagery of the pigs is a use of metaphor, comparing the  men who don’t use a condom every time to pigs, which in our  culture symbolize something dirty, greedy, and animalistic.

Using comparison and contrast the advertisers set up a man who  ”uses a condom every time” to men who don’t (the pigs). The  woman with the “evolved” man is happy and flirtatious whereas  the women with the pigs are unhappy and disgusted. This creates a juxtaposition not only between the man and the pigs but also between the engaged woman and the repulsed ones.

The use of light and dark in the image not only draws the readers attention to the light but creates yet another contrast between the pigs and the evolved man.

The text says “evolve”, which indicates that the men who don’t use a condom every time are more primal. The women’s reaction communicates that women are more interested in evolved men, and therefore men who use condoms.