Being someone who has grown up with more “up-to date” music videos, I thought it was very interesting seeing what the first kind of music videos (Scopitones) looked like. One thing I noticed that was common in almost all of the ones I saw, was the women’s clothing. It was colourful, tight, revealing and racy. A lot of skin was shown especially for that time period. In April Stevens & Nino Tempo’s “Land of 1000 Dances” young women, wearing skimpy bikini tops with white skirts and sailor hats, were dancing and jumping up and down. Half way through, they literally ripped off their skirts to reveal little bikini bottoms. Videos done by January Jones and Joi Langing were the same. The other thing was, that the females only wore high-heeled sandals. All the women had a certain look to them as well; they were pretty, young, “all dolled up” (big hair, and heavy make-up). Even in today’s society, I thought it was a bit much. The videos all had cheesy, choreographed dances, and most singers had back up dancers. The stage/background either looked as if it was set “in-studio” or with a “hot summer’s day” backdrop. I also noticed that the camera work wasn’t too creative, compared to today’s videos with smooth transitions from shot to shot, and a variety of different camera angles. I was quite impressed by the videos made by those who started this whole trend. There is a lot more equipment and technology available today. We have a more elaborate costumes, backgrounds, and camera angles. I’d say today’s videos are equal in style vs. substance. However, with the scopitones, I’m thinking style might be winning just a bit.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Merry FLASHmas!!
A few years back, free e-cards were a big thing. I remember sending and receiving them for every holiday or celebration - Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Halloween, well you get the point. There were many sites that had them free too, like Hallmark and 123greetings. But in the last few years, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I haven’t sent or received one in a long time. Many of the cards now cost a fee, and aren’t as fun to send anymore. Since Christmas is coming up, and it is my favourite holiday, I wanted to do my Flash project revolving around Christmas. Not to mention, the itunes Library at school has a huge selection of Christmas songs. I came up with the idea of making an Interactive Christmas Greeting card, which I can then send to my friends and family for the holiday season. I thought I might make a family living scene with a roaring fire in the background and a Christmas tree with flashing lights. I then thought I might place my parents and myself in front of that scene wearing Santa hats, with the balls on the end swaying. In the background could be a nice melody of Christmas music and a sweet Happy Holidays message written on the front. Keeping in mind all of the design principles we learned in previous lectures, and the C.R.A.P. principles, I want to use a variety of pictures (hand-draw, and photographed) and edit them in Photoshop to make them look cool and interesting. I’ll then import them into Flash. This means, I’ll have to go hunting for last year's Christmas photos and brush up on my sketching skills!! In the Flash section, I’ll use techniques such as converting everything to symbols, and incorporating invisible buttons. I want to use a few different tweens (shape and motion) as well as a motion guide. Also, I want to have the colours changing while the text moves in and out of the screen at certain times. There weren't really any examples shown in Lecture or Lab that gave me this idea, but I did notice that no examples were of e-cards. I wanted to do something different, and this seems to be something different. However, we did see lots of examples of well-done Flash projects and my favourite would probably have to be “Stutter Step” by Eric Asante. Eric did a really good job and incorporated moving text, audio (his own voice), a wide range of typography, and he used proper colour schemes. What I really thought was cool, was every time he repeated a word, a little number appeared beside that word, letting the audience know how many times that particular word was repeated. For example, the word “Y’Know” was repeated four times at the beginning, so a little “4” appeared after the word. I thought it was edited and produced very well; it was neat, slick, and creative. I looked through many e-cards on the Hallmark website for inspiration and found one that I thought was really neat. The polar bear and present look animated but the trees look like they could be made out of clay or some substance like that. Actually, the polar bear looks more like a stuffed animal. I thought it was a good example of something I might do, even though the idea is completely different. I like how the polar bear moves and tries to deliver the present. The snow is falling, and his scarf moves in the wind. I’m wondering if it was created on Flash… http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ecard%7C10001%7C10051%7C892287%7C147551;-102001;11441;-102271;-102046%7Cecard%7CPR4S%7Cecards?cardType=premium&template=n&categoryId=-102046
I tend to be very creative, but can never make up my mind. Thinking up the perfect idea is the hardest. By the following morning, I may have three other ideas; for now, this is my favourite, and it's what I’m sticking with…for now!
Monday, October 12, 2009
School Daze Uniforms
From Grade 7 through Grade 12, I had to wear a uniform. It consisted of the standard articles: kilt, dress shirt, sweater, and tights. However, not many people liked wearing the uniform, and certainly the posters and brochures we got promoting our uniform did nothing that made us want to wear those clothes. So, I thought it would be kind of fun to make a fictitious uniform brand and promote it in a cool, hip, “high school-y” way. Personally, I think uniforms are a good idea; I wish kids took them more seriously. But I do feel that how the company promoted them didn’t use the best techniques to really grab our attention and interest. To make my advertisement poster appeal to my demographic (students who have to wear a uniform, whether they are in junior high, or high school), I had to make sure it looked “cool.” The poster couldn’t be simple or plain. It had to have flare, it had to have edge. There’s nothing worse than turning teenagers off something, because they’ll never give it a second glance. I had to make sure my poster was interesting and had some elements that would spark their interests. I thought by going through with this idea, I’d be able to portray my talents the best in Photoshop. I started with a colour photograph that I took of my friend and me, posing for fun one afternoon in Grade 11. I then turned it to black and white and started adding effects. I used the gradient map for gray scaling, I posterized my picture with a level of seven and adjusted the hue and saturation levels and then used a photo filter. I changed the brightness to minus twelve, and the contrast to positive thirty-three. I made two different levels. The first one had input values of zero, one, and 225. The second level I used had input levels of fifteen, one point five, and 225. Both levels had an output of zero and 225. Finally, I added an exposure and a channel mixer. Because I’m promoting uniforms, I thought the best thing to do would be to keep my kilt and his tie (since they are both plaid – the basis of a uniform) in colour, so they would stand out. But, I didn’t just want to leave the plaid normal (without any special effects), because it looked weird compared to the rest of the poster which had so many effects added to it. Also, the original plaid was too dark with the rest of the picture having so many effects. I wanted to show contrast through the darkness of the picture and the brightness (almost neon) of the plaid. Since I couldn’t change the levels or colours of the kilt and tie in the original Photoshop document, I carefully cut them out and transferred them into a new Photoshop document. Once in the second document, I took my kilt and changed it as follows: I changed the brightness to seventy-three and contrast to forty-eight, I posterized my kilt at a level of four. I changed the colour balance to red: forty-six, green: fifteen, blue: minus seven (all midtones) and made the exposure levels to read: 0.31, -0.0340, 1.10. I made note of the exact values for each, hoping that if I just input the same values for the tie, it would look exactly the same. Of course, it didn’t. The numbers may have looked the same, but to the eye, the plaids looked completely different. The difference was really noticeable, so I had to start adjusting the levels of each effect until the tie matched the kilt. Once I was happy with them both, I had to flatten the layers together to be able to re-import them into my original Photoshop document. I re-sized them so they’d fit nicely over the original tie and kilt and made sure everything looked acceptable. Now, the only thing left was to come up with a brand for my uniform line and a slogan that promoted uniforms but at the same time tied into my picture. I came up with “School Daze Uniforms” as my company name. “EST. ’91” is in honour of my birthday since I was born in that year. The “School” part is there because the uniforms are meant for school use. The “Daze” was a little pun that I thought up. “Daze” as in “Days”: School days but the other meaning is for how my friend and I are looking at each other – we are kind of dazed by each other. Why? Because we are wearing the coolest, most stylish uniforms! I chose each font to go with the particular word. For “School” I used the stencil font because it reminded me of school. When we were in the primary grades, we were always told to use stencils when we were writing, to help us develop a proper way of writing the alphabet. I used the font “Curlz MT” for “Daze” because the curls reminded me of floating around, daydreaming – we are gazing at each other in a kind of daze; we are daydreaming about each other. For “Uniforms” I used the font entitled “Lucida Calligraphy.” I thought it gave the term a bit more class and style. Lastly, for “EST. ‘91” I decided to use the font “Britannic Bold.” It’s a nice font to read and doesn’t overpower any of the special fonts. The message that I’m trying to convey here is: just because you're wearing a uniform, it doesn’t make you any less attractive or desirable. Many students believe that uniforms are not cool, not attractive, and not sexy; that’s why they don’t wear them and then get in trouble from the schools administrators. My whole idea is, these uniforms, my uniforms, “School Daze Uniforms” are hip; they do make you look cool, you look hot. I thought this was best described through my slogan: “you’re more alike than he realizes…” I wanted it to be subtle, I didn’t want the line to be too openly obvious or else it becomes less interesting. Whenever I see an advertisement or a poster promoting a product, and the tag line makes me think, then my attention and interest is on that product for much longer. And even after I've stopped looking at the actual poster, if it’s a really good line, I’ll still be thinking about it. The line, “you’re more alike than he realizes…” represents the fact that their clothes match, as do their likes and dislikes, and everything else that is relevant in a successful relationship. The font I used for this slogan was “Britannic Bold.” Again, I didn’t want anything too distracting or anything that would overpower my message. I wanted something clear, and neat, that would make a statement through the size and shape. I chose to make all the text white. I wanted to show contrast between the dark picture and the light writing. The fact that the writing is white also makes it stand out more, and thus becomes more meaningful and important. I didn’t have too many challenges with this program or project. The main one was trying to match up the colour and effects of the tie to my kilt. Another challenge was coming up with a witty slogan to promote my uniform brand. I really enjoyed doing this project and working in Photoshop. One thing that I learned in the lab, which I was then able to use for this poster, was to be able to add effects to pictures (such as filters, channel mixers, exposure, and change the levels of colour, brightness, contrast, and be able to posterize pictures). I also learned, both in lecture and in class, that a successful poster must include some of the C.R.A.P. principles of design. Contrast is a big element that I focused on. The contrast between the light and the dark, the contrast between the uncoloured and the two images only in colour (kilt and tie), the contrast between the two people as well (a girl and a boy). The colours I used were all complementary to each other. Black, grey, and white all go together as do the different shades of green and blue with little hints of white and black in the plaid. I tried to make the alignment of the text flow in the shape of a triangle, for interest. I find it really entertaining to be able to manipulate a regular everyday photograph and come up with something so exquisite.
The biggest thing that I learned doing this poster project in Photoshop was the fact that you can add as many special effects as you want. You can take a simple picture (either a photograph or hand drawn sketch) and put special effects on it and ta-dah, A brand new picture!! My favourite effect was the posterize one. You could change the level on it, having total control, and making it the way you want it to be (really strong, or really light). Participating in the peer editing session in our lab was very insightful. It’s refreshing to have people, who don’t know my idea in advance, critique and learn the things that stand out to them, positively and negatively. I was told that my poster, was appropriate for my demographic (teenagers) and that the message was clear. I was also told that when you have little text, you shouldn’t use so many different fonts, however, my peers mentioned that I pulled it off. The only thing I should change or take notice of is the fact that “SCHOOL” is a bit too bold. Perhaps I should have made it less bold and therefore it wouldn’t overpower the “DAZE.” Something to keep in mind for the next time…
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Typography in our Shopping
http://www.jmorganmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/the_gap_clothing_store.jpg
Aritzia uses a combination of the fonts “Curlz MT” and “Script.” The font itself is very fussy and detailed. It’s stylish and trendy. It is sans serif and the kerning is normal (it's at a zero). I find it is effective, because like the GAP, the font used reflects the product. All the clothing is very “in.” The stock is constantly changing to keep up with the newest styles. Their clothing is very expensive and chic. The typography isn’t glamourous, yet neither are their clothes. They sell casual but extremely stylish and cute things, just like this font portrays. I believe it's effectively attracting their target market. The font is curly, and looks like free-hand writing, which can suggest movement and flow. This would be depicted as ‘girly.’ They only sell clothing for females, which is fine because males would not likely be as attracted to the store logo. Just by looking at the font and name (even if you had no idea what they sold) I’m sure most girls ages fifteen to thirty would be attracted to the store. I know I am!
http://www.seenataritzia.com/image/logo_aritzia_full.jpg
I’m not too sure what font is used for this Barbie logo, but it's something very 'girly' yet easy to read and identify. It’s in a very easy form of cursive writing. The font size is big and the letters are bright pink. I’d say this font is sans serif; no letters have “feet.” The “i” is dotted with a big dot which represents girliness and cuteness. The kerning is normal with a level of zero. I believe this logo is very effective. The fact that it is hot pink automatically draws any young girl’s attention to it. When children are young the colour pink is associated with girls. Just because it’s pink any little boy would stay away from it. The letters are clear and therefore easy to read for anyone at any age, especially very young children who are just starting to learn how to read. The font is very identifiable and easy to recognize with the big swirling “B.” Also, not many companies who are targetting small children use cursive writing; that’s why “Barbie” tends to stand out on the shelves. The style mimics handwriting, which could imply adulthood. Just like the actual doll; Barbie looks like an adult, not a child. Through this, little girls may also feel more “grown-up” if their toys represent some aspects of adulthood. Even girls who can’t read can recognize certain letters. Because the font is a bit swirly; it represents “girliness” and sweetness. Also, “Barbie’s” writing has been the same for more than 50 years. The typography of “Barbie” has become an international trademark.
