COP 1 Lecture - Ilustration

After this weeks Lecture I have learned never to make the mistake of calling a simple drawing an "Illustration"

The three requirements something must have in order to be classed as an "Illustration" is Context / Image / Concept. 

FOR EXAMPLE! Here is Tony the Tiger, but it is not just a drawing of him, it could be seen as an Illustration because it has all three of those factor. (making me hungry for Frosties) This lecture has made me think more about the correct term to use for a drawing, and made me hungry.

COP1 Seminar - Auteurship and the avant - garde

Whats Auteurship? - "Having a distinct style" and the french term for "Author"

Whats Auter? - "suggests great film directors are artists in their own right on a par with great novelists."

In this week's COP Seminar we got on to the topic that nothing is completely original, because if we think about it, everything is inspired by something. Artists are always paving the way for other artists to follow after. There is a persistent view that "Animation" is mainly for the view of children. Which would lead to a very heated discussion.. This lead to us going on to talk about the different ways artists go about things, for example Fine artists would most likely go about their work in a totally different way in comparison with us Animators. In fact their is a habit of scrutiny amongst contrasting areas of art. We found in this seminar that a lot of us shared a similar view that some fine art can be too metaphorical and sometimes the expiration for somebody putting a brick in the middle of the floor and calling it art can be "blagging" This doesn't mean that this art work isn't appreciated, but there is certainly a difference of opinion amongst artists. However I will say, if something you see has encouraged you to interoperate it, then it has done what it wanted you to do.

COP1 Lecture - Chronologies Print..and time travel apparently.

Firstly we began by discussing that Chronology is the sequential order in which past events occur, and that print, is to produce text, picture and to reproduce design pr pattern. (The communication, reproduction and distribution) Looking at some of the prints done on walls all the way back in 200AD shook me a little.. pretty intense looking at something like that from so long ago.

We looked at some statistics of the amount of books being printed per day from the 15th - 18th century. By the 18th century we were producing 1000,000,000 books per day..YIKES. After looking at the Gutenberg Press and the development of Lyno Type its clear that the speed of which factual information was being developed and passed around the world, was increasing!

I will be honest I struggled to follow some parts of this lecture. Not because it was bad, or poorly presented but I just didn't get how some of it linked together. HOWEVER a lot of my confusion was eradicated when a game of Chinese Whispers proved the point. Sometimes when information is passed around the world, it can be altered along the way, hence why print is so important to us.

COP1 Lecture - The History of Type (My brain went slightly mushy but yeah!)PPP

This week's COP lecture was definitely one of interest. There is so much I didn't know about the history of fonts... my mind is a bit like whaaaat?

We started off by looking at the features of Typography, Meta-communication, which is the way something is written, Para-linguistics, the way some thing is said and Kinesics which refers to the actions and physical enthusiasm that goes with it. I didn't realise there were so many type families such as Old Style / Modern / Transitional. 

After 1450, human culture in the West was especially effected due to the creation of Gutenberg's Printing Press. The first type faces were Gothic Fonts, coming from Gutenberg's Gothic Print. When it is used today it refers mainly to mediaeval culture.

Geoffroy Troy

It was quite strange hearing all of these different views and takes on the development of type. Geoffroy Troy for example, believed that each letter of the alphabet and its proportions should reflect the ideal human form. A lot of fonts from the Old Style, have a representation of classical order, and sophistication, so I guess thats why I found this so interesting because to be honest I didn't realise there was so much historical baggage with each font. A lot of the Old Style fonts can be related with The Renaissance. 

The Declaration Of Independence used the font Caslon which was actually the Modern font at the time, clearly showing how the chosen font can change the nature of a piece of text. This use of Caslon could have been an effective way of representing the step forward and change that America was taking. Put it this way, if they had used some super old Gothic Fonts it would have made NO SENSE. Just wouldn't be the same. 

John Baskerville 

After looking at some of the work from John Baskerville it became apparent that this was a chap who wanted to pay attention to the thinness and thickness of the letters. In my persona opinion I think these are in some ways more interesting to look at than some of the fonts before its time, because I love the fact that the stems of the letters are not aways the same width - It looks bold but elegant at the same time.

SLAB SERIF WAS ONE CREATED IN THE 1800'S, IT WAS USED A LOT FOR NEWSPAPER HEADLINES AND GETTING PEOPLE'S ATTENTION. CLEARLY BECAUSE ITS PRETTY BOLD AND IN YOUR FACE - not always a bad thing ya'll. 

Something interesting to know was that until 1941, the Third Reich used the Old Gothic Fonts. They were pretty dominating to look at and were a political signifier of German greatness. That'd be enough to make me run and hide to be honest with you..

Cooper Black, created by Oswald Bruce Cooper in 1921 and is still used for many things today, such as Easy Jet! Its pretty nice to look at in my opinion, definitely could make you feel caller about getting getting on that plane. Its like a "hug from a 70's friend"- Tutors are full of such wisdom.

This lecture definitely opened my eyes to the history of text and encouraged me to pay ore attention to this sort of thing. After all, all fonts have a lot of history behind them which deserves to have the recognition! 

COP1 Lecture - Visual Literacy - The Language of Design.

In our first Context of Practice lecture we looked at Visual Language which was actually really interesting. We began by talking about the use of Visual Communication and what that is, which is the sending and receiving of messages through the use of type or images which can be for a range of audiences or purposes. It is also about the shared understanding of signs and symbols. Visual Literacy is pretty similar but it is more about being able to take meaning from these images and texts more than the message. It can be images that range from past, present and even culture.

Its pretty interesting to think about the fact that most of us know what all these symbols mean after just a quick glance, because most of us will have grown up using them. However it is also strange to think that after just some small alterations the meaning of some of these symbols change completely!

For example..

A black cross which we might see as a sign for multiplication can be suddenly altered to the typical "X marks the spot symbol" simply because it is now red. 

Also if the vertical part of the symbol for addition is extended, it immediately becomes recognised as religious symbol for christianity. Its strange how the smallest of alterations can lead to us changing our perception of an image completely! This relates to Visual Syntax which is the structure and visual organisation of the way an image is put together which then changes the way we read it. for example the changing of colour, font and shape.

Another example of this would be, if you saw an egg in an egg cup you would think, mmmmm breakfast? If you saw the egg fried on a plate with all the other trimmings you would probably think, mmmmm unhealthy yet so satisfying! 

However, if you saw an egg like this with some green stuff throw in there too you would probably like, errrm that actually looks rather healthy! Its the small changes to an image like this which alter the way we read it. Its one of those things we wouldn't normally think about until we realise it, but our minds are so easily manipulated by the use of imagery.

We also looked at the use of Visual Metonyms, which is something that is used to make a reference to something else and make connections between things. 

Like this one! If I was to see a yellow taxi cab I would automatically think of New York City, because  it is very heavily associated with yellow taxis. However its actually very easy to forget that New York is not the only places with these cars! We make these connections very often and sometimes incorrectly because there is a habit of latching onto these connections. It is pretty cool to think about though! 

Towards the end of the lecture we were shown this image and were asked to think about what it represented and through the discussion I realised it is not just an image of the Apple logo, but it is a sign of all apple products and it signifies quality, innovation, creativity, design and lifestyle. There is a lot we can take from an image as simple as this.

This first Context of Practice lecture was really interesting and got me thinking a lot about how we use Visual Language on a daily basis and what we use it for. I started to do doe research on other examples. 

After comparing these two images of Marilyn Monroe, there is definitely a change in the meaning and purpose of these two. The first is clearly a photograph taken of her, most likely during a photo shoot or something like that. I would say in my opinion this represents beauty, femininity and fame. However in the second image which is by Andy Warhol, the alterations in the colour and even the fact that it is more of a close up, all makes a difference to the message in my eyes. I think the adding of brighter colours could represent modernisation and moving forward and also how people's views on looks may have changed over the years. If I was to look at this second image on its own I would be reminded of art and how it has developed over the years. So i definitely think there is a different message being given off from both of them. 

This first lecture was really interesting because we use visual communication so often, it is easy to forget and not realise that the way we see things and the messages we take from them change dramatically depending on the context, colour, shape, size, culture and loads more. 

COP1 Seminar - Visual Anaylsis

Last week we had a Context of Practice lecture just as a class, which proved to be very different than our normal weekly lectures in the theatre.. After covering the details of what will we need to be completed in this module, we started to look at some images in order to see what reactions would be brought about.

This cover  from 2001 of the Twin Towers sparked off a lot of conversation. After being asked how it made us al feel, we talked about what we remember from that time and if we understood what was happening when it happened. Some of us had clearer memories of this than others, but it was really strange talking about this especially since most of us would have been about five or six at the time. The Towers represented a lot of power for America, so this image definitely shows the breaking down of this power and the explosion of vulnerability.

We then went on to look at this beauty. After all of our discussions about how this CD cover from 2001 is super offensive, and wondering how on earth they managed to even sell at all, we had a little shock. This CD was released before 911 even happened. Putting these FANTASTIC editing skills aside, I find this whole thing quite creepy. Quite a strange coincidence am I right? 

It was actually really interesting to have such a serious discussion about this as a class, since we are all of the same age group.

After watching these two animations below, I have done some analysis on them focusing on, what I think the meanings and purpose behind them are, the animation techniques and my own personal reaction to them. 

Jiri Trnka, "The Hand" 1965

"The Hand" is a Stop Motion Puppet animation which incorporates some live action. Through out, the little puppet character becomes tormented and controlled by the large hand that keeps turning up at his home. The character's persona changes through out as he becomes more vulnerable and afraid. Due to the time this was released, I think this may show some representation of the control of the government over individuals. The Hand physically controls the puppet by the strings and forces him to work, whilst strapped in a cage. That the hand changes its image, for example it becomes more sexually appealing at one point. This I think relates to the possibility of people being seduced and tricked into living a certain life. The actual appearance of the puppet represents vulnerability to me, due to his large eyes, small face and tiny frame. The lack of dialog line to the fact that at the end of the day, we are just beings with no say and that we are under the control of something much bigger. I personally found the build up of music in this to be terrifying, I felt very uneasy. It adds so much to the build up of the story and definitely replicates the dominance of "The Hand". The fact that the hand repositions and makes the puppet look happy and peaceful after his death is a sign of clear manipulation, both physically and mentally. I think this is a very powerful, jaw dropping piece of work. 

Dusan Vokotic & Zagreb Film, "Surogat" 1961

I love the quirkiness of this 2D animation. In this, a man takes a trip to the beach, everything he needs is inflatable, even his woman. "Surogat" in English can mean "Substitute" so I think could link to the fact that concrete objects don't actually mean anything, and that possession of things doesn't always get us that far, especially since this chap doesn't have a successful day. When he inflates the woman he mass two attempts, since the first one is not to his liking, which I think sexualises women in a way. He ends up inflating what could be seen as a typically attractive woman. He ends up spending a significant amount of time chasing her around and trying to lure her in. She later runs off with an equally attractive man. This could link to the fact that rejection and judgement are a common feature of everyday life and that sometimes we try too hard to get what we want. I think exaggerated features of each character represent them in an individual light. The main character has a large belly, where as the second man has significantly huge muscles which shows contrast between the two. The use of sound effects add more humour and make it more lighthearted. In the end, even the main character deflates which I think could show that in the end we are all just the same. If we use people or objects as a means to an end, karma will come back around.