View a Film Assignment: Annie Leibovitz

The documentary Annie Leibovitz: life through a lens, provided an in-depth look into the life of famous photographer Annie Leibovitz.  The documentary captured the viewer’s interest from the beginning when the film opened with many famous people saying her name.  This technique captures the viewer’s interest while simultaneously bringing full attention to the subject of the movie, Annie Leibovitz.  The repeated clips of various people saying her name creates a repetition that establishes Leibovitz as the center of attention for the film that will follow. By showing many famous people, including Vogue editor Anna Wintour and actress Whoopie Goldberg, saying her name, the viewer understands that Annie Leibovitz is an important photographer. By choosing this technique to open the movie, Leibovitz’s credibility as a famed photographer is established, and the viewer’s attention is centered on Leibovitz and ready to learn about her as the rest of the movie follows.

One of the most effective techniques used in the movie that helped the viewer thoroughly understand Leibovitz was the movie’s reliance on both showing and telling about Leibovitz’s life.  As Leibovitz would describe a particular photo, the photo would flash on screen as she described it, or as others described how Leibovitz acts while photographing, a film segment of Leibovitz on the job would play.  Rather than simply relying on either showing or telling about Leibovitz’s life, combining both aspects allows the viewer to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of Leibovitz’s life and work.

The film also used effective transitions.  For example, the film transitioned from Leibovitz’s work with the band The Rolling Stones to her photography of dance by showing pictures of The Rolling Stones onstage that conveyed movement, then gradually interspersing photos of dancers with these photos as the narration in the background shifted from discussing her photography of The Rolling Stones to her photography of dance.  Finally, the transition was neatly completed as a short clip of Leibovitz photographing a famous ballet dancer played.  The transition was so neat because it took two seemingly unrelated topics, The Rolling Stones and ballet dancers, and focused on the common ground between them, movement.

The combination of the captivating opening scene, both showing and telling, and using effective transitions made the documentary informative of Leibovitz’s life  but more importantly interesting to the viewer.  Documentaries are meant to increase the viewer’s knowledge of a particular subject, but if the documentary is uninteresting or organized poorly, then the viewer will not learn anything new and the documentary will lose its importance.  Luckily, Annie Leibovitz: life through a lens succeeded in both capturing and keeping the viewer’s interest, and in increasing the viewer’s knowledge of Annie Leibovitz’s life.  In both content and technique, this was a very inspiring film.

Youtube Assignment

Video "One Million Veggies": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OofZijjsNQ4
The video “One Million Veggies” by Youtube user onemillionveggies highlights parents’s struggles to get their children to eat the recommended amount of vegetables.  The video began with close-up shots of the narrator’s children eating vegetables while the narrator introduced them by name and described a few of their likes, adding humor by revealing, somewhat sarcastically, that his daughters both love Selena Gomez.  The video then cuts to a shot of the children playing in a yard, while the narrator discusses some of the things that he and his wife try to teach their children, the last of which is to eat their vegetables.  The video then cuts to another shot of the narrator’s youngest daughter struggling to eat an entire cob of corn, which highlights the struggle the narrator and his wife face in trying to get their daughters to eat their vegetables.  The narrator reveals some comical tactics used to bribe his children to eat vegetables, including renaming carrots “pizza”.  After this, the video takes a more serious turn. A sped-up wide-angle shot is used to show kids entering and leaving a school as the narrator describes the many health concerns for children right now.  During this shot, facts about child obesity flash on screen to further emphasize the narrator’s point.  The narrator then urges one million viewers to upload anything, including a recipe, a video of children eating vegetables, or even “a kid sharing kale with a cat” to encourage the narrator’s children and children across the world to eat their vegetables.  During this time, numerous shots of children, vegetables, and children with vegetables flash quickly across the screen, with further emphasizes the large number of viewers being asked to participate.
Overall the video does a good job of communicating the message.  Beginning the video with an introduction to the narrator’s children makes the video interesting, relatable, and grabs the viewer’s attention from the beginning.  The video follows a logical sequence of shots in that it begins with an anecdote, describes the parents’ difficulty in making their children eat vegetables, and then shows how that message is applicable to all children.  However, at one point there is a seemingly random shot of Mr. Potato Head being assembled, and this does not seem to fit in with the narration. Mr. Potato Head, a silly doll for children, does not seem to fit in as the narrator claims that “this stuff is serious.”  Sped-up shots were used a few times in this video, and most of the time they made the video more interesting to watch.   Using a sped-up shot during the time-lapse of children entering and exiting a school fit seemed like a logical choice in order to place emphasis on how many children are affected in just a few seconds of the video’s time.  However, during the introductions of the narrator’s children, a sped-up shot was used for one daughter but not the other. This was confusing, since the narrator placed emphasis on how much they are alike by including that they both love Selena Gomez.  Using this effect for only one daughter seemed to suggest that they are different, which contradicts the narrator’s point.  Besides these few issues, the video’s organization helps to effectively convey the message that children should be eating more vegetables, and the comedic tone of the narrator keeps the video light and makes the viewer more willing to help out the narrator’s cause.

To improve the piece, taking out the Mr. Potato Head part and the irrelevant sped-up scene would help improve the conveyance of the message.  Also, the narrator's voice was a bit low at times and difficult to hear.  Making the narrator's voice clearer and louder would help to strengthen and empower the message
.

Photoshop Tutorial

Group Photo Project Evaluation

The group photo project overall went well.  The most challenging part of the project was organizing schedules and communicating about what we wanted to do. We communicated through e-mail, which worked well for the most part.  However, sometimes members didn’t reply to e-mails or replied too late, which hindered our progress on the project.  For this upcoming project, making sure to respond to e-mails promptly will help to strengthen and increase our communication as a group.
Since organizing schedules proved too difficult, we decided to have each person shoot their own photos, then e-mail three or four good shots to the rest of the group.  This process worked for us, and allowed us to offer suggestions and feedback, as well as to see what the rest of the group decided to shoot.  Each person had a different idea of how to convey the word ‘wish’, and this diversified the ways we portrayed the word.  Instead of all of the shots being very similar and only showing one aspect of ‘wish’, our different ideas allowed us to show the idea of ‘wish’ in many different ways.
Overall, the project came together quite nicely.  Although some communicated the concept more obviously than others, each photo conveyed ‘wish’.  Our group as a whole is relatively inexperienced with photography, but by applying the concepts we learned in class we ended up surprising ourselves with the outcome.  This project helped to reinforce the concepts we used in class, such as depth of field, rule of thirds, changing exposure, etc. through firsthand experience.  It is one thing to learn and read about these concepts, but being able to put them into practice helps us to gain a full understanding of them.
Often at fountains, people throw in pennies and make a wish.  The photo captured this idea by capturing pennies at the bottom of a fountain.  The exposure, set to +.75, allows more light in to emphasize the light reflecting off of the pennies in the picture.  This reflection also aids in distinguishing the pennies from the un-reflective surface of the rocks behind them to add further emphasis to the pennies. The pennies, placed a little bit off center according to the rule of thirds, made the image more interesting to the eye.

Graphics Assignment: Poster

        This advertisement satirizes America's addiction to coffee, specifically to the Starbucks brand.  In a difficult economic time when many businesses are failing, Starbucks continues to grow and report increased sales. It is difficult to walk down the street without running into at least one Starbucks.   In this image, a girl with red eyes stares straight right at the viewer, drinking a copious amount of coffee from a carafe rather than from a mug.  The headline above her image says “Starbucks Coffee” while the tagline below adds “Fueling Coffee Addictions Everywhere.”  Addiction, typically thought of as a dark and serious topic, is mimicked by the black background and the serious stare of the girl. 

        The tagline, inserted using the text tool and colored the same green as the Starbucks logo, causes the viewer to associate Starbucks to fueling coffee addictions.  The Starbucks logo was placed in the bottom right of the image in order to leave the viewer with the impression of Starbucks as their eye followed the advertisement.  The line of vision is intended to go from the large Starbucks Coffee text, then to the image of the girl, then to the tagline, and finally end with the logo. The red coloring of the girl’s eyes show her addiction to coffee, and the large amount of coffee in her hands further emphasizes her dependence on coffee.  The Starbucks tattoo on her arm show that she is addicted to not just any coffee, but specifically Starbucks coffee.  The tattoo also adds to the satire of the image by being overdramatic.  Although many people will admit to being addicted to coffee, few would go so far as to have a symbol of coffee permanently tattooed on their body.  Overall, the image highlights America's addiction to coffee in a satirical way, since many of us will be quick to admit that America is addicted to coffee, but we will also be quick to admit that we are addicted as well. 

Newseum- Tom Gralish

                                                                                         Tom Gralish, 1985

  

In 1985, Tom Gralish took a series of photographs of the homeless people on the streets of Philadelphia.  One of these images, showing a man named Walter eating on the side of the street, won Gralish the Pulitzer Prize.  In the photo, Walter sits on a rainy sidewalk inside of a cardboard box underneath a sign that reads “No Parking”, slumping as he eats his food.   Walter is kept in focus, while the background is slightly blurred.  The photo was most likely shot using a telephoto lens so that Walter was in focus while his surroundings would be slightly blurred, in order to place the emphasis on Walter.  The pedestrians pass by Walter without paying attention to him.  During this time period, homelessness was a large problem in Philadelphia and had almost become normal.  However, through Gralish’s photos, he brought attention to the abnormality of homelessness.  The photograph shows a grimy man eating cheap food on the side of the street while others pass by in business suits on their way to their jobs in a way that suggests that this situation is normal.  By photographing this situation, Gralish is using irony to bring attention to the fact that this situation is by no means normal or okay.

In comparison to the other Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, this photo was not as emotionally riveting as some of the others that documented murders, volcanoes, and war scenes.  Ironically, the image is so interesting because does not evoke that same intense emotional response from the viewer that the other photographs did.  The image’s power comes from the subtlety.  Walter’s situation is quite shocking to most of us- he has no roof over his head, unless you consider a cardboard box a roof, struggles to find food, barely has any money, and enjoys very few of the luxuries that most of us enjoy on a daily basis.  Gralish’s photograph brought much-needed attention to the serious problem of homelessness in Philadelphia.



Contact Sheet

        The subject chosen for these photos was a sculpture of three large and polished rocks lying on top of each other.   In the first and second images, the subject became the background by focusing on an object in front of the sculpture and keeping the sculpture itself out of focus.  This way, the viewer must search for the subject, and keeps the image more interesting.  In the second image, the rusted iron fence and thorn frame the subject.  Although the sculpture is kept out of focus, the frame of the fence and thorn cause the viewer’s eye to look at the sculpture.  The third image photographs the subject from an extreme close-up viewpoint. This places all the attention on the subject, and shows much more detail of the subject than any other viewpoint.  The fourth image was achieved by swinging the camera back and forth while taking the shot, creating a visually interesting blur effect within the photo.  The sculpture is kept in focus while the surroundings are blurred, which places the emphasis on the sculpture.  The fifth image, like the third, utilizes a close-up angle to show the two distinctive textures of the rock.  Without a close-up, the viewer would not be able to see the contrasting textures, rough and jagged versus polished and smooth, of the rock.  The exposure, changed slightly to let less light in, combined with the close-up emphasize the dark specks within the rock, which the viewer may not have been able to see from far away.

Chapter 6: The Controversial Benetton Ads

                                                                     Taken by Therese Frere                  

                                                     Picture via manageyourshapeblog.com

    
Benetton’s ads provided a long-time source of controversy while under the direction of Oliviero Toscani.  Many of the ads, including ones of a priest and nun kissing, a white male kissing a black female, and most notably David Kirby’s death sparked nationwide controversy after being printed.  Viewers of the ads questioned whether they really were trying to bring attention to important issues, or whether Benetton was simply trying to gain publicity and boost their sales.   Benetton maintained that their ads were meant to bring attention to larger issues in the face of the controversy, but many remained skeptical.  For example, Benetton defended their ad featuring the picture of David Kirby on his death bed by declaring that they were trying to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.  However, many people countered this by questioning why a number for an AIDS awareness line was not included, but a number to call and order from Benetton was.
        The controversy over the ads was certainly well-founded.  While the ads do focus on important and controversial issues, they do nothing to help further the viewer’s knowledge on the issue.  Had they included a website or a phone number to an AIDS organization for interested viewers to visit to learn more about each issue, the ads may not have come under the intense criticism that they did.  Leaving out a way for interested viewers to learn more information makes it seem as though the ads exploited controversial issues simply to boost their brand.  It appears that Benetton chose shock advertising as a way of creating publicity and boosting sales for the company, which isn’t exactly quite as philanthropic as the company wanted consumers to believe.

        However, the ad did bring much-needed attention to the issue of AIDS.  Prior to this, AIDS was an issue not many people discussed, and by running the ad, discussion of the issue became inevitable.  While this was a benefit, it came at a cost.  It is unclear what reasons Benetton had for running this ad.  They could have run the ad with good intentions, knowing that AIDS is a serious issue and should be a topic of discussion rather than one swept under the rug.  However, they also could have run the ad because they knew that the shock factor of the image would lead to a controversy.  Running the image as an ad for The United Colors of Benetton would place them right in the center of the controversy and would give them publicity.   Regardless of the reason why Benetton published the ad, their sales increased after running it.  However, not all publicity is good publicity.   

        While the ad may have succeeded in making their brand name more famous, it could also have led to a decrease in trust of the consumer in the brand.  Benetton may have gained publicity, but after this ad, consumers became much more wary of the ads they ran after it.  As the brand’s ads continued to use controversial images, more consumers began to question whether Benetton really was trying to raise awareness of these issues as they claimed, or if they were simply publishing incredibly shocking images to shock the consumer and create a discussion of the brand.  If more consumers began to believe the latter, then Benetton’s claim that they were trying to increase awareness in important issues could begin to seem like more of a lie, and the consumer could lose their trust in the brand.  This shows how powerful advertising can be- one bad campaign can make or break the brand, regardless of the reputation the brand has created before it.