Media Education

We rely so heavily on imagery that half the time I do not think people viewing the “information” process the impact visuals have.  We currently live in a fast paced media world; we are constantly checking our devices for updates and information. We watch multiple news sources to gather information in hopes that if we watch a few sources we may actually get the true story or at least get a little closer to the truth. We build ideas off of conversations and we are often influenced by the “popularity” of certain information or media hype. Yet I feel that we often miss the stories behind some of the imagery that we encounter, we do not think critically enough about what we are seeing. Perhaps I have grown a little cynical when thinking about imagery, media and technology in regards to the way we process info. Often it seems that we want to be spoon-fed information so that we do not have to spend the time breaking it down and analyzing it. This makes me sad in some way because I love the stories that images are often able to tell on their own if we just “look” and research and dissect a little bit further! 

I follow a phenomenal photojournalistic photographer by the name of Patrick Brown, I first stumbled upon his work when two images popped on a photography site that I follow, I found myself to be so curious about what I was seeing. In the first image a beautiful woman looks extremely sad, but what I initially noticed was that the man in the image seemed to be handcuffed or bound as both arms appeared to be behind his back. The second image of the same woman showed much more emotion, it is such a focused image on sadness. This made me want to know the story but all I had was the photographers name so the research began.

After searching and searching I stumbled upon a piece of work by Patrick Brown titled “Black Market” I watched it our of curiosity and much to my surprise I found the backstory to the two images that I felt the need to know more about! As it turns out this young woman was just disowned by her brother and divorced by her husband while they were both under arrest for poaching an endangered Rhino. She played no role in the hunt or in the horn trade. However, due to culture the men were able to disown and divorce her and she was the one facing death for the crime. These two images the first one showing her reaction to being disowned and divorced and the second one showing her reaction to being told that she was facing death for the crime are in my opinion examples of why we need to think more critically about the imagery and visuals that we see. Initially I thought she was just sad; portraits of a sad girl; but I had no understanding of why. The story is important to this visual, it makes it that much more power that it is an example of why we need to think more critically and explore and research!

I have to say they I do not fully agree that only schools should be called upon to foster critical understanding, I feel very strongly that our social and media outlets need to be held at a higher standard and they need to create a need for individuals to want to think more critically about what they are seeing. The issue is that I do not know how they can do that or what steps need to be taken to create the need for an individual to look deeper; yet I feel as though we would benefit from higher standards.

According to Kress and Leeuwen, “In visual communication, similarly, the material production of a design is not just the execution of something already complete, but a vital part of meaning making” (Kress, Leeuwen, p.215). I think that we are all responsible for teaching, believe that we should all hold the information that we share at a high standard and that it should be correct and as honest as possible. An image can be complete upon shooting it, yet it can be manipulated and changed in a way that it looses its truth. Manipulation changes the meaning behind the altered image. Yet when an image or visual is presented in true form like the ones above, the story and the meaning behind the image are that much more powerful!

Kress, G., & Leeuwen, T. (2006). Materiality and Meaning. In Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

Week 8 - Deconstruction of an Alcohol Advertisement

I decided to deconstruct an Alcohol Advertisement for two reasons one I enjoy the product that I focused on and two I simply love they're branding style.I decided to deconstruct the Woodford brand,  in particular Woodford Reserve Bourbon: The Good Stuff, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51tG-HHTWo8. I have been drinking Woodford for some time now and find it to be a great bourbon for me personally in addition I have really become drawn to their style of branding. The varied shots and the lack of or minimal voiceover; imagery rules the sell. The bourbon itself is contained in a sleek wide-bodied bottle; it looks different and slightly modern. Throughout the ad clips of individuals holding glasses with the deep honey colored liquid are shown along with individuals carrying the bottle while walking. It is prominent without requiring words to be noticed, it’s in every shot yet does not require a bottle or a label to be recognized. The ad is warm, it feels communal, yet it seems to be geared toward those who enjoy the finer things, those who do not wait or save the best; they simply just enjoy it in the here and now.
I did find a correlation while deconstructing the clip and the reading, initially I was drawn to the use of the imagery, the varied shots, textures, natural lighting, the pull of focus and DOF. I loved how they "sold" the products story without a voiceover, it felt very photojournalistic and borderline documentary.  This made me instantly think about the definition of "Real" described by Kress and Leeuwin as, "it represents more specific information (e.g. details), more 'down-to-earth' information (e.g. photographs as documentary evidence, or maps or charts), or more practical information" (Kress/Leeuwen, p. 187). The style of Woodfords branding is very 'down to earth" it feels simple and almost practical yet fun, carefree, light and in some ways cozy but it also feels clean, rich and mature all of which could be appealing to both sexes. Additionally I found a connection in terms of rhythm, and the way that the clips are framed and timed out by the beat. Segmented yet a perfect fit, according to Kress and Leeuwen,"The third key element in composition is framing. In temporally integrated texts framing is again, brought about by rhythm. From time to time the ongoing equal-timed cycles of rhythm are momentarily interrupted by a pause, a rallentando, a change of gait, and these junctures mark off distinct units, disconnect stretches of speech or music or movement from each other to a greater or lesser degree" ((Kress/Leeuwen, p. 203). I believe they nailed they nailed this key element of composition, the imagery literally beats with the rhythm. 

Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.