WEEK 7: Examine a photograph or production still

Bon Appetit Magazine celebrates the world of great food and the pleasure of sharing it with others. Every issue invites readers into a hands-on experience, engaging them in all aspects of the epicurean lifestyle: cooking, dining, travel, entertaining, shopping and design. The magazine reaches a total of 8,003,000 people, 75% women, with a median age of 48 and income of $91,849. An upcoming issue will be dedicated to college eating. The publication needs a poster of an informational graphic showing the Starbucks consumption habits of undergraduates over the course of seven days. This poster will be folded and included in the magazine.

Starbucks company tries to advertise their coffee as a relaxing and enjoyable pastime. Hence, they choose magazine like Bon Appetit which is well-known in introducing great food in a large market. With the reputation and goodwill of the magazine, Starbucks is able to let the audience to believe that the coffee can let us relax but yet still awake. Green color is always used to promote their brand. This is to deliver an image that Starbucks product is always friendly and caring. The earth-toned color scheme and muslin coffee bag background were also carried over from the company’s previous espresso print advertisements.

Why do they want to do this survey and yet show the result in their advertisment? It is because they want to tell the audience that the coffee made by Starbucks is favorable among students. Price is cheap by college students. Informational graphics is created to translate the raw data collected into an easy-to-understand and visually appealing poster. By using this method, their goal to show that their coffee is worthy and affordable can be achieved directly even though their price is slightly higher than other competitors.

In order to tell the audience that they have various type of drinks, different kinds of coffee like Frappuccinos and Mochas have been promoted through the poster.

The slab-serif font Archer was selected for its formal legibility and prominent usage in other magazines focused towards the target demographic of women age 48 with an income of $91,849, such as Martha Stewart Living. The horizontal green bar dividing the middle of the poster mimics the shape of a “coffee jacket” used to keep a latte consumer from burning their hands.

As mass audience, we can be affected by advertisement easily. Sometimes, we forget to think beyond the advertisement. By understanding how mass communicator works, we can judge products in a different angle. In example, the disadvantages of drinking too much of coffee. Coffee and its caffeine content are a drug on the human body that negatively affects the central nervous system, as well as other organs, and leads to addiction. Yet, any coffee drinker will say they're not an addict, but it's the same with an alcoholic... just less destructive behavior comes from coffee, but rather you end up with long-term, and occasionally noticeable short-term health problems.

Week 6 : Film Appreciation – Assumptions and contributions of semiotics

Week 6's topic would be a discussion on a Movie - "The Thin Red Line". Briefly explain, this show is set during World war II on the Island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. The Island has been taken over by the Japanese and is currently being invaded by the U.S. There are countless character in this movie, such as : Sgt. Edward Welsh, Lieutenant Colonel Tall, Keck and Charles Bosche.What I think is gonna happen next is that war will never end. Mankind are greedy, one victory will lead to the attempt of another which will lead to more death and sadness.

Lieutenant Colonel Tall is known as the Cruel and Merciless person, as he insist on sending his battalion on a suicide mission to claim fame of the victory alone instead of waiting for reinforcement and share it. The attempt to capture the Japanese position is lead by Sergeants Welsh and Keck. They suffered heavy casualties in the attempt to capture the strategic hill and was unsuccessful. When Staros is determined to keep his men alive and refuses the storming of the Japanese hill, Lieutenant Colonel Tall decides to appoint a new officer in charge - Captain Gaff. War is a horrific and violent event. You can see that the director uses this inspiring story to explore the feelings of Happiness, Friendship, Fear, Hope, evolving around the characters. It is obvious that the relationship between Sgt. Welsh and Pte. Witt remains frustratingly under-developed.

From my point of view, the director choose the particular background to show how strategic the Japanese location was. The movie was taken on a Grassy Hill to show the nature's beauty and the movement of the U.S soldiers during the assault. The movie also shows how the soldiers are being driven to the brink of insanity or beyond. All in all, the movie also concentrates on the personal lives and moral view of the men. You can feel that everything in the movie has merely been preparatory, all the actions are rushing, only by that the movie is truly meaningful. I have no idea whether the director planned it or was it done naturally.

In the movie, one difficulty faces by editors is the blending of well-known actors with newbies, using voice-over, and integrating cameos. The characters are also not given equal weight or voice in the movie. According to the Press, this particular movie was unfinished and screened in December 1998. Several scenes were cut out and edited to fit the movie into one amazing piece.

Semiotics and Reading Film.

TITANICS (1997)

by James Cameron

Reading Characters and The Stereotype of they represent.

- Rose DeWitt Bukater, was a noble character in the film. She had engaged to Cal Hockley. Jack Dawson, is a low-class drifter and drawer, as a third class passenger in Titanic which lower then Rose three level.

- Jack Dawson, born in a poor family and he was a talented artist, one of his specialties was drawing nude portraits. Rose DeWitt Bukater, a wealthy ladies raise in a luxury environment.

- Jack Dawson a good man raise in a poor family. Jack successfully stop Rose commit suicide. The two of them fall in love after he stop Rose for committing suicide. Why Jack Dawson is a good man? He willing to sacrifice himself to save Rose and he die of hypothermia.

Complexities.

Later in the film, Jack sketches a nude portraits of Rose wearing a fabled "Heart Of the Ocean" an necklace given by Cal Hockley. Two of them run to the ship cargo hold where they make love and witness the ship crush the iceberg. Cal know about the two of them by discovering the drawing, he had Jack arrested and handcuffed to a pipe. When the ship sinking Rose free Jack.

Backup statement with evidence.

Rose was engaged to Cal, but Rose does not love cal, she is being forced to marry him by who mother who is obsessed maintaining her social status. After Rose father death, Rose and her mother left nothing and Rose try to commit suicide because of tiring the lifestyle she leads. The evidence here tell that true love can not be force, true love have to be cultivate.

week 4: Semiotic systems in design/advertising/multimedia have effect on human behavior.

Myth is concept to us that we believe .
It only works if we understand myth based on our own experience.

Metaphor is part of myth.

Myth throughout the world are diff.
So different cultures will have different myth.
It help us to make sense of our experiences within a culture .


for example:
The Malboro cowboy advertisement. Many people think that if they smoke Malboro, they will
look cool like the man in the advertisement.

So, to those who thinks smoking is cool, it is only a myth.

____________________________________________________________

Connotations is another meaning carried by words. Connotations can made up of different words but it's meaning is the same.

There's positive & negative connotations .
The words used have emotional and imaginative impact.
It is influence by culture & society. Some words maybe discriminating and some not.
One must understand the meaning & message behind the word in order for it to work.

for example:
Advertisements that involves people of two different races. People with different understanding towards connotation will have different reaction towards the advertisement.
____________________________________________________________

So, people with different culture & believes will experience different meanings in connotations & myth. That is why, some connotations & myth are offending in certain cultures while some are not.