Thursday, February 10, 2011

the 'Weird Al Yankovic' type in logos


1. Describe the logo using the language of the Elements and Principles of Design.

The BP logo consists of the use of lines used to create a shape that somewhat resembles a star. With this shape, it is repeated and emphasized three times, through enlargement and colour wheeled changes. Over all the logo making it appear somewhat trippy, due to the overlapping illusions of the shapes, and complimenting colours.

2. Describe the symbols used in the logo. Why did the graphic artist use such imagery?

The general outstanding graphic the artist incorporated in the logo is the outline and detail of a skull. Generally speaking, a skull and crossed bones are symbolization of death. The artist may have blended the skull in with BP’s logo to emphasize the chaos they have caused, and especially the deaths of ocean wildlife.

3. What does this logo say of BP's corporate identity?


This logo clearly intends to offend the BP Company. The outstanding skull and crossed bones obviously represents death, and strongly portrays the unfortunate and chaotic disaster they have caused in the past. People who view this logo will view BP of a company whom to not trust, and of course it tells them that BP’s positive reputational identity, that was once theirs, has been diminished.

- Logo designed by: Greepeace UK

*** Please disregard the white lining in the logo image




Not only are the uses of parody presented through photos, but also through the entertainment industry. Weird Al Yankovic is a famous parody artist that takes top hit songs, and transform them into a genre of comedy. For example, this video takes Michael Jackson's hit song 'Bad' and changes the lyircs and video choreography to a music video called 'Fat'. But, Weird Al did not create this literature to offend Michael Jackson in any way, but rather for comedic entertainment purposes.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

the hidden humanity behind Call of Duty

1) Is this acting or is this animation?

Actually, I think that this is a combination of both acting and animation because it includes the essential skill of acting and animation processing. Initially, the actor must suit in animation instruments before the actor or actress does his or her job. Once the actor/actress performs, he/she is expressing much emotion and physical movement, that it is detected by the animation instruments, which is later used to contribute in the animation process.

2) Do you think that animated character should be eligible for acting awards?


I think the animated characters should not eligible for acting awards because these animated characters are all just the ‘reflection’ of the genuine actor that was responsible of running its lines, creating its facial expressions and part of its physical movement. I only think that the animated character should be the ‘label’ of the actor’s acting in the specific movie or television show. After all, how will the animated character have the ability to accept an award at the Grammy’s?

3) Do you think that human actors will ever become obsolete? Why or why not?

I believe human actors would not become obsolete, because the incorporation of animated characters only become useful of certain genres of movies, video games, or television shows, such as Sci-Fi. Ultimately, humans were the initial acting establishment in the Hollywood industry.



Asides from Assassin`s Creed: Brother, the latest video games like the *** far more superior: *** Call of Duty Black Ops, also animate the movement of human actors to generate the game character’s maneuver abilities such as, crouching, jumping, shooting, reloading, swapping, diving, sprinting, etc

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

shining some Light on Graffiti



Light Graffiti: The artist of this light graffiti intended a direct message to represent the city of Toronto. The artist of this piece incorporated many elements and principals of design. The line usage defines a very bold outline of the skyline of Toronto: overlooking the symbolic CN Tower, proportionately scaled, and positioned in the centre to emphasize what it represents, and of course the Rogers centre that partners beneath the tower. Its background compliments the light graffiti because the colours similarly match. The value of the lighting used in the artwork is very dim to show a night filled scenery. Finally, the harmony used in the wavy lines in front of the outline of the city, is used to define the electric feel that generates the night scenery of Toronto.



Traditional Graffiti: In this panoramic view of the graffiti artwork, it appears that this piece is a mural because it is applied to a wall. The lines appear to describe a worded message, although it is very difficult to read. Text that is conveyed into graffiti terms sometimes becomes very complex to understand in some, like this one. In other cases, only the artist of the piece can tell us what he or she is really expressing. According to the artist of this graffiti, this piece represents an art crew: 6pack and Spot IMF crew (you didn’t expect that, right?). This is the type of case when the artist is only able to read. The texture of the graffiti appears to be very sharp due to the pointed line incorporated in the text. In addition, the three-dimensional rips below the text gives it a rugged appeal.

Comparing and Contrasting : Light Graffiti and traditional graffiti appear to be very different, but they still carry very similar values. Light graffiti is an artwork that is meant to be intangible, virtual and futuristic, applied by natural light. Contrarily, traditional graffiti is applied via physical paint that is meant to be tangible, real, an applicable to physical objects. In addition, traditional graffiti, in some cases can be considered as vandalism when the artist has not been given any authorization, while light graffiti uses light, of course. The factor that makes light graffiti and traditional graffiti similar is that they always carry the elements and principles of design in all the areas of its artwork.

Friday, January 21, 2011

This post is Copyrighted

For this post, I will refer to the mash-up produced by Glee

1) What is this mashup trying to communicate? Is it technical experiment, social or political commentary, a comedic parody, or an abstract work of media art?

This mash-up by Glee is trying to communicate the well-rounded wellness of the combinations of two opposite genres. The composers who mixed the hits together resulted it a well-rounded piece of abstract media entertainment. Considering the combination, the cast uses two smash hit songs of two different genres, Confessions by Usher a rhythm and beat song, and It’s My Life by Bon Jovi, an upbeat rock and roll song. Glee combined the two hit songs, altered its lyrics and tune, mashed together the genre in different places until it became to one well-rounded song, which compliments each others melodic and harmonic tune. In addition they use different types of choreography, the creative choreography demonstrated through a wheelchair. These various medias come together to form a very fluent abstract piece of media work.

2) Did its creator follow or break copyright laws in its production?

According to Pippers Patent Attorney, “Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works” and includes such things as literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual creations, both published and unpublished” The songs used in the mash-up and the mash-up are considered a musical literature. The production of Glee took the exact lyrics and instrumental from the songs and used to their creativity. Depending if the production of Glee had consent from the original producers of the two songs, it would not go against the law of copyright infringement.

3) Do you think that mashup like this requires copyright permission? Why or why not.


Yes I think mash-ups require a copyright protection. This is the case because the creators of the specific mash-up used their creative-thinking and applied it to make a literature of their “original work”

Here is another example of a mash-up, by DJ Earworm:

DJ Earworm is a very unique DJ, as he uses the country`s top 20 hit songs of the year, and collides them with such genuine flowing consistency, making the mash-up very prestigious.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

lets, Run It!

Initial Reaction: Initially, the party of high school students trespass a school’s gym to have a party of their own. Observing from the music video and the song itself, it is clear that there is a leader from each side of the two genders dance battling (the male leader being, Chris Brown) Later on in the video and in the song, the two leaders decide to get together and have fun at their own sweet time. In this music video, I can see that it mainly is for the high school audience as it relates to their personal love and social life. In addition I appreciate the incorporation of the urban pop and hip hop dancing in the music video. This influenced the song to be more upbeat, exciting, and something easy to dance too. Although it is still unethical because the party of people decide go against the law and trespass private property.

Analysis and interpretation: The directors of the music video created this video to promote the urban hip hop culture, through dancing. The music video’s theme consists of socialism. This is the case because the directors incorporate the teenagers to get together and have a fun time through dancing. This is something that many teenagers now a day enjoy doing to add to their social life. In addition love may be considered as the theme as Chris Brown and the other opposing female leader get together at a later time to share and enjoy each others presence. This share of feelings for the opposite sex is very common now a days for teens as well, hence the reason the directors included to attract more viewers of the age group. Although, I think this video goes against the gospel values because the directors of the video added an unethical way of the actors committing a trespass.

Consideration of cultural context:
I think considering the preferences of modern teenagers have, it has influenced Chris Brown, the music group, and the directors influenced them to make this video. Since many teens nowadays prefer high school dance events, the directors probably wanted to enforce that type of entertainment in the music video to enforce its theme and further more promote the song itself.

Expression of aesthetic judgment:
In the music video the directors enforce choreography and some sort of drama connecting to a teenager’s love. Viewing this video gives me a teenager’s dance and party ‘life’ perspective of the song. Considering the fact that the teenagers in the video dance in the high school’s gym and the mutual feelings Chris Brown and his partner had, which is typical to teenage parties nowadays.

Ongoing reflection:
In conclusion, after viewing this video, it brought more ‘hype', as the video incorporates high school dances. Now whenever I hear this song at a party or dance, it makes me want to get up, and bust a move like Chris Brown does it! In addition, I feel that at this age, it is okay to share feelings with the opposite sex, considering an age appropriate limit.




Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Haha, I'm going to Tweet that !

"Haha, I'm going to Tweet that right now!" "Add me as a friend on Facebook!" "I just blogged a picture of me!"  These spoken words come out the mouth of social networking users, constantly. Social Networking sites including, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc, have certainly taken over the literal society. Indeed, we pursue these networking sites due to the enjoyment that they offer, as we are able to easily connect online with one another. In addition to its connectivity with friends, we can also express personal thoughts, upload personal pictures, information and have the ability to share it with everyone else. Everyone else, meaning: strangers. Since this is the case, there are unfortunate predators, potentially lurking our profile, and using it to his or her advantage. In order to enforce this, we should take full consideration of the amount of security we apply g to our social networking profiles.
                Facebook, is one of the many social networking websites we should certainly take into account when enforcing privacy settings. This is the case, because the majority of pre-teens and teenagers use this specific network, but some are still unaware of the dangers online. We can ultimately enforce privacy through the privacy settings.  Instead of making one’s profile completely open to the public, we can alter it by making it private. In doing so, users who search a specific name on the search bar, and are currently not ‘friends’, on Facebook,  can only get very limited information from the profile, or be completely invisible from the search list. In addition, the information we decide to post on Facebook should not be in complete detail or revealing. For example, one’s current geographical address, or home phone number, is unnecessary.
                In conclusion, to ensure an enforced private social networking experience, users must keep an open eye, be safe, considerate, and aware, of lurking predators


This picture of me shows my state of awestruck when I realized that my Facebook profile was not entirely private. I noticed that all my photos were open to the public, and I thuoght that they were set to private. I suggest that every one should check their setting, just to be on the safe side.