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Culture Jam Ad Questions

1.  What company does the advertisement represent/subvert?

Alcohol

2.  What kind of product(s) is being advertised? 

Absolute Vodka

3.  What imagery is used in the advertisement to subvert?

The company is using a morgue with a dead body to show that alcohol is related to deaths, especially fatalities linked to automobiles. It also shows how alcohol ads reach out thousands of times to teens before they hit the legal drinking age.

4.  What message (text, copy) is used in the advertisement? 

In this ad, they used “Absolute on Ice” to imply being in a morgue, and being killed. They spoof the actual Absolute ad, about drinking vodka on ice, yet they imply it more as a fatality, and dangerous. 

5.  How are the elements and principles of design used to convey a message?

In this ad, they use colours to make this more intense, that they wanted to make sure the viewer wasn’t happy when they see it. They wanted to make sure it was unpleasant, to make more of an impact. They also use the age 18 on the name tag, to signify it was a young person who was killed, by the use of alcohol. They put the foot in the center of the page, since it is the focus of the ad.

6.  Who is the target audience of the advertisement?

The target audience for this advertisement is young people, especially teens. They wanted to convey the message of underage drinking, and the consequences.

7.  Does the ad jam convey a clear and successful message?

I think this ad conveys a successful message, that excessive drinking, can be very dangerous, especially to underage drinkers.

8.  How could the ad jam be improved?

I feel like the ad could be improved by using something more to imply drinking and driving, since it has a fact on the bottom of the ad referring to underage intoxicated drivers.

1.  What company does the advertisement represent/subvert?

Fast food products

2.  What kind of product(s) is being advertised? 

McDonald’s food products

3.  What imagery is used in the advertisement to subvert?

In this ad, Adbusters uses the head of a skinned cow, to show the cruelty and the type of meat that goes into their fast food products. They wanted to show the inhumane treatment these animals go through in order for us to eat one burger.

4.  What message (text, copy) is used in the advertisement?

The ad says “Do you want fries with that”, to portray that people are buying their food without realising what is put into it. They want people to know what is going into their food.  

5.  How are the elements and principles of design used to convey a message?

With this ad, they didn’t want it to be a positive message, and they wanted the viewer to be disturbed by the image they provided. They used a dead cow’s head to show what really the food is made of. 

6.  Who is the target audience of the advertisement?

Anyone who purchases McDonald’s fast food products.

7.  Doe the ad jam convey a clear and successful message?

Yes, I think this ad is successful because it shows that people are ignorant to what is going into their food, and Adbusters wants more people to understand what goes into McDonald’s food, and what animals go through to just for us to have a cheap meal.

8.  How could the ad jam be improved?

This ad could be improved maybe by adding a few facts to the bottom of it, to make it more believable and impressionable.

Culture Jammer Brainstorming

For this project, i want to use an ad from Estee Lauder, and attempt to convey the viewer to understand their inhumane acts towards animals. This company tests does test their cosmetics, fragrances, and other products on animals. On their website, they stated that they do not test on animals, unless mandated by law. Yet even though they are against animal testing, and work with Peta, they still continue to sell their products to countries where animal testing is mandatory. Even though they say they are advocates against animal cruelty and testing, they still continue to supply to companies who test solely on animals. I want to use one of their original ads, showing the model with many infections, scars and bruises from the testing. I want to convey to the viewer that we have many people who are in prison for life, for murder, etc. We should be testing on them, not innocent animals. I also want to ad facts and sayings from Estee Lauder's website, to get the message to the viewer that they are not free of animal testing, that they are still the mother company of suppliers that do.

Culture Jam

What aspect of your cultural jam do you find most successful and why?

In my culture jam ad, I find the photo shopped model the most successful because it shows what animals go through in order for us just to wear makeup. I feel that the different burises, cuts, and other wounds create a more dramatic effect. By changing the emotion on her face, it makes us feel more sympathetic, and understand what animal testing really is, that animal testing isn’t simply putting lipstick and mascara on rats and rabbits.

What aspect of your culture jam do you find least successful and why?

I find the text the least successful, because I could have made it more impactful, and a little more motivating to the viewer to understand the effects of animal testing. I feel that the quotes I used do have an impact, but not sure if those facts and sayings would continue to run through the viewers mind. If I chose different sayings or facts, it may have had a greater impact to the viewer.

If you could do this project again, what changes would you make to improve it? 

If I were to do this project again, or re-complete it, I would have changed the texts on the side of the ad, some of the wounds on the models face, and made it blend more evenly, and more realisticly. I would have changed the light tones, to make it more of a negative feel, rather than positive lighting. The biggest thing would be to add more impactful texts to the culture jam ad.

3D Glasses Imagery Apocalypse Assignment

Michaela Niesen, Zombie Apocalypse, Photoshop, April 2, 2015.

Technical

When creating this piece, I used the elements of Photoshop to help bring the art together, make it flow smoothly, and attempt to tell a story. I found images online, than used the quick selection, crop, and lasso tools to select the parts of the images I want. I used adjustment layers to put overlays on each image, to make it work with the 3D imagery colour combinations. I changed the opacity and the intensity of the colours of each image to help keep the eye moving around the piece. I used the burning tool to help make areas darker, to help layers stand out, and avoid being ‘fuzzy’. I used a lot of different brushes, to help make repetitive images, and create a large amount of layers, showing depth, and making the 3D more intense.  

Idea or Concept

When creating this piece, I started off the idea of the cliché zombie apocalypse, but also using the mostly the idea of what it would look like, more than focusing on the zombies themselves. My idea did change as I progressed, but not too significantly. I added things that I did not originally plan, such as rain and clouds, but I feel they help the art tie together.

Influences

There was no artist that influenced my art significantly.

Composition

When creating this piece, I used symmetrical techniques to help balance out the images, so it’s not to content heavy on one side compared to the other. For example I have the man with the shotgun on the left, and a large building on the top right. To keep the image flowing, I left images out of the center, to keep the eye moving around the piece, so you don’t get caught up in one image. I also made the images large and small, opaque and transparent, to help keep the eye moving. It keeps interest in the piece, so the viewer doesn’t look at one corner and get bored of it. I used the colour combinations for 3D to help make it intense, keeping the important at the front, and compliments in the back. These concepts work together as a whole to keep the piece interesting, and not bore the viewer after looking at it once.

Motivation

When creating this piece, I had the personal motivation to show the viewer what could possibly happen. I wanted to get the viewer to understand the outcome of an apocalypse of this degree, how it would destroy our world, and what any survivor would have to live with, and share the new world with. I wanted the viewer to understand everything would be started from scratch, which people would now have to appreciate what they have, and be grateful for what is available to them. I feel that people don’t appreciate what they have today, and everyone would be in a big change if something like this was to occur.

Critical Assessment

I feel that the most interesting and successful parts of this piece are the rain and cloud layers. I like how these layers stand out on top, and show the distance and depth in the piece. I feel the way it sits on top of the piece helps it flow, and showing depth, that the rain is close, and other images sit in the distance. I was surprised with how the art came together, how it flows, even with the somewhat distracting smoke in the front. With additional time, I would have attempted to fix the smoke layers, and made more black sections to help things pop.   

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