Killing Us Softly Video Response

I enjoyed watching the video in class. The author/presenter was good at walking the line between funny and serious. In response to the content; I think right now we are beginning to see better TV adds, there are certainly more that have a positive message or use "real women." However, I don't see much changing in print adds. That seems to be a bigger problem maybe in part because the audience is more specific when you are looking at print adds. Either way I don't think the problem will ever go away, because somewhere, somehow, the adds must be working...otherwise why would they keep getting used? One year my sister decorated her bedroom with different ads from magazines. Anything she found interesting, funny, or beautiful. She had an add for jeans using the cast from "That 70's Show" because we were big fans. It was just the cast in "costume" wearing jeans and looking normal. However, I did recognize an Evian water add from the video as being in my sister's room at the time! It was the lady in the bathtub with the Evian bottles all over. It was simple and pretty, I'm not exactly what the problem with this add was. It's a "normal" too skinny model, but that's hard to avoid in most magazine adds. I feel like going back and finding some pictures of her room at that time so I can compare the images she picked to the ideas presented in this video! I know she wasn't picking ads with a critical eye for the types of "messages" presented in the video, but by what she liked at the time either what the add was selling or maybe who was in the add. My interest is piqued!

The following commercial has good points and bad. Yes it shows off "parts" of the woman's body rather than the whole, but it also shows a body that isn't the unattainable crap you normally see. I worked for Lane Bryant for 5 years, it was a great way to earn money and get a great discount on professional clothes that fit! This add came out and caused such a stir because Fox decided not to air it during American Idol, after seeing it. The amount of free press that Lane Bryant got from the controversy, I'm sure they sent Fox a thank you card. But really, I don't see anything wrong with it...judge for yourself. I thought the commercial was nicely done and similar in style to others I had seen on television at the time. I know that some commercials are made for the basic networks and others are made for cable, but I'm pretty sure you can see a lot worse than this on any of the basic network programs, let alone the ads!

Perception!

Perception. As I read chapter two and again while watching the videos in class I was amazed by the power of perception. It really is amazing that different people can see the same exact picture and see completely different details. So this whole thing reminds me of one thing, and it just keeps popping into my head so I feel I have to share.

"Once you can name something you have power over it."

I'm not sure who said this during class, if it was in one of the videos or came from the reading, but this just clicked with me. I think of this in terms of my car. Yes, my car. I am by no means a "car person." I don't really know one model from the next. I do know the basic manufacturers: Chevy, Ford, Pontiac (sadness that it's gone now), Olds (again, sadness), Toyota, and so on. I never knew how little I paid attention to cars until I bought my first decent car after finishing my undergrad degree. I bought my dad's old car, a 1998 Oldsmobile Regency silvery/tan. By this time Oldsmobile had been out of business for a couple years, but this was still a pretty decent car. As soon as it was mine I saw them EVERYWHERE! I couldn't drive to the grocery store without seeing at least one other car that looked exactly like mine. It was insane, and don't get me started about finding it in the mall parking lot! It was nuts, but I had never "known" a specific Olds before. They were all alike to me. This whole thing was a little crazy, but I thought "hey it's a popular car." Wrong, it was just a car like any other. Last year my poor Olds was "killed" by an accident, no one was hurt. My dad helped me find a "new" used car. I ended up with a 2000 (I think) Buick Lesabre, I like full size cars if you hadn't caught that yet! I started driving it around and after about 2 weeks I noticed my car was everywhere! This car is green, which I thought was a lot less common! But, my next door neighbor has the EXACT same car right down to the color! Why did I never see this before? Because I had no image of a Buick Lesabre, I just knew "Buick." I couldn't name it, I couldn't find one in a crowd. Now I see at least one EVERY day...

This is just one example of how perceptions change and affect everyday life. I have a friend who is an artist. It always amazes me how differently we see things. While watching the first video in class, the man with the interesting art, I thought about my friend. She sees thing differently similar to the way the speaker saw things differently. I was very impressed with how he could make regular items look extraordinary! I don't often think about my friends art, it's something she does because it makes her happy. It's not something she gets paid for or purposely shares with the world. But she shares it with her friends and family, and her art makes me look at things differently. Sometimes we influence each other. While taking photos for a class I took a picture of her reflection in her tuba, she is also a musician. She loved the picture so much that she made it into a self portrait for one of her classes. It is really neat, we both have a copy of the picture, and I love to see her portrait up on her wall when I visit!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

This week I found some beautiful visual art at home. It also happened to be the edible kind! I live with friends from college, Megan and Chris Kremer. Megan runs a small cake making business from her home. Right now it is all the rage to order cake pops. I have been gone for a while so today was my first time to see what a cake pop meant. For something so simple Megan really knows how to make a statement. I was watching her as she worked today, and realized that she really has a talent for visual art as a cake maker. I love to watch her as she is making cookies, cakes, frosting, or anything really. She truly has a talent. Not only are the cakes much tastier than any of the pre-made cakes you would find at the store, they tend to be prettier too! Megan is very detailed and has high standards for her work. She seriously looks at perspective, complimentary colors, shading, size, and any other feature that would be important to the quality of her product. What I would normally think of as great, Megan can usually spot a problem. If something is off center or not the right shade Megan will find it and fix it! She goes to great lengths to put out a delicious and beautiful product every time. When making a cake for her grandmother's 80th birthday she decided to create a cake with a wine theme. She created a label to put replace the real label on a bottle of wine and added supports to the cake so that the bottle could be part of the cake! It was an amazing idea that really did more than just a picture could have. She made the cake a 3-d piece of art! Her grandmother got to enjoy the beautiful cake as well as "her own vintage" of wine. It was a really special touch.

Her business is really starting to grow! To help it grow she has done an excellent job of showing off her work through different media. You can find her on Facebook by searching Megan's Cakes or go to her website here! She has taken the time to purchase a camera that will take quality pictures so that her work is shown to the best advantage. She also continues to update and acquire new cake making supplies. She is currently working on creating a logo for her business.

Her business is about making great cakes, which you might think is all about taste, but that's not necessarily the case. People will buy a crappy tasting cake if it looks fabulous! So it is important that Megan create a visually perfect cake, more so than a tasty cake. Megan being the perfectionist that she is,does indeed make a very tasty cake, but I think she would still do well in her business if the cake was the same old stuff you would find from Hy-Vee. I think she is just that good at presenting the perfect visual. I don't have the same "eye" that she has. I can't look at a cake and know what will make it perfect. I can't be told a "theme" and think of a design...it's not my talent. If I had been told to make an M & M cake I would have made a normal round cake with the normal sides, but Megan thought too make the actual shape of an M & M and to take a little from the recent add campaigns as well! It was awesome!


*All pictures taken by Megan Kremer and used with permission.

Visual Symbols in my Life

This blog has been created for my Visual Literacy class. I hope by keeping this blog up to date, a graded assignment is hard to forget, I will be able to do a little better with my original blog as well. Cross your fingers.

I need to be able to express and expand my knowledge of visual literacy. I know that I enjoy visual things in my life. Even though I have no talent for it, I regularly enjoy photography. While working in Germany last semester I had some great opportunities for picture taking. I had a camera in my hand almost every day. However traveling in a group, we always seemed too rushed and hurried to stop and take a picture! While there I was able to visit different countries such as the Czech Republic and France. I also got to see a lot of Germany. The fests and markets abound! There was a lot to see and I like to think that I did a good job of catching some special pictures, but it takes a lot of practice to take good pictures on the go. For every picture that came out beautiful, I'd say there were 5-10 that just plain failed!