Initial Response to 'The Usual Suspects'

I'm unable to access the four slides that we looked at in class because I'm on a PC rather than a Mac.  The file seems to have been uploaded from Keynote instead of PowerPoint.  Because I'm unable to see the various response questions, I'm going to respond in my own way to this new assignment of The Usual Suspects.  I'm very excited about this new project and look forward to what people come up with!

Right from the start, this assignment really intrigued me.  I have always liked looking at work that has been clearly "designed" and trying to interpret what the creator was attempting to portray to the viewer upon its creation.  I believe that every image, sign, flyer, sticker, poster, etc. has a message it is attempting to portray and it is the viewers responsibility to make an attempt at decoding that message.

It has honestly been an intense struggle to find images that I want to work with because there are so many wonderful candidates that I have found!  I've spent hours on Google looking at various signs, political advertisements, movie posters, and print ads.  Narrowing my results into just a few images that I intend to use has been quite the feat!

In all my searching, my favorite usual suspects have been chiseled down to some movie posters and print ads.  I'm excited to bring these into class and see where to go from here with them.  This portion of the course is something I have really been looking forward to.  As mentioned above, I really enjoy looking at and analyzing creative work intended and conveying some sort of message to the viewer.  I contemplated attaching some of the top movie posters and print ads below in this post, but I didn't want to distract from my final project and presentation so I will let them remain a mystery.  Stay tuned for more to come! :)

Enchanting the Mundane

I never knew how fascinating the space I spend 8 hours each day in was until I embarked on this journey to “Enchant the Mundane” cubicle in which I work.  It all started earlier in the semester when I read the text Box-Logic by Geoffrey Sirc.  I then began to contemplate as to which of my “boxes” is the most mundane in my view, and pledged to enchant it in some way.

In Box-Logic, it states that “the box has provided a basic container or frame for storing and exhibiting one’s most passionately cherished items” (116).  This is probably the sentence that struck me to enchant the mundane cubicle for my project.  After I read this passage, I looked around me.  I noticed there were so many little things that, without knowing, I had “packaged” myself in with.  As Sirc says, I was exhibiting my most passionately cherished items.

On my computer is a little batman face that I peeled off a valentine treat a co-worker gave me last year.  On an upper shelf, I have a little trophy given for good performance two years ago.  Hiding behind my left monitor is a small wizard that I found on the floor 3 years ago.  I began to realize that over the years I have collected these small, yet monumental objects.  I saw that I have used them to surround me, and they act as a memory of the positive experiences I have gone through here in my box.

As I set forth to initiate the process of capturing my surroundings, I saw that certain pieces which enshroud me were slightly coated in dust.  I stopped and looked for a Clorox wipe to get rid of this when I realized that the dust is a part of the enchantment, and I should leave it there because it has a meaning of its own.

At first, I started with simple, close-up pictures of some of the objects and images that surround me as I sit there in my cubicle.  Like Massumi says, affect is unassimilable.  We can’t put into words what we see and feel; it is born within the body.  This is one reason I chose to make my video without text or lyric.  I wanted my viewers to experience this affect when immersing themselves in my own personal box, and let their stadium and punctum take charge.

Initially I was unsure how I was going to depict something as mundane as my bland workspace, so I began with the small interesting things that are special to me.  When viewed close up, these are the objects which jump out the most although initially they seem the most insignificant.  I put these objects and images to a very playful music, as to give a calm and unintimidating feel to my cubicle.  From there I started showing some more serious objects that are seen in one’s workstation like a part of a keyboard and mouse, or my telephone.

I designed the film in such a way that the viewer would feel like their eyes are being “opened” to my workspace.  As you watch, you will continue to see more and more of my cubicle.  The pictures start to pull back farther, slowly opening the screen to see into my world.  As it progresses, I slowly start to give full views of my desk.  Towards the end, I expose the viewer to video footage taken of the different areas they had just experienced in still images.

A final touch that I added to my project that most viewers probably did not realize is the “awakening” of my cubicle.  I portrayed this using the monitors on my desk.  When one watches closely, they will see that the initial images of my computer screens are dark.  Slowly as the film progresses, the screens begin to emit light.  By the end, both screens are seen at full brightness, surrounded by the small simple objects that have been shown in detail making up “my box”.

Visual Rhetoric

Here is my attempt to define what I have come to learn of visual rhetoric.  This is based off my opinion from what I have learned in this class and through the different activities and projects we have been involved in.  Earlier in the semester, in Dr. Kyburz' other class in which I am enrolled, Critical Introduction to Literature, I was reminded of the valuable online resource 'OWL'.  OWL is the Online Writing Lab produced by Purdue University. 

I learned a lot about visual rhetoric through this simple page on OWL and would like to discuss this further because it is what my foundation of visual rhetoric has built upon since the beginning.  It all starts with visual literacy which branches off into three categories, visual thinking, visual learning, and visual rhetoric.  All three branch down into further categories which I won't mention, but visual rhetoric also branches into 3 lower categories: Art, Media, and Aesthetics.

This gave us a broad definition of visual rhetoric, but now let me centralize it further into what is done specifically.  Visual rhetoric is what images do to communicate with the viewer through what is contained in the image alone.  Verbal and aural communication do not factor into visual rhetoric.  Everything is contained solely on what the viewer sees and makes reason of within the image.  One must evaluate what the studium and punctum are of each image.  The studium is the cultural, linguistic, and political interpretation of a photograph whereas punctum is the wounding, personality touching detail that establishes a direct relationship with the object or person within it (Camera Lucida).

Thus far, I have thoroughly enjoyed visual rhetoric! I've loved being able to look at images in a new way.  It's so fun to pick things other than texts apart and look deeply into them.  For so many years in my classes we look deeply at texts and analyze them.  I have loved learning how to do the same thing in the world of images.  The project has been so much fun and I'm excited to see what the final product turns out to be.  I've learned a lot so far, but know that I will only learn more as the semester progresses.

Below is an image from the OWL website containing the position of visual rhetoric and how it relates to visual literacy.



Image Credit:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/jpeg/20071221060657_691.jpg

Studium & Punctum

I took the following picture while I was watching TV with my wife. I looked over at her and wanted to capture the moment. Below I will evaluate this using the studium and punctum.

Studium:  With the studium, we see a beautiful girl looking off to the right at something unknown. Also, she is sitting comfortably on the couch probably watching TV or relaxing having a conversation with someone unseen. She looks happy and peaceful.

Punctum:  The immediate punctum to me is her smirk, symbolizing something funny or happy and unseen to the viewer.  Others are the bright light source above her head, the slightly off-balance picture frame in front of her, and the pile of blankets disappearing off the side.

Introductions Analysis

Both introductions are very interesting.  Each one beautifully introduces us into visual rhetoric in their own unique ways.  Let me first discuss how the Wes Anderson introduction is very effective in showing us the power of visual rhetoric.  Such a simple color palette shows us how Anderson can use such simple shades of bland colors to convey very powerful messages.  Both blogs referenced briefly talk about the palette but leave most of the page to the image overcoming the screen such that the reader is consumed by it to interpret for themselves.

Next we look at the two images of the blue sky.  The first image merely shows the image of the chart comparing the wavelengths to reflective scattered intensity.  The second image shows us a simple picture of a beautiful blue sky.  The title speaks 'on the blueness of the sky...' and then proceeds to show the two images side by side.  The one is a technical chart which is not pleasing to look at, whereas on the contrary the second is simple image of the sky.  Of the two introductions, I feel that each serve a very different purpose. The first, the palette, shows us how something simple can be interpreted many different ways.  The second, the blue sky, shows us how one thing can be shown in different forms.  Both serve a wonderful and necessary purpose.

Images Credit: http://fluctuatingluminously.blogspot.com/