Addicted to Fashion

Semiotics is essentially used in all advertising campaigns to convey the message through the use of symbols and signs. The idea of semiotics in advertising is so that the images presented are symbols and signs that are somewhat associated with what is being promoted. This case of a 2007 Sisley campaign titled “Addicted to Fashion” caused an extreme amount of criticism once launched as it seems to reference the idea of a cocaine addiction. The use of signs and symbols throughout this campaign deferred from the original idea that the company was attempting to present which was originally their fashion line. This was condemned as the ideal target audience for this campaign was 15-30 and since majority of the audience is ‘young and impressionable’.

Although it is clear this image could potentially be seen in a positive light to the minority, it is still bordering on the line of what should be allowed to be portrayed to a younger audience. Did exposing two extremely thin young women in provocative outfits with bloodshot eyes really increase the brands revenue?? The problem with this is that the company was merely process driven, and all they intended was for the company to gain revenue, regardless of the impact on the viewers. To quote fashion icon Coco Chanel, A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.

In a wider perspective, it makes us think how advertising companies can be allowed to advertise such things that are taboo topics within society. It also brings up the questions of the morality of the company itself, and why they would want to portray something in this light. I guess what I’m trying to say is, how can we trust advertising companies to present things to us, through the use of semiotics, in a way that will actually appeal to us. It is a known fact that you always remember the bad, but rarely the good. And same goes for these advertising companies, the ones that are strike more controversy are always the ones who gain more attention, yet not necessarily in a good way. If referencing the idea of drug abuse, which is a very serious problem, becomes normal then what is there to stop an audience from thinking that there is a problem? It seemly creates the message “Models look this way because of this so if I do it, I can look like that too” and the endless amount of problems with this impression are unjustifiably wrong.

 

References:

https://chiarasadfad.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/sisley-ad-fashion-junkie/

 

 

Assessment 1

Project statement:

By combining both the prescribed poem by George Ella Lyon and the requirements of Lumiere film, I was able to (almost) create a linear narrative that ultimately described where I’m from. I expressed the places, objects and people I felt effectively defined where I’m from, and what makes me my own individual. The theme that I wanted to keep consistent throughout the videos is the idea of my family and home. Some of the scenes are deliberately shot in a dark environment to express uncertainty. The visuals I used have been literal to accommodate for the fact that in the beginning, I found the idea of creating the remoscopes slightly challenging.

g li t c hhh

‘ highly saturated rainbow stripes and white noise chopping up an image, pixelated video streams in which the subjects’ words don’t match up with the audio, shimmering and twitching spots in video games’ 

Typically, a glitch is defined as a bad thing. A malfunction. An unexpected malfunction. Generally in relation to audio and video. So how can a technical error become something that we intention make art with? .Glitch art, as of recent, has been used to revolutionize the way we view aesthetics presented by artists, and has no longer become something that is come across by a malfunction. Art is merely created with the intention of looking as though it has been intentionally glitched.

So here it is, my attempt at a noisy, pixelated and aesthetically pleasing glitch art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In conclusion, my personal opinion on glitch art is that it is amazing. It teaches you the idea that its okay to fail and make mistakes. They can be transformed into something so much more.

“It’s not all bad”

The estimated number of people that use social media is approximately 2.34 billion people.

As the internet is vastly changing, as well as the platforms that exist within it, it raises many concerns around the idea of whether or not the use of media is beneficial. Social media platforms are generally associated with procrastination or a disturbance. It is definitely something that can’t be ignored and should be integrated into society and introduced as normal. Social media platforms make users feel like they are a part of something and allow them to communicate with friends, family etc. It also allows major news channels to inform a wider audience and spread a message even further.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, how are we even supposed to keep up? Although social media platforms are generally used positively, there are several negatives effects that become escalated through the anonymity of the internet. Social Media allows people to sit in the comfort of their own home, and anonymously attack other uses in an extremely opinionated way. This brings up extremely controversial topics such as how the internet is affecting people ‘badly’ yet when the aspect of social media is taken away, all of the aspects that are getting blamed on the use of social media, such as depression, anxiety, bullying and racism are still existent. Would you believe me if I told you that mental illnesses were documented in the second millennium B.C? Yet the first account of social media was in 1997??

My understanding of this is that there are negative and positive effects of everything in life. Instead of putting the blame on social media for all these things that existed before social media did (excluding cyber bullying), accept that social media platforms are just a tool. They are designed to be used the way we want them to be used and they ideally reflect us as humans, always attempting to place the blame on something else instead of just accepting that we could be at fault. Throughout the entirety of life the negative repercussions are almost always going to stand out from the positive, yet I feel the positive effects of social media are almost somewhat pushed aside. Social media platforms allow people to connect with others and be a part of an established society.

References:

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/positive-effects-of-social-networking.php

 

How can the medium be it’s own message?

So like, The Medium is the Message. Cool.

Before today, I’d never really through about how different ways we view things effect the way we interpret them. In Marshall McLuhan’s publication Understanding Media, he describes the ways that the form of a medium implants itself in any message it would communicate or deliver, creating a relationship where the medium influences how the message is received. McLuhan’s idea consisted around the fact that we tend to focus on the obvious, which when placed in context today, completely represents the idea of memes. They are short, concise and show the intended message with little or no text, but the message is directly conveyed generally through the use of image. The use of the internet to convey messages is ideally the most useful medium yet. Messages are shared to thousands of people in such a little amount of time, constantly challenging us and testing the way that we interpret things as viewers, but also how we create things as producers.

There are so many different ways to view and produce different types of data. They way we do this ultimately affects the way we interpret them based on our social, political and cultural ideas and views. In my own instance, I create work based on what I think people want to see. But just like McLuhan’s idea states, this is interpreted based on the way it is portrayed. As someone who creates art as a hobby, and also in reference to my digital artefact, this scares the hell out of me.

 

i d e a s

I’d be lying if I said that I had any idea of what I wanted to do for my digital artefact. It literally excites me and scares me at the same time. How do you be individual in a day and age where an Instagram photo posted more than a day ago is considered old?

• vlog channel of going on deliveries with drivers(I work at Dominoes, I promise I’m not just getting into strangers cars)
• beauty/lifestyle YouTube channel(but like, realistically, how many of these videos can the internet handle?)
• dog vlogging(not going to lie, i’m leaning towards it)

edit: since having going to my bcm112 class and brainstorming ideas, I have decided I am going to do beauty videos on instagram(thank you Bethany)