Final Project

Students, please post your final project here on the blog by embedding the web version of the video (.swf or .mov, scaled appropriately) hosted on your student web space or some legal, third party hosting environment (YouTube, etc.). Make sure that you label the post "YOUR NAME - CLASS NAME student project - cc - not for commercial use".

Your web video should include a link to a landing page with a design and message consistent with your ad campaign.

Please email me the final report that Kim was working on regarding the media plan.

I apologize but I will not be returning to class. I will grade your work submitted here. It has been an honor to be your instructor. Go forward and do great things.

Exporting your video with Premiere Pro

Here is a good video tutorial explaining how to export your video to a variety of formats using Adobe Premiere Pro.

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-premiere-pro-cs4/getting-started-13-exporting-your-project/

After Effect Scripts

Check here for some great After Effects scripts.

http://aescripts.com/

After Effects Animation Tutorial

A good tutorial about animating a sky in your video in AE.

http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1524v1022

And here's one detailing the Write-on effect for achieving a handwritten look to your compositions.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/917560/lets_learn_after_effects_the_write_on_effect/

Animated Bevel Text Effect
http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1520v1013

Peace Corp Ad

Students:

Please post your most recent version of the Peace Corp ad to the blog before the start of class this week.

Text Animation in After Effects

Follow the link for a good tutorial on animating script text in Adobe After Effects.
http://www.layersmagazine.com/animated-handwriting-in-after-effects.html
click here

Good & Bad Lighting

Bad Lighting

In the 1960's movie The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, the intent was to make spooky lighting. However, the shadows are so intense and unnatural that its hard to not to pay attention to them. Sometimes it doesn't even make sense as to WHERE the lighting is coming from, especially when the flashlight is rapidly moving around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufUgq1WQilQ

Good Lighting

Singin' in the Rain uses lighting that is so subtle and natural looking that if you pause the movie

at any time, it looks like beautiful Renaissance oil painting. Even though Gene Kelly is dancing

in the rain, at night, with an umbrella, there are no harsh reflections and it looks just like how real

rain would look at night under street lights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmCpOKtN8ME

Lighting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_MHeHZ9d8Y&feature=related

The lighting in this movie has terrible lighting for most of the film but especially this scene alone. The shadows are too harsh and not realistic determining that they are in the car and the moon is the source of light which does not light inside of the car from where it is in the sky. The lighting is very bad in itself, sometimes you cannot de-picture what is going on because you cannot see, given it is trying to be a "scary" movie it is not given justice on lighting what should be lit. There is a random orange light that comes in and out, which I am guessing maybe streetlights that they are driving under but at times the become overpowering by blinding the scene and end up being distracting while the action in the scene is distracting already enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OEJhgonx4Q&feature=related

In the first picture alone there is amazing lighting contrast between the sky, the earth and human objects. Sets a clear picture and clear tone with a beautiful image to set the mood of the picture. The lighting contrast between the dark sky and the white snow is visually pleasing to the eye and completely lights up the screen. It sets a very emotional tone of purity for the picture. When edward is in the bedroom trying to fall asleep at night and the room is lit by the fish lamp from the tanks and the moving stars surrounding him, the room is lit perfectly of what the natural light would be as if it was in a real house. You can always tell where the sun is coming from in each scene of the movie depicted by the shadows and lighting contrast. An extreme example of this would be when edward is getting arrested and the usage of shadows within the scene showing where the spot light is from the cop cars and lighting of his contours giving him a shadow like appearance. And again when he is carving the sculpture. The contrast of the dark night with the ice stands out alone but while adding the moon light gives the scene a dramatic feeling.

Semiotics

Semiotics has been condemned as an imperialistic discipline and praised as the most comprehensive of fields. Jonathan Culler, a well-known theorist, acknowledges that "the major problem of semiotics is its ambitions," but he notes that "the value of semiotics is linked to its unwillingness to respect boundaries,...to the conviction that everything is a sign." The central concerns of this wide-ranging field can be defined, though, and its implications for teaching can be outlined.

WHAT IS SEMIOTICS?

Semiotics is the study of SIGNS. A sign is something that stands for something else. There are three kinds of signs:

symbols--signs that bear an ARBITRARY RELATIONSHIP to that which they stand for (e.g., the word "apple" by convention stands for the fruit we identify with the word).

icons--signs RESEMBLING that which they stand for (e.g., a painting of an apple looks like the fruit it represents).

indexes--signs that are INDICATORS of a fact or condition (e.g., a chest pain can indicate heartburn; smoke usually indicates fire).

Additionally, signs can be organized into SYSTEMS OF OBJECTS AND BEHAVIORS. The arts and the academic disciplines are highly complex, interrelated sign systems--formulations and configurations of symbols and/or icons. The way you set your table is part of a system of cultural signs, as is your choice of clothes, wallet photos, and bumper stickers. IDEAS are signs too, since they stand for entities as defined in one's culture. Your idea of snow, for instance, is determined by the repertoire of words, categories, pictures, and other interpretants provided by your culture.

http://reading.indiana.edu/ieo/digests/d59.html

Semiotics

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEgxTKUP_WI is an excellent video about semiotics. Semiotics is defined as: the study of signs, and through them, it studies the origins of meaning in different languages of communication.

Examples:

http://www.adpunch.org/entry/if-you-pay-a-prostitute-youre-financing-human-trading/

http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/bigpondrock.preview.jpg

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/bigpond_music_opera

Dynamic Link feature in After Effects and Premiere Pro

Follow the link for a good video tutorial from Adobe.
http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f15419v1026

Adobe OnLocation tutorial

You can Adobe OnLocation to monitor and catalog your video shoots, and record directly to hard drive.

"Fate" Leave Nothing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlXRengzZoc

This commercial follows two the NFL's finest, Troy Polamalu and LaDanaian Tomlinson, from birth up until fate brings them together on the field.

I have watched this commercial over and over again, and every time it gives me goosebumps. The ad connects with the viewer on a deeply emotional level by showing

intimate moments of each man's life that reflect their tough, leave nothing, demeanor's. Details like showing the ultrasound with the baby kicking

are both sweet, sensitive, and show that it was destiny that each man end up as a pro football player. While showing each boy doing normal childhood things

the commercial displays their physical talents as the epic, momentum building, song keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat from start to finish. Finally, at the end of the commercial

the two players are on the field and collide head on in slow motion as the song reaches its climax. Most of the commercial doesn't have much sound

but you can clearly hear them hit, and feel the force between them. The clip immediately cuts to a quick view of each boy as a child, reminding us

that destiny and fate brought them together. At the end, the Nike Swoosh reminds us that Nike continues to lead the way in athletic apparel.

Amex ad

Kimberly Van Driel- weakly advertisement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spCknVcaSHg

This commercial is part of American Expresses My life. My card campaign that includes actors such as jason schwartzman and director Wes Anderson. The commercial features the production of the making of a movie and the movie shown to "cut" that then features Wes Anderson in his daily lifestyle as a director making decisions, spending money, directing ect. that shows how he spends his days on set, what it takes and what they consist of. In order to create this lifestyle of being a director in a fast pace and highly driven atmosphere he shows the need for a card that can offer him the security of being able to purchase these costly products to make his expensive productions. A card he can trust and count on. His card. The commercial has a sense of humor to it as do all of Wes Andersons films showing the personalization of his character as a businessmen, director, and person overall. American Express always use celebrity spokesmen for their advertising to show their high status, fast pace lifestyle and value of being part of the elite members of Amex.

Spy films

Here are some 3-d animated ads from spyfilms along with the short "Alive in Joburg" which is the inspiration for the new film District 9.

http://www.spyfilms.com/#home

Welcome Students

We will be discussing advertising media and theory in this space please feel free to contribute professional content and feedback/comments.

Every week you are expected to post a new ad (and link to source) and do a content analysis of the ad.