TED

http://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man.html

Products and perception

Notes from Architecture lecture

Approaching Building Analysis:

Notes from lecture.

*Where are ENTRIES?

-What is experience of entry?

-Compression vs. Release

-Transition from outdoor to indoor (Air conditioning / Heat)

*ACT OF TERRITORY (-Morris Smith, MIT)

*MATERIALS used (glass, wood, concrete, etc...) (ex: Apple Store = all glass: conscious of being "on display" vs. Victoria's Secret = closed: conscious of privacy)

*WHAT IS PUBLIC/PRIVATE (ex: Boston Common: public space vs. fenced in area - to modify behavior)

McCloud and Closure

The human race, for the most part, possesses a very visual mindset. Television, fashion and art are some examples of very prominent factors in today's culture. Through our visually-wired mindset, the human brain often seeks patterns. It is because of this "visualization by association" that McCloud's term "closure" permits even the most abstract of icon (primitive "stick-figure" face) to come alive through the dialogue on the page. "There is no life here except that which you give to it" (McCloud 59) The more abstract the icon, the more personal it reflects in the reader's mind. For example, scrying is defined as "a magic practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium". This definition deals more with the act of "crystal ball gazing", however "cloud gazing" is also an example of scrying. Finding shapes in clouds is very subjective, as the clouds swirl in very abstract shapes. When different individuals' brain tries to detect patterns, one's results often largely differ from a fellow participant.

What is being sold?

Here are two of my favorite ads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZoY5RK8PHY&feature=PlayList&p=9838A6FAE1BF7B2D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vor65mNB8Uk

Both are done in completely different ways but both sell the product. For the japanese commercial i feel as if they aren't selling the drink as much as they sell you Ringo Starr; and the cigarette ad is almost so abstract that it stays with the consumer even though it may not correlate with the viewer.

"There is no life here except that which you give to it."

In our discussion of "animation" this week, I connected the McCloud quote above to the idea of a continuum of an active viewer/spectator/reader/gamer/participant of a text. McCloud also argues that "Icons demand our participation to make them work" (p. 59). Comment on this if your birthday falls between day 1-15 of the month, and if it is between 16-31, then write a blog entry that others can comment on.

Welcome to VisCult 09!

This is the blog for Approaches to Visual Culture, Fall 09, at Berklee College of Music. This is where the members of the class will post their ideas, pictures from our class meetings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and where Prof. Lori Landay will put various and sundry class materials. As we explore the role of the visual, we'll experiment here with podcasts, other aspects of multimedia, mobile technology, virtual worlds--whatever we can think of, get our hands on, or become interested in that has to do with visual culture.

This is our public presence on the web, and if you have found us and you are not in our class, you are welcome to join in and comment respectfully, too.