Category Archives: Blog Post

Visual Designs and the Work Behind It

The readings and videos we had to dive into for this week were definitely interesting. Hearing the thought process behind what goes into making a movie poster or the intro to a tv show just makes you appreciate the work itself even more.

In the Vanity Fair video, it was intriguing to hear how the use of color and spacing on a movie poster can introduce what the movie is about. For example, if a poster has all white in the background with the characters in front of it, the focus is supposed to be on the characters and what they are doing. Or, in the iconic Star Wars poster, how the blue represents space and the universe, and the lights and characters represent the narrative. Movies that are more action, thriller, or horror will probably use darker colors, while comedy and romance will use lighter colors. It was also awesome to hear the backstory of the Stranger Things intro (firstly because it is one of the only tv intros that I do not skip), and also their thought process in paying homage to classic 80’s filters and font’s.

Visual design plays a crucial role in shaping the audience’s and viewer’s perception and anticipation for movies or tv shows. A well-crafted movie poster or tv show intro uses different colors, fonts, and imagery in order to convey it’s message and to get the viewers hooked onto it. It not only enhances the marketing, but also makes it more memorable and impactful.

Some of my favorite examples of movie posters and tv show intros come from a variety of genres. I put some of my favs above. First, the infamous Stars Wars poster for Episode I. It is so simple, yet is sort of menacing with how we see little Anakin Skywalker, as well as the shadow behind him of what his future is. Next, Knives Out is one of my favorite movies of all time. What I like about the poster is how it perfectly encapsulates the plot and vibe of the movie. It is a murder mystery, and is based around a wealthy family. The almost portait-like filter on it makes it look like it is a family portrait. Lastly, the tv Yellowjackets, which is a show about a high school girls soccer team crashing in the Canadian forest on the way to Nationals. The font of the word “Yellowjackets” emphasizes their relationship as a team, while also showing the darkness that is to come behind it.

Overall, as you can tell, I truly enjoy a great movie poster or logo, as it enhances the viewer’s enjoyment and excitement for it. The readings and videos make me want to look more into the decision-making process behind visual designs for media.

Week Two Weekly Summary

Starting off the week

For starting of the week, I decided to start customizing my website a bit to personalize it! I wanted to do something different than my other subdomain sites. I also started reading through the different tasks throughout the week, and planning out when I will complete each task. I think I did well at spacing out the assignments, while also doing the daily creates everyday.

Daily Creates

Daily Create #1

An inspirational poster with the message, "Every coincidence carries a message, but only the curious stop to decode it". Features a photo of a man standing on rocks, looking upon a beautiful sunset over the mountains.

The theme for Monday was “unintended consequences”, so I decided to do an inspirational poster. One that you would see in a high school classroom or in a doctor’s office. I used Canva to create it, and then posted it to Mastodon.

Daily Create #2

A bad drawing of Sammy D. Eagle, the mascot for the University of Mary Washington.

The theme for this daily create was “bad art”. I opened Instagram after opening this assignment out of procrastination, and saw a post from Sammy D. Eagle, to which I immediately got to work. Of course, it only took me a couple of minutes, and I am not much of an artist, but I am quite proud of it.

Daily Create #3

A photo of my shadow in the snow, and how the sun's reflection is making it long.

The challenge for this was to take a photo of your long shadow. As I was walking back from lunch with a friend, I saw my long shadow in the snow, and took the opportunity to take the photo. I thought this prompt was quite funny and also interesting, as the effect the position of the sun has on shadows is intriguing.

Daily Create #4

It is DS106 Radio’s 14th birthday so I thought I would share a classic birthday song!

Daily Create #5

Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!
Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!
Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!

For the last daily task of the week, we had to make a poem out of emojis. For some reason, this iconic chant from an iconic movie kept playing in my mind! I guess it kind of counts as a poem, there is repetition?

Tasks

Assignment Banks

I was excited to complete these assignments, as there were so many options that it was hard to choose from them. The first assignment I did was to find my dream home on Zillow, which I then decided to make a collage of my favorite photos of the dream house I found. To read more about my dream home and my thought process behind it, read My Dream Home. For the second assignment, I made a GIF from the movie Blade Runner 2049, as it is not my favorite movie of all time, but it is one of my favorite cyber punk movies, with a stacked cast and amazing visuals. To read more, read GIF. Lastly, or the third assignment I chose to do was “Who Said What?”, where I found three characters who share similar characteristics, and made a confusing graphic of them saying an iconic quote, with showing different aspects of the characters. I chose to do iconic characters in the cyberpunk genre, and to read more about it, check out my Who Said What? post.

Building Participation

I also got to comment on and view some of my classmates blogs! This assignment was pretty easy and fun, as I got to explore my classmates blogs! It was very interesting to see all the different themes, as well as reading their blog posts just to get a peek as to who they are. I am excited to see everyone’s work in the near future.

Course Character

This was probably my favorite task as I got to get creative in creating a character under the film noir genre. It came pretty easy to me, and the archetype of the hard-boiled detective immediately stood out to me. Then, ideas started flowing about how to flesh out the character into something that fits into the genre, but stands out in a way. It was also interesting researching the different archetypes and their common characteristics. Here is my full-fledged description of my new course character, Course Character.

Readings and Film Review (Dr. Oblivion!)

Overall, I enjoyed Dr. Oblivions input in the assignments that I used him for! The readings were interesting, as I completely agree with how we should use ethics and morals when navigating advancements in technology. To read my summary, here is my post Technopoly. With the film review, I was happy to go more in depth about the Black Mirror episode I watched. To read more about my film review, here is my blog post about it Updated Film Review: Black Mirror.

Technopoly

Ideas and Summary

I found the reading to be pretty interesting! In order to accept new technology, we should fully understand it, knowing its benefits and downsides. Chapter 1 really intrigued me as he emphasized how should avoid the extremes, between being a technophile or a technophobe. Technophile as in only seeing the benefits of technology, and technophobes only seeing the downsides, or just fearing new technology in general. Chapter 2 goes through the historical and cultural context of technocracy. Chapter 3 describes how technocracy transitioned to technopoly, where it reshaped the definitions of different societal concepts such as religion or family to align with technology. Chapter 4 outlines the change in how we access information, to where we didn’t have access to much information, to now having unlimited access through the digital age. Chapter 5 showcases and wraps up the reading so far well by establishing how society needs morality when we are navigating new inventions or advancements.

Dr. Oblivion’s Input

Dr. Oblivion said that it is important to incorporate how we must stick to ethics and morals in a technologically-advancing environment. He also said how it is “essential to embrace new technology, but also be wary of it’s setbacks”. Overall, he outlined the same points that I said above.

Updated Film Review: Black Mirror

Summary

The episode opens with the main character, Victoria, waking up in a strange house with no memory of who she is or how she got there. As she stumbles outside, she notices that people are silently filming her on their phones, showing no response to her confusion or pleas for help. Suddenly, masked individuals begin hunting her, attempting to kill her with firearms and other weapons. As they navigate through the dangerous town, a plot twist ending is revealed, and it truly astounds viewers and leaves them questions their own morals.

How It Connects to Tech Noir

Black Mirror tends to take the route with it’s episodes to explore some potential new technology, its benefits, as well as its downsides. Specifically, in the episode White Bear, it doesn’t showcase much new technology, it showcases some advanced tech with how they handle punishment in the U.S. Also, with the dark aesthetics and sort of dystopian society it portrays.

When asking Dr. Oblivion, he said the episode “White Bear” has the similar themes of tech noir and cyberpunk, with the “dark, twisted reality” due to the “bleak future dominated by sinister technological advancements.” The new and advanced technology is used to control and punish people who do not follow what they want.

Course Character

Meet Veronica Malone

I decided to pick the hard-boiled detective arch type, but to steer away from the usual and make her female. We do not see many female detective characters, and if there are any they are more stereotypical. I wanted to create one that had the hard personality, but also a soft side.

Veronica Malone works as a detective, and is a no-nonsense, sharp-tongued character who has a moral compass. She will usually use humor even in tense situations. Being born and raised in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, she grew up wanting to fight for justice, and to work in a field where she could help others. She is single, born in 1992, which makes her 32 and her zodiac sign a Scorpio. She has shoulder-length brown hair, dark eyes, and wears an iconic wine red coat and fedora that she wears when she is on the case.

She does enjoy some movies and books. Her favorite movie is either Ocean’s 11, or Miss Congeniality when she is feeling good. Her favorite book is The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler as she likes a story with flawed characters and moral grey areas. If she had to pick her favorite possession, it would either be her journal where she makes notes of all the cases she has worked on or criminals she has caught, or her revolver, which is self-explanatory. Her personal motto is “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing”, as it reflects her way of life and her upbringing to where she is now.

First Week Summary

Starting off the week

I started the week for this course by reading over the syllabus carefully, as well as scrolling through the course website just to start acclimating myself to what is expected of me. I then started the weekly tasks for the first week, and planning out when I would do what. I also thought about what I wanted to accomplish with this course. I went more in depth about my goals in my post My Goals for this Course.

The First Week Tasks

I found the first week tasks to be easy, as I simply created the accounts I needed. Also, I already have created a domain and various subdomains in past digital classes, so creating a new subdomain, as well as installing WordPress with it was a piece of cake. I also had the group meeting, which was very helpful in terms of answering questions and getting to know the professor as well as some fellow classmates. It was also interesting to dive into the background and meaning of Tech Noir, as well as some films and tv shows that fall under that genre. I watched an episode of Black Mirror, which I went into more detail in my post Film Review: Black Mirror.

Film Review: Black Mirror

I watched an episode of Black Mirror called “White Bear”. I have watched a couple of episodes of Black Mirror before, so I knew the baseline plot of most of the episodes were trippy, futuristic, had some major plot twist, as well as some message about society. This episode had my jaw dropped as I did not expect the plot twist ending. To explain it without spoilers it really had me questioning my morals, and thinking about what we have come to as a society today with easy access to technology and how you are always being watched with what technology we have today.

My Goals for this Course

What I want to get out of this course is to expand my digital presence, as well as get more practice using different softwares to create videos, podcasts, or graphics! I also want to be able to juggle and plan accordingly with my work since I tend to procrastinate! Otherwise, I am pretty excited for the course!