Week 2

- the power of visual story telling is not a modern phenomenon
- how our ancient ancestors made the discoveries that have given film a hold on civilization
- its the job of a storyteller to engage the audience as much as you can

I. Mesopotamia

     1. farming , mathematics, writing started here
     2. British Archeologist Austin Henry Leyard discovered the world’s first written language
     3. first story ever written (began and ended in the first city ever build (Uruk, Iraq)
     4. Gilgamesh (world’s first great hero)
     5. Ashabenapa story told through pictures
          a. created the world’s first complete visual story
          b. beginning, middle, end, and subplots
          c. established a hero, and a plot, but something critical was missing
               i. no rage, no tears, no emotion
               ii. no engagement

II. Greece

     1. obsessed with epic stories and myths
     2. Odysseus
          a. showing the moment of maximum tension, just before the climax
     3. Greek artist found a way to bring their stories alive
     4. viewers can identify with the characters emotionally

III. Romans

     1. the Trajan’s column
     2. 35m high
     3. Napoleon Bonaparte, Italian Dictator Musulini, and other influential men took great fascination
     4. Trajan’s Campaign against the Dations (sp?)
     5. epic movie frozen among stone
     6. the column anticipated film techniques
          a. introduced visual cuts and bird’s eye view
          b. made a way to summarize the story by looking up the notheast side of the column (a trailer, if you will)
     7. doesn’t have the power to captivate
     8. missing a final elemant

IV. Australia

     1. some of the oldest painted images found anywhere on the planet
     2. some date back over 40,000 years
     3. world’s first art galleries
     4. Baldwin Spencer
          a. lived among the aboriginal people
          b. obsessed with painting
          c. painting the same images over and over again
          d. same images found in the caves pained thousands and thousands of years earlier
          e. introduced symbolized images

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I. 2 Methods of studying Visual Culture
     1. Process Theory
          a. Shannon and Weaver Model (telephone engineers)
               i. informational source (client and/or designer, author)
               ii. transmitter (design)
               iii 1/2. (noise source)
               iv. receiver (bilboard, magazine, etc)
               v. destination (readers, viewers)
     2. Semiotics
          b. Linguistic Model (deciphering meaning)
               i. denoted
               ii. connotated
               iii. signs
               iv. symbols
               v. indexes

II. 3 Levels of A __ technical
     1. accuracy
     2. encoding
     3. compatibility question
          a. is there special equipment or knowledge required?

III. Linguistics
     1. views communication as the production of meaning and suggests that one message is going to mean different thing to different people depending on different factors
     2. it focuses on the receiver and the social, political and economic environment in which they live
     3. this theoretical approach to design applies not only to graphic design but fashion designers product designers illustrator and architects

IV. Decoding Visual Messages
     1. signs and symbols
          a. - symbolic sign (means watch out)
          b. (working) - iconic sign (this part changes according to the culture that produced it [means men at work])
          c. red circle w/ bar = signifier
          something is forbidden = signified
          d. signified = ciggarette

V. Culture as goods or as tools
     1. the values of any culture are incorporated into the sign systems we us

Week 1

1. We Are Humans
     - so we: dream, imagine, question, wonder, think, puzzle, search for answers
     - part of the puzzling is art
     - images are language

2. The Hierarchy of Art Making
     a. fine art
     b. commercial art (graphic design)
     c. popular culture
     - these operate as codes within a culture and are easy yo decode if you live in that culture
     - but there are “sub cultures” and “special interest groups.” Codes change and we never stop           learning them

3. Semiotics (the study of meaning)
     - interpreting the meaning
     - we use a three part method that includes:
           a. materiality
           b. formalism
           c. content
                i. denotation
                ii. connotation

4. Materiality
     - each culture ahas different materials available to it
     - the artistic or designer chooses from them
     - ex. the material (aka technology) for an iPod was not availab;e to your grandparents’      culture

5. Formalism
     - line, color, form/shape, composition

6. Content

     - Denotation
           - we denote swords, men, women
     - Connotation
           - sending a man to his death
           - political statement
           - willing to die for beliefs

7. Cultural Critique
     - social conditions
     - many ways we communicate non-verbally, personally
           - clothes, hair, car, arranging items in our house or room, facial expressions, body           language, tattoos, makeup, amount of skin revealed in clothing, gifts we give, greeting           cards, etc.
     - the culture we live in
           - has produced many media forms for visual communication to be “transmitted”
           - TV, magazines, films, photography, advertising, music videos, internet, video games,           road & traffic signs

8. Medium: Cinema
     - the value of cinema in the digital age with David Puttman