Final Exam Study Guide: Principles of Visual Communication
Television: Networks
1948, four television networks began evening programming on 27 stations in 18 U.S. cities. The major networks at the time consisted of ABC (American Broadcasting Company); NBC (National Broadcasting Company); CBS (Columbia Broadcasting Company); and DMN (Du- Mont Network).
Television: PBS
1970, The Public Broadcasting System network is established.
Television: 1980s
1980s The MTV network premieres, aiming at the 18-24 age bracket with its music videos and reality programming. Ted Turner's Cable News Network debuts with 24-hour national news reporting and 1.7 million subscribers. Fox Broadcasting is established.
Cartoons: Definition
A cartoon is simple two-dimensional drawing that portrays subjects in humorous, exaggerated or satirical ways. Cartoons are found predominantly in newspapers, magazines or online.
Digital Image
A digital image is a numeric representation (normally binary) of a two-dimensional image.
Typography: Type Family
A typeface Family is a stylistic variant—most commonly "regular" or roman as distinct to italic, as well as condensed—have led to font families, collections of closely related typeface designs that can include hundreds of styles. A font family is typically a group of related fonts which vary only in weight, orientation, width, etc, but not design. Typeface Families are derivatives of a font such as: Bold Regular Italic Medium Condensed Bold
Typography: Typeface
A typeface is a style. There are SIX TYPEFACES or Style. Serif Sans Serif Slab or Square Serif Script Novelty Black Letter
Visual Metaphor: Definition
A visual metaphor refers to understanding a person, place, thing, or idea in terms of another. Image from Zelda.
Typography: Kerning
Adjusting the space between only two letters on a line is called "kerning."
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and appreciation of art, beauty and good taste. It has also been defined as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature".
Visual Persuasion in News Media
Affect people's perceptions of events. Reach people on an emotional levels in ways that words alone cannot. Sum up social problems or controversies Cement themselves in the public's mind' they function as touchstones that capture entire events in our collective conscience.
Photography: Innovators
After the death of Niépce in 1833, Louis Daguerre developed a new process which was eventually named the daguerreotype. Daguerre's work was well received and helped to introduce photography to the general public. George Eastman invented the paper negative as well as an assortment of new advances in film, chemical processes, and smaller cameras/higher quality lenses in the 1880s. Eadweard Muybridge introduced advances in capturing motion by settling a bet with Leland Stanford in the 1880s. Muybridge placed cameras around a track to prove that the hooves or a horse actually leave the surface of the track.
Visual Perception
Aldous Huxley (1949), author of Brave New World, believe seeing is a process that can be understood in three separate stages: Sensing Selecting Perceiving The more we see the more we know, the more we know the more we see." - Huxley Visual Communication Circle Dance Sense Select Perceive Remember Learn Know
Digital Image: Pixels
Pixels: Picture Elements . A pixel is the smallest part of a digital image. A digital image from a camera, a scanner, or as seen on your monitor is composed of thousands or even millions of pixels. If you have ever seen a ceramic design or image made up of hundreds of tiles (a mosaic), you should get the idea.
Video Games: Pong
Pong is one of the first computer games created. This simple "tennis like" game features two paddles and a ball with a goal to defeat the opponent by being the first one to gain 10 points.
Photography: Camera Obscura
Prior to Niepce's discovery, the world was quite familiar with the affect light had on rendering subjects and objects. Dating even before the time of Aristotle, people understand the concept of the camera obscura or dark chamber. Inside a dark room, a small hole in one wall would allow light to pass through in order to project an image on the opposite wall.
Television: The Culturalist Theory
The culturalist theory, developed in the 1980s and 1990s, combines the other two theories and claims that people interact with media to create their own meanings out of the images and messages they receive. This theory sees audiences as playing an active rather than passive role in relation to mass media
Computer Graphics: Wire Frame
An image is drawn in what is called wireframe mode, as if the object had been assembled as a framework of straight wires.
Television: The class-dominant theory
Argues that the media reflects and projects the view of a minority elite, which controls it. Those people who own and control the corporations that produce media comprise this elite.
Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion
Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion Ethos refers to your credibility. Pathos refers to emotional appeal. Logos refers to using reason. Kairos refers to the opportune moment. People are often more persuaded at different moments in time than others. http://www.florianmueck.com/inspiration/do-it-like-aristotle
Television: Vast Wasteland
As the number of television sets in the U.S. increased, more than 67,000 by 1960 criticism of the medium surfaced. FCC chairman Newton Minow,for instance, claimed that television is nothing but a "vast wasteland."
Typography: Readability and Legibility
Readability and legibility refer to how the reader responds to the text. Using the proper typeface, color, size, and spacing ensures readability. If the copy of the printed material is too light or too dark, then that becomes a matter of legibility.
Three Ways of Describing Color
Color is one of the most important visual cues. OBJECTIVE METHOD Electromagnetic Spectrum: measured in parts per millimeter. Brightness: the relative lightness or darkness of a particular color Temperature: colors have unique temperature - measured SUBJECTIVE METHOD A person's mental state (emotions) Most people associate colors with objects and events. COMPARATIVE METHOD Sky Blue Snow White Forest Green
Cartoons: Comic Books
Comic books are comics that feature multiple pages. Comic books are often self-contained and entail a larger story arc that combines stories over multiple volumes." The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 is the first known American prototype comic book. In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman was introduced: turning comic books into a major industry (Ron Goulart, 2000). The Golden Age of comic books (1930s - 1950s) included Flash Gordon, Fantastic Four and Spiderman.
Typography: Sans Serif
Sans Serif fonts are a "category of typefaces that do not use serifs, small lines at the ends of characters." Sans-serif fonts tend to have less line width variation than serif fonts. In print, sans-serif fonts are used for headlines rather than for body text.
Typography: Script
Script fonts mimic historical or modern handwriting styles that look as if written with different styles of writing instruments from calligraphy pens to ballpoint pens. Typical characteristics of script type are: connected or nearly connected flowing letterforms and slanted, rounded characters. There are two styles of script type: Formal and Informal. A wedding invitation may use a formal script while a poster for an upcoming club meeting might used something more playful and informal.
Computer Graphics: Shading and Color
Shading Techniques: extend the realistic appearance of objects and introduce features such as transparency and textures. Color: Computers typically display color in three components - red, green, and blue. When combined, these three colors make the full-color image seen in the upper left of this image.
Visual Persuasion in Motion Pictures
Desensitizes people to violent or aggressive behavior. Exports western values around the globe. Model behavior (good and bad). Shapes public perceptions by fostering or perpetuating stereotypes. Red is the only color present in the film, "Schnidler's List". It is easy to conclude that Spielberg's decision to colorized the girl's coat was rhetorical and visually persuasive. See more at: https://awakenedashes.wordpress.com/tag/red-coat/
Graphic Design
Graphic design is the application of a set of fundamental principles used in the arts. These principles include balance, proportion, harmony, unity, contrast, emphasis, and rhythm. At the same time, a graphic designer can also be someone who primarily works in layout and design for posters, brochures, advertisements, infographics, and other content.
Color Terminology
HUE is the name of a color SATURATION is the purity or intensity of the color VALUE is the lightness or darkness of the color.
Typography: Leading
Leading refers to the spacing between lines of type. Leading is an important consideration in terms of "readability."
Light
Light is composed up electromagnetic particles or photons. As the smallest elements of radiation from the sun, photons are found within a specific spectrum or range of wavelengths of light. As light enters the eye, these photons are converted to signals in the brain through chemical reactions in an area located at the back of the eye called the retina.
Cartoons: Gag and Single-Panel
Many early gag comics were minimalistic and had great appeal with audience. Paul Fung's 1930 single-panel gag comic is not exception. Word balloons are a critical element in comics and are generally accompanied by a caption beneath the drawing. In recent times, cartoonist's like Gary Larson's Far Side touched many funnybones in America.
Stereotypes: Definition
Stereotypes are generalizations about groups of people. Negatively, a stereotype refers to an oversimplified, overt, overused, and hurtful preconception of someone based on pre-existing ideas, opinions or images. Stereotypes, reinforced by media representations, become "normalized" or taken for granted through repetitive display. Social Psychologists believe stereotypes function in the brain to maintain order to the quantity of visual images processed.
Symbol
Symbols are signs invested with shared and coded meaning - meanings that are learned through conventions such as language, gestures, images, and social experience.
Cartoons: Caricatura
The beginning of cartooning is attributed to an art form called a 'caricatura' or caricature, which were exaggerate drawings of a subject is a drawing that gives weight to the most striking features of its subject for comic effect.
Television: First Public Broadcast
The broadcast features Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover speaking to the president of AT&T.
Visual Persuasion: Bennetton
The clothing manufacturer Bennetton is known for it's use of "shock advertising". In 1992, Bennetton created an advertising campaign that was considered either as brilliant marketing or morally distasteful. The advertisement shows a young man dying of HIV/AIDS with the brand's logo appearing in the bottom right corner. While Bennetton explictly pushes its political opinion on viewers, the question as to whether such "shock" strategies actually work. Research shows that this approach is actually effective, at least in the short term. People are drawn into the sensationalism of the advertisement, but do not retain the political message over time.
CMYK: Complementary Colors
The complimentary colors of RGB are cyan, magenta, and yellow. The CMYK color model (process color, four color) is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMYK_color_model
Design Principles: Harmony
This concept refers to the pleasing arrangement or combination of parts in a composition. It is often seen in a design through the selection of elements that share common traits such as color, values, shape, size or visual variety.
Typography: Tracking
Tracking refers to the uniform or even spacing between all letters on a line. For example, the letters on this line of text a spaced a regular intervals. However, if I wanted to provide the viewer, especially older ones, with a little more pacing between letters I might want to have loose tracking.
Ethnic and Gender Stereotypes
Two primary types of stereotypes: Ethnic and Gender Ethnicity Stereotypes in ethnicity are simplified and often misleading representations of an ethnic group composed of what are thought to be typical characteristics. Gypsies: Swindlers Africans: Live in tribes Indians: Poor, rude Pakistani: Terrorists English: Tea drinkers Gender People organize their knowledge about the world around them by sorting and simplifying received information. Women wear pink, cook the dinner, and are passive and submissive. Men are portrayed as the bread winners, self confident, and rugged.
Visual Metaphors: Figures of Speech
Metaphors are a figure of speech such as "she is the apple of my eye." Recent visual metaphors in the media make a metaphorical association between President Trump's immigration policies and what the statue of liberty stands for in the minds of many Americans.
Television: 1960s
During the 1960s, TV, for the first time brought the Vietnam war into the American living room. In addition, in 1969 a worldwide audience of 720 million watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.
Motion Pictures: Continuity Editing
Most films use an editing style called continuity editing which gives the illusion of flow and logical plot development. With continuity editing there is always a beginning, middle and an end.
Cartoons: Comic Strips
"A comic strip is a series of sequential images arranged in panels, that may or may not use words and symbols to tell a story or part of a story." - Zadnja Petek. Comic strips are still "gag" cartoons but use multiple panels to tell a story. Usually comic strips run in a series and are distributed to newspapers and magazine through syndication or mass publishing.
Cartoons: First major comic strip in America
"The Yellow Kid" by Richard Outcault (1890) The first successful comic strip character. First to demonstrate that a comic strip character could be merchandised profitably. Credited with permanently establishing the comic strip and making it a part of American society.
Video Games: Impact
"The games of today have come to rely more and more on the elements of fiction in their design, and they represent unexplored territory in studying the nature and impact of narrative." $25 billion industry (2011}
Cartoons: History
"The original meaning of "cartoon" comes from the Italian "cartone," meaning "big paper," and referred to a drawing made on paper as a full size study for artwork." -- New World Encyclopedia
Visual Allegories: Definition
An allegory is a complete narrative which involves characters, and events that stand for an abstract idea or an event. Allegories use symbols - objects that stands for another object giving it a particular meaning
Design Principles: Balance
Balance: This concept refers to visual equilibrium, and relates to our physical sense of balance. Good design achieve balance either symmetrically or asymmetrically. Symmetrical balance can be described as having equal "weight" on equal sides of a centrally placed fulcrum. It may also be referred to as formal balance. Asymmetrical balance, also called informal balance. This type of balance is achieved when the design features object
Television: Homes
Before 1947 the number of U.S. homes with television sets could be measured in the thousands. Today, according to Statista, there are more than 583 million TV sets worldwide
Television: Farnsworth
By 1927, Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971) transmitted the first electronic television image on the first complete electronic system -- an innovation which represents the first demonstration of the television to the public
Cartoons: Caricatures
Caricatures are naturalistic yet exaggerated portraits of people. Caricature comes from the family name of the Carracci brothers who lived during the Middle Ages. In modern times caricatures have played an important role in poking fun at celebrities and politicians.
Distorting Cognitive Illusions
Characterized by distortions of size, length, position or curvature. The Müller-Lyer illusion is an optical illusion consisting of a stylized arrow.
Composition
Composition refers to the arrangement of visual elements on a page. The placement of these elements is critical to the success of the product. Graphic design begins with composition or the thoughtful, persuasive and compelling arrangement of elements that seek to attract and hold the audience's attention.
Computer Graphics: Definition
Computer graphics refers to images on computers that are not text or sound.
Motion Pictures: Contemporary Era
Contemporary Period (1980 - Present) "In the 1970s and 1980s, multinational corporations bought and merged many movie studios, ending the period of artistic experimentation in Hollywood. The industry has returned to financial success and global dominance through the development of blockbuster franchises, large-scale marketing campaigns, and content aimed at children. It also has placed increasing emphasis on spectacular special effects in order to draw audiences into movie theaters. The emergence of affordable digital video cameras and the growth of the film festival circuit have expanded the possibilities for independent filmmakers around the world to produce, distribute, and exhibit films."
Motion Pictures: Editing Styles
Continuity (most common) and montage (dramatic)
Design Principles: Contrast
Contrast: The use of elements to create a tension through abrupt transition. For example, a design that uses high and low values can have contrast.
Cartoons: Editorial
Editorial Cartoons work within an ideological frame, are contextual, timely and critical by design. Cartoons are used to disseminate ideas to illiterate populations as well as communicate a social message relating to current events or personalities. Historical Perspective: Martin Luther produced political or editorial cartoons in the 1500s to protest the actions of the Catholic church. Thomas Nast 19th century's political cartoon "Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey" helped to popularize the parties. The first political cartoon in the United States was printed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754.
Motion Pictures: Zoetrope
English inventor William George Horner created a device in 1834 that gave the illusion of a moving picture by spacing images within a spinning drum called the Zoetrope. As the images were flipped at this rate, the viewer was treated to a new visual experience --- the sensation of time. Motion pictures are a time-based medium unlike sill photography or painting.
Ethics: Decision Making
Ethical decision-making "aims to help us determine what is the right or better thing to do in particular situations" (McKinnon).
Ethics: Definition
Ethics are a set of values or principles held by individuals or groups. Some definitions state ethics as: A system of moral principles and rules that becomes standards for professional conduct. Conforming to the accepted professional standards of conduct.
Television: FCC
Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation et al, 438 U.S. 726 (1978) rules that George Carlin's "words you couldn't say on the public airwaves" are indecent. 98% of U.S. households own at least one television.
Cartoons: Characteristics
Found Everywhere. Satirical, humorous and non-realistic Oldest form of art. Simple two-dimensional drawings Condense meaning through metaphor, allusion, and metonymy.
Cartoons: Editorial Characteristics
Found in most newspapers: Depict a wide range of political, religious, and social viewpoints. Also, they are often controversial. Visual metaphors and caricatures help explain complicated political situations. Sum up current events with humor and emotional appeal. Invoke nationalist sentiment. Viewed as a narrative form. Described as "speaking pictures."
Cartoons: Characteristics of Humorous Cartoons
Funny Must have a punchline. Drawings that tell a story. Simplistic One-dimensional
Gestalt Theory
GESTALT Theory suggests Human perception is the result of all your sensory organs gathering. Information received by the brain is organized in patterns, selectively combine elements into a collective grouping. The core idea behind Gestalt theory is the Whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There are six Gestalt Principles" Figure/Ground Proximity Similarity Continuation Common Fate Closure
Illusions
Illusions arise from misinterpretation by the brain of sensory information. There are two major classifications of optical illusions: Physiological Illusions: Rely on the physical way our eyes are constructed and are called grid or simultaneous contrast. Cognitive illusions These occur because of unconscious interferences that our minds make while looking at objects. The brain cannot see both images at once - it takes a conscious decision to select the image. There are three kinds of Cognitive illusions: Ambiguous Distorting Paradox
Visual Metaphors: Emotions
Images can illustrate conceptual relationships between emotions on a prelinguistic level in that they combine several emotion metaphors into a complex metaphorical image. What are emotion metaphors? Fear Anger Sadness Joy Love The Tears of Joy emoji was named Word of the Year in 2015.
Photography: First Photograph
In 1825, French inventor Joseph Niepce experimented and eventually successfully found a way to fix a photographic image. Niepce's first exposure proved that science and art would change the way we would see the world forever. Due to the technical issues the Niepce exposure had to last for eight hours, so the sun in the picture had time to move from east to west, appearing to shine on both sides of the building in the picture.
Motion Pictures: Kinescope
In 1891, Thomas Edison invented the first movie projector called the Kinoscope.
Television: Vladimir Zworykin
In 1923, while working for Westinghouse, Russian inventor Vladimir Zworykin, patented a television transmission tube called the iconoscope. A year later, Zworykin invented the kinescope, a receiver tube.
Motion Pictures: Snow White
In 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated musical feature, premiered. The film cost $1,499,000 to produce.
Computer Graphics: Fetter
In 1960, William Fetter of Boeing coins the term "computer graphics" for his human factors cockpit drawings
Television: Walter Cronkite
In 1963, CBS's Walter Cronkite reports the death of President Kennedy and the live on-camera assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby
First Digital Image in National Geographic
In 1969, National Geographic photographer Emory Kristof was the first to use an electronic camera while photographing life at the bottom of the ocean in a miniature submarine. Kristof worked closely with television engineers at RCA to develop what is considered the first use of a charge coupled device (CCD) in photojournalism.
First Digital Personal Camera
In 1981, Sony heralded its Mavica non-film electronic camera as the "camera of tomorrow." During the 1980s digital imaging technology became an increasingly pervasive force in news operations.
Cartoons: Controversy
In 2005, a series of editorial cartoons published in a Danish newspaper negatively depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad sparked worldwide protests and violence. More recently, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked by Islamic extremists for publishing racially- charged satirical cartoons. A dozen employees of the magazine were killed in the attack.
Motion Pictures: Luminere Brothers
In France, the Luminere Brothers, owners of a photographic film plate factory, produced "Workers Leaving the Factory", a film considered to be the world's first motion picture. Despite the technological advances in capturing motion, the issue of sound remained unresolved for several decades. Nevertheless, by the turn of the 20th century the Silent Film Era had begun.
Visual Persuasion: Advertising
In advertising, visual messages are persuasive when they are designed to change a person's mind or promote a desired behavior. Persuasive messages create lasting impressions, deliver content more rapidly and help people retain information longer.Pictures, in other words, stand in for the things we most desire. http://www.misssocialnetwork.com/blogs/miss-social-network-gives-back/284/
Television: Cultivation Theory
In the 1970s, theorist George Gerbner developed an approach that would help people understand the impact of viewing violence on television. For Davies. "Heavy viewers of TV are thought to be 'cultivating' attitudes that seem to believe that the world created by television is an accurate depiction of the real world. The theory suggests that prolonged watching of television can tend to induce a certain paradigm about violence in the world
Motion Pictures: Sergei Eisenstein and Montage Editing
In the early 1920s, however, Russian filmmakers introduced the technique of montage editing to the medium. According to the Elements of Cinema, "By definition, a montage is "a single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing or superimposing many pictures or designs." In filmmaking, a montage is an editing technique in which shots are juxtaposed in an often fast-paced fashion that compresses time and conveys a lot of information in a relatively short period." Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film "The Battleship Potekim" uses montage editing to dramatize a 1905 Russian mutiny.
The Meaning of Visual Messages
J. Anthony Blair observes, visual messages are more efficient than words because visual expression evokes emotions with greater force and immediacy. Visual Messages can be produce meanings that are literal in one sense and symbolic in other ways. Literal Meanings: factual, plain, simple, exact, straightforward; unembellished, undistorted; objective, correct, true, accurate, genuine, authentic. Symbolic Meanings: figurative, representative, illustrative, emblematic, metaphorical, allegorical, allusive, suggestive; meaningful, significant.
Cartoons: Anime and Manga
Japanese cartoons can be described as manga (cartoons in print) and anime (animation).
Typography: Blackletter
Johann Gutenberg and his famous Gutenberg Bible first introduced Black Letter fonts, (1455), but it was until the 1600s that designers began to develop new styles. Black letter is characterized by its heavy angular condensed typeface used especially by the earliest European printers and based on handwriting used chiefly in the 13th to 15th centuries. Today the masthead of the New York Times or the Detroit Tigers' logo are examples of Blackletter. This style appears Venerable, Distinguished, Credible, Historical.
Typography: Novelty
Novelty fonts, according to Designmodo, have characteristics that do not fit into one of the categories described above. Novelty fonts can be fun and interesting to look at. They tend to create a definitive mood based on the look of characters in the type set. Novelty fonts are best used for only a few words and for a certain, very well-defined purpose.
Computer Graphics: Techniques
Object Rending: The process of showing how a set of geometric objects can be displayed, or rendered, on the computer.
Television: Ed Sullivan
One of the more popular programs at this time was The Ed Sullivan Show, which premiered in 1948 on CBS and TV's longest-running variety show. The premiered in the U. S. on the show in the early 1960s.
Motion Pictures: DW Griffiths
One of the most influential silent films of the times was D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" in 1915. The film was controversial, although a commercial success, for its revisionist depiction of the "Confederacy" and the Klu Klux Klan.
Cartoons: Looney Tunes
One of the most innovative creator of TV animations was Chuck Jones of Warner Bros. Throughout the late 1930s, 40s and 50s, Jones created some of the most memorable characters such as Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. For more than 60 years Jones made more than 300 animated films and won three Oscars.
Cartoons: Peanuts
One of the world's most popular comic strips, Peanuts was created by Charles M. Schulz and first appeared in 1950. According to Wiki references: 17,897 strips published in all. Longest story ever told by one human being". Ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries. Translated into 21 languages.
Paradox Illusions
Paradoxical illusions are generated by objects that are paradoxical or impossible to view from a logical sense. The Penrose triangle and the art of MC Escher are examples.
Saccades
People process visual information by fixating or focusing on one location for a moment and then move on to another location. This is consistent with the physiology of the human eye, which is design to scan the environment for dangers or pleasures. The eye moves in saccadic rhythms around a scene. A saccade refers to the actual eye movement.
Ambiguous Illusions
Perceptual input that appears similar can lead to very different representations. The Necker cube is the most famous of many depth-ambiguous, figures. (When presented with no background it changes in shape with each reversal, the apparent back being larger than the apparent front face.) (b) Necker rhomboid. This is the original form, presented by L. A. Necker in 1832.
Photography: Invention
Photography was invented as an extension of the intellectual movement called positivism - a 19th century philosophical system that believes every reasonable and justifiable assertion can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof.
Physiological illusions
Physiological illusions such as after images are presumed to be the effects on the eyes or brain of excessive stimulation or interaction with contextual or competing stimuli of a specific type—brightness, color, position, tile, size, movement, etc.
Typography: Picas
Picas are used to measure the length of a line of types. There are 6 picas in 1 inch.
Primary Colors
Red, green and blue make up the primary colors visible light spectrum in terms of how our eyes respond to light. From these three color all other colors are comprised. When mixed in equal parts, red, green and blue (RGB) produce white. Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colors, red, green and blue. The main purpose of the RGB color model is for the sensing, representation and display of images in electronic systems, such as televisions and computers, though it has also been used in conventional photography. Before the electronic age, the RGB color model already had a solid theory behind it, based in human perception of colors.
Motion Pictures: Studio System
Refers to control over the motion picture industry by several major studios covering everything from production, casting, and distribution of film.
Design Principles: Emphasis
Refers to the creation of dominant and subordinant elements in a composition. According to Donna Tersisky emphasis "creates a focal point in a design; it is how we bring attention to what is most important. Emphasis is what catches the eye and makes the viewer stop and look at the image. Without emphasis, without getting the viewer to look at the image, communication cannot occur."
Design Principles: Proportion
Refers to the relationship of two or more elements in a design and how they compare with one another. Proportion is said to be harmonious when a correct or desirable relationship exists between the elements with respect to size, color, quantity, degree, or setting. Good proportion adds harmony, symmetry, or balance among the parts of a design
Typography: Slab Serif
Slab Serif fonts are characterized by thick, block-like serifs. Serif terminals may be either blunt and angular or rounded. Slab serif typefaces generally have no bracket (feature connecting the strokes to the serifs). They are most commonly used in large headlines and advertisements but are seldom used in body text.
Chiaroscuro
The Chiaroscuro is a technique emphasizes light and dark. The aesthetics of photography can be traced back to the great master painters of the Renaissance such as Botacelli, Caravaggio, and Vermeer. These artists revolutionized art in how light was rendered so realistically. In a style called Chiaroscuro (light and dark), the central figures were emphasized in relationship to the background through contrast. Using the Chiaroscuro technique the background is always clear and usually dark.
Motion Pictures: Classical Period (1930 - 1948)
The Classical Hollywood era is considered the golden age of cinema, with its elaborate productions, musicals, and full-scale epics. Moreover, "Classical Hollywood is characterized by a set of norms, with most Hollywood films exhibiting an "unstable equilibrium" of these norms. These norms concern the use of particular technical devices (three-point lighting, continuity editing, framing, musical scores, etc.) to establish three main interrelated systems: narrative logic (causality), cinematic time, and cinematic space. The narrative logic of classical Hollywood treats film narration much like literary narration, with a plot centered around the psychological motivation of the characters and their struggle towards a goal. The "Classical Hollywood" approach to narrative and visual storytelling would become the most powerful and pervasive style of film-making worldwide." Humphrey Bogart pictured here.
Motion Pictures: Golden Age of Cinema
The Golden Age of cinema peaked in 1947 with more than 4.5 million people turning out to watch movies. Of course, the major downturn for movie attendance coincided with the advent of television in the early 1950s.
Motion Pictures: Synchronous Sound
The Jazz Singer 1927 and Walt Disney's 1928 animated cartoon "Steamboat Willie" were the first successful innovations in synchronized sound ending the Silent Film Era.
Motion Pictures: Film Eras
The Silent Film Era (1895-1929) The Classical Period (1930-1945) The Postwar Period (1946-1959) The Transitional Period (1960- 1979) The Contemporary Period (1980-Present)
Motion Pictures: Silent Film Era
The Silent Film Era (1895-1929) The early silent films were larger-than-life productions with actors over dramatizing roles to compensate for the lack of dialog. Facial expressions and body movements were important.
Television: First Program
The first broadcast of a television program, was transmitted on station WGY-TV in Schenectady, NY. The broadcast, 40-minute stage production of The Queen's Messenger, was sent to only 4 television sets.
Cartoons: Television
The first major animation studio to produce cartoons especially for television was Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1957. "Animation on television focused almost exclusively on children, to the point where Saturday morning TV broadcasts on the TV networks were aimed primarily at kids. The tradition of getting up early to watch Saturday morning cartoons became a weekly ritual for millions of American kids, and the networks were glad to oblige by providing hours-long blocks of cartoon shows, most of which were crudely written and poorly animated" (Steve Nyman, 200*.
Digital Photography
The history of the digital camera can be traced to NASA in the 1960s and the development of video tape recording and government surveillance systems. Beginning in the 1960s the U.S. space program began enhancing images transmitted back to earth from unmanned probes.
How the human eye and attention span
The human eye contains 107 million cells, which are sensitive to light. People have greater attention span when viewing color images (2+seconds) as compared to a black and white image (2/3 second
Television: Limited Effects Theory
The limited effects theory argues that because people generally choose what to watch or read based on what they already believe, media exerts a negligible influence. How media frames the debate and what questions members of the media ask change the outcome of the discussion and the possible conclusions people may draw.
Cartoons: The Simpsons
The longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American animated program. Named as the 20th century's best television series. The series is a satirical depiction of working-class life epitomized by a middle class American family.
Television: RCA
The major player in creating a commercial-consumer driving medium began with RCA in the late 1920s and was soon followed by CBS and NBC. Once a market for selling products over the air was established programming began.
Photography: Social Function
The photographic image has taught us about our world, from political upheaval, the natural world, to places we might never see in our lifetime such as the moon or mars. The Function of Photography in Society Historical Evidence Scientific Documentation Memory and Learning Entertainment Education Journalism Personal Enrichment
Typography
The style, arrangement, or appearance of printed letters on a page used in the production written material in print or the web. "The term type includes the design and function of alphabetic symbols to represent language," Woolman notes.
Motion Pictures: Cinematography
The term cinematography, taken from Greek meaning Kinema (movement) and Graphein (to record) refers to the science of motion picture photography. Cinematography involves both the shooting and development of the film. Further, cinematography is considered an art form as well as technical discipline.
Cartoons: Humorous
The term humorous cartoon are to found in various forms such as single-panel as well as multi-panel "gag" cartoons, comic strips, comic books, and animated cartoons. The key to this type of cartoon is that it must be funny. The definition of a cartoon is a funny drawing or sketch in a newspaper or magazine or an animated movie or television show.
Photography: Light Writing
The word photography drives from two Greek terms photo or Light and graph or writing. Today photography is a science, art, and a craft.
Cartoons: Animation
The world's first animated cartoon was created by in 1908. Fantasmagorie is a black-and-white short film made up of 700 drawings. The earliest animations got their beginnings as flip-books or on wheels called Zoetropes that could rotate and reveal moving action. In the 1920s animated cartoons were shown as shorts prior to the start of the main feature in many movie houses. Studios such as Disney, RKO, Columbia, MGM all started producing animated cartoons. Here are some major innovations by Walt Disney in the 1920s and 1930s. 1928: Steamboat Willie, starring Mickey Mouse was introduced along with the first synchronized sound. 1932: The first animated film in color was also produced by Disney. Flowers and Trees was the first to use the Technicolor system. 1937: Snow White and Seven Dwarves was the first full-length animated film.
Motion Pictures: Silent Film Stars
These were the days when many stars from vaudeville such as Charlie Chaplain and Mary Pickford found their way onto a movie set. In 1903, in a rush to capitalize on the new media, Thomas Edison created the first movie studio and it only took a few years for other studios to open on the East Coast.
Typography: Type Font
There are nearly 80,000 fonts in use today. A font refers to a particular kind of style within the different categories. For example. Times Roman is a font based on the serif style.
Television: Impact
There is probably no other communication medium in history that had such a profound impact on American society than television.
Cartoons: Types
These are the three main types: Editorial; Humorous; and Caricatures Comics (Gag) Single-Panel Comic Strips (Multi-Panel) Comic Books Graphic Novels Television Animation Animation Film Japanese Manga and Anime
Typography: Point Size
Type is measured in points not inches. 1 point is equal to 0.0138889 of an inch. There are 72 points in an inch. Common body or text copy sizes in print range between 8 - 12 points in the media. Common headers or display type sizes range between 18 - 36 points. The example to the right uses an extreme type size for emphasis.
Design Principles: Unity
Unity: Refers to an underlying principle of a visual design -- one contributes to the consistency among the parts of a unified whole. Unity works through the use of color, schemes, typography, visual weights, and visual hierarchy, which are in sync with the design's purpose. Unity creates an integrated image in which all the elements are working together to support the design as a whole. A unified design is greater than the sum of its parts; the design is seen as a whole first, before the individual elements are noticed . Unity can be compared to harmony, integrity or wholeness.
Visual Metaphors: Moral Reasoning
Video games like other forms of popular entertainment serve an important function in social-moral reasoning (Fahlenback 2010).
Visual Persuasion: Shock Advertising
Visual messages designed to sell products or change behavior are based on factual information that people understand. At the same time, some advertisers use controversial or unusual images to attract attention and generate media.
Visual Persuasion: Mimesis
Visual messages in advertising are a major force in generating "mimetic desire", which suggests a constructed reality that mirrors the things we hope for such as wealth, beauty or success. Human desire is, by and large, mediated desire. Girard calls this "mimetic desire" after the Greek word "mimesis. This image shows a parade of Native Americans wearing totems. See more about the Golden Potlatch image at: https://fillip.ca/content/the-golden-potlatch-study-in-mimesis-and-capitalist-desire
Visual Propaganda
Visual propaganda uses one-sided and often non-factual information or opinions that appear to be facts, along with emotional appeals, to change a person's mind and promote a desired behavior. Visual propaganda is used to: Symbolize an ideal Appeal to emotions To vilify an adversary Self-aggrandizement Send coded messages
Motion Pictures: Walt Disney
Walt Disney is often viewed as one of the three most influential people who helped define reality in the 20th Century, next to Einstein and Freud. For nearly 50 years, Disney's comics, characters, films, music, animation, and television programs have been synonymous with American culture. More than 240 million people have seen a Disney film between 1925 to 1993.
Typography: Serif
You can identify a serif typeface by the small extensions or brackets attached to the stroke of the letter. Serif fonts are distinguished by small decorative flourishes at the ends of the strokes in the left character. "Serif fonts are usually easier to read in printed works than sans-serif fonts.This is because the serif make the individual letters more distinctive and easier for our brains to recognize quickly. Without the serif, the brain has to spend longer identifying the letter because the shape is less distinctive." - Scribe Consulting