Jake Apostoles Blog #5

The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words.” is put to use in the genre of visual analysis. A picture can provide deep meaning to some individuals and mean something completely different to someone from a different viewpoint. The painting of an eggshell split in half with the sun in between was created by surrealist painter Vladimir Kush. The painting takes the classic style of egg cooking, called sunny side up, into the world of surrealism. The egg is incredibly large, the height of many humans at its most wide, and is split straight down the middle. The egg sits on a beach with an ocean behind it. The suns placement and appearance infer that the painting is made to capture the time period of sunrise, so the painting is facing east if the rules of the earth still apply in this surrealist world. The sun sits right above the water, making the rays of light stretch and reflect in the style that is described as god’s fingers in Homer’s The Odyssey. The egg itself is so large that it must hold an animal that is the size of a building even at birth. This animal could grow to be even bigger, so it may terrorize the people depicted in the painting like Godzilla. The people shown in the painting are on scaffolding working on the eggshell, possibly inspecting or repairing the egg. A single person can be seen walking away from the water that comes in between the eggshells like the runny yolk that comes when you cook an egg sunny side up. The man is walking away from some sort of old fashioned canoe, which appears to be filled with water. The man is not clothed, so the civilization that he is a member of may not be very advanced, or have a belief that clothing is necessary.

Vickie York Blog 5

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl5fM24mfRk

Directors use many different ways to manipulate their audience. Camera angles, lighting, and music can trick an audience into thinking one thing is going to happen when, in reality, something unexpected happens. These concepts keeps people waiting on the edge of their seats in anticipation.

In the ending scene of Silence of the Lambs, directed by Jonathan Demme, Clarice Starling is wondering around Buffalo Bill’s house. The killer, Bill, has cut off all the power. The house is pitch black and Clarice can’t see her hand right in front of her face. The scene switches from Bill to a third person’s point of view looking at him head on. Bill is looking through night vision goggles and can see Clarice’s every move. She has one hand stretched out in front of her and the other hand is holding a gun. As Bill is coming close and closer to Clarice, he reaches out his arm. He is clearly close enough to grab her or cover her mouth but he doesn’t. If he had the perfect opportunity to catch her while she was the most vulnerable, why didn’t he? Why wouldn’t he grab her while he was ahead?

Caitlin Rudy Blog 5

http://www.wdwradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Dream-Team-Mickey-Painting-Final1-e1317243325307.jpg

I chose this visual because first off I love Disney World and all things Disney. Disney World is such a happy place and I knew that a visual involving Disney would be something I could write about and easily interpret its meaning. This painting has both Mickey Mouse and Cinderella's Castle which are the center points of Disney making the meaning to be easily understood by all.

Carol Royston blog 5

            Hikari Shimoda is a famous Japanese artist who published a collection of paintings called After the Quake in 2002. The purpose of the series After the Quake was for viewers of the paintings to understand the way Japan’s people were affected by the of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. “Secret” is one of the paintings in this series. It’s a picture of an innocent baby that has mushrooms coming out of its skull and looks injured and scared. 

            The baby of this picture seems like it was very badly harmed in the earthquake. I think the baby had a brain injury because she has mushrooms on the top of her head, almost where her brain would be located. I think the mushrooms symbolize the fact that she is brain dead. Mushrooms decompose dead material, so I Hikari was using mushrooms to symbolize that her brain is not working anymore and the baby is brain dead.

            I find the eyes of this baby very creepy. Her eyes aren’t all the way open and seem tired. This also supports the idea that the baby is scared and defeated. Around her eyes has brown bags that form when someone is tired or sick. I think this baby has been through the ringer after the quake and almost doesn’t have and hope left.

Maria Elisa Vollmer - Blog 5

     I chose a short film named “Black Button” by Dark Heart Productions. In the film, a Mr. Roberts finds himself in an all-white room with only a well-dressed man sitting on a desk and a black button.  He now has to face a difficult decision: press the button, which will result in someone’s death, and get 10 million dollars or don’t press the button and leave the room without the money.

    The reason why I picked this short film is because its religious connotation caught my attention. The film leaves a very powerful message about temptation and how determining it is; as it was for Adam and Eve. I found this particular film very interesting to analyze because of the message it is trying to send across. 

http://vimeo.com/41758971

Renae Slough-Blog 5

When I viewed the image in detail, my perception of it changed. I noticed that the instruments were shaped just like the head of an elephant. The bulk of the instrument represented the elephants face. In addition, the horn of the instrument represented the elephants’ trunk. There was even a part of the instrument that looked like one of the elephants’ tusks. This visual is trying to accomplish the idea that different objects can look like other things when angled and set up a certain way. This image is successful in accomplishing its goal because I was able to see that the instrument looked like the head of an elephant. It is also clever because the sound the instrument makes sounds a great deal like the sound an elephant makes. The elephant makes it sound by its trunk and the instrument makes it sound through the horn, which is representing the elephants’ tusk. I did not like this image at first because I did not understand it. However, once I took a closer look at it I really enjoyed it. I appreciated the creativity that went behind the image and how well the instrument represented the elephant. I even liked how the plants and the deer’s horns were also musical instruments. Along with the clouds appearing as notes, I did not notice these aspects of the image until much longer after observing the elephant. 

Emily Niehoff - Blog 5

The way videos and film are created presently, a drive to create an emotional attachment seem to be imperative. The camera angle, sound, music (or lack thereof), lighting and so forth create the kind of mood and tone that the producers and directors desire in order to get a particular feeling across to their audience. In this clip from the film Prisoners, directed by Dennis Villeneuve, the sound of rain in addition to the eerie lighting are some of the ways a scary and psychologically intimidating feeling is created. The way the director decided to position the camera so that much of the faces are blackout out or barely unrecognizable leads to even more intense and frightening emotions. Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance is amazing because his facial expressions, which are hidden mostly due to the rain and darkness, portray immense frustration and disappointment. This further intensifies the feeling of nervousness and tension from all sides of the situation. Finally the look from Paul Dano who plays Alex is the strangest and most disturbing point in the clip and the audience is immediately taken in by his innocent yet awkward looking stare he give the cops. Overall, this clip displays uses of intense sound, lighting, camera angles, and actor performances that lead to a scene that is simultaneously eerie as well as captivating. This clip is successful because of its attention to detail and its inviting yet disturbing nature.