Unplug!

It's done! Yay!

For our video, we wanted to capture Nicholas Carr's worst nightmare. To us, that worst nightmare came in the form of a communication breakdown (insert Led Zeppelin song here) as a result of technology. I've been in the situation many times before- you say one thing or someone says something to you, and the meaning is completely lost because it wasn't said out loud. We as real, live humans don't always realize how much we depend on emphasis, body language, inflections, and tones to extract meaning from face to face interactions. I think we did a pretty good job in highlighting this and turning it into a situation anyone could find themselves in.

Filming the video was a little complicated but not in the traditional sense. We had to record many different takes to ensure correct audio levels and to guarantee a good performance. The only issues we ran into were some lighting problems and the floors of our "set" were quite squeaky (this caused a couple re-shoots). Overall, however, productions was pretty easy. We all shared the same vision and I think it translated quite well to screen.

Source

Alcohol Free Mouthwash.. also Environmental Imagery.

The Prius, as we all know, is a hybrid car with a rather crunchy reputation. Since its introduction, almost all of the print and video advertisements for the Pruis have contained some kind of environmental imagery. Some have been quite thought provoking, such as the "Killing Animals for Oil" print ads released in 2008.

Source

Most recently, Toyota released a Prius ad featuring a person made of people:

Nothing about this is ok. Source

The advertisement I chose was a Toyota Prius ad from 2007. The ad, while beautiful, takes the viewer for a somewhat nauseating, sea-sickness inducing trip through what appears to be the natural construction and deconstruction of the car.

Thesis:

Buying and driving a Toyota Prius is good for the environment. Also, Toyota is an environmentally friendly brand because it produces the Prius.

Five Facts:

1) People can make cars out of sticks and other natural materials

2) Hybrid cars are better for the environment

3) Hybrid cars decompose easily (biodegradable)

4) Toyota is an environmentally friendly car manufacturer

5) Supporting Toyota will make you a supporter of the environment

Triune Brain:

Limbic: music appeals to and is processed, the video as a whole appeals because it is a series of images that we work through to understand.

Neocortex: we read the text presented, we are constantly thinking about where the ad is, who the people are that are building the car, and if this actually happened.

8 Trends/ Shifts:

Epistemological Shift: There is little to no text in the entire ad. The video relies entirely on imagery.

Cultural Shift: The commercial reflects a shift from gas guzzling power trucks to "Green" hybrids. This is also an aesthetic shift.

Economic shift: Nothing in the advertisement looks outwardly expensive. The car is made of sticks, which says to the viewer that the car is simple. This suggests that the car is not expensive to buy and to maintain and, to quote the ad, "Why Not?"

Technological shift: The ad may be viewed by many on the computer or on a mobile phone.

Principles:

Production techniques: spinning of camera, location, lighting, and casting all work to create an advertisement that makes the ad seem more like a short film than someone trying to sell you something. The pacing of the advertisement is quick yet calm at the same time. It appears to make use of stop motion, which gives the impression of a very "artsy" advertisement.

Value Messages: The folks at Toyota are trying to put across a message of environmental friendliness and green business practices as a way to make you feel good about your purchase.

Emotional Transfer: This advertisement makes you feel peaceful and calm unlike many other car ads, which often feature fast music, loud cars, and attractive people. The imagery also gives off a very peaceful atmosphere.

Persuasive Techniques:

Symbols: The Toyota symbol and catch phrase. The viewer connects the environmental imagery in the advertisement with the Toyota symbol.

Big Lie: Persuading someone to buy a new car because this new car is better for the environment than whatever they are driving now. It would be worse for the environment to scrap their old one and make a new purchase because of the energy and materials that go into car production and hybrid motor/battery production.

Simple Solutions: buy a new car, support a company that refers to itself as green and you will save the world from environmental distaster. Yay!

Rigatoni.. I mean Media Memoir

Growing up, the only bit of media consumption that I can remember my family (including myself) actually doing was watching television. More specifically, movies or shows. My earliest memory with media that I distinctly recall is watching Barney videotapes at home and running upstairs to my room when one of the characters told me to "get my Barney toy out!". Now that I think more about it, I'm pretty sure I had at least three or four Barney videotapes and at least one Barney music casette. One of the videos was "Barney in Concert". My nana still has it, actually. I'm pretty sure she used it to brainwash my seven year old brother into submission at one point.

It hurts, doesn't it?

We watched movies every friday night as a family. My father and I had a routine- we would go pick up a pizza and in the car I would ask him if we could get a "v-i-d-e-o". Yes, I spelled it out. No, I don't know why. I was a strange kid. Observe:

This was the first day of third grade for me and the first day of kindergarten for my sister. I'm on the right. At least I had cool keychains.

Anyways.. There was something very wonderful about our friday night movies. The more I think about it, however, the more I wonder about why we chose movies to be the medium of choice for family bonding. I never quite understood that. My guess is that convenience could be one. Why get out a board game or cards or something along those lines and make another mess to clean up when we could press a button on the VCR? Also, if there was something that got my sister and I (brother hadn't arrived yet) to stop arguing over stuffed animals and be quiet for an hour and a half, my parents were so there.

The second medium that I can think of is the newspaper. I know it sounds lame, but the newspaper was always present at our table on sunday mornings. I was in love with the comic pages. More specifically, Slylock Fox. It's a puzzle-ish, brain teaser-ish, really confusing crime solving blurb in the kid's section. I felt so important solving those problems! They didn't make any sense and I never really understood why upstanding citizens such as Harry M. Moose kept leaving his chickens out and why Slylock Fox was always the one who had to find them. Needless to say, I owned it. Every. Single. Week.

I used to play a game with my parents those mornings. As they read, they always held the paper infront of their faces like shields. I was often confused by this, as it seemed like such a strange thing to do. I would, with the stealthiness of a ninja, sneak up on them (really I was reaching across the table awkwardly not trying to knock any juice over) and use my fingers to flick their newspapers. BAM! They would huff and puff and I would laugh hysterically. Like I said before. Strange kid.

Whole Kernel Corn

Yeah, I decided to name this post and future posts after the first thing I see after looking up from my screen. In this case, it is a can of whole kernel corn. Yum.

My name is Kristen and I'm from Rhode Island. More specifically, a village/annex called Greene. When most people think of RI, they think of the ocean and don't realize it actually has a lot of forested area. We are mainly famous for clamcakes, chowder, Del's lemonade, and this guy:

The Dancing Traffic Cop in Providence.

The part of RI I am from is pretty much woods, some farms, and a few cows for good measure. I grew up in a house in the woods and, truth be told, am not sure if I ever left. My favorite thing to do it just explore. It makes me feel like a five year old, but it's the truth.

During the summer, I work at a zoo in RI as a counselor at an environmental day camp. It's the greatest job in the world, I feel. This is why:

Me in a hot dog suit last summer -while working, I may add.

I get to dress up like a hot dog and dance around sometimes. In all seriousness, though, working there the past three years has helped me choose a career path in environmental education. I've become extremely passionate about EE. I love animals, I love the outdoors, and I believe that teaching others how to respect and cherish them will ensure a much greener future.