Luke Walker

lomographicsociety: Interview with Boey, the Artist Who Draws...

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:33:19 -0500

Interview with Boey, the Artist Who Draws on Foam Coffee Cups!

Every morning we take a cup of coffee and leave it there forgotten, without paying much attention to it. But there is someone who sees in them much more than a drink. That is Boey, a Malaysian artist that uses foam coffee cups as a canvas for his amazing drawings.

Successes & failures in On Screen Graphics

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:49:00 -0400

Throughout this blog entry I will be discussing the opportunities & limitations in on screen graphics & how this affects such factors as: how the public identify a company, how the company appeals to a target audience & how the company maintains the right image etc. These points are key for making a company survives in the media industry, as they create a corporate/brand identity for people to recognize them by. Corporate identity is usually seen in 3 parts:

Corporate Design

Corporate Communication

Corporate Behavior

Each part will be explained & supported with examples to show that they address an audience directly, & continue to keep them interested.

Corporate design is the first part. What fall under this are all the logos, Fonts & visual themes a company uses to make it stand out from the rest. The starting point for any company would be to design a logo to be advertised to the public. This is so the public becomes well know with the graphic, linking the logo to the company every time they see it. For a TV channel this logo would be shown within an ident.

A suitable example of this would be from channel 4. They originally designed a logo that represented the number 4. This was done in 1982 & has been the backbone to near enough every ident since. The time that it was created made it look very modernized, making it instantly noticeable from the public’s eye -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R86_TLuI51w

This ident was purely visual based. I think this was to emphasize the futuristic element it had about, making it cutting edge for the year in which it was released. Channel 4 at this time was also a terrestrial channel, meaning no digital channels were on air. It involved all the information you needed to know at the time as there were on 4 main television channels.

With there being a larger range of channels in our present day, some idents have to give a little more on screen information than they use too. Some need to have an area of text-based information added. This is to ensure they attract the right target audience & don’t mislead an audience into thinking they broadcast different content.

The channel, DAVE, is a standard example of this -

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

In September 2007, UKTV Gold2 announced they would be re-packaging & renaming their channel to DAVE. UKTV admitted the name was a reference to the Red Dwarf Character, Dave Lister. This is due to the channel broadcasting a mass amount of Red Dwarf content.

Now named DAVE, it would be very simple for a viewer to mis-read this channel logo, mistaking it for somebody’s name etc. In order for people to take notice of this logo, the producers had to add a unique twist. By adding the phrase ‘The home of witty banter’ underneath the word ‘DAVE’ was crucial move they had to make, to make sure they drawn in the right audience. This was helped by making the channel available free to air on Freeview which is now installed on all new TV’s since the digital switchover, so making clear what content you broadcast is important as literally anyone who owns a TV can view this channel. The phrase ’The home of witty banter’ instantly gives the hint that the channel involves a great deal of comedy & the channel name, suggests that the content is aimed more towards males than females.

The key opportunity for an ident is to appeal to the right target audience. This is so the ident can attract an audience who are keen on the content that channel broadcasts & keep them entertained. If the idents don’t reflect the content that channel provides then people will get the wrong impression, essentially loosing part of the audience. The channel will appeal to an audience by adding such content as the hobbies & habits the target audience prefer etc. It could also use programs shown on that channel as an advantage, appealing to the audience of the programme & not the channel.

This is to make it easy for people to relate to the content, keeping them alerted & eager to view more.

BBC2 work well at addressing the audience through hobbies & habits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igS6sY7bNxk

This famous BBC2 tent ident is a prime example of this.

With the BBC being the only provider of content from such festivals as Glastonbury & Leeds/Reading, they are appealing to an audience that is already loyal to them. With them providing this unique service, people are already aware of this & tune it for this content. The idea of the ident is to appeal to festival go-ers but also remind the viewer that they are the only supplier of this unique content.

Brand Loyalty is a major concern for Television channels. If an audience is loyal to the content this channel provides then they will see what’s being broadcast here first, before any other channel. This act is the reaction of the incitement of brand loyalty. To this day, idents play a huge role in keeping an audience loyal to the channel/content. A strong TV ident should appeal to the target audience, with the tone of the content & the content itself relating to these people.

Idents needs to be displayed on more than one viewing platforms & to a high quality. This keeps the company up with the times as technology is evolving at such a rapid speed. Because of this, the ident creators have to work around such barriers as: Typography, aspect ratio, size, resolution etc. Making sure the ident is displayed right on each platform is a major point to consider so making important information more clear helps for an audience to recognize you quicker. You also need to make sure the resolution clear & not pixelated. This could be due to the file size being too much.

Idents that push the technological boundaries can instantly grab a viewer’s attention. When channel 4 released there number 4 ident back in 1982, this was the cutting edge of technology. Nothing like this had ever been viewed before, making it a burning hit with the public.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb7FIvn1x1g&feature=relmfu

This ident does a wonderful job of creating a visual idea, & communicating it to non-visual viewers. As the clip starts with the water landscape, this not only catches the viewer’s attention but also emphasizes there broadcast of such programmes as Plant Earth etc. Even whilst working under tight time & budget, this ident wouldn’t be too difficult to pull off, with footage of the landscape & bits of CGI needed.

lomographicsociety: Explore Lomography Nearby - Catalonia,...

Sat, 26 May 2012 14:16:43 -0400

lomographicsociety:

Explore Lomography Nearby - Catalonia, Spain

lomographicsociety: City Silhouettes by Jasper James Can you...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:37:07 -0400

lomographicsociety:

City Silhouettes by Jasper James

Can you believe that these city silhouette photos are not multiple exposures? Beijing photographer Jasper James’ technique was to superimpose the portraits with the cityscapes using light and reflected glass! See more photos below and create shots like these with the La Sardina’s handy MX switch!

minimalmovieposters: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind by...

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:01:11 -0400

minimalmovieposters:

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind by Joel Amat Güell

lomographicsociety: The Album Art Anatomy David Bowie on a tube...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:16:20 -0400

lomographicsociety:

The Album Art Anatomy

David Bowie on a tube top? Vincent Capretta in heels? Okay, the latter’s not so unusual but check out these totally random anatomy collages assembled from vinyl album covers by Swiss-American visual and musical artist Christian Marclay. Read to find out more about his latest exhibition.

Photograph by Luke Walker

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:13:42 -0400

Photograph by Luke Walker

minimalmovieposters: Drive by Mike Horowitz

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:15:08 -0500

minimalmovieposters:

Drive by Mike Horowitz

Critical Responses Blog 4 - Complete

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:21:35 -0500

Blog 1

In this first blog, the feedback I received said I had to explain why the points I raised appealed to the audience I mention. I tried to apply this in my first draft for this blog but failed to explain in enough depth. The way I can get round this is by adding examples from certain points throughout the film or give an example to a film similar/different to the genre as the one I chose, depending on the point in which I am trying to explain. This will give the reader a clearer understand about the point I have raised. I also got told to add more elements of modes of address. In the first draft I have tried to accomplish this by explaining points in broken down parts such as: Language, Genre & Narrative to name a few. With these already included in the blog, I am going to explain each point in a deeper understanding. This will help show that the point I raised is understood.

Blog 2

I got told in this blog that the part where I mentioned about the multi strand narrative making an audience passive was false. After a re-think about the point that was alerted to me soon became understood leaving me simply to make a couple of alteration to the text I had wrote. This wasn’t nothing too serious. I was also told to add a wider range of theories. By this part in the blog it wasn’t completely finished. An easy way, which I solved this problem with, was simply add a couple more of the theories with examples to back up each point that I raise for each theory. I also got told to add some example of different films, which could have had a different affect ton the audience than the one I was trying to explain. This is useful to show that you understand this effect but to more importantly back up the point at stake.

Blog 3

I was told this blog was overall at a good level but lacked 2 minor problems. The first problem was comparison to other film, not just Tarentino films. This is because in this blog I back up a point with an example from another film from the same director. The reason for this is the example mentioned fits the same principal for the scene in pulp fiction. The second problem was information needed to back up the theory behind the point mentioned about the multi strand narrative. Adding sections of writing to this blog explaining media terms with the narrative type & style of pulp fiction easily solved this minor problem.

Critical Responses Blog 3 - Complete

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:20:56 -0500

My final blog will consist of a review of my chosen film, which would be suitable for publication. In the review I will be picking up on points about the content used in the film, the narrative structure of the film, the style of genre it has adapted & the representations within Pulp Fiction.

With the style & content, there are a number of alternate codes & conventions pulp fiction has adapted to make it slip into the thriller category of genre. Certain characteristics included in the film like the occupation of Vincent & Jules, make the film more thriller based. With the scene where Jules kills Brett, the pair almost comes across to the audience as a pair of assassins with the style they uses to end Brett’s life. This is good content from an audience viewer’s point of view because it keeps the narrative interesting & leaves you wanting to know what happens next. By the way that Vincent is a heroin addict & how they murder Brett; they could also be classed as a pair of criminals. These elements in the film hint to the audience that the film is more crime thriller than anything else. By focusing on Vincent & Jules while the story is being told, it put the audience in the character shoes making them very active as a viewer. This is a common way of storytelling in film as it makes the audiences think more in depth about what content is added in the film. Another film that fits this principle is Reservoir Dogs, again by Quentin Tarantino. With this film, same as pulp fiction, the story is being told from the criminal’s perspective instead of the police, focusing more on what the criminals are doing rather than the police. In crime thrillers, this kind of element in the narrative plays a big role in telling the story to the audience as it plays on the viewer’s emotion. This is proven in Reservoir Dogs as the narrative is left very open, leaving the viewer guessing as to what happens next.

With the way the narrative is told in a non-chronological order for pulp fiction, this has its negatives points for a viewer to feedback on. The film is told in 3 main stories: ‘Vincent Vega & Marsellus Wallace’s wife’ – ‘The Gold Watch’ & ‘ The Bonnie Situation. These 3 stories interlock & are told in a non-linear order in the film. By telling the story in a way that makes the viewer have to think about what is being shown & pierce together the content in order for them to understand what is going on makes the narrative hard to follow. From the audience’s point of view, having the sequence of the narrative explained in this way becomes a task to understand. For the scene in ‘The Gold Watch’ where Butch notices a machine gun on the kitchen counter then shortly kills a confused Vincent as he finishes up in the bathroom, with Vincent getting killed in this scene the audience thinks the character is dead & eliminated from the story. But when Vincent reappears in ‘The Bonnie Situation’ with Jules, the audience is confused as to why Vincent is back alive when they thought he was killed off earlier in the movie. These twists in the story make the narrative majorly non-understandable for the audience meaning the viewer doesn’t interpret the intended meaning of the film.

Within Pulp Fiction there are a number of issues raised about representation. These issues consist of: Race, Drug Use, Murder, Bad Language & Rape.

Firstly I would lie to pick up on issues of race. With the use of the word ‘nigga’ being used on a repetitive scale, this raises concern about terms of racism. Many argue that with the use of the word mainly coming from Jules’s dialogue, who is of a colored race, then this balances out the argue. With Tarentino being an American director, adding such negative content to his work, large majorities of people find this inappropriate & in some place very un-understandable. Secondly I would like to explain the drug use issues. In pulp fiction, drug use is seen on more than one occasion. The scene in which Mia snorts Vincent’s high-grade heroin is the one that raises awareness. This is because of the after effect it gives off to Mia as she overdose’s on the heroin. To specific people in the audience this could seem to be strong content & a little off putting to watch. With the shots involved at that point in the scene you get to see the blood running from her nose, making the viewer see the effect for themselves. The next point I will raise is Murder. Again same as drug use, murder seems to crop up in pulp fiction a number of times. From a viewer’s point of view & with the film fitting into the thriller genre, this plays a big part in the film. One of the murders that take place is when Vincent accidently shoots Marvin in the head after asking him his opinion. This part of the film is very important for the reason behind when it is delivered. With Vincent shooting Marvin before he delivers his reply comes across as a big shock to the audience. This scene there is also a hint of comedy when Marvin gets shot, making the scene bearable. With this scene as an example, I think murder is represented in a positive manner. All through-out the film, issues of bad language are made. This comes from the use of the term ‘nigga’ to including many different swear words. With the content & style of narrative, I think the bad language that is used is represented to the audience in a positive manner. As mentioned previously, in certain parts of the film, the language used adds touches of comedy making the situation more amusing for the viewer of the film. Making the scene a lot more pleasant for the audience. The last point I would like to explain is Rape. This bit of content is for the scene in ‘The Gold Watch’ where the shop owner, Maynard, captures butch & Marsellus. In this scene, Marsellus is the first to get lured into the back room by zed & get raped. The shot where butch pushes the door open & sees zed sodomising Marsellus is the one that the audience find most unappealing. This is because of how surreal the scene is. With the gimp being ordered to watch butch, there is already an element of surrealism added to the scene & when butch enter the back room it almost finishes the surrealness to the scene off as the story twists from this point onwards.

Critical Responses Blog 2 - Complete

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:20:26 -0500

For my second blog, I will be looking at the effects the film has on an audience after they have viewed the product & will also investigate the responses that it triggers for the audience. With this film, there are a number of responses & theories for this type of decoding which will be explained with examples later in this blog.

With Pulp Fiction being classed as a multi strand narrative, which is laid out in a non-chronological order, this pushes the audience to be more active than passive. One of the reasons behind this is the way in which the story is laid out in sequence. By having the 3 primary storylines intersecting with one another, this makes the story slightly difficult to follow in places. For Example, the scene in ‘The Gold Watch’ section where Vincent walks out the toilet & is shot by butch confuses the audience as they now think Vincent is dead. But as the story continues to ‘The Bonnie Situation’, Vincent is seen again here but alive & not dead. This kind of technique makes the narrative a task to follow meaning the audience is confused about what is happening & when. This makes the audience more engaged in what is being shown on the screen, as they want to understand the plot of the film. By making the film a task to understand, this makes the audience try & figure out what is happening ensuring they soak up every bit of media shown to them in order for them to get a visible understanding.

The hypodermic needle theory indicates that the audience views a media product in a passive way due to the way they read the media product. This theory is proven fault in ‘The Bonnie Situation’ when Vincent asks Marvin his option on a question shortly before shooting him in the face. With the content & the structure of this scene, many readings can be taken. Many could find the scene very unpleasant by the way the blood covers the inside of the car. Also with the dialogue used, this could add a sinister tone to the dialog Jules says. On the other hand, many people in the audience could see this scene very amusing due to the way & timing Marvin is killed by Vincent. By making the death very unexpected, the audience could find the humour with the shock factor. With this reading, Jules’s dialog could influence the humour even more as realizing the situation the characters could come across comical. Reception studies also suggest that the media product can be encoded in more than one way & with this example, this point is proven. A point, which backs this up, is the decoding of pulp fiction is a difficult process as an effect of the multi strand narrative. By this point in the film, the viewer should be that of an active reading as they will be involved with the storyline. For those of a passive reading this study would be false.

One of the Main factors that benefit this film is the casting crew that it involves. To say the budget of the production was that of a reasonable value, the cast of the film is very well recognised. Having an actor such as Samuel L Jackson fitting in to the supporting role really benefits the audience, as they are use to the appearance of this well-known actor. So I think by making his dialog in the film very braud & bold, this fits the stereotype of the character that Tarantino is trying portray to his audience. A point to back this up is the dialogue used for Ben Kingsley’s character, Don Logan, in Jonathans Glazer’s British film Sexy Beast. Again with the style & delivery of the dialogue used, this helps make the character fit the stereotype the director is trying to portray to his viewer. By making the delivery of the dialogue very short & snappy for Kingsley’s character crossed with the awkward atmosphere built in the scenes helps hint to the audience that the character isn’t normal. Another use for Pulp Fiction is the location in which Tarantino has chosen. This is because with a large quantity of the European audience the film attracts, this audience will already be use to seeing films set on American land. This means that the audience will still be attracted to the film as they have already seen this type of location be done before in various other films. Combined with it being a different way from their way of life in the film. As for the audience it appeals to in America, it almost makes it look like any other day for the characters in the film, indicating that it is everyday life. Obviously this audience will still get the feel of the movie but some might recognise places & locations in the film, making them very active by drawing them in.

As an effect of the non-chronological multi strand narrative Tarentino has used as the backbone to pulp fiction, this has triggered a number of different responses. With the structure of the scenes laid out in the order they are, the audience will have there own twist on what happens & why. After the viewer has seen the film in an active frame of mind, they will have understood what message Tarentino is trying to put across to his audience but with the scenes being in an alternate order this will allow the viewer to be more of an oppositional reader, by putting its own twist on the narrative. Certain content involved in pulp fiction e.g. murder & drug use will help influence the reading of the viewer. Alternate to this, I think a large amount of the viewing audience will have a negotiated reading. This is because they will understand the preferred meaning of the film, which the director intends, but dependent on what type of audience they are e.g. thriller or crime audience, they will have there own twist on the tale. Many Hollywood films adopt this oppositional reading from an audience in order to gain more interest.

Critical Responses Blog 1 - Complete

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:19:54 -0500

In the first section of my blog I will be deconstructing the film of my choice & will be explaining how elements of the film are molded to appeal to a specific target audience. This will be defined by elements such as character, props, locations etc. formally know as modes of address. The film I have chosen is: Pulp Fiction.

Firstly I would like to start with content. Many say an audience can pick up the style of genre the film is by the content it includes. This point is proven in pulp fiction with the prologue held at the diner. In this scene, Pumpkin (played by Tim Roth) & Honey Bunny (played by Amanda Plummer) decide to take the customers at the diner as hostages & hold them at gunpoint as they both agree they could make money off the customers as well as the business. This is before the scene quickly ends to lead to the opening credits. In this scene, the conversations the 2 are having starts off very calm & slowly drags on before they both agree in participating in the heist. This kind of structure in the narrative gives it a ‘thriller’ type feel as there is tension being built throughout the conversation. You also see a weapon being drawn & strong language being used in the dialogue. This indicates to the audience that there is going to be strong graphic violence & more cases of strong language contained in the film. These elements of the film make it very thriller based, pushing it toward thriller in the genre categories. This is again proved in the gold watch tale by the way butch has to fight against Marcellus Wallace in the pawnshop. When they are captured, the scene where they are tied up in a basement once again starts very calm & slowly escalates. Also, by having Vincent Vega & Jules Winnfield involved in the tale, this includes a touch of adventure, adding crime to the genre list. This is shown in the scene when they are introduced by the way Jules executes Brett in such a brutal manner before quickly leaving before the police arrive. In this scene, Jules comes across very dominant to the audience as he kills Brett & his friend, leaving the flat a murder scene. This bit of crime involved in the story builds tension for the audience as they are unsure what is going to happen next. From a crime viewer’s perspective, this is a very appealing bit of content. This is because of the way the narrative is left with open but at the same time ties in with the multi strand narrative of the whole film. The effect of these leaves the viewer engaged in the plot, almost sucked in. As Jules kills Brett, Jules speaks a biblical statement included in the script. This piece of speech comes across very formal with the way it is said in the scene. This leads on nicely to language. Throughout the majority of the film, the language is more informal than formal. I say more informal as there is a lot of strong language used in the dialogue. There is excessive use of swear words & bits of slang in the odd place. The slang that is used is mainly American, as the film as a whole is fully American based. The tone of the dialogue used in the film is very aggressive as the characters are always confronting the audience. The use of words like ‘c’mon’ & ’shake’ instead of milkshake are used more from an American vocabulary than an English one. With the way Tarantino has wrote the script, the tone & accent of the dialogue has a very cool vibe to it. This is important when trying to appeal to any audience because everybody wants to be cool/the next best thing. By making the characters involved in the film as badass & elegant as possible, this makes them almost an idol from an audience viewer’s point of view. What helps portray this is the how Tarentino uses the element of surprised to alert the viewer. For example in the Brett scene, the way in which Jules kills the guy on the sofa could almost be argued as uncalled for. This is a clever technique that Tarentino uses to grab the viewers attention but at the same time makes Jules look like the tough guy at this point in the film. Its like killing two birds with one stone from a director point of view. Another technique Tarentino uses to appeal to a thriller/crime audience is the film noir influences in the scene when Butch flees in the taxi with Esmarelda Villalobos. This scene again is very clever in the way it is structured. The way how the driver tells Butch that he has killed his opponent in the boxing match is a point for the crime audience to reference alongside the film noir style layout for the scene which is a point for the thriller audience as they will have seen this in various other thrillers watched previous as the scene inherits the basic influences of a standard film noir scene.

In certain scenes throughout pulp fiction, Tarentino uses specific shot types & angle to address precise viewers. An example of this would be the scene where Jules & Vincent are walking to Brett’s house. In this scene Jules & Vincent are having a conversation & are framed up in a 2 shot. They are also followed by a right pan shot all the way to Brett’s door. The reason why Tarentino used this shot is to make the viewer fell part of the conversation. By seeing the 2 characters all the way through their conversation makes the audience fell as if they are a 3^rd person listening in on what the pair has to say. The mise en scene of the scene also makes the conversation flow giving it a casual feel also adding to the 3^rd person effect.

Photograph by Luke Walker

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:25:37 -0500

Photograph by Luke Walker

Grotesque Figure, Park of Palazzo Orsini, Bomarzo, Italy, 1952

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:24:02 -0500

Grotesque Figure, Park of Palazzo Orsini, Bomarzo, Italy, 1952

staring at the roots of your soul

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:16:36 -0500

staring at the roots of your soul

In early November, i had a documentary photography project i...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:32:00 -0500

Shot #1

Shot #2

In early November, i had a documentary photography project i got briefed on at college. My idea consisted of the local music scene in chesterfield & how certain people turn there nose up at upcoming bands in there local area. The band i shot was: Ruberlaris & these photos are 2 of many that made it in that shoot, shot on D3100. f/5.6 - 1/80s - ISO 800 - 35mm.