Ad Recreation

The first ad that is posted is the original Hpnotiq ad from a magazine. The second as posted is my recreation. To make the recreation I used both Photoshop and Illustrator. I changed the background and pictures of the bottle and glass in Photoshop. I did the text in Illustrator. It was difficult finding a good background picture. I had many options and then all of a sudden I found the blue and white one. It was perfect because it was the same colors as the original ad and the objects in the ad. I think my recreation came out well. In the beginning, I started with a different ad and after it was almost done, I went back and changed it. I am much happier with my new ad. It came out well. I am excited to see what else we will have to create.

Vector Study

While working on my project Friday in class I found it hard using Illustrator. I could not figure out how it worked. Finally, I got it working and I decided I did not like my ad. I changed it to an Hpnotiq ad. I can change little things about it to make it mine. I started using Photoshop and in class on Tuesday, I will finish it in Illustrator. I will also need to use the scanner in class, because mine is not big enough. I have picked an elongated ad. I like this project because it teaches us about the differences in Photoshop and in Illustrator.

Vector Study

Today in class, we learned about vectors and Adobe Illustrator. I liked using it. I actually liked it better than Photoshop. You can do more, especially with text. I started the project we were assigned. I tried finding a conversational ad in Cosmopolitan. I scanned the ad onto my computer. Next, I found text that looked like the original ad. I twisted it and changed the colors. I also took pictures from the ad. I used the picture of the leaves and the picture of the bottle. I hope that what I have so far is on the right track.

ID Tag

When I was trying to figure out an ID that would represent me the first thing I thought of was FRIENDS. It is my favorite show and I watch it every day. There is also another reason. I love my friends and I love hanging out with them. Friends are something that represents me throughout. Friends are personal to me. I decided to use my name in the FRIENDS font and logo because it is the best thing to represent me. While making this tag I used the layering effects, free transform and shapes.

Abstraction

I looked for an example of abstraction in Cosmopolitan magazine because I read it all the time. There is a VO5 ad about their Extreme Style line of hair products. There is also a TV commercial about this line of products. In the print ad, on one side, there is a man and woman standing in an elevator with boring hair. On the right side of the ad, both the man and woman have their hair styled in crazy ways. In the TV commercial, both people have boring hair, and after using the VO5 products, their hair is styled and is no longer boring. In these two ads, there is a promise of stylish hair. If you use their Extreme Style line of products, you will have the hair you always wanted. When I look at the ad, I think about my hair and how I wish my hair could look like the people’s in the ad.

High Culture vs. Low Culture

High and low culture can also be in the form of magazines. The high culture magazines are the expensive, thick, and "high class" magazines. Examples of this type of magazine are Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour. These magazines have a lot in them. They include beauty, fashion, real life stories, health and love. In society, all the rich and fashionable women are the ones walking around with these magazines. They are looking at the new beauty secrets and the new fashion trends. The lower classes of people who are not concerned with fashion are buying more magazines like US Weekly and Star. All these magazines have in them is gossip and some celebrity fashion. These are all about celebrities and everything that they are up to. These magazines are cheaper and much thinner. The gossip queens are the ones buying these types of magazines.

High Culture vs. Low Culture

Pop up ads and ads tailored to specific interests can be defined as high and low culture. The low culture ads would be the pop ups. They occur randomly when you click on a website. The ads can be about anything. Some are chances to win prizes, others are games, and some are simple questions to answer. They have nothing to do with the website that has been clicked on. On the other hand, there are ads that will tailor to a person's interests. For example, if I were interested in the beach, the ads on that site would be about vacation destinations and travel deals. This makes the ads more personal and the people interested in them are more likely going to click on them. Having ads tailored to a person’s likes and interests is more of a high culture.

Encoding and Decoding

As I was reading the encoding and decoding section, the part about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire interested me. I never would have looked so far into the show. All I saw was people who wanted to win money, and had a shot if they knew trivia and had a great amount of knowledge. I guess I did not watch it enough to realize that mostly American white males were on it majority of the time. I do remember when the first person won a million though. He was in fact an American white male. There might not be anything wrong with that though because if they changed the type of question for when a women or a different race went on the show that would take away from the value. I think if they tailored the questions to the certain contestant when he or she was up it would not be fair to the others. Each person should get the same type of questions no matter whom they are.

Animated Ghost

My ghost animation was difficult. I had a hard time working with Photoshop. At times, the program went all funny and my animation stopped working. After I finally got it to work, it turned out pretty good. It was fun to create this moving picture. The ghost travels around in a circle. (Click on the picture to view the animated ghost.) I hope to go more in depth with it soon. Maybe next time I will try moving the tail back and forth, or moving the arms up and down. I also uploaded the animation to the e learning page. The animation works on there and you can see the ghost in action.

Intended Meaning

There is no way to know how a person will interpret or react to an image. Everyone thinks and feel different things. No two people will interpret one meaning the same way, unless of course it is a well known image such as a stop sign or the men and women signs for the restroom. This makes it difficult for advertisers to portray a message. They do not want their audiences thinking the wrong thing, and getting the wrong message and therefore losing the consumers business. They can never have full control over the images they produce. Overall, it is solely up to the reactions and interpretations of the audience.