Commercials can sometimes be advertisements meant to attract interest in a certain product or organization. The main purpose of such advertisements is to attract attention, arouse interest, stimulate desire, and to move viewers to action. This is combined with the format of a commercial, which is generally 30 seconds long and includes elements such as characters, dialogue, various settings, and tempting visuals. Such commercials help sell and advertise products, like the one shown above. It is a commercial for Old Spice advertising their body wash. This is my all time favorite commercial due to its advertising message and its character and dialogue. Throughout the commercial the message of being like the main character by using Old Spice body wash is displayed. This is combined with the various settings of the character, with him starting in a bathroom before moving to a boat and eventually ending up on a beach riding a horse. The character himself is displayed as confident and masculine. These elements and message help to sell Old Spice body wash as a body wash for successful and confident men, and that women should be with men who use Old Spice body wash. It is a great at promoting their product and producing an effective message for their product, which is why it is my all time favorite commercial.

Since the introduction of television, various TV programs have changed popular culture and the way we watch television. Survivor was one of these TV shows, airing in 2000 and starting the TV reality competition shows. It changed popular culture by showcasing reality competitions that were not staged, which viewers became heavily invested in. It was highly successful and led to the creation of shows such as American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. It continues to this day, showing how much impact it has had on popular culture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htg6HVjLXkQ

Quick cutting is type of editing that shows a series of cuts in a scene rapidly and are used to show multiple actions at the same time. Quick cuts can be in cue with pacing, with quick cuts happening during a high pace in the film. I chose the Mad Max Fury Road escape scene because it shows a series of quick cuts, with the majority of quick cuts happening when Max sees his dead friends and daughter as he tries to escape. It shows that while Max is trying to escape, he is being haunted by dead loved ones, showing an action while another action is occurring. These quick cuts help move the scene along and coincides with the high pacing involved in the scene.

Music can play important roles within the realm of media, becoming iconic when used properly in movies, TV shows, commercials, etc. The type of music used within these types of visual platforms can set the mood and help move it along. This commercial for the movie Logan used in the 2017 Super Bowl shows how powerful music can be for commercials. In the commercial, the only audio is the music, with the song “Amazing Grace” being performed. As the commercial begins, the song is slow, coinciding with slow paced scenes of the movie. As the commercial progresses, the pacing gets faster with the shots becoming quicker and with action while the music becomes more ominous. This music helps build the feel of the visual movie and helps show the type of movie it will be. That is how music can be prominent and iconic when used with visual communication.

Depth of Field is the zone of sharpness that appears in focus within an image, with the size of the aperture determining the depth of field in an image. A shallow depth of field is acquired with a large aperture, or a small f-number, bringing attention to the subject in the image and allowing it to stand out from the background while being the main point of focus. I chose this image because it represents a shallow depth of field. It is a form of wildlife photography, which is where shallow depth of field is used more. It makes the leaf the main point of focus in the image, blurring everything in the background, bringing all the attention to the leaf.

Editorial cartoons are cartoons presenting strong graphic styles that have a political message. Often satirical images containing a social message, editorial cartoons are emotionally charged and bring forth critical commentary regarding an issue in society at that time. This cartoon from the Los Angeles Times is a perfect example of an editorial cartoon. It presents President Trump asking for tax payers to pay his golf caddy and not to be “stingy.” This was critical of President Trump’s first few months of his presidency where he was criticized for spending a large sum of tax payers money to go golfing at his Mar a Lago resort very frequently. It captures the emotions of tax payers by presenting them as having to directly pay Trump’s caddy, representing their money being used for Trump’s golfing.

A pie chart is is a statistical infographic that compares various data amounts both individually and for the whole. Pie charts are not usually good to use when crowded with too much data as they become hard to read and aren’t able to show all of the information. This image is of a pie chart showing data comparison of New Wind Power Capacity Per Capita Country Leaders in 2012. I chose this picture as it shows a pie chart with the various data amounts compared in the chart. It also shows what happens to a pie chart when you have too much data and it can contain all of it. By the time it reaches Portugal you cannot determine the percentage on the pie chart.

White space in an image is the background of the image, the space that has no text or graphics. I chose this image because of how much white space is represented here. The white/gray background is the white space and the designer has used the white space with his/her use of kerning, leading, and alley to make the page aesthetically pleasing to read. There is also a large amount of white space between the shapes at the bottom to make them seem equally distant from each other, but not too close nor too far from one another. The page talks about minimalism and the large amount of white space used in the image shows how less text and correct white space use can make an image more pleasing to the viewer.

The ethics mantra in a professional setting is “doing your job and not causing unjust harm.” Meeting your professional obligations and ensuring that whatever harm may ensue from you doing your job is justifiable are required for you to remain ethical. This image would be considered an ethical issue as it displays a dead boy on a Turkish beach shortly after he drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while he and his family tried to reach England to escape Syria.  This is an ethical issue because while the photographer was doing his job in taking the picture, the image of a dead child is upsetting and may be harmful to people viewing it. They may question why the photographer took the image and say it is disrespectful to the boy who died and his family. However, while the image is upsetting, some may say the harm caused would be considered justifiable as it brings to light the extremity of the Syrian Refugee Crisis and causes people to understand better what the refugees go through. This would then be in line with the Utilitarian approach when looking at the image from an ethical perspective as the benefits of taking the image outweigh the harm it might cause.