Wednesday 24 August 2011
Charts, Stars, and Sperms?
With the introduction of new technology, we are able to see what is on the earth, what is outside the earth, and also what is within the earth.
Binoculars, Microscope and Telescopes, these are the tools that let us discover something that we can't see with our naked eye. It is also the medium that extends the ability of the human eye.
People are now able to discover places by just having this in their car, the GPS (Global Positioning System), it tell the user his location and also shows the user the way to the other location.
Realism, what looks real?
What is real and what is realism? Realism resembles to what is real, or something that looks close to real. For years the gaming industry had tried create games that has better graphics and offer amazing visual experience, a more detail and real looking character would require a good graphic processing unit in a computer.
Developers is trying to make the users top experience the phenomena of immediacy, to let the players to forget they are actually playing a game. Through the advancement in technology, there were a lot of products created specially for games such as surround sound headsets, and multiple display monitors, so that players would merge themselves into the video game. These players will start to forget the presence of the monitors and the sound surrounding him, due to the in game sound produced in the headphones closely resembles the sound in real world.
Masahiro Mori coined the concept of Uncanny Valley, whereby something that has a close resemblance to a human figure, would make a person feels weird because of the appearance. The almost real looking figure would make the human mind doubt whether is it real or fake.
Developers is trying to make the users top experience the phenomena of immediacy, to let the players to forget they are actually playing a game. Through the advancement in technology, there were a lot of products created specially for games such as surround sound headsets, and multiple display monitors, so that players would merge themselves into the video game. These players will start to forget the presence of the monitors and the sound surrounding him, due to the in game sound produced in the headphones closely resembles the sound in real world.
Masahiro Mori coined the concept of Uncanny Valley, whereby something that has a close resemblance to a human figure, would make a person feels weird because of the appearance. The almost real looking figure would make the human mind doubt whether is it real or fake.
But the concept can also be applied to non human characters. In cartoons or animations, the characters are drawn and created with exaggerated proportions so that the viewer would not confused whether the characters are real or not. It lets the viewer know that 'you are watching a animation'.
However in films, the same species are created to look photo realistic for the human eye, such approach would make the viewer feel uneasy by looking at the character (the dog) because a dog in the real world would not be able to speak or even do certain stunts.
World According to Marshall McLuhan
Medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan described, is an extension of the human mind and body. Like forks, spoons, and chopsticks, it extends the human hand so that our hands will not be dirty while having a meal.
Here we talk about a photo or image editing software, it is capable of manipulating photo of a person, objects, scenery, and so on. This is medium for designers and artist to create and edit digital media, and the purpose of this is to communicate with the audiences through the media. But nowadays, this software is not only used by people in the design industry, teenagers and students are able to use this by learning from tutorial websites.
The image above was originally made for the 2012 film, through the wide range of image editing software, people are utilize the medium to present their idea and messages. The image above shows a terrifying scene of a city submerging into the sea, with the title 'back to school', because for students sometimes if felt like dying when going back to school.
It shows that these image editing software (medium) are not just made for the professionals, but it is also used by students in high school because everyone is capable of using it.
Here we talk about a photo or image editing software, it is capable of manipulating photo of a person, objects, scenery, and so on. This is medium for designers and artist to create and edit digital media, and the purpose of this is to communicate with the audiences through the media. But nowadays, this software is not only used by people in the design industry, teenagers and students are able to use this by learning from tutorial websites.
It shows that these image editing software (medium) are not just made for the professionals, but it is also used by students in high school because everyone is capable of using it.
What is Structuralism?
Structuralism, the study of consciousness. It is a concept of how the human mind see things and allocated them into different categories, just like when a person thinks what is right and what is wrong, or what is this, and what is not that. However, different people have different ideas on categorizing things.
There is one thing that sets the model of Structuralism, that is the binary opposition. Binary opposition is a pair of opposites. For example, black and white, tall and short. But what makes a tall person 'tall'? must a tall person has the height of a NBA player? and is having a height of a dwarf or midget considered short?
Different country have different views because of their culture is different. A tall person in Malaysia would be categorized as a average height person in America because of our gene differences.
Few days ago I stumbled upon an interesting option when registering something on www.deviantart.com. When selecting the sex/gender. Like most websites it only gives us two options, which is male and female, because male is the opposite of female, and vice versa.
However, the option here lets us choose male, female, and other. Is something in between female and male. This would be very surprising if it was few decades ago. But due to the advancement in technology and medical field, there are now transexuals. They fall in the grey zone of binary opposition as they are not completely male and female, but they are something in between.
There is one thing that sets the model of Structuralism, that is the binary opposition. Binary opposition is a pair of opposites. For example, black and white, tall and short. But what makes a tall person 'tall'? must a tall person has the height of a NBA player? and is having a height of a dwarf or midget considered short?
Different country have different views because of their culture is different. A tall person in Malaysia would be categorized as a average height person in America because of our gene differences.
However, the option here lets us choose male, female, and other. Is something in between female and male. This would be very surprising if it was few decades ago. But due to the advancement in technology and medical field, there are now transexuals. They fall in the grey zone of binary opposition as they are not completely male and female, but they are something in between.
Intertextuality
We live in a world where nothing is truly original anymore, a lot of the things we saw could be referenced from something or even copied from something, these are the concept of intertextuality. But there are two type of intertextuality, one is an unconscious situation and another is a self conscious situation.
Think of having a conversation with your friend, and suddenly you have to go somewhere and you tell your friend 'I'll be back', our mind would subconsciously relate this sentence to the Terminator film where Arnold Schwarzenegger said to the main character. This is also because it is a very popular film and it can be seen on the television by everyone, and by searching 'I'll be back' in google images we are able to see the picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the terminator in the first picture.
Recently there were a few films produced by Marvel Studios, that is the Iron man and The Incredible Hulk film. This two films are adapted from the comic characters by Marvel Comics, and it was a huge success because of the amazing computer graphics. This is a translation between media, from comic books to film and also from a 2D to 3D approach.
Think of having a conversation with your friend, and suddenly you have to go somewhere and you tell your friend 'I'll be back', our mind would subconsciously relate this sentence to the Terminator film where Arnold Schwarzenegger said to the main character. This is also because it is a very popular film and it can be seen on the television by everyone, and by searching 'I'll be back' in google images we are able to see the picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the terminator in the first picture.
Recently there were a few films produced by Marvel Studios, that is the Iron man and The Incredible Hulk film. This two films are adapted from the comic characters by Marvel Comics, and it was a huge success because of the amazing computer graphics. This is a translation between media, from comic books to film and also from a 2D to 3D approach.
Semiotics
Semiotics, also known as semiology. It is how images make broader systems of meaning. Semiotics is the study of signs, and how the signs make sense. Anything that has meaning can be understood in term of its signs.
Signs consist of a signified and signifier. Signified is a concept of an object while the Signifier is a sound or image that is attached to a signified, like its name. But no necessary relationship is required in between the signified and signifier. However, the same signifier can have different meanings.
The image above is a blackcurrant juice drink, the Signified is a purple packet drink with fruits on the packet, while the Signifier is blackcurrant juice.
Signs consist of a signified and signifier. Signified is a concept of an object while the Signifier is a sound or image that is attached to a signified, like its name. But no necessary relationship is required in between the signified and signifier. However, the same signifier can have different meanings.
The Model of Communication
The process model of communication is a theory studied by mathematicians during WWII, the objective was to increase the efficiency by using a variety of media and the transmission model was still used until today.
Shannon and Weaver's communication model consist of five elements:
The information source are the image and sound source, this could be a movie, a TV show, or a news program. However, the sound source are the audio signals that comes from the movie or news programs.
After that, the transmitter sends both the video and audio signal through the air wave(the channel) that will be received by the TV set in our home. It will then be decoded from radio wave into audio and video signals that can be processed into images and sound, which will be displayed on our television.
But there is a potential noise source that could disrupt the signals from being transmitted and received accurately, that is the weather. Raining and lightning storms makes the transmission less efficient and viewers at home might not able to receive any signals, lightnings are even able to damage our property.
There are different types of TVs, such as the CRT type, LCD type, or even the PDP(plasma) type display. However, different types of display and sound setup offers different viewing experience, which gives us redundant and entropic information.
One of the examples is watching a High Definition movie, such as the Transformers movie. Most people want to watch it because of its action, sound effects, and also the detail of the transformers itself, but it will be kind of pointless if we watch it on a 21'inch CRT television.
When watching on a lower resolution display, the movie becomes very redundant because the details that we're able to see is quite limited. However, the viewer has a high definition display system and also a surround sound system, this offers the viewer a much more enjoyable experience because it allows the viewer to see and hear something that could not be heard in a normal television.
Shannon and Weaver's communication model consist of five elements:
- An information source, which produces a message.
- A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals
- A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission
- A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal.
- A destination, where the message arrives.
The information source are the image and sound source, this could be a movie, a TV show, or a news program. However, the sound source are the audio signals that comes from the movie or news programs.
After that, the transmitter sends both the video and audio signal through the air wave(the channel) that will be received by the TV set in our home. It will then be decoded from radio wave into audio and video signals that can be processed into images and sound, which will be displayed on our television.
But there is a potential noise source that could disrupt the signals from being transmitted and received accurately, that is the weather. Raining and lightning storms makes the transmission less efficient and viewers at home might not able to receive any signals, lightnings are even able to damage our property.
There are different types of TVs, such as the CRT type, LCD type, or even the PDP(plasma) type display. However, different types of display and sound setup offers different viewing experience, which gives us redundant and entropic information.
One of the examples is watching a High Definition movie, such as the Transformers movie. Most people want to watch it because of its action, sound effects, and also the detail of the transformers itself, but it will be kind of pointless if we watch it on a 21'inch CRT television.
When watching on a lower resolution display, the movie becomes very redundant because the details that we're able to see is quite limited. However, the viewer has a high definition display system and also a surround sound system, this offers the viewer a much more enjoyable experience because it allows the viewer to see and hear something that could not be heard in a normal television.
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