Statement of Intent: Capstone Graphic Novel

I will be writing a graphic novel for my Project. Monica Larson has agreed to be my Director. I would like to go into a career of writing graphic novels and comics after I graduate. This project will give me insight on the process it takes if I want to accomplish my goals.

The story tackles the topic of depression and suicide. There are some elements of fantasy and supernatural stories meshed into this. The main character wants to help people who are overcome by depression by traveling into their minds and battling the depression inside them. The depression manifests itself as a monster and the main character must beat that monster and talk sense into the ailing person. The main character is a college student and a psychology major. Naturally this story will have to incorporate aspects of psychology and research needs to be done on depression in our society and what causes it. I should also research different stories similar to this and how they tackle topics of depression.

The art of the story is going to implement sprite art used in video games with some sprite backgrounds. I am able to accomplish this with my knowledge of Comic Life and Photoshop. I need to research methods of publishing and chances of getting a graphic novel turned into an animated show or live action movie. After I graduate this novel could turn into a series of graphic novels tackling the topic of depression. Right now I am not sure who this story idea and graphic novel will manifest but for now I want to make it a one-shot story. This means it could be just a short story or could turn out to be the beginning of a long journey.

My idea about this came about when playing the Persona video game series as it deals with character confronting their true selfs and accepting who they are. Perhaps my story idea could turn into a video game as well. I would like to see if there are stories out there that use fantasy elements while still dealing with real life problems. Also the effect that stories have on people and if they help others cope with feelings of depression.

Blog #2

Honestly it is not alarming to me because my father is one of the people who uses AOL as their main internet email service. He saw no reason to change it plus it still works fine for him. He doesn't use the computer often. Our internet service is up to date but my father's mail service is not. I would say though that the reason for people not upgrading their service is mainly money and the people who used aol have no need for a new service because they probably don't use the internet often. 

Post #1 Introducing myself

My goal for the class is to basically learn how to create a website and learn some coding as I learn how to make the website. My goal for the future is to be a comic book writer, video game writer, or any writer for any media. A TV show that I enjoy a lot is the boondocks, a movie I enjoy a lot is napoleon dynamite, I listen to jpop/jrock/jrap and one of my favorite books is "The Disaster Artist". 

Art & Copy

What was most inspiring about the advertising documentary "Art & Copy" was the fact that so many simple ideas and slogans were able to be the most well known adverting campaigns in the advertising world. These include "Got Milk", "Just Do It", and "Think Different". It was amazing that so many of these different campaigns were able to invoke so many feelings in different types of people across the country. Every someone would look the slogans would be there and could be applied to almost anything. In magazines, billboards, and of course TV commercials one would always see these slogans and generally they would present a positive connotation. Milk helps build strong bones for example and got milk sometimes showed individuals exercising. It is always inspiring when something positive to society is being advertised compared to something detrimental to our society such as fast food. "Just Do It" is also very inspiring as it promotes exercise in society and at the same time promotes a product to help get that objective completed. It was also awesome to see how the advertisement agencies during the 21st century compare to the advertisement agencies seen in AMC's Mad Men which are agencies from the 1960s. In comparison it seems that today's agencies seem to have a more welcoming and caring environment than the agencies from the 1960s. Even one individual in the documentary who was an account man in the 60s said it was one of the worst jobs he had. The statement he made about that seems accurate considering the kind of treatment seen that people who work in accounts get in Mad Men. Overall the film was very inspiring and the fact that it followed mostly positive ad campaigns all with positive messages to the viewers was awesome and helps those who want to get into advertisement gain motivation.

Blog #3 - Women in Advertisements

Many advertisements in our media dehumanizes women immensely. The advertisements that are advertising something simple like jeans or jewelry are sending out the wrong message and trying to get the viewer’s attention in the most extreme way.  It is not just in the United States using these kinds of advertisements but other cultures around the world use them as well. The Dolce & Gabbana Italian luxury industry fashion house released a very controversial advertisement showing a women dressed in black being pinned down by a shirtless man in jeans with sunglasses while three other men strike poses and are menacingly staring at the woman. This promotes violence towards women and shows this particular woman being controlled by not just one man but four men. The intended meaning of the advertisement was probably to show men that if they wear their products then they will be able to gain control of women and make them theirs. The cultural meaning though shows the women in a position of helplessness and making it obvious to the viewer that women are not in power and men are free to do what they want with women. It promotes the idea that it is okay for men to force themselves upon women making them think that they enjoy it when in actuality it is clearly unwanted. b

Blog #2 - Frith methodology

The surface meaning of the ad: The ad starts off with a man traveling the desert looking thristy and being sweaty. He sees a giant coke bottle in the distance and suddenly many different types of people from show girls to men on motorcycles racing towards the bottle. The man looks back to see that he actually had a coke bottle with him in an ice cooler the whole time and now he has the last laugh. It is revealed that the giant coke bottle is a sign pointing towards the nearest coke location which is 50 miles away. The racers are still racing towards this regardless of the distance.

The advertiser's intended meaning of the ad: They wanted to replicate the sense of being thirsty to the viewer. The man in the ad is sweaty and is obviously thirsty. A common trope in any media depicting desert travel is that the one doing the traveling is always on the search for something to drink. Once the viewer sees that coke bottle they themselves are going to want to have a drink from it because they are imagining themselves in  a desert without anything to drink. Once they see many people racing to obtain that coke they know that it is a valuable drink and many people would go to extreme lengths to obtain it.

The cultural or idealogical meaning of the ad: culturally coke is seen as a pivotal beverage. If someone goes out in public they are most likely guaranteed to see at least one person drinking a coke. The ad depicts people racing to obtain that coke like they have to have it. It's a summer soda. The ad demonstrates this by using the desert as its' setting. When people are thirsty in the summer or when it is hot outside they should be drinking a coke to quench their thirst.

Favorite Ad

Robin Williams and Zelda Williams enjoying Ocarina of Time

My favorite ad campaign would have to be the campaign for the 3DS port of the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. The first ad started with the traditional Legend of Zelda tune that plays whenever a player finds treasure in the game. The first thing you hear after that is the sound of a familiar voice. When I first saw this commercial I knew I recognized that voice. The commercial when then repeatedly show clips of a young girl's face during the narration of the familiar voice. I completely lost it when I first saw that the person narrating was Robin Williams. It was then that many people in my age group found out that Robin Williams named his daughter (The young girl who was repeatedly shown throughout the narration) Zelda. Seeing a crossover of two formats of entertainment that I never thought would crossover resonated with me. Robin Williams and Zelda were two things that many would not imagine have had a history together. Robin Williams' voice also sounded very epic while he was doing the narration. It was a perfect voice to emphasize the majestic gameplay of Zelda. It was a genius move to combine a celebrity many children and teens recognize to a game that many children and teens mostly likely played and still play to this day. The best part is that Robin Williams himself is a fan of the game so he's not just doing it without any knowledge of the game itself.