Public Service Announcements (PSA)

Today, we have renewed the subject of making commercials, this time we are doing something really similar, PSA'S or Public Service Announcement. It comes to my understanding that a PSA is a longer version of a commercial but with a subject directed at an audience not to promote a product but to teach or show. In this case, you don't actually promote a product, organization or anything, you are simply stating like a problem(drinking, smoking, obesity). It is similar to a commercial in the sense that it is usually broadcast or transmitted between a show or program and it is short. A PSA is usually longer, and it usually consists of making the people aware of a very serious problem or issue, and with it the goal is to make people conscious about an issue not buy something. I expect this activity to be a very fun activity to do and I hope I can actually make the people more aware of something bad and not just joke around.

Since this activity has to be done in groups I have seriously considered with who I should work with. First of all, I would like to work with Taku, because I think working with him should be very interesting. I also think that Taku can have some very interesting ideas of how to execute the PSA as well as making it appealing towards the audience. Basically, Taku will make the PSA an interesting and appealing project that has a chance of teaching the people a lesson. Second, the next candidate is Raul. I think that Raul can be the star in the PSA, since I lack of any acting skill whatsoever. Also, Raul lives very near to my house and so we can have more time to input more quality and hopefully make the PSA better. So, Raul would be a great partner because he can work for a prolonged amount of time and he can make the PSA quite good. Finally, my final candidate is Sebastian. I know Sebastian can work great in a PSA if he knows that his grade is dependent upon it, and so he really would need to work. Also, the main thing is that Sebastian is really funny and can make a funny PSA, perhaps I would interfere in his funniness, so that it actually teaches something.

Potential PSA'S:
1. Obesity.
2. Drinking.
3. Driving under the influence of alcohol.
4. Addiction to drugs.
5. Compulsive Eating
6. Smoking.
7. Bullying.

Basically, the most appealing PSA's are Obesity, Drinking and Bullying. First of all, Obesity is a serious issue in Mexico, we are one of the fattest countries in the world. I think that Obesity specifically should be dealt with a serious approach, because Obesity is so serious that making a funny PSA will probably hurt someone's feelings. I think that we should use facts of Obesity, concrete information and some predictions like for the year 2015 Mexico's population is expected to be this obese and so...Second, Drinking is a serious issue better tackled with a very funny approach. I personally think that if drinking ads don't work if serious, perhaps a funny drinking commercial should work just fine. My idea is to put a car with a drunk driver and drunk passengers as well, only for luck they don't get hurt and we can say... this is just fiction, but in real life most car crashes end with a tragedy, last year itself more than.....amount of people died. Finally, I would make the Bullying commercial a very serious one. It would be about a tall boy hitting a small one and the small one going to his house and crying. The add will then have a segment in which the public speaker tells the facts about bullying in Mexico and so...

Super Bowl and Classmates Commercials

This last Sunday, one of the biggest events of the year happened, the Superbowl, and with it a barrage of various ads. My third favorite commercial is the Captain America movie trailer. This ad in my opinion was one of the best ads, because it is quick, concise and I simply love a good comic movie brought to life. Also, my second favorite Superbowl commercial was the Volkswagen Darth Vader commercial. In my opinion, this is the second best ad for simply being funny, it is cool, I love Star Wars and the force use happened to make a great joke, this commercial was simply executed perfectly. My favorite commercial was the Eminem Chrysler Commercial. This Commercial is my favorite commercial because one ad with no relation to video games or Star Wars has ever captured my attention like this. This video shows you a bold message which is delivered straightforward in to minutes. Finally, many companies waste their money even on a 30' second or a minute ad, this video does so much with two minutes, it is simply jaw dropping.

Simply Jaw-Dropping

Needless to say, not all the Superbowl commercials were good, one specifically which I disliked was the Hyundai Elantra commercial. In my opinion, having an incredibly drugged up video like this just doesn't relate to the car. I have to say, Jeff Bridge's voice over was cool, but I just can't imagine him as a shrink, it doesn't fit. Also, when you realize that the Elantra is a compact car, you kind of loose interest..no I was just joking, it is only that the video is too funky. Then, there is the time factor involved, one minute is way too long at least for the content, they should've made the ad a lot shorter, more like 30 seconds. Also, one big detail that this ad misses at delivering at was at promoting a car, you have to much going on on the screen. So, If I made a car ad which isn't delivering a deep message such as the Eminem ad, I would just make it about the car, nothing else. Finally, I would make a 30 second ad, showing the car, its features and just convincing the potential buyer, not freaking him out.

With the Super Bowl on mind as well as the super budgets for a minute or 30 second ad, experimented by doing our own commercials promoting a product. The project turned out to be quite fruitful because we could see the commercials with another point of view, 86 k for second is a lot of money and on some commercials like the Elantra, it was just thrown to the trash. One ad that stood out in my opinion was Taku's Pringle's commercial. What really interested me from this ad was how a commercial can deliver the message "eat Pringles" without saying a single word. This commercial is short and sweet, it is funny and it involves the product that it is promoting. Sometimes, we loose the goal of a commercial which is (for a product) to buy that product because the ad has convinced us to buy it. The music is really cool and the pace is fast, and it is just fun to see what you can do with three crushed down chips. Finally, I praise Taku's commercial because he didn't need a single word to be spoken to say "eat Pringles" and actually make me hungry, congrats to you Taku.

Awesome Stuff

Commericial Project

Effective Commercial

Today and yesterday we watched a couple of commercials of a variety of subjects. The commercials ranged from how funny is not knowing a language, to how distorted our perception of beauty really is. I liked most of these ads, but loved the Dove evolution and Carlton Draught beer ad. The Dove commercial really had a great impact on me, even though I really did know about our distorted view of beauty it is amazing to see it in action. It is the progression from reality into a gruesome fiction that really bumped me out.This ad really tells you what the media has become these days, creating a perfection which can never be achieved, so real and so sad at the same time. The Carlton Draught ad was quite the awesome ad, it was really epic in the whole sense of the word. I really laughed throughout the commercial, and the crude humor that is presented with the combination of such a musical classic composition. This commercial was intended to be funny and it hit exactly into the spot, I really liked this rather different beer commercial.

I have heard the bad news that we have some project, and the project is creating our own commercial. I think it will be fun, I was just kidding in the bad news thing, it is always fun to do something new. I plan to use a comic or funny approach towards my ad, since I seriously cannot deliver the deep emotional approach of the Dove ads. I don't know what to expect yet about the project, but I can only hope that we have the appropriate time to complete the project. This kind of projects really test my ability to demonstrate that I CANNOT ACT, to which hopefully there wouldn't be no more acting projects. I can only wait for the project to be assigned the next week or so, and hopefully the knowledge acquired from watching the commercial will come handy.



I really liked this ad, it is so deep and it has to create some consciousness, I mean If you don't change your smoking habits even with the video, you are a true addict.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3W2fmYz2os&feature=related

Bay in a Day

Jorge Bay in a Day from mistermark on Vimeo.

On my Bay in a Day video I have taken the chronological approach. I have dedicated myself to making the video on a 24 hour scale, from the morning until the night. My theme is time, which can be reflected upon the progression of visual light, up until utter darkness on the city of Puerto Vallarta. I have accomplished this by adding several photos from different places or keypoints on Puerto Vallarta. I also considered other themes for my video, like a more civilian approach to Puerto Vallarta, what do they do, and where; I also considered making my video about only a quick journey through Vallarta as if touring by car. Although I did take some photos out of my car, many of the photos I took were taken on foot, which really got me tired.

The activity did come out to be a truly fun one. The process however, was complicated and quite the bumpy road. I first of all took all the photos throughout a period of three days on a long weekend, going all around the city. After that, I selected my song and decided for the theme. At last, I used Movie Maker to put my whole video together, from the photos, videos, music and at last, animations and transitions. Probably one of the issues that I encountered was the timing on the images and transitions, since transitions really mess up timing on your pre-timed photos. So, I had to personally had to deal with this issue by changing the preset time on every single transitions and simply put them all again. Today, I exported the video file and I am practically done with this, rather long activity.

One Day on Earth

I did like the second video, the first video was way too viral in my opinion. The First video had a lot of media, but still it was a good video, not too good though. The second video, even though it was a trailer was a professional style exhibit of visual media, the first video was a total mess of images with a weird song. The second video has a finer perspective of what is a life on Earth, it captures the eyes far easier. The first video tries to capture your attention desperately by including a song that may inflict some sort of deep message into it, it takes the value of the pictures completely out. The message of the second video is to actually inspire to make your own video, it basically ravages you with words indicating that, it is intended to make you think about the current world conflict.

There were some really important "chunks" to the video, some bad or some good, they made the video what it is. On the first video, the chunks of the trash can, bombing and a guy on jail. I really liked this part, this part shows you the real world, it shows you that no country is perfect but rather plagued by some wrong. On the second video, the part when there is a quick and noticeable change in ethnicity, people working in several places, was a really key element to this "trailer", it truly transmits the message. This parts were key since they really show you the world as a whole, and immense planet. I can't wait to decide the approach I am going to take towards this activity, although a I really don't have good hopes of making a very good video.

Fuel Efficiency and the BP disaster

This year, one more time humanity has been shown the dangers of dependance on crude oil, with the help of the BP disaster on the Gulf of Mexico. Fuel efficiency, the smart decision to make, has been around for a while now, but the industrial mongers keep repressing their importance to the environment. Although some cars, like the hybrid, have escaped this oppression and had come out for sale, and actually has been sold quite a while, there is still much to do about this subject. I do consider the smart decision when I get into my car, that's why I walk to school, why waste money, and in the process actually cooperating in the environmental movement for the good of the planet. I should as well as any person consider this fact while thinking of getting into any gas-based vehicle, there were animals killed in the BP incident, people lost their jobs, all because of the constant demand for an overused type of fuel. In conclusion, the use of fuel efficient vehicles is good, it is good 0n your wallet and for the environment, just a small step in the environmental movement that has finally been alive these last years.

photo:http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Business/Pix/cartoon/2010/7/27/1280224990307/BP-oil-spill-006.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/27/bp-oil-spill-taxpayers-clean-up-c

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