Dimension/Depth/Space/Scale

                                     http://www.impawards.com/2012/prometheus_ver7.html

 I was looking for the poster that would be suitable for this week assignment and come across the   poster for Prometheus movie that illustrates relative size, depth, and space quite well. 

Linear perspective gives us a perception of 3 dimensional spaces on 2 dimensional surfaces. The bright spot light is the vanishing point, and the place where darkness meets light is the horizon line. Viewer can see convergence of the stones the further they are on pictorial plan the smaller they appear to the viewer the less details viewer will see, also stones will seems closer to each other.

Overlap is also is also a good cue that tells viewer which object is closer. On this image the stone on the left in the front raw seams closer because it overlaps the one in the second raw.

Size is also important element of this image. The face on the background is enormously big and makes human figures look like ants. Face should look smaller if it had normal size relatively to other objects and was in harmony with rules of the 2 point perspective. On this particular image face made huge to underline allegory how small and insignificant humans are compare to Gods and their will. 

Blog Exercise: Tone and Color

http://dailyjag.com/india/devdas-in-times-top-10-movies-of-millenium/1883/

How TONE is operating

 It is poster for one of the most successful Bollywood movie Devdas. Poster has orange-light-brownish tone in the background that covers female’s pictures and the male’s picture but just slightly. In this case tone separates and unites figures. It separates the male figure and unites the female’s figures. It tells the story. Tone give sense of something “traditional” or related to Indian traditions because this tone is often used in photography to create nostalgic feeling maybe recall memories. From the expression and positioning of the 3 figures I get sense of dilemma. Two woman separated by curtain and one is hiding behind it.

How TONE is integrating

I thing tone emphasizes background/foreground separation. Shape is another main component that incorporates to the story. One of the women in the background on the left is hiding behind the curtain it tells me that there is some secretiveness gives vibe of separation or being different or misunderstood (depends on plot of the movie). Another woman on the right covered with the same curtain yet with different decorative pattern at the end of it. It says to me that she is about to be married or already is. There is something that unites and yet separates those two women and tone underlines it. So tone kind of lead us and shows the hierarchy of importance of the characters Shape also plays significant role here. We see bottle and marks on both women’s forehead, both of the marks communicate to the viewer. Dot(rounded shape) means single or married (it is depending on color). And woman on the left has just decorative diamond-shaped element glued to her forehead. Bottle that man holds means distortion confusion dissatisfaction or uncertainness .    

How COLOR is operating

The goodish background color creates dreamy or nostalgic atmosphere and also gives females supporting role and makes the man a main character of that movie. He doesn't fade into background and his hair part of his short and mainly bottle touched with colors. I think color here play the role of the highlighter to underline hidden message and symbolism. Color marks the ques for the viewer which movie might be about.

How COLOR is interacting

Color leads viewer to make assumptions before they even begin to read the plot or watch a preview. The female on the left has decorative element on her forehead it probably means it is important for her to showcase her beauty. The woman on the right has a dot that is supper bright and bigger than usual- it is symbolic accent.  Red dot means that she is married or prepared for marriage; it gives viewer room for interpretation. Ether main character will be in love with married woman (which is less likely in Indian movies) or there are some social differences between them and she married or about to get married to a different man. Both of the women have lips almost the same color it might be just underline their sensuality or if I go deeper in symbolism mean tough choice for male. The most colorful; part is bottle which stands out against peaceful background the most. Well I guess man is frustrated and he couldn't make his choice without the bottle (just kidding)

The Basic Elements- Magazine Ads

COLOR

Color is always used for makeup advertisements, because when it comes to decorative cosmetic it is obviously the most advantageous. It is the ad for the limited edition collection dedicated to Andy Warhol that features Edie Sedgwick. She was known for wearing a lot of makeup; however in this ad the picture of her is in black and white, because focus should be on the product. Black and white pictures communicate with a viewer in several ways it takes viewer back in time. Black and white could be synonymous to word “classic” or project seriousness. In this particular case it features celebrity from the past and also creates calm background so the colors on foreground can stand out.  

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MOVEMENT

 Movement is a powerful tool that creates the illusion of dynamic, generate energy and make the image more emotional. This image features Olympic champion Michael Phelps. Although he faces the viewer we still perceives movement, the key to that is water splashes. The viewer knows from experience that splashes wouldn't appear without motion. Michael Phelps’s image exuberates strength, his muscles are tensed, mouth is open, he is trying to get a breath of air, and all of it suggests movement.  

SCALE

This ad utilizes scale. Viewers  eyes immediately notice if something is disproportional. If nose is too big compare to the rest of the features or legs are too long, or too short, let alone if something that obviously should be smaller than human figure.

Here then viewer see’s a martini glass which is bigger than the other bodies that are inside of it. Splashes of water create moment and energy but scale is  the main feature of that ad because it creates the feeling that figures get lost in the moving water. It communicates the idea of escapes from whole world, experiencing something new and unusual and feed the viewers' curiosity.

Visual Thinking Research

The Cat after Martin Gardner

I was working on this one with my husband. I was looking at computer screen and counting, he got the print. Our strategies were a little bit different but both of us miscounted triangles at first : I got 19 he got 21.

He was breaking picture into 3 main sectors, and count every triangle in sequence within the sector.

I also divided cat into 3 main sectors, but I was counting bigger triangles and then smaller once. Because our numbers didn't match we recount. 

 I took my husband’s printed copy and then I got 20 as well as him. As I figure out I was missing either #19 or #20 at the end of the tail because I thought I already counted  it when I was counting triangles in the middle part of the tail. Both of our visual perceptions "close in" on the hidden triangles in the picture of the cat but until I got paper version and pointed each triangle with a pan I didn't get correct answer. Both of us did mistakes when we counted triangles on the tail. The funny part was that my husband didn't notice it was the CAT he just perceived  picture as the bunch of triangles divided on 3 sectors.

The Lost Star

by Sam Loyd

http://www.puzzles.com/PuzzlePlayground/LostStar/LostStar.htm

  

This problem would be identify by McKim as a “pattern seeking”

The purpose of the puzzle is to find a STAR hiding in the image. I was doing it online and my husband got printed copy.

Before I even started my search for a star I tried to identify the visual problem and how I can be tricked.  I was thinking if I need to find a pattern than more likely color would be a distractor because according to gestalt principals our eye groups similar looking object together. We have tendency to group similar colors together and similarly looking shapes that close to each other.

Challenge #1 is eliminate a color distraction. I couldn't make image black and white online and I didn't want to do it because it might take away from the fun of solving it, so I just shifted my focus from the color to a shape, it helped to change my visual perspective, but I couldn't see a star yet.

Challenge #2 was finding similarity in shape’s pattern; we all get used to that stars are formed from narrow, similar in shape and size triangles.  Here it was not the case; most of the triangular patterns were different in shape and size.

So I started specially looking for at least one pointy triangular shape of a star  (as we got accustomed to see it) because it said in a puzzle description “there is a perfect star in the illustration”. Once I found it, the rest was easy; what was concealed became reviled.

My husband on the other hand was focusing on shapes and he was looking for narrow pointy shapes. As strange as it may sound he found 3 points of the star (all in the area where star actually is), but couldn't see the star... He found #1, #4 and I think #2 on the right because he kept telling he sees part that looks like it might be a part of the star .