Blog Post 5

Many images show a grand landscape scene that spans across a desert or an ocean or the mountains. Some show details of nature, such as the intricate veins of a flower in the dewy morning. I chose a rather different sort of image. At first glance all a person would see is two pandas sitting on a rock chewing on a bamboo plant. A closer look at the details reveals that this picture is actually filled with illusions...and more pandas.

The artist thought through each intricate detail to include as many hidden pandas as possible. He also created it so that the hierarchy in the image would reveal the two main pandas as the central focus and most important part. A lot of emphasis is placed on them initially to hide the appearance of the other pandas. This was done with contrasting colors against a mostly monochromatic background.

There are also significant patterns. This is what distinguishes, yet hides the hidden panda faces. The repetition of bamboo reads seems unimportant, but reveals two hidden pandas on either side when taking a closer look. The rocks and leaves also have similar patterns, but use dark and light shading to create the face of the pandas. Even the fur of one of the main pandas is shaded to form another's face; however at first glance it looks like the folds a normal animal's fur would make if it were in that position.

I think this picture is a very good example to look at and analyze because it encompasses many of the design elements talked about in our reading, but also challenges the mind to look for all the details that a first glance would miss. These details that have to be searched for in pictures with hidden images help the writer to be more descriptive in their writing and mold the image in the reader's thoughts more completely.

Blog Post 4

"Move Along," a song by the All American Rejects sends a powerful message to its listeners. It talks of "losing yourself completely" but still getting up everday and moving along. When paired with the this video, the combination of genres makes it unforgettable. It does this in many ways.



When the song starts off the music and lyrics are paired with images of an unhappy person at different places. He is at work getting yelled at, a doctor with no purpose, and a man in an unhappy marriage. These images emphasize the real meaning of the lyrics. The monotonous look on the man's face also balances out with the quick-paced song.

There are many symbolic things as the video progresses. To show how unhappy the married man is, the video shows him sitting home alone with a wine glass. The camera angle makes the wine glass seem much bigger than it really is. The effect of the glass being big is symbolic of having to drink a lot, a habit that is picked up often by people who are depressed or whose lives aren't going well. Another part that is symbolic is the random images that appear during the verses. A picture of a phone off the hook, for example, shows that a person might be feeling so overwhelmed or swamped and is just having a really hard time.

This brings the video to the chorus. During the chorus the makers of the video used a really cool technique. The images flash quickly with the speed of the percussion beat in the background of the music. This is not only cool to look at but gives the lyrics "move along" in the chorus meaning when the pictures are "moving along."

Finally the song comes to the bridge, and the point of the song is realized. It shows the upset man falling backwards off the diving board into an empty pool, almost as if he has given up; however, the makers of the video then cut to a scene of him falling into a sea of hands, and save him. He gets up and performs the heck out of the rest of the song, which helped to emphasize its main theme since he got over his sadness.