Context Matters

We were given the task to research two images and in our groups discuss how many contexts you can assign to the images researched and describe the contexts you have assigned and why the images suit these contexts. Then we had to discuss in your group, in what ways the images need modification in order to fulfill the context or contexts discussed. For example, Crop, logo removal, change colour/de-saturate, addition of text, layer/repetition, etc. moving further from that we then had to present our findings to the rest of our group. (still a nightmare for me!) 

 First image: 

•“words kill war” – simple and to the point text

•the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has inspired Ogilvy & Mather Japan to come up with some very powerful advertisements for non profit organisation ADOT.COM.

•The ads combine weapons with tools of free speech to encourage leaders of the international community to find a peaceful solution.

•ADOT.COM: “As we at ADOT.COM try to play our part in making a better world where differences don’t dictate lives, we actively support many charities in the laudable work they do, from helping the UK homeless, to building a better future for the disabled and neglected children of Bulgaria. We also do our utmost in campaigning for causes where the challenging of norms and the fight against discrimination stands at the forefront. In addition, we believe the expression of creativity can be a great force for progressive change, as art has the potential to make people stop, think and act. Thus, we support musicians, artists and organisations that work to ensure the flourishing and growth of cultural creativity.”

•Made: April 2014

•Distrubuted on social media i.e. Facebook

•Target audiences: Political leaders, urging them to use words instead of starting wars

•ADOT.COM was the company that distributed the picture

•Advertised more widely

•Maybe cropped tighter

Over all I like the symplistic design and couldn’t really find anything to improve it.

Image two:

•Over one thousand people died on this day but the images still seen today do not show dead bodies nor mangled corpses, just the haunting moments of which the event happened.

•There was an agreement among print media and television broadcasters not to show any corpses in connection with the attack, and when an image of a dismembered hand titled ‘The Hand 9/11’ was published by Todd Maisel it was roundly critisised.

•When put into perspective, images nowadays are published no matter how offensive or explicit they are, so the lack of images of mangled corpses are shocking, because although they may not have been published, we know that they were at least taken at some point, but whether those photographers survived we do not know.

•The reason we chose this image to research into was because of the amount of questions that can be asked about the content and even what was happening at the time.

•Did this person have a family waiting for him? What was even crossing his mind while he plunged head first to his death?

•The New York times ran the image as ‘disturbing’ ‘exploitive’ and ‘voyeuristic’.

•As time passed, an investigation was called, who was the falling man and what was his story? The man was believed to have been trapped on one of the top floors of the building.

• We thought the most important thing to think about with this image in relation to it’s context is being empathetic towards the subject in this image. How does it make you as a viewer feel? Does it play with your own fears? Some people’s heart would drop when they think about their own fear of heights, or falling, and I can feel my own fear of death coming through just by looking at this image. It’s stomach churning, when you put yourself in these situations it helps you think about the context, the subject matter and the amount of lives lost and heartbroken families during the event.