Visual Resear

Case Study(1)

Client: Chicago Illinois

Project Title: What Are Words

Duration: 21 February 2011 - 1 December 2011

Description :

Project Briefing

"What Are Words" is a hit song written by Rodney Jerkins, Andre Lindal, and Lauren Christy, and performed by American singer Chris Medina. It was released on February 25, 2011, the day after his surprising elimination on the reality TV show American Idol. The song is a tribute to his fiancee who suffered a brain injury as the result of a car wreck and is about promises, commitment and keeping your word.

The music video was shot at Atlantis studios in Hollywood and was released days after the single. The video depicts Medina in the actual recording session alongside Rodney "Dark Child" Jerkins and La Shawn Daniels. Clips from Medina's American Idol audition and personal videos showing Medina and his fiance at their home together are also included.

Background

On 2 October 2009, Chris Medina was in a car accident when he married his Fiancee Juliana. Juliana was paralyzed and now has to live in a wheelchair, unable to take care of herself. But Chris Medina has taken on the responsibility of caring for his sick fiancee. Later Chris joined American idol to earn more money so that his fiancee could receive better treatment and lead a better life. Although it ended up in the top 24 in China, "What are words", a song full of love, has been firmly imprinted in people's hearts. There is a feeling, can let bystanders moved, that is selfless love! You can hear how much Chris Medina loves his fiancee. He kept his promise that no matter what happened to the person he loved, she would always be his angel.

Chris Medina is one of 39 out of the 63 contestants on "American Idol," which is in the middle of a 24-way primary season for men and women. However, Chris Medina was eliminated, but people are reluctant to part with it, of course, this is not Chris Medina singing ability how good, but Chris Medina 's story, it is very moving.

Chris Medina is one of Jennifer Lopez's favorite contestants on the American Idol judges list, but as the show progressed, he was knocked out of the competition by a host of powerful opponents. Jennifer Lopez couldn't hold back her grief at the result. She burst into tears after the studio announced Chris Medina 's elimination. It's cruel. I wouldn't have done it if I'd known. It was only with the consolation of two other judges, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson, that Jennifer Lopez took control of her emotions and recorded the rest of the show, perhaps a lot of talking and a lot of introductions. Can not cover his deep love for his girlfriend, if we can understand: what is the worst? And that's all it is. It can never beat me. It can't beat the love between us.

Budget

200,000,0 -500,000,0

Strategy

The first strategy is to put Chris Medina personality on display. This comes before anything else because it’s a general rule of thumb as an artist. We want Chris Medina ’s music to directly connect with listeners,  so it should be crafted in a music video that allows people to know him. All artists have their own unique story, and while personality may not make its face fully known in audio form, music videos are the perfect opportunity to show the world who you are as a person, which in turn makes your product more memorable and more likely to reach a wider audience. In Chris Medina, he has his own story, his own experience, and the songs he sings are not just singing, but talking about his feelings, stories, and emotions with the people he listens to. He can sing “What Are Words” better than anyone, because the “What Are Words” is talking about his love for his fiancee, and his determination and faith to stay with her. He sang this song in the competition, so people all over the world have known what an excellent and responsible man he is. He can give up all his own things and take care of his fiancee. That's why we decided to make a music video to commemorate his love story and his song.

Maybe he was just attracted by his affectionate singing of "What are words" and the meaning of the lyrics at first, but the song was interspersed with intermittent images: he proposed to his beautiful girlfriend on one knee, she was overwhelmed and all the beautiful things were recorded in their photo album over the years. Chris Medina 's devotion to his wife is something we young people can learn from. This is the part of the strategy in this music video. Because this is a true love story so music video will follow the true video to edit. In the music video, have many memories picture, Chris Medina. This will give people a deeper understanding of his feelings and his story. So we will intensify The establish a strong connection between the lyrics and visual.

Research

Christopher Edward Medina born on 30 November 1983. He is an American singer born in Chicago, Illinois. Then relocated to a nearby suburb Oak Forest, Illinois and graduated from Columbia College Chicago. In late 2010 he auditioned for the reality show and talent contest "American Idol" and received a "golden ticket to Hollywood", making it to the top 40 out of 327 contestants on Season 10 in 2011. The night he was eliminated on February 24, 2011, Jennifer Lopez, one of the judges, could not control how terrible she felt that she was the one who had to tell him he would not advance further and cried afterward.

Challenge

Chris Medina singing “What are words” is very uncomfortable and then he’ll keep thinking about that day. 

Design Solution

(T-shirt Design)

(Poster Design)

(Poster Design)

Case Study(2)

Sharing Ideas :

How might you incorporate any of these visual methods into your research?

I will incorporate my visual choice of having a greyscale finishing, as well as the placement of the character collage into my poster design as each of these choice, have a meaning behind them.

Potential issues / risks / challenges?

The challenge I faced while making the poster collage was on how to make my version of this collage different from all the other promotional posters and fan art out there as I did not want my collage to be similar to others as well as wanting to avoid being told or accused that I have plagiarized the works of other people.

Solutions?

After some research, I have found out that the best solution to my current design problem is to make the entire poster and its collage in greyscale. This would work to my advantage as not only has no other artist ever made a black and white collage of the Marvel characters, but the greyscale look of my collage works perfectly with the tone and look of the promotional products for Avengers: Endgame.

What relevant resources / knowledge / skills can we share?

The relevant knowledge that I share through my poster is on how Marvel Studio has managed to make a mark in history after much hard work and even after how they have made box office bombs after bombs.

For whom, are the images intended? What significance does that have?

The images were intended for the fans out there.

How were the images produced or created? By whom and under what circumstances? Are there power relationships involved?

The images are a collection of fan arts of the same artist. That artist will be compensated well as well as paid and credited for his work involved in the poster.

What stories do the images tell?

The images tell the story of how much Marvel Studios has achieved in terms of story-telling and world building in 10 years and how they, from being near bankruptcy to become one of the biggest motion picture studio in the world.

What does the image-text say about what you are researching ( e.g., learning, teaching, love, play, politics, work, technology)?

The images and text that i have researched and input into the poster are meant to tell people the story of Marvel Studio’s history as well as their achievements while also promoting their upcoming new Avengers movie in 2019.

How do these images create meaning? What social, cultural, or political knowledge is required to be able to interpret the images?

These images, after being put together, shows and reminds everyone how far we have all come. Starting from the first Iron Man movie that kick-started the MCU and Marvel’s road to making movie history.

What is your emotional reaction to these images? What social, cultural, or political knowledge is required to be able to interpret the images?

I had a nostalgic feeling towards seeing these images put together through the memories of hearing the name Iron Man back when I was standard 3 in primary school. Seeing how much I have grown since then and how I grew up with these characters also made me realize that these characters have played such an important role in my upbringing.

What is the main “text” or messages conveyed by the images?

The images I chose to put into the collage was meant to convey not a message but a feeling; that feeling being a sense of belonging, that these characters belong in our lives.

How are the visible minorities represented or portrayed?

Besides the 3 main characters in the collage, every other character are only slightly smaller than them as to show that even though they aren’t exactly the main characters in the movies, they play a big part in the overall storyline; that everyone portrayed in the collage is as important as the main characters themselves.

How are gender differences and similarities portrayed?

Every character in my collage is portrayed as equal to each other hence the similarities in their size in the collage.

How is the group you are focusing on (e.g., children) represented?

The group I am focusing on is represented as one of the most successful companies in the world, but only because of years and years of blood, sweat, and tears. The collage I have input into the Avengers logo is meant as a sign of how far they have come.

What is the relationship between the image-text and the status quo?

The finished poster design is meant to show the audiences that after 10 years the storyline has changed, that the upcoming Avengers movie will be for a more mature audience; hence the black and white collage on the poster.

Choosing a Design

Case study and historical :

The reason why I chose the Avengers logo is to show everyone that true hard work really pays off. Seeing as how 10 years ago, nobody would have thought that Marvel Studios would have made one of the most successful movie franchise of the century. Especially since Marvel has never had a good track record of making good movies (besides the X-Men series and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy).

But now after so many years, Marvel has become a powerhouse in the movie production industry, with many other companies trying to follow suit to gain the same success that Marvel Studio has obtained. (e.g., DC Comics, Universal Studios, etc.)

Final Assignment

What are your initial impressions of your collage?

I was quite happy with the final outcome of my collage as I was able to find a collection of characters in the same art style. This in return helped my poster to look whole.

What general observation can you make about e.g darkness / lightness, choice of color, range of imagery, rhythm and flow?

The overall poster has a greyscale color scheme as my final design choice as to show audiences on how the upcoming Avengers movie will have a more mature storyline and that it is not for the faint of heart.

Repetition

There is no visible repetition in my poster collage design.

Things that are placed next to each other / far apart

Everything in my poster collage is placed equally far apart to each other to make the overall design more uniform.

What is emphasised, what is almost hidden or missing?

Besides the emphasized 3 main characters, there is nothing hidden or missing in the collage. Unless you count the hidden message in the greyscale color choice I made for the poster.