WONDERSHOWZEN!

Wondershowzen is another program I have paid close attention to in regards to my own project.  This is a television show which takes the idea of children’s programming to a whole other level.  The show itself is presented as a fun, learning based program like Sesame Street with whimsical lettering and animations, however the content of the show is very adult oriented and extremely popular.

Here is some of the feedback from a viewer that I felt clearly describes the Wonder Showzen phenomenon and its success:

“What people need to understand is that this is parody within parody, and the humour is complex. It is presented as a kid’s show and a lampoon on cartoons of the sesame street variety. So its not just a simple “lol mexicans have babies” joke, its a morbid jab at what values we teach our children, a less judgemental view of the world, etc. You do have to be intelligent to fully appreciate some parts of Wondershowzen.”  - wardlemike – You Tube User

-This Wonder Showzen Clip is clearly an attack on labor laws outside of this country, but done in an animated cartoon approach.  The viewer is encouraged to think outside of this segment and explore the issues further.  Even though the content is presented like one of those popular saturday morning cartoons, it is for an adult audience to understand.

Inspired by the YES MEN

A few days ago I watched the Yes Men documentary on my xbox.  I had class with Andy Bichlbaum last semester and I wanted to know what they are about, so i downloaded it and watched.  What I hadn’t expected was how much their approach towards global issues would impact this second stage of my project.  They disguise themselves as credible sources for large organizations, in this documentary it was posing as representatives of the World Trade Organization (WTA).  They would spend weeks developing professional presentations that looked and felt like actual ideas that the company had, but were clearly ridiculous, and the funny thing was that people were buying it!  I couldn’t stop laughing but at the same time realized how corrupt these large organizations were that the Yes Men were posing as.  Their outsourcing for labor other countries in particular was disgusting and the presentations in the video were educating me about their true practices and just how wrong their actions were.  This documentary got me more interested in the WTA, something I had known nothing about prior to seeing this.  I’m sure thousands of others felt inspired to learn more the same way I did after watching.  

I’m hoping to get into contact with him and discuss my project as well as the execution of his work.

Prototype-2: A Different Approach

I have decided to try something different for this experiment, which is the complete opposite approach to how I was addressing the  issue before.  After all of the feedback I received, several great questions and issues came up.  One of the most important take aways from the criticism was that I should be doing something new and innovative, something that people haven’t seen before or have seen little of.  This whole time one of my precedents has been editorial cartoons for its style, but not for the way that information is cleverly conveyed and problems are addressed.  Editorial cartoon and Illustration is extremely successful in bringing up social problems and issues of a time while allowing for the viewer to think outside of the frame on the page.  By nature, people enjoy having to think outside of the box, it is what leads to individuality and personal opinion.  The more i explore this issue, the more I am discovering that popularity of work goes hand in hand with approach of delivering valuable information.

Over the weekend, I went onto You-Tube and looked up what is popular and unpopular in regards to popularity of PSAs.  I was suprised to find that the number of people watching the standard PSA, which is short bursts of information told through a television, movie or sports personality, barely had any views.  Even with all the money dumped into getting famous people and high quality camera equipment, the true goals of attracting attention to the issues was failing.  On a social network of millions of people, these PSA’s were NOT working.  I thought that even if these were on television, the people watching are still the same, so I’m sure the attention they received remains poor.

Then I stumbled upon an unusual message done in the early 90s which addressed the problems of copyright laws.  The target audience was children, however I appreciated the creativity in the execution and message as an adult, and apparently so had thousands of others.  It too incorporated music, and was several minutes long.  It was funny to watch but the serious issue within the message remained.

I asked myself, why were people watching this video:

-It’s funny.

-It’s music driven.

-It’s nostalgic.

-It’s creative.

-It makes you think outside of what’s clearly stated.

-Even if it is not being watched for its informative quality, the content is still there and therefore the copyright messages remain.  As people watch, they are still getting informed.  I found myself singing “don;t copy that floppy after I watched it.

The same idea applies in this “Treat Your Mother Right” video, which has over 2 million views.

PROTOTYPE-1 – Feedback and Review

I had my first major critique of the project two weeks ago which conjured some interesting responses to the project, there are several issues I will need to work out upon further iteration of this project.  Some of the feedback I received included:

- The information presented was too fast to absorb

-There was too much information conveyed, maybe focus on a few issues 

-Maybe directly address adults in animation

-Minute long PSAs are too long.  Make them shorter, more specific, and more of them

-Too much movement on the screen

-Consider formats- Where do I want my work shown?

-There are disconnected elements in the animation, there is little flow of the piece

-Redo the song or experiment with a new song, just to change it up a little

-This is a PSA to the T – be more creative, because there is something ignorable about this

- This view is picturesque of the country, where is the problem really?

as you can see, my project got ripped, which is actually fine because I have realized I need to get more creative with this.

I have taken several screenshots ofthe comments I received from several people about the facebook event that I created to watch the animation.  Many of  them I knew, but there were also a few that i didnt that were able to respond and give me feedback which was really helpful.  With this project, i am going to try and reach out to an audience I don’t know but who is interested in the approaches I am taking.

PROTOTYPE -1 -Animatic Complete

The first animatic of the whole animation has been completed and is now available to be viewed.  The overall look and feel of the piece and the colors I have chosen comes from the idea of nostalgia that i am trying to incorporate into my animations.  Since this PSA is geared towards the parents and adults in the lives of children, I wanted to experiment with color choices and stylistic choices that might channel some thoughts about days when they were younger.  I was one of the MTV obsessed kids, I loved Beavis and Butthead and Liquid television along with popular animated series on the Oddities program which included “The Head”, “The Maxx”  and “Aeon Flux.”  I specifically remember the bright neon colors of this early programming, which was also the choice in branding of the network itself and 90’s rock posters.  I was hoping that these colors might make connections with my audience and send them back to these early days of MTV when they were kids growing up.  

Here is the animation I created with these ideas in mind, just click the picture to link to the animation:

PROTOTYPE 1 – Work Continued…

The next step I took was to experiment with some colors for the animation.  In class it was pointed out to me that the colors and tone did not feel adult enough, and that the audience for this animation could be children as well as adults.  I realized that it is not just the quality of the content that has to be adult oriented but also the aesthetics of the visuals to compliment the ideas within the animation.  I also might need to change the text of the animation.  It is a little whimsical and even though this is an animated PSA, the underlying issue is more serious than this font conveys.

By next week, i will have this animation completed for user testing…

PROTOTYPE – 1

The First Prototype I have made for the exploration of my project is a PSA style animation, which features music that I sang and wrote that accompanies visual messages within the animation.  I created a simple narrative of an overweight child’s day, from the time he arrives at school to the time he goes to bed at night.  The purpose for this first experiment was to establish a possible look and feel for the project as well as a test of myself to see if this was the way I wanted  to convey this serious issue in our country. 

The first step for me was to create a series of storyboards with the elements I have drawn and would eventually incorporate into the animation.

The next steps for me will be establishing the colors I will use for this animation.  This will prove difficult I feel because the choice of color I feel will contribute to the staying power, audience factor and the overall entertainment value of the piece.

MY THESIS CONCEPT – A Brief Explanation

The progress of education and information is an ever-changing, experimental environment,  where with time, new technologies and ideas are applied in an attempt to better the learning environments of children and adults alike.  Whether it is books, games, or even product based advertisements, the same overlying question applies within each field:  What is the most effective means of conveying ideas to an audience for the sake of education?  What proves even more arduous, is the way of communicating important issues within a social framework as diverse as the one existent within the United States.  For example, there are many different audiences within our country.  There are the few which are compelled to read about the issues affecting the world around us in their morning papers and magazines.  Then there is the watching  population of our country, a rapidly growing audience eager for information while at the same time seeking entertainment that only television programming can offer.  According to a study taken from the Pew Research Center in 2006, 81% of American people interviewed had gotten their news in one day from either TV, newspaper, radio or online.  Of that 81%, 57% of people attained their daily information from television programming ( HYPERLINK “http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1065″ http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1065).  With the slow death of literacy comes the quick rise of motion-based educators.  We are a watch culture, whose audiences wish to be enlightened while being entertained with the knowledge that the majority of what we learn has and will be channelled into a camera-based visual.  There are those who feel however that our movements as a society towards such post-literate tendencies are a negative step and can only hinder our ability to educate and be educated.  What  I have seen and discovered through research are opportunities to further explore ideas of the past and implement them with the technologies of the future.  

My time at Parsons has excited a passion I have had for animation my whole life, but that I had not considered as an educative tool.  It  was rather just a means of my entertainment.  Children’s programming is full of animated sequences for learning but adult education through animation is a less explored domain, and one which I became very interested in.  Adult audiences encounter educational animation more than they may think.  Within the openings of their favorite television programs and in commercials between those programs.  When we go on-line and find short cartoons satirizing our political systems that we circulate through our emails to our friends.  My goal was to find an issue that threatens every ethnicity equally without bias that conjures similar reactions within its entire audience.  Many members of my family have had problems with obesity and dealing with the burdens of its implications.  After seeing my brother battle weight problems both emotionally and physically, I have realized just how important an issue it is, not just for me, but for the rest of our country.  I have done research on the growing problem of obesity in children and have found it offers enough information to create a campaign of animations. My animations will utilize the catchy nature of an informative pop driven song as well as an animated piece to accompany its lyrics.  The goal of this project will be to cover as much educational information as possible while at the same time providing a fluent narrative visual that will generate a consistent viewer base.

MINI-THESIS- further Investigations

I have honed in on the topic I would like to address in my animation. Toxic toys in our country is a very important issue that has been addressed, but not as much as it should be. There is no telling how many toys in our own pasts before this recent recalling actually got circulated into our toy stores and into the mouths of little kids. For all we know, us adults could have taken in a lot of toxins including lead and mercury and could be paying the price for it now. Another interesting link I wish to address in my animation is the similarities that exist between autistic symptoms and those of lead poisoning. I scoured You-Tube once again for some early attempts at addressing toxic toys, many are comical, and a few are sparse newscasts that barely touch the issue. There definitely seems to be a need for improvement and sincerity with this issue.

This next interview recording is very interesting and might need further investigation. It could help me incorporate an older demographic into the picture of toys and the animation I create. Apparently, kids toys is not the extent of toxins in soft products imported from china. There are also the sex toys.

Mini-Thesis Research

Here are several animations that demonstrate animation as an effective tool in relaying important information regarding current affairs of today regarding politics, economics, the web etc…  I chose these particular animations because the message of each piece prevails over the aesthetics and design, and there is a balance in the visual and in the message.  I feel this provides a more effective resource in the ongoing struggle to collect valuable, accurate information from broadcasted sources. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztj2qfui114

http://www.markfiore.com/