What is my Thesis? For my video essay, I
will be looking at different characteristics that relate to how people interact
with advertising on billboards.
The
idea of going out and recording billboards inspired me both because billboards
are an extremely visual form of advertising and because the photos and text
that appear on billboards have many layers of contextual depth.
Thesis: My video essay will explore the idea of
perspective and how there are many different ways to look at billboards that
reflect a person’s relationship with consumerism. Specifically I will focus on
three perspectives: a) how close-up interactions with the words and images
create emotional ties to products b) how physical distance emphasizes a
top-down structure which places billboards in a position of looming over the
viewer, and c) how a neighborhood persona is established as billboards target
certain social classes and racial groups through its messages.
What are my Supporting
Materials?
My supporting materials that I will use to complete this project are my digital
camera, my laptop (specifically iMovie, which I will use for editing), the
Internet to find audio clips via YouTube, and my friends who I will be
interviewing.
What is my Structure? My videos structure will
have three parts. First, I will look at
how words and images influence people by focusing on a parts-to-whole analysis
of what is actually being advertised on a billboard. When looking at billboards from up close, it
is easy to become influenced by the proactive messages and to disregard the
notion that the billboard is constructed to be commercial. However, with physical
distance, the viewer begins to realize that billboards are designed to
influence one’s decisions, even when they are not conscious of it. This notion
of consciousness will be further explored in my second and third part of my
video essay. Because billboards are placed above a person’s eye level, it
forces the viewer to look up at them. Unlike
a TV commercial or magazine advertisement, viewers do not engage directly with
the products on a billboard in that people often drive by them without a second
glance. Nonetheless, billboards continue
to be a successful form of advertising. Third, I noticed that billboards are
targeted to influence the specific neighborhoods they are placed in. Billboards therefore not only influence how a
singular person interacts with advertisements but influences communities as a
whole as well. In doing my preliminary
recordings, I have been fascinated how billboard advertising has different
effects from different perspectives.
What is my Style? In my first part, I will
be looking at how advertisements make us feel emotional and nostalgic and will
do this by creating a montage that looks at how the wording and pictures on
billboards are designed to draw us in to buy a product, yet contrast this with
the perspective of looking at billboards from a distance, in which
commercialism is much more blatant. In my second part, I will be looking at the
perspective of the physical distance between a person’s eye level and a
billboard and try to draw a connection between how people regard and are
influenced by billboards through conducting interviews. In my third part, I will try to look at perspective
from a geographical standpoint by videoing different neighborhoods to see how
billboards reflect certain locations.
What is my Voice? My voice while not
appearing directly on camera will be apparent by how my video essay is
constructed. I will be visually manipulating words, images, and sounds, to make
my point- very similar to how an advertisement on a billboard is constructed.
What is my Purpose?
My
Purpose is to record the relationship between how people interact with and view
billboards. No matter if one is only
looking at certain aspects of the billboard, not consciously looking while they
quickly drive past a billboard, or if they regard billboards when choosing to
buy something, advertisements are a huge role in one’s life and continue to
influence what people say, wear, and buy.
What is my Audience? My audience is for anyone
who has ever seen or has been influenced by a billboard.
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