CoP Lecture 1 - Overview of the module

We went though an examples of pieces of work from the past that helped change history, but that also provided context and background knowledge to help us understand the pieces of work. We looked at Photography, Animation, Advertising, Illustration and several aspects of Typography. we also talked about the different qualities to each of theses, especially within animation. We looked at the aesthetic, cultural, historical, Technological, social and political was of looking at these things.

Photography we looked at the Worktown Project – Mass Observation, Documenting Bolton, 1937, posh/southerners perspective on North and a“Toffs’ view of working class” and if it was a misrepresentation.

How can we tell if they’re objective or not? is it humorous?

We also  looked at the following events to help put it into context.

- 1929 – Wall Street Crash

- 1930 onwards - Great Depression

- 1933 – Hitler comes to power

- 1932 – British Union of Faschists formed

With animation we had a look at Jiri Trnka, The Hand, 1965

To help understand the context with an animation like this we looked at

-      -  20 years after the end of WW2 & defeat of Nazism

-     -   Height of the Cold War

-     -  State sponsorship of arts also censorship and repression of creative practice

-     -  Precursor to Prague spring of 1968

Advertising we looked at Tony Kaye - 'Tested for the Unexpected', 1993 for Dunlop tyres which was pre-internet which is seen as very unique and different as it was shot in B&W, then edited afterwards.

Illustration we looked at Norman Rockwell and his saturday evening post and painted illustrations which were very detailed in a realistic style and meant to be Illustrations of the prefect American life

with graphics we looked into fonts like times new roman font by Stanley Morrison in 1932 which was designed for the Times newspaper

also Fraktur which was a gothic style German font.

also universal modernists in Europe and there very different styles of fonts

like sans serif, neutral & not associated with anywhere, no connotations so has been used in mass reproducibility

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