Art in Business
Sonic branding
Jun 21st
Brand, branding, visual branding, brand recognition… we hear a lot of that when people talk about advertising or marketing. But have you ever heard of sonic branding? I know I hadn’t, and coming across an article about it woke up my curiosity.
These are tiny snippets of music that have great impact on our psyche. They instantly remind us of companies without the help of any other element. They transcend language and are less than 5 seconds long. No idea what I’m talking about? Play this 4 second video. Arguably the most popular sonic brand to date:
But where did this come from?
Sonic branding originates from what is known as leitmotifs in the world of music composing: musical themes associated with particular characters, places, or plot moments. We owe this to Richard Wagner, responsible for making leitmotifs popular back in the 1800s with his operas. In them, Wagner identified every character with his music. Everyone has heard his opera music at least once, and when I say everyone, I mean every-one. Let’s do a childhood flashback with Loony Tunes.
In “What’s Opera, Doc?” they use Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” song to identify the plot setting. Here is the original:
From art in opera to business, leitmotifs have made their way into the advertising world with sonic branding and have built a multi-billion dollar industry around them. Corporations spend millions trying to manipulate our minds to recognize their sonic brands. The Nokia tune, Windows start-up sound, McDonald’s “I’m loving it” tune. As soon as you hear one of those you are instantly reminded of the company. Sonic branding pioneer company, Cutting Edge Commercial, have been doing this since 1999. They say anything can be brought down to 5 second snippets of music and be identifiable.
So next time you want someone to remember you, maybe having your own personal sonic brand might help.
Television Delivers People – TRUE
Apr 28th
To understand my title you have to watch this video first
As a marketer, I 100% agree with what Richard Serra and Carlota Fay Schoolman say with this video art. The way TV channels make money is by selling commercial spots to advertisers. Now, how does a station charge for a slot in their airtime? It sells it by showing the advertiser how many people will be exposed to the message he or she wants to deliver. This makes us the product that TV channels sell to its customers, the advertisers. If there is more people tuned in, then the channel can charge more premium prices. This is why channels do their best effort to produce interesting content that will make people stick to the screen… Having said this, I wonder how much a commercial spot costs during LOST…
Anyways
My view was reinforced with what my professor Santiago said about how television is run in Europe in contrast to the US. For example, in the UK television belongs to the people through the government. BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation, its name makes more sense now that I know its run by the government. People actually pay a tax for TV, which makes the content different from what we are used in the US. Here we are used to see shows with that whole razzmatazz to entice people to watch because in the end that is what people want.
The power of TV is put into words with this excerpt from the video:
“There is inherent conflict between: COMMERCE, INFORMATION, ENTERTAINMENT.”
We get the news from TV, but we only get what TV shows us, and they have to have an audience in order to make money… so… the stations will only show news that will call the most of attention, in order to make money. It is a business after all. Putting biases aside, how can we rely so much on the information provided by television, if what is being shown is a lure to capture us and sell us as products.
This video art piece is one of my favorite.
In conclusion, TV produces content to be able to deliver us to their client. As an oblivious audience member, how does that make you feel?
The man with three ears – Stelarc
Apr 9th
Stelarc is the man with three ears, and he has taken the use of art and technology to a whole new level.
He combines robotic engineering with his body for art performances. His past work includes creating a third arm extension, a robotic exoskeleton, and a small robot with a screen that functions as a head. His latest work, and the weirdest one I might add, earned him his nickname. He implanted an stem cell engineered ear into his forearm and plans to stick a small microphone into it that connects to a wireless transmitter and will let him send what his ear is listening to over the internet so anyone around the world can hear it. Is this is thinking out of the box or what… More like thinking out of the head!
Now this is too wacky for me, but he may be onto something. Stelarc is an art performer and may not think of business applications, but he firmly believes in augmenting the human body with technology. I’m very curious to see what can come out of his work. Today it looks like a far fetched performance by a mad scientist, but tomorrow his experiments might be the stepping stone to a whole new health industry.
You can find out more about him here: Stelarc, the man with three ears
Performances and their lesson
Apr 7th
“I might as well look as alien as possible because it reinforces a point I am making. My whole thing is that I approach everything as an absolute outsider. It’s the only way I can break so many rules.”
-Klaus Nomi-
If you read this by itself you might think this Klaus guy is some anarchist criminal looking for the next way to get into trouble. If I show you a picture you probably won’t even want to read the rest of this post… But hang in there, read along!
Putting it into context, you realize how much these words make sense. Klaus Nomi was an iconic performer and singer from the second half of 1980′s. His approach to art had never been seen before. By breaking rules, he was talking about breaking apart from social paradigms. This was a man who combined classical opera with punk and pop. His performances were bizarre. He used fashion a lot in his works as a way to differentiate himself as being an alien, an outsider. Thanks to this uniqueness he was able stand out, and viewing the world as an outsider empowered him to perform without being held back by “rules.” That right there is his logo, pretty unique huh?
Not going too extreme, this idea is important in the business world as well. Advertisers struggle as markets are being continuously cluttered with ads, and marketers are challenged to position a brand in consumer’s minds differently from competing firms, although their products or services are pretty much the same. What I’m trying to say is a lesson can be learned from Klaus.
To wow people, sometimes you have to see the whole picture and approach it as an outsider. If you do, then you won’t be subject to predefined rules of behavior that can blind you from seeing opportunities. Consulting groups work like this.
For my art class we have to do a performance piece. The way I see it, a break from whats been done before is what’s important. I have to have this in mind when I think of my performance assignment.
For the curious: Klaus Nomi
The Bauhaus… house
Apr 2nd
A true architectural masterpiece out of its time. This building was founded as a school in 1919 to be a space where all forms of art could be brought together to be studied and taught. Being one of the first design schools, it quickly became a huge influence for modern architecture and design all over the world. Everything that had to do with it, from conception, to utilization, to the people who lived in it, to the furniture inside it, everything, was created as a working piece of art.
The building itself broke out of the architectural norm of the time. Today we see buildings like this one all around, but the Bauhaus was the first building to use straight angles and embrace the cubic form. Its founder, Walter Gropius, was a true visionary as he offered the world a glimpse of what future residential building would look like.
Its industrial design outputs are responsible for one of the most famous modern furniture we are familiar with today. The Cantilever chair and the Wassily Chair, designed by Marcel Breuer.
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You can see how the Swedish furniture giant we all love so much, Ikea, is influenced by the Bauhaus. Most of its furniture incorporates straight angles. Yes, Ikea’s low price strategy of build-it-yourself is what makes us buy their furniture, but they also look good! And that comes from Bauhaus. It is no coincidence Ikea is a multi-billion multinational corporation you know?
Thanks to the Bauhaus, art design moved from being something we can appreciate, to something that is functional.
You can read more about the Bauhaus at its official site: www.bauhaus-dessau.de
All images taken from Wikipedia
Old school movies – Flipbook
Mar 7th
Before the large 3D IMAX theaters we enjoy so much, movies were told in mysterious story boxes called kinetographs. Imagine that “going to the movies” implied going to something like this:
Ever drawn consecutive images on the corner of a book and flipped all the pages for a short story? That’s the whole idea of that box up there. So, to honor the history of the movies – if you will – we have made our own flip-book! Mine is *ahem* curious…? Okay, it looks done by a kinder gardener… Its a story about a man who throws a knife at another man but misses him. The second guy then pulls the knife out and throws it back at him. So complex, right! Here’s a sneak peak:
There you have it 
But putting these embarrassing sketches aside, today, movies are one of the top mediums to show art to people. Art in storytelling, photography, acting, production, direction, animation, choreography, etc! so many different types of art are brought together in a motion picture. After many classes with Santiago it seems to me that as technology advances, art converges into a single medium. That is why understanding art and technology is important to me =)
Televized History – Norma Jean
Feb 25th
Norma Jean… Who’s that person ??
None other than the legendary Marylin Monroe that is!! Did you know that in her first appearance in TV she forgot her lines, went blank, and eventually broke down to tears? Being the Marylin Monroe devout as I am (seen most movies, have 5 posters, 3 table books, one portrait, and countless saved pics haha) that came as a big surprise to me. Many people say she was too big for a small TV screen, so FOX just sent her straight up to the silver screen. Lucky for us, pioneers of TV weren’t working hard to get TV sets inside millions of households just to show us Marylin.
David Sarnoff was visionary enough to create the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) as a division of the Radio Company of America (RCA) in order to have regular programming available for the million of TV sets RCA was aiming to sell. Inspirational indeed.
And many people have things to say about television both good and bad. Here are some of my favorite quotes on TV:
“I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on I go into another room and read a good book.”
- Groucho Marx – Actor/Comedian
“Anyone afraid of what television does to the world is probably just afraid of the world”
- Clive James – Author, “Glued to the Box”
“But how can you rule without television?”
- Andre Malraux – Author and Government Minister (France)
“Television is for appearing on, not looking at.”
- Nowel Coward – Playwrite / Songwriter / Performer
All these quotes and many more can be found at the Museum of Television
Personally, I believe TV is a very powerful medium. There is theory called the Third Person Effect, in which people disagree that TV has any effect on their own lives, but do believe it affects people around them. I feel television has the power to influence each and every one of us in many ways. Just think about it… do you have a TV character you look up to and try to act like that person? Where do you get your fashion ideas? When was the last time you started a conversation on something you saw on TV? and so many other factors.
Thank about its force. TV has the power to create stars; people just like you and me sometimes elevated to demi-god proportions. Some have been transformed into Legends like Marylin Monroe. Even though she only had three TV appearances, it is thanks to TV that everyone today knows about Marylin and has grown up with her as a cultural icon. She now forms part of society, all thanks to TV.
To leave on a bright side, I also love TV because it escapes reality by mixing art and technology to entertain us. =)
Old mystery radio shows – The Shadow
Feb 20th
Did I just find a new pastime ??
In this day and age, listening to a story without seeing how it unfolds is crazy talk. We need a screen to tell us whats happening. A set, landscape, actors, props…! or at least a guy in front of us making hand gestures. Its simple, we need to have our senses focused to pay attention right?
Wrong.
I just listened to a mystery show from the 1930′s called The Shadow. Brilliant! At first I was skeptical like any of you reading this post saying to themselves: “JP lost it. Radio shows?? You’ve gone too far this time kiddo.” Well, being cheap for the listener as it was, radio was the main Great Depression entertainment. Lend me your eyes for this one and I’ll show you the magnificence of forgotten radio shows.
War of The Worlds is a movie by Spielberg, but first time it shook the American people was not as a film. The legendary Orson Welles orchestrated a masterpiece story when he aired on Halloween night of 1938 with his adaptation of War of the World book. People who tuned into the show even 5 minutes after it had started went nuts. They didn’t hear the disclaimer saying that the following hour wasn’t a real report, but a mere play. Add to that, the anxiety and tension brought by 1) Great Depression 2) a pre-WW II atmosphere. By the power of his voice, people took the broadcast as a news report and thought that an alien invasion was actually taking place in American soil. Public reaction was devastating, but that goes to show the power radio has. You can listen to it here: War of the Worlds.
This other show I heard was called The Shadow. Its about a man, coinci
dentally stared by Orson Welles, called Lamont who has a vigilante persona named The Shadow. The Shadow is never seen, a voice in the darkness that helps people in need against organized crime. Remember you of any modern character? My favorite quote is “tonight, as we sit quietly… somewhere… an innocent human being might be in desperate trouble… somewhere perhaps… there is a problem that can never be solved… except… by the shadow…” Heck imagine listening to this while driving at night all by yourself… scaaary…
Check it out: The Shadow
The show starts with a grim music followed by a macabre laugh and a ghostly voice: “…who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men… the shadow knows…” That definitely set the tone for me. But more impressive was how I formed the story in my mind as it was being told. My imagination flew into the darkest corners of my mind and found the scariest possible set to play the story I was about to listen to. Oh dear…
And then it took off like a normal show we would see on TV, like a Law and Order episode or something. Commercials and everything haha! Combined with masterful voices and incredible sound FX, I heard through the entire story as if I were watching it on TV. Best part of it was, as professor Santiago said in class, that I could do another thing while I listened. I was texting and surfing the web while listening attentively.
I’ll leave you with another excellent quote that gave me the chills. It was said by the Shadow in a scene where he was listening to the criminals talking about how they didn’t leave a clue on a perfect crime. From the darkness, unseen the criminals heard: “Wouldn’t you like to believe that… keep thinking about it… keep thinking about… the clue… that you forgot…”
tan tan taaaan!
Listen to it here: The Shadow
Singing in the Rain – Encore
Feb 19th
I can’t help but whistle the tune of the song now…
This movie is one of my favorites. I saw it forcefully for the first time around 7 years ago in a room filled with movie buffs and I have to say I didn’t like it *gasp! the only thing I liked was the song, but now after learning more about the history of cinema this film shines in a bright new light for me. Singing in the Rain does a great job at protraying this.
Interesting to see how the introduction of sound into movies was taken as a passing technology by skeptics at first, and all the issues brought by this new technology for the silent movie actors and directors as well. I found it comical when they are trying to figure out where to place the mic to record the audio. Just imagine being in their shoes and looking for a place close enough to catch the actors speaking, but not too close so that they end up recording their pounding heart haha.
But of course the most iconic aspect of the movie is the song. So many productions have incorporated that song in their own manner, using its cheerful tune for their own purposes. For example in Clockwork Orange they use it to boost the disturbing scene of when Alex and his “droogs” broke into the old man’s house just to have fun beating him up and raping his wife. Probably not how the creators of the song imagined it was going to be used! I read there’s a shower scene in a Alfred Hitchcock movie that the actor masterfully whistles the tune. My favorite is the new and updated version of the song used in the VW Golf commercial with the same idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9myUv5b9zc
After seeing this in class I ran to my laptop and saw it like 20 more times and showed it to all my family and friends haha. I even found out Mynt Royal is the group that made this new version and got their CD !! Unfortunately its really the only good song the have haha. But there are tons of more ways people have used it and here are just some of the videos I found interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3zXCVfJSIs – Seth Macfarlane, Family Guy’s creator singing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0P13ucUeJ8 – George Sampson 2008 Britains Got Talent Winner breakdancing to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSVEcneQMd0 – Another commercial that uses the song, this time by GE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFy4NDlS5kI – Usher recreating the same scene that Gene Kelly did in the movie.
doodeedoo doo doo doodeedoo doo doo =D it just puts a smile on my face.
Jobs’ Apple tablet, my reaction
Jan 27th
Although the article doesn’t specify what the tablet will do I can imagine it will revolutionize quite a few industries the same way other products in Apple’s product line has done. As a marketing guy, the first thing that comes to my mind is selling the product, and remember the iPod, which not only revolutionized the mobile gadgets industry, but also the marketing scenario. With its never-before-seen style, the iPod campaign stood out amongst the heavily advertisement cluttered marketplace. It created such a loyal customer base that the users themselves have created some of the best ads for the iPod, for example this one done for the iTouch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QQmU7amhlo
If the Apple tablet turns out to satisfy all the hype it has created, then I am sure that the very loyal fan base will also create very artistic works with it, commercial or non-commercial. Mobility will have a new form of expression I guess…
Article from: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/26/steve_jobs_apple_tablet_the_most_importing_thing_ive_ever_done.html
