Seminar 5: Persuasion and Propaganda

Propaganda in animation became a means of documenting, seeing that it could be better distributed to the masses. While there are various types of propaganda animation, in the end they all have the same goal where they are designed to persuade you and manipulate your level of political consciousness.

"Persuasion - 'a deliberate and successful attempt by one person to get another person by appeals to reason to freely accept beliefs, attitudes, values, intentions or actions". 
~Tom L. Beauchamp, Manipulative Advertising, 1984

"At that time (WWII), I fervently believed just about everything I was exposed to in school and in the media. For examples, I knew that all Germans were evil and that all Japanese were sneaky and treacherous, while all white Americans were clean-cut, honest, fair-minded, and trusting."
~ Elliot Aronson in Pratkanis and Aronson, 1992, Age of Propaganda, p. xii

Matches an Appeal by Arthur Melbourne Cooper (1899)

Melbourne-Cooper made for Bryant and May what some animation historians consider the earliest surviving stop-motion advertising film, "Matches Appeal". The film contains an appeal to send money to Bryant and May who would then send matches to the British troops, in support of an unspecified war.  

Daddy, what did you do in the great war?

Britain's army at the beginning of the first World War was relatively small and professional. There was no conscription of population before 1916, and so recruitment of volunteers in large numbers became a huge challenge.

The poster was designed to induce a sense of patriotic guilt, trying to capture the British men that were unwilling to volunteer for the war. The picture depicts a situation in the future, after the war, where the daughter asks her dad expectantly how he contributed to the war. Posters like this used that powerful sense of duty to family, but instead that suggested that, in the future, children would hold their fathers to account on the service that they performed for their country rather than the social protection that they ensured for their immediate family. 

The Sinking of Lusitania (1918) by Winsor McCay

The sinking of the Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania occurred on 7 May 1915 during the First World War, as Germany waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The ship was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-20 and sank in 18 minutes. The vessel went down 11 miles (18km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1198 and leaving 761 survivors. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, contributed to the American entry into World War I and became an iconic symbol in military recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought.

Winsor McCay spent nearly two years working on this animation, and at twelve minutes, it was the longest animated film on record at the time and was the first animated documentary. It was in the interests of the British to keep US citizens aware of German actions and attitudes. It was particularly notable, that in this film, the names of several prominent Americans were listed and focused upon. There was possibly also a reason as to why this film seem to drag on, perhaps to evoke stronger emotions out of its audience.

Evil Mickey attacks Japan (1936)

A pretty obvious but still strange piece of Japanese propaganda animation to all that get the chance to watch it to this day, it would seem that by that time, Disney's Mickey Mouse was known to the Japanese to be one of the Americans' biggest and most beloved icons, seeing as a pantless caricature of him was created as the villain of this film... Their own beloved icons, Momotaro, the "Peach boy", Kintaro and Urashima Taro, whom are heroic and pure and representing all that is good about their country, go up against that evil naked mouse and his army of inbred bats.

What age group was this animation aimed at anyway? Despite its seemingly cartoony and childish style, why was there a need to include machine guns into the mix?

Der Fuehrer's Face (1943)

Originally titled "Donald Duck in Nutzi Land", the cartoon features Donald Duck in a nightmare setting working at a factory in Nazi Germany. The film is well known for Oliver Wallace's original song "Der Fuehrer's Face", which was actually released earlier by Spike Jones. It was made in an effort to sell war bonds and is an example of American propaganda during World War II. Due to the propagandistic nature of the short, and the depiction of Donald Duck as a Nazi (Albeit a reluctant one), Disney kept the film out of general circulation after its original release. Its first home video release came in 2004 after the release of the third wave of Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets.

Victory through Air Power (1943)

This Disney feature film was based on the 1942 book of the same name by Alexander P. de Seversky (With him even appearing in the film), that had been extremely popular, influential and controversial upon its release than six months after the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. Walt Disney felt that the book's message was so important that he personally financed the animated production. The film was primarily created to catch the attention of government officials and to build public morale among the US and Allied Powers.

The film played a significant role for the Disney Corporation because it was the true beginning of education films, that are to this day, still produced and used for the military, schools, and factory instruction. The company learned how to effectively communicate their ideas and efficiently produce films while introducing their characters to millions of people worldwide. Throughout the rest of the war, Disney characters effectively acted as ambassadors to the world.

When the Wind Blows (1986)

A British animated drama film directed by Jimmy Murakami based on Raymond Briggs' graphic novel of the same name, the story shows a nuclear attack on Britain by the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of a retired couple,Jim and Hilga Bloggs. The film seems to be taking swipes at Britain's post WWII patriotism and the perils of blind faith in government during the Tatcher era.

The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984)

A picture book also by Raymond Briggs that was apparently for young children (Yeah, sure it is, Raymond...), it satirises the Falklands War. The book presents the story of the war in the format of a picture book for young children. It is written in a simple style with large, brightly coloured illustrations. 

Neither the Falkland Islands, the belligerent countries, nor their leaders are named in the text. Instead, the British prime minister Margaret Tatcher and the Argentine dictator General Leopoldo Galtieri are presented as a pair of metal monsters who send men to fight over a "sad little island" populated by a few shepherds who eat nothing but mutton.

The book mentions several ways in which the soldiers (Who were all made of flesh and blood unlike the leaders they served) were killed or maimed; the pictures accompanying these parts of the text are monochrome pencil sketches, as opposed to the full-colour (Also frankly quite terrifying) caricatures in the rest of the book.

The refusal of either side to admit responsibility for civilian casualties is satirised with the statement that three of the islanders were killed, but that "nobody was to blame".

Lecture Notes 9: Globalisation, Sustainability & the Media

• Globalisation by Socialist:
  The process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces.
• Globalisation by Capitalist:
  The elimination of state-enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result.
• "American sociologist George Ritzer coined the term "McDonaldization" to describe the wide-ranging sociocultural processes by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world." ~ Manfred B. Steger, Globalisation: A very Short Introduction, Page 71
• "Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned." ~ Marshall McLuhan, (1964: p.3)
• Rapidity of Communication echoes the sense.
• We can experience instantly the effects of our actions on a global scale
• "the globe is no more than a village. Electric speed at bringing all social and political functions together in a sudden implosion has heightened human awareness of responsibility to an intense degree" ~ Global Village Thesis, (1964: p.5)
• We live mythically and integrally in the electric age, when our central nervous system is technologically extended to involve in the whole of mankind and to incorporate the whole of mankind in us, we necessarily participate... in the consequence of our every action. (1964: p.4)
• "Electric technology would seem to render individualism obsolete and corporate interdependence mandatory" (1962: p.1)
• The electronic age has sealed the entire human family into a single global tribe (1962: p.8)
• Three problems of globalisation:
  Sovereignty - Challenges to the idea of the nation-state
  Accountability - Transnational forces and organisations: Who controls them?
  Identity - Who are we? Nation, group, community?
• If the 'global village' is run with a certain set of values then it would not be so much an integrated community as an assimilated one.
• News corporations divides the world into territories of descending 'market important'.
• Chomsky and Herman's Propaganda Model - 5 Basic Filters
  . Ownership
  . Funding
  . Sourcing
  . Flak
  . Ideology (Eg, Anti-Islam)
• Sustainable development, sustainable growth, and sustainable use have been used interchangeably, as if their meanings were the same. They are not. Sustainable growth is a contradiction in terms: nothing physical can grow indefinitely. Sustainable use, is only applicable to renewable resources. Sustainable development is used in this context to mean: improving the quality of human life whilst living within the carrying capacity of the ecosystems.
• "Most things are not designed for the needs of the people but for the needs of the manufacturers to sell to people." ~ Papanek. V, 1983, p46

Lecture Notes 8: Ethics - What is Good

• We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators who have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents. Many design teachers and mentors promote this believe; the market rewards it; a tide of books and publications reinforces it.
• Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds, detergents, hair gel, cigarettes, credit cards, sneakers, butt toners, light beer and heavy-duty recreational vehicles.
• Commercial works has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become, in large measure, what graphic designers do.
• This, in turn, is how the world perceives design. The profession's time and energy is used up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best.
• Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortably with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact.
• There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills. Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crisis demand our attention. 
• Many cultural interventions, social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions, educational tools, television programs, films, charitable causes and other information design projects urgently require our expertise and help.
• We propose a reversal of priorities in favour of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication - a mind shift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning.
• Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design.
• "Most things are designed not the needs of the people but for the needs of manufacturers to sell to people" ~ Papanek, 1983:46
• How do we determine what is good?
• Subjective Relativism
  - There are no universal moral norms of right and wrong
  - All persons decide right and wrong for themselves

• Cultural Relativism
  - The ethical theory that what's right or wrong depends on place and/or time

• Divine Command Theory
  - Good actions are aligned with the will of God
  - Bad actions are contrary to the will of God
  - The bible helps make the decisions

• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), a German philosopher believed that the people's wills should be based on moral rules. Therefore it's important that our actions are based on appropriate moral rules.
• To determine when a moral rule is appropriate, Kant proposed two Categorical Imperatives:
  - Act only from moral rules that you can at the same time universalise. (If you act on a moral rule that would cause problems if everyone followed it then your actions are not moral)
  - Act so that you always treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves, and never only as a means to an end. (If you use people for your own benefit that is not moral)

• The Principle of Utility (Also known as the Greatest Happiness Principle)
  - An action is right to the extent that is increases the total happiness of the affected parties
  - An action is wrong to the extent that is decrease the total happiness of the affected parties.
  - Happiness may have many definitions such as: advantage, benefit, good, or pleasure
•  Rules are based on the Principle of Utility
  - A rule is right to the extent that it increases the total happiness of the affected parties
  - The Greatest Happiness Principle is applied to moral rules
• Similar to Kantianism - both pertain to rules
  - But Kantianism uses the Categorical Imperative to decide which rules to follow
• Social Contract Theory
  - Thomas Hobbes (1603-1679) and Jean-Jazques Roussea (1712-1778)
  - An agreement between individuals held together by common interest
  - Avoids society degenerating into the 'state of nature' or the 'war of all against all' (Hobbes)
  - "Morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others follow those rules as well."
  - We trade some of our liberty for a stable society.
• Are all legal acts also moral?
  - Difficult to determine because many immortal acts are not addressed by the law
• Are all illegal acts immoral?
  - Social Contract Theory: Yes, we are obligated to follow the law
  - Kantianism: Yes, by the two Categorical Imperatives
  - Rule Utilitarianism: Yes, because rules are broken
  - Act Utiliarianism: Depends on the situation. Sometimes more good comes from breaking a law

• Criteria for a Workable Ethical Theory?
  - Moral decisions and rules:
  - Based on logical reasoning
  - Comes from facts and commonly held or shared values
  - Culturally neutral
  - Treat everyone equally

Lecture Notes 7: Consumerism - Persuasion, Brand, Society, Culture

• Aims for this Lecture: 

1. Analyse the rise of US consumerism
2. Discuss the links between consumerism and our unconscious desires
3. Explore the Ideas and Concepts Created and Developed by Sigmund Freud and Edmund Bernays
4. Consumerism as social control

• Refer to: "Century of Self" (2002) by Adam Curtis and "No Logo" (1999) by Naomi Klein if interested
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian neurologist, now known as the father of psychoanalysis, had created a theory oon human nature, the hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts which need controlling

• All of these unconscious desires begin to act out and manifest themselves into some shape or form when one is asleep
• Freud argued that there is a fundamental tension between civilisation and the individual, we retain a sense of violence, aggression and sexual instincts as part of our biological make up
• Human instincts are incompatible with the well being of the community, with civilised society we repress our basic human instincts, constantly frustrated from not carrying out our deepest desires
• The Pleasure Principle is the instinctual seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain in order to satisfy biological and psychological needs. Specifically it is the driving force guiding the ID
• The engagement in behaviours that are bad for us feels good
• Edward Bernays (1891-1995) was an Austrian-American pioneer in the field of PR and propaganda, known as the father of Public Relations, and was of course the nephew of Sigmund Freud
• He was employed by the American government as a propagandist of sorts during WW1, soon enough writing the book "Propaganda" (1928)
• Post war, he set up "The Council on Public Relations"
• If instinctual desires are being met when they buy things, not only will they be contented, a demand will be created for these things

• Edward was pretty intent on improving the sales of products by creating a larger appeal to them to draw in more customers, such as an ad for cigarettes, he was able to get past the social taboo of women smoking
• Women began to equate these cigarettes with being more independent, free than repressed and sexually desirable
• The birth of PR was seen as a disciplinary wartime propaganda
• Attempts to attach products to instinctive human desires

• Celebrity endorsements (Seeing that they are symbols of success or the ultimate models of independence and glamor) and pseudo scientific reports were used to make these products more appealing
• Fordism came about during the same time during the development of PR 
• Standard producton models built as they move through the factory (I wrote this stuff before but why not?)
• Requires large investment, but increases productivity so much that relatively high wages can be paid, allowing the workers to buy the product they produce
• Proliferates the world with things, at a more rapid pace

• It became more important for companies to distinct their products from their own competitors as production grew more efficient, this is where the idea of branding comes in
• Car ads seem to base themselves around male sexual potency to draw in their customers

• From a Need culture to a Desire culture (Getting people to buy stuff they already have or don't really need at all)
• Refer to "The Hidden Persuaders" (1957) by Vance Packard
• Analyses marketing techniques used at the time and the hidden needs that they are able to draw out from their customers
• Selling emotional security, reassurance of worth, ego-gratification (Makes you appear better as a person to others, particularly when these products are endorsed by celebrities, who were so much more admired at the time), creative outlets, (Jemima) love objects, sense of power of a sense of roots (Most cars seem to do that) immortality
• Aunt Jemima's Pancake Flour in a way tricks buyers into thinking that they are being creative by using this product to create their pancakes (HAHA)
• During the emergence of PR, a new attitude to the governing of society emerged
• Walter Lippmann wrote "Public Opinion" in 1920

• A new elite is needed to manage the bewildered heard, capitalists and consumerism society
• An educated elite advising the government in controlling this society, seeing as politicians were seen as hopeless and useless
• The idea of consumerism is employed as a mechanism to control citizens
• Create a system to rationally satiated over their desires for anarchy? Consumerism creates the illusion of freedom
• Communism was a threat to capitalism
• The stock market crash was a significant event in history as it was the first moment that the political class realised that society could be destroyed if all decisions were made by thes big business folks
• Soft socialism, regulate markets again, increase taxation with the aim or redistributing this money, recreating state control

• New York's World Fair was this giant PR exhibition of sorts, pioneered by Edward Burnays
• Celebrate everything that's apparently great about America as compared to the rest of the world, like the Soviet Union with the repressed, American consumerism
• The message pretty much reinforced through out "You are a free American to buy whatever you want."
• Free choice is being able to buy what you want, unlike Russia
• Your participation in the buying of a product signifies that you are aiding the country in a positive direction
• Big business knows what's good for the overall country than the politicians themselves
• Giant bit of propaganda for consumerism
• Democracity, the ultimate expression human freedom, the supposed vision of the future
• This however does not represent citizen control, there is no true democracy represented in it, it instead centralizes power, a bankrupt illusion to keep humans docile, making them think they are living meaningful lives
• Consumerism is an ideological project, we believe through consumption our desires can be met
• The legacy of Bernays/PR can be felt in all aspects of 21st century society
• He felt that this manipulation was necessary in society, which he regarded as irrational and dangerous as a result of the "herd instinct"
• The conflicts between alternative models of social organisation continue to this day
• To what extent are our lives free under the Western Consumerist system
• The illusion of free choice
• You are not what you own

Seminar 4: Cities and Film

I will admit that I had drawn a blank when it came to applying this topic to animation, but thanks to James, it finally hit me (And a few others) that cities, buildings, and any sort of architectural designs are obviously environments and settings, that if designed and presented in a certain way, can create the perfect mood and establish a large part of a film, or animation. Sometimes the application of things to a certain area can be so darn obvious, that it is frustrating that we pointlessly ended up thinking too hard on it.

The Fountainhead (1949)

Howard Roark continues to struggle through life as he refuses to adhere to the conventionalism of others, despite giving the opportunity to make it big, he chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision. Despite an establishment centred on tradition-worship, Howard continues fighting against it, sticking to his practice as what the public sees as modern architecture.

The film, and pretty much the book it was based on focuses on themes of individualism, not in terms of politics, but the individuals themselves, namely Howard, despite being written in the 30s during World War II when it wouldn't be surprising for books to be written on world affairs and such. The theme of architecture was chosen for the analogy of the ideas offered to the author herself, especially in the context of the ascent of modern architecture. Roark searches for truth and honesty and expresses them in his work, remaining uncompromised when changes are suggested, mirroring modern architecture's trajectory from dissatisfaction with earlier design trends to emphasise individual creativity.

"Through almost seven hundred pages of elaborate plot, stilted speeches, and overwrought emotions, (Ayn) Rand's ideological cartoon of a book (she also wrote the screenplay) pits the individual, whose undaunted ego is the fountainhead of all praise-worthy human activity, against the common man, Rand's rabble, who fearing the individual, attempts to destroy or reduce him to its own base level. To translate her philosophy into fiction, the author cast her hero as an architect" ~ Albrechy, D. (1986), Designing Dreams: Modern Architecture in the Movies, London, Thames and Hudson, Page 168

Psycho (1960)

The Bates household had been presented as the all-american dream (Oneiric in a sense) home of sorts at the very beginning (As well as in some of the trailers shown at the time), in most Alfred Hitchcock films, characteristically they start off in an idyllic and relaxed atmosphere. Scenes and buildings reflect a somewhat naïve and amusing balance of bourgeois (Conventional, middle class) life. 

As the story begins, however, a sense of foreboding begins to convey a negative content to the buildings. The very same architecture turns gradually into a generator and container of fear, and in the end, terror seems to have poisoned space itself (Pallasamaa, J. (2001), The Architecture of Image: Existential Space in Cinema, page 25). In the original black and white version, the stark contrasting shadows are able to enhance the sinister feel that this house gives off as the story progresses, even during the day, a sense of foreboding is felt with each new character that dares enter it.

It is interesting to note how certain rooms are associated with certain characters we already know that the seemingly forbidden areas of the household are associated with Norma Bates, such as her bedroom and her basement, which are barely seen until near the end of the film. 

Norman's parlour was his sanctuary, where he probably had felt the safest as he gets to momentarily have some time alone to himself, and away from the verbal abuse of his 'mother', surrounded by the things he loves such as his bird taxidermy collection (Perhaps getting some sense of comfort as these lifeless creatures watches him from above, almost as if guarding him, keeping him company, possibly agreeing and supporting him). 

The Shining (1980)

The Stanley Hotel in a way also ties in with the bourgeois existence, in the beginning before it was closed for the winter, where there were still guests and staff around, it appears to be a seemingly peaceful and lovely place to stay. Despite that however, despite the beauty and magnificence of the landscape, it becomes apparent that not all is at it seems, especially once Jack and his family is isolated from the rest of the world.

The opening is a pretty obvious give away to the overall mood of the film (Unlike Alfred Hitchcock's films, which are considered a rarity these days in terms of pacing and atmosphere), with the soft but ominous music that plays in the background, as well as the tracking shot of the car as it drives its way down a long winding path up the mountains, that establishes just how far out and secluded their destination happens to be. The sense that there is nowhere to escape or no one to call for help if something should go wrong...

The interior of the hotel, despite how vibrantly coloured it is and grandiosely classic the architectural elements are (Such as materials, wallpapers, windows and doors, furniture, etc.), as the story progresses, the overall feel of the setting begins to become more suffocating and claustrophobic in nature. Jack however, out of the three occupants in this huge, quiet, empty hotel, becomes the most overwhelmed (With his alcoholism obviously contributing to that), but also seemingly becomes a part of the hotel itself (Particularly that ending that still draws many questions to this day), as it would seem his supposed moments of 'sanity', or when he is feeling the most calm, is when he is speaking to people that are meant to be there, such as the bartender.

Most successful horror works are able to make full use of the psychological aspect of space when it comes to the settings and of course, how things are shot through the camera... sort of celebrates it, while also ironically, the beauty of the city and the dark side of it

Grand Theft Auto V

Onto something a little different... The critically acclaimed "Grand Theft Auto V" has been known for it's satirising of the glamorous city life, particularly in the fictional city of Los Santos (Based on Los Angeles), where one of the main characters, Michael Townley/De Santa had chosen to leave his old criminal life behind in hopes of starting anew with his family there. 

While it has been made clear that the playable main characters are in no way the good guys, the people that they have to deal with are no better, these 'plastic', rotten, arrogant people that think they are living the life and are above all else, characteristics that begin to manifest in Michael's family as they themselves become taken a hold of by the luxurious lifestyle that he himself had provided to them in the first place.

Out of the three main characters, Michael is probably the most connected to the city of Los Santos (While not being a city native like Franklin), developing a rather bittersweet relationship to the city. As he realises towards the end of the game that while he still hates himself, he is also able to accept himself in a way, and is quite contented with his new life in the city (A little humorous note is how frequently he purchases unhealthy highly caffeinated drinks from the Bean Machine, a spoof of Star Bucks and Coffee Bean, which of course pokes fun at consumer behaviour behind such chains).

While a huge and sprawling metropolis of contemporary culture, being the game that it is, the city obviously has its dark side to it. While it is already mentioned that the wealthier or simply well off people are made to be these plastic or just plain rotten wad, a variety of gangs inhabit every crook and cranny of the city (This probably feels more apparent in the online mode where the population of online characters created by us, the players, cause way more chaos than any of the computer controlled gang bangers ever could). It is not often that the player will chance upon any decent or normal folks, and if there were, they are probably killed off before we even notice they are there.

Los Santos' beautiful design is just a cover up for all the messed up, crazy, awful people that inhabit it in all honesty, and that just makes it easier for us to kill them...

Lecture Notes 5: Cities and Film

This lecture will look into the city in terms of Modernism and Postmodernism, the possibility of an urban sociology, the city as public and private space, and the relation of the individual to the crowd in the city.

Industrialisation

• The first known urban sociologist is Georg Simmel (1958-1918) who wrote "Metropolis" and "Mental Life" in 1903
• For the Dresden Exhibition , Simmel was asked to lecture on the role of intellectual life in the city but instead reverses the idea and writes about the effect of the city on the individual
• "the resistance of the individual to being levelled, swallowed up in the social-technological mechanism." ~ Georg Simmel, "The Metropolis and Mental Life", 1903
• It was believe that architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) coined the term modernism, creator of the modern skyscraper, an influential architect and critic of the Chicago school. he was a mentor to Frank Lloyd
• "form ever follows function" ~ Louis Sullivan
• The Guaranty Building was built in 1894 by Adler and him in Buffalo NY

•  The Guaranty Building was divided into 4 zones, different styles of blocks distinguish the three visible zones of the building from one another: 

1. The basement being the mechanical and utility area with no decorative elements since it was below ground
2. The next zone was the ground floor zone, namely the public area for shops, entrances and lobbies 
3. The third zone was the office floors done in a practical (Expectedly mundane) design with identical office cells clustered together around the central elevator shafts
4. And the final zone was the terminating zone, consisting of elevator equipment, utilities and a few offices

Carson Pirie Scott store (1904)

• Skyscrapers represent the upwardly mobile city of business opportunity
• Fire cleared buildings in Chicago in 1871 and made way for Louis Sullivan new aspirational buildings

• "Manhatta" (1921) was a short documentary film by Paul Strand and Charles Scheeler while revels in the has rising from city smoke stacks, pieces of texts from Whalt Whitman's poetry were used for part of the title cards, the film being an obvious reference to the city of Manhattan (Hehe…). The objective was to explore the relationship between photography and film, with camera movements being kept a minimum, and the relationship of people with buildings, transport, etc. It was an attempt to show the filmmakers' love for the city of New York.
• Charles Scheeler was an advertising photographer for Ford Moto Company, his works reflecting industrialism and modernism

A production line created for maximum productivity with minimum effort
through repetitive mechanical action

• The term Fordism was coined by Antonio Gramsci in his essay "Americanism and Fordism", it is a notion of a modern economic and social system based on an industrialised and standardised form of mass production
• This subject has been brought up numerous times in classic cartoons, such as Looney Tunes (Acme anyone?), I couldn't find a particular example (I mean there definitely a lot of them around it's just a lot harder to find them than I thought) so have the music that normally goes with those scenes of Fordism and Taylorism instead:

• "the eponymous manufacturing system designed to spew out standardised, low cost goods and afford its workers decent enough wages to buy them" ~ De Grazia: 2005:4

• Charlie Chaplin parodied this in "Modern Times" (1936), portraying an industrial worker employed on an assembly line, who is driven mad after being subjected to several awful mishaps involving machinery, and causes chaos in the factory he works, he gets accused of being a communist, goes to jail, meets a girl, works as a waited, before ending up becoming a performer
• Charlie was investigated into later on because of this film, being placed under suspicion for actually being a communist
• "In handicrafts and manufacture, the workman makes use of a tool, in the factory, the machine makes use of him" ~ Marx cited in "Adamson" 2010, Pg75
• During the stock market crash of 1929, factories closed and unemployment rates went up dramatically, leading to the Great Depression

• "The Man with a Movie Camera" (1929) by Dziga Vertov, was a Russian silent documentary film with no story and no actors, a revolutionary film at the time for using various cinematic techniques that Vertov himself invented, deployed and developed (Such as double exposure, fast and slow motion, freeze frames, jump cuts, split screens, extreme close ups, tracking shots, etc.). Vertov's film strove to awaken the Soviet citizen through truth and ultimately bring about understanding and action. It celebrates industrialisation, mechanisation, transport and communication. It explores locations where bodies come together in masses, much like Manhatta and the celebration of machinery.

Noir

• Weegee (Arthur Fellig) worked in the Lower East Side of New York City as a press photographer during the 30s and 40s, developing his signature style of stark black and white shots of unflinchingly realistic scenes of urban life, crime, injury and death by following the city's emergency services and documenting their activity
• The nickname Weegee is phonetic rendering of Ouija (Spirit board), because of his frequent, seemingly prescient arrivals at scenes only minutes after crimes, fires or other emergencies were repotted to authorities

• "The Naked City" (1984) is a black and white film noir based on a story by Malvin Wald, depicting a police investigation that follows the murder of a young model. A veteran cop is placed in charge of the case and he sets about, with the help of other beat cops and detectives to find the girl's killer. The movie is shot partially in a documentary style
• The film was selected for preservation in the USNFR by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historical, or aesthetically significant"
• "There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them." ~ Tag line in the "Naked City"

• Team Bondi's "L.A Noire" (2011) is the first video game to be shown at the Tribecca Film, the game incorporates "MotionScan" where actors are recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle
• This technology is central to the game's interrogation mechanics as players must ust the suspects' reaction to questioning to judge whether they are lying or not

• As the title suggests, the game draws heavily from both plot and aesthetic elements of film noir (There are even several cases named after well known noir films, such as "The Naked City"), the game uses a distinctive colouring style in homage to the visual style of film noir, including an option to play the game in black and white (If your eyesight is good enough that is). The post war setting is the backdrop for plot elements that reference the detective films of the 40s (Especially from "L.A Confidential"), such as corruption and drugs, with a jazz soundtrack
• More information can be found in this write up I did in the past

Flaneur

• The term flaneur comes from the French masculine noun flaneur - which as the basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer" - which itself comes from the French verb flamer, which means "to stroll"
• Charles Baudelaire propose a version of the flaneur that of "a person who walks the city in order to experience it"
• Art should capture this
• Simultaneously apart from and a part for the crowd

• The flaneur version of a photographer is an armed version of the solitary walker reconnoitring, stalking, cruising the urban inferno, the voyeuristic stroller who discovers the city as a landscape of voluptuous extremes. Adept of the joys of watching, connoisseur of empathy, the flaneur finds the world 'picturesque'
• The female version is the invisible Flaneuse, with the flaneur almost always being male
• Janet Wolff refers to the idea that it wasn't common at the time for women to be outside on the streets at the time (1985)
• Susan Buck-Morss suggests that the only figure a woman on the street can be is either a prostitute or a bag lady
• "The Detective" (1980), a woman named Calle gets her mother to employ a detective to follow her, proceeding to lead the unknowing detective around parts of Paris that were particularly important to her, thereby reversing the expected position of the observed subject
• Such projects, with their suggestions of intimacy, also questioned the role of the spectator, with viewers often feeling a sense of unease as they became unwitting collaborators in these violations of privacy
• The deliberately constructed and artificial nature of the documentary 'evidence' used in Calle's work questioned the nature of all truths
• Calle wanted to proved photographic evidence of her existence, his photos and notes on her are later on displayed next to her photos and notes of him
• Documentation of 9/11 where images from many different people were taken of the incident, these images were then all put together and remained anonymous, a democracy of photographs

• Lorca di Corcia "Heads" (2001), is able to capture these dramatic, thoughtful scenes of his subjects, with accidental poses, unintended movements and insignificant expressions, almost looks staged even
• In 2006, a NY trial court issued a ruling in a case involving one of his photographs, a photo subject of his argued that his privacy and religious rights had been violated by both the taking and publishing of the photograph of him. The judge dismissed this lawsuit, finding the photograph taken on street is art- not commerce- and therefore protected by the First Amendment
• The judge ruled that NY courts have "recognised that art can be sold, at least in limited editions, and still retain its artistic character"
• "First Amendment of art is not limited to only starving artists. A profit motive in itself does not necessarily compel a conclusion that art has been used for trade purposes"