The Flash file for Assignment 3 can be found here.
My initial concept for this poem was to have a small person formed of the words, which can be viewed here. This became problematic for me in the final version because I felt that the words wouldn’t be viewable or have the same impact if crushed into the constraints of a single scene in Flash. I decided to experiment with the idea of spreading each word or group of words in their own scene, giving me the space to branch out and try to represent each word with a series of movements I felt that were associated with the word. I revised the end of the poem from the mockup to the final version because I wanted to leave less closure (perhaps for a more open interpretation) and be less ominous with the poem’s intent. I did decided to leave the text as black and white for the final version to perhaps emphasize each word as if it were a command, but I did make “Enjoy it!” colorful to provide a bit of festivity, coinciding with the phrase’s meaning.
It’s been years since I’ve used Flash (and even then, it was rather basic - I had to relearn the entirety of the program for this assignment). Even then, I enjoyed this assignment and I hope I conveyed my message as well as I intended.
(The embedded image is a thumbnail linked to the full-sized version.)
My brainstorming for assignment 2 began slowly. I finally decided upon the subversive advertisement for a casino to mock the advertising structure of the “you’ll always come out a winner” mindset. These ads always seem to have an original slogan, photos of smiling players/winners in the casino, and bright, festive colors - complete with a sensation of riches and royalty. All of these tend to contribute towards a feeling of overwhelming ease in regards to winning; simply show up and walk out with millions of dollars in cash.
For instance:
This image portrays exactly that; simply drop a chip and win cash and prizes! Another along the same lines:
This image indicates you can win a wad of cash by simply continuing on the given highway and showing up at the casino - no skill or luck involved.
With this in mind, I began to work on my design. I incorporated a simple, catchy slogan to unite existing images I found using Google Image Search of people winning in various casino environments: roulette, craps, slots, etc, along with the idea that the casino helps “create winners and memories”. With these images easily manipulated into old-school Instant Polaroids, I tacked on a noticeable (and in retrospect, far too large) disclaimer proclaiming the odds of winning $1 million in a casino.
