Use Shannon & Weaver's model of the communication process to write a 300-400 word analysis of a work of Graphic Design. Comment on the ways in which the piece of Graphic Design attempts to communicate to a specific audience, using techniques of redundancy, entropy or noise.
Look at Fiske, J. (2002) 'An Introduction To Communication Studies' if you are struggling.
The new Renault advert 2011
Research to help write about the advert in italic.
C & W's original model consisted of five elements:
An information source, which produces a message.
A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals
A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission
A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal.
A destination, where the message arrives.
A sixth element, noise is a dysfunctional factor: any interference with the message travelling along the channel (such as 'static' on the telephone or radio) which may lead to the signal received being different from that sent.
Taken from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/trans.html
For the telephone the channel is a wire, the signal is an electrical current in it, and the transmitter and receiver are the telephone handsets. Noise would include crackling from the wire. In conversation, my mouth is the transmitter, the signal is the sound waves, and your ear is the receiver. Noise would include any distraction you might experience as I speak.
A key measure of information is known as entropy, which is usually expressed by the average number of bits needed for storage or communication. Entropy quantifies the uncertainty involved in predicting the value of a random variable. For example, specifying the outcome of a fair coin flip (two equally likely outcomes) provides less information (lower entropy) than specifying the outcome from a roll of a die (six equally likely outcomes).
Redundancy is another concept which has emerged from the information theory to communication. Redundancy is the opposite of information. Something that is redundant adds little, if any, information to a message. Redundancy is important because it helps combat noise in a communicating system (e.g. in repeating the message). Noise is any factor in the process that works against the predictability of the outcome of the communication process.
Taken from
Shannon, C.E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Communication%20and%20Information%20Technology/Information_Theory.doc/
Task 4
For the Renault advert the channel would be a satellite as televisions are now digital. The signal would be the digital signal sending the message. The transmitter would be transmitter would be sent from the channel of the tv station the advert would be shown on. The receiver (decoder) would be the television at the viewers home, or as technology has moved on it maybe also shown on a mobile device/ ipad. The noise maybe loss of signal, however with new technology such as digital broadcasting the noise is reduced alot compared to the analogue broadcasting. The transmitter is the sound and visuals from the Renault advert, the signal is the digital signals, and the reciever is the audience watching at the selected destination using ears and eyes. The redundancy since moving from analogue to digital signals has reduced the noise and now becomes a clearer uninterrupted almost level of noise. The Entropy for this advert is a high entropy as the outcome can be signaled to various sources included mobile, television, computers and portable devices such as the ipad.
I choose this advert because it is one of the better adverts I have seen for a while, the advert is targeted towards a contemporary young audience. Apparently whilst trying to find out which design company designed and produced the Renault advert, I stumbled across a few sites which have banned the advert from day time tv because of the content. (link below)
http://punchbowlblog.com/2011/02/07/new-renault-clio-advert-featuring-dita-von-teese-rihanna-thierry-henry-banned-from-tv/
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