Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course students must:
- Be able to identify and analyze the important elements of an advertisement.
- Describe how they form its visual message
- To design a photographic composition capable of expressing a specific semantic content.
- To acquire the ability to light and photograph objects with view cameras.
Course Outline
Lectures
The analysis and study of the three core ways for expressing and transmitting a visual message (representation, symbolism and abstraction) – The purpose of advertising – Photography in advertising – The genres of the promotional image – The role of the text in the promotional image – The hidden functions of advertising – The theory of motivation, photography and the subconscious – Semantics of advertising message – Advertising models and their specific peculiarities.
Workshop
Photographing objects with a View camera – catalog shots (packshots) to get acquainted with the capabilities of the View camera (lens selection – choice of film type and size – lighting – shooting process). Photographing with a digital back adapted to the View camera. Image processing using corresponding programs (Photoshop, Illustrator etc) – sizing – checking for file delivery.
RECOMMENDED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Sobieszek Robert A. Τhe art of persuasion: a history of advertising photography Harry N Abrams Inc, 1988
- Dave Saunders, Sandra Moriarti, Professional Advertising Photography, Trafalgar Square,1990
- Freeman Michael Close-up photography, ILEX, 2004.
- Dave Saunders, The World’s Best Advertising Photography Hardcover – August 1, 1994
- Lou Lesko, Bobbi Lane, Advertising Photography: A Straightforward Guide to a Complex Industry, Boston, Thomson Course Technology PTR 2008
- David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising Paperback, New York, Vintage books, 1985
- Marty Neumeier, Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands, Berkeley, New Riders, 2007
- Jon Steel, Truth, Lies, and Advertising: The Art of Account Planning, USA, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1998