Art in video games

Art In video games

There are different forms of art in videogames ranging from audio and musical compositions to video
and cinematography. There is another type of artwork from videogames: user created content. User created content can range from video clips, to machinima narratives and of course, user created screenshots. Community made screenshots can be a work of art and can be quite stunning if done properly.

I took these three screenshots in Halo: Reach using the in game theater mode to capture the stunning vistas and majestic skyboxes and sandboxes hidden in the campaign. I wanted to replicate the look of a painting but using a different tool to do so. My favorite picture is the third picture which I named “Forward unto Dawn” because this picture took the longest time to perfect. Getting a black and white effect without using any lighting effects was extremely difficult.

 Art in video games is not restricted to the music and visuals put in the game. Using the tools at my disposal in the game, I was able to create these three pictures that are similar to landscape
paintings. As long as you have the right tools and skills, anything can be made into art.

Controversial Ads

The Calvin Klein 2010 ad campaign

Sometimes ads can be quite controversial because of the content they display, the demographic or target audience it appeals to, or they might break the rules of Canadian Advertising Foundation (CAF). Most of the controversial ads have to deal with the gender portrayal guidelines. There are a lot of ads that either come close to or completely fail to comply with the gender portrayal guidelines.

Calvin Klein ads in particular.

The problem with these ads is that it seems to completely disregard the gender portrayal guidelines.
There is one ad in particular that I want to focus on.

Gender portrayal guidelines the ad breaks

• Authority: Ads must strive to provide an equal representation of women and men in roles of authority for the models in the ad, but this is not the case. It is clear that in no way or form power and authority is equal between the men and the woman in the ad. The woman is clearly outnumbered and is forced in a sexually submissive pose. One of the men in the ad is pulling on her hair to induce discomfort while another male is trying to “rape” her.
• Gender role stereotyping: Social and sexual interactions must portray woman and men as equals and must not reinforce stereotypes. However it seems that this rule is completely ignored because in the ad, males are the dominant characters because the outnumber the one female three to one and the female is clearly shown as submissive because she is not able to resist the encounter with the three males.
• Irrelevant associations: There is no clear connection between the ad; the actions in the ad and the product being marketed which is Calvin Klein jeans. The ad is sexually exploiting the woman’s sexuality by having her in a sexually submissive pose and the fact that despite her bra, she is completely naked.
• Sexual Harassment and Violence: Ads should avoid representing women as prey or objects of desire. This ad fails to comply with this rule. The cage in the background suggests that the woman is trapped and is being preyed upon by these three males. Violence is portrayed in this ad when the male on the right is exerting dominance over the women by pulling on her hair until she feels discomfort. The male in the middle exerts her dominance on the woman using brute force to get her to submit to his uncontrolled desires.

This ad was not banned from being displayed despite the amount of rules it breaks with the gender portrayal guidelines. Ads like this should be banned in Canada because of the target audience it appeals to (teenagers and young adults). Ads like these set a bad example for the target audience because it reinforces gender stereotypes and male dominance.

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The Art in Advertisement

The modern day perception of art is misconstrued. People think that art is only found in museums and art galleries. What they do not realize is that different forms of art exist all around them in the form of Advertisements.

The average person is bombarded with over a thousand different advertisements per day which range from television commercials, to posters and billboards, to musical ads and jingles on the radio and even pop up ads on the Internet. So unless you isolate yourself from the world and the media, then you are constantly assaulted with advertisements. The purpose of the ad is to sell a service or a
product- and there is nothing wrong with that.

The problem is that nowadays people think that the ad only has one purpose, which is to sell something. We do not consider ads as a form of art because the purpose of the ad is to sell a service or product to people while the purpose of art is to provoke thought on the artist’s underlying message. When someone sees an ad, they consider buying the product in the ad, but they do not think about why the artist chose the symbols in the ad or why the artist chose the color scheme.

Another reason why people think ads are not art is because unlike art, an ad cannot change the world. People do not line up in a museum to see a poster. You would never expect to walk into an art gallery and see the movie poster of an upcoming movie. An ad cannot have the same impact on the world as the Mona Lisa did. This is why people think less of ads.

However, there was one very famous and well known ad that did have an impact on the
world. It was an ad by Robert Indiana.

And may parodies...

If an ad like Robert Indiana’s “Love” can inspire many parodies and can impact society in such an uplifting way, then why can’t a thirty second television commercial get the same recognition as a famous short film?

Halo: Reach live action commercial: "Deliver Hope" (from you tube)

And also why can’t a poster get the same recognition as painting in an art gallery?