“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison
“Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means...” ― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” ― Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life
(Using the research and source material that you have developed in response to Studio Brief 1 - The Visual Journalist produce a book that explores the relationship between people, places objects and/or spaces. The development of our response to this brief should investigate the role of sets, series or sequences of related images in the delivery and communication of visual narratives. With this in mind your resolution should be between 16 and 32 pages and could be produced as set or series of publications.)
During our crit Matt recommended watching Coffee and Cigarettes, directed by Jim Jarmusch. It is 'a comic series of short vignettes built on one another to create a cumulative effect, as the characters discuss things as diverse as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the '20s, and the use of nicotine as an insecticide--all the while sitting around sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes. As director Jim Jarmusch delves into the normal pace of our world from an extraordinary angle, he shows just how absorbing the obsessions, joys and addictions of life can be, if truly observed.' It is extremely relevant to my project and my subject matter. It made me think about atmosphere and layout of the coffee shop, and the effect this has on the people and their conversation. Also about the variation in conversation and motives for the coffees. What's going on behind the scenes; to everyone else it just looks like a simple coffee but what is really happening here? For example the sisters and old friends who had clearly met up for a coffee to either reach out, or because they thought it was what they probably should do. It is all unsaid but it is loud and clear in their body language and type of conversation; flowing or stifled. There were sometimes moments where the customers relaxed, then again became awkward and aware of the strangeness of the situation. Having a coffee is a very intimate thing; with no distractions and no escape route, you are forced to interact.
I plan to look into the history of coffeehouses and especially the political events and importance of them in relation to freedom of speech. I find that recently this aspect of the coffeehouse has definitely declined. In our society it would be out of the ordinary to speak to someone not in your party (unless it was to ask to use a chair) and it is somewhere people tend to gossip about more tedious things. However this may be completely wrong so I intend in somehow researching this and finding out about the existence of political/socio-political debate within coffee shops. This could lead to me producing pages about 'important coffee shop conversations that changed the world' or something about today's coffee shop society, for example; the lonely person sat by themselves, the teenager instagramming/facebook/tweeting/taking selfies, the working woman sat on her own, the teenage boy with earphones in etc.
I plan to look into the history of coffeehouses and especially the political events and importance of them in relation to freedom of speech. I find that recently this aspect of the coffeehouse has definitely declined. In our society it would be out of the ordinary to speak to someone not in your party (unless it was to ask to use a chair) and it is somewhere people tend to gossip about more tedious things. However this may be completely wrong so I intend in somehow researching this and finding out about the existence of political/socio-political debate within coffee shops. This could lead to me producing pages about 'important coffee shop conversations that changed the world' or something about today's coffee shop society, for example; the lonely person sat by themselves, the teenager instagramming/facebook/tweeting/taking selfies, the working woman sat on her own, the teenage boy with earphones in etc.
I could also look at recent news stories and events and ask peoples opinion on them over coffee 'conversations over coffee' this could focus on peoples contemporary and cultural/societal opinions and view points and look at how aware and involved parts of our society are. Is coffeehouse culture still about a gathering of the people away from the government bodies and authority? Or is it merely a warm place to have a sit down and feel protected and comfortable while having a beverage?
- Make people laugh
- Show people something they haven't seen
- Tell people something they didn't know
- Get them to turn the page
- Point out something that nobody noticed- aka those people unnoticed in society - customer ignored and conversations could be about loneliness in todays society? for example the teenage depression -young and unemployed? (recent headlines) or just generally antisocialness and technologies impact - phones and computers
- Point out something that nobody noticed- in a literal sense it would be satirical to have, for example, a child stealing a cookie and parent not notice but another customer does, could also have more deep ones such as social issues being ignored/noticed by some e.g. controlling behavior etc.
- 'Conversations Over Coffee' could be ironic as noone would actually be having a conversation - earphones, phones - twitter/instagram/fb, games aka nintendo, working on laptops, drinking coffee, looking after child? etc etc
- Ask people difficult questions
- Am I looking to: Document, Engage, Pursuade, Inform or Promote?
- Think of media
- Look into individualist society
- Set: Xmas 2013
- Could it be split into different topics/sections?
- Look into colloquialisms such as teens: cba, omg, bare, whatevs, basically, literally, like, apaz.
- Look into juxtapositions - outside/inside, workers/relaxers, conversation/silence/background noise, colour, warmth/cold.
- Dave Mckean
- David Foldvari
- Chris Ware
- William Hogarth
- Lizzie Stewart
- Christian Berry
- Social Engagement; Social, environmental, political, spiritual issues - mine will be focusing on social but it also links to morals, which may be seen as spiritual (especially as its set in a time during christmas- a time of giving and warmth and unselfishness- my project will focus on the loneliness and antisocial behaviour in coffee shops in this day... however I will also include good moral examples of behaviour such as paying for someone elses coffee/giving it to a homeless man- it will look at the coffee shop behaviour and ask the reader if they can recognise which type of person they actually are -by presenting them with human behaviours-and how these small deeds make a difference.)
- MAKE IT INTERESTING - intriguing and engaging content.
- Visually collect in sketch book!
- Think about the value of money in a coffee shop and capitalism in todays society
- Go for a coffee with people!
- Reveal information in each page- What do I want to communicate?
- Snippets of conversations e.g. 'ew look how close that guy is sitting!' 'omg that woman took my drink!' 'hahaa look what they put as my name!' 'did you know coffee was banned in places like egypt and cairo?' 'Oh yes amazing isn't it! Aparently they would sew the multiple offender into a leather bag and throw them into the ocean!' 'I dare you to go over and talk to that guy!' 'Oh stop it!' 'omg she has more followers than me?!' 'um can I just take a picture of that quickly?' *instagrammed* 'Wait. One sec.' 'Sorry what's a grande/tall etc etc?'
- Include metaphores/signs/symbols!
- Look into important conversations had in coffeehouses through time- you could split the book - the important conversations of the past and coffees role and then the second section would be todays society in starbucks/similar coffee shop.
- Show us how you see the world!
- Gilray/crookshank/Hogarth- water/drunks/plague (also could use this in my essay)
- Current affairs- look at youtube/twitter/newspapers/news programmes/ what people are talking about. -knife crime -hoodies etc
- Think about satirical devices too.
I am thinking of including some statistics or facts to do with today's societies relationship with social media; mainly in the context of how it is effecting the way we communicate. This is important to look at as in all of the coffee shops I have visited, as part and outside of this project, I have never seen all customers technology-less; you will always spot phones, ipods, laptops and even sometimes gameboy's and ipad's. If the phones are not being used, they will almost certainly be nestled amongst the coffees and papers on the table. In this society we must always be contactable; ready to communicate with whoever we need to within minutes; a step forward in communication? It could arguably be. However after researching this project thoroughly I have bought even more attention into the fact that we are not making the most of our casual coffee shop moments. The technology we have in our hands lets us communicate by text or facebook comments, it allows us to show off with photos and posts and be our own designer or artist; but it is a barrier; we are no longer visiting the coffee houses of the past, instead entering our own private area to drink our own customised drinks and to have our own private conversations. This is fine. But it is not teaching us anything; we are not going to a coffee shop to learn or to debate; most of the time technology demands our attention and we are not even listening.
I think the coffee shop today reflects our societies values powerfully; individualist and capitalist. We may feel cultured and cosmopolitan as we sit back and enjoy our 'grande' chai lattes, admiring the brown and orange wall art and coffee bean photography, while listening to the quiet jazz music; but if we are not even talking to those on the alining table, how are we developing our communication as a society?
Below are some websites I have looked at for some social media statistics:
http://socialmediatoday.com/stevepyoung/1656466/24-must-see-social-media-statistitcs-2013?utm_source=Webbiquity
http://thesocialskinny.com/103-crazy-social-media-statistics-to-kick-off-2014/
http://socialmediatoday.com/index.php?q=kcain/568836/negative-effects-facebook-communication
http://socialmediatoday.com/all/28612?ref=navbar
I then decided to look at 2013 as a year. Going straight to wikipedia for a brief summery I found lists of political and social events that shook countries and societies. As I am someone who watches the news regularly some of what I read was familiar, however almost none of the information in front of me had I learnt from conversations around me. I don't know if this is a problem with merely my generation or if it spreads wider (I think it would be hard to find out as pride means people wish to appear more involved in current affairs than they really are), I believe it is definitely a class issue too. I think that the young and the lower classes feel powerless and uninvolved in any of the decisions made in politics; the politicians themselves speak a different language and the majority have absolutely no clue how a day in the life of a Britain would be. However if it were a class issue, and presuming those that can afford (time and money wise) to be sat in a coffee shop, drinking a £5 latte and eating a £6 salad, are averagely middle class, then coffee shops would be full of political debate and conversation.
Perhaps this lack of debate and communication is more to do with our unspoken rules and regulation within British etiquette. Whilst sitting in a coffee shop I made a list in my sketchbook of some of the actions we can do, but which we would not do, whilst in this environment.
What made the coffee house a place of debate and learning in the past possible? Why is Starbucks, Costa and Nero the place for an idle gossip and a series of instagram pictures now? In my book I may not be able to answer these questions, but I intend to draw the audiences attention to the situation of todays coffee shops vs those in the past, mainly by the introduction of technology, and hopefully they may be able to think about how they act in a coffee shop vs perhaps the way they would like to. I hope to convey a message of the power of communication and although I'm not insulting capitalism or our individualistic society, but highlighting how society may be improved if we are less involved with our phones and more with those people around us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~plavchan/h115/coffeehouse.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/london/9153317/London-cafes-the-surprising-history-of-Londons-lost-coffeehouses.html
I plan to create a book which has two themes; the past and the present. For the past section I will be researching the important historical debates/happenings/events in coffeehouses and potentially present one on each right hand page. On the left hand pages I will form a scene at a modern day coffee shop 'Costbucks' (a combination of Costa and Starbucks, highlighting our capitalist society and coffeeshops representation of this). On each page I will have a different set of characters or character and conversation/lack of conversation and I will use a scalpel to cut away the background so that the background consists of the previous characters in the coffee shop- many many people; none of whom are actively communicating.
I am thinking of ending the book with an image of a hand offering out a Costbucks coffee to a homeless man (this was actually a scheme that found its way onto social media promoting kindness but also potentially promoting the brand) and on the right hand side something suggesting the future - potentially an idyllic chaos of conversation and debate- including social media and technology such as people filming it - I could even research something on youtube that has been a controversial debate in a coffee shop that has spread thanks to social media/technology.
After researching the print methods I discovered that it would be hard to structure a consantina (?) book with cut out bits and especially since I am on a strict deadline I feel that this would be too time consuming for this project.
So I have decided to simplify the book a lot and just provide the audience with images of a modern day coffee shop providing the good and bad in society and societies relationship with technology. I hope that it conveys the message that although phones etc can be great in communication they also can stifle it.
http://thesocialskinny.com/103-crazy-social-media-statistics-to-kick-off-2014/
http://socialmediatoday.com/index.php?q=kcain/568836/negative-effects-facebook-communication
http://socialmediatoday.com/all/28612?ref=navbar
I then decided to look at 2013 as a year. Going straight to wikipedia for a brief summery I found lists of political and social events that shook countries and societies. As I am someone who watches the news regularly some of what I read was familiar, however almost none of the information in front of me had I learnt from conversations around me. I don't know if this is a problem with merely my generation or if it spreads wider (I think it would be hard to find out as pride means people wish to appear more involved in current affairs than they really are), I believe it is definitely a class issue too. I think that the young and the lower classes feel powerless and uninvolved in any of the decisions made in politics; the politicians themselves speak a different language and the majority have absolutely no clue how a day in the life of a Britain would be. However if it were a class issue, and presuming those that can afford (time and money wise) to be sat in a coffee shop, drinking a £5 latte and eating a £6 salad, are averagely middle class, then coffee shops would be full of political debate and conversation.
Perhaps this lack of debate and communication is more to do with our unspoken rules and regulation within British etiquette. Whilst sitting in a coffee shop I made a list in my sketchbook of some of the actions we can do, but which we would not do, whilst in this environment.
What made the coffee house a place of debate and learning in the past possible? Why is Starbucks, Costa and Nero the place for an idle gossip and a series of instagram pictures now? In my book I may not be able to answer these questions, but I intend to draw the audiences attention to the situation of todays coffee shops vs those in the past, mainly by the introduction of technology, and hopefully they may be able to think about how they act in a coffee shop vs perhaps the way they would like to. I hope to convey a message of the power of communication and although I'm not insulting capitalism or our individualistic society, but highlighting how society may be improved if we are less involved with our phones and more with those people around us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~plavchan/h115/coffeehouse.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/london/9153317/London-cafes-the-surprising-history-of-Londons-lost-coffeehouses.html
I plan to create a book which has two themes; the past and the present. For the past section I will be researching the important historical debates/happenings/events in coffeehouses and potentially present one on each right hand page. On the left hand pages I will form a scene at a modern day coffee shop 'Costbucks' (a combination of Costa and Starbucks, highlighting our capitalist society and coffeeshops representation of this). On each page I will have a different set of characters or character and conversation/lack of conversation and I will use a scalpel to cut away the background so that the background consists of the previous characters in the coffee shop- many many people; none of whom are actively communicating.
I am thinking of ending the book with an image of a hand offering out a Costbucks coffee to a homeless man (this was actually a scheme that found its way onto social media promoting kindness but also potentially promoting the brand) and on the right hand side something suggesting the future - potentially an idyllic chaos of conversation and debate- including social media and technology such as people filming it - I could even research something on youtube that has been a controversial debate in a coffee shop that has spread thanks to social media/technology.
After researching the print methods I discovered that it would be hard to structure a consantina (?) book with cut out bits and especially since I am on a strict deadline I feel that this would be too time consuming for this project.
So I have decided to simplify the book a lot and just provide the audience with images of a modern day coffee shop providing the good and bad in society and societies relationship with technology. I hope that it conveys the message that although phones etc can be great in communication they also can stifle it.
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