A WEB ANALYSIS - LORD OF THE RINGS & POWERHOUSE MUSEUM WEBSITES

The web was built by million of people simply because they wanted it. As a distributed browsing and searching system, the web functions as a huge library with its vast storehouses of information. The introduction of the World Wide Web in 1991 led the transformation of the Internet from a text-only environment into a multimedia site. It allows for incorporating and displaying colourful pictures, animations, sounds and video. This is why the web makes the Internet as a powerful communication medium and a warehouse of valuable information. As a multimedia text, a web or website has become a medium to produce social, cultural and political expression. It has generated representation of human being as individual and society. This essay will analyse Lord of the Rings website (http://www.lordoftherings.net) and Powerhouse Museum (http://www.powerhousemuseum.com). The analysis will explore social, cultural, and political meanings of the websites. It also will describe potential meanings and how they are created. These aspects will be dealt with in turn in this essay.

According to Bhatnagar, Mehta & Mitra (2001:139):Typeface are divided into two broad categories: Serif [e.g. Times New Roman] and Sans Serif [e.g. Arial]… On paper, serif fonts are easy on the eye because the flags at the end of the letter stroke guide the eye along the line. So, serif fonts, such as Times, are used when there is a lot of tet to be read. Sans Serif typefaces, such as Arial, are used for titles and headlines. On computer screens, the situation is different. Screen resolution is poor which makes the flags on letters difficult to read. Therefore, serif fonts are difficult to read on-screen.Unlike most of websites, The Lord Of The Rings (LOTR)’ website does not use sans serif as the title or headlines, but serif typeface. However, sans serif is used to show all information about the site e.g. if we click all parts in “THE FILM”; “THE LEGEND”; & “THE IMAGINARY”, it will show us all the information in sans serif typeface.

There are two reasons I will explain about the use of serif typeface as the title or headlines LOTR site. The first explanation is aesthetic reason. As Mclean (1980:64) puts it “The serif, … when written with pen, or cut in stone, for reasons that are both functional and decorative.” The way the title/headlines written in serif font makes LOTR’s website looks more attractive and eye-catching. It gives us a feeling of engagement with the movie and also a feeling of enjoyment from being entertained. It urges us to want to look more and to see more information we might have/not expected before. This is precisely what the LOTR’s website is all about. The Website not only gives us information that we cannot find in the movie, but also entertains us through juxtaposition of visuals and writings, e.g. the style of font, size, and colour. The second explanation is cultural representation of the website. According to Mclean (1980:44) “The basic principle is that roman type [serif typeface] has become “norm” for most Europeans & Americans”. Since serif is the standard typeface in western culture, thus combination of certain colors, font type and size convey meanings and representation of the LOTR as a classic high fantasy tale in western culture.

Poynor (2001:51 in Cranny-Francis 2005: 34) “the process by which particular typeface embody the look, mood, and aspirations of a period is mysterious and fascinating. It cannot be predicted with any accuracy and no single designer can will it to happen, but somehow a typeface will look fresh, unexpected, precisely attuned to the moment – and a consensus emerges.” It means that when we look at the website of LOTR, it situates historically and culturally not just by the images, or by the colours, or the language employed in the website, but also by the typeface used. Typeface embodies a particular time in the past in fictional world. It then reminds us of other similar texts – websites – such as harry potter (http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com), and the chronicle of narnia (http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia).

The visualisation of images combine with colours and the style of font, tells us that The LOTR’s website is drawn from the legend/myth particularly in western culture, It is a high fantasy tale, which is the sub genre of fantasy fiction. The movie itself is a trilogy of live action fantasy epic films. The website could be categorized as the entertainment site since it provides not only the exclusive images from all three LOTR movies that we can download, but also contains the extended information about the movie or the story, for instance in “THE LEGEND” part: characters, cultures, weapon and war, locations, insides the effects, interviews.

The sound effect comes out as soon as we fully access the web, generates a visceral response. Responses that are resembling feelings of menace and terror, but at the same time there are also feelings of curiosity and adventure. This happens as the result of combination of loudness, pitch, and timbre. Together with a brief sound effect at the beginning, we also can hear the welcome greeting from different casts of the LOTR’s movies. The sound is creating an emotional environment and the same time it livens up the mood of visitors. As Cranny-Francis (2005:60) puts it “… sound can be touching in more than a metaphorical sense. It is a semiotic that is experienced bodily, as more than a bundle of sense impressions to interpret. Sound can bodily move us, and we embody ourselves in (response to) sound.”

When we look at around the website, the websites gives us an insight of how humanity placed in fictional past – people and cultures of LOTR – represents humanity in our real contemporary world with different kind of habits, traditions, languages, colours but also similar in concept of peace, war, and survival. These then lead to power mechanisms and practice discourse. It is knowledge as power’s instrument has constructed to convince every individual to believe it as the truth. How the concept of peace, war, survival, and society for every human race is constructed through the relation of knowledge and truth. Foucault (in Gordon, 1980:97) puts it “… how it is that subjects are gradually, progressively, really and materially constituted through a multiplicity of organism, forces, energies, materials, desires, thoughts, etc. We should try to grasp subjection in its material instance as a constitution of subjects” It other words power generate people to perform certain behaviour, thoughts, feelings and desires in order to produce certain subjectivity. As soon as we know who we are, our races, cultures, believes, and so on, we interpret the concept of peace, war, survival and society according to the truth planted in our society.

The next multimedia text to be analysis is the website of Powerhouse Museum Sydney Australia. Powerhouse Museum’s website does not emphasis on aesthetic function. The website is more informative and educational. As any other educational websites, which stress on giving information rather than entertaining the visitor, Powerhouse Museum uses conventional style in way of conveying the information, such as the style of font – sans serif, the size and the colour seem very simple, regular and serious. This is one of characteristics of educational websites, where the chosen of typeface as a decorative function is not significant. The more important is what inside the web could provide the needs of visitors when they go to the website. Visitors will be expected to read rather than to enjoy the images around the web most of the time. Hence sans serif is the right typeface to convey the information, since it is easier to read on computer screen than serif.

The main list of options that the website offered such as Exhibitions & Events, Education, Collection & Research, Online Research are in fact representing Powerhouse Museum as the website of education, science, art and technology. The juxtaposition of visual images and writings signify the vision of Powerhouse Museum to celebrate and explore human creativity and innovation. The image of two little girls for instance, could signify the commitment of Powerhouse Museum to promote education and science in the future. It also could represent diverse audiences, which have inspired and informed the advance of Powerhouse Museum to explore design and history for the people of New South Wales and beyond. As Barthes (1977:39, in Kress, G. & van Leeuween, T. 1996:16) puts it, “The meaning of the images [and of other semiotic codes] is always related to, and, in a sense, dependent on, verbal text. Images are too ‘polysemous’, too open to a variety of possible meanings. To arrive at a definite meaning, language [text] must come to the rescue”. This website then leads us to the discourse about the impact of science and technology in our everyday lives.

Powerhouse Museum’s website is a depiction of new culture or way of living in our contemporary world today, where we are really affected by science and technology. Together with the era of digitalization and the Internet, the world seems not so big and places not so far one to each other. Since science and knowledge are always considered as a process of progression, Powerhouse Museum is an explanation about how science and technology will bring the world to the future. The question raised is how the future would be like when the worlds were so scientific and technological? Would it be utopia or dystopia? We might answer this question by questioning ourselves in what way we use, and how we treat science and technology for our better lives. And that is what the Powerhouse Museum’s website is all about.

In conclusion, it appears that since the development of the World Wide Web in the early 90s has brought powerful impact to change and shape the way we live in this world. As we go through the website of Lord of the Rings and Powerhouse Museum, we recognize how the websites have been constructed not in a simple single meaning. They both have represented the social, cultural, and political meanings through the juxtaposition of visual image, writing – typefaces – and sound. Through all combination of those aspects the websites have succeeded signifying the function and the purpose of the creation of both.



REFERENCE

Cranny-Francis, A. (2005) Multimedia: Texts and Contexts. London: Sage Publications.

Foucault, M., 1980, Power/Knowledge, Collin Gordon (ed.). NY: Partheon.

Gupta, R. (2001) ‘Text in Multimedia and the Internet’, in Guarav Bhatnagar, Shikah
Mehta and Sugata Mitra (eds.), Introduction to Multimedia Systems, Academic
Press.

Kress, G. & van Leeuween, T. (1996) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design.
London: Routhledge.

McLean, R. (1980) The Thames and Hudson Manual of Typography, London: Thames
and Hudson Ltd.

Powerhouse Museum, available at: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com

The Lord Of The Rings – The Official Website, available at:http://www.lordoftherings.net

WAR ON WHAT - AN ANTI WAR POSTER

ANALYSIS OF MULTIMEDIA PRACTICAL RESEARCH PROJECT

Posters are a frequent tool of advertisers, propagandists, and protestors to communicate their massages. The use of poster as medium to convey the intended purposes could give great impact for its viewer or audience in a way that they could easily being persuaded by the content of a poster. This is because most of posters utilise specific words or combination of words – images to create meanings of the messages. The main idea of this poster is an anti-war protest. It is a self-expression to react against wars. Many people believe that there is never a good side to war. It is innocent children that have suffered the most from war and we have lost many of precious children, soldiers and innocent people because of it. This kind of anti war poster is a crucial tool not only to promote anti war campaign but also to support victims of wars in order to make the world a better place to live. This essay will analyse the use of poster as multimedia product to represent the practice of communication through juxtaposition of verbal texts – in term of typography –, representation of colours and images. This poster will be analysed in the context of its intended purpose, that is an anti-war protest. All aspects of analysis – verbal texts, colour and images – will be dealt with in turn in this essay.

Walter J. Ong in his book Orality and Literacy (1982) explains since the introduction of the technology of writing, it becomes the most drastic invention in human history. This is particularly in way it started the next generation of different type of writing forms such as print and computer. As he wrote “It [writing] initiated what print and computers only continue, the reduction of dynamic sound to quiescent space, separation of the word from the living present, where alone spoken words can exist” (Ong, 1982 : 82). Writing is not merely a bad copy of spoken word. Writing in fact has changed the way we think and talk. This is what Derrida in his book Of Grammatology was trying to draw. He coined the term “deconstruction” as crucial opposition between speech and writing. Derrida’s theory of deconstruction describes writing as a technology and communicative practice for indicating the politics of a situation or an event or act. He expresses the meaning of writing by stating, “The idea of the book, in which always refers to a natural totality, is profoundly alien to the sense of writing. It is the encyclopaedic protection of theology and of logocentrism against the disruption of writing, against its aphoristic energy, and, … against difference in general” (Derrida, 1976 : 18).

This poster tries to communicate the message using combination of writing, images and colour. The expectation of this attempt is that the audience will stop and look, then interpret the meaning of the message according to their own perception. As a tool of communication, writing has a powerful impact on our consciousness in way it could change our perception about the world around us. Ong, (1982 : 82) explains how technology of writing could affect our consciousness:
Like other artificial creations and indeed more than any other, it is utterly invaluable and indeed essential for the realisation of fuller, interior, human potentials. Technologies are not mere exterior aids but also interior transformations of consciousness, and never more than when they affect the word. Such transformations can be uplifting. Writing heightens consciousness.
As a central processor in our mind, consciousness will make a selection which stimulus is most likely being processed as information. As Hodd & White, JR (1980 : 34) explain “Naturally, we would except the pertinent percepts generated earlier to have a greater probability of entering consciousness than the less valued percepts.” Certain stimuli are selected and occupy consciousness because they have certain characteristics that draw our attention. This is for instance people organise ads in a manner so as to capture attention. Contrast, Colour and size of print are important characteristics to raise our consciousness.

On the choice of typeface, the title War On What uses shlop type of font designed by Ray Larabie. The reason to use this type of font is simply because it gives sense of terror and fear. And this type of font is a useful tool to illustrate the horror of the war. Gage (1999 : 22) states that “responses to colour, it is argued, go back to archetypal human experiences of black night, white bone, red blood, and so on.” The use of combination black-red on white could signify dead and blood, brought by war to the children and many innocent people, who suffer and die without even know and understand what war is about. White signifies cleanliness and purity for children and other innocent people. As Tschichold (2001 : 120) puts it “New Typography colour is used functionally, i.e. physiological effect peculiar to each colour is used to increase or decrease the importance of a block of type, a photograph, or whatever.” Hence, the already strong contrasts between black – the basic colour of the poster – and white can be greatly enhanced by the addition of red.

The same idea for the words GREED, ANGER, JEALOUSY, HATRED, AROGANCE, HEGEMONY is to signify the meaning of the word itself through this type of font – horror designed by Patrick Broderick –. The contrast colour between black and white explicitly indicates bad and good or darkness and lightness. The words in black signify bad qualities of human being. Whereas white signifies the nature of the world as a representation of the characteristics of God – purity, cleanliness, and sacredness –. The idea is derived from the iconography in the early Middle Ages, where the use of these colours in the Western Church represents specific offices. “Black, wrote Innocent III about 1200, is emblematic of penance and mourning, and thus used for Advent and Lent, white of innocent and purity, and was used on the feast of the Virgin…” (Gage, 1999 : 70).

The poem at the right side of the poster uses bearpaw font – designed by Dennis Anderson –. The font seems as it is written by hand with repeated lines and shapes. The intended purpose is to give sense that someone has written the poem for the soldiers and also for the war victims who died because of war. The last sentence “By the loss of another precious child” after the words “A World Diminished” is put above the images of war victims, which is in a grave shape. These sentences reinforce the images and the grave or vice versa, in order to deliver the message. As Cranny-Francis (2005 : 11) puts it “… the verbal and visual are interrelated to generate meanings.”

The juxtaposition of visual images and writings in the middle of the poster also generates the meaning and the idea of the poster. The title War On What related to this combination image-text, particularly the captions “WE’RE ONLY HERE FOR THE OIL” and “WHOSE WAR”. Both captions in satirical way indicate the political purpose (e.g. oil, money or profit) behind many wars, for instance The Iraq War or The Second Gulf War, which is by U.S. military, called Operation Iraqi Freedom. The question “WHOSE WAR” highlights the image of George W. Bush, JR. and his coalition groups who carry guns and money. This is what Barthes called “the text loads the image”. As he puts it “the image no longer illustrates the words; it is now the words which, structurally, are parasitic on the image” (Barthes, 1977 : 25). In other words the meaning of the image of George W. Bush, JR. and his coalition groups becomes more obvious with the words “WHOSE WAR” on it.

In short, all juxtaposition of images and texts has produced meanings that related to the intended purpose of this poster as an anti-war campaign. Barthes (1977:39, in Kress, G. & Theo Van Leeuwen, 1996:16) argues, “The meaning of the images [and of other semiotic codes] is always related to, and, in a sense, dependent on, verbal text. Images are too ‘polysemous’, too open to a variety of possible meanings. To arrive at a definite meaning, language [text] must come to the rescue”. In other words the images will be ‘disabled’ without verbal texts. And verbal texts furnish more obvious meaning to the images.

In summary, it appears that the utilisation of specific words or combination of words, colours, and images plays significant role to express the intended purpose of the poster. The choice of certain fonts and colours will affect the way we interpret the messages conveyed in the poster. The images also will be reinforced by the present of certain verbal texts. All these combinations will construct the whole point and idea of the poster.



REFERENCE

Barthes, Roland. 1977. Image/Music/Text: Essays. Selected and trans. Stephen Heath.
London: Fontana.

Cranny-Francis, A. 2005. Multimedia: Texts and Contexts. London: Sage Publications.

Derrida, Jacques. 1977. Of Grammatology. Trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. London:
The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Dodd, David H. and Raymond M. White, JR. 1980. Cognition. Mental Structure and
Process. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

Gage, John. 1999. Colour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism. London: Thames &
Hudson.

Kress, G. & Theo Van Leeuwen. 1996 Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design.
London: Routhledge.

Ong, Walter J. 1982. Orality and Literacy. The Technologizing of the Word. London:
Routledge.

Tschichold, Jan. 2001. “The Principal of the New Typography” in Steven Heller and
Phillip B. Meggs (eds.), Text on Type: Critical Writings on Typography. New
York: Allworth Press.

A SHORT TRIP TO BANDUNG

A few weeks ago, on one lousy Sunday in Jakarta, I decided to pay Ibeth (my BFF – Best Friend Forever) a visit in Bandung – West Java. I took 2-ish Argo Gede train from Gambir in the arvo. The train arrived 30 minutes late – like always *hmpp. So I rushed to catch a cab to Ibeth’s, as we wanted to attend 6.30p Mass at Gereja Pandu on 4 Pandu Street – Pajajaran Street area. Gereja Pandu reminds me not only of a nice quite leafy area, with 20s-50s like ducth colonial bungalow, but it will also and always remind me of some real tasty food selling around the area.

The one that I love the most is Nasi Kuning, sold just exactly at Pandu Street entry, if you come from Pajajaran Street. What makes this Nasi Kuning very appetizing is its super hot Sambel Oncom (Oncom Chili Sauce). You might as well want to mix it with Sambel Terasi (Dried Shrimp Chili Sauce), if you love everything and anything spicy. Hmm.. tasty!! Bet you can’t help yourself to imagine how scrumptious Nasi Kuning Pandu is. You gotta come early, but. Say around 6-ish in the morning, because if you come at 10... I’m pretty sure, no more Nasi Kuning Pandu left for you.

Of coz i didn’t get my Nasi Kuning after the 6.30p Mass. But I still get a chance to have a fine delectable dinner and a quick handy evening shopping at PVJ Mall – Paris Van Java Mall. OH... MY... GOD!! It was one of my finest and coolest shopping nights since I am back to Indo. Me and Ibeth took a Lembang – St.Hall “angkot” (one of the most popular public transportations in Bandung and in some provinces in Indonesia. It’s sort of like small van or family car). It sure cheaper than taxi. It costed us Rp. 1000,- per person from Istana Plaza to PVJ Mall. Some say angkot is not safety and is incovenience for tourist, but if you’re into adventure and looking for exciting experience, then by all means you should try angkot! The official Angkot Routes are listed here: http://www.bandung.go.id/.

Paris Van Java Mall is on 137 – 139 Sukajadi Street. Offers you the quite attractive atmosphere, a mix and match setting between outdoor and indoor mall. First stop was Sagoo Kitchen. An old-fashioned chinese-betawi style of design theme restaurant. The restaurant is decorated with replicating goods and food from 50s – early 80s or “the-hard-to-find stuff” and those that sold only at the traditional market e.g. rattan and bamboo storage baskets, krupuk (flavored crackers), coklat ayam (ayam brand chocolate milk), alba patilles candy, and other retro and old time candies, snacks and drinks.

The furnitures and tablewares are also designed with the old timey style. Even the menus are written with the old indonesian spelling, e.g. nasi goreng roewet (ruwet fried rice, rodjak malaysia (malaysian fruit and vegetable salad dish), mee & bee hon (noodle and rice vermicelli), mee djawa (javanese noodle), mee krioek (hot plate noodle), es/jus katjang ijo (mung bean juice), es kelapa djeroek (coconut and lime ice), and teh djahe (ginger tea).

We had mee djawa and jus katjang ijo, we also had anchovies fried rice take-away, which was really good. After dinner, we walked around the mall and found a bamboo handbags stall not far from MNG boutique. I bought a small bamboo satchel bag with yellow plait leather handles for my sister. We hung out and shopped a bit at Sogo and Rumah Bagus stall before heading home.

The next day, we came back and had lunch at QUA-LI, UG floor A-39. The food was great but a bit pricey plus the portion was a bit too small. I had nasi goreng sapi lada hitam (black pepper beef fried rice) and Ibeth had kwetiaw goreng (fried kwetiaw), said as one of the most favorite dishes of QUA-LI. We chilled out at Starbucks for an hour. I had soy caramel mocca, she had mocca frappuccino on skim. Smart choice!! I took 4.15 Argo Gede back to Jakarta. My Bandung weekend trip was awesome and fun!! Will be back again in a couple of weeks for sure. Hmmm really had a blast that weekend ^_^