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A Critical Visual Analysis of Jan Banning's ‘Bureaucratics’

Jan Banning's photographic series Bureaucratics offers a remarkable anthropological study of civil servants across eight countries, revealing how power, hierarchy, and cultural identity manifest in governmental spaces. Through meticulously composed photographs taken from a citizen's perspective, Banning unveils the theatre of bureaucracy the most immediate visual impact comes from Banning's consistent methodology: each photograph is taken from the same height and distance, positioning the viewer in the role of a citizen approaching the bureaucrat's desk. The bureaucrats are photographed in their natural habitat – their offices – which become stages where power dynamics and cultural values are performed daily. Make visual analysis of Bureaucratics by Jan Banning given below. Bureaucratics by Jan Banning PDF (for academic use only) In examining the spatial arrangements, a clear pattern emerges: the desk serves as both barrier and symbol of authority. In many image...

Photojournalists Covering Traumatic Events

The article, The difficulty of documenting a tragedy, discusses the challenges photojournalists face when covering tragedies and disasters. The author, Thulasi Kakkat, notes that most journalists have no training in saving lives or rescuing people during emergencies. Yet they are compelled to rush to the scene of accidents and calamities to document the events unfolding. At the site of a disaster, a photojournalist is expected to remain objective and convey the reality of the situation through images, even though they may be confronted with disturbing and emotional scenes. The article cites the example of a photojournalist who covered a building collapse in Kerala, India, where several construction workers were trapped and injured. The journalist wanted to get an image of the workers caught under the debris, but felt conflicted about his responsibility to simply document versus intervene to help. Kevin Carter lived this conflict. His photograph of a dying child, The Vulture and t...

Visual Analysis: SEMIOTICS

Visual analysis is a systematic and scientific approach to examining visual materials that goes far beyond casual observation. In our visually saturated world, images have become a inescapable universal language that shapes our perceptions, attitudes, and experiences. From the artworks adorning gallery walls to the advertisements lining city streets, visuals communicate narratives, evoke emotions, and reflect sociocultural ideologies. However, the process of seeing and interpreting visuals is not as spontaneous or natural as we often assume. As John Berger notably stated, "seeing is an active decision," suggesting that the process of interpreting visuals is neither spontaneous nor natural, but rather requires conscious effort and critical thinking. The way we perceive and interpret visual content is heavily influenced by habits, conventions, and our individual perspectives. Serious visual analyses requires conscious effort and critical analysis to unravel the laye...

The Evolution of Art Styles Through History

The journey of human artistic expression spans millennia, evolving from primitive cave paintings to today's digital creations and conceptual installations. This evolution reflects not just changing techniques and materials, but also the transforming human consciousness, societal values, and technological capabilities across different eras. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Evolution of Art PDF Prehistoric Era (Before 8th Century BCE): The dawn of human artistic expression began in prehistoric times, characterised by raw, primal representations of daily life, hunting scenes, and spiritual beliefs. Cave paintings and rock art served as humanity's first canvas, using natural pigments to capture the essence of their existence. These early artists laid the foundation for all future artistic expression, demonstrating humanity's inherent need to create and communicate through visual means. Classical Period (8th Century BCE - 5th Century CE) : The Classical period, domi...

Sigmund Freud on Creative Writing and Day-Dreaming

Freud in his essay, Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming, explores the psychological origins of artistic creativity and the impact of literature on readers. He draws parallels between the imaginative activity of creative writers and the day-dreaming of ordinary people. It is a discussion about the relationship between creative art and unconscious phantasy. In it, Freud talks about the role of daydreaming and fantasy in human behaviour, and how creative writers are able to express their daydreams without shame or self-reproach. Read the essay below (for academic use only) Creative Writers and Day Dreaming PDF Freud argues that the child's play and the adult's phantasies/daydreams share a common element—the desire to alter an unsatisfactory reality and fulfil unfulfilled wishes. The creative writer is like a successful daydreamer who is able to transform their private fantasies into works that provide pleasure to the audience. Freud suggests that the writer's choice of subject...

Left, Right, Centre, and Gandhiji

Every politician, when he leaves office, ought to go straight to jail and serve his time, thus goes an American folk saying. Politics and politicians have come to be synonymous with dishonesty, favouritism, and corruption. This perhaps is the underlying reasoning for many good and competent people to stay away from active politics; and many corrupt and incompetent people to get attracted to active politics. The good people’s silence and inaction make it easy for the wicked people to fill the world with their opinions, lies, and propaganda; and establish their agendas and actions as normal and standard. For Gandhi, being political was not a choice, but an imperative. He famously said, “Anyone who says they are not interested in politics is like a drowning man who insists he is not interested in water.” Gandhi returned to India on 19 December 1914, after his sojourn in England and South Africa, as quite a matured man of forty-five, having seen the worlds of exploiters and the exploi...

Safety Is Greater Than Protection

Parties and governments are competing over who will push for a more policed and disciplined society. It gives a false sense of safety. On 14 August, as India was celebrating the Nehruvian stroke of the midnight hour, when the world was sleeping, and India awoke to life and freedom; elsewhere and everywhere in our country men and women, especially women in large numbers hit the streets on the eve of Independence Day, to protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor on duty in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata; and the attempt of the powerful to derail the course of the investigation; they hit the road to reclaim their life and freedom. The ruling dispensation and patriarchal establishments narcissistically keep feeling good about everything in our country and broadcast it across the globe generously, but the protest indicated that women of the country do not feel the same, they feel the former and the strong men of our country are just feeling good but are not being...

Sound Recording for Films: A Crucial Element of Cinematic Storytelling

Sound recording is a fundamental aspect of filmmaking that significantly contributes to the overall cinematic experience. It is the process of capturing and recording audio elements that complement the on-screen visuals. These audio elements form the foundation for creating an immersive auditory experience that enhances the film's storytelling and emotional impact. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Sound Recording for Films PDF The components of a film's soundscape are diverse and multifaceted. They include dialogues , which are the actors' spoken lines recorded on set or dubbed later; Foley sounds, which represent the actors' interactions with their surroundings and add authenticity to scenes; ambient sound, which creates a subtle background soundscape to transport the audience to the film's environment; music or score, which evokes emotion and enhances the narrative; and sound effects , which augment the film's realism and atmosphere. To capture ...

Compassion Fatigue

What does one do when one’s compassion cup goes dry and empty; when one comes to a point where there is nothing more left to give? I lost my mother very recently. She was 93. For the last two and a half years, she was ill, and for the last one and a half years, she was bedridden. Though all her children, when they visited her, used to be generous in taking care of her needs, it was my brother and his wife who took care of her day in and day out. They did an amazing job; they regulated their daily routine to make sure that mother did not lack anything, they sacrificed their possible travels and outdoor fun activities to make sure that there was someone with mother always. As days passed, weeks passed, months and years passed, I could see exhaustion and a certain level of irritation setting in with them. There were feelings of helplessness and powerlessness in the face of distress and pain, for medically they could do nothing more for mother, except to give palliative care. Other s...

Early History of Cinema

The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the birth and rapid evolution of cinema as a new artistic and technological medium. Lets us examine the key innovations, pioneers, and early milestones that shaped the beginnings of cinema, from its precursors in motion photography to the establishment of narrative filmmaking techniques. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) History of Cinema PDF The foundations of cinema can be traced to experiments in capturing and displaying motion through photography. In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge's groundbreaking "The Horse in Motion" used multiple cameras to decompose the movement of a galloping horse into a sequence of still images. This technique presaged the fundamental principle of cinema - the illusion of motion created by rapidly displaying a series of static images. A pivotal moment came in 1888 with Louis Le Prince's "Roundhay Garden Scene." At just 2.11 seconds long, it is recognised by the Guinness Book of...

Film Genre: A Discussion

Film genre is a fundamental concept in cinema studies, serving as a framework for categorising and understanding motion pictures based on shared narrative elements, aesthetic approaches, and emotional responses they evoke in audiences. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Film Genre PDF Genre theory posits that films can be classified into distinct categories based on conventional factors such as narratives, characters, settings, cinematography, and editing style. These classifications not only help in organising and studying films but also play a crucial role in shaping audience expectations and filmmakers' creative decisions. One of the primary distinctions in film genres is between documentaries and fictional narratives. Documentaries are rooted in reality, capturing real people, events, and experiences. They often employ rhetorical positions to explore, analyse, or debate subjects, sometimes breaking the fourth wall to address the audience directly. In contras...

Education Must Be Enabling, So Also A Government

This summer has been a season (for the young) of writing exams and (for the adults) of casting votes; and for both, waiting expectendly for the results. Come June, and it would be time for the students to get back to school, and for the politicians (the elected ones) to get back to the Parliament. Though this seems to be a coincidence, there definitely is a consequential connection between education and election, or one could qualify them saying, a good education and a good election. Gore Vidal, an American author, well known for his outspoken political opinions and his witty and satirical observations of American society, said about the American electorate, “Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.” Looking at the general percentage of voter turnout, and observing both the proportions of population having no privilege of education, and even if they have, considering the character of education often pr...

Should We Vote?

Vote is the most powerful non-violent weapon in a democracy–and that explains, on the one hand, why it scares and unsettles the powerful and the authoritative autocrats; and on the other hand, why people still believe and hope in democracy. It is the vote that demands connection between the most powerful and the least powerful politically. It is the vote that demands accountability and answerability from the mighty politicians. It is the vote that forces the politicians, at least momentarily, to uncouple themselves from the Adanis and Ambanis and engage with the aam aadmis of our country. Let elections come, politicians and leaders who seldom are seen among the common folks are found walking, talking, and eating with them. Once in five years our country, like many countries across the globe, conducts the sacred ritual called elections, where every citizen pulls themselves off from the anonymity of the irresponsible crowd, and self-importantly takes responsibility for their and t...