One Fused Life » Film & TV

Why is Apple the king of marketing?

Lasha — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:56:42 +0000

Is it really JUST the marketing that they're kings of? Today, most of Apple's marketing consists of showing the product being used, doing what it does best, combined with a few words in the end for the finishing spice. This is where I believe Apple's secret lies.

All ads are (or should be) based on truth, and then exaggerated to deliver a message and/or to prove a point. Fact is, people aren't stupid. We know when something is taken "too far" in an ad or commercial, and usually don't take it literally. Of course, there are cultural aspects to consider when using metaphors as some may be offended, and in return end up biting you in the rear. Read more...

My point is that Apple's ads are based purely on the truth, and in the past, some feel, have been expressed in controversial ways. The "I'm a Mac" campaign in the past was often exaggerated and often criticized as well, but it was always based on some truth. Marketing 101: take stabs at the competition where it will hurt the most.

When I watch an Apple ad, particularly the ones that I personally relate to, I'm sold. Apple shows me what its products are capable of with someone else performing the tasks that I may want to do myself. They are representations of real people doing real things. No technical jargon, megahertz and gigahertz, or robots. Just people.

Critics say the only reason Apple's products are so successful is because they're the kings of marketing. Let's not kid ourselves – they're all absolutely right. Great marketing for great products. It's not possible to create so many affective ads if the products didn't allow it. As many have also said, and will continue saying, great products sell themselves.

Apple's Ad Agency of Record: "TBWA\Media Arts Lab (TBWA\MAL) was launched in 2006 and is made up of a broad collective of creative talent from a diversity of backgrounds and media disciplines. With client Apple at its core, the group develops communication ideas that leverage all kinds of innovations. It is a place for experimentation for new ideas about connecting people with brands."

Thoughts on Palm Pre commercials

Lasha — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:27:41 +0000

I know it's nice and all for companies to create unique and catchy ads, but what the heck was Palm thinking? They're pulling the same crap Sony pulled a while back with its PS3 ads. They didn't make sense! They were strange, confusing, and made you go "WTF?" Palm was taking notes... unfortunately:

I'll leave it up to you to check out the rest after this one.

I understand what these ads are mean, and what they're supposed to do, but I completely HATE them! Her voice is just traumatizing and lures you in for a few seconds, only to make you say "Uhhhh..... Palm Pre?"

To Ad Agencies: We all love unique and original ads, but stick with trying to surprise us in ways we enjoy. Kthnxbai.

Movie Review: Valkyrie

Lasha — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:40:28 +0000

After having watched several movies on the big screen, I am glad to say Valkyrie was a decent addition to the list. I went into the theater with minimal knowledge of what this film would be about, but I was quick to realize that it was a visual depiction of a Hilter assassination attempt - something you don't see too often.

Historically, it is known that there were roughly 40 attempts to take Hitler's life, unsuccessfully. This movie reinforces the fact that not all of Germany was on Hitler's side, which is good since most World War II movies express otherwise. Note: This is NOT an action film! Don't expect crazy battle scenes and explosions.

I have never seen a movie of this sort, but I can say that it was executed pretty decently. One event lead to another, so, boring moments were seldom. This is movie is definitely for those who are curious about how it all went down, broken down into pieces.

Score: 8 out of 10

Movie Review: Helvetica

Lasha — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:10:35 +0000

I finally managed to watch Helvetica today, over a year after its release. Being a designer who has a certain appreciation for typography, I should've seen it earlier. To put it simply, this film is a visual history lesson, showcasing where and how the it originated, and a plethora of designers who love and despise Helvetica.

I didn't quite know what to make of this film until it ended. At some points, you were lead to love the typeface, while other moments you were lead to put the boredom of Helvetica aside and experiment with other glorious expressive typefaces. Personally, I have often found myself using Helvetica throughout my designs simply because it looked very good, but I also most certainly use various other fonts as well.

One thing that this film will reveal to you is how often Helvetica is used everywhere and for everything. There are countless companies out there using some variation of the font as their logo, and signage systems that use it like no tomorrow. Funny thing is, you may have not even realized it.

There are excellent arguments from both the lovers and the haters of this font, so you will definitely have a lot to think about when you begin working on your next project. One problem with this film, is that it's not so exciting. After all, there are no explosions or amazing twists in the story line, so the average person may find it boring. There were times when I had to pause for a few minutes and continue afterwards to give my mind a stretch. Don't expect this to make you a better designer, haha.

Score: 6 out of 10

Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Lasha — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:08:47 +0000

If you're looking for a deep and engaging movie to watch on the weekend, this is it. As the title of the film states, "curious" is definitely a primary feeling that swept me throughout the showing.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. If you have seen the trailer, you have a pretty good idea of what the film is about, but the execution of it all is astounding! I have not read the short story, but I have a feeling that this movie is just as good as the story itself.

The acting is wonderful, the storyline and the level of detail althoughout the movie is something to be desired by other movies. Having a run time just a few minutes short of 3 hours might be annoying for people who need to go often, but a couple of minutes away from the screen won't do you any harm.

This movie had me wondering, hoping, and thinking every minute of it. The concept of this film isn't something you see too often (in this form, at least), but the fact that it is based on a work of written fiction may have something to do with it. I highly recommend this film.

Score: 9 out of 10

Movie Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still

Lasha — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:28:01 +0000

I cannot say I enjoyed this movie as much as I hoped. Usually, I like movies that people tend to not favor, but I felt that barely any effort was put into the making of this film.

For a good portion of the beginning, you don't really know what's going on, and it's all mostly mystery. The lack of a story line made it difficult for me to stay interested. In other words, it got boring. The message I believe this film wanted to deliver was good, but it wasn't carried out successfully. This message was "we are slowly bringing this planet to an end - if we don't change our ways, the planet will change for us in a way we won't like."

There was an abundant amount of special effects to go along with the cliche choreography, which wasn't that great. After having watched movies like Iron Man, Transformers, and War of the Worlds, it just feels it was subpar in terms of the story, and special effects. I honestly did not know what to make of the acting, some moments were good, most were...ehh. I haven't seen the original 1951 version, but I am sure it will be interesting once I do, haha.

Score: 3 out of 10

Iron Man and Marvel’s Future Plans

Lasha — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:38:12 +0000

After recently watching Iron Man, I remembered once again how much I missed the world of comics. The last movie that was able to do this was the first Spiderman film. I can only report positive things about the movie as there weren't too many things to fuss about. It stuck to the story line pretty well, and managed to keep me interested all throughout the movie - In other words, there weren't any boring parts (at least not that I found any). The special effects were pretty amazing for a movie like this, and I was a bit worried about how it was going to turn out.

What I am most excited about right now is Marvel's announcement of more movies likes Iron Man 2, Thor, The Avengers, Captain American, and The Incredible Hulk (which we already knew about). If a movie made by Marvel is of such quality, I don't doubt that the rest of them will be just as good, or possibly better! All they have to do is choose the right director for the films, the proper actors, and so forth. Visit Marvel's website here and check it all out.

Movies, Sleeping Late, and School

Lasha — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:01:13 +0000

Lately I've been watching quite a few movies both in and off theater. I was over at a friend's house for a sleepover and we watched The Shawshank Redemption starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. This movie was made in 1994 so it's not exactly the newest one of them all, but definitely a good film. The storyline is quite catchy especially if you like good character development, and a happy ending! I'd strongly recommend you watch this if you haven't (considering it's around 14 years old).

Sleeping late, and sometimes not sleeping at all has been a common doing of mine, but I'm slowly pacing myself and getting into a good sleeping pattern where I don't sleep as late, but get a maximum amount of work done. It's good that I haven't had much to do with design jobs lately, but I still have a few projects I am working on for myself, and some friends. I hope to jump back into design and get some clients for some quick work, but I don't want to put too much on myself. School is turning out to require a lot more time from me than I thought. More after the jump...

I'm currently taking Packaging Design, Advanced Photography, History of Photography, Child Psychology, and Physics. I can honestly say that I haven't had such a bad experience with any class like I am having now with Physics. The "lab" portion of it is fine, but it's so annoying to have to write reports after every class that's a few pages long. The lecture part is even more annoying because the professor's teaching methods are not very good, plus it's hard to understand him because of his accent. I am seriously considering getting tutoring for this class. Last time the professor was out, and we had a sub who, in my opinion, was SO much better! He actually took time to explain every little thing just so we can understand it for real, and not just memorize facts and ideas.

I currently work at a retail store in the city putting in about 28 hours per week, and I am thinking of severely dropping my hours so I can have more time to concentrate on school, design, and personal development. I'm eagerly waiting until I have time so I can sign up to a Martial Arts gym and do what I've always loved. I'm a huge fan of Jiu-Jitsu and MMA (mixed martial arts), and it'd be awesome to grow my skills in it and gain self-confidence. There is a Tiger Schulmann's gym not too far from me, and it's pretty affordable so I definitely look forward to that without a doubt! On top of all this, I am also frequently going to the gym and getting back in shape. After all, body conditioning and training for MMA go hand in hand.

Getting back to the gym, LOST, etc.

Lasha — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:11:52 +0000

Well, I've finally made the plunge yesterday and went to the gym in the morning with a friend of mine. We did a couple of miles on the treadmill and the bikes just to get warmed up, and then we practiced some Jiu-Jitsu moves since we've both really into MMA (mixed martial arts) and stuff. It was kind of strange since we practicing on the mats where people usually stretch, but it was awesome nonetheless.

I'm definitely going back tonight after I get back from class! I miss the feeling of being in shape, and feeling strong and confident about myself. This has been a part of the 2008 resolution, so it's one more thing I can scratch off my list, but I must stay consistent! Must not get lazy and give up! More after the jump...

So, it has turned out that I'm going to have to send out my EOS 40D to Canon for some minor repairs. It looks like the little spongy grip that the shutter mirror bounces against when it's released is a little loose, and it shows partly in the viewfinder as a soft black blur on the top edge. It doesn't effect the exposures at all, though, so that's great!

I also have a Logitech MX Revolution mouse that I have to send out to get a new one as well, since the scroll wheel came out to be defective. It's not drastically bad or anything, but it's annoying and uncomfortable, just like that little issue with my camera.

So yea! Last night I also watched the two new episodes of the 4th season of LOST, which was pretty awesome. Lots of things are being answered, but damn it, more and more questions are developing! They're showing scenes of them still being on the Island, while jumping back periodically to the characters lives after being rescued, etc. Lets just say that, everyone is having A LOT of issues. Haha.

Playing TV Catch-Up, Making Movie List, etc.

Lasha — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:18:30 +0000

This year I set a goal. I told myself that I would start going back to my old tv-watching days and pick up a few season DVDs of the "big" shows; Heroes, Psych, Entourage, and House. I recently started watching some online episodes of Psych on USA Network's website, which I think is pretty cool. A new season of Lost is airing this Thursday, and I'm a HUGE Lost fan! I don't care what people say about the show being dragged on and having little development and all - this show is awesome! I love all the twists and every time it gets me to say "wtf." Back when Heroes premiered, I watched a couple of episodes, but I got carried away with school, work, and a bunch of other things, but this time around, it'll all be good.

For 2008, I also made plans to watch at least 15 to 20 films (good ones!) that I haven't seen yet. In the last year, all the films I've seen were mostly in the theater, and a few at home/dvd/tv. At home we have the whole HBO On-Demand thing that does have quite a few good films that I haven't seen so that's gonna be something I have to make some time for. I recently saw Cloverfield, which I was really looking forward to, and it was GREAT! I've never seen any movie that was shot the way this one was, and the thrill had me on the edge of my seat all the way through!

This is something I've been meaning to do for the longest time, and I hope to do it this time. The new school semester started last Friday, and I have a feeling I won't be enjoying a couple of my classes. Speaking of classes, I need to call my counselor and take care of a mishap before they tell me I have to pay more money. Well, happy times, all! If anyone has any recommendations of some good films, old or new, speak up!