Yun Shik Park's E-Portfolio

WELCOME

Welcome to my e-portfolio, my name is Yun(Yoon) Shik Park. I will put my collection of works from classes through this website.

Starting from spring 2012, I started writing blogs practiced writing essays and public speeches from LA101H class. To tell the truth,  I was really uncomfortable about the idea of writting my thoughts and posting it online to share with other people. Maybe because I am not confident enought to show my thoughts out loud. However, as i got use to writing blogs everyweek, my writing process got faster and more organized.

Most of the posts are from that class but I will continue to post more of my works as the years pass.Through this website, I’d like to demonstrate my improvement of writing skills and personal growth as well.

This is the link to my e-portfolio: http://www.wix.com/josephpys/josephpys

A Great Camera

You know I like taking pictures, and to take good pictures also means good camera. Those who take photography as a serious hobby prefer the DSLR, but to many affordable compact digital cameras are good enough. Also, for the majority of people, a good camera means a camera that, with just a click, any picture that you take will come out as if you are a professional.

google.com

That is what this advertisement is telling its audience: "invisible assistance in every picture." This is the phrase that you can find on the right lower corner, right above the image of the camera. The "invisible assistance" here are the people you see in the ad, the one in black suits. On a rope or leaning on the stairs, there are people adjusting artificial lights. There is even one person squatting next to the "models" and mirroring the light on them. If you notice, these adjustments are normally done for professional photography. The lights, the round mirror, the setting is like it is taking pictures for an expensive photo shoot. In other words, with this digital camera, this little device will do all this assistance just like a scene of a professional photography. Eventually, the picture will turn out as if you are a great professional.

What is also another luring aspect is that it shows a hand that is actually holding the product, taking the picture. This is actually a visual comparison of the camera and the hand, showing how small and compact it is.

Lastly, to advertise the company that is producing this camera, Nikon(the company) has placed their label on the right top corner of the ad.

"Narco-Trafficking"

Recently, I learned about narco-trafficking in Mexico from Political Science class. Extensive research has been conducted exploring the relationship between narco-trafficking organizations and political institutions. Many researchers focus on Mexican drug cartels, which have become increasingly influential in the past thirty years. This paper unpacks and synthesizes research from eight peer-reviewed articles. It identifies and analyzes the methods used by these cartels to influence institutions in Mexico and the United States. Three main types of influence are discussed, including violence, bribes and family connections. First, a correlation between increased violence and augmented cartel power was established. This showed that violence is being used to influence a variety of institutions including politicians, the police force and the government as a whole. Then, the use of bribes and family connections was analyzed. Cartels use these technique to curry favor with the aforementioned institutions. Overall, the researches show that political changes in Mexico have led to an increased reliance on violence by Cartels, and a decreased importance of traditional patronage systems. Even though, U.S.A government and Mexico government kept saying they will determine these problems, it won’t be that easy. In the past ten years, violence in Mexico has risen exponentially. Both quantitative and qualitative research points to the growing prominence of Mexican narco-trafficking organization as the source of this increase. The purpose of this violence is influence. Narco-trafficker’s actions compel political institutions to decrease anti-drug aggression.  A political institution is a structure that performs a function of the political system.  Politicians, political parities, the military, and the police are all political institutions that are typically targeted by DTOs. The violence used against these institutions can be classified into two types: retaliation and coercion. Overall, cartels use a combination of these two forms of violence to influence political institutions at an increasing rate.

“If only women spent less time cooking"

Nestlé‘s soup brand, Maggi, was promoted by McCann Erickson, Romania with an advertising campaign, “If Only Women Spent Less Time Cooking”. These print advertisements suggest what might have happened if people were able to make use of ready-made soups: four USA presidents on Mt Rushmore and The Godmother.

Can we assume that these women have become what they are because the men in their lives got stuck in and shared their load in the kitchen? According to this ad, maybe. Of course it is an exaggeration, giving it a laughable aspect for the people who see this to enjoy.

Basically, the ad is selling its product. How? By implying the idea that you do not have to take up a lot of time is preparing for soup, for this product is all prepared. Therefore, all the mothers who are stressed about working and taking care of household chores, this product will reduce your worries so you can do much bigger work that will fulfill your ambitions.

The deep idea is this: "Women have been suppressed by so many house chores, and that is why men, not the women, have dominated many things in the world. If men and women had the equal chance, it would have been a women's world." This can be a very touchy concept, with some saying that this is feminist, and the debate over this ads can go awry(Well, if you are an anti-feminist). However, by giving it an exaggerated twist to the idea and putting them on the poster of "Godfather" and the president's faces on Mt Rushmore, the seriousness of the whole message is downsized.

I say they did a pretty good job in making this ad fun and effective.

RCL #12

"Thing Called Love... Really?"

Samsung commercial usually makes fun of Apple and their fan boys which happened since their release of the new Smartphone series of Galaxy S. This 90-second ad that aired during the Super Bowl game last February is about Samsung’s new Galaxy Note, mocking, yet again, the iPhone.

The basic point is similar from its past commercials. We are better. The phrase they use in this commercial directly addressed their point at the end: “No more waiting, The next big thing is already here.”

The commercial starts with people all over the states, waiting for a new Apple product to be released. They should be excited about a new product, but if you see their attitude and faced, it is easily noticeable that they are not. They are bored for waiting so long.

That is when the "hero" comes along to save the day. A guy in line sees someone with a new electric device and gets interested, noticing its cool functions. Now, the camera takes close ups of the gadget with the man doing his thing.

“Wait it has a pen? This is awesome,” says one of the characters as he starts drawing on the Galaxy Note. With the man talking about the pen, one can see this in one of the aspects that Samsung wishes to show the audience. A young woman next to him in line looks on impressed mumbling, “I don’t know what I believe in anymore” because, it's implied, she feels betrayed by Apple.

And suddenly,

“Freedom!” one shouts after he joins others fleeing a long line of bored hipsters tired of waiting in line. Busted out with song and dance and this is followed by a marching band, a hot girl singing “I want to kiss you every minute, every hour, every day,” Justin Hawkins, lead singer of The Darkness, appears out of thin air to sing the 2003 hit song “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” Random celebrities, like Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr, Chicago Bears defensive player Brian Urlacher and professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez (P-Rod), appear briefly and out of place throughout the clip and lastly a guy shot of a canon to convey excitement for Samsung’s new device.

That is probably what the ad is trying to send to the audience: that this device will free you from the boredom of waiting and actually give you more.

My reaction after I saw this commercial was “What just happened…?” It was really entertaining but I don’t think Samsung did good job bringing the subject looked more interesting and make people want to buy it. It was just bunch of thing going on at the same time and didn’t really talk about the product that much. Everything was just, well, everywhere. Only thing they talked about in commercial is the new galaxy note has a pen.