wot happened on the 24th January 1984?

The first ever apple Macintosh advert aired on the 24th January 1984 during a break in the third quarter of the super bowl. The ad showed an unnamed heroine running through an Orwellian world to throw what looks like a sledgehammer at a TV with what seems to be an image of Big brother, this is then followed by an audio visual message which says “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984” after this the ‘rainbow bitten apple’ logo is shown on a black background.

This advert is now considered a “watershed event” and a “Masterpiece”. The unnamed heroine is used to represent the coming of the Macintosh which is indicated by the clothes she is wearing as a means of saving everyone from “big brother” these images were from George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian future ruled by a televised “Big brother” this novel in itself has become famous for its portrayal of surveillance a increasing invasion on the rights of individuals, since this book was published terms like “big brother” and “Orwellian” have been used more commonly to describe this.

This advert showed people what was happening the “big brother” effect, where people were being watched and controlled using technology and that Macintosh were different they were there to stop the “big brother” effect and give people back there freedom. I think that this advert tries to show people that change can happen if they help it to happen and do something about it. I think this advert really did achieve something when it was aired and you can still see some of the effects today.

The book (Nineteen Eighty-four) in some respects has come true. In this day and age everyone everywhere is continuously being watched by CCTV which is put there to protect us or to watch us? This is the “Big brother” effect that Orwell mentions in his book.

Technology is a massive part of everyone’s life, without it where would we be? But some argue that it’s taking over, we have become to dependant on it, which in a sense is true, what would you do if there no phones, computers, internet, televisions? It is hard to imagine a world without them and a world without them wouldn’t be the same. Some people also argue that the internet is another form of watching us, but personally I see it as a gateway to the rest of the world without even taking a step which when you think about it is amazing.

Personally I am obsessed with technology, and try to keep an eye on what is being developed and created because it is getting more and more advanced and I don’t give much thought to this “big brother” effect because I see it as protecting me instead of watching me, but I will agree that some are just there to watch, but most do have a purpose.

How far can you trace back multimedia (lecture 1)

I personally had never thought about how far back multimedia could be traced back but after listening to a brief history I realised that in some way multimedia has always been around. I never considered that multimedia could have started as early as cave paintings (15,000 BC), but the more I think about it the more connections I can make between what happened in the past and how it could have influenced the multimedia that we have come to know and love to this day.

In my opinion everyone is creative but in different ways, some people won’t see what they are doing as creative, but everything tends to stem from something else, something they have seen or heard, which has carried on through time. Some people will say that you can’t trace multimedia as far back as cave paintings but I think you can.

If you look at modern day multimedia there are quite a few similarities between old and new, for example the cave painting were created for an unknown reason on stones and objects were people in that age would see them, which is like graffiti in the modern world people graffiti, buildings, walls where ever they feel there art will be seen and we don’t know the reasoning behind it, we are left to come to our own conclusion, some see it as an art form some see it as vandalising. It all balances on opinions and beliefs of that person.

Some cave paintings were found in caves with good acoustics which gets you thinking did they consider this when choosing a place to paint or has it always been that audio and visual run so perfectly with each other that half the time we won’t notice it, which is what makes today’s multimedia so interesting and complex.

It is amazing to think that artists, scientists, musicians, engineers, poets and cultural renegades all played a part throughout time to mould multimedia into what it has become today.