Pssst. Hey Kid. You Want Some of My Information?
Michael Schuh
July 27, 2004 - January 9, 2005
This project began as an exploration into the acts of delivering and receiving information, specifically as those acts relate to major "news" sources: TV, newspaper, radio, and magazines. Interested in examining the motivations and effects of both sides of this relationship of exchange, I began to ask questions such as: What information do people seek from these sources? Why do they want the information? How do they want the information presented to them? Why does the network want to be the source for this exchange?
The local news broadcast, the most common source of "news" information became my focus. Pssst. Hey Kid ·examines this relationship among the viewer, network and advertiser as it relates to a specific type of information exchange. I became particularly interested in the interplay of the news segments and the commercials that separated them.
It is widely understood that television, in general, functions as a vehicle to bring people and advertisers together, but it was the way in which the news reporters used this relationship and their presentation of the news to the viewer that piqued my interest. News reporters use statements like "Don't go anywhere," and "We'll be right back with more," or "You won't want to miss this," to give the information they are presenting greater importance, thus making it supposedly worth your time to sit through the commercials as you wait for the next news segment. Maintaining your viewership throughout the broadcast could potentially increase the program's ratings, which advertisers use to determine where they want to advertise. Ratings also help networks determine how much they will charge advertisers for commercial airtime. It is this relationship among viewer, networks who provide the "news," and the advertisers that buy the airtime that is presented throughout my project.
I chose to base the informative elements of this project (the video, graph, and audio) on the local news show with the most expensive commercial airtime that airs on the network with the highest rated local news broadcasts. According to a Web site that provides information on St. Louis, MO as a business market, I found that KMOV, Channel 4, the St. Louis CBS affiliate, has the highest rated local news broadcasts. The video, graph of commercial airtime rates, and audio are all connected to the same single news broadcast from Channel 4: the June 29, 2004 10:00 - 10:30 p.m. slot.
Throughout these installations, cardboard and packing tape is used because they are familiar materials that connect the other aspects of this project to the general act of delivering and receiving. The design of each room is intended to cause the viewer to feel restricted or controlled in their interactions with the work, thus suggesting that our interactions with "news" sources are in many ways restricted or controlled. This idea of control is reiterated in the video part of this project.
I, as the subject of the video, am literally restricted as I am wrapped in packing tape. The use of myself to communicate the content of the news broadcast has two primary functions: It brings to mind that exchange relationship between the "news" and us by showing me interacting with the broadcast in a very direct way: by mimicking it. The use of myself also serves as a tool of distortion, simply because it is an unfamiliar way to receive the information I am presenting. By distorting this presentation, the video automatically causes one to consider the way in which the news is typically presented. During the commercial segments of the broadcast I sit silent, except for the sounds I make: my breathing, clearing my throat or trying to get comfortable. Each of these periods lasts as long as the commercial breaks did during the original broadcast. The unfamiliar presentation of these segments makes the viewer more aware of the relationship between the news and commercial segments.
In the middle room, light and space are used to create another distorted interaction with familiar information. The graph on the walls depicts the commercial airtime rates for all June 29, 2004 news broadcasts. The point on the graph that relates directly to the broadcast is emphasized to suggest a greater significance than the other airtime rates, and indicates that it is the most expensive.
The third room shares many of the same elements as the first room. However, in this room, you, as the active participant in the broadcast, are emphasized, rather than me as the active participant as shown in the video. By sitting at the mirror and listening to the headphones, the relationship of the viewer and the commercials becomes the focus. Distortion is used again through the surface of the mirror, which visually distorts your face as you look into it. The audio playing on the headphones is my voice reading the scripts from the commercials that aired during the 10:00 - 10:30 p.m. news broadcast. The use of an over-the-top seductive voice suggests the goal that advertisers have in creating desire in the viewer for whatever product or service they are trying to sell.
- Michael Schuh
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