:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [Are We Ready? Video - storyboards]:

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [globalisation narrative -Are We Ready? Video]:

So for the video narrative I have decided to return to my 'Are You Ready?' campaign for the main inspiration. The video will now be titled ‘Are We Ready?’ and will be running to a narrative written by myself which is based on my own opinion of globalisation and the hypocrisy that I think is attached to it.

Below is the 1st draft of the narrative to accompany it…

Do we listen?
Do we listen when we’re told time is running out?
When will we have had our fill?
We rape our planet,
Lavish ourselves with luxury,
More possessions,
Increased comfort,
Lazy,

But we care,
We recycle, we save energy, we donate,
Disgusted by the mistreatment and oppression of workers,
Of course we are.

Still by buy, we spend, we consume, we don’t know, we don’t care.
Not my problem, government stupidity, can’t make a difference.
Too little, too late.

Time won’t stop, the future is coming.

Not sure we’re ready.

Are we ready?

Next step is to draw up a storyboard showing what image/video/text will be used for each part of the narrative.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - globalisation narrative video research]:

I had a look for similar videos to what i wanted to create and although there was nothing quite alike which of course is a good thing, these are 2 that i found interesting...

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [initial idea 5 – globalisation narrative]:

This will take the form of a 30/40 sec narrative incorporating mainly stills with consistant audio with video and text elements that will portray a mix of my own and general opinion of globalisation and its causes.

I will try and make this emotive and punchy creating a moving and emotionally interesting piece.

I will try to utilise After Effects and Premiere as the main applications for this project.

More on this to come...

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [initial idea 4 – keeping it Great]:

Keeping it Great would be a website that promotes services or goods that are made in Great Britain and Ireland. Instead of selling goods sourced from anywhere this site would be dedicated to promoting the wares of the local vendors.

It will take form as a site where UK vendors can sign up and add their goods. Adverts would be only for UK residents offering home grown alternatives to multinational brands.

I think this is an interesting concept and a lot of people would be interested in the idea. Revenue for the site would be raised in an ebay style where for each item sold through the site a commission would be taken.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [initial idea 3 – globalisation personified]:

I quite liked the literal quality of the dollar dance and its depiction of greed. I thought this could be possible expanded into a piece. I series of short videos that dipict different aspects of globalisation using people as metaphors. It could be graphically abstracted in the edit so create a punchy and literal interpretation of the causes of globalisation.

For another sketch I could have a representation of the world on a wall, maybe as cloth hung on it or paper stuck on it and two characters racing against each other to brand the countries using different coloured stickers with big corporate logos printed on them.

For the next I could have a sketch which shows a pizza being delivered with the box labelled as corporate profit then have 1 character dressed in a suit eating all but a small piece which is given to the worker character.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [experimentation – dollar dance]:

When thinking visually about Globalisation I wanted to represent an opinion of the theme as a metaphor using film. I choose to try and personify the often greed driven motives of globalisation by showing myself trying to grab falling dollars, appearing as though this was the only thing that’s important.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT ['Are You Ready?' mocks]:

I was just playing around with the 'Are You Ready?' campaign idea and I created these 2 mocks. I was thinking these could be strategically placed in public spaces as with the government ‘Think!’ campaign.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research – ‘Whats Your Poison campaign]:

Binge drinking seems to be another current target of the government ad campaigns. The ‘Whats Your Poison’ campaign addresses the causes of binge drinking in an edgy graphic style. See examples below…


image taken from www.north-wales.police.uk


image taken from www.north-wales.police.uk


image taken from www.barrowbc.gov.uk


image taken from www.free-range.org.uk


image taken from www.toko-bar.co.uk

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research Think! driving campaign]:

Another potent campaign by the government is there Think! Driving awareness series. I took a look at the ‘slow down’ section. The website says:

“The £2.1 million campaign illustrates the logical reasons why speed limits and more specifically, the 30mph limit, exist and the potentially fatal consequences of not abiding by them, ending with the line: 'It's 30 for a reason'.”

Below are some of the prints from the campaign….







the series of posters was also accompanied by a TV campaign. some of the screenshots of one of the adverts are below...








information taken from www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - anti-smoking campaigns]:

When I was thinking about doing a hard hitting educational campaign the first point of call research wise that sprang to mind was the recent goverment anti-smoking campiagn. As an ex-smoker myself it was very memorable for me, the use of really shocking imagery and strong words worked to its advantage reaching its target audience with vigour.

Below are some examples taken from the campaign....











this type of campaign has prompted satires that can also be effective. Some examples of these can be found below...

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [initial idea 2 – ‘Are You Ready?’]:

The 2nd of my initial ideas is an educational advertising campaign. The tag line of the campaign will be ‘Are You Ready?’ and it’s aim is to combat the ignorance surrounding the subject of globalisation.

For this idea I would look to produce a series of poster designs that would take a similar form to existing government educational posters to be placed in public spaces on things such as bus stops and phone boxes.

I want to include a combination of emotive imagery and narrative that will shock people into taking the information on board. I think that this may well be the way the government may go as it has done in the past with issues such as smoking and drinking.

I will research some previous campaigns to see what visual language has been used before and see where that takes me….

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research – globalisation art]:

So I though I’d try and find some more graphic art that attempts to interpret the theme of globalisation. I started by searching the popular art site www.deviantart.com. Below are some examples I liked…


©2006 ~BleedingBlack666

Artist's Comments:
umm this was 1 picture of a series of images for uni, its sposed to express the globalisation power of companies or large corporations



©2006 ~BleedingBlack666


Numbered, not named. ©2006 ~Beska


ENDEPENDENCE NOW 4. ©2006 ~fumigene


ENDEPENDENCE NOW 6. ©2006 ~fumigene


corporate revolution. ©2006 ~ phadeone


1.1.65897.87. ©2004-2006 ~ adrien21

Just thought these might help for a bit off inspiration

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research – globalisation art]:

So I though I’d try and find some more graphic art that attempts to interpret the theme of globalisation. I started by searching the popular art site www.deviantart.com. Below are some examples I liked…



©2006 ~BleedingBlack666

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research – www.thevacuumcleaner.co.uk]:

www.thevacuumcleaner.co.uk are a UK artist and activist collective of one fashioning radical social and ecological change. By employing various creative legal and illegal tactics and forms the vacuum cleaner attempts to disrupt concentrations of power and reverse the impending collapse of planet earth.

They make performances, interventions, actions, insurrections, pranks, installations, videos, webshites, presentations, educations and such like.

One of their projects called ‘First F.R.E.E Bus’ I found really entertaining. It has a website at www.firstfreebus.co.uk and is a Bristol based project whereby a group of phoney first bus representatives go and entertain uses of the first buses. I is in reaction to the 40% rise in fares and tries to give customers more value for money.

View the event video here.

These type of protests just as found on the other sites I’ve researched too raise awareness of issues in an interesting and fun way and I think can be particularly effective in educating people of global issues that they may not have heard about before.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research – www.mydadsstripclub.com]:

One of the sites that I particulary liked from the www.spacehijackers.co.uk links pages was www.mydadsstripclub.com.

These guys are another anti-consumerist group that organise some really original and interesting protest in the name of anti-capitalism.

Particular targets are the usual big hitters such as Nike, Coca Cola, Starbucks and Nestle.

One of their projects that caught my eye is entitled ‘Word Search Receipts’ and involves going to Tesco and purchasing specific items in order to create words on the receipt. See some examples below…

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research – spacehijackers links]:

Check out the links list for www.spacehijackers.co.uk. It includes some very interesting anti-consumer, anti-capitalist and generally anarchistic links to all sorts of protest sites across the web.

Click me to go to www.spacehijackers.co.uk links page :)

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - Happy Meals, Unhappy Workers]:

by Aaron Glantz and Ngoc Nguyen, Special to CorpWatch
March 6th, 2006


cartoon by Khalil Bendib

It’s nearly five p.m. and factory workers at one of Vietnam’s largest industrial parks flood into the streets of Ho Chi Minh City’s sprawling outskirts. Some of the workers are clocking out, others signing in. Those who are done for the day cross the busy highway to buy groceries from vendors camped along the dusty street. Among them are employees of Danu Vina Corporation, who earn less than $2 for a hard day making stuffed animals that will be sold in the U.S. by Hallmark, Disney, and Starbucks.

A few weeks ago, many of them had joined with ten of thousands of workers to form a massive wave of wildcat strikes protesting low pay and poor working conditions at southern Vietnam’s growing export processing zones and industrial parks.

These foreign owned factories have helped boost the country’s economy. But at the same time, the cost of living has risen, as have the expectations of workers who want to share in the boom.

"In everyday life all things go up in price," says Minh, who has packaged toys at Danu Vina for two years. Like other workers, he refused to give his full name for fear of company reprisal. ''Everything that you use, food and drink become more expensive and we find that we're struggling to live. We're protesting to have a better quality of life."

Increasingly, that protest is taking the form of wildcat strikes demanding that the government increase the minimum wage in the export processing zones. Before late December and January, when some 40,000 workers walked off the job, the federally set minimum wage had been stagnant for six years while Vietnam’s currency, the dong, lost almost 15 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar, and inflation reached 28 percent. Few foreign companies pay workers more than the law requires.

"The government was caught by surprise at how angry the employees were over their low wages," says Thuyen Nguyen, who directs Vietnam Labor Watch, a San Francisco-based activist group. "But these are people who will not stand for exploitation."

After the strikes, the government increased the minimum wage in foreign invested factories by nearly 40 percent. Monthly earnings went from less than $40 a month to a minimum of $55 in Vietnam’s two biggest cities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, to $50 in mid-sized cities, and $45 dollars in the rest of the country. The increase will become effective on April 1.

"The Government directly sets the minimum wage with the aim of ensuring social security in conformity with international practices," Vietnam’s Minister for Labor Nguyen Thi Hang told a January 7 press conference heralding the increase.

But the announcement did little to dampen protest. Workers have launched new strikes nearly every day in the export factories that surround Ho Chi Minh City. Workers across the country are demanding that the wage increase take effect immediately. At other shops where employers have already given a pay hike, workers say they are no better off than before, since some companies cut stipends and bonuses at the same time they raised salaries.

Labor activist Thuyen Nguyen says the underlying conditions that lead to the strikes remain unresolved asthe government juggles the competing demands of workers and foreign investors.

"Unemployment is a big problem, so the government wants to create jobs. The government tries to placate the companies. Then the workers get upset because their wages are so low. It’s all short-term thinking. They don’t have any long-term plan."

Nguyen says the government’s balancing act is becoming less and less successful as workers get more and more angry. Six months before the eruption of mass strikes in Ho Chi Minh City, for example, 10,000 workers staged an illegal strike at Hong Kong-owned KeyHinge toys in the Central Vietnamese city, Danang. The workers, who manufactured plastic toys given away in McDonalds Happy Meals, told Lao Dong newspaper that unless they worked 12 hours a day without overtime they would be fired.

The workers also complained they were only allowed two bathroom breaks a day and that the factory only had one cup for drinking water. They told Lao Dong they were treated like "animals," not allowed sick days, and fined for any mistakes.

Almost immediately, the local Communist Party People’s Committee intervened, brokered a "compromise" and ordered workers to return to their jobs with the promise of an 8 to 10 hour day and an hourly wage increase of 1.5 to 17.5 cents an hour.

At McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, Anna Rozenich told the Associated Press at the time. "All the issues have been resolved, whatever they are."

Thuyen Nguyen was less sanguine. "The government will try to continue to placate everyone," he says, "but I don’t know how well it will work."

Race to the Bottom

All involved know that if the needs of foreign companies for the cheap labor and low production costs are not met, they will leave Vietnam. And indeed some factories impacted by the unrest and higher pay have already made that threat.

Vietnam must not only keep existing jobs but attract new ones to its export sector. The government is "trying to balance the interests of their citizens who work in the factories and the standard of living of the workers against that of foreign investors who they need to attract to create jobs and develop the country," says Carey Zesiger, who monitors labor conditions in Vietnam's export factories for the consulting firm Global Standard.

"China has low wages; Vietnam has to keep wages at a similar level in order to be competitive," says Zesiger. But, the minimum wage in China is $63 a month, 13 percent higher than Vietnam's new level and low wages are a major draw for international investors.

Hedging their bets, many companies maintain large factories in both in Vietnam and China so they can continue production as the political winds change.

Key Hinge, the company that makes Happy Meals toys for McDonald's, maintains two factories in Southern China in addition to its Vietnam facility, as does Danu Corporation, whose Ho Chi Minh City toy factory was struck by workers in January.

"You never know if China will lose it’s MFN (most favored nation) trade status," says Gordon Tucker, the President of the Danu Corporation. The company already had two factories in China when the European Union imposed sanctions on the country after the massacre at Tiananmen Square 17 years ago.

"That’s why we opened the factory in Vietnam," he tells Corpwatch, "to spread the risk. The government of Vietnam is no worse than in any other country."

So far, Vietnam has remained competitive and since 1989, only China and oil-rich Equatorial Guinea have grown faster. In 2005 alone, Vietnam’s economy rose by 8.4 percent. In the past decade, incomes have almost doubled and poverty rates have fallen below 20 percent.

According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Trade, two-way trade with the United States rose to $7.6 billion in 2005 from $5.9 billion in 2003.

But to remain attractive to foreign investment, government officials argue, Vietnam must provide the kind of cheap, docile labor force that foreign investors demand. But on paper, at least, Vietnam’s workers are supported by has some of the strongest labor laws in the world. Under the Communist system, workers in every factory are required to be represented by the official government union within a few months of opening.

''When foreign investors enter Vietnam, they must follow the country's labor rules," says security manager Long Nguyen. ''If they don't, the Vietnamese government has the responsibility to enforce the law or expel the company. The government has to protect the worker. The unions that represent workers in factories of foreign and joint-stock companies are weak. They don't have the strength to stand up to the management."

Since the influx of private companies started a few years ago, however, enforcement of policy has been lax. According to the International Labor Organization, only 10 percent of workers in the export sector are represented by a trade union and observers can’t remember a single case when a company has been forced out for breaking the law. So, most expect continued low wages and increasing numbers of wildcat strikes.

Leaving Danu Vina Corporation after a long day, the young women who make up most of the workforce carry plastic bags filled with vegetables, fruit, and a little meat they’ll cook for dinner. The men may stop for a beer before heading to cramped living quarters. The standard of living they and their children will have rests on national investment strategies beyond their control and the labor struggles that are their investment in the future.

taken from www.corpwatch.org on 28.11.06

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - localised initiatives]:

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, plans to introduce a £25 congestion charge for high emission vehicles in certain parts of London.

Livingston believes that although alone these types of policies may not have a great impact on global warming itself they will set an example to other cities around the world. Stating that it is the responsibility of town officials to follow suit and clean up there act.

View an interview with Livingston on BBC News 24 below…

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - the stern report]

Sir Nicholas Stern is Head of the Government Economics Service and Adviser to the Government on the economics of climate change and development.

In his 700 page study Stern suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20% within the next 10 years.

It warns that if no action is taken:

∑ Floods from rising sea levels could displace up to 100 million people

∑ Melting glaciers could cause water shortages for 1 in 6 of the world's population

∑ Wildlife will be harmed; at worst up to 40% of species could become extinct

∑ Droughts may create tens or even hundreds of millions of "climate refugees"


The study is the first major contribution to the global warming debate by an economist, rather than an environmental scientist.

The report has prompted new initiatives set by Gordon Brown for the UK and has involved US vice president Al Gore as an environmental adviser.





Blair spoke on the report which can be seen below…




info taken from www.bbc.co.uk 21.11.06

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research -contemporary art and globalisation]:

So I wanted to find some work produced by other artists on the subject of globalisation to research.

I stumbled upon the Tate gallery online’s ‘Contemporary Art and Globalisation’ homepage found in the Tate learning section.

I skipped a lot of the information found here as it appeared irrelevant or uninteresting but I may come back and have a closer look a little later in my research.

One part of it that did catch my eye was ‘Session 4: Photography and Social Space and a lecture given by speaker Steve Edwards on the subject. The description is as follows…

“In an era of increasingly global capitalist production, photographers have become more and more preoccupied with documenting social spaces. Steve Edwards’ talk considers the work that has emerged from both the documentary tradition and the legacy of conceptual art. He argues that the kinds of places represented in this work represent a substantial challenge to one of the central myths of globalisation theory - namely, that the world is increasingly becoming the same.”

Speaker: Steve Edwards, Research Lecturer, Department of Art History, The Open University

To view a video of the lecture you must have the latest edition of realplayer and click on this link: Steve Edwards 256k

In Edwards lecture he spoke about a few points that I found interesting. He concentrated on photography of space in relation to globalisation.

Commenting on a particular photographer called Rosella(?) who created a sequence of stills from airport terminals. Showing them to be somewhat homogenous in appearance.

Edwards then spoke about globalisation in loose relation to politics. The right wing, neo-liberal consensus being that globalisation is spreading democracy by spreading the free market and this in turn breaks up totalitarian states and offering 3rd world countries western concepts of freedom.

Whereas the left variant believe that everything is becoming increasingly the same, with globalisation irradiating indigenous traditions and local places including all forms of particular tradition. Edwards offers an analogy of globalisation explaining that it would end up ‘Disney feeding on McDonalds’.

Edwards believes that the left anti-globalisation view is in response to the action of the right.

He related his views back to globalisation saying that the works he was displaying dispelled a view of globalisation but I didn’t really follow. Anyway have yourself a look if your interested.

One thing I might think more into is the difference in the concept of economic freedom between western and other communities.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - what is anti-globalisation]:

Below is an article taken from www.bbc.co.uk which just explains anti-globalisation in a slightly different way. Mainly by defining it as an amalgamation of different protest causes. Anyway worth a look I thought…

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - buy nothing day]:

Buy Nothing Day discussion…

Here is an interview of the Adbusters founder Kalle Lasn talking about Buy Nothing Day on the CNN network. All I can say is if this news reporter represents a view shared by the majority of consumers on this planet then god save us…

KALLE LASN ON CNN

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:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [initial idea 1]:

So for my first thoughts on visualising a project based upon globalisation is to create some sort of educational piece. I want to follow Adbusters example by warning the public on the consequences of the increasingly unfair global economy.

Before I was given my subject I was thinking that I wanted to use an application called Adobe After Effects for this assignment really just because I have seen what can be done with this but have literally never touched it before.

I think I would like to incorporate film with the graphic effects created by after effects to create a hard-hitting literal opposition to globalisation.

I was thinking at first to make something sad, an emotional depiction of the lost of cultural identity felt by places effected by globalisation.

But the more I research the more I dislike the idea of the ethically challenged corporate capitalism that is controlling the growth of globalisation. So I am edging more towards a fast paced, edgy, angry opposition to it.

I think I’ll split these 2 ideas and take them further to see which might work better.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - www.adbusters.org]:

My first stop for anti-globalisation research took me to the Adbusters website. It was created off the back of the magazine of the same name. It consists of a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs creating material to post on the site/print in the mag. Their aim is to “topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century.”

The magazine is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is a not-for-profit, reader-supported, 120,000-circulation magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces.

The work produced by Adbusters has been embraced by organisations like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, has been featured in hundreds of alternative and mainstream newspapers, magazines, and television and radio shows around the world.

It has one of the most diverse readerships of any publication. Read in 60 countries worldwide.

Readers span from professors and students; activists and politicians; environmentalists and media professionals; corporate watchdogs and industry insiders.

With this specific vision and wide and varied readership Adbusters is one of the foremost adversaries of initiatives such as globalisation. The organisation seems very anti-capitalist and portrays serious issues with a lot of political satire.

One of their campaigns that interested me specifically in relation to globalisation is called ‘Buy Nothing Day’ and it occurs November 25th every year.



Basically it was created to try and reduce the effects of global warming by encouraging consumers to not shop on this day. I think this shows that there are people that are thinking of the consequences of global capitalism but they are still certainly in the minority.

Here is the advert made by Adbusters to promote Buy Nothing Day 2005, they couldn’t get advertising airtime from any of the mainstream networks.

:GLOBALISATION_PROJECT [research - Johan Norberg]:

Globalisation Is Good By Johan Norberg



I found this 50-minute production created by Swedish writer Johan Norberg for Channel 4 television. It is a pro-globalisation piece trying to change public opinion on globalisation and it touches on some interesting points.

Norberg begins by talking about the ‘Anti-Globalisation Movement’ explaining that there have been many often-violent protests attended by people from all walks of life including many students under the guise that they are the defenders of democracy. Norberg believes this view is ignorant and dangerously wrong.





Norberg continues to explain that within the last 50 years 3 billion people have been lifted from poverty as a result of global capitalism, which is historically unique.

He believes that as with his countries background many under-developed countries could benefit from trade without restriction.

Norberg begins his exploration in Taiwan. He talks about the formers sweatshops producing popular plastic goods as made famous in the 1960’s now replaced by a higher-grade technical industry. Norberg believes that these sweatshops with substandard pay and working conditions were a “transitionary but crucial stage in Taiwanese evolution, a key part of the rags to riches story. Due to a deregulated economy Taiwan was able to welcome capitalism and industrial competition.

Norberg explains that democracy is a direct product of globalisation due to the economic freedom is gives.

Norberg also briefly touches upon freedom of choice in so much as if people want to eat McDonalds food or drink Starbucks coffee why shouldn’t they and stipulates that we (European middle class) want cultures to stay frozen as exotic museums for our enjoyment alone.

Norbergs next stop is Vietnam where sweatshops are still a reality. Norberg toured the Nike sweatshop in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and spoke to officials and workers as part of his research.



He believes that people ignore the long-term benefits of sweatshops and that they are a necessary stage in a countries development. Norberg attempts to dispel common misconceptions about sweatshops. For instance explaining that since the outlawing of child labour in Vietnam in 1988, has adopted a strict over 18 policy for its shoe factories.

Norberg explains through a Nike representative that there are many challenges faced by a global brand and that protesters unfairly tarnish the Nike brand, which is their most valuable asset.

Norberg also shows how Nike is helping the community in Vietnam by providing small business loans to local business that couldn’t afford to run without financial help.

Norberg says that Nike protesters have made Nike a lot more careful in the 20 years they have had operations in underdeveloped countries.

The final destination on his journey through globalisation is Kenya, east Africa where 1 in 3 live in absolute poverty. Norberg explains that without a fair marketplace Kenya’s people cannot grow economically. The government controls the property rights to farmland and refuses to let construction or expansion take place. Norberg believes this property right refusal along with export restrictions hamper prosperity of the country.

I do not agree with Norberg for the most part but he does put across some convincing arguments. I believe that economic freedom should be a goal for any underdeveloped country but should not be obtained at any cost. People’s rights should be of utmost importance and sweatshops should not have to be an option. Large corporate control of the multinational market place I believe is hampering the individuality and independent cultures of different countries and needs to be preserved. Not to the extreme Norberg makes out, we do not need to freeze countries development but nurture it whilst protecting its global identity.

Norbergs views seem closed minded and emotionally cold, money isn’t everything, happiness is achievable without the amount Norberg seems to deem acceptable and as I have said economic freedom should be the goal but this doesn’t mean selling your soul!

From watching this it has further convinced me that whatever I might create for this project it will certainly be anti-globalisation based. However this is only the first piece I have looked at so I will strive to be open minded.