SpongeGar

Layer #1

Brandon Badger

Since I was the first to attempt this project, I had complete creative license to make whatever I wanted. I decided to make an image that I felt others that would view this would be able to relate to, since memes tend to be more popular when you can relate to them. I created a spongegar meme that was directly influenced by this assignment. Honestly, this image almost perfectly portrays my thoughts when first hearing about this assignment, and hopefully others as well. The startled feeling that spongegar shows in this meme was perfect for explaining the tension of grouping up with peers that you are not acquainted with. I chose to dim the image around the corners to highlight spongegar more since he obviously is the central object of the image.

Layer #2

Yirui Zhu

I really like the previous material because it talks about fun facts. So I’d really like to continue the funny style and contain a joke in the image. The image shows something that is based on real personal experience as on Friday evening, I had my headphones plugged in my phone while I started to play loud music on my mac in Hunt Library. The background captures a scene of library and SpongeGar stands right in the middle. The composition is in overall simple and direct in order to highlight the text.

Layer #3

Stephen He 

My volley is a different take on the spongegar meme. I wanted to break away from the "spongegar on background" approach and try a different format. However, I also wanted to keep the theme of school and studies in my meme. A big part of SpongeGar for me is the feeling of "dumbness"- SpongeGar is primitive and doesn't know much about the world. I oftentimes feel confused, like SpongeGar, when doing assignments so I wanted to emphasize the confusion I have as a student. As a result, I made my meme about the dichotomy of waiting for a TA vs actually meeting a TA. SpongeGar and "CleanBob" serve to emphasize the difference in feelings a student can have. 

Layer #4

Seth Geiser

My volley is, like Stephen He's, a little different from the "Spongegar-on-background" approach. Mine relates to my first couple of weeks here at CMU, where I was taking 15-112: Fundamentals of Programming and Computer Science, a course known by CMU students as one of the hardest courses offered. This meme shows my rather quick digression from "NormalBob" to "Spongegar," where I was quickly overwhelmed by the workload and forced into a state of helplessness. Stephen He's TA example also ties in very closely with long sessions at Office Hours trying to get the homework done before Saturday, 6PM.

Layer #5

Brandon Badger

I wanted my second take on the spongegar meme to still match the school theme that was created, but to approach it in a new way. Instead of making spongegar the center object in the image, I chose to use an image that had many more classmates to mirror the situation in the real world. It is significantly worse for a student's phone to go off in a larger class compared to one with a few students, and I wanted to make sure that it was clear that this event was happening within a larger class. I also felt that the second it takes to find spongegar within the image makes it all the more entertaining to the viewer when they see him. I chose to make the phone absurdly large mostly to make sure that viewers could actually see it, but I was also hoping that it would add a bit more humor for viewers.

Layer #6

Stephen pointed out something I did not pay enough attention to: the previous memes discover fun facts and events take place at school. So I tried to make another piece about school-related matter. It is also based on an awkward personal experience: when I received an email about the deadline of the math assignment in the second week, I suddenly found that I forgot to submit the first assignment. I had a calendar in the background as an implication of time and deadline. I put multiple SpongeGar at the border of several dates on the calendar to show how it is overwhelmed by tasks everyday. The composition is as simple and direct as my previous piece.

Layer #7

Stephen He

I wanted to keep the idea of multiple SpongeGars from the last meme. It seemed like an effective way to convey the idea of a group of people confused and / or focused on only one specific task. In this meme, I related something that happened to me very recently- I went to a tech talk hosted by a company, and there was food provided. However, due to the large amounts of students attending the talk, by the time I got to the head of the line, there was barely any food left. In this moment, I truly felt the SpongeGar in all of us as people reverted to their instinct for food. 

Layer #8

Seth Geiser

My second Spongegar meme relates to an experience I had just a few minutes ago, where I was about to crack open the first bottle of Mexican-made Coca-Cola, when I realized that I forgot to buy a bottle opener. This led to a long struggle that ended with me finally getting the bottle open with much brute force, making the Coca-Cola that much more satisfying.

Approach/Process

Our approach for this project was to create our own versions of the popular spongegar meme that gained its fame during the summertime this year. We decided for our first attempts to all create our memes based off of a "school" theme because of the first layer's similar theme. As the first person made an image that viewers are closely related to, we decided to keep the theme consistent. Basically, we put an image that fits each piece’s topic in the background, put Spongegar in the appropriate position and added lines of words. The messages are clear and pictures are appealing. While we are approaching the end, we created memes that went beyond the school theme though the content is still amusing. We felt that ultimately, creating memes should be an expression of your ideas and thoughts, and does not necessarily need to follow a theme.

Reflection

Memes are radically different from traditional forms of art. It is not about how technical and accurate the approach is, some pieces even look quite simplistic. Memes focus on how to deliver a strong message. There should not be irrelevant details which are distractive. Before creating a meme, the artist should definitely come up with a clear intention and then select only the elements that would respond to their original intentions. Since memes are all about absolute creativity and self expression, we felt that at the end that instead of following a theme, we felt creating our own images fully engages the intentions of memes.

Sources

Layer 1: https://westpoppn.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/kids_in_class.jpg

and Spongegar image from SpongBob SquarePants

Layer 2: Background image taken from http://media02.hongkiat.com/coolest-libraries-in-the-world/new-york-public-library.jpg

Layer 3: Images taken from SpongeBob SquarePants

Layer 4: All images from Spongebob Squarepants

Layer 5: http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/filepicker%2FxYagbrST4elVKlAPXdPl_iphone_phone_ringing_.jpg

http://mkenyaujerumani.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Lecture-Hall.jpg

and Spongegar image from SpongeBob SquarPants

Layer 6: Background image taken from https://pearlsofprofundity.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/gregorian-calendar-1.jpg

Layer 7: Background image taken from https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2393/2306642057_3727de3973_b.jpg

Layer 8: Background image taken from: http://www.bevreview.com/wp-content/ontheshelf_mexican_coke_6pack_2.jpg