CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, there was a graphic that indicated that Josh Marando answered that he "strongly agreed" with the police presence on campus. However, in our survey, Marando answered that he "strongly disagreed" with the police presence on campus. We apologize for this misconstruction and have changed the graphic since.
The Silhouette recently surveyed the four McMaster Students’ Union 2019 presidential candidates on their opinions on where the MSU and the university are doing well and where they can improve.
The survey consisted of seven statements. Candidates were asked to indicate their level of agreement with each statement on a scale from “strongly agree” to “disagree.”
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="197" gal_title="2019 Presidentials Survey Results 1"]
The first question asked candidates about their opinions on the statement that “The MSU is committed to equality and inclusiveness.”
The candidates all agreed on the MSU’s commitment to equality and inclusiveness. Jeffrey Campana and Madison Wesley indicated they “strongly agreed” with the statements, whereas Justin Lee and Josh Marando said they “agreed.”
The second question asked candidates whether or not “Increased police presence will promote increased safety of students on and around campus.”
There were a range of opinions on the relationship between McMaster students and the police.
Lee was the only candidate to agree that police presence will promote safety. Campana was neutral, while Wesley disagreed. Marando was the only candidate to strongly disagree.
In September, a string of break-ins in Westdale prompted a greater police presence in the area. During the same month, a video depicting a woman being run over a McMaster police horse was widely shared on social media.
The candidates were mostly in agreement with the statement that the MSU should oppose the provincial government’s free speech mandate requiring Ontario universities to implement a free-speech policy.
Wesley was the only candidate not to agree with the statement, choosing a “neutral” response instead. Campana indicated he agreed, while both Lee and Marando chose “strongly agree.”
In October, the Student Representative Assembly unanimously passed a motion opposing the government mandate.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="201" gal_title="2019 Presidentials Survey Results 2"]
The next question asked candidates whether or not the MSU should lobby against the government’s changes to tuition, student fees and the Ontario Student Assistance Program.
The survey showed that all the candidates were in stark opposition to the provincial government’s changes to tuition, student fees and OSAP announced on Jan. 17.
Lee, Marando and Wesley all strongly agreed with the statement, while Campana selected the “agree” response.
Regarding McMaster’s accessibility, Wesley and Campana indicated there was room for improvement, as they strongly disagreed and disagreed with the statement that the school is “fairly accessible” for students with various disabilities.
Lee and Marando were neutral on the issue.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="202" gal_title="2019 Presidentials Survey Results 3"]
The results also show that none of the candidates are satisfied with McMaster’s current efforts to prevent and address sexual violence. When asked if McMaster does a “sufficient job” in this area, Campana and Wesley strongly disagreed, while Lee and Marando disagreed with the statement.
McMaster’s sexual violence policy is up for review this year.
Overall, it appears that while there is a high degree of agreement amongst candidates on topics such as the Ontario government’s recently announced tuition and OSAP changes, candidates differ in their views on issues like the relationship between students and the Hamilton police and McMaster’s response to sexual violence.
The voting period for this year’s MSU presidential election is taking place from Jan. 22 to 5 p.m on Jan. 24. To vote, students can fill out the ballot sent to their McMaster email or login and vote at www.msumcmaster.ca/vote.
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The paper received an email asking for a response to a few questions by July 25 for an article that will be up on J-Source, which is a collaboration of post-secondary journalism schools led by Ryerson, Laval and Carleton. It will be about whether student media represents the diversity of Canada.
The questions mainly had to do with the self-identification of the editorial board, our staff, on a number of different categories. These were based on gender, race with specific note to Indigenous people, disabilities and gender or sexual minorities. While they could have divided a few of these categories to be more specific, analysis of diversity in the workplace continues to be a positive endeavour that should be undertaken and explored more in-depth.
McMaster’s Employment Equity Working Committee released a new report on July 23 in a similar vein. It provides a detailed roadmap based on input from different parts of campus, e.g., each of the different faculties and research departments. The focus is primarily on “... a more complete understanding of representation of all four groups designated by the Federal Contractors Program: women; First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNMI) peoples; persons with disabilities; and members of visible minorities, as well as the representation of trans and LGBTQ+ employees.”
The last recent example for this article will be a comment piece by the Public Editor over at The Varsity, which is the University of Toronto’s student newspaper. While a lot of it has to do with online commenting platforms, it transitions into the commitment the paper has, “... to diversity in its newsroom and reporting.” Their primary focus seems to be on gender and race.
These three examples from university campus media and McMaster have varying degrees of data collection and analysis, but all of them miss a few categories. While there are more categories of diversity, these three are, arguably, the most apparent ones missing.
The first is socioeconomic status. However, that would have less influence if you are considering only university student journalists or McMaster employees in your sample. The second would be ideologies, e.g., political beliefs and religious beliefs. I can understand not asking these respondents may not be comfortable answering accurately or answering at all, and may change at a more variable rate over time. The third is age.
While certainly not as attractive a stat, diversity in age should be deemed an importance if your goal is to represent the population in what you report about, who is reporting and the demographics of your employees.
University is always idealized as a place where you develop and grow. It is easy for anyone to note the differences between a first year and a fourth year and someone fresh out of university to someone about to go into retirement. When you are getting survey data or considering your workplace’s diversity, why would you ignore something as important as age?
It is simply too important. When it comes to reporting at The Silhouette, diversity and different perspectives have a significant influence on our articles in every section. The diversity of who is reporting it or who is being reported on is vital to allow a full representation of the McMaster student body, and to continue to progress and pass on information to the younger members of staff before graduating.
We cannot afford to ignore age. If other organizations or the university have missed the point by filling quotas instead of noting the benefits and embracing all types of diversity, including one as obvious as age, then that is disappointing.
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This logo and visual identity analysis will focus on the analysis of campaign colours, logo shape and design, layout and use of photography. To keep the analyses fair, the cover photo from each candidate’s Facebook page is being used as the central design feature, with some mention of other elements in their physical branding.
Sarah Jama
Colour: Orange
While colours can have many meanings, in North American society, certain colours have grown to have more associated meanings than others. Orange is often linked to freshness — think of the actual citrus fruit and its refreshing connotation. Jama’s choice to use orange is reflective of her emphasis on innovation and bringing new, inclusive ideas to campus. In Canadian society, orange is also tied to another association: socialism. Jama’s shade of orange is the same as that of the New Democratic Party, an unsurprising choice given her emphasis on equity and her slogan, “Students united; a place for everyone.”
Logo: Unity Triangle
Jama’s logo has two main elements, shape and content. The logo itself is a triangle, the strongest shape used in design. Its strength comes from the fact that any pressure placed on the shape will be evenly distributed across all three sides. The content of the logo is three ambiguously diverse arms and hands, united. Together these two elements create the image of strength in unity.
Layout: A hint of MSU familiarity
If you’ve ever seen a promotional cover photo for an MSU service or event, this layout is probably very familiar to you. The central call to action in the larger right-most rectangle, and supplementary contact information in a left-hand, narrow rectangle are two staples for MSU promotional branding. Jama’s branding isn’t the only one reminiscent of MSU materials, and it definitely isn’t the most similar one.
Jonathon Tonietto
Colours: Yellow, purple
Tonietto has an unexpected colour palette compared to most of his competitors, who are sticking to conventionally popular darker tones and minimal colour mixing. Yellow, often associated with sunshine and summer, gives off a youthful, friendly vibe, which works well given Tonietto’s outgoing personality. The yellow also matches one of the symbols of his campaign, the “this is a good sign” sign that has been on his person at all times and used as his hashtag. Purple on the other hand gives off the opposite association, one of age and wisdom. It’s a more regal colour that is a technical compliment to yellow, and tones down the vivid nature of the rest of his campaign theme.
Logo: The Toni vector
The strongest element of Tonietto’s logo isn’t the graphics; rather, it is the actual tag that is attached to it, “TONI16.” Whether it was intentionally a play on “KONY2012” or not, it still rolls off the tongue nicely and feels simple and familiar. The logo itself uses an easy sans serif font that lets the focus fall on the vector cut-out of Toni’s face. It isn’t complicated, but it ties in Tonietto’s appearance without an obvious photo.
Layout: Kept to a minimum
Much like his colour scheme, Tonietto’s layout is different from most. It does not have any contact information, which is a bit of a letdown, but it is eye-catching at the least. It is much simpler than that of other candidate’s, but it still gets the point across.
Devante Mowatt
Colours: Tie-Dye
Mowatt’s colour scheme is one of a kind. Looking back on previous presidential campaigns, there have been a few candidates who worked with a rainbow or tie-dye colour palette, but Mowatt is the first in a while. Tie-dye is fun and funky and relates back to an era in time that led to open-mindedness and social change and progress. According to details on his website, the tie-dye was inspired by the university’s previous “colour”— multi-coloured plaid. Overall the tie-dye gives off a relaxed vibe in an otherwise buttoned-up race.
Logo: Balloons and stars
Mowatt’s logo is hard to notice at first, as it isn’t quite front and centre on his posters or other promotions, but it is there. It is a little yellow star attached to a tie-dye balloon. It includes the obvious colour element of his campaign, but other than that, the symbolism isn’t too clear. Balloons in general have an element of freedom, so for those who have seen his logo, this could be an associated meaning.
Layout: Familiar places
His promotions don’t seem to follow an obvious theme in terms of layout, but the use of photography of iconic McMaster locations is consistent. It seems to be trying to create a familiarity without using direct styles from pre-existing university branding.
Mike Gill
Colours: Green, black
Every year will have at least one MSU presidential candidate dawning the tried and true combination of green and black. Green has two iconic associations, sustainability and money. They’re both great things to subtly promote to the student body, so it’s no wonder it keeps being used. Gill’s branding is particularly reminiscent of Jacob Brodka’s 2014 campaign for MSU president. The use of black is associated with power and mystery à la business suits and covert operations. They are two meanings that could also work in Gill’s favour, whether intentional or not.
Logo: Layered triangles
Going back to comments made in Jama’s logo analysis, Gill also makes use of design’s strongest shape, the triangle. It’s unclear what the shape is supposed to represent other than strength, but for the most part it is quite chic and on most of his visuals, it doesn’t come across as distracting or unnecessary.
Layout: That beloved MSU touch
Brodka’s 2014 campaign isn’t the only thing Gill seems to be borrowing from. Like Jama, his cover photo design is very reminiscent of typical MSU layouts. It’s unsurprising for both of them, as they have both been involved in multiple MSU services, but Gill borrows more from MSU branding than Jama. The primary font, Gotham, is also the MSU’s official font. He features the acronym “MSU” in its official font, which doesn’t technically break rule 4.23 of presidential campaigning (“Material may not possess any logo(s) of the MSU”). Overall it is a strong design, but its MSU-esque qualities could provide students with a certain sense of trust and give him an advantage over his peers who are following less familiar layouts.
Justin Monaco-Barnes
Colours: Navy, grey
Monaco-Barnes is sticking to a known-to-win colour scheme among presidential candidates, a combination also used by Ehima Osazuwa’s winning 2015 campaign. When thinking of blue, images of the sea and sky often come to mind, leading to an association of calmness and tranquility — two fair associations with Monaco-Barnes’ stoic personality. It’s popular use in political campaigns around the country, and the globe, also hint to confidence and professionalism.
Logo: Stand-alone name and slogan
His logo isn’t so much a logo as it is a slogan. His “#bethechange” quotes Ghandi, which for most people, brings to mind a positive association. His choice to use his name and slogan as his logo is a smart decision instead of trying to create a visual logo that could be lacking in substance. Like Gill, Monaco-Barnes is also using Gotham, the MSU’s favourite sans serif, as his campaign’s primary font. It’s hard to blame either of them for this choice, since it is a nice font, but like the comments made in Gill’s layout analysis, seeing “MSU” written in its typical font can be misleading to students, but can give Monaco-Barnes added support.
Layout: Simple but strong
The layout used in Monaco-Barnes’ campaign is probably the strongest from a design standpoint. It has a clear visual hierarchy and includes important details without being too heavy on content. His visual identity works well to tie together photos and text, having his name and face front and centre will work well in getting passers-by to notice his promotions. It has a strong association with other MSU promotions without using direct logos from their previous campaigns.
On Oct. 7, hip-hop artist Pharrell released a new single from his latest album, G I R L, entitled “Gust of Wind”. The Daft Punk feature may be the most enticing part of this track for the majority of Pharrell fans given his prior work with the electronic duo on “Get Lucky”. One overlooked aspect of the music video, however, was the benefit of Edgar Wright’s unique directive style. Having directed cinematic successes such as The World’s End, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead, Edgar’s resume speaks for itself.
In this article, we analyze and break down two factors in Wright’s unique directive style, which features prominently in his cinematic endeavours, and in his latest project with the music video for “Gust of Wind.”
Edgar Wright uses this fairly common and overdone technique to an increasingly larger degree as the years go on. Not only adding style and general presentation to each of these works, but the addition of lens flare also serves functional purposes.
In Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, lens flare is mostly used unintentionally. The camera picks up the occasional flare without any meaningful addition. The main exception to this is a one-off joke in Hot Fuzz in which character Sgt. Angel is blinded by a car turning on its lights at the same time that one of the underage drinkers in a pub smiles.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a dramatic shift from this hesitance to use lens flare to using it as an obvious visual element. Besides a few comedic exceptions, lens flare is mainly used as anticipation for upcoming action scenes with climaxes of flares at key moments within these fights. While it can be excessive at points, the use of lens flare can add to the intended comic book-inspired cinematography and editing to create a unique viewing experience.
The World’s End features the best progression and development of lens flare out of any of Wright’s works. As the movie becomes more and more hectic with an escalation of tensions heightened, consequences increased, and beverages consumed, lens flares follow suit. As in Scott Pilgrim, the technique is mainly used in action scenes early on in the film, though later scenes in the film also use this in exposition scenes as the central plot and themes begin to come to a climax.
The Gust of Wind music video uses it to a purpose similar to Scott Pilgrim in building anticipation and climax for the sections where Daft Punk is most prevalent. This is also done at some points during the first Pharrell-focused verse as an initial hint, and later as a reminder that Daft Punk is moving around off-frame and still has influence.
While there is not nearly as much time to develop as The World’s End, there is still an element of increased lens flare as the video progresses. This development is minor considering that Daft Punk never takes a long-enough segment to justify anything more significant visually, and is mainly just as a visual climax before the end of the song.
Staging is often used interchangeably with “blocking”, which is the position of the actors on a stage. For this section, we will look at how he uses the frame and staging to add a comedic or quirky element to a scene. Rather than look at all of his preferred actor spots, this tendency analysis will look at one specific part of his directing that is rarely done by others. He has a number of examples where people off-camera will extend hands or objects into medium close-ups. This is an odd thing to point out, but it does represent using the full capabilities of cinema to add a visual or physical element to comedy.
In Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim, the uses of objects coming into the frame are used for comedic effect. Hot Fuzz’s example is a one-off joke that adds to the seemingly nice intent of those offering him the slice of cake; even though everyone in the scene and the audience knows that the actual context of the scene is selfish in nature. Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim use this to add a way to tell the story and advance the plot in a way that is more interesting as compared to simply having a person state someone has a phone call.
This develops in The World’s End as Edgar Wright is able to expand this simple technique to fit even more purposes by having more of his fights incorporate this. Using what he learned from Scott Pilgrim in terms of fairly generic filming of close-quarters fight scenes, he is able to develop these scenes to involve more of his conventional tendencies. This has an additional benefit in making scenes feel more claustrophobic as attacks can occur at seemingly any point during chaos, seemingly at random. While this is typically done by other directors by using quick camera cuts that constantly shift, Edgar Wright is able to convey this same sense of pace and chaos without relying on disorienting the audience.
As for the Gust of Wind music video, the use of staging in this regard is done as a purely visual element without any additional effect. It does not have nearly the same influence that the other examples have on the scene as a result, and is relatively meaningless. This also differs from the previous examples in using a shot in which you can see Pharrell in his entirety rather than the medium close-ups. This contain the vocal point on the center towards him while also adding additional stimuli relevant to the song on either side.
While music videos are typically quite restricted in what a director can do with it due to the requirement of a constant song, Edgar Wright is still able to demonstrate these two tendencies in particular to show his unique style.
All in all, he manages to create interesting visuals to complement the song, which is all you can really ask for in a music video.
By: Jaycee Cruz
First down production is a constant focus for McMaster’s football program. Due to the three-down system in Canadian football, positive yardage on first downs is crucial to the success of an offense. After the game against Guelph, Mac was not thrilled with their production.
The Marauders ran 43 plays on first downs against the Carleton Ravens on Sept. 13. Of those plays, only two accounted for negative yardage, 11 were incompletions, and the remaining 30 plays went for positive yardage. Mac racked up 223 total yards off of their first-down plays and averaged a healthy 5.2 yards per play. If that figure were to be measured against Behie’s criteria for a “first-down win”, meaning five or more yards, Mac had a lot of first-down wins against the Ravens defense.
The final score over Carleton may seem impressive on paper, but those who watched the game know that Carleton made it too close for comfort near the middle of the fourth quarter. On two straight drives between the 14-minute mark and the 9-minute mark in the fourth quarter, quarterback Marshall Ferguson threw interceptions that gave Carleton the ball back with a chance to grab the lead. Prior to those two turnovers, the Marauders had made two trips to the red zone that ended in two Tyler Crapigna field goals instead of two Marauder touchdowns.
This brings us to another area worth focusing on: the production of the Mac offense in the red zone.
McMaster took three trips to the red zone and came away with two field goals and a touchdown, instead of the ideal 3 touchdowns. While it is easy to criticize the ratio of field goals to touchdowns in the Carleton game, Behie remains positive.
“The positive thing, if we want to take anything away, is that we’re ending with points. We’re not coming away totally empty-handed. With that in mind they haven’t been total wastes, but we absolutely need to finish with touchdowns and not field goals,” said Behie.
Going perfect in red zone trips is a great sign but there is room for improvement. Had Mac scored three touchdowns on their three red zone trips, the score would have been 45-17.
Behie says the pieces are in place for a touchdown producing offence in the final third of the field.
“I think that system, scheme-wise, we’re okay, we just have to finish,” said Behie.
Mac will have to wait to work out the kinks of the red zone offence. This weekend’s opponent, York, has conceded 51, 61 and 70 points in their three match-ups so far. The Homecoming game against Queen’s will be the best opportunity to see if the Marauders can finish drives with six points instead of three.
