Discovering Obscure Media Tom Boylan

Topic Statement This topic is about media that isn't well known for one reason or another. My end users are those who are just about anyone who takes an interest to obscure media My goal is merely to shed some light on a few unheard of things as well as why it could be an interesting alternative to more well- known/standard pieces of media. My goal as a designer is to get an interesting enough design format to keep the audience entertained.

Needs Assessment My challenge is to explain the point of my topic sufficiently. The current state of the readers most likely don't know much about the subject The end user may be interested in cult following media afterwards This topic doesn't need any information collected from the end users. As long as the end users think about and understand how I explained the topic, then my goal is met.

Introduction For years since it has been invented, certain entries into entertainment have risen to timeless fame. However, what about the ones that have been overshadowed by said popular pieces? What are their story, the cause of their creation, and who nowadays can salvage them? Are they obscure because they're objectively lower quality than most acclaimed things, or just unfortunate victims of insufficient advertising or 'specific taste'? That's one of the many fascinating aspects of this subject, as you'll be able to see. Perhaps this could even interest you to find things like this on your own.

Directory

Cult Following Cult followings occur mostly when something is popular in a sense that it has a small, yet dedicated fanbase. This seems to most often be applied to things considered 'so bad it's good'. The movie 'The Room' is probably the epitome of this sort of following as it's considered an awful film, yet regularly gets screenings of it held around the world.

Movies Most movies that fall under this category fall under a label known as 'B-movies', a type of film that has a super low-budget and most often than not doesn't take itself very seriously, but in a very odd way. There's also independent film companies (such as the company Troma which is a perfect description of who would make 'B-movies') who make tons of unheard of films, which are more often than not also low-budget.

Music Just about any genre of music has countless amounts of bands and artists that aren't widely known. A lot of these examples also are 'one-hit wonders', as in one that made a song that was a minor hit and their other material didn't reach the same amount of fame. Examples of these artists are Fishbone, 24-7 Spyz, Tomahawk, Blind Melon, and Mr. President, to only name a few.

Reasons for Obscurity Limited, releases that were only distributed in their country and not exported elsewhere Very off-the-wall approach to the material (usually is regarded as an 'acquired taste' as a result) Is similar to something else and is denounced as a 'rip-off' or 'cash-in' of something else that was popular Was ultimately not released, but found it's way onto the internet somehow

Video Games Most of these are usually mocked for their decidedly poor quality, or the apparent 'cash-in' nature of the games. Just about any live-action game in the 90's was dismissed as a 'cash-in of Mortal Kombat' despite the game not being a pioneer of that style of game, for example. The 'so bad it's good' category has also stuck to a few games, most infamously Shaq Fu, which has two seperate websites dedicated to either destroying or salvaging cartridges of the game.

Why I'm Interested Most of the things that fall under the category are very strange, and for whatever reason I enjoy that. Also the mysterious development procedures that are behind some of them are oddly intriguing to me, and the fact that some involve extremely famous people are amusing. For example, not a lot of people know that there's a live-action fighting game that stars Jackie Chan...as three characters, no less.

Conclusion I hopefully have explained why my fascination with this type of media. Over the years I've developed an odd knack for it, and will probably continue to pursue things of it's kind.

Resources: Background graphic Data East (Trio The Punch) Naxat Soft/Scarab (Battle Monsters) Troma (Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter) Melvins, Tomahawk and 24-7 Spyz album covers