Comments on: Ze Frank is manipulating our lizard brains

By: Terrell Russell: This Old Network : A Ze Frank Interview and Michael Wesch’s YouTube Anthropology

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:47:24 +0000

[...] And of course, this isn’t the first time. [...]

By: This Old Network » Blog Archive » Ze Frank talks about his lizard brain

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 06:19:38 +0000

[...] While a bit more straightforward perhaps than manipulation via mediated communication, I still think Ze knows what he’s doing here… [...]

By: Alice

Alice — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 04:27:50 +0000

>>I would like to posit that Ze Frank has read this book. I would like to further posit that Ze Frank is genius and he has taken Chapter 3 and made it his own during his work on The Show.

By: robbo

robbo — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 14:16:41 +0000

… so we don’t have to.

By: Acknowledgement Guy

Acknowledgement Guy — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 03:30:34 +0000

Ze Frank flexing the cognitive neuroscience techniques, methinks….

By: 1FPS - » I knew he felt more like a friend than an omnipotent late night show host

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 07:10:40 +0000

[...] This Old Network » Ze Frank is manipulating our lizard brains | via kottke.org remaindered links [...]

By: Western Infidels

Western Infidels — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:46:38 +0000

Is this really so surprising? Close-ups that fill up some rectangle with a human face are an extremely common late-20th century design idiom. It’s so common that most people hardly even notice it in television and film dramas, in the head-shots of hopeful actors, in advertisements, in promo portraits, etc. etc ad nauseam.

I think Ze’s show is great, but I don’t think he has to be a genius or a psychological brainiac to simply observe that an extreme close-up is more involving, particularly since the whole frame in his case is only about the size of a postage stamp. The close up also shows his expression more clearly and his messy desk less clearly.

By: martin

martin — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 03:58:38 +0000

His bio says he studied neuropsychology. Is this some sort of experiment?
Very powerful and potentially lucritive informantion.

By: Eric N.

Eric N. — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 02:42:53 +0000

I love his show! I’ve often wondered why I don’t mind his face filling the entire window, and maybe your idea is true. Stil he is also very good at editing his clips so that they keep you engaged and his sentences are snappy and flowing from one point to the next.

By: leslie

leslie — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 02:17:52 +0000

I have fun watcing Ze, but it doesn’t feel as if Ze “lives in my computer”, so to speak.

I guess I see his shot strategies as a device to force his viewers to hear what he has to say, and not be distracted by Ze the person.

Though, if you enter the forums on his site lately the viewers are starting to get a leeeeeetle personal and a smidge, erm, skeeery in some cases. At least the Hard Charger types are. The SportsRacers and Duckies are still cool.

By: Ellabee

Ellabee — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 02:11:21 +0000

Veddy, veddy interesting.

But if I have a lizard brain, why can’t I do all those crazy things with my eyes that they can?!

By: Leonard

Leonard — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 00:23:52 +0000

I’ve been thinking a fair bit about this over the last week or so. I went back and watched all Ze’s episodes going back to March and was interested to watch how his on-screen style developed over that time.

I hadn’t realised that there had already been research done on this (although not surprised), but what had struck me about the framing within the context of the page was that it felt as if Ze was on the other side of the screen, peering at me through a 400×224 rectangular window. My mind instinctively created the rest of the person, placing it beyond sight on the other side of the opaque page.

This whole “up close and personal” feel for internet and mobile content seems to be a hot topic at the moment, and while I was initially appalled by what I was seeing, Ze’s work has made me rethink my TV training.

By: Steve Bryant

Steve Bryant — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 20:28:39 +0000

Nice insight! I had a few drinks with Ze one night in Brooklyn, a few weeks ago. Smart guy, and he knows it. I think the personable style is a bit of a sham, but whatevs. He’s funny. Linked to your post from Reel Pop. Cheers, -s.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:40:50 +0000

Lizards like Ze?! Blasphemous!
Duckys like Ze!

By: jkd

jkd — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 19:36:46 +0000

Ze Frank for President!