Week 5: Final Project

For my final project, I would like to make a short, 5-8 minute video essay discussing the effective use of contrast in the video game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and how that plays a part in instilling a sense of nostalgia from the first time it is played.

iMovie

I will use this program to help edit clips of gameplay together along with clips of me narrating my arguments. It has been some time since I have used this program, so I may need to take some time to practice and familiarize myself with the new version and perhaps find resources on Youtube to guide me along in the process if I struggle too much. iMovie is a program available on Mac only which I have on my Macbook. It is a free program that comes installed on Mac products, so I don’t have to pay for it, which is a plus. 

Canva

I will use this program for video templates, or frames. I found a “loading” screen template, that I would like to use. Aside from the template being cute, I think the loading screen is perfect for a videogame topic. This program is available online and it offers many templates for free. Likewise, Canva is very user-friendly, and I know that it will not take any time at all (or very little) to integrate the template into my overall project. Considering time constraints, it is an easy tool to use. Although I don’t have the premium version (the one that is paid for), I still think it is a strong program. The drawbacks would only be that I don’t have access to the full suite.

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Kapwing

Kapwing is a website that allows you to add memes to videos via greenscreen. I can insert a gif without the white background (since I’m not very good at editing gifs into videos without it). It also allows users to make their own memes with an assortment of templates that are available. Since I want to try to add a little humor to my project to keep the video engaging, I would like to add some memes that this program will allow me. It is similar to Canva in that it is user-friendly, but the drawback lies in not having access to all of its resources. 

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Week 4: Impacts of Covid-19 on Sacramento Workers

For this week, the infographic titled “How Covid-19 Changed Work in Sacramento” caught my eye. I thought the color palette was a great touch especially when you take into consideration that medical logos have very similar colors. I mean, I only have to type in “medical color palette” on the internet and this pops up immediately (among a slew of similar colored palettes):

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Among other great qualities of this infographic, I thought the spacing and font size made it both enjoyable and easy to read. There were no large blocks of words and it was broken up by the graphs and charts in a way that catered to my short attention span. 

Sources:

I found that the placement of the sources was perfect. The creator did not attempt to hide them away by making them smaller or by grouping them all up in a blob at the end of the piece. Likewise, the creator did not make a vague statement about their “many sources” without providing even a name for their sources. Further, when I look up the names listed, I can find the actual survey put out by the foundation that conducted this study. So, the sources were easily accessible and did not include misleading information.

What Can be Done Better?

This may be considered nitpicking, but I noticed that the percentages never reached 100% as in, either a small percentage was grouped separately and was not included due to the numbers being “negligible” (they were anywhere from 1-2%) or the creator might not have had enough room to include them. However, considering the way the numbers for the other two factsheets or infographics were presented (either very out-of-date or numbers pulled from sources that were unknown), I don’t think this can be labeled as unethical or misinformation.

    To be more of a nitpicker, I think the creator could have found one more organization that contained information regarding work numbers due to Covid-19. I see they relied on two pieces of information from the same foundation. However, considering that I am not sure what the criteria were for this assignment, I wouldn’t jump to consider this a major negativity.

Week 3: The Cry of the Memelord

This week, I was particularly drawn to Amy Wagner’s video essay, “Article 13: Banning Memes & Cultural Expression.”  More specifically, the section of the video that starts from 6:16 to about 7:35, wherein she describes the cultural importance of memes.

I chose this section because I felt it held the most rhetorical value for her argument of the impacts of Article 13. Below is my (rather crudely drawn) interpretation of her storyboard:

Rhetorical Significance

    In this section, Wagner posits an astute definition of the somewhat elusive and hard-to-define memes and their importance to human culture by highlighting their prevalence in the real world. As it is nearly impossible to exist in a developed country without the internet, the chance of any individual coming across a meme is undoubtedly guaranteed. As a matter of fact, even if we do not exist in a digital space, we will still come across memes in the real world. Regardless of that fact, her choice to include this section at this point in the video expresses a keen sense of rhetorical understanding. What I mean is that she makes use of an effective tone shift from the comical definition and examples of memes to the prevalence and cultural importance of them before transitioning into her next section, which takes on a much more academic tone than the previous sections. 

In an almost funnel-like fashion, the video’s components consist of the following (condensed) sections:

Introduction and thesis→ 

Definition of memes→ significance of memes (the section I am focusing on) → Definition of Article 13 → Impact of Article 13 

→ restatement of thesis and conclusion.

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What’s Happening?

    In this shot, Wagner keeps her audience engaged with visual and aural assets. The assets include her tempo, background music, as well as the visual examples of memes in the real world, and the meta-Rick Roll (us as the audience being Rick Rolled and the audience at the Macy’s Day Parade). Wagner takes careful consideration of her audience, which consists of individuals who likely know the memes she references already, and those who may not, by offering in-depth explanations of each meme. By providing visual examples, aural definitions, and scholarly arguments, she prepares her audience for her thesis. It somehow reminds me of a batter setting up to hit a home run; the amount of preparation in her timing alone is superb.

What’s Worth Changing?

    While I do think the visual editing of this section is excellent, I feel that she could have spent a little more time fixing the sound levels of the background music. There are moments when the music is too loud and distracting and moments where the music seems to drop in levels dramatically. This minor change could make the impact of this transitional section much more effective in its rhetorical significance.

Week Two: Understanding Phonophobia as a Phonophile

Of the three audio files I listened to, I found Caitline Ann Blinder’s “Attuning to Phonophobia” captivating and effective in her use of sonic assets.

Aural Assets

She included an array of elements from music, ambient soundscapes, and instrumental chaos to biological sounds like breathing and pounding, anxious heartbeats. She built a sonic laboratory in which the listeners could dive into her experience as a student with hyperacusis.

The narration, coupled with the movements into and out of academic voices, created a balance of experience and validation/credibility; entertainment and education. Likewise, her equipment, like her microphone, sounded like it was of professional quality, which added to the quality of the audio. Even when a cacophony of sounds played, her voice cut through, no matter what, because her microphone was so clear. That tells me that her mixing and editing of the audio was well thought out and meticulous. The professionalism and sophistication of the editing alone is a rhetorical tool in itself, in that it does not distract or take away from the content; it is a feature.

Genre

With that being said, this audio essay expresses typical genre conventions of an academic tone. She cites her sources very much like one would find in an essay; her movement around the piece follows like an essay with an introduction, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion of her arguments. However, with the narration and the sequential timeline of her writing, it is a very dynamic piece as it changes over time and requires the listener to listen from beginning to end in order to follow the scope of the piece. 

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Conclusion

Overall, this piece in its entirety combines both overt and very subtle aural elements to keep the listener captivated without being too distracting or too dull. As some who drove myself to near deafness due to the sounds I willingly subjected myself to (a percussionist that didn’t know the importance of protecting her ears), I found Caitline Ann Blinder’s audio essay very convincing in its argument to be considerate of and implement accommodations for students who struggle with hyperacusis. Not just in her narration but in her use of sonic assets to truly showcase her experience with hyperacusis and how she was able to adapt.

Week One: The Hardest Part is Getting Started

    For this first assignment, I chose to examine an article from the website, Masterclass.com that shared the pros and cons of self-publishing.

First Impressions

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Right off the bat, I noticed the organization of the entire page. Before the article begins, there is a large image of Neil Gaiman with the offer to take his masterclass in storytelling. It catches the eye immediately because of the contrast from the rest of the page. A bright, magenta button offers the reader the opportunity to learn more as if this is the most critical point of the article. Between the contrast, the bright colors, and the language, “learn more” (as opposed to more monetary calls to action like “sign up now” or “purchase now”), I feel as though the article was written more as an entry point to have their readers sign up for that masterclass, their targeted audience clearly being novice authors or authors who are learning about the self-publishing process.

Organization and Contrast

The article itself was organized and grouped into five sections. The first section was the introduction. The second and third were the bulk sections that consisted of the information pertinent to the title: the pros and cons of self-publishing. After, the author posed the question: “want to learn more about writing?” and offered the masterclass membership. The article concluded with the offer to leave an email address to stay up to date on classes. Each section was broken up by advertisements for other courses or articles. The colors and contrast drew my attention more than the actual text. Much like the initial advertisement for Neil Gaiman's lecture, the other promotions were brightly colored and placed so that, had I not been working on this assignment, I definitely would have clicked away.

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Concluding Thoughts

This article was likely a sales funnel to gain more customers, but their methods were interesting. Their use of space and contrast is their most effective point, as they gave minimal information but offered more if they signed up. The choice to place the Neil Gaiman course at the beginning of the article is also interesting as it was what I was more focused on, even as I was reading through the article. It was very subliminal.