On the first day of class, I expected to hear what I hear in the rest of my classes: I would read pieces composed by scholars about media effects and write papers to analyze these effects. To my pleasant surprise, this class was quite a bit different. While it seems like that this would be another class studying media effects, it would be in a different way. Instead of only writing about the media, we would take different media norms into account and actually create media projects and experiment using these media effects. Mentions of podcasts, video projects and sequential art projects lit up my eyes. I was excited, and there was no turning back.

I have learned a number of valuable things in this course. For one, I have learned about the social intentions embedded within different media modalities. For example, McCloud talks about the art of writing comic strips. He enjoys making cartoons, but he also makes sure to do that in such a way where people can accept his credibility. To illustrate this, he contrasts his “cartoon” self with his “real” self,” asking the reader which speaker they would take more seriously. To relate with these social intentions, different media modalities utilize different norms to maximize their effects on audiences. Norms such as music and vocal delivery in podcasts and b-rolling in documentaries help create a pleasurable view for the audience.

On a more technical side, I learned how to adapt, create and edit various media modalities through completing the required projects for the course. Embarking on these projects required a self-taught seminar on how to use programs such as Audacity (for podcasts) and Windows Movie Maker (for the documentaries and other films). As a result, I am much more well-versed in this technology, and can always use this knowledge when producing multimedia projects somewhere down the line.

To no surprise, INFO 303′s course material changed my way of thinking and changed the way I tackled assignments. Looking back to the course’s first project, the sweded movie, I was drastically disorganized. Thinking that the whole movie needed to be shot in one take, my group and I recorded the movie without giving much thought as to how we would communicate to our audience. When, shooting the documentary video, however, I put much more thought into this. When writing a script, I tried to think not only how each frame would appear on the screen, but how each frame would also adapt to the audience. Granted, the documentary project required much more work than the sweded project. However, thinking about these obscure yet important details helped create a product which spoke volumes to the intended audience, and how to communicate with people in general.

In conclusion, this course was very beneficial. I learned a lot, developed good relationships with the people in the class, and have developed new interests and skills which I hope to take with me to the working world. At the very least, this course was fun, and I would recommend it to anyone.

2) While remediation is often confined to describe different media, it can often be applied to describe a reform in reality. Omnipresent media is a reason for this, as our opinions often take after pieces of information disseminated through media’s various channels.

3) Remediation’s prevalence in the economic sector is wide. It is commonplace for advertisers to reference an idea that is popular in society, and other fellow advertisers to follow suit. Such was seen in advertisements directly after the economic meltdown, with a healthy number of companies advertising a “Stimulus Savings Package” for their products.

The documentary conducts similarities between Michael Jackson’s music and a 1993 video game, Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The video even goes as far as postulating that Michael Jackson and his producers were involved in the production of the score of Sonic 3 without being credited due to his media scandals. While the overall message of the video is not very significant in the grand scheme of things, it does a good job citing specific examples and research to back up the author’s claims. Such work is imperative when making a documentary film.

Here are 3 questions from Hampe.

1) Why do you believe Hampe laments shooting footage in a certain way, even if they are somewhat similar?

2) Why do you think a disconnect can occur when discussing the time lapse between shooting and editing a documentary film?

3) Hampe tells prospective documentarians to not rely on interviews to convey their information. If this is the case, how can a filmmaker convey their message to their audience?

Anyone who uses the Internet would be a good subject for this documentary, so any of our group’s friends would be good interview subjects. I also am pretty good with video editing. I do not have a video camera, but one could easily be borrowed from the library.

In my opinion, multimodal soundness is a great way to create a product that breaches conventional boundaries. Of course, it does much more than that: it also allows content producers to better convey their message in incorporating more than just one aspect of presentation. This is probably why music videos have been so successful, as it combines two aspects, video and sound, which can both be used to capture one’s senses.

Do you agree with the idea that asking students to account for the materials and contexts for their productions is as important as asking them to account for the content?

Not necessarily. In my opinion, the content of a message is  much more important than the materials and contexts of their productions. That is not to say, however, that one’s content could be enhanced by the materials and contexts. Like I previously said, they can be used to create a different message.

Do you like the idea of producing sound projects in school similar to that of Dan and Val?

I do like the idea. It seems as though they built upon a standard assignment and made it better. Not only did they create sound projects, but wanted to do more: Dan created a fictional background for his band, and wanted to create a Behind the Music type of documentary. While such things are not as important as the content, it does in fact enhance the content.

2) Can using multimodal aspects end up dramatically changing the meaning of student works, as was the case with student Val in the reading?

3) Would multimodal assignments motivate students to pay greater attention to the quality of their work? Why or why not?

The element of vocal delivery

There were two primary speakers in the first act of this episode – Ira Glass and Starlee Kine. Both speakers did not have what some would call a “radio voice”. Glass’s voice has somewhat of a high pitch and often did not exude confidence in his voice. Kine’s voice also had a pitch similar to that of a teenager. As McKee says, voices in Western cultures often have many nuances associated with their perceived authority. While neither of the two speakers exactly spoke to this matter, both delivered their monologues (and in some cases, dialogues) with swift and efficient timing – something that is very important for radio broadcasting.

The element of music

The first segment of this episode was loaded with different music. Kine’s contribution largely dealt with break-up songs. Her argument that songs such as “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt and “I Want to Know What Love Is” by Foreigner are therapeutic and painful at the same time. While explaining this logic, clips from the aforementioned songs were played in the background to capture the essence of what Kine was trying to explain.

The element of sound effects

Sound effects are certainly not always a staple of radio programming at large, but certainly plays a role in This American Life and other NPR broadcasts in general. In this episode in particular, Glass interviews a young woman at the beginning about her recent break up. Different things can be heard in the background during this interview, such as birds chirping and wind blowing. This enacts a sense of realism into the broadcast, and sets the mood for the episode at large.

The element of silence

While sound effects and music play a major role in this episode, there are moments of silence which makes the episode more appealing at times. Pauses at the end of significant statements emphasize their importance. In addition, there are times in the episode when music and sound effects just are not appropriate, such as when the narrator is telling a sentimental story.

Do you like the way McCloud delivered his message?  Do you feel as though you would have gotten as much out of it if he wrote a standard essay on the matter?

I really like the way McCloud delivered his message. From an aesthetic standpoint, it is always more interesting to the eye to read something that is attached to pictures. From a content standpoint, however, he did a fantastic job conveying his points that would otherwise be very difficult in a standard text essay. For instance, in one part of the reading he talks about the perceived image of the self when talking with someone. This would not be nearly as effective without an accompanying illustration of his theory.

Hannah asks…

Based on Berger’s & McCloud’s examples of sequential art (a collage essay and an argument conveyed through comics), do you believe you can create an academic argument through only images? why or why not?

I believe one can create an academic argument through only images. Images often times speak louder than words, and can convey a much wider range of meaning than a standard word can. Also, as McCloud explains, we often see images as an extension or absorption of our identity. While it is most effective when words and images are combined, using images is a certainly viable method of  making an academic argument.

I chose a strip of the comic series Calvin and Hobbes as an example of sequential art. As McCloud explains, sequential art (and cartoons in general) are often made with unrealistic proportions. For example, Calvin has beady eyes, a huge mouth, and is very short. McCloud relates this dynamic with human beings’ constant self-awareness of their image. This image, however, is often watered down – not very many details, but still enough to distinguish human emotions. This is why, McCloud hypothesizes, cartoons are so appealing to children, as they see a bit of themselves in the animations. This is why I tend to like Calvin and Hobbes. I first started to read the strip when I was in 2nd grade. At the time, I liked the strip because it involved a cartoon kid with a cartoon tiger who embarked on many adventures, which appealed to my eye. Now, I still like the strip because of the deeper social and philosophical implications of the different strips. With this strip in particular, I could relate to Calvin’s disdain for school as a youth, claiming it is completely youth. Now, I tend to side with Hobbes because kids, myself included, are very just very naive in their young age.

Here are three questions from the readings.

1) McCloud references Marshall McLuhan, saying that cars are often perceived as an extension of the driver because he/she perceives the whole car while we’re driving and lets the car absorb his or her identity. What are some other examples of things that can be considered extensions of our physical self?

2) Do you agree with McCloud’s assertion that cartoons act as an absorbent of our identity? Why or why not?

3) Berger talks about the role of women in art, saying that they play a much more distinctive (and much more subservient) role than men do. Do you believe these roles continue in present day media, or are they taking a different turn?

This is a picture of the restaurant at which I work – Manzella’s Italian Patio at First and Chester in downtown Champaign. The south exterior wall of the restaurant (not visible, but starts at the left part of the picture) is very bland. What I plan to do is create something of a small mural on that wall to promote the family feel of an Italian restaurant. Hopefully, this would encourage people who drive by the restaurant to come in and eat.