Thursday, February 27, 2014

Webtext Organizing






Analyzing Marcus’s Web Text portal, I enjoyed seeing the black background and the solid white text. The most effective part of his outlet is that the text is at a great size that doesn’t stress me out when I see it. I also like that he includes a box with an image in every section, and is consistent. I would have probably liked to see more visuals, because I think that I understand things better when I see photos and motions. The alignment and arrangement were cohesive, and the use of the same tab bar in every page looks very professional.




Looking at Shannon’s webpage, I like her coding, and when I click on the Webtext Analysis tab, it directs me to an entirely new page. While the page has a similar feel to that of Marcus’s, I feel that the colors he sticked to and the font style and size are more effective. I like that Shannon had all of her webtexts on the same page, as it makes it easier to compare and contrast one another. In looking at the placement of objects, I am not sure about the color she used for her “Project 2: Multimodal Analyses of Webtext” title.  I would have liked to see her webtext analysis stay in the same format as her website, as it was very original and stylistic.




Ali’s analysis and set up is by far my favorite. I think that the use of color and text adds to the emphasis of recycling. When I click on the tabs, there is a sense of cohesion because each element is highlighted through the arrows, and explained. For example, the summary at the top of each page sets the precedence for what the rest of the project will look like.

For my project, I hope to maintain the layout on my website, but try to use the space as Ali did to explain the visuals. The reason why I want to maintain my website is because it has the dark background, like that of Marcus’s, and I see it as very effective. Something else to think about is if I want to take some screenshots of different parts of the videos I am analyzing, or just have the video up for people to watch, and hope that they can remember what scenes I talk about when. 

Monday, February 24, 2014

Visibility of Immigrants in the US


Let's take a look at how immigrants are represented in videos and posters. 

For this project, I will be analyzing the representation of migrants in the United States. The first two videos were produced by international corporations, each with a different style in mind-- one focusing on the immigrant community as a whole, and the other focusing on one story. I will then look at popular television, Family Guy, and analyze the impact it has on people's politics as well as humor. The two last posters focus on local art/memes to analyze modern culture and expression. 

Coca-Cola Commercial:
taken from youtube 



FWD Commercial- Produced by Mark Zuckerberg:
taken from youtube




Family Guy talks Immigration:
taken from youtube




Immigration Poster 1: 
taken from fairimmigration.org, Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a national coalition of grassroots organizations fighting for immigrant rights at the local, state and federal level.


Immigration Poster 2: 
taken from BrokenCountry.com, a perspective on news, politics, and current events from the right side of the left coast





Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Emphasis-Contrast-Organization-Alignment-Proximity

 

 
1.      My attention is automatically given to the notepad in the video. Although there are a significant amount of potential distractions in the video, the strategies that the author uses to emphasize the notepad are effective (i.e.: nothing else is moving but the pen, there is enough allotted time to read what each illustration is stating/ portraying, etc.).
2.      The moment when the woman disappears can be classified as emphasis because it stresses the idea that the “process” of the illustrations are over, and now the audience must read them to fully understand what is going on. The two different pages—“Digital Rights Management/ Digital Robbing Maniacs” and “Criminal”— are also the only images with writing, which is a mode of communication that needs to be read, so the stillness and the disappearance of the woman is an effective strategy
3.      The sound on the video goes well with the visuals because it has a mysterious/adventurous feel. For example, the music goes the best with the second illustration, which reads “Criminal”, as the music is something that would be expected to come out of an action film. By appealing to the senses, the composition and emotional emphasis are effective throughout the clip.

 
1.      The text and the background do contrast, as the text is easy to read (very dark background against complementing, light font). Although the man is walking in the background, the use of color saturation was good so that it was not a distraction.
a.       The big square shows the audience that attention should be only on what is in the square
b.      The moving letters force the audience to read the description, because if the audience does not, then they will miss the purpose— to give information and encourage undergraduate students to apply to "The Jump".
2.      Now that the solid background is back, it allows those that are interested in applying to “The Jump” to place all of their energy on the instructions. If the background motions were still included, there would be a greater chance that instructions would not be followed and/or appear confusing. By fully emphasizing the text, the filmmakers are trying to send out clear and direct instructions in a small amount of time.
3.      For a flyer, I would probably do something in the first 20-30 seconds: have a background with a type writer/ journal and maybe Dan. However, that would just be the background and there would be a solid block to contrast it and place all eyes on the block. Inside the block, there would be la description (as short of one as I can) about what the purpose is, instructions and who to speak in person with. if there are social media links, I would provide those as well.

 
 The following photographs have a story, can you tell what it is?
1. At a young age, if we are privileged enough to be part of the education system, we are taught to count, and the power in numbers. At first is just 1+1 = 2

2. As we grow older, we begin to read the meter, and time becomes a priority, we need to know how to count it, and use it well

3. When we enter the workforce, we are introduced to the idea of “modernity”, where we begin to use quantitative and qualitative modes of imperialism, globalization and industrialization

4. We can get so carried away that we ourselves are priced and become capitalist statistics

5. Is this the American way?

 
 
1.      The Alignment of the letters intrigues me to wonder what other scenes will be like in the sequence. Because the letters are dwindling down a dark page, the alignment has a mysterious appeal. In addition, because the words are timed, the reader is forced to read them fast.
2.      The "Earth" scene is consistent in aligning each word and placing them in the same spot. This is a good visual effect as it does not have the audience skim all over the page to see where the next word will be coming from. Some of the elements that I focus on the most are the letters that are in yellow, because I feel that it's odd and there's probably a deeper reason to why some letters are highlighted. The background noise helps pair up visuals with sounds to create a more holistic scene. The upside down mood and color scheme is elements that seem purposefully there. As a result, if those elements were changed, then the alignment of the words would not have the same effect.
3.      Since the lines in the poem are aligned to the left, they give the reader something to follow visually. The importance of this is that the scene opens up with the geese flying atop, but then the words dropping down take ownership of the piece to highlight the poet. Unfortunately, the system is not allowing me to hear the background noise in this scene, so I cannot answer the questions about the audio track.
4.      The curvature of the words make the tears literally drip out of the eye-- the words are the tears. Because the words are coming from the bags of the eyes, it creates a cool visual that also aligns to waves. Again, I cannot hear what the man in the audio track is saying, but the effect that the words make at the end when it turns into the moon make the entire visual. If the words did not fall into the moon, then the reader would question the creative design based on cohesion and logic of how things fit in together.
5.      Because the three scenes are not aligned, the text does not highlight one over the other, nor does it specify in what order to watch the scenes. This alignment puts the audience in power by giving them the option of what they wish to see and when. This may be more appealing because the audience is part of the visual and not just the observer.
 

 
 
 

For the book cover to the left, I decided to group like-minded elements typographically, by placing them close together. For example, the title, The Seagull, is in big letters at the top, followed by a subheading, explaining what the text will be about. Directly underneath, there is an actual photograph of a seagull, which just adds to aesthetics. Completely separate, the author’s name is displayed on the center bottom, which creates the distinction between elements. A potential limitation in this cover is the use of space, and the fact that everything is centered. I wonder if further experimentation, where the different corners are used, would create a more effective and pleasing cover.
 
 **all of the section headings were taken from Google Images