Classmate Example Visual Eassy (Andrew Ferrel-post)

In class (9/29/08) today, we looked at another example of an visual essay. This example essay was one of our classmates, her visual was on the cover of the movie “Super Size ME.” She described every little detail on the cover. Each of these little details had there own meaning behind them. For example, the word “ME” in the title of the movie was fatten and is colored in yellow with red trim around it. There is many others details on the cover that were described but that would take up too much room. After describing the visual the classmate then gave details of the movie. The movie was nominated for an Oscar, Critics Choice Awards and many others. There was a couple of things that was not talked about in the essay. Some of these thigns were: why did the author create this documentary and who is the audience. These are the only couple of thigns that was missing from the essay.

After reading this essay, this makes me think more about mine. For many I think I need to add more description about my visual (political cartoon) and add more background about it. I have found some background about the author or the visual but there is so little about him. Do you have any ideas of what else I can search for in finding more information about the author.

David Carl Post (Visual Analysis)

I’ve started the bulk of my writing with this visual analysis essay. I gave my detailed description then did a it seems to be about x but  could be about y type of deal. Then i drew conclusions from any evidence i could gather from the image itself. However i’m not sure what i can research about my image since i choose to write about a piece of artwork. I sent an email to the artist to try and get some details on the painting but i have yet to find any outside information on this particular artwork. I’m not sure what else i can write about. Any ideas??

In class we took a look at an example of a visual analysis essay written in a previous class. I think that this was very benificial to show what to and what not to do. I find it is much easier to analyze the flaws of writing when I am reading someone else’s work.  Which, in turn, makes it easier to analyze my flaws when I got back to revise my own work. Besides looking into the flaws of the essay we read, we also looked at the ways connections were made from the image analyzed in that essay to ideas the author made. The author was able to draw conclusions based upon the author’s background, the political situations of the time and the layout of the image itself. Understanding how to do all of these tasks will cause my essay to be more well rounded when it comes time to submit my final draft.

Kevin’s comment to Andrew

Yeah, it’s a good idea, and I thought about doing it myself. Instead I went with Ralph Nader but him and Obama are both similar in the sense that they are supposed “canidates for change”. It would be really hard to do an analysis on McCain who pretty much wants to continue the work of the Bush Administration. I strongly believe that Rhetoric is more apparent when there is an urgent message that needs to be relayed. Obama wanting to steer America in another direction is a great choice.

Post-Projects (Andrew Ferrel)

In class the other day the Alive Days group discussed about how we were going to present the documentary to the rest of the class. First the we going to discuss a little bit about the documentary and then move onto Mr. Gandolfini part in the documentary. After talking about Mr. Gandolfini we talk about the HBO program itself, general war information and then injured soldiers returning home from war.  After talking about those topics, then we move onto Eddie Ryan himself.

For my visual I will discussing a political cartoon of Mr. Obama. My research will be about the author, and his main idea to this political cartoon. Also I am including an in depth detailed description of the political cartoon. Do u think this is a good idea for my visual project?

Comment to Dave’s Post (Andrew Ferrel)

I do agree with David that seeing James Gandolfiniinterviewing people is very different then from seeing him as a mobster. The video we watched in class touched me a lot. I have many friends and family who are in the army/marines or is going into boot camps. My best friend who I grew up with since 5th grade is over seas right now. Ever once in a while he calls me when he has a chance and tells me how he is doing and what he is doing (missions). Just getting a call from him is the best thing that could ever happen to me because I know that he is doing fine and nothing has happened to him (knock on wood). Losing someone over seas like my best friend would destroy a person’s heart. My other friend from the community college I went to is an ex-marine. Him, his brother and his friends were all in the same unit together and all of them have told me stories about what they went through in Iraq. From their stories they told me it is not a pretty scene, there is so much blood shed and bullets everywhere that the army and marines could of painted the whole town red.

This documentary has touched many people who have friends and family over seas and who are hoping to see their friend/son/daughter/mom/dad/bother/sister/uncle/aunt come back home safely. Just seeing Eddie in a wheelchair just breaks my heart and just to see his mom cry so much makes it worse. Eddie was doing what he was told to do and that one time he got shot threw the frontal lobe. Just that one shot to the frontal lobe has put him in the state he is in now. I am happy to see that Eddie is still alive and trying to get back on his feet. Eddie wouldn’t be able to get back on his feet if it was not for the love and support of his family especially his mom. I give Eddie’s mom a round of applause for helping Eddie. Hopefully this documentary will speak to the new recruits about what will happen to you if you go into the army. Also I hope this video will get people off of there couches and tell them to do something to help out the injured soldiers coming back home.

For my english paper I am writing about a political cartoon that I found of Mr. Obama. I am not too big into politics but once in  a while I watch the news and Mr. Obama seems the likely candidate I would vote for. I will vote for him because we need change in the economy, the work places, and any where else that you can think of. I was going to vote for Hilliary Clinton but she didn’t win her candidacy. I choice a political cartoon because the author always has a meaning behind his cartoons.

David Carl- Alive Days (Post)

Over the past couple of classes i have been looking at a clip of an HBO special by James Gandolfini. It was interesting to finally see an unbiased view about what is happening to soldiers overseas. The injured soldiers who have come back were able to tell thier stories about their alive day without any political spin. After watching this video i had an uprising of emotion, an emotion that i haven’t felt since 9/11. Just hearing their stories inspired me. I never really have had the chance to hear stories of true courage straight from the source. I felt as if it were i who was taking the cowards way out by going to school, while they are out there risking their lives day and night for our freedom. James Gandolfini is a great actor, but seeing what he can do outside of the acting role impressed me quite a bit. Did anyone else feel the same way about this film, or about James Gandolfini? It’s a little different than seeing him in his mobster role.

On another note, we are choosing topics for our visual anaylsis essay. It will be very interesting to see the different topics people choose. I’m expecting many people will pick either magazine ads or war memorials/photographs. Personally i am looking at chooosing a piece of artwork from S.C Schoneberg. He’s a painter from maine who i know personally. I think that it would be a differen’t angle to analyze a piece of artwork. If i don’t do that i can analyze a film by michael moore called slacker uprising. It’s about uniting the younger generation to get them out to vote come november. That could also be fun considering some of michael moore’s other works. What are other people thinking about writing about?

Visual Analysis (Brandon R Post)

In class today (9/17/08) we met in the HBC 227 computer cluster and got assigned a clip and photoessay of a visual rhetorical to analyze. Our diablogue group got assigned a HBO filsm clip from Alive Davis on an American soldier who got seriously injured in battle at war and is working to recovery. We have to get together next class and discuss our responses and then on monday present what we have discovered and our analysis.

We also discused the kinds of ideas we can use for our Visual Rhetorical Essay due October 3rd. My top three choices that I picked are a film called Schindler’s List, Military advertisement’s of the Marines, and clips of newscasts on the Columbine shooting. I chose these three because I think they are excellent examples of visual rhetoric and are images, films, and advertisement’s that can be personal. I have seen certain clips of Schlinder’s List and it is an intriguing movie, and a movie that everyone just get a chance to understand. The Marine’s commercial’s are the best because they show different people’s lives before and after the marines, so that catches the audiences attention. The Columbine shooting which was a tragic day for the United States definitely has visual rhetoric that is influential.

Andrew Ferrel- Sumamaries (post)

In class today (9/16/08), we discussed how to write summaries to an article or chapter effectively. There are five rules to summaries of a text: suspend judgment, main point of the text, use your own language, condense by 50% and finally use in text citation. Suspend judgment is the ability to use the authors ideas and judgment when writing a summary. Don’t use your own ideas and thoughts, it is not a personal reflection. A summary is a paragraph about the text in the words of the author, not yours. Also, a summary gives the reader an idea of what is going to happen in the text when he/she reads it. When reading the text there are a few main parts that come to mind. For example in Zelizer’s essay, one of her main ideas is analyzing the photos from the holocaust. These main ideas should be written in the summary to help the reader understand the text. In many texts, there can be several interesting and informative quotes, that can be useful.But a summary needs to have less details of the text. For example, as a reader of crime stories, I wouldn’t want to read a summary and find out what happens and how the case gets solved. I would want to read a summary that would get me excited about reading the book even before opening the book. By condensing the summary by half, this would keep the reader interested and give less details of what is going to happen in the text. Also, if there is a chance a quote is necessary to get a certain point across, use in-text citation to give the author credit for his work.

Also in class, we talked about about Douglas Crimp’s article on AIDS. In my opinion, Mr. Crimp is a researcher/writer, is an activist, and a member of the gay community living in NYC. Mr. Crimp is writing to the general public, non-activists, art community and people who have AIDS. In his article, Mr. Crimp does refer to President Regan and a few other government legislation and agencies, but I don’t think Mr. Crimp was trying to talk to them personally. His main goal was to get his ideas into the minds of the public and have them learn that the gov’t has done nothing about the AIDS epidemic. During the WW II, the Nazi used an up-side down triangle arm bands to show who was gay in the concentration camps. Now six gay men took that symbol and created there own symbol for the AIDS movement. The new triangle is with the point facing upward and”Silence=Death” underneath, to me, this mean, if the gov’t doesn’t do something soon more people are going to get infected and die. Everyone needs to speak up and be heard and maybe this force government and healthcare to reform. In Crimp’s article this use of the triangle is considered under the historical context in rhetorical situations.

As the final thought of the day, when summarizing a text, use your own words and make it interesting, short, and grab the reader so he/she wants to read more. Also, each essay has a meaning behind it, what could the meaning be for each essay? What is the author trying to hide from us? Last point, Douglas Crimp writes under the alias for Fanny Knapp Allen a professor of Art History at University of Rochester. If he is so open about his gay lifestyle and activism for the gay community, why does he use a different name?

Commont to Imaging (Andrew Ferrel)

In Zelizer’s essay, she does discuss 5 important criteria to making atrocity photos as symbols. These 5 criteria are: placement, number, gaze, caption and layout. Placementis the decision of what to put in the foreground and background of an image. For example, Eisenhower and company faced the camera from the back of the shot while the dead bodies were set in the foreground. The next criteria is the number which deals with the amount of people who were in the atrocity photo. The gaze of the people also helped making an atrocity photo make a bigger impact. When the survivors were looking into the camera, you can tell by the way there eyes were that they looked tired and worn downed. Captions were an instrumental way of ensuring that photos atrocity. Layout is the final criteria to make atrocity photo as symbols. The layout of the photo describes what the scene looks like and the mood of the place. For example, when you were a child and took a picture at Disney Land. The layout would be in a happy and comfortable setting and place. These criteria are very important to making an atrocity a symbol.

What I found interesting was how the newspaper companies used the some photos more then once. To me this means that newspaper companies wanted to keep the minds of the public thinking about what is going on the other half of the world.  Also some of the companies were able to make pull away sections in the newspapers because the they believed that the children shouldn’t see this photos of the concentration camps.

I firmly do believe that Zelizer’s criteria to making a atrocity as symbol was useless in the concentration camps. Many of the photos that were shown in her essay were already saying a lot to me. The gaze of survivors didn’t help or even caption helped at all. What had happened over so horrible that anyone could of taken a picture over there and it would of made a big impact on the world. Yes, some of the criteria helped in making a bigger impact on the world, but most of the photos were already making a big impact. For example, placement of where the photos were being taken made a big impact. Like where there was a mound of ashes and bones in the crematory.

David Carl- Imaging (Post)

Pictures say a thousand words, or that’s how the saying goes anyway. Recently we’ve been looking into photography and how images use rhetoric. After reading Zelizer’s “Covering Atrocity in Image” I got a much better understanding of how powerful images can be. Zelizer described the 5 different characteristics that make up an image.

The first was the being the placement of what is in the photograph. This is probably the most important aspect of advertisements. The photographer wants to grab your attention to a certain place to enhance whatever it is they are trying to promote. The number of people or objects in an image was described in Zelizer as either a general message of the wide spread atrocity or an individual’s suffering. In “Picturing Texts” our class was able to analyze multiple pictures presented to us.  I liked the advertisement by Nike of a runner. Zelizer’s next topic was the angle the image is presented. In the Nike advertisement the picure is at an angle where we are almost looking up to them as if we are witnessing a great athlete and if we purchase Nike products we can be as good as they are. The fourth image enhancer was gaze. The way a person is looking in an image can give you and understanding on what they are thinking, and identifying their position to any subject where it is not clear. Also their behavior can be determine just by a simple look of either anger or happiness. The final subject for her analysis was captions of the image. A caption underneath an image can either provide very detailed subject matter to tell you exactly what you should be seeing, or it can provide an open ended statement for the reader to make assumptions and leave them open minded.

After reading these texts I feel as if i have a new understanding on how/why images are created. I used to flip through a magaize without blinking an eye at an image. However, now when i look at an advertisement or a work of art I feel i can understand more clearly than the average person, what the creator’s message truely was.