Reflection on This Summer

This summer has really helped me execute while writing. I always was the person that could explain everything verbally, and my teachers would be like “Yes! That’s great! Now go write it!” When it came to writing my ideas down..I tended to get stuck. My work didn’t flow as smoothly as I wanted them too and I would always get so frustrated. ENC1101 has truly helped me organize my thoughts and put them on paper in a way that is entertaining. I hope that I can continue to become a better write as my education furthers. I feel as though I will use the skills that I gained from this summer in my ENC1145 class in the Fall. I will be confident when getting ready to write and also confident with my execution. I no longer feel as though I write a paper and then I’m like “This sucks.” and have to start over. I learned how to edit and improve my papers without starting over! I learned a lot this summer, and I am very grateful for it. I also think that working in peer groups has given me even more knowledge than just what teachers have told me. Everyone has had different experiences, so it only makes sense that everyone will have a tid bit of information that will possibly be useful to you in the future. Going into ENC1101, I was not excited. As a matter of fact, I called my mom and complained about it. However, I think being enrolled in this class was some sort of fate, because I know feel like I am ready for the higher-level English courses. I am comfortable, confident, and looking forward to the papers I will be writing in my ENC1145 class. 

What makes a decent Introduction and Conclusion to a paper, you ask? Here are a few tips.

Introductions: 

1. Must be specific: Do not use broad, general statements.
2. If appropriate use narrative: Getting the reader involved by making the reader connect to the topic, make them feel emotion towards your topic.
3. HAVE A THESIS STATEMENT: Without a thesis, the reader won’t have any grasp of what you will be discussing in your paper. 
4. Thesis must be clear and give the reader a preview of what you will be analyzing
5. Slowly incorporate details: If you right off the bat begin throwing statistics and facts at your reader, chances are they are going to feel overwhelmed and confused. You must get your reader involved and engaged a little at a time, keep their attention and build up your information.

Conclusions:

1. Answer the question “So what?”: If by the end of your paper, the reader still has no clue as to what the purpose of your paper was, your conclusion did not effectively tie together all of your ideas
2. Reiterate Thesis Statement: No, do not copy and paste your thesis from your intro into your conclusion. You should rephrase your thesis to fit your conclusion and remind the reader of what he/she just read
3. Stay on topic: Now I know you’re probably thinking, “Doesn’t staying on topic only apply to the body of my paper?” NO! If you bring new topics or ideas into your conclusion, then you are leaving the reader wondering how that even fits into your paper. DO NOT CONFUSE THE READER
4. Tie it all together: This is your time to clear up anything that could have been misunderstood by the reader. Make sure you connect all points of your paper to the topic at hand
5. If applicable, you can end with a statement that globalizes your topic: Make it seem bigger, better, and even more important! By incorporating how your topic effects other countries, or other groups of people, this makes your paper even more significant

Analysis of Print Ads

For project 3 we are to analyze print ads as well as commercials. For this in class blog, I will analyze these 3 ads. each of these ads has a very obvious statement but it is not clearly written on the ad. These are examples of things we just kind of look at and think to ourselves “How the heck was that allowed to be printed?!” In any occasion, I am here to analyze these ads, whether I agree with the marketing strategy or not. The first image is for a clothing line. The ad is of two models looking like they are snorting drugs, however in this case the drug is the dress. The printed text in this ad says “Fashion junkie” this is a play on how drug addicts are. When people who use illegal substances and depend on them, they are said to be “junkies.” So in this case, the girls are addicted to this fashion line, making them seem to get a high off of the dress, causing them to be “Fashion junkies.” Their body language also corresponds to the drug theme. They are hunched over, very close to the table, they look thin and frail and weak. Also, they eyes seem to be glazed over, just as someone who was under the influence would look like. The audience of this Ad is definitely the teens, the partiers, the girls who want to look good and have a good time. The colors are all dark, they are in a black room, have dark make up on, and have dark nail polish. Darkness is being portrayed here and the white dress is the purity that can take the girls back to the light side. The actual text in this ad is also important, the name of the brand is in bold, all capitals, and is white. The words “Fashion Junkie” are underneath the name of the brand, not in all capitals, thinner, smaller, and also not as prominent. This is because the seller is trying to get the point across without the text. The text is there to back up the image, the image is the prominent aid for this Ad.

The next Ad for Burger King is definitely one of the Ads that I looked at and thought “Is this a joke? It must be. There is no way this is posted on the side of the restaurant right now.” This Ad is intended for a male audience. The colors of the ad make it seem like the girl is maybe in the shadow of something else and is maybe in a confined space with just an overhead light. Now of course, any mature audience would see the sexual innuendo of this ad. I’m not going to go into detail about that, I’m pretty sure you all can see it for yourselves. This ad is something that I would not want my younger siblings to see and ask what it meant. The girl is wearing dark eye make up and also wearing red lipstick. The color red is the color that symbolizes love, and passion. The ad is trying to say that your mouth will love this sandwich. What makes this ad a little inappropriate is the positioning of the sandwich as well as the way the girl has her mouth open. The text says in huge white all capital letters that the sandwich will “It’ll blow your mind away.” What is significant about this text is that it is in two rows. The first line of text just says “It’ll blow” in bigger letters than the line below it. This text grabs your attention and pulls together the sexual innuendo that was being portrayed by the image. Also, the text is white, white is supposed to be pure and innocent; the sellers did this to take the edge off the ad and make them look like they are innocent and didn’t really intend for this ad to come across the way they did.

the next ad is one for Lego. This ad is definitely one that hits a soft spot in every American’s heart. This ad is intended for everyone. It is black and white which indicates a somber, more intense feeling to the ad then it would if it were bright and cheery and filled with  color. This ad is a nostalgic ad that hits home with Americans who witnessed the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The image is that of Manhattan covered by a cloud of smoke that was a result of the plane crashing into the Twin Towers. The image itself is a powerful one, one that gives me chills every time I see it. The thing about this ad that stands out the most to me is that the image is the most prominent thing in it. There is text, however it is not centered, large, or trying to overpower the image. The image speaks for itself, and the text in the right hand corner just enhances the meaning of the ad. the text says “Rebuild it” and then the Lego logo. This short, but very powerful statement gives the audience the feeling that they are able to save the city and restore it back to its original glory.

The Triumphs and Tragedies of ENC1101 Summer C

I would have to say that my greatest triumph would be the narrative assignment. I can write a narrative like no ones business. They are fun, energetic, and personal; which makes them all the easier to write. I felt as though I got the best writing experience during the process of project 1. The peer editing was fun, and I was enthusiastic about helping the others. I was confident with my paper, so helping others was exciting to me. My final grade on that project didn’t hurt how I viewed it either 😛 Anyway, my greatest tragedy would have to be project 2. It has been so hard for me to grasp an idea and roll with it. As I write, I find myself losing track of what I was trying to say and say something totally different. It has been a very hard time, to write this paper. My self-confidence has completely dropped and I am now worried that I do not have the talent or way with writing that I thought I did. Talking about bashing my head against a wall, project 2 has made me want to do exactly that. For project 3, I want another narrative! I know that probably won’t happen, but a girl can dream can’t she? I need something to re-boost my confidence and make me feel comfortable while writing. I want to not have an easy time with the 3rd and final project, but I want to feel like I have an understanding of it, and can write a paper that meets my and my professor’s expectations. 

Whisky Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

This is the song/video that I am using for my second paper

Whiskey Lullaby Summary/Analysis

Our second assignment in ENC1101 Summer C is to write a 7-8 page paper on the relationship between text and visuals. I decided to use the song “Whisky Lullaby” by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss. A huge part of this paper is making sure we analyze the lyrics and the video, not just summarize it. So today, in this blog entry, I will be having two separate sections; one in which I summarize the video, the other in which I analyze it…Let’s see how this goes!

Summary:

This video truly tells a story, you don’t even need to listen to the song to be able to put the pieces together. The beginning shows a man and a woman happily in love dancing beneath a willow tree, it then shows the man in his military uniform getting ready to go to war. He is gone for quite some time and the woman begins to cheat on her man while he is deployed. When the man arrives back to the states, he finds that his woman is not there, and finds out that she had been cheating. He turns to alcohol to soften the blow, and you see him just continue consuming larger and larger amounts of alcohol until one day he kills himself because he can no longer live without his woman. When the woman finds out, she turns to alcohol envisioning the man to be with her, when in reality he wasn’t. She continues to drink and drink until she kills herself because of the guilt and pain she was suffering from. The family members bury the woman next to the man underneath the willow, when their spirits come together and are back together and happy.

Analysis:

I believe that the video is a kind of ode to all of the couples that have a member in the military. How hard it can be to live without each other, the complications and consequences of war are not only where the war is located, but also in the homes of the men and women who are directly involved. The tone of the song is somber and very touching. The fact that the song is a duet between a male and female, adds a layer of emotion that would not be achieved if it were just one or the other. The visual directly corresponds with the lyrics, the video is no more that six or so minutes long, and yet you feel like you have watched the relationship soar, drown, and resurrect. The lighting throughout directly corresponds with the scenes that are playing out. The clothing that the characters are wearing also depicts where they are emotionally in that part of the video. Either wearing dark colors, or light ones, these wardrobe choices add to the feel of the video.

Just some grammar fun!

Some Ideas For My Visual/Textual Analysis

Just by watching the two music videos to Adele’s “Someone like you”, her actual video and Ice Nine Kills cover of the song, I immediately thought of some ideas. I instantly thought of a cover that I love by Boyce Avenue of One Direction’s song “You don’t know you’re beautiful.” The cover is a polar opposite of the original and I would rather listen to the cover any day! I would just have to see if the Boyce Avenue version has a video to it. Another thing I was thinking about was maybe the Hunger Games, the book vs. the movie. The Hunger Games is a huge pop culture phenomenon right now, so I think it might be interesting to see how I could tie theses paper topics into that movie. Another thought I had while talking to a class mate like 5 seconds ago was the song “Toy Soldier” by Eminem. The video seems as if it corresponds to the lyrics because it is very literal; but it really doesn’t. The song is about going through life as a soldier and sometimes being placed to fight battles that you don’t necessarily want to, so this contradicts the video in some aspects. This is going to be a fun paper to work on, I’m really excited to start researching for it! I also think its going to be really cool to learn about tone, color, voice, audience, style, lighting, and other visual aspects of the text I choose!

My Connecting Thread

So, everyone has their own story of how digital media has had this drastic impact on their life. My connecting thread is that digital media has not only encouraged my passion for horses but also made it much simpler. Throughout my entire paper I talk about how different digital mediums such as websites, phone applications, and youtube.com have made my favorite thing in the entire world even better! I also connect my past of being difficult and time consuming with my future of becoming a veterinarian. The idea that not only the sport of being an equestrian has changed, but that also equine science has developed says a lot. There are so many different resources that are available for veterinarians to use to identify diseases or decide which treatment would be the most effective. I think that I have had the privilege of growing up with digital media. Back when I was in elementary school, we had dial-up, then broadband, and now wireless. Now everyone has a cell phone that might as well be called a computer. We use pre-existing social networks, and we even create our own. But with that being said, my connecting thread is simply the evolution of my passion and the evolution of my use of digital media to aid in my success.  

My Most influential Digital Media Text is…..

I would have to say that my most influential digital media texts would be to start out with Facebook…but not in the way most people would say. It isn’t my only means of communication with other humans on this Earth and it isn’t how I stay in tuned with pop culture or the latest trends. Facebook is the way all of us crazy horse people stay in the loop with what horses and tack are for sale at the moment. Facebook is such an easy way for me to see what is out there and it is an awesome means of fast and easy interaction and communication. Instead of making seven thousand phone calls or driving some inane distance to go view a saddle or a horse, all I have to do is select the photo album I want to look at and casually click “next” when I’m ready to see the next picture. My equestrian career would be so much more difficult if it weren’t for the use of Facebook.  My second most influential digital media text is stumble upon. It is my go to site when I am bored or looking for something that I cannot quite put my finger on in a particular subject area. I have learned all kinds of new things and found new interests such different types of DIY projects that I have used to put my personal touch on my dorm, as well as awesome new recipes for gourmet cupcakes! These digital media texts have been influential in my life by simplifying a complex process and opening my eyes to an artistic and culinary world!