1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
|
<h4>Introduction:</h4>
<p>This video is a short (1m30s) personal introduction and a discussion
of which element of WOVEN I expect to struggle most with in this course.
I expect to struggle with visual communication more than the other
forms, which will manifest in several places but will probably have the
most significant effects on videos or the blog design.
This video also includes how I plan to develop my skills with this
modality (I plan to focus on design and aesthetics of presentation).</p>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/450699415"
allowfullscreen="" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<dl>
<dd>Goals</dd>
<dt>Through this assignment, I familiarized myself with the
WOVEN elements and set a goal for self-improvement throughout
the course. I also worked on video production and presentation,
to practice some of these elements. I expect to target this in
assignments throughout the course. I also better understand the
value of targeting multiple types of communication for rhetoric
and in different works. This assignment was also directed
towards the course material, and I better understand the
assignments that we will be doing throughout the course (like
the reading journal or final video project) because I will
probably want to put extra effort into using the visual and
design aspect of my content effectively. The reading journal,
especially, will benefit from extra design work.</dt>
<dd>Purpose/Prompt</dd>
<dt>This video includes a short introduction to me, including my
name, "major," and hometown and the theme of this course (health
as a social construct) and the teacher (Dr. Markley). The
First-Week Video asks about a potential struggle with WOVEN
based on previous experience with trying to communicate in the
medium. In addition to previous experience with the medium, the
assignment asked me to develop a goal and a way to reach that
goal based on that previous experience. I did this by talking
about a focus on revision and the specific component of graphic
design, but I didn't match these with previous experience. I
could have talked about better, simpler presentations I've made
on topics I've known more about, where I can tell most of the
story and the graphics were improved through a couple of rounds
of revision, based on the content.</dt>
<dd>Audience</dd>
<dt>The audience is faculty members and other first-year
students who are familiar with WOVEN, this assignment, and the
objectives of the course in general, like rhetoric. Because of
this familiarity with the objective, I explicitly connected the
visual mode to my difficulty with speaking briefly, but I tried
not to overexplain the mode or visual design. However, I did
give my personal experience of how the need for brevity and
dense language collide. PowerPoints and posters are my most
common interactions with the visual mode, and my audience should
be familiar with both. However, I barely included one anecdotal
example under the time constraints, possibly because I explained
too abstractly: I could have talked about a revision or the
impact of a poor design and better shown my point about brevity
and still had time to talk about the digital reading journal.
</dt>
<dd>Design for Medium</dd>
<dt>Because this is a video, I focused on engagement. For
content, I wrote out a script that I would read, rehearse, and
edit down into. I used a high-jumpcut vlog style to make the
video seem more energetic, and I tried to keep my voice upbeat
because my voice is the primary content in this style. I chose
not to use another production style like a time-lapse or
slideshow because I think my image and a direct explanation of
my ideas is important and best delivered talking straight to the
camera. I included music (the instrumental of White Town's Your
Woman) because I think that it better covers up breaks in
talking and maintains a central element throughout the video. I
did try to keep it quiet relative to me talking because the
music itself is unimportant.</dt>
<dd>Revision</dd><!--The most important question-->
<dt>Another type of video may have fit my argument better, but
given the style I chose, the video could have been improved on
the script and on the presentation. The script could have
been much more personal by extending the anecdote and possibly
including a visual representation for the product I created. I
also probably should have chosen music not under copyright, and
possibly faded it out at the beginning and in at the end. For
the final product, cutting away to an image might have made it
more engaging. The way I filmed it could also be improved: I
held the camera, so it shook a bit, and I read the script for
part of the video. If I had mostly memorized the script and
propped up the camera to get a single shot between cuts and
to stabilize it, the video would probably feel higher quality.
</dt>
</dl>
|