Emphasis
1. Describe where your attention is visually
drawn in this text. What strategies does the author use to emphasize this
element? Given that this text is essentially a title page for a larger project,
does this emphasis seem effective to you? Why or why not?
My attention is on the notepad and the drawings in the
notepad. It looks like she uses large,
dark and aggressive letters to convey meaning to DRM. Then she changes the
meaning from Digital Rights Management, then to Digital Robbing Maniacs. And on
the next note pad she draws some sort of poster board with legs that say CRIMINAL.
Now I am confused but interested and plugged in. Since this is title for a
larger project, the author does a fascinating job at drawing my attention. So
the beginning emphasis for this video is very effective.
2. Between composing the two different pages
("Digital Rights Management/Digital Robbing Maniacs" and
"Criminal") the woman disappears from the screen and the jumpy
stop-motion effect ceases. Describe how this moment of stillness can be
understood as "emphasis" and explain if it seems like an effective
strategy? What is emphasized by stopping the movement?
The moment of stillness towards the end suggests to the
reader to look closely at the note that says CRIMINAL, and asks for their
assumptions on what this word may mean in this context. At first I didn’t
notice it, but looking again at the word CRIMINAL there are multiple arrows
pointing at it and this emphasizes look, look at this, what do you think this
means. Basically, it draws questions in the readers mind about this specific
phrase. It’s an effective strategy
because it tells the reader to pause and look closely and think at these
important words.
3. Consider the role sound plays in emphasis.
How does the soundtrack to this clip help to (a) emphasize certain moments in
the clip, and (b) place a particular emotional emphasis on the meaning of the
clip?
The sound in the clip creates an undercover, movement in the
dark, and criminal element, like a good theme song for a spy movie. It makes me
feel like this project will be about a robber or a thief.
Contrast
1. Watch 0:22-0:36 of The JUMP's
"Call for Papers." Notice the words, the gray box, the cartoon
background, and the sound. Do you think any of these elements contrast? If so,
which ones and how so (specifically, what makes them different from one
another)? What effects do you think this use of contrast has on the audience
and the purpose? Consider how the text's effectiveness might change if these
elements did not contrast.
There is a very large contrast between the sounds because
there is a digital sound of a woman’s voice then there is one of a male’s
voice. Furthermore, the digital voice in general, contrasts with the 1960’s
cartoon because the digital voice will take place in the future and the cartoon
is in the past. At first, this cartoon
was a little difficult to understand because it was hard to listen to the male’s
voice, then look at the little carton and then read the words running along the
screen at the bottom. Everything is contrasting which makes it hard to process
the meaning of the video. If the text
did not contrast so much I would easily understand what The Jump was all about
and would not have to watch the video so many times.
2. Watch 0:55-1:08 of The JUMP's
"Call for Papers." Notice how this is similar to the clip from
question 1, yet the background no longer includes the cartoon. First, describe
what elements are contrasting. Next, explain why you think the cartoon
background was deleted from this section. What happens to the contrast now that
the background is black? Which element is now the most emphasized, and how do
you think this helps convey the purpose of the text?
The elements that are contrasting are the white font on the
letters and the black background. I
think the cartoon was deleted to show emphasis on the text which is vital in
connecting both parts of the cartoon together. The contrast is greater
emphasized by the white font and the black background.
3. Imagine you've been asked to design a flyer
to post around your campus advertising The JUMP. What would the flyer
look like? Which element(s) would contrast and to what effect?
The Jump will be greatly emphasized by large white letters
on a black background. Then the 1960’s cartoon will appear across the flyer in
different spots. And a link to the video will be provided in small font.
Organization
1. Choose 5 of the 15 images to drag into the
empty timeline. Make a note about each of the 5 photos to explain what each one
signifies, and how one leads to another. How does your organization convey your
purpose?
The main reason I picked them was because they all are black
and white photos. The purpose was also
to establish modern 20th century images and blend them together.
2. Are there different arguments that you
could have made by organizing your 5 photos in different ways?
If I would to put the picture with the word “modern” at the
end it could mean, a rise to modernity starting from the image of the outdated
elevators.
3. Are there other elements you could add to
make your argument stronger—for example, playing music with the slide show or
adding text?
The elements that would make it the argument stronger would
be if I were to add images of the great depression, the first ford model-t or
other 20th century inventions and stories.
Alignment
1. How would you describe alignment of the
words "murmuring" and "insects" in the opening scene? How
does the unusual alignment (reflected on screen and timed) add to your
interpretation of the text?
I would describe the alignment of the two words as appearing
from nowhere and then aligning themselves on the bottom of the screen. This makes me think about what these words
may mean. Questions come up like do the insects murmur or do the insects have
completely no correlation with murmuring at all.
2. Now watch the "Earth" scene. What
other elements are aligned in this scene? How does the consistent alignment of
elements across screens (and also across some of the scenes) affect how you read
these scenes? What elements do you end up focusing on? Would the scene seem as
effective if all of the elements on the page (upside-down moon, contrails,
words, background color, etc.) had no shared alignment?
We have “in the weeds, murmuring, and insects,” and the
words align themselves on the bottom right side of the screen. It takes
patience to read all the elements because you could easily miss one and not
understand that the earth scene you requires one to read the whole text. The
elements that I end up focusing on are the words “murmuring and insects”
because they repeat themselves from the opening scene. I’m not sure if it would be as effective
because the only picture I get with all these words is nature and nature has no
alignment, it is all over the place. I get the sense that these words will all
come together in the end.
3. Now watch the "Air" scene, paying
attention to the lines of poetry and the audio tracks. The poem doesn't settle
on the same horizontal axis as the other scenes do, and the two phrases in the
audio track are aligned (synced) to appear with each line of poetry. Why do you
think the alignments of the words are different between the Earth and Air
scenes? What is the significance of the audio track's content in relation to
that difference?
I think the difference of the alignments is due because we
are looking at a whole different aspect of nature so why align it the same as
the Earth scene. Also it looks like the words are being secreting from the geese
like there dropping little presents from the sky. Furthermore, the difference
of the audio in the Earth and Air scene is that the Air scene seems more
peaceful, calming and nurturing and the audio in the Earth scene seem more
conflicting, and catastrophist, especially with the sounds of the police sirens.
4. Now watch the "Water" scene. How
does the curvature of the words, aligning with the background image of an eye,
relate to what the man in the audio track is saying?
The curvature of the words, aligning with the background
image of an eye, relate to the sadness and low tone in the man’s voice
5. Based on the alignment (or lack of
alignment) between elements in a scene and across scenes, why are the three
menu options ("Air," "Earth," and "Water") on the
main screen of this text not aligned? What does this lack of alignment tell you
about the emphasis, sequence, and purpose of this text?
I don’t think they’re aligned because nature is not aligned
it’s all over the place. Moreover, the separation of the elements makes them
unique to themselves as different stages of the atmosphere, in particular, air is
the sky, earth is the soil and water is beneath the soil.
Proximity
1. Did you group certain categories of
information together? How did you group them—typographically, by placing them
closer together, or in some other way?
I group the title and the subtitle together at the top.
Right under it I had the seagull soaring through the sky. At the bottom of the
cover I put the author’s name
2. What do you think is the most important
piece of information on your cover? What choices did you make about typeface or
size to convey that sense of importance? How does the layout of your book cover
reflect your sense of how the information should be organized?
The most important piece, I think, is the seagull because the
visuals one would get is about flight and soaring through the sky, which is
what this book is about, flight. Well I made sure that the biggest font was the
title and the subtitle the smallest because the subtitles are usually smaller
in other covers. The author also has large font but since it’s located at the
bottom it’s in its own group and makes it rather important to look at. I did it
this way because I saw how other book covers are and followed the same path.
3. What are some limitations you've
encountered in laying out visual elements in a traditional way? What are some
other ways you might want to organize the information on a book cover that
might work better in a non-traditional format?
The only limitation was that I had a large space to work
with but not enough elements or larger fonts. I would have added some color
too. To further answer the question, I’m limited because of my lack of
knowledge of what attracts people to grab a book just because of the cover. If
this were an online book I would add some clickable links and a table of
contents link.
