To potray this idea, I attached a scene from one of my favorite movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In the scene, Matthew Broderick is addressing the audience in the second person, talking directly to them as if it's a conversation. But although Broderick is looking directly at the camera, addressing the viewer, the video itself is still very limited in it's point of view. The monologue is second person, but the video is undeniably third.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Points of View
In productions of media, there is always a message to be conveyed, some bit of information to be communicated. It may be theoretical, ideological, moral, instructional. Part of the producer's job is to figure out how to most effectively present their message. Each message is a story, and it is vital for the producer to decide from which point of view to communicate the narrative. All sorts of elements factor into creating a point of view--audio, video, language. However, when it comes to the film element of the message, the point of view is very limited. Videos are, by nature, shot in the third person. Even if the narration of the production is delievered in the first person, video records and relays the action in the third person.
To potray this idea, I attached a scene from one of my favorite movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In the scene, Matthew Broderick is addressing the audience in the second person, talking directly to them as if it's a conversation. But although Broderick is looking directly at the camera, addressing the viewer, the video itself is still very limited in it's point of view. The monologue is second person, but the video is undeniably third.
To potray this idea, I attached a scene from one of my favorite movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In the scene, Matthew Broderick is addressing the audience in the second person, talking directly to them as if it's a conversation. But although Broderick is looking directly at the camera, addressing the viewer, the video itself is still very limited in it's point of view. The monologue is second person, but the video is undeniably third.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Difference Between A Sweet Note and A Sour Note
"For a writer, it's a word. For a composer or musician, it's a note. For an editor, it's the frame, and two frames off is the difference between a sweet note and a sour note."
Quentin Tarantino
When producing a work of multimedia, there is so much that has to be taken into consideration--audio, video, text--and there is no role as crucial as that of an editor. The editor fuels the story, and has the most influential role when it comes to affecting the viewer. Their job is to get inside the viewers mind, to use transitions, image, sound, rhythm, pacing, and compositing to create continuity and salience of a plot line. The Tarantino quote I opened my blog post with communicates this point the most effectively--"two frames off is the difference between a sweet note and a sour note." The way that a piece is edited affects whether it is dramatic or dull, suspenseful or serene, sweet or sour.
The post production process arguably might be the most crucial part of the creation process. In the digital age, the editor and other post production staff are responsible for bringing together all of the various elements of a work and ensuring that those elements fit, flow, and have meaning. They are the ones ultimately responsible for whether or not the message or story is communicated effectively. While a successful pre-production process is vital, and the actual production is important, the post production can make or break a piece of media.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Forces Within The Screen
In reading the article "The Two Dimensional Field: Forces Within The Screen," I was taken aback by all the complexity behind the way a viewer perceives an image, and the way in which the producer can control those effects. All of it was very psychological (I took a psychology class my freshman year and it was not my forte to say the least) and crazy to wrap my head around.
The most salient idea in my mind was that of vectors. Vectors can be both visible and invisible, explicit and implied, superficial and emotional. They affect the way we watch something by guiding us towards what we should focus on and influencing how we feel. When I was reading this section, all I could think about were movies--namely action, thriller, adventure type movies. I personally watch maybe one thriller-type movie a year, just since my sensitive psyche is inclined to nightmares. But one movie I particularly enjoy is The Italian Job. I attached one of my favorite scenes from the movie to use as an example.
The producers of this movie use a whole variety of vectors in this scene. The music cues, the motion of the actors, the motion of the camera all influence what we watch and how we feel about it. This scene always brings me to the edge of my seat, which I'm sure is largely to do with how the creators of The Italian Job used forces within the screen to grab and hold my attention.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
The Rhetoric of Multimedia
Rhetoric has been described as "the available means of persuasion." In the age of orality and literacy, this meant invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and literary devices. However, the available means of persuasion have greatly expanded in the digital age. With the advancement of technology, there are more tools of persuasion beyond just language. Today, as Anders Fagerjord describes in the article "Multimodal Polyphony: Analysis of a Flash Documentary," "writing, speech, music, sound effects, photography, painting, and camera movement" all contribute to a rhetorical argument. Multimedia can be used as the available means of persuasion.
There are several different ways that multimedia can be used to advance an argument. The concept of "rhetorical convergence" is the idea that when different forms of media come together, they are even more persuasive because they can affect the way the audience not only hears, but also looks at an issue. Even the way the frame moves or the time an image is project on the screen can add meaning. Because of where these technologies show the viewer to focus, the understanding or perception of a scene can be altered. They can also relate the whole to the details and the details to the whole of an image when alternating between micro and macro perspectives.
By using multimedia, you can contextualize images, as well as direct viewers as to where they should look to catch the most important element of the image.
To create some examples, I decided to look at some of my pictures from my semester abroad. If you wanted to zoom out from a picture to the whole scene, you can contextualize a part of the photograph to the whole. This close up of one of my photographs looks merely like a picture of me and my friend Kathleen.
However, once you zoom out, the Eiffel Tower in the background reveals that this image was from our trip to Paris, adding an important element to contextualize the image.
The dialogue recorded over the image can be used to reinforce the point of focus as well. For example, as the image pans back from our faces to reveal the eiffel tower, the voice over could begin to discuss the city of Paris of the history of the tower itself, directing the attention to the background.
There are several different ways that multimedia can be used to advance an argument. The concept of "rhetorical convergence" is the idea that when different forms of media come together, they are even more persuasive because they can affect the way the audience not only hears, but also looks at an issue. Even the way the frame moves or the time an image is project on the screen can add meaning. Because of where these technologies show the viewer to focus, the understanding or perception of a scene can be altered. They can also relate the whole to the details and the details to the whole of an image when alternating between micro and macro perspectives.
By using multimedia, you can contextualize images, as well as direct viewers as to where they should look to catch the most important element of the image.
To create some examples, I decided to look at some of my pictures from my semester abroad. If you wanted to zoom out from a picture to the whole scene, you can contextualize a part of the photograph to the whole. This close up of one of my photographs looks merely like a picture of me and my friend Kathleen.
However, once you zoom out, the Eiffel Tower in the background reveals that this image was from our trip to Paris, adding an important element to contextualize the image.
The dialogue recorded over the image can be used to reinforce the point of focus as well. For example, as the image pans back from our faces to reveal the eiffel tower, the voice over could begin to discuss the city of Paris of the history of the tower itself, directing the attention to the background.
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