Static image

 

In English, we have been learning about Visual Language Features. For the past weeks, we were creating a static image and we are to choose on what topic we want to create or static image on.

In my static image, I chose to put a red background because it makes the things in the foreground pop. I put Johnny Cash at the centre because he is the dominant feature. He is facing June carter and the musical notes because he chose to be with his music and June carter. I placed a fire at the bottom of the picture to give meaning that if johnny cash fails to balance, he will suffer. I blurred out the silhouette of his family because johnny cash turned his back from his family. Also, I put a line because johnny cash is walking the line.

The type of visual text I am going to create is …  A poster

I am going to base my static image on … Walk the line by James mangold

The images I am going to use are… an image of johnny cash, a guitar, his family, his music and a line

I am going to use these images because… these things represent johnny cash’s life

The verbal feature I am going to use is …  Caption

I am going to use this because… I’m going to use this to give meaning to the picture

The symbol(s) I will use are …  His guitar and musical notes

I am going to use them to show … To show his passion for music 

I am going to use the colours ….  Yellow-red, black, blue

I am going to them to help show …  His passion for music and his passion for his family 

The dominant feature I will use will be … Johnny Cash

I am going to use it to help show … That he is the main character in the film

I am going to have the layout like … Johnny Cash at the middle

I am going to have the layout in this way because… Johnny Cash is the dominant character in the text so he should be in the middle.

I am going to use the visual language feature (name it) …  Balance

I am going to use it to help show … the fact that johnny cash has to have a balance between his family and music.

I am going to use the visual language feature (name it) … Colour

I am going to use it to help show … To give life/meaning to the things that are there.

I am going to use the visual language feature (name it) …Layout

I am going to use it to help show … To ensure that things are in the right place and that their placing makes sense.

Persuasive Writing ESSAY

 In 2007, the revolution of communication changed. Smartphones have become a necessity in our modern world today. Mobile phones have now become manipulators of our lives. It disconnects people from the social world; it makes people unable to survive without their phone; it makes them go off task, and they always go on their phones in their free time.

Almost every individual nowadays has some gadget they can interact with; including kids that are as young as seven years old. No wonder children of this generation are more likely to get disconnected from the social world and get trapped in the realm of smartphones. For example, a study from www.childinthecity.org shows that the average hour a child spends outside is four hours a week. In comparison, they spend at least six to seven hours a day on their smartphones. If you convince a child to go for a short walk at the park; more likely than not, they would say no. Is this behaviour not significant enough to be a problem for the generations to come?

Not only does a mobile phone detach us from being active socially, but it also makes it impossible for most to get through a day without their mobile phone. A person who has been brought up with smartphones has a greater chance of struggle to get through the day without worrying about their device. Try to take a glance at any public place - it shows us the dominance of our beloved electronic devices over the surrounding people. 

We can not only get disengaged from the social world by our mobile phones; it also makes us go off the task we are supposed to be doing. We can see this a lot of times at school where students don’t listen to their teachers and just interact with their mobile device. Try to examine a school. It would show you how much a pupil’s learning gets intervened by their temptation to take a glance at their gadget. 

Besides being a distraction, smartphones also manipulate people into using it whenever they have free time. This would be a beginning for many of the sicknesses a person will encounter because of the excessive use of a mobile device. If you are a parent/guardian, try to scrutinize the behaviour of your children. As soon as they finish the task they are supposed to do, it would be very likely that they would go to their smartphones and get stranded to the world of mobile phones. Because of this, it would endanger children to the atmospheric layer of radiation produced by their electronic devices. Overexposure to radiation could trigger cardiovascular diseases and even cancer.

These realities notify us that our mobile phones are governing our lives. It disconnects us from the social world; it makes us unable to survive without a mobile phone; it causes us to go off task, and we always go on our phones in our free time. This is why one million people die each year because of the distraction from a mobile device.

Defining Pathos, Logos and Ethos

 Pathos is an appeal to emotion. It is used for attempting to evoke an emotional response on people. For example on mattress ads, they show a picture of a person having back pain to simulate the pain of buying a "wrong" mattress.

Logos is an appeal to logic or reason. It is used to give you evidence and statistics you need to understand what the product does. For instance in juice advertisements, they say that their juice contains 75% of vitamin C your body needs every day.

Ethos is an appeal to credibility or character. It is used to make the company appeal more credible, reliable and honest. For instance, "Nine out of ten dentists agree that Crest is better than any other brand".

SEXXXY Analysis

In English, we have been learning about visual language. We are doing this to improve our skills in identifying film aspects and how they create meaning in a film.

Here is the slide of our learning:

Individual work SEXXY analysis

In English, we have been doing some SEXXY analysis for the past weeks. We are learning this to get better at analysing film aspects.

How did it go? For me, this learning went pretty good.

SEXXXY analysis

In English, we are learning about SEXXXY analysis. We are doing this to improve our critiquing and literal skill of film aspects.

What is the text about? How do we know?
The text Walk The Line is about a man who composes songs about his life and performs them in front of many people. We can know this because, from the day he went to the radio station until the duration of the film, he composes and sing songs for the crowd. The reason for this is to help show his compassion for music which also enables him to achieve his goal.

What kind of language is used in the text?
The Language used in Walk The Line is a mix between everyday language, some old English language, and American slang. For instance when June carter said Y'all can't walk no line? Y'all can't walk no line. The word y'all originated from southern America in the early nineteenth century. It is used as a contraction for the word you all. I believe they used these kinds of language to let the audience know that the movie's setting was made during the year 1993.

What does the author of this text want us to know?
The author of Walk The Line wants us to know that what we always have a decision. These decisions, however, can make a relationship weaker. We can see this on the scene where Johnny cash returned home after his tour with June carter. As soon as he entered the house, his wife said: "John, I have a casserole in the oven and your sister in the kitchen, and I don't wanna talk about the tour". The author did this to let us know that our family is much more important than anything else, this is why we have to balance everything.

How did it go? It went quite well in my opinion.

Work on film aspect

In English, we have been learning about film aspects. We are learning this to understand the use of different film techniques.

1. Contrast:
What are the ways directors can contrast in a film? They can contrast in tone, art direction, blocking, camera movement and colour.
What is contrasted in Spike Jonze's ad? In Spike Jonze's ad, colour is contrasted.
Why did he contrast these things? He contrasted these things to emphasise a character's life before colour was added.

2. Tone: 

What else can we call tone in a film? The tone of voice can also be called as tone.

What are the 3 main elements of tone?

1. Lighting
2. Exposure
3. Art Direction

How and why does Coppola use tone in the classic film ‘The Godfather’? By turning the exposure down, to show the tension inside and has blown-out windows to link back to his daughter getting married outside.

How can directors control the feelings of the scenes? By controlling the tone of the scene (Brightness).

3. Over the shoulder:

What is the effect of an over-the-shoulder shot?  The effect of an over-the-shoulder shot is to show the connection between the characters.

What film aspect shows a disconnection between characters? A single shot would disconnect characters.

How does the director of this scene show the disconnect of the characters? He used a dolly shot and gradually removes the other character out of frame.

What eventually totally isolates the female character? The sudden pause of other characters except for the male and the female.

4. Dutch Angle:

The Dutch angle does what? It creates tension for the viewers.

What is the Dutch angle? The Dutch angle is a film technique to show that there is something wrong going on in the scene

Who and when created the dutch angle? The germans created the dutch angle in early 1900

What 3 things do directors need to consider for the Dutch angle?

1. Identify
2. Consider
3. Enhance

What 4 things can enhance a Dutch angle?

1. Degree of tilt
2. Camera height
3. Lens choice
4. Depth of field

5. Production Design

What is the production design? It is the overall vision of the production.

What makes up production design? It encapsulates a unifying vision for set design, props and wardrobe

What are the 3 main things production design can help reveal?\

1. Mood
2. Character
3. Theme

6. Film Blocking

What are the 3 ways directors use blocking in a film?

1. Space
2. Shapes
3. Lines

What are the 3 basic shapes for film blocking?

1. Circle
2. Square
3. Triangle

What are the emotions associated with these shapes? Circles feel safer and inclusive. Squares create limited space boxing someone in. Triangles are sharp, they feel aggressive but it also has an apex

What two things can blocking help with?

1. Subtext
2. Contrast

7. Visual Motifs

What is a motif? It is a recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story.

Why are they important? Because they allow the story to operate more that one level.

What makes a great work of art? When there is a constant visual of the theme and where you can come back to it again and again.

8. Colour

How does colour in the film affect people? They affect people by explicit emotions

What are the 3 factors in determining colour?

1. Hue
2. Saturation
3. Brightness

Why is the hue in ‘The Matrix’ mostly green? Because the movie takes place inside a digital screen where green is associated with codes.

Why do some films desaturate? Because it gives the film a cold/raw look.

What can brightness and a lack of brightness show in a film? A bright scene can make the scene lively while a scene that lacks brightness makes it dramatic.

9. Camera Movement

What are the purposes of the whip pan and the slow pan? The whip pan is to simulate a quick glance from one thing to another while a slow pan is to take in the scenery of the landscape.

What is the purpose of the tilt shot? It is to reveal something and redirect our attention towards it.

What does the reverse dolly zoom help show? It is to show a character having an intense internal experience.

What the difference between a Steadicam and dolly shot? A Steadicam shot is stabilised on the cameras operator, it glides seamlessly within the space and a dolly shot isn't.

What can the hand-held shot help create for the viewer? It creates a shake and stimulates anxiety

What should directors ask themselves with their camera movement? They should ask themselves if they have insurance. Also, how does this support the story?

Camera movement should be doing what? It should be making the viewer focused on what is important in the scene.

10. POV (Point Of View)

What is a POV shot? POV or Point of view shot is a shot where the camera sees what the character sees.

What is a ‘point of thought’ shot? It is what gives the audience an expression of the character's mind

Why are they important? Because it draws the viewer deeper into the character's world.

11. Establishing Shot

What is an establishing shot? It is what establishes the scene.

Why is it used? It is used to establish a new location and the tone

Why are establishing shot usually the most expensive?

They are usually the most expensive because they show everything. Also, they tend to have a lot of objects in it which can be expensive.

12. Insert

What is an insert shot? 

What is the purpose of an insert shot? 

What are the 3 main aspects of the insert shot? 

What 3 things help the audience feel about the insert shot? 

Composition of the insert shot helps with what in a film? 

Colour in the insert shot helps with what in a film? 

How long you dwell on the insert shot helps show what?

Film Aspects

Film Aspects

In English, we have been learning about film aspects. Film aspects are the technical usage of camera angles and sound to make up a film/movie.

Here are some of the aspects and their meanings

Self-Directed Learning for Creative Writing

Being ready to learn

I am ready to learn because I have everything I need and I am organised.

Set my learning goals

I need to bring my stationaries and Chromebook.

Engage in the connectivist learning process.

I'll need to ask Mr Aitken quicker for things that I don't understand.