Reflection

During this documentary project my biggest struggle was editing the project. If the media depot wasn't there I would not have full ability to finish the project. One aspect that made me most proud was that we finished the project in one day and it turned out alright. It made me smile when I saw some footage that I recorded and presenting it in front of my peers. One aspect I would change about the documentary would be that we should have recorded more of their outdoor concerts and added a section for their magazine, the rifle. I thought I was responsible for most of the project, as all my group members should have thought. Personally I recorded my own material, edited my material, and put it all together in junction with my group members materials. I was appointed as the "main" editor, but other group members jumped in to help throughout the editing process. To promote a healthy group relationship, I tried to make conversation and avoid any controversial topics. I focused on trying to make the project casual but I don't know if that worked. I wish I would have worked on a more official story board to help editing but that wasn't necessarily my job. I for sure feel like I contributed a fair amount to the project and have the back up material to prove that I had a large part in this group project.

This course kind of helped to hone my critical thinking skills, but felt like any other course that would try to hone my critical thinking skill. I had to sit there figuring out what to focus on for our project from all of the footage we had. I think that was the time where critical thinking came into play, besides trying to figure out good interview questions for good content. Since this was a follow up class to my previous WRD class, I felt that this implemented good use of my new found knowledge with communication and technology techniques. I could interview properly since I had previous interview experience for my research paper last semester. I used new technology that I really didn't know how to use and now have some sort of an idea how to repeat the process. I liked this process instead of 4 essays and I enjoyed learning about b-roll, which opened me to filming. I believe this kind of teaching was very helpful and mind opening. I wouldn't really change anything about this class because most of its assignments are appropriate and more enjoyable than normal classes, with the creative assignments. If I could change one thing about this course it would be the location of the class room, probably would have attended more classes if it was closer to my dorm.

Born Into Coal Response

After watching “Born Into Coal” made me realize the struggle those coal workers have on a daily basis and how it negatively affects their families. It brought me back to October Sky with Jake Gyllenhaal and how he had to become a coal miner. I thought it was cool how they showed the difference between the nice looking beauty queens and the dirty coal miners. They kept zooming in on their hands to show the difference between the nails of the daughters/ beauty queens and the dirt filled nails of the coal miners. They transferred scene to scene with everyday life of the families and their concerns for their fathers since there has been mine collapses, which is a problem in mining. After looking up, there have been more mining injuries in past decades but in recent years the mining accidents have gone down to about 30 fatalities per year. I noticed that it must be very tough and tiring for the coal workers as they have long 8 hour days in a dark mine, which you see one of the fathers go into the mine. Not only was it a hard job, it also took a toll on the coal miners’ body. It showed the importance of how black lung was a problem in the community and going back to October Sky, I remember black lung was also a problem. At the end of the documentary it showed the end of the pageant and that the winner was a coal miners daughter. The scene of her standing with her pageant gown and crown on at the coal mine showed us the connection between the coal mine and why she might even need the mine, since her family depends on it for income. Although it is bad for the community it is the risk they take and it is how they get their income.

Speech Reflection

After taking a look at my speech video I noticed a few flaws that I believe need to be brought up, so I can improve future presentations. I noticed at first that I was not projecting my voice as well as other did, and this is a important part of a presentation because if you have a soft voice you wont catch the audiences attention. I noticed I wasn't using hand motions at all and that needs to improve as well as my use of the stage, which all catches the attention of the audience. I also repeated some of the information I provided to make a longer speech but made my speech look weak or even not prepared. I thought I performed better than I had expected because I only came in with a simple outline and went with that I had. I was glad that I finished with 3:35 minutes because I thought I was talking for such a shorter time, which had me worry about my grade. Next speech I will talk louder and project my voice to the audience. I will continue to speak at the same speed and try not repeat myself. I will add more content to my speech as I feel like it was not enough to complete the full 3 minute speech and I believe the next speech should be even longer. I'm trying to improve my hand motion and use of the stage but its hard to cope with some stage anxiety. Overall I believe I did fine as a first speech that day.

Response to David R. Dow: Lessons from death row inmates TED-Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYzrdn7YLCM

After watching David R. Dow's ted talk, it changed my view about death row inmate cases. Dow used first person to describe a story and connect personally with the audience. He started by explaining one of his own cases as a attorney, which involved a young boy in a murder case. He used visual representation to show the steps on how a death penalty case would go. Interestingly he used this diagram and then extended the diagram to show how he could prevent death penalty cases when the prisoners are younger, since most of them have a previous past in the judicial system. He used graphs to compel the audience with hard statistical data which swayed his argument.  Dow had a very bold tone, which I would guess he picked up in law school, which captured the audiences view. Additionally he stayed away from monotone and told his first person experience as he was telling a story. His projection and pronunciation was perfect as he was ready for the speech and of course the speaker system helped the speech. His body language was perfect always holding his hands and moving his hands above the waist, which draws the attention to the upper body. Throughout his speech he would correlate his hands with his speech, which made the reader follow the speech easier. Dow had a very slow pace which let the audience understand his speech, as since it was slow we could follow what he was saying. I couldn't really find anything ineffective besides the fact he kind of talked down to the audience but for a good reason, to teach percentages about Texas. Overall I believe his argument is very convincing and I even acknowledged his call of action.

Detroit vs. Everybody Blog

"Detriot vs. Everybody." Blog - Rembert Browne's "Detriot vs. Everybody" hit the reader very hard by describing, a once sprawling city, as a ruin-filled deserted city. He starts his article off as a adventure journal and describing what he sees in modern day Detroit.  He tried to present an honest portrait of the place by taking pictures and showing what he actually saw when he traveled throughout Detroit. He went in with a different mindset than normal Detroit visitors, a positive mindset. Browne tried to stray away from normal visitor spots and traveled into the deep Detroit areas that might be portrayed as dangerous/abandoned. He took pictures of once sprawling parks/ plazas that are now abandoned but also steps back to reflect how beautiful this city once was. He used the example for Heidelberg Project, which artist Tyree Guyton created using different material to decorate suburban houses. The fact that one house was destroyed by arson is kind of disturbing showing another nature that Detroit harbors.The reality of his trip is that Detroit is a deserted place where it seems like a third world country, as it was portrayed by Browne himself. I saw that public areas weren't sprawling but what do you expect from years of negative mass media produced about the city. With shows like Low Winter Sun, depicting a very bad and dangerous city to live in, it hard to believe this city is about to rebound from bankruptcy.

“My Bodies of the Year” by Wesley Morris stated that, throughout all of the pop culture the United States of America has produced this year, being sexy sells and this year definitely showed us the importance of how somebodies body can provoke big little things. Morris used various examples showing how famous people bodies compelled different responses either through music or theater. He used one big little thing in pop culture to show how Miley became an icon after her famous twerking and being nude in wrecking ball, especially in today’s society when most people are self-conscious about their own weight. Other examples from this year would be Victoria secrets fashion show, where all super models come together to show off the next big fashion in Victoria secret. In today’s society body matters to an extent and, with mass media spreading healthier trends, it harder for people to accept their own body if it doesn’t match the model in any magazine or on national television. When I flip to MTV all I see between episodes are either proactive or hydroxycut, which both are for the body. Not to mention most shows on the network recruit better looking people and continued the trend before I was even born. I believe that bodies mattered just as much as they did now as they did 10 years ago. We’re just experiencing it on our own, since make up has gone back before the death of Jesus. I believe that Morris used ethos, pathos, and logos appropriately throughout his essay. The cultural appeal through Miley Cyrus connected the reader as it was a current event, which for most it’s probably one of the biggest events. How he used his mother as an emotional appeal and evoked sadness from the reader and how he spent most of his time with her as she was dying from cancer. He used logical appeal correctly as he explained that sex sold and even in movies bodies become an important factor, when choosing a main role. I think his use of his personal story with his mother was nice and explained that he had more to worry about this year but it wasn’t needed, but I’ve already heard this argument from many others. I enjoyed the input and I am glad to see someone is sharing their thoughts about how sex is incorporated in our media.