VW: The Force - Revisited

I chose to analyze a new commercial this time: VW The Force. I love this commercial and I think my love for it had prevented me from choosing it before. I also didn't have the proper vocabulary to analyze it before. So now that I am able to look past the cute kid, and the obvious cultural reference, I can step back and take a look at the commercial through an analytical scope. I used Golombisky and Hagen's text White Space is Not Your Enemy (2010) and Kellner and Share's (2005) article Toward Critical Media Literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy to help me:

Analysis.
What is the purpose of this video? The purpose of this video is remind adults that it is okay to be a kid once and a while. I feel like the kid represents the lack of 'magic' in an adult's life and the realism of it all. The child, whose face we do not see, can represent any adult, of any race. When the father turns the car on and the child is excited, it is a reminder that there is still a chance to have fun, and to 'be a kid'. This commercial was "constructed" (Kellner and Share, 2005) to play into the 'kid side' of an adult.
What version of reality is it selling? This is a very realistic commercial (in my opinion), which is apparent through the continuity of the shots. They are successive, one after the other, of a stereotypical middle class family with enough money to support at least two children (a boy and a girl), a dog, and a VW. They are normal people living a mundane life, as is indicated by the child, and the remote control is both a 'fun' feature as well as a luxury that even an 'average' family can enjoy.

Audience.
Who is the intended audience of this video? The audience is middle class families that were alive or old enough to know what Star Wars is. Without that knowledge, the commercial loses a lot of its message. I do get the feeling that this specific commercial is geared towards adults in at least their late thirties since the entire commercial is shot at the house. As Kellner and Share (2005) mentioned, the same message will be interpreted differently by people of different races, genders, ethnicities and sexual orientations. The commercial is what I would term 'very white' and does not seem to play to an audience outside of the white suburban family, except for the Darth Vader music and Star Wars reference that could be a sole uniting point between people of different backgrounds.
Through whose eyes or perspective is information conveyed? Why? The point of view that of the audience. There aren't any shots over someone's shoulder that suggest a second on-looker, or that we should be placing ourselves in someone else's shoes. We are on a journey with this little boy, trying to find some sort of magic in his otherwise mundane home.

Representation.
How are the people/figures in this video portrayed? Why do you believe they have been singled out? Whose voices are not being represented in this text? The adults are happy with their lives, and those that the child encounters do not seem fazed by the child's attempts at using The Force on them. They seem unaware of the magic that is missing from their lives. There is also an underlying feeling that the child is misunderstood, which again could represent the adults that are frustrated at being confined to mundane vehicles and lifestyles. When the car turns on, the child is startled and clearly shows that he can't believe what he just did. The father is portrayed as playful, breaking from the monotony of his day, and clearly intent on making his kid feel special. I think we hear the adult's voice more than the child's. Despite the camera always focusing on the child and his constant disappointment, the commercial is constructed to appeal to adults, not children. A child is not buying this car, which brings me back to the suggestion that the faceless child represents all those that adults that lack a little magic in their life.

Design.
From the perspective of a video producer, discuss what you think are some of the most important design decisions used in creating this ad. Why do you think this specific medium was used to market this product? The elements of video design really come into play here. The music is chosen as a very obvious cultural reference. Most adults can hear that song and know exactly what movie that is from. The cultural Darth Vader reference also appeals to adults, and brings them back to their childhood. The music and movie reference are crucial to the commercial. There are no words, so one must deduce from the camera shots that the child is trying to use the force. The lighting, while I don't think it was used for anything specific was bright, allowing for the child's black outfit to really standout. The juxtaposition between the black and the light scenery suggests an adult fighting for excitement. I think the color of the car was important as well. It's not a bright red VW, suggesting a more dangerous lifestyle, the focus of the commercial was reconnecting with the inner child.

Toolkit: Technology is Fun

My toolkit is entitled: "Technology is Fun", and I decided to deviate from my MMP project. Instead, I compiled a list of sites that I felt would help my (former) colleagues that are not Digital Natives and do not speak Digital as a First Language. The goal was to find resources that were easy to use, and accessible to educators that were new to the technology world. I chose new resources, and ones that I would use after clicking around for a little bit, and one resource I have used before for Professor Pope's Intro to Digital Tools Course.

Source 1: "10 Smart Ideas for Using a Smartboard" This resource outlines 10 tips on how to engage students using a Smartboard while maintaining classroom management. Most of the classrooms in the school I used to work have Smartboards installed, and coming from someone who had no experience with that type of technology, I think this resource could provide some general pointers for teachers.

Source 2: "Acrostic Poem Creator" I used to do a series of acrostic poems with my 7th graders, and one of the colleagues I am sending this toolkit to still uses acrostic poems. This resource may be useful for students with disabilities, especially those with spatial issues. The only limitation is the length of the "topic word".

Source 3: "Literacy - Teacher to Teacher" I found the links on this site really accessible, and easy to navigate. The only part I struggled with was the amount of information. It's very easy to get lost clicking around the site, but the amount of resources is immense. However, for an educator that is not familiar with researching on the web and looking for new internet-based sites, this site provides a collection of resources in one central locaiton by topic.

Source 4: "Maggie's Earth Adventures" The main point of the toolkit is to expose the 'fun' and accessible side of technology to educators, and I decided to add a resource that I thought was appealing, and easy to use. It could serve as a webquest, or extended learning for students that finish work early (as long as there is access to the internet). I also found that it was appealing that there was an English and a Spanish option.

Source 5: "Rubistar" While this is not necessarily a resource to share with students, it is an easy-to-use rubric creators, enabling a performance-based, or multimodal assignment. I used it last semester in my Intro to Digital Tools class, and found the site to be user friendly, even for someone who is not as familiar with the internet.

Overall, the point of my toolkit was the to introduce my Digital as a Second Language, Digital Immigrant colleagues to other resources available to them, for free, on the internet, and at their fingertips. Sometimes it is scary to navigate the web when you are not as comfortable with the computer and I think this toolkit, while limited, still provides opportunities for educators to experience useful resources.

A Side Note: I shared my toolkit with three other teachers and the VP at my former school, am still waiting to hear back from them, but Cited wouldn't let me send it directly through their site. It kept telling me there was an error, so I just emailed the link to them! I await feedback!

LbyD: Student Perspective

This is the second installment of my Learning Element, this time through a student's persepctive.

You can find my MMP Update #2 with the most recent word document of the "Intro to Media Literacy" lesson (the student sheet) here. (Any feedback you can provide for me on the documents/discussion board would be so incredibly helpful!
LbyD Placemat!

STUDENT RESOURCE

1. Learning Focus:

• Knowledge domain: Life Science
• Curriculum: NJCCS 5.3.6.C.1; 5.3.6.C.2; 5.3.6.C.3; 5.3.8.C.1
• Unit: Biomes
• Grade: 7
• Ages: 12-13
• Modes of meaning: Written (student worksheet, see Thinkfinity link above); Spoken (group analyzation of published media); Visual (both movie and still image advertisements); Audio (listening to movie advertisements; listening to each other)

2. Knowledge Objectives:
Upon completion of this Learning Element, students will be able to:

• identify key elements of design (as outlined by Golombisky and Hagen [2010])
• associate appropriate vocabulary with the various elements of design
• assess whether various video and still image advertisements effectivel convey their messages
• apply the elements of design to multimodal presentations
• transform research information into multimodal presentations using the elements of design

3. Knowledge Process:

• Experiencing the known: Think-pair-share. Think of a few TV commercials, or ads that you have seen that stand out to you. What made them effective? What about some commercials that you thought were really poor? Are the 'annoying' commercials effective because they get stuck in your head? Write down a few ideas on a piece of paper with the person sitting next to you and be ready to share your ideas with the class.
• Experiencing the new: Worksheet/class activity. We will view TV advertisements as well as look at a few still image advertisements. Some of these will be novel, others are very popular and this prior knowledge will help us build our vocabulary, and identify what is and is not an effective advertisement.
• Conceptualizing by naming: "Bundling". We will learn a handful of new words that are outlined on a worksheet (will be posted with the final MMP project). The vocabulary words are at the top of the page, and there are four boxes with the following titles: Still Images, Movie Presentation, Poem, and PowerPoint. We will relate these vocabulary words to the ads that we deem 'effective', and will then place the words in appropriate boxes. This will help us when creating our multimodal presentations, and writing our poems.
• Conceptualizing with theory: This will be implemented as we learn to associate our new terms with the advertisement examples provided throughout the lesson. We will assess whether ads were effective or not, and why. In addition to the vocabulary worksheet, on the back there are two questions that students should use to start their thinking process: 1) How can I use these elements of design to create a presentation that is effective as possible? and 2) How can I use these elements of design to create a poem that has an attractive layout, while at the same time effectively conveying my poem’s message?
• Analyzing functionally: As stated above, there are two questions to prompt thinking and to help students make the connections between the elements of design they saw in the TV commercials and the still images advertisements.
• Analyzing critically: Gains -> The students gain from this experience, despite its brevity, because it enhances their learning experience by incorporating multi-sensory elements to the presentations. The students also gain because they are connecting with their research in different ways, not just through the traditional means of literacy (read/write), but through Web 2.0 tools. The teacher benefits because this is a new way to facilitate learning, and it is in a new, fun, creative way.
• Applying appropriately: Modeling. Students will have an opportunity to see an example of a multimodal presentation that effectively conveys the research information, as well as present it in a clear, and concise manner. (This is currently "in progress".)
• Applying creatively: Multimodal presentation & Poem. The students will be introduced to the two components of the project, and will have an opportunity to brainstorm with their group members how to best implement the elements of design into their multimodal presenation. The poem will be done individually, but students are still encouraged to seek advice and converse about different elements of design that they think will enhance their poem's presentation.

4. Knowledge Outcomes:
Upon completion of this Learning Element, students will show that they can:

• apply elements of design/media literacy to multimodal presentation
• assess an effective and non-effective advertisement
• justify their reasoning for what makes an effective and non-effective advertisement

• The completion of this lesson will provide students with vocabulary to assess their own projects.
• Students will have a working understanding of what elements of design are and how they can benefit their presentation.
• Students will also have a working understanding of how to assess another's work

5. Learning Pathways:

• Using multimedia software to create a multimodal presentation
• PowerPoint, MovieMaker, Animoto, Masher
• Students will be introduced to a new discussion forum set up
• Students will learn how to upload information to the discussion board
• Students will learn how to comment (appropriately) on the discussion board, and follow an ascynchronous conversation

6. About this Learning Element:

• The main goal of this learning element for the students is to get exposure to elements of design, and how these elements can enhance their presentations.
• The purpose is to not only enhance visually, but also in terms of conveying an effective message.
• Some students may not grasp all of the concepts right away, which is why these worksheets are available to students throughout the entire project, and are meant to be used as reference not as 'quiz' material.

LbyD: Learning Element

Today I am going to present the Teacher Resource for my Learning Element, by next week I will have the Learner Resource completed. My Learning Element involves my lesson "Intro to Media Literacy", which is the launch-point for my entire MMP Project centered around Biomes, researching Biomes, creating multimodal presentations in small groups (or pairs), an individual poem describing the Biom and the specific geographic region, and uploading both presentation and poem to my discussion board "Biology 101".

For this blog post, I used the New Learning website by Mary Kalantzis and Gary Cope, as well as the LbyD website that provided several useful examples of how to structure the Learning Element. I found that Kalantzis and Cope's Placemat design helped focus my design, even though it was only one lesson, and it helped me identify the different Knowledge processes that are associated with the Learning Element.

You can find my MMP Update #2 with the most recent word document of the "Intro to Media Literacy" lesson (the student sheet) here. (Any feedback you can provide for me on the documents/discussion board would be so incredibly helpful!

LbyD Placemat!

TEACHER RESOURCE

1. Learning Focus:

• Knowledge domain: Life Science
• Curriculum: NJCCS 5.3.6.C.1; 5.3.6.C.2; 5.3.6.C.3; 5.3.8.C.1
• Unit: Biomes
• Grade: 7
• Ages: 12-13
• Modes of meaning: Written (student worksheet, see Thinkfinity link above); Spoken (group analyzation of published media); Visual (both movie and still image advertisements); Audio (listening to movie advertisements; listening to each other)

2. Knowledge Objectives:
Upon completion of this Learning Element, students will be able to:

• identify key elements of design (as outlined by Golombisky and Hagen [2010])
• associate appropriate vocabulary with the various elements of design
• assess whether various video and still image advertisements effectivel convey their messages
• apply the elements of design to multimodal presentations
• transform research information into multimodal presentations using the elements of design

3. Knowledge Process:

• Experiencing the known: In order to incorporate students' prior knowledge, the set induction to this activity will be a think-pair-share with a very open ended question: "What makes a good advertisement?" After a few minutes of paired discussion, groups will share their ideas with the class, and they will be written on the white board or a paper so that it can be referenced later in the lesson.
• Experiencing the new: Students will complete the worksheet that can be found on the Thinkfinity website. This will involve watching video advertisements and viewing still image ads, and students writing down their thoughts on whether the ad was effective or not. After viewing the ads, we will critique them as a class.
• Conceptualizing by naming: After reviewing the activities on the LbyD site, I came up with an idea for a student worksheet that involves the new elements of design vocabulary. It is a variation on the "bundling" activity, where students are given a table with a general heading, and the boxes of the table are broken down into more specific topics. I will manipulate this in a way that allows for students to fill in the new vocab from the lesson into the respective box(es). Since my goal is not to quiz the students on the meaning of the words, rather understand how these words relate to their project, this worksheet will not be a primary focal point.
• Conceptualizing with theory: This will be implemented as we learn to associate our new terms with the advertisement examples provided throughout the lesson. We will assess whether ads were effective or not, and why.
• Analyzing functionally: I think another worksheet, or perhaps an extension of the already written student worksheet, that incorporates as place for students to record "how this will apply to my multimodal presentation". The purpose of this part is for students to brainstorm and discuss how this will help them create their own presentations, how can the create an effective presentation? The purpose of the knowledge of elements of design/media literacy from a teacher persespective is two fold: 1) students will apply elements of design to their projects, 2) to introduce media literacy to an emerging group of studnets.
• Analyzing critically: Gains -> The students gain from this experience, despite its brevity, because it enhances their learning experience by incorporating multi-sensory elements to the presentations. The students also gain because they are connecting with their research in different ways, not just through the traditional means of literacy (read/write), but through Web 2.0 tools. The teacher benefits because this is a new way to facilitate learning, and it is in a new, fun, creative way.
• Applying appropriately: The teacher will demonstrate the proper way to implement these elements of design through a preview of a multimodal presentation. This will serve as a model of the 'correct way' to apply the rules of design/media literacy.
• Applying creatively: Students will demonstrate their understanding of elements of design/media literacy by researching specific information on a biome, and creating multimodal presentations. They will also transform this research information into creative poems. All the above information will be posted on an online discussion forum, and subject to peer review. Peer review serves as a tool to learn how to interact on the Read/Write Web, but also to give deeper meaning to the project.

4. Knowledge Outcomes:
Upon completion of this Learning Element, students will show that they can:

• apply elements of design/media literacy to multimodal presentation
• assess an effective and non-effective advertisement
• justify their reasoning for what makes an effective and non-effective advertisement

5. Learning Pathways:

• Using multimedia software to create a multimodal presentation
• PowerPoint, MovieMaker, Animoto, Masher

6. About this Learning Element:

• This is one lesson in a series of three that involves a week-long MMP project that aims to incorporate Web 2.0 tools in the classroom and to facilitate deeper learning, and more meaningful connections via multimodal presentations, unconventional techniques (poems in science class), and online peer reviews

MMP & "Baby Bears"

For my MMP screencast, I have outlined the vehicle that I am going to use to enable students to upload their videos/presentations/images to the internet for their peers and myself to critique. I am using a free discussion board called invisionfree.com and it's used a lot for gaming sites. I've found a template that I think works well with the whole 7th grade Life Science theme -- it's not too dark, or too light. Please let me know if you think the font needs to be darker/bigger. Link to Mrs. Cella's Biology 101 Discussion Board. And link to: My MMP Screencast.

The cloud helps brighten it up in my opinion, and I like that the forum space does not stretch to the sides of the page ... it makes it hard to read and is very overwhelming in my opinion. In the screencast I mention condensing the forums into sub forums, the reason for this is to streamline, and to create more white space. My goal was to make the forum legible, appealing graphically, as well as spaced out. I have seen many forums that have large font that is super narrow, and design-wise that does not work. The green border around the whole forum gives it structure, and gives the eye something follow down the page.

My banner stinks ... at least I think so. I don't want something that is going to distract from the whole forum, but at the same time I feel like it needs more substance. So suggestions, please!!

One a different note ...

Below is my video for the 60 second video. The overall feeling that I wanted to convey was a touch of nostalgia, as well as a 'homey' feel. I wanted it to be heart warming, and sweet, almost like going back and watching a home video ... The name of the clip is "Baby Bears" because we call the oldest boy in the video Luca Bear, and the baby, Noah, is Double Bears (or perhaps that both of them together, I forget!). The kids in the video are my adorable nephews!!

I tried to use different techniques as outlined in the White Spaces text. I attempted to pan, specifically in the shot when looking at the baby, Noah, over his mother's shoulder. In the clip where Luca, the older boy, is being thrown in the air, I wanted to sit on the ground shoot "up". The feeling that I wanted to convey was the child flying through the air, and I emphasized this by slowing it down 0.5 times. It was hard to film exactly what I had outlined (SEE HERE FOR STORYBOARD). I was working with children, and they are obviously unpredictable. Luca wouldn't kiss his baby brother for anything, so my "final shot" was thrown out the window ... But he did perform perfectly for my opening shot where I imagined him running at the camera, and placing his face as close as possible. Obviously the music aspect of the video was important as well, and I chose a song that my grandmother used to sing, and if I had thought of this sooner, I would have recorded my mother-in-law singing the song, and added it. But I found a beautiful, acappella version of "You Are My Sunshine" by Sara Hickman, that reminded me of a mother singing to her child ... and I used my new tool, MP3 Editor (that I critiqued) to cut the track so that it only did the first verse and went right to the humming harmonies.

On a side note, the storyboard helped A LOT ... especially when you only have a select window of opportunity before the kids need to sleep ... so I knew exactly what shots I wanted. I had Ryan (the dad) throw Luca up in the air. I knew I wanted an over the shoulder shot with Lauren and the baby ... so it made everything go so quickly.

My biggest issue was lighting. And I think this is one thing I really learned. Even though you think a room is well lit, it probably is not. Luckily in my case it didn't matter so much because I wanted to convey a feeling of being at home, and being with family, so the dim lighting worked to my advantage at times. The best lighting was when Luca was being throw in the air. The room had white walls and bright, bright lights.

I made two versions of the video: REGULAR COLOR and SEPIA COLOR (to give it more of a nostalgic feel ... but I think some of the images just came out creepy due to the lack of lighting ... but my favorite sepia image is the over the shoulder shot of baby Noah).

Blog #5: Mini-art madness!

I decided to put all my blog posts into one, with a lot of help from Windows Live Movie Maker. The first video that I have embedded is the exercise from page 193. The pictures are all taken from my trip to DC and the Inner Harbor of Maryland with my husband, and it helped me keep a "theme". I added two extra pictures because some of them only had a few focal points.

Video for cropped pictures:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHDVfvWI5a4

For all the pictures I showed the original, the color edits I did, and then I showed the various crops. The first picture is obviously of the White House, and I wanted to crop the image to eliminate the dead space above and below the main image. The third crop was the most interesting to me, changing the focal point completely: to the lamppost and the police officers. The second picture (WWII Memorial) offered various focal points that I chose to exploit: the people taking the picture, the tall structure in the background, and the boy walking across the front. The third and fourth pictures were some of my favorites of the set, and though the crops did not "change the picture" so to say, moving the focal point did allow me to see the picture in a different angle. The fifth picture of the Korean Memorial was originally very muted, but I saturated the background greenery in order to make the statues seem more black and white, and eerie. It was hard to make the picture look extremely different, but I liked the different focal points. The last crop of the sixth picture allows for a completely perspective of the original image, and while it is not my favorite crop, I like the movement of the water splashing off the left edge of the fountain. The last two images are from the Inner Harbor and I tried to really exploit as many corners and possibly focal points of the images.

My two choice mini-art projects were: the border variation exercise (pg.197), and the theme exercise (pg. 303).

Video for borders exercise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOCIptSZpv4

I used Power Point, my new favorite program!, in order to manipulate one of my favorite images, Salvador Dali's "The Rose". Originally I cropped the image to a 400x400px size, which eliminated a lot of the white space of the original picture, but I wanted something with a defined focal point. I decided it was easiest to present the various borders using Windows Movie Maker ... Power Point was a limiting program, but in a pinch it does allow you create very professional looking borders. You can save the slides as jpeg, gif, png, or other picture files, which is very convenient.

The hardest and the most exciting, yes exciting, mini-art project this blog was the theme exercise. I do admit I had my mother to bounce ideas off of, and it allowed for me to really come up with two drastically different designs. I worked on these the longest and the hardest, and they are definitely my favorite of all the designs that I created for this blog. I used GIMP to create these images. I copies, cropped, resized, and added text to elicit as much emotion as possible ... I used a 7x9" template, which is an average book cover size.

The first image's message: Flirtatious and dangerous. To me the most flirtatious pose is a subtle, suggestive lean, especially as a silhouette. My goal was to juxtapose flirtatious with bully through the use of various fonts. My goal was to make the design simplistic yet suggestive. I also wanted to keep the colors simple. Red would have been too suggestive, and forward, but the pink was subtle enough to be considered 'flirtatious'. And I wanted to keep the silhouette in the lettering as well, even though it's a strong focal point, I countered it slightly with the author name (one of my favorite literary characters, Louisa May Alcott's Jo March).

Full Size Image

The second image's message: Political. It is a completely different perspective on who "the bully" is. We assume that the bully is someone picking on a more demure person, perhaps a man and a woman ... but many people in NJ have labeled the Governor as a bully, and I decided to spin this as a more political ad. In terms of design, I tried to unify it through the color in Christie's tie, as well as to balance the negative space to the left of his head with a tag line. I used the font to follow the outline of his head and balance the strong directionality of Christie's face, eyes, and arm.

Full Size Image

So I had a great and grand discovery: Microsoft Power Point makes awesome vectors! And I never knew those little images were called vectors! I've been using them for years in my presentations ... I created a screencast to show you how to access this tool, and I what I really like about using something as basic as Power Point, is that most people have it, as well as most schools. It's super easy to use and figure out, and it eliminates a step in terms of saving a picture and loading it into a presentation ...

A feature that some people may not know is that you can save your Power Point as various files ... it doesn't have to be saved as .ppt ... it can be saved as a GIF, JPEG, PNG or even a TIFF (if you want to kill memory). So you could create an image, save it and then edit in your still image editor ... granted this will probably not give you the most high resolution results, it's still an option.