What Is Style part 2

Now that this class is drawing to a close, it's interesting to look back at all the readings and discussions we've had about the topic of "writing style" as a whole. While I've always been a decent writer, I definitely learned a lot about the smaller components that make up a good paper. I've always known that key topics, such as audience, formality, structure, etc. were important, but I also learned new ideas such as wordiness, and their importance in writing. One aspect that I found interesting in this class, was how often we tied in pictures and images with writing. I've never taken a writing class that involved the visual aspect as much as this one. Using the comics and video projects was a good change of pace, and allowed us a slightly different perspective on writing as well as communication. Because I'm a very visual person I really enjoyed comparing and contrasting the two art forms.

While I really didn't like all of our writing prompts and projects in this class, I definitely learned a lot. I can now see the some of what Dr. Krause was trying to get us to understand, which is the whole point in education. This was by far the hardest writing class I've ever taken, and I did learn a lot.

Peer Review recap 4

Throughout the semester we have used peer review for all four essays. Over this time I have found that the peer review process has gotten slightly better in terms of helpful responses from classmates. This could be because as we went we learned what kind of feedback is the most helpful, or it could be that it was different people reading and responding each time. I found that one of the hardest parts of peer review is deciding what advice to take and apply, and what to consider but not use. While I did receive a lot of good feedback, I also found a couple responses to contradict what I was trying to say in my paper. Overall I find peer review to be helpful in the revision process.

Movie Making

When we first started working on this assignment, I have to admit that I was a little irritated that we were making a movie. If I had wanted to make movies I would have taken a film class. I don't like being on camera, and therefore quickly suggested to my group that we use puppets to tell our story. Now that we are almost finished putting everything together, I have definitely learned and enjoyed the process. The one thing that is both difficult and a blessing is the fact that this was a group effort. It was difficult in the beginning to find a common storyline to agree on and keep everyone on the same page, however once we started putting it together it was nice to have a balance of talents.

Throughout the process I did notice a few similarities and differences between the movie making process and the writing process. Starting at the beginning, we definitely had to talk out our brainstorming and try to agree on the direction we wanted to go. Once we got into the filming, we had to build an introduction, body of the movie, and then conclude it for the audience. Using a camera and computer programs to create a movie fits right in with our first project of using Ong and various writing technologies. A movie is just one of many ways to tell a story or inform an audience. When we read about McCloud and his comic form of storytelling, we learned a lot about the importance of images. Whether used alone or with text, images are very informative, and a great way to convey an idea to the reader. I find that comics are a median between plain text and movies. While comics typically combine text and images, movies typically omit text and use images and speech.

Videos vs. Writing

After reading the articles and doing the first part of our group video, I'm not so sure that I see the connections between writing and using the video software for projects. I have enjoyed doing the video so far, but it's like the You Tube article explained: we are so used to writing and expressing ourselves in this fashion, that the technology and video process is foreign to us. It's not that we can't do it, but it's a continuous learning experience. While I love using visual images to help express myself, I like it in addition to text. I don't think that using video or low-bridge media is like writing at all. I do agree that in a video you can construct it similarly, with an introduction, body and conclusion, but the creation process I find to be very different. I do agree with Anderson that using this kind of technology is a learning process for both the student and teacher, and it fosters student creativity. There are a lot of benefits in using this software and technology in the classroom, I just don't know about the writing comparison.

Peer Review 3

After going back and looking over my old peer review blogs I found that my opinions and findings are still fairly consistent. I still like Google docs and the many editing features it has. I noticed when reading some of my classmates postings they found the same thing. Overall, I think our class likes this site better than the wiki site. I noticed that some people commented how each peer review seems to get better with the feedback. This could be that we are progressing each time we do it, or it could mean that different people are reviewing our essay and they just happen to give different or better feedback than other students. I know that for this essay I did get good feedback and a few good suggestions for my content and material. This was very helpful. One person gave me a few tips on where to find more info if I want to include it. I also found that I was able to give quite a bit of feedback on each essay I reviewed. This too I find is directly related to each individual essay. Some are much easier to work with than others.

McCloud part 2

For this assignment I chose to use Carolyn's comic entry: http://carhroeh328.blogspot.com/ . I really liked her comic for a few reasons: it was short, to the point, and funny. She did hers on Inertia Man. She focused mainly on the use of color for emphasis and also the lapse of time throughout her comic strip. To expand on the idea of time, the only way we know a period of time has elapsed is because the text tells us. Without this information, it would be difficult to understand how long Inertia Man has been standing there. This single frame is an example of a word specific combination. The very next frame though is an example of a picture specific combination. The bright color scheme combined with the lines showing movement basically tell the reader that as explosion has taken place. The remaining skeleton is also a key indicator as to what has taken place. The "BOOM!" is not necessary for the author to get the point across.

Reading and Writing about Comics

I chose to use a comic from the site: http://derangeddelusions.net/Deranged_Delusions/Comics/9EE3C6CA-85D2-48C8-AC84-9963D7278BE0.html. It is called Deranged Delusions.
I decided to use this one because it was cute and simple. It's about a penguin and a frog that are friends. The frog dyes himself, and the comic just shows the penguins reaction to this scene.
Because this comic does not have a lot of writing or verbal cues, the reader has to infer from picture to picture what exactly is taking place. Fortunately there are a few verbal cues, as the images don't provide a lot of excess explanation. McCloud definitely talks about the brain having to fill in the gaps between pictures to be able to understand what is taking place. (88)
McCloud also talks about the concept of time through comics. In this comic the frog is in the water for a little while in order to get the dye off of him. This is portrayed through the protesting of the frog, followed by bubbles. While it is the same size and overall length as the previous frames, we as the reader assume that it takes place over a longer period of time, simply by what is taking place within those frames.
Movement is another point that takes place. Both when the frog is thrown into the tub, and when he jumps out, we see the lines indicating movement through space. (111)Without these indicators it would be more difficult to tell what was happening.