Short reflection on the movie Wag The Dog

What do you feel is the message the director is trying to express in this movie?

The message that is trying to be expressed in the movie is that manipulating the focus of people is incredibly powerful, and it draws attention to potential ethical and moral problems that can arise. I think the movie is also attempting to make a point about the abuse of power in politics.

Explain if you think the director’s ethnic/cultural/professional background played a role in directing this film?

I don’t think the director’s background played much of a role in his decision making when directing the film. Not to take anything away from comedies, but a lot of them are shot in a similar manner (in my opinion).

What the movie added to your visual literacy?

The film really drove home the potential for visual literacy skills to be misused, and the amount of responsibility of the people with those skills have. I enjoyed watching the scene where some film was being shot and seeing the purposeful editing. I know this was just a movie, but it makes me wonder how much of what people are presented with every day is accurate/unbiased.

Reflection on the movie Nightcrawler

1.   What do you feel is the message the director is trying to express in this movie?  Support your answer with examples.

1.   When watching this movie, the message I got was about ethics and integrity in journalism. While the movie was an extreme example (it needs to keep people entertained), I think it showed audiences potential problems in the field of news and journalism. Without giving too much away to anyone who reads this blog and hasn’t seen the movie, the issues revolve mostly around the desire to be the first with the information. If you know a crime will be committed, are you obligated to report it?

2.   If applicable, discuss if you think this movie has accurate depictions of minorities or if they are situational. Why or why not? Could certain groups of people be offended or misinterpret this movie? Why?

1.   Certain parts of the movie could be seen as offensive, but more in the way that violence is offensive than any racial or ethnic problems. I didn’t notice any overly stereotypical characters, and most people throughout the film could be substituted for someone from a different racial or ethnic group without any story changes. I feel that the whole thing is driven mostly by story and very little by character development.

3.   Explain if you think the director’s ethnic/cultural/professional background played a role in directing this film?

1.   Director Dan Gilroy said he came up with the idea for the film after reading a book that contained a collection of photos of people in New York City at night. He later noticed the huge amount of violence on the news, and put some thought into “the idea that it must be a powerful force for a TV station, when they realize their ratings go through the roof when they show something with the potential for violence, like a police chase". These factors led him to the creation and direction of the film.

4.   What the movie added to your visual literacy?

1.   This film was actually brought up when I was giving a presentation early in the semester that dealt with ethics and media. This movie is a good visual example of a lot of potential ethical and moral issues that can face a journalist, photographer, etc. It allowed me to think in more concrete ways about where the line between right and wrong is, and how the fact that people need money influences where that line is for people.

5.   What kind of artistic and/or visual means did the director use in the movie to focus our attention?

1.   A majority of the movie was dark and had an eerie and almost uncomfortable feel. Something about the main character feels off, and the viewer isn’t quite able to put their finger on it. The facial expressions he makes, the way he conducts himself, etc. all look very natural and still have that “slightly sociopathic” quality and I’m sure that was a deliberate choice to convey his state of mind without directly saying it. The film doesn’t overuse any gory or violent imagery, though there are some intense visuals that influence the emotion of the viewer.

Reflection on the documentary Helvetica

Helvetica

1. What do you feel is the message the director is trying to express in this movie?  Support your answer with examples.
1. The director is trying to impress the importance of the font ’Helvetica’ and is using a documentary format. I had never given much thought to any font before watching this, it had just never seemed important to me until I began this class. After watching, I catch myself checking different places and noticing the use of the font. It really is EVERYWHERE.
2. Explain if you think the director’s ethnic/cultural/professional background played a role in directing this film?
1. I read that Gary Hustwit was an independent publisher at one point in his life, and I feel like that influenced his work in this documentary. As a publisher he dealt with a lot of text, and his job required attention to detail. I think those aspects of his professional life may have played a role in choosing the topic for this documentary.
3. What the movie added to your visual literacy?
1. Before watching this documentary I hadn’t really ever thought about what fonts I was using. I had always been asked to use ‘Times New Roman’, so I set that as the default on my computer and never thought about it again. The movie went in depth on a very specific topic, and I honestly didn’t think I would enjoy it when I started watching it. The amount the people in the film cared about something made me want to learn more about it.

Save The World!

For my Visual Literacy class we were grouped up and tasked to use a sheet of yellow stickers to "Save the World". We were given no guidelines other than that the stickers needed to be involved, and we were to save the world.

The freedom of choice we were given was overwhelming (to me at least) and it showed up in the variety of ideas that were produced by the class. Each group used their stickers for a very different purpose, yet each group threw their collective brainpower at a problem facing the world.

One group in particular stood out to me, not only as a good presentation, but as an idea I would like to see implemented in as many places as possible.

Mental Health

     Mental health is an issue many people are passionate about, yet it seems like hardly anyone wants to discuss it. The idea of this group was to introduce a system of color coded dots that people could wear. For example; a green dot means you are having a good day, while a yellow dot could signify that you are stressed or upset. While potential issues were discussed in class relating to the distribution of stickers/spreading awareness/etc. I believe that this would be a beneficial project to pursue.

     This system would be somewhat complicated to implement, but I believe it could be done. My strategy would be to approach it from social media, and try to start it there. I strongly believe that people feel strongly enough about the subject that a sufficient number of people would adopt the idea. I image piles of stickers (they're cheap!) in common areas of libraries, classrooms, etc. . If someone wants to participate, all it requires of them is picking up a sticker!

      Yes, some people would still hide how they were feeling. Yes, some people may react negatively. The conversation that would be started, however, is worth the small hiccups along the way. I would love to see this idea pursued and believe it could be spread and make a difference.

Minority Representation in Visual Media

The representation (or lack thereof) of women and ethnic and cultural minorities in media is a broad topic encompassing many different things. Any subsection could be taken and be written about at length, and to think that I would be able to adequately cover this topic in a brief blog post is not realistic. Instead of coming at the topic directly, I decided to do a little searching for what we actually mean when we talk about the "representation" of a group in media.

I found an article on the subject written by Maryann Erigha, Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies at the University of Georgia. There is a free link to the article HERE if you would like to read it in its entirety. Erigha lays out three different types of representation of a group in media, and describes how they interact and what they would look like if they were all done well.

     

1. Numerical Representation
• How many people of a particular group are there? Does that proportion fall in line with that of the rest of the country?
• A report by the Screen Actor's Guild (2013) showed that white actors made up nearly 75% of all speaking roles, African American actors made up 14%, Latino actors 5%, and Asian Americans less than 4%. 
• While not every movie is required to have an equal distribution of people from different ethnic groups, the fact that the overall average leans so far in favor of one group is still definitely a problem.
2. Quality of Representation
• Another aspect of representation involves the quality. While different numbers of people can be met and all of the diversity boxes 'checked off', the way that a group is represented can still cause harm and strengthen stereotypes.
• For example......
• Was an African American actor/actress chosen because they play a role well, or were they chosen because the film needed an 'urban' character.
• Was a character made to be of Asian descent because they were involved in martial arts?
• Not all representation is good representation.
3. Centrality of Representation 
• Centrality of representation deals with how important (central) a group is to the industry.
• For example......
• 93 percent of Hollywood studio directors from the 6 largest film companies were white and male (Cieply 2009).
• A statistic like this shows the value (or lack of) that many companies/studios assign to people of different backgrounds. When there are so few people of varying groups in institutional positions, another barrier is created for people from those groups to become a part of them.

This blog post was a short overview of what representation in media is, and some of the issues people are facing. I highly recommend you read the article linked above, and do a little research on your own time. I'm confident that everyone can find something they'd like to know more about in a subject that deals with so many different things.

Reflection on the movie Crash

1. What do you feel is the message the director is trying to express in this movie?  Support your answer with examples.
1. I believe the director was trying to portray relations between various racial groups in the city. The movie follows the stories of a small group of people, nearly all belonging to different racial or ethnic groups. Wikipedia’s entry on the director (Paul Haggis) states that “Haggis said that he wrote Crash to ‘bust liberals’, arguing that his fellow liberals were not honest with themselves about the nature of race and racism because they believed that most racial problems had already been resolved in American society.”
2. If applicable, discuss if you think this movie has accurate depictions of minorities or if they are situational. Why or why not? Could certain groups of people be offended or misinterpret this movie? Why?
1. I feel like the movie portrayed the different groups in a somewhat stereotypical way, but in a weirdly fair way as each group was stereotyped roughly equally. That being said, just because it was done fairly doesn’t mean I think it was done well. I feel that people (of all races) that are easily offended may find problems here, but I don’t think there is anything overtly offensive in the movie. The film examines race relations, and naturally there will be some uncomfortable moments that come from that, but uncomfortable is different than offended.
3. Explain if you think the director’s ethnic/cultural/professional background played a role in directing this film?
1. Paul Haggis lives in California, and said that the movie was partially inspired by an experience he had having his car stolen. I don’t believe that his background played much of a role in his direction of the film. After reading a little bit about him it sounds like it was just a story he came up with and really fell in love with.
4. What kind of artistic and/or visual means did the director use in the movie to focus our attention?
1. Close up shots on important moments (ex: purchasing a gun), manipulation of music, and the locations of characters on the screen in some parts are different things I noticed throughout the film.

The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women - Jean Kilbourne

The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women - Jean Kilbourne

I likely never would have thought to click on this video had it not been part of an assignment for class, but after watching it I would recommend that everyone who has the opportunity watch it for themselves. While the video addresses the topic well, to me it served more as a springboard into the topic. What this video did very well was make me want to learn more, and dig deeper into the subject myself.

The video has many different and impactful things to say, but the portion that dealt with the sexualization of children was the most impactful part of the video for me. There aren’t any reasons to be producing high-heels for babies or padded bras for eight and nine-year-old children. 

Just because you CAN sell something to someone does not mean that you SHOULD. 

As a future teacher and hopefully parent, things like that just amaze me (and not in a good way). While the issues discussed are causing harm to people, they aren’t doing it in easily visible ways. Instead of causing harm directly to someone, trends in media and advertising are slowly chipping away at self-esteem and autonomy.

The issues discussed in the video clip apply to men as well, both directly and indirectly. Men are made to look larger or more masculine instead of thinner or more petite, but the idea is similar. In addition to that, I really liked the point brought up around the six-minute mark of the video. In addition to girls and women measuring themselves against increasingly unrealistic standards, men and boys view of the women in their lives is warped and distorted. This distortion of expectations (both physical and emotional) will potentially cause issues in relationships throughout the course of life.

Breaking Ice

Breaking Ice was a show I had the opportunity to attend for my visual literacy class. We went as a group during our class period because the show addressed topics that are seemingly more and more important every day. The description given on the poster reads, “A show about RACE, SEXUALITY, DISABILITY, GENDER and everything else we’re scared to talk about.”.

The show was built as a series of interactions between people that aren’t really sure how to interact with people that are different from them. Common stereotypes like ‘Asian people are good at math’ were addressed, and I thought it was a really cool platform for someone that actually has to deal with these stereotypes to be able to respond and educate the audience.

Toward the end of the show each actor/actress shared their own “I Am From” poem. The poems followed a simple format. Each line began “I am from”, and then was finished with an important place/location/feeling that built that person into who they are. The audience was then asked to group up and share our own versions of the poem, and that was my favorite part of the show by far. It gave me a chance to learn more about the people that were sitting with me, and also gave me a simple (yet surprisingly effective) tool to look at why I am the person I am.

Hidden Images

A lot of thought goes into a logo. While needing to be clear and easy to read, a logo also has to draw in the eye and grab attention. In addition to this, a good logo is one that is memorable and easily identifiable. The four images above are examples pulled from the website Twenty Two Words, and are just a small selection of many. I highly recommend taking a minute to follow the link and check out some more examples (there are multiple pages, the 'next page' button is a little difficult to find down near the bottom).

How many had you seen before?
How many were new?

A lot of messages/images are hidden in plain sight in logos we see very frequently but probably don't put much extra thought into. For example, we've all seen FedEx trucks driving around at some point in our lives, and most of us have probably never noticed the arrow formed by the "E" and "X" (All thanks to kerning, if you haven't go check out my post explaining what that is!). The designer of the logo, however, deliberately placed the arrow there, likely to symbolize speed or travel.




This is a link to some more popular logos that includes a paragraph or so for each that goes into a little depth about why it looks the way it does. My personal favorite is the old Northwest Airlines logo. It has since been changed, but former pilot Patrick Smith had this to say about it: "... quite simply was a work of genius. It was an 'N'; it was a 'W'; it was a compass pointing toward the northwest."



Can you see all three parts of the circular logo? It wasn't obvious to me at first glance but once I saw it, it instantly became my favorite logo design so far. The logo is simple, yet has layers underneath depending on how much thought you want to put into it. Why they changed this logo, I'll never understand.

Kinetic Typography

Kinetic typography is quite simply the combination of text and movement. The video embedded above is a great example of what kinetic typography is and some of the techniques used.

I'm sure that you've heard "a picture is worth a thousand words" in your life in some form or another. A picture speaks in such a powerful way because the image is presented to us in a more engaging manner than a block of text, and the human brain is able to process images nearly 60,000 times more quickly than text. To describe an image in a way that it could be reproduced based just on your written description could take thousands of words per picture, and sometimes a message needs to be communicated more quickly.

Kinetic typography uses movement and different organizations of letters and spacing to bridge the gap between text and images, making certain words/phrases more powerful through various techniques. Text can be flashed over music, slowly fade in/out, grow larger or darker, or any number of other techniques can be used to try and elicit an emotional response from the audience.

The following links contain the sources I used for background on this post and the video I used:
Images Speak Louder Than Words
General Information
Kinetic Typography Video Examples

Kerning: The Empty Spaces Matter

"In typography kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. Kerning adjusts the space between individual letter forms, while tracking adjusts spacing uniformly over a range of characters."

Wikipedia: Kerning

     The little empty spaces between letters are important, and you could probably make the case they are almost as important as the letters themselves. I bet you've never even thought about them, and that's okay! Most people probably haven't, but it's something we should try to pay attention to because there is text all around us in the world. The spacing between letters play a large part in our lives and we hardly notice.

Below are two examples of how just a tiny difference in the spacing of letters can lead to some interesting results. The message you are trying to send can be distorted, eliminated, or just cause some laughter (as is the case in the examples below).




Breakfast WHAT? A little more space between the "L" and “I” would have made the name of the cereal easier to read and avoided appearing to contain a very different, less appetizing, word.



Every font has different spacing between letters, especially cursive script fonts. It is necessary for letters to connect and flow correctly, and it helps them look good to the eye. Some combinations of letters and spacing end up appearing a little too similar other letters.

(Images found on digitalsynopsis.com)

"People are not going to approach your design with rulers, trying to see if you spaced everything equally. People are going to look at it and see if they can easily read it, and that's all that's going to matter."

Igor Ovsyannykov

(link to blog homepage, contains creative and design advice)

10 Kerning Tips to Improve Your Typography

Visual Symbols In My Life

     I would be willing to bet almost anyone that they couldn't make it through 24 hours without using some sort of visual symbol to help them in their day. The cues we get from these daily symbols are something we have to learn throughout the course of our lives but they become incredibly important in our day-to-day activities, oftentimes without us even noticing.

(www.publicdomainpictures.net)

     This stock photo is just a set of painted white lines on some cement, yet you likely know what it is without needing much more information. The photo is of a crosswalk, and it's something that most people use nearly every day without thinking about it. White lines painted in this particular pattern has become associated with a safe crossing in most people's minds.

Why do people stop at stoplights and stop signs? Other than the fact that the law mandates that they do, people learn to associate the color red with stopping. The shape and color of a stop sign convey the message well enough that most people would stop even if the word stop was removed from the sign.

     The above image is one that I drew quickly in Microsoft Word (which I opened by clicking an icon, without reading any text). Lining things up using a touch-pad on a laptop is frustrating, but for this blog post all the lines are straight enough. I use this symbol on a daily basis when I am trying to get to class. Sometimes there are words on the sign, but oftentimes it is just a gray sign with a couple of black line segments organized like my drawing above. With or without words on the sign, this symbol is enough to let me know the stairs I am looking for are nearby.

Read The EdTech Roundup Blog!

The EdTech Round Up is a great blog to stay up to date with the latest technology in education. They post weekly and share things like new apps and tools to use in the classroom. Everything is easy to locate, and it is all in one place so you don't have to search multiple different websites. The blog has been up and running for four and a half years and has maintained a steady audience and kept up weekly posting. There are free tools on the blog, and many different links to free downloads to software that can be used while teaching.

How To Build a Personal Learning Network (Video)

Embedded above is a video I found on TeacherTube covering the subject of personal learning networks. This video is just an example of the MANY that can be found on this website and accessed by other educators for free! Some videos are better than others, but there is no shortage of useful videos! Borrowing videos and printable lesson plans throughout the school year is a good way to keep the classroom fresh and exciting, and it gives students access to different viewpoints that they might not have been exposed to if you had designed everything that the class did throughout the year.

My Personal Learning Network

Embedded above is a concept map illustrating my current personal learning network (PLN). It is still a work in progress and will grow throughout this semester, and through my career as an educator. Links are included on the concept map for all online sources, including podcasts and helpful Twitter and Pinterest pages. Later on I will post a picture of a rough draft/pre-map that I created at the beginning of the semester. The difference between the two is already surprising to me, and continues to get larger and larger as I find new resources. If your computer is not able to view the embedded content, here is the external link: Sean's PLN Concept Map (link will open in a new window, no sign-in required). Below are ten of the resources I found, with a short description and a screenshot of each.

@edutopia

This resource is a Twitter account that tweets about a variety of things relating to education. The posts range from studies on seating charts to fun graphics you can print and hang in your classroom. There are also suggested accounts to follow listed, and many of the linked pages are helpful sources for continuing learning as well.










@teachthought

The goal of TeachThought is to help teachers continue their education throughout their careers. They want to innovate and improve upon the education system by improving teachers. The account tweets links to helpful podcasts, new ways to teach science experiments, and classroom management strategies. The entire focus is to better educate teachers and encourage them to incorporate technology into the classroom.

Classroom Bridges
Classroom bridges is a website aimed at helping teachers connect with other classrooms. The two teachers both fill out their search criteria and wait for a match. Once the teachers have been matched they exchange contact information (email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and design their connected classroom activities.





blogger.com
Blogger.com is free website where you can create blogs discussing any subject you would like. You are also able to access any blogs set to public viewing, and this enables you to connect with other people in areas you are interested in.
This is a helpful tool in any field to learn from others.

#edchat Radio
#edchat Radio is a podcast that goes along with the following resource on the list. This podcast is once a week, and the subject matter varies week to week. The topics for discussion are drawn from the most talked about things on #edchat on Twitter that week.







#thirdchat

#thirdchat is a tag on Twitter that connects you to other people discussing third grade. The discussions can range from interesting projects a class has done to suggestions about how to teach a difficult subject. Along with this group for third grade, there are other groups such as #edchat (general group for educators) and #fourthchat (fourth grade).







Pinterest.com

Along with all the fun crafts and foods that Pinterest will show you how to make, there are also a ton of educational boards on the site as well. Other educators share interesting graphics, activity ideas, community projects, and more. This is an excellent resource to stay connected with other educators and share ideas.







@edudemic


Edudemic is a resource that I found after creating my Twitter profile. I was initially interested because their 'about me' section reads "Connecting Education and Technolgy". The posts are informative and cover a wide range of topics while still being interesting and enjoyable to read.

TeacherTube.com
Teacher Tube is a website with many different types of educational content. On this website you can find study guides, lessons taught through videos, photos, and more. The content is user created so evaluation of anything used from the site is important.

edpuzzle.com

Ed Puzzle is a website that allows teachers to create and share educational and instructional videos. One of the many cool features of this site is the ability to add pauses and questions to the videos to check student's understanding of the topic as they go along.





(Edit: Updated PLN)
(Edit: Answered questions about each source)

Technology: Helping Teachers Help Teachers

The internet is a unique platform that allows people from many different places to all collaborate and share ideas. This has helped advance the teaching profession by opening students up to new ideas and viewpoints they might not have ever been exposed to if they had been isolated in their community. While the internet as a whole is a useful tool, some sources are definitely more reliable than others. Below I have listed two websites that I have found and believe will be helpful throughout my career, and my hope is that you find them helpful as well!

TeacherTube

TeacherTube is like the website YouTube, minus all the cat videos and other distractions. This website is a platform that makes it easy for teachers to share all sorts of things with other educators. The site is filled with video lessons and demonstrations, and even includes worksheet and study sheet links! This website can be a "one stop shop" for almost any subject you can think of!

Edutopia

Edutopia is a website that I found while exploring Twitter for an earlier assignment in this class. I followed their Twitter account, and then found out that they have an entire website full of resources. The website includes information about technology and teaching, the impact of social media on students and learning, and even conflict management and resolution in schools. Both the T
witter account and website are helpful, and I would definitely recommend checking them both out!

Why Use Twitter as a Source of Continuing Education?

1. Twitter fits into your schedule whenever YOU have time, which is incredibly convenient for an educator who always has something new to be working on. Free moments are scarce, and the simplicity and length of many tweets allows you to take advantage of those moments.

2. Allows you to meet other people that share the same interests or views as you, and engage with others that may challenge your beliefs. There are more Twitter accounts in existence than most people can even imagine. While that can cause confusion and make it more difficult to find reliable sources; with just a little bit of an evaluation of the accounts you look at, it won't take much time at all to find a few good sources of information.

3. Hashtags are an incredibly convenient way to organize the thoughts of many people on a certain topic. For example, when I log into my Twitter account, I can search "#edchat" and see what people are talking about regarding education in real time. I can even search for more specific grade levels and subject areas if I would like.

4. Twitter is ever changing and updating, and this allows its users to communicate and collaborate in real time. Surveys of groups of people can be done live, and input from millions of people is just a click away. Because of the ever changing nature of the website, information is shared quickly and with a large audience. This also allows Twitter to be used to stay up to date on new/changing professional standards and requirements.

You can visit my Twitter by clicking HERE or by 

clicking the link on the right side of the page.

Original Concept Map of PLN

     This is a photo of my original personal learning network concept map. These are the places I learn from that I thought of at first when asked to create this map, and the version posted here (link will open in a new window) is the ever-growing map with my new sources. This version is good as a rough draft, but after seeing how much it has grown already throughout the semester the newer version is definitely better.