Week 1

Welcome to a snapshot, or rather should I say an exhibit, of my fellow peers and I. This exhibit features not only the two minute timed portraits created by the artists below, but also the conceptual models which the portraits are based off of. In addition, each artwork coincides with a six word story, which provides the pieces with additional background and insight. By doing so, you are able to expand upon not only the art created, but who the models truly are.

 

Week 2

The task at hand called for my peers and I to create visual images in relation to Ernest Hemingway’s Six Word Story- “For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never Worn.” By manipulating the text size, the font of the text, and the arrangement of the picture along with the text, you are able to paint a picture in the minds of the readers about what message the story tells. l was indecisive between what images I wanted include in the slideshow, so I opted for choosing all three pieces.

The first image I selected displays a black and white photograph of a pregnant woman. For choosing a simplistically bold font and the accent on “never worn”, I hoped to achieve the message that a woman unexpectedly lost her baby-whether it be from a miscarriage or a stillborn. At first, I chose a font style that caused the image to be distorted in a vampire-esque way: which was not the idea I had. Adjusting the font style in favor of my directed audience strengthened the connection between my concept and the final product.

The second image I selected was a more jocular interpretation on the six words of Hemingway. The picture captures two young boys-neither over the age of eight years old by the looks of it-and both sitting mischievously inside a cardboard box. The words were typed using a font reminiscent of a child’s: bold, sloppy, and large. Through the placement of the text on the image, I hoped to convey the message of the prevalence of youthfulness inside the minds of these young boys. For who knows, maybe the rowdiness of the little devils have caused their parents to consider selling their kids! The image successfully conveyed its desired response from my peers.

For the last image, I chose to embody the energy that the 1990’s DARE program had: blunt, slightly disturbing, and incredibly cheesy. The picture depicts a young pregnant woman smoking, which modern science has proven to be detrimental to the health of the fetus. The eerie font of the text displayed across the piece conveys the irresponsible action presented before the audience-which will cause for the death of the unborn child. The message overall was received with successful feedback from my peers.

By working on these three radically different pieces, I was able to gather the importance of controlling the desired narrative and meaning of a piece through such miniscule aspects within the pictures themselves. The font size and style determined the mood and tone in which the reader perceived from the picture:whether the tone be one that evokes positive or negative energy. Although I was tasked with looking at this assignment as a whole, what lead me to become successful was breaking down and examining the small fragments that made up my artwork-like putting together an incomplete puzzle.  

 

Week 3:

For this week’s task, my peers and I were instructed to tap into our memory recollection skills via famous Picasso’s line drawings. The catch was that each drawing had a set time constraint, as to mimic the average time a visitor spends admiring a piece of artwork in a museum. The first drawing, the elephant, was given 15 seconds to look at. The second drawing, the horse, was given 20 seconds to look at. Finally, the third drawing, the face with the bird, was given 30 seconds to look at. The time constraint was tough, as the pictures became harder and harder to recreate.

After completing this drawing exercise, I understand the importance and the power that observation holds-in media and in life itself. Being confined to a limited amount of observation time enabled me to view the whole picture in its entirety;I was forced to seek out key details that would aid my recollection of said pieces. Because of this, my portraits were in no way close to the original artworks by Picasso, lending me to believe that the average person needs longer than 30 seconds to truly take in a picture. By observing a work as a whole, and not in focal points, one is able to understand why an artist created their piece in the fashion that they did. This can be used to observe concepts and themes in literature as well. By avoiding line skimming to seek out main ideas, a reader is able to absorb all the information presented to them: contextual, stylistic, figurative, symbolic, and lastly analytical.

Week 4:

Image Detective Exercise in Looking 2

 

Week 5:

Multimodal Analysis

For this week’s assignment, I chose to analyze the small clip of the young children during the time 7:09-7:39.The shot captures American children of Japanese descent being given milk and being taken care of during their stay at the relocation center; they are noticeably happy.

The purpose of the clip is to alleviate the fear within the audience, showing that these children are not being harmed and acknowledging the fact that they are American citizens. The narrator addresses the message clearly that these are “Americans of Japanese descent” as to clarify to their audience that the government is aware of their legitimacy as citizens, and as such will be treated accordingly, especially because of how young they are. 

This clip utilizes pathos to deliver the message to the audience. The children are captured being nourished, well kept, and most importantly happy during their stay at the relocation center. The children of Japanese descent are undoubtedly American citizens, and by showing the audience their joyful demeanor and overall content, it alleviates any thought of mistreatment against the American children. Furthermore, the soundtrack playing during the clip evokes a joyful mood among not only the children, but for the audience members watching the film. The music settles their concerns about war and about the ethical issues pertaining to that of the relocation camps. 

This small clip was effective in accomplishing its purpose of relieving any concerns over the mistreatment of American citizens due to its clear depiction of those citizens being treated well. The audience in 1942 had just experienced the first attack on American soil since the solidification of the country. Their level of distrust of foreign nations and peoples was high, as was their level of patriotism. The citizens of America at that time were resentful of any ill treatment bestowing fellow Americans, however, were satisfied with seeing traitors punished. By informing audience members that good American citizens were being cared for, while traitors were being sought out happily resonated within the hearts of the audience-allowing them to support the government’s relocation mission. 

The significance of the prologue, (0:00-0:40), regarding to the overall purpose of this film is to give context of the situation at hand. The prologue sets the audience up to understand what information will be presented before the through a source that is reputable, thus signifying the usage ethos.

The significance of the epilogue, (8:40-9:26), regarding to the overall purpose of this film is to summarize and solidify the actions being taken towards people of Japanese descent through moral reasoning. The narrator speaks of adhering to good christian values when handling the unprecedented time in which we as Americans find ourselves. In order to maintain peace and prosperity within the nation, the government justifies their actions against Japanese people who could possibly be traitorous.