Paper VS Keyboard
My earliest memory of writing for pleasure rather than for an assignment was around the fifth grade. The moment I got off the bus and walked through the front door from school I would walk straight into our bonus room where the family computer lived. I’d open Microsoft Word and start typing away. For hours I would do this. I wouldn’t even think about what it was I wanted to write about. I’d move my fingers across the keyboard and let the story find me. I did this just about every day until I had a three hundred something page novel in front of me and then I’d start a new project the following afternoon. Never did it occur to me to pull out a notebook and sharpened pencil before conveniently opening Microsoft Word.
The only memory I have of handwriting, aside from scribbled notes in a classroom, is a bad one. I can remember have writing assignments in elementary school. We were required to write a short one or two-page story on paper, and go through an assortment of edits. The rough draft, a few edits, and the final copy. By the time I finally got to a final draft, I had probably handwritten the same story up to four different times. It was dreadful. By the end my hand was cramped and I didn’t want to think about writing again anytime soon.
Clearly there are things a pencil can do that a computer cannot. A pencil can help you find your mistakes easier. Often typos can be overlooked much easier when using a computer. I do think that a pencil is a very special tool in writing and I think it is important too. But it never really did much for me, besides make me hand hurt. I hated handwriting then and I’m still not a huge fan of it now either. It never made me excited to write. Technology did a lot for me with my writing. More so than any other tool made accessible to me. I enjoyed writing because I could do it quickly. Even the sound of my fingers sliding across the keyboard and tapping different keys made me feel good. Word processing and other applications allow you to write easier, faster, and more reliable. And the best part is that the editing process requires zero hand cramps.
I think it’s pretty safe to say by now that both handwriting and using technology have gotten me to where I am right now and I’m thankful for both. I’ve always enjoyed writing but my writing seems to be much cleaner and professional looking (and fun!) coming from the keyboard. The writing process has evolved for both myself and the rest of the world throughout the years. For me it did began with a pencil and a stack of papers. Now technology has shown me how to expand this form of communication even more efficiently.
Intentions
One of the main goals I aspired to gain when starting this class, was to become successful in applying multimodal aspects into a future career in publishing. In class we’ve already learned of several ways that I could accomplish that goal. Talking with classmates about the tour at the Bellamy House was a good example of ways that multimodality can be used in face-to-face or virtual meetings. The discussions allowed me to realize in how many ways my goal is achievable.
One mode of multimodality that can be used in a publishing office would be presentations. You can use PowerPoints to outline the unique features your firm can offer to the client. Another mode I want to learn that would be useful, is learning how to create a video that also highlights why that publishing firm might be better than competition. The video can even be uploaded to YouTube, so that you can share your product with multiple clients at once.
When presenting to your client, body language, gestures, and even word choices when you’re speaking, will sway your client a certain way. Some clients may not be able to come in the office. To overcome these obstacles, you can do several things to work around it. Scheduling phone interviews and conducting email interviews are becoming more popular. With it being 2016, you can even use Skype as a form to display your props, videos, gestures, and other forms of multimodality.
From this project my intention is to learn how to do all these things. I want to learn how to use body language, videos, presentations, and props, together to form the best meetings with potential clients. I think one of the more important of those would be creating a video, because this is something that you can use in the office, for face-to-face meetings, or share online, for clients who may be too busy for a sit down meeting. This is the most versatile form of multimodality and it’s important to me that I learn how by the end of the project.
In the Wysocki article “The Multiple Media of Texts”, from earlier in the semester, she states “every day we encounter texts that hold together words, drawings, colors, charts, photographs, animations, sound, video, and so on”. This is an accurate statement to make and an important thing to keep in mind for my future career in publishing.
To: Dr. Lance Cummings
From: Elizabeth Weaver, Kathryn McCallion, and Cole Warren
Date: November 11, 2016
Subject: Applied Learning Proposal
______________________________________________________________________________
Focus: For our applied learning project, our primary focus is to highlight the contrast between the mansion and the slave quarters. We believe that the Bellamy staff emphasized this point since this specific site is one of the last urban slave dwellings in America. The Bellamy Mansion will benefit if more people in the community are aware of a unique cultural landmark that we do not see everyday.
Application: We will set this up as a promotional video that will entice people to come visit. We think that by highlighting this feature it will draw in people not only educationally, but also those who have a curiosity about our cultural history. We think this will benefit our client by increasing revenue, therefore bringing more attention to the historical research that is currently being done at the Bellamy. New discoveries are being made about the family and slaves that lived there and with more revenue; the more funding and research can take place. This will also benefit us by giving us the opportunity to apply the concepts and principles from class, along with advanced software that we can use in the future. This real life experience of working with a client will also benefit us in our professional careers.
Project plan: The focus of our video will be developed using visual rhetoric techniques based on film grammar. We will incorporate black and white cinematography to draw attention to the historical significance of the site, specifically the slave dwellings. Also, we will apply different camera angles in our video taping to draw attention to the grandeur and past prosperity of the Bellamy Mansion in opposition to the slave quarters through different perspectives.
We plan on using the resources made available at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, such as rented video cameras and Adobe Premiere, to make this project possible. We have equally divided the work in a way that displays each of our strengths. This will also allow us to help each other in areas where we are weaker and grow in our knowledge of digital composing, together as a group. Elizabeth will focus on recording the video. Kathyrn will incorporate script and voice to the video. Cole will work on the editing aspects using Adobe Premiere.
Conclusion: Our overall goal for our applied learning project will be to promote the Bellamy Mansion by highlighting its unique historical context. By applying multimedia rhetorical techniques to our promotional video, we will bring community awareness to the Bellamy and hopefully increase revenue while also applying real life experience to our professional careers.
A/V Remediation Reflection
I can honestly say that the A/V remediation project was, by far, the most difficult assignment I’ve encountered this semester. I started out by taking one of the audio tours and adding background wedding music. I chose the audio tour that verbally led you through the gardens, because it seems like the most appropriate place to have a ceremony at the Bellamy. I was happy enough with the first draft, but as the project continued I started running into problems. Since I wasn’t having much luck with Adobe Premiere I decided to give up on it experiment with iMovie.
iMovie seemed to be a lot more user friendly than any other software that I tried. Premiere did all the same things as iMovie, but there were a lot of additionally and maybe unnecessary features that got in the way of my learning experience. iMovie was more compact and broken down in its features to match the same level that a beginner learner would be at. I was able to combine audio, text, and a slideshow of pictures to create a video about weddings at the Bellamy.
Through doing this I was able to see how closely rhetoric relates to video. The wedding music playing in the background creates a feel for the viewer that entices them to watch more. The text makes the video different. Since there is no voice audio the text keeps the video interesting and informative. The picture slideshow is would be persuade the viewer to want to have a wedding at the Bellamy in the first place.
