Blog 5: Connections Between Video and the Written Word

Where and how do you see connections between writing and creating a video?

As you said, composition does not necessarily refer to writing a research paper. Think of musicians—they compose musical pieces, as artists compose paintings. In my eyes, composing something is linking things together to become relatable to your targeted audience, whether that be through a written component, or a video on YouTube, such as what we have done for the latest project.

I see many connections between writing and compositions like videos. Both are sharing information for others to enjoy. A visual composition really gives you the opportunity to be able to show an example of something rather than just simply throw words together and hope someone can understand what you mean through writing.

Think of a blog—some people host written blogs, while others have leaned towards video blogging, also known today as vlogging. The use of a vlog allows people to give their thoughts in spoken word, where they can use emotion more than they can with a traditional written blog.

Some disconnections I see are troubles you come across while creating a video vs. creating a written text. To create a video, you must encounter various challenges with technology if you’re not very tech-savvy, whereas with writing, you can just let your thoughts flow on paper and edit them right there on the same page.

To me, the composition of a topic does not matter, it depends on the composer. If the composer deems it necessary to share their topic through written word, fabulous! If a video works better, great! It is just very important for people to realize that a composition is different that a written research paper. 

Blog 4: Audience, Tone and Research

1.My audience for my final project is geared towards young adults, who are fans of The Office, who will appreciate the humor. Because they are fans of the media in which I am discussing, memes discusses such as “Schrute Facts” or “That’s What She Said” will be clearly understood, with a basic knowledge of the characters in which the memes are based upon.

2. The tone in which I am presenting in is more informal and ironic, such as Know Your Meme. I will focus on the media, by giving a brief history about the show, and then go on to explain how memes have been based off of it and how the jokes are carried out on the internet. For example, Schrute Facts are quite possibly the most popular memes to come about from The Office, and Rainn Wilson even teamed up with College Humor to create a video poking fun at pointing things out to be false, just as Dwight did in many episodes of the series. This video is shown below: 

3. The research that will be most effective is research on the series, the actors, and the jokes created. Such things will be discussed as how the series impacted Scranton—today, when the cast visits, they are insanely popular and everyone goes crazy for them. This research will then also fit the informal tone of the video. 

Blog 3: Defining Your Stereotype

Defining the “Black Mammy”

A mammy defined by Merriam-Webster is a black woman serving as a nurse to white children, especially formerly in the southern United States. It’s an alternation of mamma, as the black domestics took the place of raising the white children. The word Mammy has been associated with a slave woman taking care of white children for centuries.

There are various criteria in which a black mammy can be classified as.

1. A Mammy has a signature wide grin, with large and white shining teeth. This shows the false happiness that a black domestic truly feels.

2. A Mammy usually has an obese or robust figure. Her body is usually exaggerated to be found humorous, because of her extremely large breasts and buttocks. Which is ironic, because these features on a woman are normally the physical attributes that attract men.

3. A Mammy is known to be illiterate, although intelligent in her own sense.

4. The working atmosphere of a Mammy is less tiring and strenuous than those of other servants, although her hours were extremely long. Because her hours were so long, a Mammy had little to no time to spend time at her own leisure, or to raise her own children back at home.

The black Mammy has been used for such things as advertisements, even in today’s society. 

Aunt Jemima is an example of the image of a black Mammy being used for advertisement 

Aibeleen, one of the main characters in The Help, taking care of a white child.