Outcome 1:
Analyze and Assess

Analyzing and assessing other’s work is important, as it causes you to engage critically with a piece of media. Further, it prompts you to think about how you want to create your own work, drawing on the strengths of others while also recognizing areas for improvement. 

 

Before taking this class, I felt confident in analyzing linguistic and aural modes. I did not particularly pay attention to the visual, spatial, or gestural modes. Through taking this class, I learned more about what makes media successful from a visual and spatial perspective. Things like white space, proximity, lighting, color palettes, and more are all important aspects to be intentional about when composing. My analysis of the aural mode was also strengthened through listening to podcast episodes, watching tv shows, and videos for this class. Specifically, having to edit my own podcast, I realized what I liked in podcasts I had listened to in the past and what made a podcast successful in the aural mode (ex: the music doesn’t overpower the speaker). 

 

The main way I demonstrated outcome one was through the retrospective podcast episode. Leah and I successfully analyzed various multimodal parts of Frozen. We talked about how the soundtrack was successful, especially due to unique voices. Visual aspects of Frozen were also important, as lighting was a cue to the audience about the mood of characters. Costumes were utilized to connect characters to each other, how Kristoff’s appearance tied him to his trolls. I was also able to identify a limitation to Frozen’s success: the lack of diversity. When creating multimodally, it is important to think about who the intended audience is and what the stakes are. The Frozen team failed here. A movie meant to be for families and children only visually represented a select few family types: white, heteronormative, and able bodied. 

 

Another key way I demonstrated this outcome was through peer workshops and reviews, where I left constructive feedback. I commented on aspects of their projects I felt worked well and gave suggestions for improvement. For example, on Dan’s pitch bible feedback, I asked “why would the company want to buy the rights? what other appeals to logos/ethos do you have? I feel like you could potentially be even more personal at times to appeal to pathos more”. I was trying to push Dan to think about appealing to rhetoric even more.