Saturday, December 11, 2010
This is my latest
Look at this. It's my latest video of non stop calvalcade of fun.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Internet Tool: Adopted, Used and Analyzed #1
Use of Blogs in English 10 classes
Problem-Solution Essay Unit at Tartan High School on blogger.com
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/tartan Student blogs located on links to the left or directly at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/blogs
By Jim Hatten, University of Minnnesota (CI 5361)
I chose to analyze the use of Blogs in my English 10 classes at Tartan High School. This analysis is for CI 5361 taught by Joan Hughes.
Blogging as a media literacy (sometimes called a new literacy) is something I became fascinated with two years ago when I first discovered the technology. With many of my students already blog-literate via their MySpace or Xenga personal blogs, I was looking for a unit to tap into this resource as a manner of sparking student interest in a "traditional" writing class.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
The unit utilizing blogs is a traditional 5-paragraph essay unit in an English 10 writing-centered class at Tartan High School. Previously, all other teachers used the textbook and a series of worksheets and in-class read-and-write responses. The activity culminates with a 3-5-page paper that is of the problem-solution format as laid out in the text.
This is the fourth major essay in English 10 this year and I decided to try an internet approach to the unit. The first part of the lesson included an introduction to media literacies and a trip to the computer lab. Each student -- regardless of internet connection at home -- was put on a computer and walked through the process of creating a blog on Blogger.com. I chose Blogger.com because it is one of the blog hosts that is not currently blocked on the school district's filter. It also requires no direct access to an email account -- again something that is filtered in our district (ie. no hotmail or yahoo accounts can be seen on district computers).
Upon logging in and creating a blog, students were given a short task found on our textbook's online version and were to make their first post. After posting, students commented on my blog with the URL of their blog.
Eventually, we would do three major writing pieces on the blog, directed by both me in class and via a class website I created using my U of M server space. The unit entailed 16 days of posting or other media literacy development ranging from blogs, to a wiki, to a webquest, to discussion boards, to surveys and other various internet-based design.
The blog, however, was the anchor.
REASONS FOR USING TECHNOLOGY IN THIS WAY
Aside from the aforementioned rationale for utilizing blogs in this unit, I also found the public capablity of the blog to be useful for creating strong pre-writing work. Each student was required to comment on a fellow students' blog a total of four times with a directed task. Jenkins says the public nature of blogs (tied together with the student as publisher/author/active member) creates a depth of learning and involvement than with traditional literacies such as pen and paper and teacher as audience. Further rationale for teaching came from a paper I wrote for CI 5331, which can be read at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/Hatten%20CI%205331%20paper.doc
PRE-TEACHING USE AND REFLECTION
Prior to teaching the unit, I felt we were in a rut in English 10B. We have the same routine in each English 10 class in the whole school: Grammar instruction on the whiteboard; textbook and worksheet assignments for essays; vocabulary packets each week. I felt it may stimulate the students to do something different and to do, as J.T. Grabill and T. Hicks wrote in English Journal: “If we want to teach writing or help students learn how to write more effectively, then we have to see writing in the same ways that they do and be with them where they write.” I felt the technological aspect of the unit would appeal to students -- in large part due to the technological deficiencies of the English Department at Tartan as well as the overall technology drought throughout the school.
I also hoped there would be positive effects from using the comment function of the blog. Finally, I felt strongly that students need to at least be introduced to media literacy training from the Jenkins focus of Ethics Training, teaching Transparency and narrowing the Participation Gap.
POST-TEACHING/PROJECT REFLECTION
Delightedly, my project grew enormously as I discovered students would work twice as hard on the internet as they would in traditional literacy approaches. I developed a class website with numerous other media connected. The blogs, as the main cog to the machine, drove discussions in class, gave me a quick look into student progress, developed literacies in those who had none in blogging previous, and provided a base to build strong papers as well as internet skills.
The problem-solution analyses were stronger than those done in classes taught by other teachers in my department -- primarily due to the public postings of the blogs. Students were critiquing and commenting more than I requested and much of that was constructive and polite. My work load as a teacher seemed to decrease and paper was saved by keeping the work digital.
I was not ready for the school climate part of the equation. The comments sections led to a social nature intertwining my three classes and 96 overall students. This social nature led to friendly competitions over designing blogs and commenting on class discussions in my differing hours. There was good-natured razzing of me as the teacher as well as many posts commending me for "letting them do this."
Undoubtedly, students' output was significantly better and more voluminuous due to it being online. I would refer to a class discussion board created for further interactive social behavior online at http://www.voy.com/210043/
In addition, my work with these students online grew into a discussion outside of class, the school and the school district. The Minnesota Department of Education caught wind of my project somehow and I was asked to present to 35 metro district Curriculum Specialists in Language Arts and Literacy on February 26, 2007. MDE was looking for a realistic approach and practical application of new literacies. I presented for nearly two hours and the response was overwhelming. I have been asked to put on workshops for teachers at MDE, was questioned by two districts as to my availability to present at staff development, and am slated to be a part of a commission to look into implementing media literacies into a statewide curriculum.
As a teacher, I needed to know how to create a blog and various other internet literacies, but for the most part was able to create the project from a general public/consumer level. It cost the district nothing in money nor in server space. I anticipated problems in the digital divide, but found those issues much smaller than the participation gap outlined by Jenkins. Use of a computer lab once a week was helpful.
Lastly, this project promoted a level of social learning I hadn't anticipated. Collaborative work increased about tenfold and much more of it was meaningful and unforced. My students asked at the end of the unit if they could continue to use the website and discussion boards as well as their blogs. They requested we do our first unit of the next trimester on blogs and in a survey identified blogging as their favorite part of the assignment for reasons of collaboration and feelings of self-accomplishment. Individual learning went up as well, from a Constructivist approach. Every single student reported a higher level of operation on both the internet in general and in blogging abilities because of the unit. From a teacher standpoint, these all resulted in better overall papers/essays from the students and an increase in work done on time.
Problem-Solution Essay Unit at Tartan High School on blogger.com
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/tartan Student blogs located on links to the left or directly at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/blogs
By Jim Hatten, University of Minnnesota (CI 5361)
I chose to analyze the use of Blogs in my English 10 classes at Tartan High School. This analysis is for CI 5361 taught by Joan Hughes.
Blogging as a media literacy (sometimes called a new literacy) is something I became fascinated with two years ago when I first discovered the technology. With many of my students already blog-literate via their MySpace or Xenga personal blogs, I was looking for a unit to tap into this resource as a manner of sparking student interest in a "traditional" writing class.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
The unit utilizing blogs is a traditional 5-paragraph essay unit in an English 10 writing-centered class at Tartan High School. Previously, all other teachers used the textbook and a series of worksheets and in-class read-and-write responses. The activity culminates with a 3-5-page paper that is of the problem-solution format as laid out in the text.
This is the fourth major essay in English 10 this year and I decided to try an internet approach to the unit. The first part of the lesson included an introduction to media literacies and a trip to the computer lab. Each student -- regardless of internet connection at home -- was put on a computer and walked through the process of creating a blog on Blogger.com. I chose Blogger.com because it is one of the blog hosts that is not currently blocked on the school district's filter. It also requires no direct access to an email account -- again something that is filtered in our district (ie. no hotmail or yahoo accounts can be seen on district computers).
Upon logging in and creating a blog, students were given a short task found on our textbook's online version and were to make their first post. After posting, students commented on my blog with the URL of their blog.
Eventually, we would do three major writing pieces on the blog, directed by both me in class and via a class website I created using my U of M server space. The unit entailed 16 days of posting or other media literacy development ranging from blogs, to a wiki, to a webquest, to discussion boards, to surveys and other various internet-based design.
The blog, however, was the anchor.
REASONS FOR USING TECHNOLOGY IN THIS WAY
Aside from the aforementioned rationale for utilizing blogs in this unit, I also found the public capablity of the blog to be useful for creating strong pre-writing work. Each student was required to comment on a fellow students' blog a total of four times with a directed task. Jenkins says the public nature of blogs (tied together with the student as publisher/author/active member) creates a depth of learning and involvement than with traditional literacies such as pen and paper and teacher as audience. Further rationale for teaching came from a paper I wrote for CI 5331, which can be read at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/Hatten%20CI%205331%20paper.doc
PRE-TEACHING USE AND REFLECTION
Prior to teaching the unit, I felt we were in a rut in English 10B. We have the same routine in each English 10 class in the whole school: Grammar instruction on the whiteboard; textbook and worksheet assignments for essays; vocabulary packets each week. I felt it may stimulate the students to do something different and to do, as J.T. Grabill and T. Hicks wrote in English Journal: “If we want to teach writing or help students learn how to write more effectively, then we have to see writing in the same ways that they do and be with them where they write.” I felt the technological aspect of the unit would appeal to students -- in large part due to the technological deficiencies of the English Department at Tartan as well as the overall technology drought throughout the school.
I also hoped there would be positive effects from using the comment function of the blog. Finally, I felt strongly that students need to at least be introduced to media literacy training from the Jenkins focus of Ethics Training, teaching Transparency and narrowing the Participation Gap.
POST-TEACHING/PROJECT REFLECTION
Delightedly, my project grew enormously as I discovered students would work twice as hard on the internet as they would in traditional literacy approaches. I developed a class website with numerous other media connected. The blogs, as the main cog to the machine, drove discussions in class, gave me a quick look into student progress, developed literacies in those who had none in blogging previous, and provided a base to build strong papers as well as internet skills.
The problem-solution analyses were stronger than those done in classes taught by other teachers in my department -- primarily due to the public postings of the blogs. Students were critiquing and commenting more than I requested and much of that was constructive and polite. My work load as a teacher seemed to decrease and paper was saved by keeping the work digital.
I was not ready for the school climate part of the equation. The comments sections led to a social nature intertwining my three classes and 96 overall students. This social nature led to friendly competitions over designing blogs and commenting on class discussions in my differing hours. There was good-natured razzing of me as the teacher as well as many posts commending me for "letting them do this."
Undoubtedly, students' output was significantly better and more voluminuous due to it being online. I would refer to a class discussion board created for further interactive social behavior online at http://www.voy.com/210043/
In addition, my work with these students online grew into a discussion outside of class, the school and the school district. The Minnesota Department of Education caught wind of my project somehow and I was asked to present to 35 metro district Curriculum Specialists in Language Arts and Literacy on February 26, 2007. MDE was looking for a realistic approach and practical application of new literacies. I presented for nearly two hours and the response was overwhelming. I have been asked to put on workshops for teachers at MDE, was questioned by two districts as to my availability to present at staff development, and am slated to be a part of a commission to look into implementing media literacies into a statewide curriculum.
As a teacher, I needed to know how to create a blog and various other internet literacies, but for the most part was able to create the project from a general public/consumer level. It cost the district nothing in money nor in server space. I anticipated problems in the digital divide, but found those issues much smaller than the participation gap outlined by Jenkins. Use of a computer lab once a week was helpful.
Lastly, this project promoted a level of social learning I hadn't anticipated. Collaborative work increased about tenfold and much more of it was meaningful and unforced. My students asked at the end of the unit if they could continue to use the website and discussion boards as well as their blogs. They requested we do our first unit of the next trimester on blogs and in a survey identified blogging as their favorite part of the assignment for reasons of collaboration and feelings of self-accomplishment. Individual learning went up as well, from a Constructivist approach. Every single student reported a higher level of operation on both the internet in general and in blogging abilities because of the unit. From a teacher standpoint, these all resulted in better overall papers/essays from the students and an increase in work done on time.
Labels: k-12, literacy, media, media literacies, new literacies
Friday, December 22, 2006
I am an Instructional Designer
By Jim Hatten
University of Minnesota
CI 5331
The Learning Science vs. Instructional Design debate raging over and through the technological learning landscape seems almost silly to me. It seems the “great divide” between these two communities is merely a cavern of minutia. It also seems that both sides to the debate have the same goal in common: to educate or create action from technological design that is both effective and justifiable. I’m sure my beliefs and subsequent placement on this continuum lies similar to many in our Learning Technologies introductory class – I firmly believe the two side co-exist in my brain and in my planning. Pressed in earnest for an answer: are you more a learning scientist or an instructional designer, my answer would favor toward being an instructional designer. My reasons even seem a bit flippant to me, considering I’m in my 10th year of teaching secondary students; however, in the true depths of my heart I prefer the arguments for Instruction Design as a model.
My layman’s approach to understanding the movement of Learning Scientists gives me these major emphases: they focus on instructional materials, organizational systems, learning systems that approach a student’s learning and only cares if that purpose is educational, approaches the debate trying to find scientific data to justify and decide on technological systems that affect change best.
On the other hand, I read Instructional Designers to take a more “get doing rather than get researching mantra. These people are less likely to carefully decide on a theory of pedagogy or psychology before design. IDers are therefore more likely to experiment and get people going with technology so we can see how they interact with any particular system. I would describe IDers to be more experiment (trial-and-error) based in their approach rather than research instigated.
In my curriculum design as a teacher, I certainly take into account prior knowledge of psychological and learning theories as well as the practice of various pedagogies. In my mind I consider the theoretical side to be more of an LS behavior. This leads me to think about how I design curriculum. I think of the outcomes that I desire, think about how to design a scaffolded curriculum to link it and then finally worry about pedagogies, or ways of presenting the information. Often I’ll see a pedagogical approach that seems to be attractive and palpable to my students then find a curriculum piece to match it up with. This approach obviously takes in both side of the continuum of research and practice. However, I don’t even think about the research much, aside from the ingrained knowledge of it in my subconscious. I think Educational Design in the technology field is a parallel to my teaching approach.
I think instructional technologies should be entertaining and easy to use to attract someone to a particular desired outcome. The old saying about a honey catching the most bees is applicable here. If I have all the research data and have done numerous studies of a particular approach, I haven’t truly done anything. I will learn through trial and error. Something works if it seems to work. After all, who has time for all that research? In the educational field, few do. I need to be out there doing something rather than thinking about doing something. There is an old saying about people who long to publish a novel: Most people don’t get them published because of one simple thing – they worry so much about making it perfect and seam-free that they never actually finish the book and therefore cannot actually get it published. I see this with LSers. They can test and re-test and examine it to death, but in practicality they are not producing and will always be behind. IDers, on the other hand, will at least be experimenting and trying new approaches. The present won’t ever be opened if it doesn’t look like a present. I do realize, however, that the LS approach has its place in all this. There are fundamentals and scientific claims that can help designers to decide on a technique or to be able to say it is a valid approach. We all now seem to have these ingrained in our heads. It is inevitable we would be influenced by what we already know of the developments and should keep ourselves abreast of the research being done. I simply don’t want to be one of those people. I want to be working toward dynamic environments and sparkling design to lure in my students into learning.
University of Minnesota
CI 5331
The Learning Science vs. Instructional Design debate raging over and through the technological learning landscape seems almost silly to me. It seems the “great divide” between these two communities is merely a cavern of minutia. It also seems that both sides to the debate have the same goal in common: to educate or create action from technological design that is both effective and justifiable. I’m sure my beliefs and subsequent placement on this continuum lies similar to many in our Learning Technologies introductory class – I firmly believe the two side co-exist in my brain and in my planning. Pressed in earnest for an answer: are you more a learning scientist or an instructional designer, my answer would favor toward being an instructional designer. My reasons even seem a bit flippant to me, considering I’m in my 10th year of teaching secondary students; however, in the true depths of my heart I prefer the arguments for Instruction Design as a model.
My layman’s approach to understanding the movement of Learning Scientists gives me these major emphases: they focus on instructional materials, organizational systems, learning systems that approach a student’s learning and only cares if that purpose is educational, approaches the debate trying to find scientific data to justify and decide on technological systems that affect change best.
On the other hand, I read Instructional Designers to take a more “get doing rather than get researching mantra. These people are less likely to carefully decide on a theory of pedagogy or psychology before design. IDers are therefore more likely to experiment and get people going with technology so we can see how they interact with any particular system. I would describe IDers to be more experiment (trial-and-error) based in their approach rather than research instigated.
In my curriculum design as a teacher, I certainly take into account prior knowledge of psychological and learning theories as well as the practice of various pedagogies. In my mind I consider the theoretical side to be more of an LS behavior. This leads me to think about how I design curriculum. I think of the outcomes that I desire, think about how to design a scaffolded curriculum to link it and then finally worry about pedagogies, or ways of presenting the information. Often I’ll see a pedagogical approach that seems to be attractive and palpable to my students then find a curriculum piece to match it up with. This approach obviously takes in both side of the continuum of research and practice. However, I don’t even think about the research much, aside from the ingrained knowledge of it in my subconscious. I think Educational Design in the technology field is a parallel to my teaching approach.
I think instructional technologies should be entertaining and easy to use to attract someone to a particular desired outcome. The old saying about a honey catching the most bees is applicable here. If I have all the research data and have done numerous studies of a particular approach, I haven’t truly done anything. I will learn through trial and error. Something works if it seems to work. After all, who has time for all that research? In the educational field, few do. I need to be out there doing something rather than thinking about doing something. There is an old saying about people who long to publish a novel: Most people don’t get them published because of one simple thing – they worry so much about making it perfect and seam-free that they never actually finish the book and therefore cannot actually get it published. I see this with LSers. They can test and re-test and examine it to death, but in practicality they are not producing and will always be behind. IDers, on the other hand, will at least be experimenting and trying new approaches. The present won’t ever be opened if it doesn’t look like a present. I do realize, however, that the LS approach has its place in all this. There are fundamentals and scientific claims that can help designers to decide on a technique or to be able to say it is a valid approach. We all now seem to have these ingrained in our heads. It is inevitable we would be influenced by what we already know of the developments and should keep ourselves abreast of the research being done. I simply don’t want to be one of those people. I want to be working toward dynamic environments and sparkling design to lure in my students into learning.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Module 8: Advertising
Rationale for my parody of the MasterCard "priceless ads
We've all seen the ads for years. Three things with purchasing price and a voiceover by a man that says what the graphics say on the screen. The fourth thing is always a heart-tugging or humorous item that is "priceless". The ads conclude with the MasterCard slogan: "There are some things money can't buy; for everything else, there's MasterCard."
I find it ironic that a credit card company uses the word priceless. Priceless means it is so expensive that it no longer has a true cost http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/priceless. According to Fox News, 144 million Americans own a credit card of some sort (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,143037,00.html). Fox reports that in 2003 Americans with credit cards owed an average household amount of $7,520 to their credit card companies. The numbers are staggering: Americans owe about $1.5 trillion in credit card balances! Trillion with a T.
That's priceless to me.
OBJECTIVE
We've all seen the ad campaign copies everywhere: basketball fans holding up signs at the state tournaments (Tickets $15, Gas money $25, Hotel $125, Being at the State Basketball Tournament: priceless); internet parodies (Bottle of tequila $20, Tickets to Spring Break trip $700, Limbo party at bar: free, having your butt crack show on the internet forever: priceless); etc. I thought a more parody kind of an approach -- especially to credit card debt incurred in part by MasterCard itself -- would be interesting.
Here's the rest of my rationale for the ad:
TARGET AUDIENCE
The audience for my parody ad is the same as the original advertisements. These are people who are credit card owners and young folks who are going to be credit card owners. A lot of what I see in the priceless ad campaign is targeting 30-somethings. The sentimentality of the ads and the age of the kids featured (plus a lot of fathers and sons and fathers and daughters) also implies 30-somethings.
In addition, I believe the target audience has a handful of credit cards in their wallet. The idea is to make MasterCard (and not Visa nor American Express) money.
PERSUASIVE DEVICES
Certainly in the original ads there is a lot of bandwagoning and heartstrings used. The bandwagoning device is the peer pressure one: everyone's doing it, so if you want to be "in" you should also do the same. Heartstrings is an emotional attachment to the ad -- something sentimental or built on transfer of emotions to a product. In addition, there is transfer of the product. Transfer is a metaphorical/symbolic attachment placed on the items in the ad and the product/service. The transfer in the original ads appears to be happiness and priceless memories can be bought with a MasterCard.
In my ad, I used the device of parody humor. In true parody, there should be a message. My message wasn't so subliminal, however. I listed the reasons.
My kicker line was: having to pay off large credit card debt for years after the purchase: nearly priceless. I also included some card-stacking (persuasive device) statistics and facts garnered from a credit help company on the Internet.
CONCEPT/OTHER
I chose to pattern the entire ad after MasterCard as best I could. I watched versions of the ads on the internet and used the same font style, color and voice patters in my voiceover. I tried to match the editing style and the music levels. I felt the closest I could come to recreating a MasterCard ad, the more respect I'd have for how those were originally created and developed.
The concept of the MasterCard ads is phenomenal. The person who came up with this campaign had better be getting paid handsomely. It has what every advertiser wants: name recognition, word-of-mouth, simplicity, a good slogan, timing and consistency/repetition.
I hope I threw a correct ironic twist into this ad and helped get the message out that credit card debt is a massive problem in American society and there may be better ways to get out of the credit card debt cycle.
We've all seen the ads for years. Three things with purchasing price and a voiceover by a man that says what the graphics say on the screen. The fourth thing is always a heart-tugging or humorous item that is "priceless". The ads conclude with the MasterCard slogan: "There are some things money can't buy; for everything else, there's MasterCard."
I find it ironic that a credit card company uses the word priceless. Priceless means it is so expensive that it no longer has a true cost http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/priceless. According to Fox News, 144 million Americans own a credit card of some sort (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,143037,00.html). Fox reports that in 2003 Americans with credit cards owed an average household amount of $7,520 to their credit card companies. The numbers are staggering: Americans owe about $1.5 trillion in credit card balances! Trillion with a T.
That's priceless to me.
OBJECTIVE
We've all seen the ad campaign copies everywhere: basketball fans holding up signs at the state tournaments (Tickets $15, Gas money $25, Hotel $125, Being at the State Basketball Tournament: priceless); internet parodies (Bottle of tequila $20, Tickets to Spring Break trip $700, Limbo party at bar: free, having your butt crack show on the internet forever: priceless); etc. I thought a more parody kind of an approach -- especially to credit card debt incurred in part by MasterCard itself -- would be interesting.
Here's the rest of my rationale for the ad:
TARGET AUDIENCE
The audience for my parody ad is the same as the original advertisements. These are people who are credit card owners and young folks who are going to be credit card owners. A lot of what I see in the priceless ad campaign is targeting 30-somethings. The sentimentality of the ads and the age of the kids featured (plus a lot of fathers and sons and fathers and daughters) also implies 30-somethings.
In addition, I believe the target audience has a handful of credit cards in their wallet. The idea is to make MasterCard (and not Visa nor American Express) money.
PERSUASIVE DEVICES
Certainly in the original ads there is a lot of bandwagoning and heartstrings used. The bandwagoning device is the peer pressure one: everyone's doing it, so if you want to be "in" you should also do the same. Heartstrings is an emotional attachment to the ad -- something sentimental or built on transfer of emotions to a product. In addition, there is transfer of the product. Transfer is a metaphorical/symbolic attachment placed on the items in the ad and the product/service. The transfer in the original ads appears to be happiness and priceless memories can be bought with a MasterCard.
In my ad, I used the device of parody humor. In true parody, there should be a message. My message wasn't so subliminal, however. I listed the reasons.
My kicker line was: having to pay off large credit card debt for years after the purchase: nearly priceless. I also included some card-stacking (persuasive device) statistics and facts garnered from a credit help company on the Internet.
CONCEPT/OTHER
I chose to pattern the entire ad after MasterCard as best I could. I watched versions of the ads on the internet and used the same font style, color and voice patters in my voiceover. I tried to match the editing style and the music levels. I felt the closest I could come to recreating a MasterCard ad, the more respect I'd have for how those were originally created and developed.
The concept of the MasterCard ads is phenomenal. The person who came up with this campaign had better be getting paid handsomely. It has what every advertiser wants: name recognition, word-of-mouth, simplicity, a good slogan, timing and consistency/repetition.
I hope I threw a correct ironic twist into this ad and helped get the message out that credit card debt is a massive problem in American society and there may be better ways to get out of the credit card debt cycle.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Module 6: Ethnography
Week 6: A study of Group 3
Group 3
For this week’s assignment I am creating an ethnography of Group 3 from our class. I used the post-meeting reflections to determine my conclusions. Group 3 is made up of four people, none of whom I know casually nor professionally. They are Kanelia, Justin, Katie and Anthony.
* Tony's responses are compiled on a text webpage I designed at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/tony.htm
* Justin's responses are compiled on a text webpage I designed at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/justin.htm
* Katie's responses are compiled on a text webpage I designed at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/katie.htm
* Kanelia's responses are compiled on a text webpage I designed at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/kanelia.htm
Here are my observations:
From their post-discussion reflections, Group 3 appears to have developed a group issue with the technological aspect of this class. Several point out technological problems or issues. Perhaps that is a common thread because it was something to chat about and it stuck in their brains. However, they are positive about working in a group with others. For instance, they are apologetic when they can't meet and seem to enjoy getting to know one another better. Group 3 seems to appreciate the insights that people bring to the group, but they seem to think that technology is hindering their ability to function well.
I was also surprised at the brevity of all of their reflections. There doesn't appear to be a lot of reflecting going on. There is more a recounting of what the group did and discussed and little analysis or reflection on the value of the work.
Here is a more in-depth look at each member:
Tony
It appears as if Tony has technology issues and mostly struggles with the speed at which conversations take place, especially in groups. He mentions these issues in every post. His posts have grown longer and more introspective as time has gone by and I assume from this he is getting more comfortable with the technology of the class. I thought his comment about having to think before he speaks (Week 1) is interesting. He seems to be thinking about the way the course is run and trying to become familiar with everything out there. I think someone like Tony wouldn't prefer this brand of technology use for long because of his issues with technology. Justin
Justin's pretty focused on relatability to the classroom. He's interested in how his own experiences with technology for this class will illuminate (did I just say that?) potential difficulties for his own students. Like Tony, he comments on problems with multiple people chatting at once. But is overall, Justin is very focused on relevance to his own classroom and his own students.
Katie
Katie started off pretty enthusiastic about meeting online. She had experience with online chats and thought that it was "fun". Katie likes that people have to be more concise and that problems with group work in person are eliminated when online. By week 3, though, she was frustrated with some aspects of meeting online. It's clear that time is very important to her. She doesn't want to lose or waste time and doesn't even like the small talk at the beginning of the online meeting. Katie wants to get business done and not procrastinate. In addition, she seems to have some time issues, too: with a nannying job impeding on her time to do her classwork, so she suggested changing the group meeting time so everyone can be more productive.
Katie appears to not want to be swamped with other work and not have enough time to get everything done. She has a time issue.
Kanelia
Kanelia is by far the most positive of the group members. Instead of being frustrated with elements of chatting online, she commented on the need for an "adjustment period" and was sure that things would be better next time. Plus, she states that things will keep getting better and easier the more they use it. Though she got a little frustrated with the flow of conversations in the group--easy to get off track--she was still positive and optimistic about the value of chatting online and working in a group. Kanelia clearly appreciates the multiple perspectives that people bring to the table when working in a group. It's valuable to her to hear other people's opinions and perspectives.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Module 5: Media representations
Representations of intelligent males in the mass media
Smart males in media are tie-wearing compu-geeks
Media representations of intelligent men in the media center on single, white, organized,computer nerds who love Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, black-rimmed glasses and dress shirts.
Ted Geisel couldn't have had this in mind.
In 1950, Geisel (widely known to the world as Dr. Seuss of children book fame) amusingly rhymed the lines of his 1950book, If I Ran The Zoo: "And then just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Prooa Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!"
The term nerd was coined.
It seems since that moment, smart males have been put in their own predicable, caged box in the mass media. Predominantly, being smart is associated with being a nerd in the media. From television shows to advertisements to print media, smart people are depicted as single, white, brilliant outcasts. They are loners, sickly (yet high wage earners) and unattractive. Often smart males are depicted as lowly in social situations, wearing simple attire accessorized with a tie, and (of course) being overwhelmingly "nerdy."
The male intelligence is also defined by glasses, typically black and largely rimmed. The more intelligent, the lessgood-looking. Intelligent representations of males such as speech writer Will Bailey of NBC's West Wing tend to be more focused on logical and concrete results rather than their relationships, romances, or personal life outside of work.
Leonard Nimoy's Spock character on the original Star Trek episodes defines an intelligent male as successful, yet lackingemotion or empathy for others. Ironically, intelligent males are also depicted as being obsessed with science fiction and fantasynovels, magazines, television shows, video games and movies. Often a bit character on situational comedies or on an animated series will play a joke based on a character's love for Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter or similar pop culture.
Intelligent males are rarely depicted as athletic or well-rounded. We never see the nerds from Revenge of the Nerds demonstratinggood cooking techniques or talking about NASCAR. The smart male is similar to Dwight on NBC's The Office: trying to fit in, butalways having difficulty in social situations. Advertisers sometimes embrace this nerdy/geek chic to promote dedication to thatwhich few others have interest. For instance, Geek Squad is a computer technician and help service. Their employees wear thestereotypical smart gear of the information age: a white short-sleeved shirt and black tie. An AT&T ad in the magazine Wired (March 2006) features a man named Steve, who is alone, wearing a button-down shirt in a very clean home office. He is playing a video game on his computer screen. The words read: "The World According to Steve ... No matter what she says or how she makes you feel, you arenever too old to play video games." On the bottom it reads: "Steve depends on the most complete and secure network from AT&T so he can have DSL high speed internet access to download, play and master the latest video games. The New AT&T." From this, we can decipher that intelligent males are computer nerds. If the smart white guy chooses a certain type of computer or internet provider, it must be good because the geek always knows about computers.
What is missing from the representation is any minority or female. White males tend to dominate the media landscape of being bright.
The exceptions to this in the media show an interesting shift in the intelligent paradigm. In television dramas such as CSI, CSI New York, CSI Miami, Crossing Jordan, ER, Grey's Anatomy, etc., women are shown in an intelligent light more so than men. These scientists and doctors vary from the male nerd complex dramatically. The women are glamorous and wear more sexy clothing. They are dynamic and passionate about many things. They are complex, whereas the male geeks are not. Unfortunately, (according to my scientist wife) this isn'texactly a proper depiction of smart scientists as well. If it were, America's Top Scientist would unseat America's Top Model in the ratings.
Anyway one looks at the intelligent male in the media, one thing is certain: Dr. Seuss's nerds in the zoo have been released by the media onto society.
Smart males in media are tie-wearing compu-geeks
Media representations of intelligent men in the media center on single, white, organized,computer nerds who love Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, black-rimmed glasses and dress shirts.
Ted Geisel couldn't have had this in mind.
In 1950, Geisel (widely known to the world as Dr. Seuss of children book fame) amusingly rhymed the lines of his 1950book, If I Ran The Zoo: "And then just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Prooa Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!"
The term nerd was coined.
It seems since that moment, smart males have been put in their own predicable, caged box in the mass media. Predominantly, being smart is associated with being a nerd in the media. From television shows to advertisements to print media, smart people are depicted as single, white, brilliant outcasts. They are loners, sickly (yet high wage earners) and unattractive. Often smart males are depicted as lowly in social situations, wearing simple attire accessorized with a tie, and (of course) being overwhelmingly "nerdy."
The male intelligence is also defined by glasses, typically black and largely rimmed. The more intelligent, the lessgood-looking. Intelligent representations of males such as speech writer Will Bailey of NBC's West Wing tend to be more focused on logical and concrete results rather than their relationships, romances, or personal life outside of work.
Leonard Nimoy's Spock character on the original Star Trek episodes defines an intelligent male as successful, yet lackingemotion or empathy for others. Ironically, intelligent males are also depicted as being obsessed with science fiction and fantasynovels, magazines, television shows, video games and movies. Often a bit character on situational comedies or on an animated series will play a joke based on a character's love for Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter or similar pop culture.
Intelligent males are rarely depicted as athletic or well-rounded. We never see the nerds from Revenge of the Nerds demonstratinggood cooking techniques or talking about NASCAR. The smart male is similar to Dwight on NBC's The Office: trying to fit in, butalways having difficulty in social situations. Advertisers sometimes embrace this nerdy/geek chic to promote dedication to thatwhich few others have interest. For instance, Geek Squad is a computer technician and help service. Their employees wear thestereotypical smart gear of the information age: a white short-sleeved shirt and black tie. An AT&T ad in the magazine Wired (March 2006) features a man named Steve, who is alone, wearing a button-down shirt in a very clean home office. He is playing a video game on his computer screen. The words read: "The World According to Steve ... No matter what she says or how she makes you feel, you arenever too old to play video games." On the bottom it reads: "Steve depends on the most complete and secure network from AT&T so he can have DSL high speed internet access to download, play and master the latest video games. The New AT&T." From this, we can decipher that intelligent males are computer nerds. If the smart white guy chooses a certain type of computer or internet provider, it must be good because the geek always knows about computers.
What is missing from the representation is any minority or female. White males tend to dominate the media landscape of being bright.
The exceptions to this in the media show an interesting shift in the intelligent paradigm. In television dramas such as CSI, CSI New York, CSI Miami, Crossing Jordan, ER, Grey's Anatomy, etc., women are shown in an intelligent light more so than men. These scientists and doctors vary from the male nerd complex dramatically. The women are glamorous and wear more sexy clothing. They are dynamic and passionate about many things. They are complex, whereas the male geeks are not. Unfortunately, (according to my scientist wife) this isn'texactly a proper depiction of smart scientists as well. If it were, America's Top Scientist would unseat America's Top Model in the ratings.
Anyway one looks at the intelligent male in the media, one thing is certain: Dr. Seuss's nerds in the zoo have been released by the media onto society.
Module 4: Critical (lens) theory
To complete Module 4, we have decided to each view the Fox TV (Channel 9) show "American Idol". Each of us will assume the role and view the show through a different critical lens. We will watch "American Idol" from 8-9 p.m. Central Time Tuesday, February 21, 2006.
Click this link to read a synopsis of the show: http://www.idolonfox.com/about/
Our Assigned Lenses
I viewed American Idol through a post-modernist lens.
Thoughts given from a postmodern critical theory while watching FOX's "American Idol" Feb. 21, 2006:
American Idol follows a planned path that appears to be common and formulaic to the audience.
A host, Ryan Seacrest, discusses performances and emcees the show from a stage in front of an audience and sometimes on a couch with a performer. There are features on each performer before they perform. The flashbacks to their "tryouts" obviously assume a prior viewing of the show. The three judges comment on each performer and their previous comments are interwoven in the flashbacks.
From a single layer perspective, this show is based on the judges, not the contestants. The singing is basically karaoke (single performer with no band, just canned music) and not the main draw. The draw appears to be the comments from the trio of judges.
As each singer sings, a cgi nameline appears under a medium/tight shot of the performer with a telphone number and a Cingular cell phone advertisement. Advertising plays an important piece of this show. Red Coca-cola cups are in front of the judges and they frequently sip from the Coke. Brilliant placement and money-making.
The background of the stage is predominantly blue. The blue colors give a feeling of electronics and of a nightclub. It feels as if this is the hot place to be. It is no living room, but it's no large stadium either.
The judges are Randy Jackson (an African American), Paula Abdul (female) and Simon Cowell (Caucasian). Paula appears to be the nicest of the judges. She is where we go to release the tension of the moment of critique. Simon is dressed in a tight black t-shirt. Black clothes typically depict a flat character -- a character of negative energy. Black gives a feeling of the bad guy. Simon also enhances that reputation with his constant body language of crossing his arms. Crossing your arms is said to mean that you are shutting out whatever is being communicated to you. From this, I would say that Simon is acting as if he doesn't care what anyone thinks and is a bad guy. He appears to be the most honest of the trio with Randy being second.
The show continues to drive it's concrete formula. Introduce a performer, talk to her on a couch, interview package from outside the "club", she sings, name line comes up, people cheer, three judges critique, we are reminded to vote.
A woman named Lisa Tucker is not a woman at all, but a girl. She is 16. She is dressed like an adult, sings with a sensuality of an adult woman and appears to be as sexual an object as the other older women. There is no distinction of this between the judges nor the public aside from the "what a big girl you are!" type of comments.
I like the way American Idol has Paula Abdul as a judge. She is good looking, non-discernable in race, kind and she has a sexual tension with Simon that is readily available to all viewers. It works well because we are left wondering if they secretly like each other. It is a soap opera in our minds that we can assume.
Judge Randy Jackson speaks in a slang dialogue that assumes the viewer knows what he is saying and can translate it. He often uses terms like "Dawg", "What up?", and "Dude". All of which assumes our knowledge of slang. Jackson is African-American and these slang terms match his ethnicity. He uses these terms so much it appears as if he is setting his African-American-ness apart from the other judges. He is to appear cool. We would find that kind of slang cool in American society.
The content of the songs on American Idol assume an appreciation and recollection of the tunes. While many of us cannot sing on this level, we are to recall how the original sounds and compare the singer's brilliance or not. The songs appear to be older songs (not composed in the last five or ten years).
Paula Abdul just told a woman (Kinike) that she looked stunning. The director quickly had the camera cut to a full-body shot of the performer. This took the viewer where he/she wanted to go. The shot of the woman oozes sexuality. She has a dress with no sleeves nor straps. She is winning over the American public voters with sexuality.
The motion backgrounds give a feeling of movement and excitement. This show takes a basic talent show or karaoke competition and turns it into entertainment with swooping crane shots, dynamic colors, live stage, sexuality, "flat" predictable judges and tons of product and signage placement to show off the reality of American consumerism.
We are getting to the end of the show and there is a recap of the performances. These clips are short (20 seconds each maybe) and rely on our previous viewing of the performers. Each of these clips is flying around and coming in closer and closer. This makes me feel as if I am flying around the room. IT works well because there is simply a performer on a stage doing very little than standing there.
Generally, American Idol works well in pop culture. It appears to be pop culture because of how much it assumes we know of its structure and personalities. There are many references to other aspects of media: commercial products, sexuality and the nature of sex appeal in American society, format, colors, etc. It captures the attention of the viewer because of the non-scripted nature of the show. "Reality TV" is based on the idea of documentary. It lives off the conflict nature of news, that being the audience doesn't know how it will come out. It works because of America's love of conflict and sexuality.
Here is what I feel Post-modern means
Postmodern theory appears to be a fluid and almost non-descript critical theory. It is almost the antithesis of theory. Postmodern has one look at a subject from the purely surface images and is lacking in any form of "truth" or "meaning" in anything.
A good example the text gives for this kind of form is the 1994 Quentin Tarantino directed movie Pulp Fiction.
Pulp Fiction is described as a surface movie. It strays from conventional movie-making and elements of fiction. The movie draws on forms of fiction and slides in cultural media references that give it a campy feel, but don't detract from the story.
For instance, one of the characters is Vinnie Vega, played by John Travolta. There is a dance portion of the movie where Vinnie is dancing with Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman). The dance is a pure parody or satire of Travolta's role in the 1977 disco film Saturday Night Fever. This scene is interesting for interest sake, nothing more, according to the postmodernist. In addition, a postmodernist approach would find that the mixture of these two fictional pieces in a film would be well done if most of the audience caught on.
I would also say that TV shows such as South Park, Family Guy and The Simpsons take a completely postmodernist approach to their humor, satire or references.
No Truth is The Truth
While most theories look for an overriding truth or meaning, postmodernist theory doesn't. Postmodernists like to mess with narratives and time frames and alternative manners of getting across information. It draws on popular culture. Stories can also be best told to a postmodernist through use of several forms of texts: photos, animation, music, etc.
Surface level
Using a postmodernist lens, one would first ask how clever is the difference from convention. Next, it would be important to look at how well the text works on a surface level. Here, one would look at if the satire works in the present time with only other surface knowledge and does it work in the present in conjunction with other prior knowledge. It may be easiest to think: does this work if I know a lot of trivia? Does this work if I don't? Does it work evenly if I know this and don't know this?
Postmodernist = deconstruction
According to Carleton College's Deborah Appleman: "Deconstruction is, by far, the most difficult critical theory for people to understand. It was developed by some very smart (or very unstable) people who declare that literature means nothing because language means nothing. In other words, we cannot say that we know what the “meaning” of a story is because there is no way of knowing. For example, in some stories (like “Where Are You, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”) that do not have tidy endings, you cannot assume you know what happened."
For more of Appleman's definitions, see http://www.carleton.edu/departments/EDST/faculty/Appleman/Handouts/Glasses.html
Click this link to read a synopsis of the show: http://www.idolonfox.com/about/
Our Assigned Lenses
I viewed American Idol through a post-modernist lens.
Thoughts given from a postmodern critical theory while watching FOX's "American Idol" Feb. 21, 2006:
American Idol follows a planned path that appears to be common and formulaic to the audience.
A host, Ryan Seacrest, discusses performances and emcees the show from a stage in front of an audience and sometimes on a couch with a performer. There are features on each performer before they perform. The flashbacks to their "tryouts" obviously assume a prior viewing of the show. The three judges comment on each performer and their previous comments are interwoven in the flashbacks.
From a single layer perspective, this show is based on the judges, not the contestants. The singing is basically karaoke (single performer with no band, just canned music) and not the main draw. The draw appears to be the comments from the trio of judges.
As each singer sings, a cgi nameline appears under a medium/tight shot of the performer with a telphone number and a Cingular cell phone advertisement. Advertising plays an important piece of this show. Red Coca-cola cups are in front of the judges and they frequently sip from the Coke. Brilliant placement and money-making.
The background of the stage is predominantly blue. The blue colors give a feeling of electronics and of a nightclub. It feels as if this is the hot place to be. It is no living room, but it's no large stadium either.
The judges are Randy Jackson (an African American), Paula Abdul (female) and Simon Cowell (Caucasian). Paula appears to be the nicest of the judges. She is where we go to release the tension of the moment of critique. Simon is dressed in a tight black t-shirt. Black clothes typically depict a flat character -- a character of negative energy. Black gives a feeling of the bad guy. Simon also enhances that reputation with his constant body language of crossing his arms. Crossing your arms is said to mean that you are shutting out whatever is being communicated to you. From this, I would say that Simon is acting as if he doesn't care what anyone thinks and is a bad guy. He appears to be the most honest of the trio with Randy being second.
The show continues to drive it's concrete formula. Introduce a performer, talk to her on a couch, interview package from outside the "club", she sings, name line comes up, people cheer, three judges critique, we are reminded to vote.
A woman named Lisa Tucker is not a woman at all, but a girl. She is 16. She is dressed like an adult, sings with a sensuality of an adult woman and appears to be as sexual an object as the other older women. There is no distinction of this between the judges nor the public aside from the "what a big girl you are!" type of comments.
I like the way American Idol has Paula Abdul as a judge. She is good looking, non-discernable in race, kind and she has a sexual tension with Simon that is readily available to all viewers. It works well because we are left wondering if they secretly like each other. It is a soap opera in our minds that we can assume.
Judge Randy Jackson speaks in a slang dialogue that assumes the viewer knows what he is saying and can translate it. He often uses terms like "Dawg", "What up?", and "Dude". All of which assumes our knowledge of slang. Jackson is African-American and these slang terms match his ethnicity. He uses these terms so much it appears as if he is setting his African-American-ness apart from the other judges. He is to appear cool. We would find that kind of slang cool in American society.
The content of the songs on American Idol assume an appreciation and recollection of the tunes. While many of us cannot sing on this level, we are to recall how the original sounds and compare the singer's brilliance or not. The songs appear to be older songs (not composed in the last five or ten years).
Paula Abdul just told a woman (Kinike) that she looked stunning. The director quickly had the camera cut to a full-body shot of the performer. This took the viewer where he/she wanted to go. The shot of the woman oozes sexuality. She has a dress with no sleeves nor straps. She is winning over the American public voters with sexuality.
The motion backgrounds give a feeling of movement and excitement. This show takes a basic talent show or karaoke competition and turns it into entertainment with swooping crane shots, dynamic colors, live stage, sexuality, "flat" predictable judges and tons of product and signage placement to show off the reality of American consumerism.
We are getting to the end of the show and there is a recap of the performances. These clips are short (20 seconds each maybe) and rely on our previous viewing of the performers. Each of these clips is flying around and coming in closer and closer. This makes me feel as if I am flying around the room. IT works well because there is simply a performer on a stage doing very little than standing there.
Generally, American Idol works well in pop culture. It appears to be pop culture because of how much it assumes we know of its structure and personalities. There are many references to other aspects of media: commercial products, sexuality and the nature of sex appeal in American society, format, colors, etc. It captures the attention of the viewer because of the non-scripted nature of the show. "Reality TV" is based on the idea of documentary. It lives off the conflict nature of news, that being the audience doesn't know how it will come out. It works because of America's love of conflict and sexuality.
Here is what I feel Post-modern means
Postmodern theory appears to be a fluid and almost non-descript critical theory. It is almost the antithesis of theory. Postmodern has one look at a subject from the purely surface images and is lacking in any form of "truth" or "meaning" in anything.
A good example the text gives for this kind of form is the 1994 Quentin Tarantino directed movie Pulp Fiction.
Pulp Fiction is described as a surface movie. It strays from conventional movie-making and elements of fiction. The movie draws on forms of fiction and slides in cultural media references that give it a campy feel, but don't detract from the story.
For instance, one of the characters is Vinnie Vega, played by John Travolta. There is a dance portion of the movie where Vinnie is dancing with Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman). The dance is a pure parody or satire of Travolta's role in the 1977 disco film Saturday Night Fever. This scene is interesting for interest sake, nothing more, according to the postmodernist. In addition, a postmodernist approach would find that the mixture of these two fictional pieces in a film would be well done if most of the audience caught on.
I would also say that TV shows such as South Park, Family Guy and The Simpsons take a completely postmodernist approach to their humor, satire or references.
No Truth is The Truth
While most theories look for an overriding truth or meaning, postmodernist theory doesn't. Postmodernists like to mess with narratives and time frames and alternative manners of getting across information. It draws on popular culture. Stories can also be best told to a postmodernist through use of several forms of texts: photos, animation, music, etc.
Surface level
Using a postmodernist lens, one would first ask how clever is the difference from convention. Next, it would be important to look at how well the text works on a surface level. Here, one would look at if the satire works in the present time with only other surface knowledge and does it work in the present in conjunction with other prior knowledge. It may be easiest to think: does this work if I know a lot of trivia? Does this work if I don't? Does it work evenly if I know this and don't know this?
Postmodernist = deconstruction
According to Carleton College's Deborah Appleman: "Deconstruction is, by far, the most difficult critical theory for people to understand. It was developed by some very smart (or very unstable) people who declare that literature means nothing because language means nothing. In other words, we cannot say that we know what the “meaning” of a story is because there is no way of knowing. For example, in some stories (like “Where Are You, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”) that do not have tidy endings, you cannot assume you know what happened."
For more of Appleman's definitions, see http://www.carleton.edu/departments/EDST/faculty/Appleman/Handouts/Glasses.html
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Module 3: Teaching Film Techniques
Week 3: Analyzing a film
Miracle film study
For this assignment, I watched the opening scene of the 2004 Disney movie Miracle starring Kurt Russell (as Herb Brooks) and directed by Gavin O’Connor. The movie depicts the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” Gold Medal winning men’s ice hockey team.
Hey, I was in the Olympic spirit.
The actual opening of the movie begins with a picture-in-picture montage of actual video footage from the early 1970s through 1980. Included in this are news clips, political speeches, etc. The picture-in-pictures are broken up by some form of huge lettering that you can't figure out until the final seconds of it, when it shrinks down to spell the name of the movie, "Miracle". The montage is meant to serve as exposition of the time period and the political, economic and sporting culture of the late 1970s and 1980.
The scene I wish to dissect is the first scene done by the director.
A wide shot establishes the scene with a wide shot of a facility that has a sign that reads AHA amateur hockey association of the united states (in lower case). With this, it is establishing the place for the movie, Colorado Springs, Colo. CGI tells us it is 1979. The cuts are to a man's hand drawing up hockey plays on a notebook. Soon we see his face and a man calls him Herb. The man (Walter) is wearing a powder blue suit and asks how Herb's flight was. Here, they are establishing his long trip and a friendly atmosphere between the two. Words on the wall say American Hockey Association again and the phone continues to ring with a woman's voice in the background saying: "USA Hockey, how can I help you?" All of this is establishing the setting of the movie. It is summer in the outside shot, but hockey appears to be buzzing in the air. Also, Herb's sport coat is tan. The tan and powder blue sportcoats are establishing an early sense of setting in time (1979 to be exact).
The two men walk down the hall and chat. This is done with a pan that moves to a truck that follows the men from behind. The establishing shot was the lone shot with soundtrack (non-diagetic) music playing in the background. The shots are medium shots, and done at eye level to establish a documentary-like feel. Eye level and medium shots are the most honest of shots and truest to life. The director is trying to establish realism in these sequences.
A pan in the next shot goes from an extreme closeup of the water glasses and water pitcher on the table to a rack focus switch to those speaking at the table. The shots are tight from here on out of two-shots, one-shots and speaking/reaction shots. The cuts are very quick and create a conflict right away. The reason for the tighter shots are to keep us involved emotionally. The tighter a shot, the more emotionally attached we become to a subject.
These shots give great size and importance to the subjects of the shots. We can assume these are the Board of Somethings or CEOs of something at USA Hockey. As Herb explains a new, different form of hockey (similar to the Russians), we get even tighter shots of his face. These shots establish his intensity and desire. Those shots are juxtaposed via cuts with reactions of the committee. The committee is obviously skeptical at best. Their reactions and questions are stark contrast to the tight closeups of Brooks, who doesn't change his tenor. The fast cuts and juxtaposition create visual tension between these subjects.
The shots build up until they are flying past us at 1 second per clip, each of the same situation. The scene must have either been filmed a hundred times or was filmed once using several cameras. It makes the audience feel as if they are eavesdropping and trying to get all the information in this conflict.
This conflict is central to the movie. There is doubt that this new brand of hockey will do anything in the Lake Placid Olympics. It establishes the underdog mentality and the importance of the choice of a maverick coach.
The scene ends with Brooks taking a drink of water while Lou Nanne (inaccurately to real history might I add) says: "You expect to beat the Russians ... that's a pretty lofty goal." Brooks replies: "That's why I want to pursue it." There are medium shot cuts to reactions of all in the room (a release of tension) and Walter Bush finally says: "Well, anymore questions?" No one has any and the scene ends with a wide shot of the room as a man turns down Brooks' attempt at a handshake and then Herb shakes several others' hands.
Miracle film study
For this assignment, I watched the opening scene of the 2004 Disney movie Miracle starring Kurt Russell (as Herb Brooks) and directed by Gavin O’Connor. The movie depicts the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” Gold Medal winning men’s ice hockey team.
Hey, I was in the Olympic spirit.
The actual opening of the movie begins with a picture-in-picture montage of actual video footage from the early 1970s through 1980. Included in this are news clips, political speeches, etc. The picture-in-pictures are broken up by some form of huge lettering that you can't figure out until the final seconds of it, when it shrinks down to spell the name of the movie, "Miracle". The montage is meant to serve as exposition of the time period and the political, economic and sporting culture of the late 1970s and 1980.
The scene I wish to dissect is the first scene done by the director.
A wide shot establishes the scene with a wide shot of a facility that has a sign that reads AHA amateur hockey association of the united states (in lower case). With this, it is establishing the place for the movie, Colorado Springs, Colo. CGI tells us it is 1979. The cuts are to a man's hand drawing up hockey plays on a notebook. Soon we see his face and a man calls him Herb. The man (Walter) is wearing a powder blue suit and asks how Herb's flight was. Here, they are establishing his long trip and a friendly atmosphere between the two. Words on the wall say American Hockey Association again and the phone continues to ring with a woman's voice in the background saying: "USA Hockey, how can I help you?" All of this is establishing the setting of the movie. It is summer in the outside shot, but hockey appears to be buzzing in the air. Also, Herb's sport coat is tan. The tan and powder blue sportcoats are establishing an early sense of setting in time (1979 to be exact).
The two men walk down the hall and chat. This is done with a pan that moves to a truck that follows the men from behind. The establishing shot was the lone shot with soundtrack (non-diagetic) music playing in the background. The shots are medium shots, and done at eye level to establish a documentary-like feel. Eye level and medium shots are the most honest of shots and truest to life. The director is trying to establish realism in these sequences.
A pan in the next shot goes from an extreme closeup of the water glasses and water pitcher on the table to a rack focus switch to those speaking at the table. The shots are tight from here on out of two-shots, one-shots and speaking/reaction shots. The cuts are very quick and create a conflict right away. The reason for the tighter shots are to keep us involved emotionally. The tighter a shot, the more emotionally attached we become to a subject.
These shots give great size and importance to the subjects of the shots. We can assume these are the Board of Somethings or CEOs of something at USA Hockey. As Herb explains a new, different form of hockey (similar to the Russians), we get even tighter shots of his face. These shots establish his intensity and desire. Those shots are juxtaposed via cuts with reactions of the committee. The committee is obviously skeptical at best. Their reactions and questions are stark contrast to the tight closeups of Brooks, who doesn't change his tenor. The fast cuts and juxtaposition create visual tension between these subjects.
The shots build up until they are flying past us at 1 second per clip, each of the same situation. The scene must have either been filmed a hundred times or was filmed once using several cameras. It makes the audience feel as if they are eavesdropping and trying to get all the information in this conflict.
This conflict is central to the movie. There is doubt that this new brand of hockey will do anything in the Lake Placid Olympics. It establishes the underdog mentality and the importance of the choice of a maverick coach.
The scene ends with Brooks taking a drink of water while Lou Nanne (inaccurately to real history might I add) says: "You expect to beat the Russians ... that's a pretty lofty goal." Brooks replies: "That's why I want to pursue it." There are medium shot cuts to reactions of all in the room (a release of tension) and Walter Bush finally says: "Well, anymore questions?" No one has any and the scene ends with a wide shot of the room as a man turns down Brooks' attempt at a handshake and then Herb shakes several others' hands.
