Saturday, October 31, 2015

My Rhetorical action plan

In the following blog post I analyze my plan of action for project 3

Audience:

What does the audience know about this topic, text or idea? Do they have opinions that you need to address?

  • My audience will most likely be people who only care about the technical aspects of filmmaking or those who like to keep up with what is happening at the center of the industry. 
  • The whole argument is opinion based and every audience member of mine will have an opinion. 
What do you know about the values that members of the audience might hold?

  • Most of these filmmakers will have began their careers shooting on one medium or the other. 
  • whether their careers are young or have many accolades already piled up, they grew up and started on either film or digital so it will be hard to get them to switch sides so abruptly. 
What type of research or evidence will be persuasive to your audience? 
  • Showing the technical side and the advantages of one medium or the other and the capabilities of them.
  • Also showing the economical consequences of shooting on either digital or film
  • Then I believe a timeline and projection of what digital will be able to do in 10 years will be persuasive. 
What visual images or elements might your audience respond to?
  • Side by side visual comparisons of scenes shot on digital and film will be very helpful, also graphs of costs and equipment needed for one or the other will be helpful
Why is your audience reading or listening to your argument? Are they trying to broaden their horizons?
  • I believe they would listen to my argument because I claim to have a solution to this issue.
  • I think that, like me, people are tired of hearing about this struggle and want to just get back to making movies
  • Also I think they value another opinion of someone else on this issue
  • I am trying to show them that there isn't a need for all this un-needed quarreling over this topic
  • I hope that by providing an unbiased look and also a lot of evidence to both sides, I can motivate people to use what they thing will make their film the best
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/31/2015 "I'm gossip girl" Public Domain Usage

Genre:

Genre 1- Article written by me for elements of film magazine

1. Here is a perfect article for this website, it shows both sides and will be perfect to present evidence and also persuade people 
2. This is also a good article of similar type of article, It has more anecdotal evidence and also more personal touches. 

What is the function of this genre? 
  • This genre is supposed to present information in a clear cut way to people so that it is easy to understand and unbiased. 
  • i chose this because it is the easier of the genres to present both sides of information without seeming biased. 
What is the setting of the genre?
  • Hopefully in a big film industry magazine read by people who care about how films are made, like the hollywood reporter or something 
How might you use the themes we have discussed in class to your advantage?
  • Given the fact that this is purely personal preference, emotional appeals and logical appeals will be most effective in persuading my audience. 
What types of visual elements can be used?
  • As I already said, graphs and side by side comparisons will be most effective. 
What type of style will you use in this genre?
  • Personal and emotional appeals will start out my argument strong. Then, adding in logical appeals with visual evidence and graphs will strengthen it even the more. A proposal argument will be most effective and will bring the whole argument to a nice close. 
Genre 2: Video

Here is a great example of a debate style video that would do really well for my argument. 

Here is a side by side compression video that presents the differences side by side for people to see. 

What is the function of this genre. why did you choose it?
  • Film people are visual learners, as we are visual people, so a video would be very natural and easy for people to understand. 
What is the setting?
  • YouTube is the most obvious but also a show like AMC movie talk or something like that. 
How might you use rhetorical appeals?
  • I can still use emotional appeals in this particular genre, however logic and numbers and visual compression would be much more effective in this such case. 
What type of visual elements can be used?
  • It's a video, it has to have visuals
What type of style would you use in this genre?
  • This genre could be more informal and debate like, as both sides need to be presented, a pro/con argument would be effective here. 
Responses/ Actions:

Positive responses-
  • People realize there is no need for a big fight on this issue, and they leave people alone to shoot on what they want. 
  • people understand that film is completely subjective and don't chastise people for not liking their method
Negative responses-
  • "I don't care, film is still better and always will be and digital is killing filmmaking!" Well, good luck shooting things in the future there bud
  • "You have only ever shot on digital how would you know?" This is true however I have work on project that were shot on film so I saw how it makes people act differently. 
  • "Film rules!" Ok then. 

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Considering type

In the following blog post I evaluate which type of argument would be useful for my argument.
Screenshot Taken by Dylan Cotter "fish" 10/29/2015 Public domain usage

Postion argument:

This will be the most effective argument type for my position. Also known as the pro/con argument, this is exactly how to persuade someone of a change of mind or opinion. Showing the pros and cons of each side and then presenting my position would serve almost as showing my side as a compromise and easier to accept.

Proposal argument:

This type of argument would be almost as effective as the position argument, and in fact you could almost combine these two and make a super effective argument, but for the purposes of this assignment I can't do that. This argument shows the solution that would propose a solution after analyzing the argument, however it doesn't specifically say that i would explore the pros and cons of an argument, which is why it is the second most effective.

Refutal argument:

This would not be an effective argument type since it is actually not proposing a solution and there hasn't been a solution proposed already for this argument to refute. I could use this argument to refute both sides but that seems like a very pessimistic view this issue.

Evaluative argument:

This argument states that is evaluates "the successfulness of a current policy, idea, or solution to a problem". Since there hasn't been a solution proposed or anything that i can evaluate the successfulness of, this is tied for the least effective argument type for this assignment for my argument.

Casual Argument:

I only list this last because I can not think of anything to write for this one. I have to list the reasons that this is a controversy or problem and then why they could lead to the problem itself. This is a purely opinionated question and so I don't know if I can even write anything for this one.

Analyzing purpose

I created a coggle cluster for me controversy

Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/29/2015 Public Domain Usage
Here is a link as well for larger viewing

Analyzing Context

In the following blog post I analyze the key questions about context.
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter "meg" 10/29/2015 Public Domain Usage

1. What are the key perspectives in your controversy?

There are two key thought groups in this controversy

The first one is that film is and always will be superior. Those who support this claim will point to the look and texture of film, also the technical ability to have a wider dynamic range.

The people who support film will most likely point to the cost effectiveness of it and the rapidly progressing abilities of shooting on digital.

2. What are the major points of contention or disagreement between the perspectives?

The argument is which is better to shoot your film on.

There are technical aspects that give film a slight advantage but that is rapidly changing. As digital is catching up with the advancement of programs and cameras. People know that soon digital and film will be equal and since digital is cheaper then people should be getting used to digital.

3. What are the possible points of agreement between these two standpoints?

The two standpoints agree on the fact that the two are now so similar that it is just a matter of opinion which you shoot on. However they argue on which opinion is right.

4. What are the ideological differences?

There doesn't seem to be a lot of differences based on ideology. Religion isn't ever mentioned. Level of education doesn't matter, neither does race. The only one that might comes into it is economic background, if they are able to afford film so that they can make the choice of shooting on film or digital.

5. What specific actions do their perspectives or texts ask their audience to take?

This is a fairly simple answer. Those who believe that film is the way to shoot, want their audience to continue to shoot on film. Those who believe in digital, want their audience to move with the times and shoot on digital

6. What perspectives are most useful in supporting your claim?

Personal stories and preferences are most useful in supporting my claim. Also timelines of the progression of digital and the differences in cost will be effective for my argument.

7. Which do you think threaten your argument?

The fact that this is a matter of opinion will make it hard to change people's minds. This is a question where there is no correct answer, but it doesn't have to be an all out war, so to speak, in the film industry.

Reflection:

I read Morgan's blog and Kelly's blog, Morgan and I's context are similar in that it is based off of people opinions and stubbornness, Kelly has science to work with which helps her out massively. IT was interesting seeing how different our contexts were and thinking about what I would do if I were in her shoes.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Audience and Genre

In the following blog post I analyze my audience and genre for project 3

My debate is over digital vs traditional filmmaking. Regardless of audience I will be doing this as a personal, anecdotal opinion piece.

Audience 1 (upcoming filmmakers)
Genre 1: Film people are video people, so a YouTube video would be the most logical choice. I would provide examples of what film vs digital looks like and also get interviews with DP's (directors of photography)

Example 1: Here is an example of the kind of video I would do, including interview style and the type of people I would hope to interview. I know a few small time DP's and could get their opinion on this debate for sure.

Example 2: I could, instead of having the video be the interview, use the interview and put the quotes on he screen like picture-in-picture style, sort of like this.
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/24/2015 "Meg's our daughter" Public Domain Usage

Genre 2: Personnal article article written for TheHollywoodReporter

Example 1: Here is a solid example of the type of article I would write. Using both personal anecdotal evidence and also quotes and contextual evidence.

Example 2: Here is an example from TheHollywoodReporter of the exact type of article I would write. This employs everything from box office numbers to award season success.

Audience 2 (current filmmakers)
Genre 1: Interview, Since my family happens to be well into this business, talking to big name people in the business now could be an option for me.

Example: Here is the interview style and the caliber of person I would hope to interview, it is the Quentin Tarantino interview from the last project we did.
Example: A different interview style that I could conduct. This could lead to some interesting points and debates. Here

Genre 2: Personal stories, this could be especially effective on a reading/chat forum like reddit.

Example: Here is a reddit thread that is exactly what I was talking about. Personal evidence and anecdotal stores.
Example: Here is another type of the same genre of rhetoric. However, this is a response to a question posted by a user, lots of people stating why they prefer one over the other.


Extended Annotated Bibliography

I did not gather to many sources for my project two, I had to find all new ones for this project.

Screenshot Taken by Dylan Cotter 10/24/2015 Public Domain Usage




Here is the link to my Extended Annotated Bibliography.

Narrowing my focus

In the following blog post I analyze two questions from the previous blog post.


Screen shot by Dylan Cotter 10/24/2015 "Cheers" Public Domain usage

  1. Which side is fighting harder?
  • This is an important question to answer because it could be both a sing of strength for the select sides point and argument, but also a sign of desperation as to be heard or keep their beloved tradition alive. Examining if their points have hard evidence or what their arguments are based on is also important.
  1. What are the newspapers and magazines that cover this issue most? What is their demographic?
  • If the magazines are those like TheHollywoodReporter and the SAG-AFTRA magazine, then their demographic is very focused and specific. However, if People magazine or US Weekly are giving this as much coverage as Kim Kardashians hair, then the audience is wider. Each answer tells us something. 
  1. Who is very active in the media about this?
  • Since my whole essay was on Quentin Tarantino, who falls into the category of very active, finding other examples would be imperative to this argument. 

Questions about controversy

In the following blog post I ask questions I still need answers to for project three.
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/24/2015 "sneaky" Public Domain Usage


Who is involved in the controversy?

  1. Who was the first major pioneer of digital filmmaking?
  2. Who was the first to come out against it?
  3. Who was the company to make digital filmmaking into what it is today?
What is being debated?

  1. Which side is fighting harder?
  2. Which side has a greater following, from what point in the industry?
  3. What are the trends and numbers showing?
What is the time period of the controversy?

  1. When did digital filmmaking take off?
  2. When was the first film shot entirely on digital made?
  3. When will film become too expensive?
Where has this controversy unfolded?

  1. What is the trend and numbers in Hollywood? Bollywood? 
  2. What is the media coverage about this issue? Are they taking sides?
  3. What areas are seeing cultural changes because of this?
How has this controversy unfolded in the media?

  1. What are the newspapers and magazines that cover this issue most? What is their demographic?
  2. Who is very active in the media about this? who isn't?
  3. Do the media seem to be taking sides? If so, what side are they taking. 

Reflection on project two

In the following blog post I reflect on project two

1. What was specifically changed from one draft to another?

I changed the conclusion and the introduction to the essay, also after the infamous Thursday class I changed the focus of my writing which led to a much more organized and focused essay

2. Point to global changes, how did you rework your thesis?
I was writing about the actual controversy itself, without even noticing it. Then, again after the infamous Thursday class, I realized I needed to work on the actual topic of the assignment, that lead to the reworking of my thesis and intro and conclusion. 
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/24/2015 "ART" Public Domain Usage

3. What lead you to these changes?
Again that Thursday class, actually turned out to be pretty darn helpful, lead me to these changes. Revisiting the assignment topic and then realizing what needed to be fixed.

4. How do these shifts affect your credibility as an author?
The fact that I actually wrote on the prompt adds to my credibility as an author, if I promise to write on one thing and don't then people won't read my stuff again. So writing on the topic actually was a good idea, weird. 

5. How will these changes affect your audience?
Well, now that I actually wrote on the topic, my audience will get more out of the essay than they would have had I continued on the path I was on. Hopefully this will also help my grade.

6. Point to local revisions
My local revisions came in the form of changing word choices and adding an argumentative side. After Mr. Bottai recommended adding the part about shaming people into shooting on film, I decided to put it in the body of the essay as well. Hopefully this makes my argument even stronger 

7. How will these changes help assist your audience in understanding your purpose. 
Since the purpose of this paper is to teach and inform people in my discipline, sticking to conventions of an informative essay will help them understand what they should get out of this paper. Also this will keep me from sounding like I am insulting their intellect. 

8. Did you have to reconsider the conventions of the particular genre in which you were writing.
Having written my fill of papers over my academic career, I felt like I knew most of what I had to do. However, after starting out wrong completely, I took a look back at what I was doing and did end up reconsidering a lot of things, however I didn't end up changing how I wrote the essay, just what the essay was about. 

9. Finally how does the purpose of reflection help you reconsider your identity as a writer?
The overwhelming theme in this reflection is that I need to know what I am writing about before I write. Having done all the work and then having to scrap it wasn't fun at all, so I aim not to do that again. 

I read Alyssa and Morgan's reflection and we all seemed to have a similar trend in that we all wanted to go back and start writing on the actual topic the first time. That would have been incredibly helpful and saved us all a lot of heartache and work. 

Friday, October 23, 2015

Project 2 Final Draft

Here is the link to my final draft of my essay for project two

Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter "A+" 10/23/2015 Public Domain Usage

Here is the link please enjoy.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Punctuation Pt 2

In the following blog I respond to three more topic about punctuation.
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter "Murray is trash" 10/22/15 Public Domain Usage

The apostrophe:

Whenever I type out or write "it's" I always say in my head "it is" that way I find that I never really mess up "its" and "it's". Also your and you're, the most commonly pointed out error on social media, I never found that I ever had trouble with


  • Mack was singing about how “there’s gold in them hills!”
  • This excerpt from my essay shows how the apostrophe in There's abbreviates "there is"

Quotation marks:

This section added a little bit of humor to this homework session. Not from the text itself but from the use of what the text is talking about. The sarcasm that quotes can infer came me chuckle a little bit. As far as using quotation marks, I have sometimes had trouble with it, but this helped clear it up for me.

  • When the interviewer asks Tarantino what he believes about film vs digital, he says passionately says “I think it’s the death key… I think it’s the death rattle”.
  • This is a good example of how I use quotes in my essay.
Other punctuation marks:

The only part of tis sections that is even relevant to my situation and rhetorical analysis is the brackets and ellipses marks. An ellipses is a way to show that the author has eliminated words from the quote that they are employing. Also brackets can be helpful in that they can show that an author has replaced or added a word to the quote in order to clarify or imply something.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Paragraph analysis 2

In the following blog post I include a link to the paragraph analysis for my essay draft

Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/17/15 "analysis" Public Domain Usage

Here is the link to my essay with the paragraph analysis.

Doing the following exercise I learned the following about my Essay

Strengths:

After revising my essay's intro and conclusions they have become a strength of my paper.

The main points of my paragraphs are clear and present

The presentation of ethos and pathos are clear and present in the paragraphs.

the explanations of the issue and why Tarantino's strategies are helpful or not helpful are good and clear.

Weaknesses

My main weakness is paragraph length, I struggled with the length of the explanation of the controversy, it was too long and had too many un--needed sentences and repeat phrases. Then the explanation of pathos is too short a paragraph and needs more explanation.

Revised Conclusion

In the following blog post I revise my conclusion and compare it to the old conclusion I had.

Here is the link to the draft of the essay with the new conclusion.

Here is the link to the essay with the old conclusion.

This new conclusion sums up the essay perfectly in my opinion. And more specifically it answers the "so what" question that the previous one does not. This makes the conclusion much more relevant and it makes it service the topic more than the last one.

Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/17/15 "conclusion" Public Domain Usage

Revised introduction

In the following blog post I link my new introduction for my essay.

I totally deleted my entire thesis and intro after the class on Thursday. I needed to rethink the topic and make my essay more focused on the topic. This intro is a lot more focused and is much more about the topic than the last one. It focuses a lot more on what the topic and the assignment is.

Here is the link to the new and improved intro.

Here is the link to the old and boring intro.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Reflection on Project 2 Draft

I peer reviewed Nick and Carter's Essays

Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/16/15 "pathos" Public Domain Usage

Do you have an identifiable thesis? Does it point into the rhetorical strategies you analyze?

My thesis is clear and apparent to the readers. However after class yesterday I do need to rework it and make it more about the actual topic of the assignment and make it clearer.

How did you decide to organize your essay? Is it supported with evidence?

I organized my essay into 3 paragraphs. The first one is some background information about the controversy. The second examines the use of Pathos and the third paragraph examines the use of Ethos.

Yes they are supported with evidence, there is plenty of evidence for the two techniques in this text. And I feel like I did a solid job of finding evidence but I think I can strengthen it.

Did you clearly identify and analyze several important elements of the text's rhetorical strategy?

In the essay I identify and discuss the authors credibility, their expertise, their use of pathos and ethos, also their use of expert opinions and appeal to emotion. I used evidence and analysis to discuss how each part is either helpful or hurtful to the argument.

Did you explain how and why certain rhetorical strategies were employed? Did you discuss what effects these strategies have on the intended audience and the overall effectiveness of the text?

Honestly I could defiantly do better at this one. I discuss of they are affective or not, but I lack in why they were employed or what effects it has on the audience. 

Are you thoughtfully using evidence in each paragraph? Do yo mention specific examples from the text and explain why they are relevant? 

In sort, yes. I believe I did and I think I used it effectively. I made an effort to use specific examples and believe that this is necessary for this assignment and so I believe I did this effectively. 

When a quote is employed, I summarized and provide contextual evidence to why this was necessary and effective or harmful to the argument. 

Do you leave your reader wanting more? Do you answer the so what question in your conclusion?

I believe my paper covers all the bullets on this assignment and would provide exactly what the professor was looking for in this fictional world where I was asked to complete this assignment. Then my conclusion will address that so what question and why Tarantino's lack of logos hurt his argument when I revise it. 


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

punctuation part 1

In the following blog post I analyze the points outlined in my Rules for Writers book.

Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter "punctuation" 10/14/2015 Public Domain Usage

Unnecessary commas:

Sometimes you are just on an absolute tear of a sentence and you have so much to add to it and you never want it to stop and, and, and... Commas are your friend, but only until a certain point. The examples that they provide in the book make it clear that if the part after the comma could be a sentence, it should be sentence. Those examples of independent clauses make sense to me and hopefully will help me avoid the run ons in the future.

Extra or Other punctuation marks

Using punctuation marks like dashes or slashes can add some flare and personality to your writing, as well as serving a literary purpose. However I include this part in this post because i found out some weird facts that I never knew nor have even been corrected on. For example if you are going to use a dash (-) in your writing, you actually need to use two of them (--) for some reason. Interesting.

End Punctuation

Finishing a sentence is an art form. If you include an exclamation mark, you could be forever branded as that guy who uses that exclamation mark. I don't know why, but it is frowned upon in an academic setting. My mother uses exclamation marks all the time in her texts which makes it seem like she is always yelling at me, so I can see how this would be a bad thing to do in an academic paper. The book reinforces this, as well as pointing out that ending sentence with a question mark can be bad, can't it?

Reflection:

I did a peer review of Nick and Carter's essay drafts. I found that the un--needed commas were the biggest problem in most of their drafts as well as mine. It causes run on sentences and makes the reader lose interest because of the length of the sentences. From Nicks essay "Nevertheless, for those interested in the topic of geoengineering, namely “solar geoengineering” (as Keith calls it), or those in support of the methods, the ideas presented by Keith in the interview may be solid evidence of reliable and credible information." While this is a solid sentence, the commas make it way to long. Also for end punctuation section of this blog post, the question marks in their posts work well, unlike what the book said. From Carter's essay "The requirements are supreme and the dedication is plenty too much, but is the payout worth it?" It punctuates it nicely and gets his point across.

Draft of Rhetorical Analysis

In the following blog post i post a link to the draft of my essay

Dear peer reviewers,

Please let me know if the tow first paragraphs ramble on and are to long to hold interest. I feel like they might be and maybe they include to much unneeded information. Other than that please let me know if the paragraph explaining the differences between digital and film is clear enough and gets the point across and the differences between the two understandable.

Here is my essay DRAFT

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Practicing summary and paraphrase

In the following blog post I practice paraphrasing and summarizing a direct quote from here.

"I think it is the death key, I think it is the death rattle, I do, And I even have a whole other aspect of it. For me, I always believed in the magic of movies. And to me, the magic of movies is connected to 35mm". This is the quote I will be working with, here is the original source of this quote.

My paraphrase:

Quentin Tarantino gives an impassioned title to the digital age, and an equally impassioned reason why film is better. Crowning digital the death of film, he cites his experience of believing in silver screen magic and how that feeling is connected to a traditional 35mm film roll.

My summary:

Tarantino uses strong language purposefully and meaningfully to express is distaste in digital filmmaking. He then continues to explain that the movie magic and movie experience is connected to traditional film.
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/11/15 "Steal" Public Domain Usage

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Project 2 outline

In the following blog post I present my outline for my project 2 essay.

After reading the students guide helpful warnings on page 122, I have a few things to address in my presentation of the issue. First "focus on the text itself, not the issue" (Minnex, 122) is going to be especially challenging for me. Since this issue is directed towards a very small demographic of people, and because of who these people are, they will have their own opinions on this issue. But my job is to focus on how Tarantino presents and talks about his opinion on his issue. Also, the advice that my thesis should always be the "main point" (Minnex, 122) is important because I do still tend to digress from the point every-now and again. So keeping those two things in mind I should be able to do a pretty good job at analyzing how Tarantino speaks about this issue.
Screenshot by Dylan Cotter 10/7/2015 "Tarantino and his Oscar" Public Domain Usage

Introduction


  • Background info
    • Introduce Tarantino and the issue
    • Explain how this issue came up
  • Thesis
    • one or two still undecided
Body Paragraph one

  • Difference between the two mediums 
    • Information for the reader about what the difference between film and digital is so that they can understand why people are passionate about this 
Body 2

  • Information about Tarantino's understanding and credibility (his use of ethos)
    • Examine how he uses his celebrity to his advantage in endorsing film vs digital. 
    • Examine his other endorsements of film during his time
    • CANNES FILM FESTIVAL COMMENTS 
Body 3

  • Examine his use of Personal anecdotes
    • his referral to his childhood and his emotional state during the tell of the story
    • examine his use of pathos
Body 4

  • Examine his lack of logos
    • He doesn't use facts or numbers to support his argument 
    • examine how this is a flaw in his argument. 
Conclusion

  • Sumarize all three (ethos, Logos, Pathos) and see if he did enough to sway people to his opinion. 
  • Revert to thesis and answer the question.

Draft thesis statements

In the following blog post I show the thesis statements I have been working on for this essay. Here is the work that I am reviewing.

Pertinent Information:

Author- Quentin Tarantino, Academy award winning filmmaker and one of the most prevalent figures in the industry today.

Purpose- To share his thoughts on the digital vs film controversy

Audience- People who understand film to a finer degree and who get the technical aspects of it.

Ethos- He is the most credible source as can be.

Pathos- His tone of voice, repetition of words.

Logos- He doesn't use to much of this, credible author



1. "The people who are seeking information about this issue are those who enjoy film for its technical aspects and see deeper than the story and the acting. These people will most certainly know who Quentin Tarantino is. They know his work, they know his style and they study his films to learn from him. Therefore when Tarantino gives his comments on this issue, people listen. Therefore, Tarantino relies simply on his celebrity and his personal anecdotes to get people on board with his stance. This is not enough to change people's minds though."

From here I believe it will be very smoothly transitioned into how Tarantino uses personal anecdotes and how his tone of voice, his mannerisms and how he uses his top tier filmmaker status to try and sway people. Also examining his lack of logic and numbers and concrete numbers to support his claims could be an interesting paragraph.

2. "Relying on his celebrity status, Tarantino uses the "movie magic" appeal and his own personal preference to get people to see how making movies just isn't the same when you are shooting on digital."

From here, showing how Tarantino grew up making films with film and how he continues this would be my approach. Paying attention to the tone and emotional play he has in his voice would be an important part of this.
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/7/2015 Tarantino Public Domain Usage

Reflection: 

I read Nick and Isabel's blog posts for this topic. Both of their thesis statement were very will written and was obvious that they lead themselves into strong essays that are clearly written and always relate back to their thesis statements. Wow I need to get myself in order...

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Analyzing my audience

In the following blog post I analyze the audience of this paper by following the student's guide questions.

Who are you writing for?

The target audience for this paper are technical film people. Those who understand F-stops and ISO and aperture. Others will not care about this as they won't see a difference nor care about the result.

The audience will have their own opinions and reasoning for believing in one over the other. Some may believe Tarantino and therefore follow him, this essay hopefully analyzes why they believe that and will lead them to draw their own conclusion.

What position might they take?

Arguing with people who already have their opinion and have their reasons is like arguing with a conspiracy theorist. It's not possible. They have their set of beliefs and it won't be anything short of defying gravity trying to convince them otherwise. However perhaps analyzing why they believe Tarantino or don't believe him will cause them to question their opinions and form their own.

What will they want to know?

If a person reads this and doesn't understand what the big deal is, but would like to, first they need to understand how a movie is shot. This is no easy task, but focus on what the camera does. Learn what an F-stop is, learn what ISO is and aperture and learn how these effect a frame. Then compare film to video and then you will understand why they are different and why people are perhaps very passionate about this.

How might they react to my argument?

They may feel like I am trying to drag down Tarantino because I am not a fan of his movies (which I am) or because I am a huge supporter of digital filmmaking (which I am not) and so they may just dismiss my argument all together.

How might I relate or connect with my audience?

Since I have experience with this, and have dealt with this issue before. I can use personal experience and my own opinion on this issue. Also looking at Tarantino's comments objectively could help.

Are there specific ideas, words or modes of presentation that will help me relate to them?

I belive writing like the know what they are talking about and I know what I am talking about will help. I don't want to belittle them or make them feel like I don't know what it is I am talking about. Also using personal anecdotes will help

Reflection:

I read Morgan and Savannah's blog posts on their audiences. Morgan's topic is something that ties the audiences hands, they either agree with her and are against violence and their public image doesn't change, or they speak in favor of violence and they are labeled an anarchist or something. Savannah and I's audience I believe will have a similar type of divide. Both sides will be very hard to convince of anything else and both sides will have very strong opinions of their side of the coin.

Cluster of "Tarantino's comment of Film vs Digital"

In the following blog post I create my cluster of information for my text


Here is the link

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies in "Quentin Tarantino's comments on Film vs Digital"

In the following blog post I analyze the techniques on display in my text.
Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/1/2015 "Magic of Editing" Public Domain Usage

Appeals to credibility or character:

1. Yes I can see a few example of Ethos in this text, personal stories, tone, the author's public image, and information about the author's expertise are all on display here, mainly the author's image and expertise as Tarantino is a huge filmmaker/director and heavily influential to all those who make films and watch films, everyone knows Pulp Fiction.

2. Tarantino doesn't use these strategies, he already is a heavily influential director and he knows people will listen to him but he doesn't have to work at employing these strategies. However using personal experiences and his tone will relate to the listener and hopefully get them to agree with his point, so he is trying to get people on board with his opinion. 

3. These strategies make the audience believe the author more. In this case Tarantino is already such a celebrity that his credibility isn't in question. These strategies just help him all the more. 

4. Because he is such an influential person, his celebrity will cause people to listen to his argument anyway, and his use of personal stories and tone that sounds scared and desperate at times will make his argument all the more effective to those who are listening and agree with him.

5. The author is obviously bias because of his opinion on the topic. The text that i am analyzing is purely an opinion and a strong one at that, so yes it is bias however I don't believe it hurts his credibility all that much because of who he is. 

Appeals to Emotion:

1. There are a few examples of pathos in this text such as, personal stories, tone and use of words. The most obvious example is Tarantino calling the digital age the "death of film" because it is such a emotionally charged word choice. 

2. The author is trying to get people to see how this type of change will hurt the film industry. He is trying to get people to question their opinions and how they view this issue. 

3. I think he is effective in his goal of getting people to question their opinions and stances on this issue. I know that I certainly have. 

4. These responses are effective in sparking the debate about this issue. Only people who really know and care about film will care about this issue, so sparking beat among those people is the authors goal and it does it effectively. 

5. I think that sparking this debate adds to his credibility. He supports the use of film and some filmmakers don't care either way, so the fact that he was able to get people talking about this is a testament to his credibility. 

Appeals to Logic/ Reason:

1. He really doesn't use any connection listed to logic or reason,  he uses historical record of some sort, talking about what he always thought the "magic of movies" was. However he really doesn't use anything else. 

2. I don't really think he is trying to employ any response with these strategies because he really doesn't use any of these strategies. His one strategy that was sort of close was his use of historical record but that was his own use of his own history

3. The actual response is to other uses of ethos or pathos not logos. So there is no actual result from this strategy. 

4. They are neither because they are not used here, all other strategies that he employs are effective but not this one because he doesn't use it.

Reflection:

I read Kelly's blog post on this issue and hear are some similarities I found. Like me, Kelly's author didn't use one of the three strategies as outlined in the book (hers was emotion), this makes it very hard on us to write about this section, however i feel like most every article or text you will find will use 2/3 of these sections. If they use 3/3 then the piece is exemplary but most will use 2/3.

Analyzing message in "Quentin Tarantino's comments on Film vs Digital"

In the following blog post I analyze the message in the video interview with Quentin Tarantino.

ScreenShot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/1/15 "film" Public Domain Usage 


Out of all possible purposes that the author has listed on page 180, here are a few that I believe retain to my topic

Express an idea or opinion:

Quentin Tarantino clearly feels very strongly about the changing of the guard from film to digital, even calling it the "death of film". So he obviously expresses an opinion.

Persuades the audience of something:

Tarantino does his best to persuade young filmmakers not to give in to the digital era and how film is so much better and more natural than digital. So he does try to persuade his audience and those who follow him that the digital era is bad for film.

Analyze, syntheses or interpret:

Tarantino interprets this event more than he analyzes it, he says that it is the "Death of Film" that is his thoughts on the issue, his opinion and his analysis of how the film industry is changing.

Here are the points that I do not believe are relevant to the text:

Informs the reader about a topic that is often mis-understood:

Tarantino doesn't explain about the issue of film vs digital he just comments on it. For a casual movie goer they don't care about this issue and shouldn't, but for a filmmaker who understand this issue they will understand what he is saying.

Respond to a particular text or occasion:

This revolution isn't a single event or occasion. It is a change happening over time. So he isn't responding to a single event but a change happening quickly.

Analyzing my own assumptions

In the following blog post I analyze my values and beliefs against those which are displayed in the text.

Screenshot taken by Dylan Cotter 10/1/2015 "Quentin Tarantino" Public Domain Usage 


1. What cultural and social values do we share with that referenced in the text?

Tarantino says that he feels like he has been "gipped" when he goes to a movie and realizes it has been shot and projected on digital. While I can tell when a film has been shot on digital and when it has been shot on film, I don't feel cheated or short handed by it, I understand the benefits of both and I prefer film as well but I do not feel cheated by it. But as far as not wanting the industry to change goes, I agree with the traditional method of making movies and distributing them, but now more filmmakers get a chance to make films, which can be a good and a bad thing.

2. What do we not share?

I do not agree that the digital age is "the death of film" as Tarantino calls it. Digital is catching up to film so fast in it's capabilities that it is almost nonexistent (the difference) and digital is now getting cheaper. So while mot filmmakers (myself included) prefer film now, in 5 years I wont quit filmmaking because people are shooting on digital.

3. IF the text was written in a different culture, what values can we see in our culture?

This text was not put out in a different culture, in fact it was put out in a culture that mirrors ours directly, it is our culture, so I can not answer this question.

4. IF the text was written in our culture but a different time period, how have the values changed over time?

The text was written in our culture but also in our time, this issue has only been relevant for the last 3 years or less. Digital has only caught up to film on that time, and now digital is so similar and the benefits are very clear for both, so the values and beliefs are being challenged more, but film still reigns supreme.

Reflection:

I read Morgan and Kelly's blogs for my comments and reflection. Both of their issues are a lot more widespread than mine, which means that their opinions and the opinions of other affect people a lot more than whether a film was shot on digital or film. But they care about their debates and conversations about their topics as much as I care about this and everyone can feel that in their writing.