Blog Assignment #8

The photo above was taken in the summer of 2007 during my vacation to visit out-of-state family. The photo was taken because my aunt is holding the graduation gift she was so eager to present to me upon my arrival. Since 2007 was the year of my high school graduation, my family wanted to surprise me with something that would be, in her terms, “helpful in purchasing college necessities.” In composing the picture, I wanted to take the picture as my aunt was holding the money walking down the steps. When I was shocked by the amount of money she was holding, my brother asked her to “mean mug” the camera, which explains her facial expression as I took the picture. My background knowledge affected the photo because I knew she was anxious to give me something so my camera was present at all times. Once she told me to wait until she returns, I had my camera aiming at the steps she was about to walk out. This gave the photo a much different angle than if she were standing in front of me with the money in hand.

If my aunt was to take a picture of my reaction, she may have caught my large smile sitting in a white chair in my grandma’s backyard. Her angle would also be facing downward since she was on steps that were uneven with the ground. As for a caption of the photo, I can imagine my aunt saying these words to fit the description: “You know you want this money!” The only assumption I believe my aunt would have about me is that I’ll be very surprised by the gift she’s presenting to me.

Honestly, this exercise will not change the way I take photographs while traveling, how I represent others, or what I assume when taking the pictures of other people. I take pictures to remind myself of places and people I’ve seen in the past. Another way I can represent others in photographs is by taking shot-by-shot images where pictures are taken at rapid fire all within a short period of time. For example, if I set my camera to take multiple pictures within a five second span, I could easily record 5-10 pictures within that time frame. This could show different angles of what is taking place within the picture. I could also take video of the scene as someone else takes picture and then compare it. This will give the viewer different perceptions of the event from an image and video standpoint.

Blog Assignment #7

Metaphor In Film: Affliction

Affliction is the culmination of a truly brilliant film released in 1999. It stars Nick Nolte as a small-town cop who begins to fall apart as he puts together the pieces of what he believes is a string of murders taking place within the city. His mother dies, forcing Nolte to spend more time with his abusive, alcoholic father. The more time spent with his monstrous father (and the more subsequent events that occur in his city), Nolte becomes similar to his father whose temper, violence and love of drinking begins to take a toll on Nolte’s life. Nolte feels he’s become afflicted with his life (hence the title).

The scene begins with a violent outburst that Nolte brilliantly represented from a nasty toothache that he cannot seem to ignore. Getting worse and worse throughout the film, this climatic scene showcases the removal of the tooth with a pair of pliers and a bottle of scotch to a wash down the blood. This dramatic scene is designed to symbolize the internal pain and suffering Nolte experienced over the years. The pain and suffering that had been bottled up within him for years had finally been relieved. The neglected tooth represented a downward spiral in his life to the point of relief once it was removed. I feel the scene also represents how instant solutions, such as pulling the tooth with pliers instead of proper treatment, can be worthwhile at first, but could lead to more problems in the future. Though the scene ended the movie peacefully, Nolte's life was still stressful with or without the toothache.

It's an impressive scene because it leads to one of the most horrific self-mutilation acts within the movie, but Nolte determines that pulling the offending tooth is the only thing that helped him feel better. Unfortunately, he and his father are shown in the final shot watching a boxing match on TV, silently sharing a drink, which symbolizes a mirror image of one another. Nolte had become his father.

Warning: This scene is kind of graphic with a lot of swearing.

Blog Assignment #6

Google has become one of the largest businesses in the world. Google began in 1996 with Larry Page and Sergey Brin developing it as a research project for their PhD at Standford. Google first produced an image, the one above, when Yahoo! was the prominent search engine on the internet. The original logo was designed using a program called GIMP, which was a free graphics program to create computerized lettering. The exclamation point was used to mock the Yahoo! logo, but they ended up going with a logo without it.

Sergey Brin explains it best:

Google ended up with the primary colors, but instead of having the pattern go in order, we put a secondary color on the L, which brought back the idea that Google doesn't follow the rules.

Google ended up using the same logo for 10 years until recently changing it to look more “modern” to the average searcher. The new logo was first tested in November 2009, but was officially launched in May 2010. According to Google, it follows an identical font to the previous logo, yet features a distantly-colored “o” in place of the previous yellowish one, as well as more subtle shadowing of the letters.

Google has become an iconic image over the years because of its simplicity, but has been criticized for its stand on spam. Though Google strongly believes in spam and identity protection, it’s ironic how Google’s Gmail platform is one of the most spammed email clients on the internet. The image to the left is a perfect example of Google’s attempt to protect against spam because instead of blocking actual spam emails Gmail has decided to add its own network to the spam folder. Is Google trying to block itself? I highly doubt it, but it just shows that no matter how much they talk about protecting the average user they must first make sure they’re protecting their brand. Obviously technology encounters many bugs in the programming, but the least Google can do is make sure people see emails from their own network.

Blog Assignment #5

Photography has created an environment of imagery is which parts of the war were broken from context and mixed together to enact a form of surrealism.  In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag argues, “That our capacity to respond to our experiences with emotional freshness and ethical pertinence is being sapped by the relentless diffusion of vulgar and appalling images – might be called the conservative critique of the diffusion of such images” (109). Sontag is not correct in assuming that an ordinary snapshot creates some form of aggression when you look at the images of the actual effects of violence. Sontag was once criticized for not providing photos of knowledge, but the appearance of knowledge. For one thing, every image (in print and media) creates a thousand words in the mind of the viewer. There’s no immediate visceral impact. Documents and photos do not simply showcase combat consequences. They are part of the rhetoric behind war. The “good taste” of editors and other positions of power in the choices of these “moving images” shadow a number of concerns and anxieties of public order and public morale. For example, Clint Eastwood’s “Letters from Iwo Jima” represents something rare in the history of war movies - an event that one of the country to empathize with the director to tell a story from the perspective of a former war enemy. A more impressionistic approach of imagery in the movie emphasized the unbearable psychological pressure caused by prolonged labor, deprivation and bombardment. The claustrophobic element is obviously required, but Eastwood makes it possible to breathe through the movie with action engaging characters. Eastwood’s choices of images are used for strategic purposes as the photographer's role is more ambiguous. Because of the density of the historical references to the war, the way that we would prefer not to imagine the war is a task that is painful because the stirring images can only supply an initial spark of fear.

Blog Assignment #4

With Facebook, I'm able to share and express my feelings towards different forms of media and subjects through one exclusive, customized, and personal profile.

Facebook has allowed me to share media that is unique to my business to a much larger audience than I could achieve in person. For example, if I find an interesting article that may help other business owners in the same niche as me then I link to it on my Facebook profile. Though I only allow my "friends" to view posts submitted by me, it gives the information much more exclusivity amongst those I'm connected to daily. Since I post at least one article or video related to marketing daily, it gives my profile a professional look and creates conversation amongst other marketers. Another example how Facebook helps me showcase my business savvy is the integration of other social networks into my Facebook profile. Since I can connect other social profiles, I can show my audience how diverse I am with social networks. This not only engages my audience into more conversation, but I'm able to show them how business-minded I am with my posts.

Because of Facebook, I'm able to transmit my sports interest to "friends" with the click of a button in order to gain conversation into the subject. For example, whenever I find an article, video, or image related to the Miami Heat I post it immediately to my profile. My posts are only viewable to my "friends," but it's targeted to friends that enjoy basketball. Though the excessive amount of posts on the Miami Heat may be an annoyance to some, I am posting information I enjoy to read. Another example of how I express my fanaticism of the Miami Heat to my audience is through the "Heat Fan" tab in my profile. Because I've customized my profile to show my love for the basketball team, anyone that views my profile will know how much I enjoy the sport. By establishing this portion of my persona on basketball, I'm able to post whatever I want on the subject because it's expected from me.

Multimedia Blog: Project One

Section One: Narrative Through Images

"Beauty, Destruction, Revival"

Section Two: Narrative

"The Day I'll Never Forget"
By: David Schloss

When experiencing a heartbreaking event at a young age, you would think that the memory would be faintly remembered later in life. In my case, that’s far from the truth. As a child in Miami, Florida I could only remember certain parts of that day, certain conversations, and images that will forever be in my mind.

It’s hard to digest what was once a city of beach front properties, exuberant people, and glistening beaches turn into something else.







Walking down the beach, you see people enjoying the hot temperatures and clear ocean water. Many people would see this kind of image and think it is unreal, but this is an everyday occurrence in the sunshine state.







Miami is clearly a magnificent place especially in the summer time. This place is mixed with excited, tanning obsessed, high-spending tourists and low key, sometimes ignorant, and culture driven locals. The flowing beach water keeps everyone at peace and relaxation. The palm trees provide a paradise feel to the area for all to see.

Unfortunately, Miami is nowhere near perfect, and the weather was the reason for one of the most devastating events in state and national history. 

On August 24, 1992 the National Weather Service indicated a storm that could cause lots of damage. As a child, I could not understand the concept of rain and wind being destructive. I can remember the newscaster telling everyone to be prepared for the worst case scenario. It was during that same forecast a one storm turned into one of the biggest hurricanes in history. 







The “eye” of a hurricane on television has never looked so terrifying until that moment. With the bright colors indicating the severity of the storm, I wondered how much damage this storm could do to my beautiful birth place.

So why did my family and I stay during in our home during this monumental time of weather history? Though the safety and security of my family was important, my father worked hard for first house he ever bought. To think that a storm, much less a hurricane, could hurt the household he worked so hard for was beyond his reasoning. For me, I was a helpless 3 year old confused by the screaming winds and endless rain during the night.

During that night, I remember families trying to evacuate their homes. Even though the weather service gave everyone a notice to leave down days in advance, many people underestimated the severity of the storm. Unfortunately for these families, leaving their homes during a major hurricane led to driving in major flooding. Many streets were blocked by stalled cars and people trying to get out of their submerged homes. The hurricane was just getting started, but many people didn’t know how much worse it could get.

It was the afternoon of that same day where all the madness, confusion, and panic was put to rest...temporarily. The amount of damage this one storm put on the city of Miami was unknown. Many families were still out of town worrying what was left of their home. My family and I went outside to see the destruction from this hurricane, and we could not stop ourselves from being shocked by the scene. Houses were completely torn to shreds with roof tops ripped off. Some houses had massive holes within parts of the bedrooms. Metal, wood, aluminum and various other scraps were located through the street with flood water pushing them back and forth. It was a sight of sadness and devastation, and yet my family's home was the only one left standing on the block.

Relief efforts began immediately as the government took action to help those without a home. Food and water had to be provided to thousands of people within a short period of time. It was stressful to provide that much supplies in such a short period of time. People in the local communities that remained in town tried their best to help those in need.

It's hard to believe that a city could come back from such a disastrous storm. It took years from that gloomy August day in 1992 to become the beautiful, lively, party-like atmosphere many locals and tourists once experienced.  

Many houses were blown away and torn apart. Did Miami ever bounce back from the housing destruction? Absolutely! The rebuilding of homes was one of the least concerns for the city.

Miami needed to restore its population. The city was so concerned that the hurricane would give people reasons not to return to their jobs, their home, and their city. Fortunately, bringing people back to Miami was far from a problem once the rebuilding efforts came together.

Did Miami ever fully recover from Hurricane Andrew? It's really hard to say that everything is back to "normal."

Section Three: Reflection

I realized that the images used at the beginning of this post exemplify a completely different story than the narrative. The images are put in their current order to give the reader an idea of the location, what it looks like, a hurricane weather image, and destruction from a hurricane, Miami's skyline and beaches at the end. Without the text you would have no idea what is going on or what the images are trying to convey to the reader. The text is able to present the reader with the event of Hurricane Andrew and how the city of Miami was before and after the storm.

In creating the narrative with images, I used classification to organize the atmosphere of Miami with the event of Hurricane Andrew. I used description to explain the beaches and homes in Miami to give the reader an idea of what it's like to live in the area. I wanted to make sure the reader felt as if they were in the storm with their family experiencing the horrifying events of 150 mph winds and constant rain. In order to do this, I used emphasis to showcase the damage. I enlarged the images relating to Hurricane Andrew to give the reader a hint on the important issue being discussed in the narrative. I wrote the entire portion about the hurricane from my point of view. Because I remember so much about the storm at a young age, I wanted the audience to imagine what I was seeing and experiencing during that dreadful night.

After using all elements of design in the narrative, I feel as if the story ties in perfectly with the images. The images alone do not convey the same message as the narrative with the images together.

Blog Assignment #3

“Geez, I hope nobody got hurt. You’re very quiet. You’re mad I missed the play aren’t you? I have two jobs baby. You know how important they are for us. I’d give anything to have been there.” *SEM. Lynn is stuck in traffic and gazes at an accident ahead of her car. She starts to question Cole as to why he hasn't said anything. She assumes that Cole is mad she didn't attend his play, but places blame on the fact that she has two jobs. The turning point of the scene is when she says "I'd give anything to have been there" because it signifies a memory she had with her mother, which is mentioned later in the scene. This one line is not understood at first, but once Cole mentions the memory Lynn has with her mother at the dance recital when she was younger everything falls into place. This line is basically a "teaser" for what is to come from the scene.

“You know the accident up there? “Yea?” “Someone got hurt.” “They did?” “A lady; she died!” “Oh my god! You can see her?” “Yes. Standing next to my window.” “Cole you’re scaring me.” “They scare me too sometimes.” “They?” “Ghosts!” “You see ghosts, Cole?” “They want me to do things for them.” “They talk to you? They tell you to do things?” “They’re the ones who use to hurt me. What are you thinking, Momma? You think I’m a freak?” “Look at my face! I would never think that about you. Ever! Got it?” “Got it.” *ACT. This dialogue leads Cole to tell Lynn about his ability to see and hear "ghosts" or dead people. The back-and-forth dialogue between Cole and Lynn establishes an understanding of what he must deal with every day. Cole tells Lynn that these "ghosts" were the ones who hurt him in the past and told him to do specific things. Lynn, looking confused, ensures Cole that he's not a freak because of this, which shows how much she still cares for him no matter his condition.

“Grandma says ‘hi.’ She said she’s sorry for taking the bumble bee pendant. She just likes it a lot.” “What?” “Grandma comes to visit me sometimes.” *SEM. Cole is trying to tell Lynn about the pendant she had as a child. The pendant signifies the relationship she had with her mother. Cole tells Lynn that her mother kept the pendant because she likes it, which confuses Lynn because her mother is dead. Cole then says how his grandmother, Lynn's mother, visits him from time to time. This portion of the scene leads to Cole revealing a conversation he's had with his grandmother.

“She wanted me to tell you she saw you dance. She said when you were little you had a fight right before your dance recital. You thought she didn’t come to see you dance. She did! She hid in the back so you wouldn’t see. She said you were like an angel. She said you came to the place where they buried her. Asked her a question…she said the answer is ‘every day.’ What did you ask?” “Do…do I make her proud” *SYM. Cole tells Lynn about an incident from her childhood with her mother. This is one of the most touching points in the scene because it reveals the uncertainty of Lynn's relationship with her mother and the strength in relationship between Cole and Lynn. Cole explains how Lynn's mother thought she performed like an "angel" at her dance recital, which Lynn thought she never attended. The main turning point in the scene was when Cole told Lynn how her mother is proud of her every day. If this information was never revealed to Lynn it leaves room for interpretation as to how strong of a relationship she truly had with Cole.

Blog Assignment #2

This picture seems like an ordinary image of a father and son enjoying some quality time together. After analyzing the picture, I see more than that. This father and son exchange shows emphasis because the photographer focuses entirely on the father holding his son in the air. The photographer also showcases balance asymmetrically by placing the father on the ground and having him hold his son in the air as they look at each other. The image is conventional because many father and son-based images show the father holding son in the air. This is supposed to symbolize a strong connection between the two.

Image Changes

Since I have a marketing background, I'm always analyzing advertisements to see what tactics companies are using to attract new customers. When I first saw the image, I instantly thought of a life insurance advertisement because they refer to providing help to families in case of health related emergencies. Because of this thought, I altered the image to include four facts about life insurance that would catch a reader's attention if they're in need of it. I then included the line "have you considered life insurance for you and your family?" because reiterates the fact that life insurance may be important to people with a family. I chose blue text for the heading because many insurance companies use blue as their main color for logos. Red text was used for the numbers because it hints the reader that they're important facts. The text at the bottom of the advertisement is also red because it stresses the importance of the message conveyed in the advertisement.

Changes In Perception

The changes can definitely alter the perception of the reader. While the first image symbolizes the love between a father and son, the second image simply conveys the message of a life insurance company. Many readers would dismiss the second image simply because it's an advertisement. According to Jakob Nielson's Alertbox this is called "banner blindness," which means

"Users rarely look at display advertisements on websites. Of the four design elements that do attract a few ad fixations, one is unethical and reduces the value of advertising networks."

Mitchell Stephens in By Means of the Visible stated "images look real, but are fake" because it pretends to be something they are not. I'd have to agree with Mitchell because images are often misinterpreted by viewers because they were not present when the image was taken. It's not often you find an image like the first image above to be in a family's picture book because it seems unreal or planned out. Also the image could have been intended for an advertisement without the viewer knowing who was taking the picture.

Blog Assignment #1

Welcome to The Geeky Marketer! The sole purpose of this blog is to post assignments given in ENG 1131 "Writing Through Media" for the fall semester in 2010. At least 10 full blog posts along with 3 blog projects that will be posted in detail on this blog. The purpose of the course is to understand the difference in media from print to digital to the emergence of new kinds of technological advances in media composition. ENG 1131 focuses on several objectives:

1. Introduce students to the difference in past literacy and electracy in modern culture.
2. Understanding the transition of information from print, film, and multimedia through different technological models. 
3. Compose narratives, images, and expressive figures in digital and online forms.

My name is David Schloss, I'm a senior, and studying Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of Florida. I've been a major internet user since I was 10 years old, and became fixated with the transition of marketing into the online space since I was 17 years old. I'm interested in learning 2 key topics this semester: Visual Persuasion in Digital Media and Web Design. Because of my online marketing background, persuasion with images and web design go hand-in-hand when trying to develop a plan of action. Since I need to improve my skills in these two departments, I feel that I'll be intrigued to fully understand the subjects to help increase my knowledge.

As for the image, I chose this image because it represents my business and the media used to present my information to clients and customers.
The image showcases search engines and networks that are used to submit information throughout the internet. Not only do these websites peak my interest and deal with my business, but they will be used as part of the course to understand to use for information transmittance. 

Considering my high interest in digital media, I'm looking forward to this semester. Each week I'm sure I'll learn something new that will improve my sense of all digital, print, and film forms of information.