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.