Visual Argument

Subaru Commercial

I believe that the Subaru commercial, in my opinion, was Dominant-hegemonic reading because the commercial shows the dog jumping out of the car when it is a puppy. They then show the car a few years later; the husband has a wife now and the dog is in the back seat. Then they take it one step further and show a child and the old dog in the back seat. At the end of the commercial, they say “A companion for life, Subaru.” Dogs are usually known as companions so I think that it was a really good idea to have the viewer focus on the bond between the man and his dog. You then realize that the car has also lasted many years. I think that there was a lot of thought into whoever made this commercial. There were a lot of little hidden messages. Plus, everyone loves dogs so that held the viewers’ attention, even if they didn’t care about the car.

Process Memo

Danielle Dillon

WRT: 150

10-10-12                                   

 

                                                       My Literacy Narrative Process Memo

Being literate is something that everyone needs to be successful now days. Everyone also has a different story of how they learned to read. Becoming literate is a big step in anyone’s life and there is a special story that goes along with it. When I began organizing my timeline, the first thing I thought of was my dad and how he would work with me all of the time.  I tried to put things in chronological order, and what my most vivid memories were. The most interesting thing I realized was that when I was little I just thought my dad and I were fishing, kind of like the song “Just Fishing” by Trace Adkins. Trace Adkins describes how he would take his daughter fishing and in time, she would realize that the memories were bigger than that. Every time my dad took me fishing, and hunting he would teach me how to spell different animals. When I was little, it never occurred to me that I would cherish those memories so much.  I knew instantly that, that was going to be the theme to my story of becoming literate. Creating this timeline showed me that my parents have always been a major part of my life.

When it came to writing my narrative, I felt it was necessary to include that I didn’t learn to read until I was six years old. My first elementary school didn’t teach children to read until they were in second grade. When my family and I moved, everyone at the new school that I went to already knew how to read. I talked about my first grade teacher, Mr. Nader, and how he worked with me every day at lunch so I would be caught up with the other students. And then I went into talking about the story of my dad. I tried to follow my timeline as much as possible. That way, whoever was reading it didn’t have to play a game of connect the dots throughout my whole paper. Keeping it in chronological order seemed like the best way to keep the whole thing organized. My partners did a very good job when it came to helping me focus on one main point at a time. I tend to bounce around with my ideas and they gave me advice on how to concentrate on one thing. As I was writing my paper, I tried to keep in mind that this had to be turned into a video. I didn’t want to tell too much in my paper, and not be able to show everything I was trying to say. I thought about the pictures that I had and made sure I told a story that could be understood based on those pictures.

            When it came to actually composing my Animoto video, my partners did a really good job with choosing 15 sentences that they thought would be appropriate for my video. Though, I did find it very difficult to use the exact same sentences considering the limited amount of space in the word text boxes. I did try to keep the sentences as close to the ones in my narrative as best as I could.

            My pictures were used to give visuals as the slideshow went on. After each text slide, I tried to put a picture that corresponded with the previous slide. I had a lot of pictures with my dad and doing what we usually did; hunting and fishing. All of my photos were personal. I felt it would be very difficult to tell my story by using pictures off of the internet. By using personal photos, people who are watching my video can also make the connection between who I was then, and how much I have grown and developed.

The song I chose wasn’t exactly the one that I wanted to do. I wanted to use the song I talked about earlier by Trace Adkins but it wouldn’t download. So the reason I chose the song that is actually in my video is because the music was upbeat and lively. I didn’t want to put a slow song, or one that might scare the person who was watching it. My story of becoming literate was very positive and I did not want to ruin it with a song that was completely irrelevant.

Overall I believe that I did a pretty good job. I wish I could have been able to include more pictures, but they are at my grandma’s house and she is currently in Florida on vacation. Obviously, I wanted to impress the viewers but I think this video was more for me than anything else. This assignment made me realize just how grateful I am of my mom and dad. It made me appreciate things a lot more and I’m really glad I was assigned this project.