Over the weekend, I played around with movie maker. I made the following short movie, which probably infringes on copyright laws, but it is for educational purposes, and John Lennon is dead so...What I wanted to do was talk a little about my rhetorical choices, what I thought worked well and what I think are the weaknesses in the video.
Now that you have seen the video, I will attempt to explain what I was trying to do. Thinking of audience, I used images from WWII, Vietnam, and Iraq, I was hoping to appeal to a wide range of viewers. I chose black and white, because i think it adds a nostalgic quality. I wasn't going for the same nostalgia as grandmas cookies, but nonetheless a connection with the audience. I choose "Imagine" because it has become an iconic mantra for any peaceful protest. Besides the recognizably of the song, the song itself has powerful lyrics that help to tell the story along with the pictures, Lennon has a poignant, calming voice in this song, and the tone of the music is sombre. I chose to add words in title screens to make very specific points during the flash of images. I chose not to distract from the images with flashy transitions (I used the same transition. I also extended the amount of time that each image stays on the screen for better viewablity.
My favorite part of the video is when we see the word imagine and then a picture of John holding up a peace sign. i think this is the most effective because John's symbolic hand gesture stands in for the text Peace, and adds a little reverent moment for Lennon himself.
There are issues; I think I could have used more current protest images, I think the music could better sync-up, and I wish I had down the beginning quote in black instead of white lettering.
There is my brief attempt at video and justification for the video, for fun I am putting up the first video I made in class, it has a lot of issues that I won't get into here...Okay the first video will have to be a later post...you tube is being slow.
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JP,
ReplyDeleteI think that your video is well done and for the purpose of what you were trying to do, very effective! I loved the black and white--sort of signifies that war is no respecter of persons, but that there must be a change made.
I like the idea of peaceful protest--not necessarily silent protest (because if it is silent, is it really protesting?) The image of John Lennon and the peace sign is my favorite too, not to mention its very crucial to his personal ideology.
Anyway...great job!
Ditto!
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