#4

My general observations from my experience are that crayons are rich and very cool to write with.  They are meant more for coloring though, and that is probably why they are sometimes held differently when being used to fill in space on a blank picture.  My hand was tired at the end of my paper, and my handwriting was much larger than it usually is.  I would like to venture into the reasoning behind my classmates color and design choices.  I wonder it any of their choices were reflecting their moods or writing.  I'm sure that is so in some cases, and there are probably a lot of people who have no idea why they chose a certain color.  I definitely noticed more mistakes in this medium, and it could have possibly allowed for students to put less information into their papers.  I felt like this was a good assignment in the beginning of the semester because it gave a sense of what people are like based off of their finished papers.

#3

A culture writing solely with crayons would be very different from the one we live in.  Today, we are able to use pencils, pens, crayons, pastels, paint, etc for any sort of written work.  We can also record our thoughts with computers and cell phones.  A world of Crayola would mean that there would probably be many more brands of crayons, the people would all master use of the short wax tool, and the documents would be quite colorful.  There would probably be more formats for papers and a lot more doodling going on.  This culture would be highly artistic, but it would be limited to strictly crayons, the therefore, have no other mediums for people to make art with.  Maybe different papers would be assigned different colors, and everyone would have at least one crayon on them at all time.  Everything would seem more colorful, but the people would probably get used to the brightness of it all.  Maybe new colors would become popular, and there could be one color for one specific person in a class, school, or the entire civilization.  The people would be proud of advances in other writing implements and different designs that really impress.  I love using crayons, but I am thankful for the variety of tools our culture has.

Materialities of Writing

I was really looking forward to completing this first paper because of it's medium.  Preparing for this assignment took less time than actually composing it onto the large sheet of paper.  I was happy to have lots on table space, and I was extra cautious.  If I answered the prompt differently at all, it would be in the length of my essay.  I prefer to fill my paper with as many thoughts as I can link to the topic, but I had different space requirements that I had to keep in mind.  I knew that I wanted my draft to have a colorful appearance, so I arranged my paper to be blue, purple, green, and dark pink.  I did every three lines each of the "cool colors" and the words that stuck out to me in pink.  I also created a margin ad drew lines to write on so that my words wouldn't get crooked.  The writing actually did become uncomfortable near the end, and my handwriting probably shows that.  This project was very interesting though, and it was great to see everyones work hanging on the wall as art.

Pantene Ad Reaction

This extraordinary bit of film is entertaining. It can grab the attention of a viewer and lead them to become invested in a four minute and three second advertisement.  The advertisement factor of this commercial is not even clear until the very end, and it has been created more as a short film with a popular name brand shampoo shown at the very end.  After the advertisement was shown my observational notes ended up coming together to highlight certain motifs.

            Some of these motifs include the disability of the lead and her overcoming the challenges of being discouraged, the power of music, the importance of “movement” in music, and the butterfly emerging from her cocoon.  The presentation of this commercial gave me the impression that the message was going to be about the importance of music and it’s universal strength. Pachelbel’s Canon is a classic choice of song that can be easily recognized, and the protagonist and the supporting characters are loveable.  The cinematography of the film is very well done, and the dramatic elements of the protagonist’s struggle and her eventual success shape the four minutes into a complete story.

            A work such as this is unique compared to the typical, speedy commercial all about a simple cleaning product or new weight loss smoothie. This commercial is artistic and refreshing, and gives viewers a surprise ending advertisement after the lead’s hair has just been gorgeously displayed in a powerful climactic moment.  The product is now linked with music, development, and strength, and the commercial can be recognized as a more artistic piece.