Media Formats

Media #1- http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/02/23/dnt.inappropriate.stick.figures.kdvr

Media #2- http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/22/2011-02-22_11yearold_boy_arrested_in_colorado_over_violent_stickfigure_drawing_made_in_scho.html?r=news


The two media formats I found were a video and a news article about an 11 year old boy who was arrested for his stick figure drawings. The two media formats are very similar, but the news article goes into more details about some of the things that were mentioned in the video. The NY Daily news article even includes some quotes that were said by some of the people in the video. In the video, more is actually told about the sequence of events that occurred. In the article, more background information is given about the boy, his family, and his therapist. We are told the boy's name is Tim in the video, but when reading the article you find out that that is just a made up name because his family did not want to reveal that information. Both stories review what happened- an 11 year old boy from Colorado who has ADD was told by his therapist to draw pictures whenever he felt upset or agitated. He was doing this in school when his teachers saw him drawing a picture of him as a stick figure shooting his teachers, who were also drawn as stick figures. The words "teachers must die" were written on the paper, which caused him to be sent to the principals office. Both the article and the video tell that nothing happened at the principal's office, but later, when he got home, police showed up at his home and took him away in handcuffs. In the video, the mother, who is not shown, describes in detail how horrifying it was to see her son taken away in handcuffs. Watching the video gives you a very different feel from just reading the article, because you can actually hear their voices and the emotion they are channeling through it. The mother seems angry, upset, and shocked when talking about her 11 year old son being arrested. Even though there are quotes said by her in the article, you do not get the same effect from the video. Because of this, I think that the video was more effective in a few ways. Not only do you get the facts from the broadcaster who is speaking, you also get the facts from witnesses, family members, and other people close to the subject. The actual police report, drawing, and letters from the school are even shown in the video, which makes it more interesting and highlights the important facts for the audience. The overall video was more interesting to watch because as you hear the story being told to you, you see what is happening as well. In terms of content, the news article containing text and picture was very similar to the video and audio format of these two types of media.

Finalized Idea

My finalized idea is a closet that chooses your outfit for you. When you put new clothes into the closet, it automatically scans them into its system. You can set it to pick out certain colors or styles if you prefer something specific, and it will find something that will keep you comfortable in the weather outside as well. The target audience for this product will be girls and women, ranging from around 13 years old and up, because teenage girls and older women typically spend more time on their appearance and what they want to wear. The four different types of media that I will use to show this product are a magazine advertisement, a newspaper advertisement, a TV commercial and a billboard.

War Of The Worlds Reaction

My family and I sat around the only radio we owned in our house and turned up the volume. A man spoke through the speakers, informing everyone about a strange meteor-like object that had fallen from the sky. No one knew exactly what it was, but the reporter did not seem worried and his voice remained calm. We all figured it was just a meteor that had just happened to land in our small town in New Jersey. This was the biggest news we had heard in weeks; things like this never happened in our boring little town.

My dad was about to turn the radio off when suddenly the reporter's voice began to tremble. He said that the object was moving, and something or someone was inside of it, trying to come out. He sounded nervous, and you could hear the screams of frightened people who were standing nearby in the background. My little brother started to cry, wanting to know what was happening. He thought the world was ending, and we were all going to die. My parents tried to calm him down, and I tried not to panic either, but it all just sounded so real. And the scariest part was that it was happening not too far away from our home.

The broadcast cut out, and music began to play. We didn't know what was going on, or if the reporter had gotten hurt or worse. My parents locked all of the doors and closed all of the blinds just to be safe. We sat huddled together on the floor in our living room waiting for the man's voice to return.

Finally, it did. He sounded even more scared than before, and you could still hear people crying out in the background. He told us that people were dead; the creature inside came out and began killing innocent bystanders. My parents looked at each other in fear and my brother continued to cry. I was extremely worried. These things were on the loose, had the ability to kill people, and no one knew who they were and where they came from. Who knows what their intelligence was like or what kind of destruction they were capable of?

My parents decided the best thing to do would be to evacuate our home and just drive somewhere far away where we would be safe. We quickly packed up a few necessary belongings into our suitcases and loaded them into the trunk of our car. My dad, who remained fully composed throughout this entire time, sat behind the steering wheel and began to drive the four of us to my mom’s sister’s house about an hour away. We figured we would be safe there and that these “aliens” wouldn’t be able to travel that far.

Little did we know that by the time we got there the aliens would have already found their way over there...

Left vs. Right Brain

While I was reading the information about left and right brains, I started to realize that a lot of the traits associated with left brained people pertained to me. I tend to process things from part to whole when it comes to my homework and my learning style in school. Although I do not make schedules or lists of tasks I need to complete everyday, I do like to stay organized and even if I don't write down a list, I think of it in my head. I've also always been a pretty good speller so that trait of left brained thinkers definitely fits me. When it comes to studying for tests, whether it be something like vocabulary or math formulas, I am able to memorize the words with no problem. I thought that when I would take the quiz, I would be split up with some left brained traits and some right brained as well, but I actually responded as a left brained person to every single question. This was a little surprising to me but after looking at all of the characteristics again I realized it does describe me pretty accurately.

Story Through Pictures