Brainstorming: Video

This next project we are working on in class is giving me more trouble than the last two when trying to come up with an idea. I really liked the way my podcast went and what it portrayed, but I still want to come up with something new for this assignment.

1. What do you hope to focus on for your video? What story will you tell?
   1. For this assignment I am hoping to focus on personal stories of some people I know whose parents have gone through a divorce. I want my story to tell that, even though divorce is hard on children, they still can thrive and be successful in spite of it. This way I can end my focal topic on a more positive note!
2. What genre do you hope to follow in your video (documentary, vlog, viral video, PSA, etc.)?
   1. I think my video will probably be more “documentary” like. Beginning with statistics and outcomes of divorce, and then going into personal stories. I will act as a narrator and overall voice during the video.
3. Will you be using any sources? If so, what initial sources do you need?
   1. My sources will be my friends and also probably my textbook from my developmental psychology class. I may also look online for ideas and topics to focus on.
4. What logistics do you need to set up to complete your video? What is your projected production timeline?
   1. First I need to see if any of my friends would be interested in helping me out for this project. If they are, I need to have a rough script ready with places where they come in. Then I will need to schedule time with them to film them and work with them.

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Brainstorming for Podcast

I want to make this kind of an information/learning experience for those listening who can either relate to being a part of divorce or who need to learn how to help a friend going through divorce.

“Divorce, whether you are a part of one or close to someone going through one, is a big deal. The average length of a marriage that ends in divorce is 8 years according to one source.That is 8 birthdays, 8 Thanksgivings, 8 New years kisses. That is around 2,920 dinners together. That’s secrets, memories, sharing. But those two are not the only ones involved.

 

Half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent’s marriage (mckinley irving family law). To kids, divorce is stressful, and clearly increases the risk that children will suffer from psychological and behavioral problems. Even if children are resilient, they still report painful memories and ongoing worries about divorce, their relationships with their parents, and their parents’ relationship with each other (how divorce effects children).

 

On a personal level, my parents divorced this summer. I am 19 and my sister is 17. Although we are older and can understand it more than a kid in middle childhood, I still find myself questioning love and becoming more insecure in my own 13 month relationship than I ever had been. I swore up and down this would not effect me, that I am stronger than this, but it is. How I, and others going through this situation, can be helped or hindered by the people around us is huge. Today I hope to offer some insight on this possibly uncomfortable subject, in hopes that you can either relate to or understand how to go about divorce from now on.
We all have those times that someone says something to us and we think: really? Did you even hear what you just said? These moments can come a lot more often in times of sadness and grief. To reduce causing those moments in terms of divorce, here are some examples of things people wish they had never been told:

Ways to help someone going through divorce: 

1. Invite them to coffee – they are lonely
2. Hug
3. Letter of encouragement
4. Let them know they can confide in you
5. Respect their privacy
6. Make sure they know you are not judging them
7. Say they are a great person with a lot to offer
8. Ask them to join on social events

Do not do these things: I will have my friends record themselves saying these things. 

1. Bad mouth their ex/parent to try to build them up
2. Do not try to give advice
3. Say get over it
4. Say I always knew he was cheating on you
5. “I knew it wasn’t meant for you”
6. Compare a break up to a divorce
7. Gossip about it with other friends
8. Say 50% of people divorce so you’re not alone
9. Say you need to get drunk

 

References: https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmiller/ways-to-support-someone-who-is-getting-divorced?utm_term=.ifzdoA9vl#.snOvQq3Je

http://www.prevention.com/sex/phrases-avoid-saying-people-divorce

http://www.ldsliving.com/What-and-What-Not-to-Say-to-the-Recently-Divorced/s/66717

https://www.mckinleyirvin.com/Family-Law-Blog/2012/October/32-Shocking-Divorce-Statistics.aspx

Storytelling Building Blocks

What story are you telling about your focal topic in your visual design project? In your answer, explain how you are going to incorporate the building blocks of good storytelling through visuals. Think about how your story will use these building blocks to make rhetorical appeals to your audience (logos, pathos, ethos, kairos).

 

Story: The story that I’m trying to tell through my visual design project about my focal topic, divorce, is that it happens commonly and often impacts a child who is torn between these two people. Also, the house that used to be a safe loving place is now dark and full of heartbreaking confusion, in some cases. I also wanted to offer a light of hope, at the end, after this sad story in saying that these couples can seek marital education programs that could help them mend their marriage.

Building blocks to incorporate:

1. Ordered sequence – In my info graphic, looking at it top to bottom leads you through the design. First, having a “sad” house leads to divorce, which leads to additions to the statistics presented in the chart at the bottom. This series of events seems to be logical, making it an appeal to logos.

2.  Evoking wonder – I think my infographic evokes wonder through making the audience ask questions, such as: why are there so many divorces in the United States? How can marriage counseling help? How do we go about helping this child stuck in the middle? Although these may not evoke a “positive” sense of wonder, it is wonder nonetheless (pathos).

3. Reasons to care – The reasons to care about this topic may seem obvious to the reader, clearly divorce impacts many people emotionally and psychological. It may also affect their socioeconomic status. But, my infographic helps to reinforce these ideas by depicting a child (youthful yellow) in between two adults (who are blue for loneliness and isolation). It also shows, through the graph that this is a common problem and therefore deserves significant attention (logos).

4. Making audience work for their meal – In my infographic the audience has to interpret graph (ethos) and infer what a house with cloud and heart break symbol represents (pathos).

Visualize This – Yau Response

Option C: Storytelling plays a vital role in the presentation of information, if done effectively and ethically, according to Yau. As you think about your own visual design project, what story would you like to tell about your focal topic for your audience? How might you design this project? What information may be useful and what is the most effective way to present it? How do you hope to make this story compelling through visuals?

Yau’s Introduction and First Chapter of his book were both informative and fun to read. One aspect of his writing that I found especially intriguing was his point that we need to let our brains find the pattern and trends in data presented to us. This was an important note for me as I begin to think about and plan out my infographic. I want my design to tell an obvious story through the visual designs before one even reads the text. This makes it more pleasing to the viewer and easier to understand. I want to incorporate wedding rings, parents and a child in between them, and a graph about the historical trends of divorce. This, and the colors I choose, will help to represent what my topic is about: divorce. Another thing the author said was that these visuals do not always have to be graphs but can also be art that taps into our emotions. Since my focal topic is divorce, this is definitely pertinent to my topic. My hope is that the parent and child aspect of the design will do this, evoking sympathy. Another point that Yau has is that how it is presented is the determining factor if people are going to remember it or not. Obviously, I want my information to be memorable and therefore I must pay attention to the visual design just as much as the text itself. By incorporating pathos through emotional images I hope to make it impactful. 

Five Sources for Infographic Project

1. Buchanan, Maccoby, and Dornbusch. “Adolescents after Divorce.” APA PsycNET. N.p., n.d. Web.
   1. Eleanor Maccoby is a psychologist interested in child and family psychology. Her book “Adolescents after Divorce” follows over a thousand children from divorced households to find out what makes the difference in kids thriving or faltering (Buchanan).
2. By John Gottman, Sybil Carrere, Published on September 1, 2000 – Last Reviewed on June 9, 2016. “Welcome to the Love Lab.” Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.
   1. John Gottman is in charge of a “Love Lab” and his research deals with what makes marriages thrive or fail (By John Gottman). I read about him in my social psychology class last semester, and he basically invites couples that have been married for a year into his lab and tells them to fight on an issue they have conflict over. Based off of this fight, he is very accurate at determining if these people will stay together or get divorced within the next fifteen years. He looks into several different factors, such as contempt, when coding their behaviors, to see “recipes” for success or failure.
3. “Marriage & Divorce.” American Psychological Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.
   1. The APA’s page on Marriage and Divorce offers sources for research on these topics, as well as links to getting help in a personal situation (Marriage). Some of these sources include Marital Education Programs and articles like “These are Peak Times for Divorce.”
4. Olsen, Randal. “144 Years of Marriage and Divorce in 1 Chart.” Dr Randal S Olson. N.p., 15 June 2015. Web. 16 Sept. 2016.
   1. He created a long-term look at marriage trends in the United States by placing a lot of data all together on one chart. Here it is:
5. Pilossoph, Jackie. “10 Ways To Help Someone Going Through A Divorce.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2016.
   1. This source simply gives ten ways to help someone who is going through a divorce. Some of the tips include writing a letter of encouragement and not bad-mouthing their ex.

~ Below this is ENG 223 ~

Into The Wild

Into the Wild

Topic: The ideologies communities have that Chris breaks throughout the film (“ideologies live on because we perpetuate them in our discourses and in the ways in which we build and structure our world (physically and socially)” – here they do not)

1. Money – burns money when is completely opposite to our beliefs… most people work for this and save it and treasure it
2. New car – rejects nice items when normally people love getting the newest things especially for free
3. Social security card – burned government form of identity
4. Family – leaves family without saying much, people normally believe that family is who you should stick with/trust/depend on
5. New name – Chris to Alexander Supertramp: usually people stick with their birth name and keep this as their sense of self
6. Getting a permit to kayak- does not do this: breaks rules the community has that people normally follow
7. Personal hygiene- constantly dirty which is not really accepted in society, those that are homeless and unkept are outcasts
8. Job- creation of 20th century & doesn’t want one

 

Ideology:

• Google: a system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy
• Our book: a set of presuppositions that influences most everything – people’s family lives, their political choices, their intimate and professional relationships” (185/86)